sd card

Your MacBook could one day save space by combining two ports into one.

"Combined Input Port," an Apple patent application published Thursday by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, describes a way to unite a USB port and a memory card slot into a single unit.

Combining two ports with two different connectors poses a challenge. But the invention envisioned by Apple would vary the depth and position of the respective connectors, allowing for both a USB device and a memory card to be inserted.

As the patent application describes it in technical jargon:

If you glance at your iPhone wish list, you may see things like longer battery life, expandable SD memory, a better flash, and an old school 30-pin connector for your shiny new iPhone 5. You can have all those things if you're willing to pledge $75 to the iExpander project on Kickstarter.

The iExpander is a jack-of-all-trades case that crams a whole lot into a relatively small size. You're still going to add 6.3mm of chunk to your sleek phone, but the trade-off is pretty tempting.

Let's start with the flashy stuff. The case has an ultrathin CAP-XX supercapacitor that powers an LED flash that can make a big difference in the quality of your low-light photos. … Read more

COLOGNE, Germany -- Three words describe the Lexar Professional 400x SDXC UHS-I memory card: big, fast, and expensive.

The company is pitching the $900 card at those who need to shoot lots of 1080p or 3D video, a market noted for its capacity-gobbling files, intolerance for hiccups in data transfer, and deep pockets.

The card can transfer data at a sustained speed of 60MBps, and it will ship in October, the Micron subsidiary said. The company does offer faster cards with a 600x rating, but they top out at 64GB capacities.

As usual, ordinary photographers shouldn't bother getting excited … Read more

Nokia's new Lumia 920 smartphone is missing an SD card slot, but that was intentional.

Speaking with tech news site PC Pro, Nokia executive VP Kevin Shields said that a memory card slot would have ruined the clean design of the phone.

"We started with the premise that we wanted an uncompromised physical form," Shields told PC Pro. "To put an SD card slot in it would have defiled it."

The Lumia 820 comes with only 8GB of internal storage but includes a microSD card slot that can handle up to 32GB worth of data. … Read more

Dropbox users who find it a hassle getting photos off their camera and onto their online storage site now have a way to avoid the middleman.

The new Dropbox 1.4 software for Windows, OS X, or Linux can automatically upload photos not just from a camera, but from a smartphone, tablet, SD card, and just about any other gadget that houses your images.

How can Dropbox users set this up? Here's how it works in Windows:

First, install the new version of Dropbox. Then right-click the Dropbox icon in the System tray and select Preferences. You should see … Read more

Samsung is mass-producing a new series of microSD cards that it says are four times faster than the current generation.

Available in a 16GB version, the new UHS-1 microSD card will offer a maximum read speed of 80MB per second, according to Samsung's internal testings. That will provide a significant bump over today's advanced microSD cards with speeds of around 21MB per second.

In tech terms, the cards are made up of Samsung's 20 nanometer-class 64 gigabit toggle DDR 2.0 devices and use a Samsung controller that supports the ultra fast UHS-1 interface.… Read more

Toshiba has announced new SDXC and SDHC cards that support the UHS-1 high-speed interface--and the new Exceria brand name to go along with them.

The Exceria name is meant "to reflect a combination of 'excellent' and 'experience,'" Toshiba said in a statement this week, but I wouldn't have guessed that without being told. Too bad Sony got there first with Xperia.

The new cards come in three varieties. At the top of the heap are models that will arrive in July with read speeds of 95MBps and write speeds of 90MBps; they'll come in 8GB, 16GB, … Read more

Samsung is the latest electronics-maker to give its SD and microSD cards a thicker skin. Today Samsung announced that its newest two lines of products are waterproof, shockproof, and magnetproof.

Beyond that, they're "guaranteed to survive up to 24 hours in water, withstand the force of a 1.6 ton vehicle (3,200 pounds), and resist up to 10,000 gauss," which is nearly the power of a medical-grade imaging magnet.

This translates into tougher cards that can keep the digital contents of smartphones, tablets, digital cameras, and camcorders safe from the elements--or from you.

Samsung's … Read more

LAS VEGAS--I am such a sucker for "Star Wars"-related merchandise--well, with the exception of burgers--so it was no surprise that I squealed with delight when I saw Mimoco's new media card readers.

Known for its line of adorable flash drives, Mimoco is branching out with its Mimomicro line of USB drive and media card readers. Announced at CES 2012, the Mimomicro is expected to ship in March and offers a geektastic way for carrying and sharing your files.

The Mimomicro features a slot for your microSD card and a flip-out USB plug (no need … Read more