The long-awaited new admin interface for the QNAP TS-109/209/409 series has finally touched down after months of development and lots and lots of lab testings. It's now ready for a public beta use. The new NAS administration mainly re-arranged the configuration items into a more intuitive view as well as settings that were once complicated are now with configuration wizards to get you up and running in no time. They have added a system resource overview page that you can watch your NAS's healthy in real time. Please note that because this is a preliminary beta release and it may contain bugs so bear this in mind before updating to the v3.0. Have fun.

Super Talent Technology, a leading manufacturer of Flash storage solutions and DRAM memory modules, today added two new series of SSD products in their MasterDrive family that deliver substantially faster performance than existing SSDs.

These new SSDs are based on a sophisticated new multi-channel SATA-II (3.0 Gbits per sec) controller. The MasterDrive OX uses MLC NAND Flash to transfer data at speeds up to 150 MB/sec (sequential read) and 100 MB/sec (sequential write). The MasterDrive OX is offered in capacities up to 128GB, and is backed with a 1-year warranty.

The MasterDrive PX employs SLC NAND Flash to deliver the best possible reliability and endurance. Furthermore, it supports breath-taking sequential read and write speeds, up to 170 and 130 MB/sec read and write speeds respectively. MasterDrive PX SSDs are available in 32 and 64GB capacities, and includes a 3-year warranty.

Both MasterDrive OX and PX SSDs support the following standard features:

-          Fast 0.1msec access time;

-          0C to 70C operating temperature range;

-          Integrated wear leveling and bad bit management algorithms, and ECC.

The 128GB MasterDrive OX will be available this week at a street price of around $419.

Super Talent Director of Marketing, Joe James commented, “In this, our third generation of SATA SSDs, we’ve taken performance to incredible new heights, with sustained read and write speeds that will leave any hard disk drive in the dust. At the same time, our MasterDrive SSDs are among the most cost effective solid state storage solutions available.”

About Super Talent Technology

Super Talent Technology Corporation based in San Jose, California, designs and manufactures a full range of DDR, DDR2, and DDR3 memory modules and Flash based storage devices for computers and consumer electronics. An ISO 9001 certified company, Super Talent utilizes its state-of-the-art factory and leading-edge components to produce award winning products with outstanding reliability. Super Talent is an active member of the JEDEC and ONFI standards bodies, and holds over 200 patents in Flash and DRAM technology.

Pricing is approximate as of announcement date and may change without notice. Usable capacity is less than specified after formatting. US patents pending.

Sales of computers boasting fingerprint security are proving popular with consumers. A new Comet (the uk high street electrical retailer) survey reveals password confusion are prompting the adoption of the technology to maintain a high level of security. Demand for fingerprint protected computers has soared because lazy Britons suffer from password fatigue when trying to log on.

Sales of computers and laptops equipped with the latest technology have risen an astonishing 91 per cent in the past three months as consumers look for better ways to safeguard their personal details and prevent against the risk of identity fraud.

Leading electrical retailer Comet today (wed) revealed one in 14 computers and laptops (seven per cent) being bought now feature the latest fingerprint sensors, where the owner has to scan their fingerprint, making it impossible for unauthorised use.

A new Comet survey suggests that the popularity of products with enhanced technology could be down to Britons becoming confused about which passwords they choose to protect their computers.

Worryingly, over one in three people (36 per cent) use the same password to log into files on home and work computers and over seven out of ten use fewer than four passwords in total.

Three quarters, 76 per cent, choose their partner's name, child's name or pet's name.
37 per cent of men have used their football team or name of their favourite player and a couldn't-care-less 11 per cent of those questioned admitted to using the word "password" to gain entry to their personal computer.

The research by Comet, which questioned over 1300 customers, found only 24 per cent confessed to taking the simplest of security measures to mix up letters and numbers in a password. Even then half of these admitted to using their own Christian or middle name and birthday.

Time browsing site tipped to be Britain’s YouTube

Named as one of Microsoft’s five UK tech companies to watch in 2008 and heralded as the UK’s answer to Skype and YouTube, Miomi.com has launched with the ambition to democratise time and history by capturing the entire world’s memories online.

Born over a late night student conversation, Miomi is a web-based reflection of time, stretching from the dawn of time into the distant future.  For the first time people will be able to browse through time to find out exactly what happened on any given day, where and to whom.  The site allows users to access information from the private and public sphere to get the official and unofficial take on the world’s memories.

As well as the virtual timeline to find historical content from partners such as Wikipedia, Encarta and others, people will be encouraged to upload their own personal memories and experiences – in the form of photographs, video, audio and text – which they can choose to share with the world or their own private group of friends.

How many children are being born right now?

The brainchild of three German post-graduate students, Thomas Whitfield (25) of Oxford University, Charly Toni (26) and Richard Schreiber (26) from the Technical University of Munich, the original concept for Miomi was dreamt up during a late night university conversation.

Toni explains: “It all started with a simple question - ‘how many children are being born right now?’ Then we realised that if we could capture as many of the millions of real life events that occur every day as possible – from big international news to people’s private moments such as the birth of your first child – then we’d be able to create a huge memory bank for the world.  We decided then and there to build a site where people could record their memories and experiences so that they could be preserved, shared and seen in the context of world events to create a truly democratised reflection of history and time.”

The idea was then pitched in the Oxford University “Idea Idol” competition in February this year, where it was voted the winning idea by a panel of judges including Dragon’s Den stars Theo Paphitis and Peter Jones and eventual backers Dan Wagner and Shaa Wasmund of Brightstation Ventures.  Instead of being handed the £5,000 winning cheque, Brightstation presented the Miomi team with a cheque for “whatever it takes” to turn the idea into a reality.

The next big thing on the internet?

Within eight months of securing funding the team have relocated to London, recruited Jonny Crowe as CEO and have a product ready for launch.  During that time Miomi has already been named one of the UK’s top 25 web 2.0 start-ups (The Register) as well as being selected as one of only five British tech firms on Microsoft’s inaugural Accelerator Programme.

Claire O'Halloran of Microsoft UK, says, “It was clear to us that Miomi was one of those truly great ideas. It is the kind of idea that, whilst simple, has the ability to capture the imagination of the whole world.  We believe Miomi has the potential to be the next YouTube or Skype.”