Seagate’s new 8TB hard drive is for all you digital hoarders

via ars technica

Solid-state drives get most of the love from gadget sites these days—they're faster and cheaper than ever, and they're a great way to extend the life of an older computer. If you need to store more than a terabyte of data, however, you still need to turn to old fashioned spinning hard drives. To that end, Seagate yesterday announced an 8TB hard drive that's a full two terabytes larger than the largest drives on the market today.

The drive that's being announced is aimed at the enterprise market, so it's not something consumers will be able to get their hands on in the near-term—for now, the biggest drive available to most folks will be a mere 6TB in size. Once the 8TB begins shipping in bulk, though, we'd expect to see them available on sites like Newegg and Amazon, especially since they'll fit in current 3.5-inch drive bays.

Larger drives like this are commonly used to increase the capacity of network-attached storage devices without having to totally replace them. In consumer desktops, spinning hard drives continue to offer a cost-per-gigabyte ratio far superior to SSDs, useful if you need a lot of storage but don't need it to be particularly speedy. Modern chipsets will even allow you to use a smaller SSD as a cache to boost the speed of your computer without sacrificing storage capacity.

Seagate hasn't revealed pricing information for the drives yet, though we wouldn't expect them to be cheap—the 6TB drives that are already shipping cost around twice as much as 4TB drives and nearly four times as much as 2TB drives. Seagate is shipping the drives to "select customers" as of publication and they will be more widely available next quarter.

Samsung announces Galaxy Alpha—built with metal, but on a budget

via arstechnica

Samsung has officially announced its first metal phone in a very long time: the Samsung Galaxy Alpha. Normally, Samsung goes all-out in the specs department and puts all the pieces in a plastic case—but the Galaxy Alpha is all about design over specs.

SPECS AT A GLANCE: SAMSUNG GALAXY ALPHA
SCREEN	1280×720 4.7" (312 PPI) AMOLED
OS	Android KitKat 4.4.4 with TouchWiz
CPU	Octa Core (Quad 1.8GHz + Quad 1.3GHz)
RAM	2GB
STORAGE	32GB, not expandable
NETWORKING	802.11b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS
PORTS	Micro-USB 2.0, headphones
CAMERA	12MP rear camera, 2.1MP front camera
SIZE	132.4mm × 65.5mm × 6.7mm
WEIGHT	115g
BATTERY	1860 mAh

The Galaxy Alpha is a 4.7-inch device that uses a metal frame, but it's not an undisputed new flagship and doesn't have top-tier specs. The screen resolution is 1280×720, which works out to 312 PPI, below the pixel density of most Android flagships (~430 PPI) but right in the iPhone 5S range (326 PPI).

Samsung's official blog lists the processor as either an "Octa Core (Quad 1.8GHz + Quad 1.3GHz)," which would be an Exynos processor, or a "Quad Core 2.5GHz" processor, which sounds like a Snapdragon processor (either an 801 or 805) that might land in the US version. The processor will be paired with 2GB of RAM, which again is not top-of-the-line for Android but should still make for a perfectly serviceable device.

Besides reducing the specs overall, Samsung dropped micro-USB 3.0, the microSD slot, and waterproofing. The one area it didn't skimp on is the storage; the phone comes with 32GB standard. It also has a fingerprint reader and heart rate monitor. No word yet on pricing.

At less than 7 mm thick, Samsung calls this "one of the slimmest Galaxy devices ever." The tradeoff for that slimness is that you get a battery that only clocks in at 1860 mAh—almost 1000 mAh less than the Galaxy S5. The battery life is definitely something that we'll take a look at when we have the device in hand, but with the smaller, lower-resolution screen, the phone still stands a good chance of having decent runtime. (Ballooning battery sizes are a recent trend in Android devices—the Galaxy S II survived with an 1800 mAh battery.)

With a metal frame and chamfered edges, Samsung says the Alpha sets "a new standard for Samsung Galaxy design." J.K. Shin, the CEO of Samsung Electronics, says, “The Galaxy Alpha was built and designed based on the specific desires of the consumer market.” In other words, Samsung is directly addressing the complaints about its usual materials choice. The back is still plastic, though, and it still has the golf ball texture from the Galaxy S5. The plastic back is removable, allowing the battery to be swapped out.

While the specs aren't at the crazy stratospheric levels that Samsung devices usually attain, the company is promising "same powerful hardware and features users expect from a flagship." If it can keep the performance up, Samsung may have a device that matches up well with the iPhone 6 rumors. As with the Galaxy Gear, Samsung is all about preparedness these days—if a competing device is rumored, Samsung wants to build a rival first.

According to the press release, the Alpha will launch "at the beginning of September." On September 3, Samsung will hold an event that we expect to focus on the Note 4—but perhaps the Alpha will make an appearance, too.

Computer Tune-Up from Friendly Computers

Everyone has seen the hoarding programs on TV. Did you know that after a relatively short period of time your computer starts looking very similar to the homes with “stuff” piled everywhere? Just as the home filled with useless material is difficult to navigate, your computer loses performance with the accumulated junk. A quick “tune up” can improve performance and help you avoid experiencing problems when you need your computer the most. 

There are several ways your computer accumulates “junk.” Each time a website is visited, images from the site must be downloaded to your computer. The next time the same site is visited, it loads very quickly because all the images downloaded the first time are kept in an area referred to as a “cache”. The cache can become very large after a few months. 

 Another area that causes clutter is programs being installed and removed from your computer. As programs are installed then, at a later time removed, all information used for the installation is not removed from your computer. This is not an accident. The providers of the program hope that ultimately you will realize you need the program and perform installation a second time. When that happens, the provider wants to be sure that you “stick” the second time so they reinstall all the configuration/setting information you used the first time. 

 Having a good anti-virus properly installed, configured and set to run when the computer is powered up is essential. Computers infected by viruses run slower than normal and do not function properly. Tuning up the system, checking for viruses, updating virus software, and setting the software to run regularly will keep your system from causing you problems.

Having a “computer checkup” every 6 months or so is ideal not only to keep it running quickly and smoothly, but to also avoid other costly repairs. Heat is the cause of more computer failures than almost any other issue. The processor or Central Processing Unit (CPU) for your computer is “permanently” connected to the Motherboard. Since the processor produces significant heat, a chunk of metal is mounted on the top of the processor and is equipped with a fan to circulate air and enhance cooling. Even if your home is the most clean home in town, after a few months the “Heat Sink” or chunk of metal becomes almost totally plugged with dust and dirt. This is a result of pulling air into the computer case from the room where it resides to cool it. Inevitably, that air will contain dust particles. To enhance the cooling effect for the processor, Thermal Paste is applied to the processor in the area where it connects to the Heat Sink. This heat conducting material should be removed and reapplied periodically. 

 If you want to enjoy a long and trouble free operation of your computer, either bring it to our location or schedule a call today. The following tasks will be completed: 

• Review logs and ensure that updates and virus protection are functioning 
• Disconnect everything from the computer to allow taking it outside and blowing out dust with canned air 
• Remove processor then remove and reapply thermal paste 
• Scan, clear and defragment registry 
• Empty browser cache 
• Delete temporary files 
• Defrag hard drives 
• Check network connections 
• Check configuration and update schedules for antivirus and spyware protection systems 
• Verify internet security and firewall integrity 
• Evaluate internet connection performance 
• Ensure Wireless Security (if applicable) 
• Perform software updates 
• Evaluate each system’s general performance 
• Perform a quick scan to ensure that infections are not present 
• Look at backup log to confirm that events are occurring as scheduled
• Check backup logs Neglecting the maintenance of a computer is like ignoring maintenance for your vehicle.  
It will operate as expected for a while then numerous problems will seem to have developed at the same time. At Friendly Computers, we try very hard to “live up” to our name and accomplish that objective by “looking out” for our customers. Visit our website to schedule online today or give us a call 281-554-5500…or simply bring your computer to us for a “routine checkup” today. You will be glad you did.

FriendlyComputers.com