Following on the heels of Verbatim, hard drive maker Western Digital has introduced two new external hard drives—the My Book Studio and My Book Elite—that feature E-Ink labels that show a drive’s name and remaining capacity, even when the drive is unplugged. The company has also introduced its latest My Passport Elite portable drive with a convenient grab-and-go USB dock.
All three drives also feature Western Digital’s WD SmartWare for continuous backups under Mac OS X and Windows; the SmartWare software also enables users to set up the E-Ink drive labels. The E-Ink labels can display a drive’s name, its remaining free capacity, and an indicator of whether the drive is locked.
The My Book Elite is available in capacities of 1, 1.5 and 2 TB, and feature a USB 2.0 interface and 256-bit hardware encryption so users’ data safe even if the drive is lost or stolen. The My Book Studio drives come in capacities of 500 GB to 2 TB and are aimed at Mac users; they’re pre-formatted with the HFS+ Journaled file system and offer both FireWire 800 and USB 2.0 interfaces; they’re also compatible with Apple’s Time Machine backup system built into Mac OS X 10.5 and newer and offer 256-bit hardware encryption. The My Book Elites range from $169.99 to $279.99; the My Book Studios run from $149.99 to $299.99.
The new My Passport Elite features an illuminated capacity gauge rather than an E-Ink display, but it’s all about portability rather than labeling: the slim, streamlined drives are designed to be docked and undocked from a grab-and-go USB cradle with just one hand, making them ideal for folks who need to move a drive between two locations with a minimum of fuss. The drive features a USB 2.0 port, but the grab-and-go go eliminates cable-futzing and port-hunting. The My Passport Elite drives are available now in capacities of 320, 500, and 640 GB at prices from $119.99 to $169.99; they also feature WD’s SmartWare backup system and 256-bit hardware encryption.
In 1950, Alan Turing asked whether machines can think. Rather than argue over definitions, he turned the question into a party game, where an interrogator trades typed messages with hidden players and tries to work out who is who. Since then, chatbots have gotten so good that they have already fooled humans in modern versions of the test.
So, four researchers from Paris Cité University asked the obvious follow-up question in a new study published in Computers in Human Behavior Reports: can AI at least catch its own kind?
Mozilla is giving Firefox’s Smart Window two new tricks. If you haven’t tried it yet, Smart Window is an optional AI mode in Firefox with a built-in chat that helps you get things done while you browse. With this update, it can fill out online forms using details from your tabs and keep an eye on websites for you.
Tired of typing the same details into every form?
The absolutely absurd idea of putting a touchscreen display on a mouse isn't exactly new. Turtle Beach already did it with its Command Series MC7, which features a 2.25-inch control screen. But apparently, even that wasn't ridiculous enough for Arctic Fox Technologies. Its new Super Mouse looks like someone took the chunky old Atari ST mouse, slapped a touchscreen and scroll wheel on it, and called it an upgrade.
The result is a rather unusual-looking mouse that is now on Kickstarter, starting at $199. And as ridiculous as it looks, some of its features are genuinely intriguing.