OCZ Octane SSD Packs Speedy New Tech Inside, Comes Up To 1 TB In Size.

Hate your wallet? Punch it in the face with one of OCZ’s new super speedy (and potentially very expensive) SSDs from the Octane series. The technology, recently acquired by way of acquisition back in March, will allow for super fast 570 MB/s read and 400 MB/s write speeds and feature up to 45,000 read IOPS. Not only that, the new Octane series drives will come in a vast assortment of capacities starting at 128 GB and jumping all the way up to a full terabyte. A less impressive but still plenty capable SATA II variant of the Octane line will pack 275/265 MB read/write speeds and 30,000 random 4K IOPS.

Speeds aside, OCZ is touting the new Indilux-powered drives’ increased write cycles: 3,000-5,000 PE write cycles for the old, non-Indilux compared to the newer (Indilux) spec of 6,000-10,000. Other items of interest include 512 MB of DRAM AES encryption and TRIM support, and finally, NCQ support.

Pricing hasn’t been outed yet but don’t expect the 1 TB SATA III option to approach anything remotely close to “affordable”. OCZ is aiming for ~$1.10-$1.30/GB meaning even at the lowest end you’re looking at $1,100 for a terabytes worth of solid state storage. Still, compared to what you could get in solid state storage just a couple of years ago, $1,100 is actually quite good.

Ralph de la Vega: “More Data Tiers In The Future”

We’ll be frank. Tiered/capped data plans are not customer friendly. Every carrier (in the U.S. at least) features data caps that are too low and priced far too high for what they give you. AT&T’s data tier options are abysmal — 200 MB or 2 GB. That’s it. Despite claims to the contrary, a fair amount of people could and would use more than 2 GB of data per month (because 2 GB isn’t that much data at all). But there is hope.

During a recent conference call in which AT&T Wireless CEO Ralph de la Vega commented on the unprecedented demand for the now 2+ year old iPhone 3GS, he let slip something much more interesting — more tiered data options. While de la Vega didn’t elaborate further as to when we would see additional data plan tiers, how much they’d cost or how much extra data they’d allow, the fact that it’s at least in the pipeline is reassuring. We don’t know about you but we’re damn tired of restricting our usage on our phone to stay within 2 GB/month.

Brief: AT&T Activated Over 1,000,000 iPhone 4S’ Through Tuesday

Title says it all.

Source: AT&T

Exclusive: Lowes iPad Kiosk Spied In Testing. Contactless Payments (NFC?) Coming In 2012.

Well lookie there. One of two currently deployed iPad kiosks for Lowes shoppers just popped up in our inbox. The units are reportedly just beginning the testing phase in two NC stores with a more complete rollout happing later this year/early next based on store revenue.

No, it’s not a fancy new Galaxy Nexus killer. But it’s tiny electronics wrapped in glass and being used in a manner which is more or less “new” for society (or at least Lowes) — just the type of thing we love.

Outside of the iPad kiosks we’re hearing Lowes is also working on a (assuming NFC-based) contactless payment system. The necessary hardware is rumored to be a new POS debit card machine and begin hitting stores (for testing) in the next 3-4 months. Regarding the contactless payments, an internal document states:

This new pin pad will also allow us to expand and support future payment technologies such as contactless payments and in our Canadian stores, the Chip & Pin cards.

Update

As mentioned in our previous article, iPadKiosks.com is the rumored supplier of the iPad kiosks for Lowes while iPadEnclosures.com is said be handling stations in the plumbing department specifically.

As always, we’ll keep digging…

Thanks, “Woo”

Review: V-MODA Vibrato Remote.

We’ve stated a time or three before that we’re big audio junkies here at GS. And we’ll be honest with you right up front: “pretty” headphones that look stylish rarely sound good. Ok. For the general public they could be worth a listen. But we’re somewhere in between tone deaf and audiophile — emphasis on the latter. So when we were given the chance to test out V-MODA’s “stylish” Vibrato Remote headphones we didn’t necessarily jump right away. We’ve had a couple of lower end samples pass through our ears that were quite frankly a load of garbage. But the story is quite different this time around…

List Of U.S. Galaxy Nexus Launch Partners Trickles Out.

Lining up for a Galaxy Nexus? You’ll want to make note of the supporting launch partners first. Globally there are going to be a slew of carriers, with many countries seeing multiple options. In the U.S. however, Verizon is rumored to have scored an exclusive period of unknown length. While such 1-carrier launches aren’t normally part of the Nexus brand’s “open” nature, money can buy just about anything.

With that said the Galaxy Nexus signup page is now live. And wouldn’t you know it, there’s a small section for “carrier preference” that spills the beans on some of the U.S. carriers that will eventually sell the Galaxy Nexus. If you don’t see your carrier don’t worry. This list will surely grow as we get closer to and even several weeks after the Galaxy Nexus launch in early November.

Infographic: “Android On Top” (2008-2011)

Just how much has Android grown since its public release in late 2008 and how as public perception of the so called “open OS” changed? Cricket Wireless spent the last several weeks pinging internet users about those very topics (and many others). The result: a gigantor infographic.

Some interesting Android factoids:

• In 2011 roughly 550,000 Android devices are activated every day

• As of August 2011 there have been over 150 million Android devices activated. Compare that to a paltry 1 million in 2009.

• Android can be found on over 231 carriers in 123 different countries.

Feed your brain a few more after the break…