With more and more notebooks, netbooks, and desktops now coming with USB 3.0 ports, we are seeing a lot of new USB 3.0 external storage solutions crop up on the market. HP is the largest computer company in the world as far as shipments go and the company sells a vast line of accessories and peripherals to go along with its notebooks, netbooks, and desktops as well. HP has now unveiled a new USB 3.0 portable HDD that is aimed at the mobile user.

The new HDD provides up to three times faster data transfers than USB 2.0 and retains USB 2.0 compatibility for older machines. The HDD can be had in 500GB, 750GB, and 1TB capacities and the drive can back up large data sets very quickly. HP claims that the drive can transfer a 2-hour HD movie in 4 minutes and 50 seconds using USB 3.0 compared to 14 minutes and 27 seconds using USB 2.0. For the most portability, the external storage solution needs no power adapter.

One of the newest video cards that covers the home theater and modestly priced segments of the video card market to come from Big Green is the GT430. Club 3D has pulled the wraps off its own single slot GT430 video card and the small little card should be a nice choice for a HTPC machine that doesn't need the most powerful hardware on the market.

The GT430 from Club 3D is aimed at accelerating photos and HD video according to the company and will allow the user to watch 3D Blu-ray flicks on a computer screen or a big screen in the living room. The video card uses the PCIe v2.0 slot and has a core clock of 700MHz. The card uses 1024MB of DDR3 RAM that is clocked at 1333MHz and has a 128-bit memory interface.

A full two weeks before Windows Phone 7 makes its debut with AT&T is the U.S., smartphone fanatics in Europe and Asia will be able to get their hands on WP7 devices. Ten different devices will be launched across thirty countries (some devices will have different names in different markets) with 60 mobile operators in 30 countries planning on carrying WP7 devices by 2011.

"We have a beautiful lineup in this first wave of Windows Phone 7 handsets," said Steve Ballmer, chief executive officer at Microsoft. With their "hub" format giving easy access to games, pictures, and music with heavy social network integration, Microsoft is taking a big leap back into the smartphone market currently dominated by Android, iPhone, and BlackBerry. Check out the full list of worldwide Windows Phone 7 launch devices and carriers after the break.

When it comes to HTPC and nettop computers, most people look for the smallest machines they can find that offer the most performance. A small HTPC that supports 1080p HD video is what many consumers are looking for and with the ION 2 packing machines on the market the number of options is growing all the time. Habey has unveiled a new mini ITX mainboard called the MITX-6564 that is aimed directly at nettop and HTPC use.

The mainboard is called the MITX-6564. The machine is a low profile mini-ITX mainboard with ION 2 Graphics and an Intel Atom D510 dual-core processor inside. The thin mainboard is under an inch thick and is designed to be very quiet during operation. The ION 2 GPU has 16 CUDA cores and supports resolution up to 2560 x 1600 and full 1080p HD video. Connectivity includes VGA and HDMI.

The ACCC is taking more bits out of Apple, finds it a bit sour.

The ACCC's continuing investigation against Apple regarding it's warranty is still going on, but with Apple refusing to budge on it's policies, the result might be an increase in mobile plan fees. Apple are refusing to let Telco's (like Telstra, Optus, etc) to offer repair services for the Apple iPhone.

Last week, I posted about Telstra now offering 24 months warranty on their handsets, with Apple's iPhone excluded. The ACCC is still pushing for 24 month contracts to have 24 month warranty included.

ACCC chairman, Graeme Samuel said "Apple is being difficult". He said that if Apple continue to not be cooperative, the manufacturer would most likely charge it carrier partners for an additional 12 month warranty with iPhones bundled in 24 month plans.

Telco's, are faced with a price per unit that is several hundreds more over the life of the plan, would have no choice but to either absorb the cost, or pass it onto customers.

Telstra has named their new CIO today.

Meet, Patrick Eltridge:

Former Seek and Westpac CIO, Patrick Eltridge has stepped up to the plate of chief information officer, replacing former CIO John McInerney who resigned in June of this year.

Patrick begins his turn as CIO from November 22nd of this year.

Telstra's chief operating officer, Michael Rocca said in a note to Telstra staff "I am pleased to announce that Patrick Eltridge joins us from Standard Chartered Bank in Singapore, starting as CIO on 22 November 2010. Patrick is ideally suited for Telstra's CIO role as his wide experience in the banking sector includes managing significant system changes, performing in a global architectural role and operating in a customer-facing business unit,"

"Patrick's deep knowledge and support of a customer-led business with a particular focus on online customer experiences and workforce productivity will add significant value to the position."

Could it be? Only 11 days until the world knows what's under the hood of AMD's new 6k range of graphics cards.

NDA paperwork is starting to come through and it looks like the 22nd is cemented into history as the launch of the AMD 6000 range of graphic cards. While we don't have exact model numbers, our understanding is that the PRO and XT flavours will be coming in, which should carry the 6850 and 6870 names.

While these names seem like a "replacement" of the current HD 5850 and 5870 parts, initial speculation with the name changes suggest these products could fall into the $200 - $250 segment.

Tasty times ahead indeed!

Development of the Cell processor that powers the PlayStation 3 has not stalled, IBM are continuing to develop chips and supply hardware for future gaming consoles, a company executive said.

IBM is working with Nintendo and Sony, CTO of IBM's Systems and Technology Group, Jai Menon said.

The Cell processor which was developed by IBM with the involvement of Sony and Toshiba, first appeared in Sony's PlayStation 3 in 2005. It was a hybrid chip, including processor cores from IBM's Power architecture. But, lately there have been doubts about Cell's future and it's use in upcoming next-generation gaming consoles.

IBM confirmed in a statement on Friday that it will still manufacture Cell processors for use in the PlayStation 3, as well as continue to invest in Cell as part of it's hybrid and multicore chip strategy.

Are you ready?

The first picture of AMD's reference built Radeon HD 6870 has been leaked ahead of it's launch later this month, it reveals some outputs on the card.

It is the first GPU to no longer hold the ATI name, bearing an AMD Radeon branding in it's place.

The rear of the card includes (the usual 2 slot cooler), 2 X DVI-I connectors, a HDMI port and two mini DisplayPort connectors. Obviously it supports AMD's EyeFinity technology - but over how many screens now that it has 5 outputs is anyone's guess.

I often work from my netbook when I travel and the worst thing about the little machine is that it lacks an optical drive. I still get handed CDs and DVDs with information on them that I can't access on the little machine. There are also many ultraportable notebooks on the market that lack optical drives as well. This is an issue for many users who want to watch movies and be able to access software and other content on discs.

Samsung has unveiled a new and very portable external DVD drive that can burn to CD and DVD media at fast speeds, and is small enough to fit in most any laptop bag or briefcase. The little optical drive is called the SE-S084F DVD Writer. It has WriteMaster technology for multitasking on the PC and high-speed media writing on slower computers. The machine also has Buffer Under Run Tech to prevent errors.