Storage

Human blood can typically only be stored for six weeks. It also needs to be refrigerated, which may be challenging in poor countries or remote locations. A new study, though, could lead to a method of drying blood for long-term storage.

Researchers at the University of Southern California looking to crack the renewable energy storage problem have developed a new version of a redox flow battery from inexpensive and readily-available materials.

Sony is targeting creative pros like photographers and videographers with the introduction of two new external drives. Available as a high performance model and a standard compact flavor, the SSDs boast impressively fast read/write speeds, hardware encryption, and are impact-, water, and dust-proof.

​Smartphones are getting ever more capable, now coming with 4K screens and multiple cameras. Happily, there are still some mobile devices that allow storage expansion via a microSD slot, making the announcement of the world's fastest 1 TB UHS-1 card very welcome indeed.​

You'll soon be able to buy a smartphone with 1 TB of storage space built right in, as Samsung has announced it's working on 1 TB embedded Universal Flash Storage (eUFS) chips. We might even see it appear in the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S10, scheduled to appear on February 20.

With a focus on storing energy from intermittent renewable sources such as wind and solar, Swiss company Energy Vault has just launched an innovative new system that stores potential energy in a huge tower of concrete blocks, which can be “dropped” by a crane to harvest the kinetic energy.

​Just over a decade ago, Samsung announced the imminent arrival of the first laptops to come with 32 GB NAND flash storage. Now the first consumer-level 4-bit, 4 TB SATA solid state drives have begun mass production, signaling a possible turning point for high capacity home storage.​

Toshiba Memory America has launched a new range of NVM express solid state drives, the first to be based on the company's 96-layer 3D flash memory. The company says that it's aiming its XG6 series at client computer, high performance mobile, embedded, gaming and data center systems.

Not every cyclist can stow away their bikes in a garage. Apartment dwellers don't have much space indoors, but won't want to leave their bikes outside either. Italy's Vadolibero has combined a vertical bike rack with a floor lamp for a stylish solution to cycle storage in the home.

​If you don't have a garage or enough room in your home, it's certainly possible to lock your bike up outside … although that leaves it open to the weather and parts-thieves. That's why the Alpen Bike Capsule was created. It's designed to keep your steed enclosed and secure while stored outdoors.

Ovo Energy has launched a suite of domestic energy products, including a V2G charger that gives EV drivers the flexibility to draw electricity from the grid when it's cheap and sell it back during peak demand hours. And if users get the balance right, they could effectively drive their EVs for free.

Photographers, video editors and other creative professionals now have a super fast storage tool to help transport and work with high-bandwidth media files. Other World Computing has announced that the ThunderBlade SSD first shown off at CES back in January is now up for sale.