New Atlas

Energy Audio available

Energy Vault to build grid-level, gravity-fed battery from a tower of concrete blocks

Michael Irving November 8, 2018

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.

Energy Vault has launched a new grid-level energy storage system that uses concrete blocks, stacked in ...

Computers Audio available

Samsung sounds death knell for hard drives with 4 TB QLC SSD

Paul Ridden August 7, 2018

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.

"Samsung’s new 4-bit SATA SSD will herald a massive move to terabyte-SSDs for consumers," said Samsung's ...

Computers

Toshiba introduces first SSDs built on its 96-layer 3D flash memory

Paul Ridden July 24, 2018

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.

Toshiba's 96-layer 3D flash SSD modules are being made available to system manufacturers now

Bicycles

Space-saving bike rack doubles as stylish floor lamp

Paul Ridden July 9, 2018

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.

The Vertik bike stand/floor lamp hybrid from Vadolibero

Bicycles

Waterproof locking capsule keeps your bike covered

Ben Coxworth June 11, 2018

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.

The Alpen Bike Capsule is claimed to accommodate most kinds of bicycles

Good Thinking

Ovo Energy's V2G charger could see EV owners drive for free

Paul Ridden April 19, 2018

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.

The Ovo Vehicle-to-Grid charger will be rolled out to Nissan Leaf and e-NV2000 drivers in the ...

Computers

OWC's lightning-fast ThunderBlade external SSD goes on sale

Paul Ridden April 11, 2018

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.

The OWC ThunderBlade external SSD is available now in capacities ranging from 1 TB to 8 ...

Computers

Nimbus Data launches world's largest SSD with 100 terabyte capacity

Rich Haridy March 19, 2018

Last month Samsung revealed its latest record-breaking large capacity solid state drive cramming 30 TB into a 2.5-inch drive format unit. Now Nimbus Data has quickly smashed Samsung’s benchmark launching the ExaDrive DC100 – a 3.5 inch SSD drive unit with a massive 100 TB capacity.

The new record for world's largest SSD has been set with a capacity of 100 TB

Computers

Samsung's 30+ TB enterprise SSD rolls off the production line

Paul Ridden February 20, 2018

Billed as the world's largest capacity Serial Attached SCSI SSD, the PM1643 has now entered mass production. Samsung has managed to cram 30.72 TB of storage into a 2.5-inch drive format unit, which it hopes will help accelerate the move from hard drives to solid state storage in enterprise systems.

The PM1643 is the first of a number of large capacity solid state drives aimed at ...

Mobile Technology

Integral launches 512 GB microSD card

Paul Ridden January 23, 2018

Integrated storage on today's smartphones can quickly fill up thanks to the stills and video capabilities of their cameras. Storage anxiety is less of a concern with phones rocking a microSD, especially if you can pop in the latest capacious card from Integral when it goes on sale next month.

Half a terabyte of storage for mobile devices is now a reality thanks to Integral's 512 ...