Gadget I Had Picked For Today ---- or unopened package just delivered?

Thursday, October 1, 2009 ---   Netcast 929    

This was one of those days where Leo let the folks in the chat room who were watching us record the Daily Giz Wiz decide if I should talk about the gadget I had planned for the day, or if I should open the box that was just delivered and make that the gadget of the day. Everyone voted for the “surprise package”!

It turned out to be quite a neat gizmo, something new from Verbatim. It’s the InSight Portable USB Hard Drives with Always On Display. To prove that the “always on display” was really always on, when I opened the box, the screen read: “Verbatim 297GB free”. That’s what the InSight Hard Drive does, displays drive name and available free space, even when disconnected. It has a sleek piano black finish. You can customizable the drive name, so if you have several drives one could be “business”, one “music”, one “photos”, etc. This new palm-sized external hard drive lets Windows and Mac users instantly add 320GB or 500GB of removable memory to their notebook or desktop system.  Your personalized drive’s name, along with the free space, shows on the 32 x 128-pixel display even when the drive is unplugged from everything. Both the 320GB and 500GB drives include Nero BackItUp Essentials. This software allows full, automatic system backup and restore functions. Nero BackItUp Essentials also features data encryption with password control options. So you can have peace of mind when traveling or storing the drive. The InSight Portable Hard Drive weigh less than 6 ounces (164 g), and measure 6 in. X 3.4 in. X 0.63 in. (153 mm x 87 mm x 16 mm). The 2.5” drives have a 5400rpm spindle speed and 8MB of cache memory to optimize performance. USB 2.0. Available through Verbatim or retail partners such as Best Buy. Suggested retail prices are US$119.99 for the 320GB drive and US$149.99 for the 500GB drive.

 www.verbatim.com

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