Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex 1 TB USB 2.0 Ultra-Portable External Hard Drive STAA1000100 $129

Product Features:

• USB 2.0 plug-and-play drive
• Easy-to-use preloaded backup and encryption software
• Upgradable to USB 3.0, FireWire 800 or eSATA or access content over the network and on TV

Technical Details:

• Brand Name: Seagate
• Model: STAA1000100
• Hard Disk Size: 1 TB
• Warranty: 2 years warranty
• Hardware Platform: PC, Mac
• Hard Disk Description: External hard drive
• Width: 3.5 inches
• Depth: 4.7 inches
• Height: 0.9 inches
• Weight: 9.9 Ounces

On My Laptop:

I did a quick speed test to see how fast this Hard drive was using my USB and If you had a eSATA input with the Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex Upgrade Cable Powered eSATA – STAE103 the transfer rate would be faster but I only had a USB 2.0 port!

As you can see I only got 32.7 MB/S transfer rate on the Hard drive but I am sure if I did get the eSata cable it would be much faster.

Pro’s:

• A lot of Space — Enough space to backup you files on your computer and still have Video files on it, like Podcasts and Personal Movies.
• This hard Drive can be used in conjunction with Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex TV STAJ100.
• Very Portable but still a little heavier than others I have USED.
• You can still use it in conjunction with Paramount Shop Movies which comes on the Hard drive already.
• Can put a lot of Video or Music files on the hard drive
• Run’s Silently without a problem

Cons:

• Slightly Larger than the the Freeagent 500 Gb Hard Drive.
• Glossy black is a Fingerprint magnet!
• It can get Warm to the Touch!

I have been using this for a few weeks using the Acer Backup program to keep my files safe and also putting all my major video files that I don’t want to loose on it. I must say I am quite happy with the drive it has work flawlessly keeping my files backuped. I have also used Allway Sync to keep my files Synced with my Video files and that seems to work really well. If you don’t have back up program then you can use Allway Sync. I didn’t like using the pre-loaded software for the drive because it took up some of my computer resources. Allway Sync was a less resource hog then the software on the drive.

A Powerful Hard Drive

This is a wonderful Hard drive for those who has a lot of stuff they need to keep safe. I recommend Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex 1 TB USB 2.0 Ultra-Portable External Hard Drive STAA1000100who might need a way to keep your multi-systems backed up. I have 2 laptops that I need to keep backed up and don’t want to have multiple Hard drives. This hard drive is a great resource for those who need portability and reliability. I recommend this to anyone who might need this or want it!

I get my glasses from GlassesUSA. They have a Satisfaction Guarantee and even Prescription Sunglasess for when your out doors. Give them a try, and I know you’ll like them!

Over the past few months, We have heard about Hulu Plus and how Everyone wants to be able to watch Hulu on your Television Cheaply.   Now it is possible with the use of Dyyno a new company that has joined forces with Roku to be able to Stream anything to the Roku with very little experience or training.

What is Dyyno??

I am unsure how to describe them but I will quote from Crunchbase Profile:

Dyyno provides the breakthrough online video distribution platform that allows anyone to instantly share live video and rich media with an audience ranging from small groups to massive numbers of viewers. Dyyno’s reliable and brandable online video platform enables individuals, small and medium businesses (SMBs), communities, and large businesses to instantly share video and multimedia without IT involvement and for 10 times less cost than traditional solutions. Founded in 2007 and backed by Artiman Ventures and Startup Capital Ventures, the Palo Alto, Calif.-based company has a world-class technical team with video and networking expertise in Stanford P2P multicast.

[Via Crunchbase Profiles]

As you can read, this company allows you share your desktop or video’s instantly with others without any understanding about the mechanics behind the scenes.   I expect this company to become widely used in the next coming months or years.   You have a Video Podcast and you want people who don’t have computers to be able to watch, this would be one way to share your video for others who might not have the time to sit down and watch on the computer.  Want to teach a wide variety of people around the world, without having them on line at a certain this would become the next way to teach people without needing to worry about schedules.   They can watch on their own time, when it is convenient for them.

What is needed to watch Hulu on my Television with the Roku Box??

Very Simple, You would download a program called “Dyynosetup.exe” from their main website and install on it on your computer.   Something to consider before doing this though are:

 

• Connection Speed (Bandwidth) — I have tried this with my cable broadband(3 mb up/7mb  down) and it is very choppy.   So it would work better with Fiber optic broadband.  You see you have to have 2 streams downloading and one stream uploading to be view the video on the Roku.   If you have this then you will have no problems.   I haven’t tried to record it then watch it on Roku, that would only require one stream to view the video.   This might be the way I would have to do it to watch it on the Roku.  I also Suggest you have a wired connection to receive the best possible speed on both upstream and downstream.
• Speed of the Computer –  Since you will be decoding and encoding the video, you will need a fast system.   I would recommend something with dual or quad cores and at least 1.7 mhz for each core.  This also will help keep the video smooth when you are wanting to use this service.   Although this shouldn’t be a problem because most people have really fast systems, this could be an issue for slower systems and the video on the Roku.
• Make the Channel Private –  Keeping the channel private by having a password will greatly decrease the chances someone complains to the Hulu about this and keep you from any lawsuits.   If someone guesses the password this can be bad also, so make sure to create a password no one could possibly guess to protect yourself from lawsuits.   Unless your a Podcaster then I would recommend you make it available to the public.

After all this all you would need to use this is the program and to sign up with Dyyno.  You will see just how easy this program is to broadcast anything and everything to the Roku.   I want to test out other ideas and see how well they work.  If you want to try out Dyyno, Just use your Roku box to find this little channel store.  Once done you will then add your account to the Dyyno Channel.  Usually it will be (http://www.dyyno.com/[username]).   All you will need to do is search for the [username] and add that to your favorites.   That’s it.   You will now be able to stream to your Roku!!

I get my glasses from GlassesUSA. They have a Satisfaction Guarantee and even Prescription Sunglasess for when your out doors. Give them a try, and I know you’ll like them!

*Anything talked about is not intended to encourage or force people to use this product.   This is a how to and in such should be used in accordance with Laws in your country.   If you feel like this is illegal in your country then the best practice is don’t do it.  Remember that we still have copyrighted videos and such, and each case should be considered before making public.  You use this at your own risk, and you can not hold me responsible for anything incurred to you. *

*UPDATE*

It looks like Hulu will be coming to Roku later this Year.   Click [Here] For information!

I have been playing a lot Valve‘s games like Half Life 2 and then I also got the chance to play Portal. I thought I would talk about this because of how Steam is giving it away for free until May 24. I had my chance this weekend to play around with the game and I was most impressed with how Valve has incorporated logic into most of their games.

What do I like about Valve’s Games?

I will say I like how they make most of their games use logic but that isn’t all.   I also like how they make it a First Person Shooter but that is just me.   I am sure others like these types of games for their own reasons.   I do know that the development teams work hard at these games and I like how they add commentary to Portal.  I don’t know if they planned that during development or afterwards.  Jusst Like Portal, Half Life 2 has a commentary but the game developers did do it a little differently because of how long the game is to complete.   They put their own level in to talk about the challenges and other such video or audio rendering problems.  I do like to hear how they had troubles with levels in the games and how they got around some of them.   If you want to be agame developer this would be on game to look at and listen to the commentaries to find out if you want to be one.

Who can play Portal or Half Life 2?

Since both of these games are using the Half Life engine, you can play these are almost any system as long as you use my cheat to change the Direct Xrequirements.   If you use those instructions that I have provided on my previous post you can play both games easily with less requirements than expected.  Although to be truthful, you should have the minimum requirements which you can find out if you can play this game successfully by going to Can you run itwebsite. I do know with my new laptop that I bought this year, that I had no problems running Portal or Half Life 2 at the highest settings possible. So I am really happy with this laptop.

What else can you do with Portal?

What I did was go to Portalgamemaps.com and downloaded even more maps to play with portal.   You can add more complex or more easier maps to get even more achievements for your steam account.  You can search the web for more Portal Maps if you want to but I figure I could have hours of fun trying new maps and probably never really get board with this game.    I will recommend this game to anyone who might want to challenge there minds to a new puzzle or a way to just to relax.   This is really a good game just to sit back and relax to!!

Have a Good Monday, See you Wednesday!!

I recently got to test out a new Seagate FreeAgent Go Ultra-Portable Hard Drive with movies pre-loaded onto it.    I wanted to talk about it and let everyone who might be interested to find out more about it.

Product Features

• 5,400 RPM Spin Speed, 8 MB Cache Buffer
• USB 2.0: up to 480 Mb/s
• Sync and back up quickly at your desktop without having to search for cables.
• Guard the privacy of important files and folders.
• Get your storage solution up and running quickly.

System Requirements:

To create and activate a Paramount account for your FreeAgent Theater+ media player you will need a
system with:

• Microsoft Internet Explorer
• Microsoft Windows XP operating system (any version, including MCE) with Service Pack 2
• installed, Windows Vista or Windows 7
• 1.5 GHz CPU or faster (minimum of 600 MHz)
• 512MB or more memory (minimum of 10GB)
• At least 20GB or more, free hard disk space on your computer and drive
• Windows Media Player 10+

For the best viewing experience of the films on your computer we recommend you have a screen
resolution of 1024 x 768 (minimum of 800 x 600) and speakers or other audio output. Internet access is
also required.

 

A choice of up to 20 popular Paramount titles can be unlocked for a fee including:

 

• Star Trek (2009) (Free when you buy the Special Edition Hard Drive)
• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• GI Joe
• Shooter
• The Hunt for Red October
• The Italian Job (2003)
• Ghost
• Patriot Games
• Beowulf
• Enemy at the Gates
• The Spiderwick Chronicles
• The Love Guru
• Coach Carter
• The Manchurian Candidate (2004)
• Nacho Libre
• Jackass 2.5
• A Plumm Summer
• Carriers
• Dance Flick
• Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius
• Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow

I had a chance to test out this hard drive and I wanted to tell you about my experiences with the software and with the Star Trek (2009) movie.   I must say after playing the movie, I was impressed with the High Definition.   My computer can support High Definition and I was quite shocked that it wasn’t Standard Definition.   While playing the movie, you will notice the Hard Drive will get warm but it isn’t a problem.

In order to view these movies on your laptop or computer your will need to acquire the license from the Paramount store to make the movie you choice available to be watched from your computer or if you have the Seagate FreeAgent Theater+1080P HD Media Player STCEA201-RK. This is good for those who might want to view this on your High Definition Television sets. It is just as cheap as the Roku. After your get the rights to watch the movie on that computer, you no longer need to have Internet Access to watch it. Great for when you are traveling and can’t get internet access. You only can give three systems the rights to view that particular movie that you bought through the Paramount store, but the prices are comparable to those you get from Amazon Video on demand. The only drawback is that you will need to use Internet Explorer 8 or Higher to buy or acquire a license from the store. You have to make Internet Explorer your default browser when you want to buy a new license for a movie off the hard drive.

I never heard a sound out of the hard drive while it was running. I could tell they made sure to keep it quite when they made the hard drive. The other nice thing about the FreeAgent Hard drive is that you only need to have one USB port to use this, and no power cords are required either. I must say that is also nice to have when you are on the go, no need to find an extra power outlet.

If your backing up a lot of GB’s of data, the drive does get warm but that is also normal. It was never hot enough to burn me or hurt anything. I find the small size to be quite nice to have when traveling and going places with it. Not bulky or overweight, only about 1/2 pound of weight when you pick it up. The only drawback that I can see is the way they use the lights to show you when the hard drive is being used, a few small holes will dim and light up and unless you are really watching those lights you won’t know!

The Programs that come with this are quite powerful. Great Backup tools and Syncing tools for keeping your important data backed up. There is even aCarbonite trial on the Hard drive to encourage your to keep your data backed up off site. I do recommend people trying Carbonite because you never know what will happen to your home or your computer.

Would I recommend this to My Science Fiction Friends?

I most certainly would recommend this to any one who might need to have a way to backup their files and also have a way to have portable movies on the go. I can say that this idea of having media on a portable device like this is a great way to watch movies offline.

I’ve also asked them some questions that I am waiting for a response but when I do find out, I will update this post for those who might have the same questions. I will also update the links so you can buy these hard drives online!