September 18 - 9:20am EDT   Imation started its Thursday with a new set of Apollo hard drives that includes one of the first Wireless USB disks. Called the Apollo Pro WX, the device uses the near-wired speed of the ultra-wideband signal to duplicate the features of a normal USB hard drive without the need to string a cable for the roughly 30-foot range of the standard. The storage is as secure as physical USB, the company claims, and comes with a reportedly unique automatic backup utility that exploits the drive's ability to stay connected without necessarily using an extra USB port. [full story]

February 22 - 11:45am EST   A new wireless technology has been developed that should serve as an extremely fast replacement for technologies such as Bluetooth and ultra-wideband (UWB), says Australian research group NICTA. Nicknamed GiFi, the process would use a chip (not pictured) that transmits at an extremely high 60GHz frequency versus the 5GHz used for the fastest forms of Wi-Fi. The sheer density of the signal would allow a chip to send as much as five gigabits per second. While the spectrum would limit the device to the same 33-foot range as Bluetooth or UWB, it could theoretically transfer an HD movie to a cellphone in seconds, the researchers claim. [full story]

February 11 - 3:55pm EST   Dell today quietly slipped in one of the first widely available Wireless USB options into its portables. Both the Inspiron 1525 as well as the entire XPS gaming notebook line can now fit an internal adapter that supports the new standard. The technology uses ultra wideband to connect a system to a wireless USB hub or directly to the newest mix of external hard drives, printers, and other peripherals. The short-range technology is claimed to be as fast as wired USB 2.0. [full story]

February 8 - 10:15am EST   Lenovo's heavily rumored ThinkPad X300 is now both confirmed and tentatively available for order, a number of sites have revealed. Though not yet acknowledged by Lenovo itself, pre-order pages from Best Buy and other retailers largely validate leaks. The 13.3-inch system will be one of Lenovo's thinnest and lightest complete units with an LED-backlit display and a 64GB solid-state drive; initial hints pointed to a system weighing just 2.5 pounds. The postings contradict some rumors, however, and suggest Lenovo won't use the MacBook Air CPU, instead opting for a similar but slower 1.2GHz Core 2 Duo using the new small chip package. [full story]