Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Toshiba Bluetooth Portable Storage Device

Posted by timothy on from the are-you-listening-cupertino dept.

An Anonymous Coward writes: "Toshiba has announced a new portable storage device, Bluetooth Pocket Server, that can be used as a HTTP/FTP wireless server. This device with a 5GB of data can hold up to 37 hours of MPEG-4 moving images. You can read the press release on the Toshiba web site. Now while walking you can be a human web server..."

49 of 170 comments (clear)

  1. I know I shouldn't... by TheConfusedOne · · Score: 5, Funny

    Imagine a cluster of guys all named Beowolf walking around with these...

    --
    --- I wish I could hear the soundtrack to my life. That way I'd know when to duck.
    1. Re:I know I shouldn't... by thaigan · · Score: 2, Informative

      You can find out what it's all about here: http://www.beowulf.org/intro.html

      --

      42
  2. Next on Slashdot!: by Telastyn · · Score: 4, Funny

    WarDriving for WaReZ.

  3. How helpful! by Chairboy · · Score: 4, Funny

    It's awfully kind of these posters to tell us how many hours of MPEG-4 'Moving Images' can be stored on 5GB. Seeing as how hard it is for this readership to understand 5 GB in other terms....

    1. Re:How helpful! by drsoran · · Score: 3, Funny

      Reminds me of the retail box on the hard drive I bought that listed capacities in number of hours of MP3s that could be stored on it. :-)

    2. Re:How helpful! by Mr.Sharpy · · Score: 2, Insightful

      More interesting is the fact that the phrase "37 hours of MPEG-4 'Moving Images'" appeared in the Toshiba press release. The poster simply took it from there.

    3. Re:How helpful! by warpSpeed · · Score: 5, Funny

      Could you translate that to the LOC (Libraries of Congress) units please. That is the Unit I am most familar with.

  4. I can see it now... by Mysticalfruit · · Score: 5, Funny

    Your walking along and suddenly the RIAA police run by and tackle some kid for pirating over the air waves.

    Or better yet, you'll go on a warez site and the instructions will be like..

    "Goto the mall, stand in front of the Orange Julius and make the 'pirate sign' in the air. Your download will commence shortly aftwards."

    --
    Yes Francis, the world has gone crazy.
  5. Transfer rates? by questionlp · · Score: 3, Informative
    I wonder what kind of transfer rates one can get with that thing, since it is limited to the speed of the Bluetooth connection.

    The storage unit would be a nice add-on for those with a Pocket PC 2002 device and a BT card (or in the case of the iPaq 3870, which has BT built-in) as you could just sit the drive on a table or in a jacket pocket and listen to MP3s or even watch (shrunken versions) of Anime or movies with PocketDiVX.

    1. Re:Transfer rates? by DdJ · · Score: 2, Informative
      I wonder what kind of transfer rates one can get with that thing, since it is limited to the speed of the Bluetooth connection.
      It's interesting to note that they tell you to hook up USB if the bandwidth of the thing is too slow for you. That should tell you something significant about the transfer rate you get in practice.
    2. Re:Transfer rates? by questionlp · · Score: 2, Informative

      At least with Bluetooth, you can get a Compact Flash card (for most Pocket PC devices) or an SD or Memory Stick BT card for some Palm devices. If you don't have any of those options, then you are SOL :)

  6. Cool.... a new iPod perhaps? by Bake · · Score: 5, Funny

    Can't wait for some kid to walk with one of those into CompUSA and rip Office X without even plugging into the computer:)

    1. Re:Cool.... a new iPod perhaps? by Mysticalfruit · · Score: 3, Insightful

      better yet, the kids standing across the street with a high gain yagi getting office X.

      I can see it now, there going to start installing bluetooth scramblers (they'll just call it "bluecavity") in public places to prevent remote theft...

      --
      Yes Francis, the world has gone crazy.
  7. I wanna be a Bluetooth Radio Station by BeBoxer · · Score: 3, Interesting

    What I think would be really neat is a simple radio protocol for Bluetooth. That way, I could "share" whatever tunes I happen to be listening to on my MP3 player with the people around me. Other folks on the bus or whatever could "tune in" to see what I was listening to, or I could check out what other people are listening to. It wouldn't even have to include download capability, just a stream of whatever is going to my headphones.

    1. Re:I wanna be a Bluetooth Radio Station by Hooya · · Score: 2

      try that and instead of a bluetooth radio station, you'll be a black-eye radio station. if Ms. Rosen gets her way. I mean, that would be public performance... unless of course you were listening to copylefted or otherwise free (un-copyrighted) tunes.

    2. Re:I wanna be a Bluetooth Radio Station by Merlynnus · · Score: 5, Informative

      Bluetooth? How about FM broadcast, so that anyone around you with a FM radio can tune in?

      It already exists, and it's cheap. When I got my SlimX MP3 player, I also got a Link-It which is a personal FM transmitter, with a range of a few dozen feet, weighing a few ounces, and only a few inches in size. You can buy them for about $30 US from various places, including here.

      Excellent for listening to MP3s in the car.

      A>

  8. Just imagine this at the next G8 meeting... by Saint+Aardvark · · Score: 5, Interesting
    A protestor goes to the front of police lines and videotapes them. The camera is seized, but there's no tape inside. It's too late to stop the news from getting out; the group's been mirroring the contents of her pocket server the whole time, and are busy putting that up on their website in real time.

    Or alternatively, one police car is designated the "friendly face" -- it's got a camera and one of these inside. The police are busy mirroring its movies/images in real time, to show the world that the protestors are getting out of hand and the police are doing their best to keep things cool.

    --
    Carousel is a lie!
    1. Re:Just imagine this at the next G8 meeting... by cutecub · · Score: 5, Interesting

      David Brin discusses this very idea in his book, The Transparent Society .

      In his example, a person wears a small camera pinned to his shirt which wirelessly streams video and audio to his personal server ( located in his apartment. )
      When this hypothetical person is pulled over for a traffic violation, both the the police officer and the driver are on their best behavior because each knows he's being recorded.

      I doubt Brin would have imagined his futuristic example becomming plausible quite so soon. - the book was published in 1999.

      -Cutecub

    2. Re:Just imagine this at the next G8 meeting... by wiredog · · Score: 2

      Read "Earth". His SF novel which is full of that sort of stuff. And a black hole orbiting the Earth. Underground.

      --

      Best Slashdot Co
    3. Re:Just imagine this at the next G8 meeting... by Salamander · · Score: 2
      I find a society where there is no such thing as 'privacy' to be upsetting. The fact that David likes it so much

      You're misrepresenting his position. Have you actually read the book? Brin doesn't think a society without privacy is a good thing, just that with current (or near-future) technology it's unavoidable. The government simply will be able to watch you, no matter what precautions you take. Maybe you don't believe that, but so far Brin has been much more convincing on that point than you have, and if one accepts his arguments on that point then the rest of what he has to say about symmetry between watchers and watched makes a lot of sense.

      --
      Slashdot - News for Herds. Stuff that Splatters.
  9. Does it use IIS? by squison · · Score: 2, Funny

    Your pocket catches on fire because of the latest version of the Nimda virus..

  10. Don't forget to leave the server by ZahrGnosis · · Score: 2, Funny

    "Hey, the file server was down for the last hour, do you know what happened?"

    "Oh, hey, sorry, I had it in my pocket when I went out for lunch."

  11. I think Warwick will get this thing implanted. by Target+Drone · · Score: 2, Funny
    Now while walking you can be a human web server...

    So how long do you think it'll be before Professor Warwick really does become a human web server?

  12. This isn't a foolish as it may sound... by wowbagger · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Consider this hypothetical example:

    I have my Citizen/IBM Linux watch - not a lot of internal storage there, but it is my display device.

    I have the Toshiba storage device - there's all my disk space, tucked into my jacket pocket where it is out of the way.

    I have my cell phone, in an outside pocket. There's my Internet connectivity.

    Now, I can check if I have mail by looking at my watch. If I need to read it, I can either view it on my watch, if it is short, or on the phone, if it is longer (I assume the phone has a larger display than the watch).

    My tunes are in the storage device, and played via the watch or phone (and headphones, natch).

    If I have my digital camera, I now have GIGs of storage to save the pics to.

    Sounds like a good thing to me.

    --
    www.eFax.com are spammers
    1. Re:This isn't a foolish as it may sound... by D4MO · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Then they'll just compress all that into one mini device.

      --

      Rocket science is easy. Neurosurgery, now *that's* difficult.
    2. Re:This isn't a foolish as it may sound... by PatSmarty · · Score: 2, Informative

      And image using Nextlink Bluespoon wireless headsets to listen to your mp3s - each headset weights only 10 grams, yet runs for 8 hours - crazy!

      Btw: If you have questions about this headset, head over to this forum, where one of the creators regularly answers questions.

    3. Re:This isn't a foolish as it may sound... by singularity · · Score: 2

      I hope not. One of the great problems with truly moblie (and wearable) objects is the struggle between portability and interface.

      For example, my watch is very good at what it does. However, that screen is going to be way too small to do any long reading (email) or data entry (composing email).

      You could do voice recognition, but you still have to worry about a screen.

      "Fine," you say, "what about small screens that attach to your glasses?"

      Well, I, for one, do not want to have to wear one of those at all times just to see if I have new mail, especially if I have something convinient like a watch already on my wrist.

      The point is that a few (but not too many) extremely portable objects is much more flexible than just one integrated product.

      I currently have both a cell phone and a Visor. I have a cord to connect the two together to check my email and things like that (the Visor's screen being much better than the cell, obviously).

      There are times, however, when all I need/want on me is my cell phone. Having an integrated device, like the Treo, will mean that I still have to carry around a fairly bulky device. Why? Because the Treo is going to have its size dictated by its screen.

      I would prefer to have several small things that are very good a what they do and all work together seamlessly.

      "Plug and play" without the "plug." I have a hard drive/computer in my wallet, a watch capable of minor alerts (like CallerID and mail alerts). I decide to email someone, so I pick up a keyboard and the devices automatically recognize it and accept wireless input from it. To see the input, I attach a glasses monitor (or a tiny projector) and the other parts see it and imeediately begin to use it as a display.

      --
      - (c) 2018 Hank Zimmerman
  13. I can see it now... by rleyton · · Score: 5, Funny

    Soon, there will be more than just FTP/HTTP... Imagine it...

    telnet girlfriend
    Trying 192.168.23.45
    Connected to girlfriend
    Escape characters are 'Football'.
    What do you want? rm /dev/complaints
    What do you want? mknod 5 12 /dev/do_the_washing_for_me_love
    What do you want? mknod 5 13 /dev/happy_to_let_you_surf_til_late
    What do you want? cat /proc/wallet | grep 'enough_for_a_pizza' | mail me@me.com
    rm: cannot open `/proc/wallet': Permission denied. You are barred from the house until further notice.

    Warning! Liberties quota exceeded.

    --
    ooooooh! What does this button do? - DeeDee, Dexters Lab.
  14. What about battery life... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    We're assuming that it's a portable device, so it must use batteries, correct?

    5Gibibytes is neat stuff, but it's useless if it'll only spin for 2 hours at a time.

    1. Re:What about battery life... by afidel · · Score: 2

      I assume that it uses the same 1.8" hdd as the iPod, the iPod gets ~10-12 hours of play time, this includes periods of spinning the disk and the power to keep the ram refreshed, the mips core running to decompress the music etc. I'm not sure what affect spinning the hdd full time would have but I would bet it would get ~6-8 hours for just the drive. p.s. karma's at 50 don't bother to mod me up.

      --
      There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
  15. Think of the Spy oppertunities by warpSpeed · · Score: 5, Funny

    Two agents walk up to a park bench and sit. Never talking, exchanging anything or touching. They sit for 1/3 hour while the secrets are copied from one to the the other. (and if they are double agents the transfer will be bi-directional) Then they get up an leave.

    Man, the CIA and FBI will hate that. You honor in this video we see now non-descript men in a park doing, umm, nothing...

  16. Bluetooth is too slow by Mr.Sharpy · · Score: 4, Informative

    If I remember correctly, bluetooth 1.1 comes in with a transfer rate of about 720Kbps and only works in about a 10m radius (for devices, access points have longer ranges). At that rate, It would take about 16 hours to copy 5GB of data to or from the device. So unless you plan on standing close to somebody for a quite a while, the mental images of swapping mp3 collections or walking for warez can be put on hold for now.

    Now if they will support Bluetooth 2, the situation improves...

    1. Re:Bluetooth is too slow by javatips · · Score: 2

      The device also have a USB port for large data transfert.

      The bandwidth is twice what required for viewing the MPEG4 movies (I assume the 37 hours of MPEG4 in the PR and the 16hours needed to copy all the stuff).

      So it's more than enough for listening/viewing content.

    2. Re:Bluetooth is too slow by KFury · · Score: 2

      "The device also have a USB port for large data transfert."

      USB (USB1.0) isn't any faster...

      --

      Kevin Fox
    3. Re:Bluetooth is too slow by KFury · · Score: 2

      "So unless you plan on standing close to somebody for a quite a while, the mental images of swapping mp3 collections or walking for warez can be put on hold for now. "

      Hardly. If I wanted some cool stuff off your computer, does that mean I want everything on your computer?

      You're my friend. We hang out for a half hour. That's time enough for 38 MP3 tracks, or 133 megs of whatever. A few days later, we hang out again. Swapping continues.

      If you lose the 'must have everything now" mentality, this becomes pretty useful, especially if it happens automatically in the background whenever you're within range of a like-minded wearer. I could see people using these things in class, on the subway, or in traffic. At the end of the day you check out what your hip-scanner picked up for you.

      Keep in mind that not all valuable files are as big as MPEG4 streams or MP3 collections. Back in the day, 500K of porn jpegs would get you through the day, and that would only take six seconds to transmit.

      --

      Kevin Fox
    4. Re:Bluetooth is too slow by pacc · · Score: 2

      I think you'll find that USB is infinitly faster than nothing at all.

      And while your at it you will be pleased to know that the power-efficiency of the Bluetooth chip really comes in handy when the battereies need to support the harddrive. (Try to keep it spinning while transfering 5Gb of data over 750 kbps)

  17. But can you WATCH those MPEG4s? by chill · · Score: 5, Informative

    Speeds for Bluetooth spec out at under 1 Mbps, depending on range, obstacles, etc. At an average speed of 750 Kbps, could you watch an MPEG-4 encoded video clip at a decent resolution on a handheld? (Hmmm...that OQO has Bluetooth built in.) Check out the specs on Bluetooth.

    --
    Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
    1. Re:But can you WATCH those MPEG4s? by Locutus · · Score: 2

      That sounds about right and this is just why Microsoft wants Bluetooth dead. The lower power handhelds ( read PalmOS-based, Symbian, cell phone ) can support the power requirements of Bluetooth but not 802.11. The WinCE and Linux based handheld pocket PC's already have huge battery systems and can better support the requirements of 802.11.

      Wonder why MS is holding back Bluetooth support and running full steam with 802.11....

      I would much rather have a Bluetooth enabled small/cheap cellphone, ear piece/mic, and PDA instead of a large/expensive single device that does a poor job at everything. Having my desktop Bluetooth enabled or Tivo or one of these servers at the house or office would rock. Bluetooths short range also will keep snooper close enough to get caught or at least seen.

      It looks like 2002 WILL be the year of Bluetooth.

      Awesome!

      LoB

      --
      "Anyone who stands out in the middle of a road looks like roadkill to me." --Linus
  18. I can see piracy will be an even bigger problem by nvts-NUTS · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Remember the story a few months back about the kid who walked into a story and copied the MAC version of MS Office off a store display computer by hooking in his portable device. Well now they'll be no wires to give him away. Now I realize PC software isn't as easy to copy installed versions of but there is a wealth of data now available to be copied without giving yourself away with any obvious wires.

  19. USB? by Triv · · Score: 2

    In business, stored presentation data can be transmitted to a BluetoothTM-enabled printer or projector without the need of an intermediary PCs. When large volumes of data do have to be transferred to a PC, an integrated USB port can be used to optimize the speed of the transaction.

    What, no firewire? I understand that it's s'posed to be wireless in the first place, but since they DO include a wired interface you'd think they'd use the fastest available one.

    triv

  20. Actual transfer rate. by juuri · · Score: 4, Informative

    Maximum transfer rate is asynchronous 732.2/57.6kbps. Sync is around 433kbps. So don't expect to be transfering lots of data around. This is still plenty fast enough though for DiVX movies.

    --
    --- I do not moderate.
  21. Picture by joeku · · Score: 4, Informative

    O'Grady has a pic of it. Nice and clean design I might add.

    http://www.powerpage.org/story.lasso?newsID=9274

  22. pshaw by tps12 · · Score: 2
    This device with a 5GB of data can hold up to 37 hours of MPEG-4 moving images.

    This is a hoax. There is no such thing as a "moving image." Such a thing would be as much an absurdity as a carriage which moves under its own power, or heavier-than-air flight, and is the stuff of science fiction.

    --

    Karma: Good (despite my invention of the Karma: sig)
  23. Re:For the traditionalists... by MaxVlast · · Score: 3, Funny

    Remember when floppy disks and hard drives had this statistic on them?

    --
    There should be a moratorium on the use of the apostrophe.
    Max V.
    NeXTMail/MIME Mail welcome
  24. hmmm by teslatug · · Score: 5, Funny

    Is that 5GB of porn in your pocket or are you just happy to see me? ;)

  25. Hello? by fungus · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Did I miss something or it has been easy to build a wireless ftp/http server for quite a long time? Bluetooth is slow and has a short range, while a laptop with a 802.11b network card can hold way more than 5 gigabytes, is way faster, and has an operating range very longer.

    Now imagine if every kid on the block had a laptop with a wireless network card in their backpack, swapping clips taken from the "security" x10 wireless cameras around the neighborhood with a p2p application.

  26. this would work great with Augmented Reality by snub · · Score: 2, Interesting

    If someone were walking aroung with AR goggles on (see recent articles here and on k5) you could broadcast an enhanced version of your appearance to them. You could appear in their vision as any object you chose, even animated. This brings Flash to a whole new level!

    --
    "Shredded cabbage and mayo go good together." Cole's Law
  27. Cool !! by Tha_Zanthrax · · Score: 2, Funny

    Now we can slashdot real people !!!

  28. Re:For the traditionalists... by MaxVlast · · Score: 2

    That was before my time, actually. Wow. I really can't fathom not being able to deal with a text file because of its size. I suppose it translates well to big images, or whatever, but it's much more real when thought of as a text file.

    --
    There should be a moratorium on the use of the apostrophe.
    Max V.
    NeXTMail/MIME Mail welcome