Samsung S2 are quite good external HDDs. Unless you're going to use them with Multimedia Players (Popcorn Hour/WD HD TV).

Samsung S2 external HDDs are quite attractive products. Mostly because of the variety of capacities, and because of the available colors. So, they look good, they are perfect for backups, and they work well (I get somewhere around 25-30 MBs reading/writing rates on my computers). But if you're planning to use them with multimedia players, such as Popcorn Hour or Western Digital HD TV Media Player, they are going to give you an enormous headache.

I also got one, a blue one, with 640 GB, and I have some issues with it. As long as it is on FAT32 file system or HFS+ (Apple native), it works like a charm, both on my Popcorn Hour and on my WD HD TV. But when I'm converting it to NTFS, it is completely unreadable by my both multimedia players.

WD HD TV used to say that it didn't recognize it, but after I was told that an unofficial firmware might make it work with my HDD, now it doesn't react at all when I'm connecting my HDD to it. On Popcorn Hour, it simply says that "USB failed". I tried connecting it through an external USB hub (which was externally powered), in order to exclude the possibility of failing because of not getting enough power, but the S2, formatted on NTFS, won't work at all.

I found on some forums users complaining of this (reproducing exactly the same situation, the S2 work on these multimedia players as long as it isn't formatted as NTFS), but there's no fix for this (only some suggestions that were tried by everybody having these issues, suggestions that don't help).

If you're stuck here, you can format the external HDD as HFS+ (FAT isn't an option, as it has  limitations), and then install MacDrive on your Windows computer (unfortunately, you have to buy it), which will give you the possibility of both reading and writing to HFS+ partitions from Windows. I don't know if MacDrive can format the HDD as HFS+, because I did it from my MacBook.

Anyway, the idea is that if you want to buy an external HDD and you're planning to use it with a multimedia player, you should avoid Samsung's S2 external HDD.

The best collection of HD wallpapers?

My opinion is that, when we are talking about HD wallpapers, the best site where you can find plenty of them is HDwallpapers.net. You will find there only high-quality images, at the best resolution possible. Wallpapers on this website are organized on categories. Some of them are: Abstract, Computer, Movies, Nature and Landscapes, Travel and others.

I think that this is the best site of this type, because of the quality of the pictures. The organization on categories is a plus when you're trying to find something certain. The website is well designed, having a pleasant theme. What I also like is that the advertising is present only on the left part of the website while navigating through the wallpapers, under categories, so it is discomforting the user while navigating.

Visit HDwallpapers.net now and download the wallpapers you like.

Do you know an equivalent website or one you think it's better? Let us know!

Is Vietnam the place where Apple decided to lose all their new devices?

After the story with the iPhone which was found by somebody in a pub in the United States, and of course, after the start of the investigation for possible theft against one editor from Gizmodo, a new (lost) iPhone appeared in Vietnam. This second device has 16 GB internal memory (on the device which was found in the U.S. it was written "XX GB"), and the main (big) difference is that it doesn't have any screws on the bottom, anything else being the same.

Now, another new device from Apple appears, again, in Vietnam. This time, it is an iPod touch, and the differences compared with the actual iPod Touch are that it seems to have a 2 megapixel camera, and 64 GB internal storage memory. On its back it is written "DVT-1", so it is 99% sure that this is not a final version.

June 7th is the date when Apple Worldwide Developers Conference is scheduled, and it is sure that we will have then a new iPhone, but I think that it is improbable to hear any announcement about a new iPod Touch there.

Even if when the story with the lost iPhone in that pub started I refused to accept that everything might have been planned by Apple, now, that is what I think. Apple is a...too serious company to lose devices like this. My opinion is that they are making this in order to explode the speculations about their devices, and so, their devices to get shortly after launch enormous popularity.

What do you think?

More here, here and here.

Californian police investigates the supposed theft of the iPhone 4G/HD prototype.

The story sounds like this: an employee of Apple forgot an iPhone 4G/HD in a pub, somebody found it (hidden in a normal iPhone case), and sold it to Gizmodo.com for $5 000. Then, Apple declared the prototype as stolen, and the guys from Gizmodo announced that they are going to send it back to Apple, in order to avoid any legal action that Apple may open against them.

However, it seems that Apple has spoken with the police about this, so now they started an investigation and are searching for evidences, in order to find out if there is any reason to open a case for any of the parts. I said any, because it is not known if the police considers that the person who found the device is "guilty", or that's Gizmodo. My opinion is that neither the person who found the device nor Gizmodo aren't guilty in any way.

We'll see what happens next, and as soon as I find something new, I'll update this article.

Source: Gizmodo.com

iPhone 4G/HD rumors - the internet blows up.

It seems that the 4th generation of iPhone has been revealed. A device has been found in a pub in the U.S., and Gizmodo (who currently has the device) claims that it's the new iPhone 4G/HD which everybody was waiting for.

This seems to be the next iPhone because of more reasons. This device seems to be having the next generation of iPhone OS 4.0 on it, and has been remotely modified by Apple so it can't currently boot up (and can't be restored). Also, Gizmodo opened it, and on the chips it's written "APPLE". But this isn't all. Apple lost a device, and it wants it back, so many experts are 99% sure that this is what Apple has lost.

However, if this is the next iPhone, it doesn't seem for me that its something extraordinary, at least, related to its design. Apple 3GS stays perfectly in the hand, while this device, with its new design, won't.

If this is the new iPhone, here are what is new:

• improved camera (probably 5 MP) featuring a LED flash
• front-camera for voice conversations
• standard SIM has been replaced with Micro-SIM
• split buttons for volume
• smaller screen than the previous one, but most probably with higher resolution
• probably noise-cancellation microphone (next to headphone jack)
• also, it is expected to have a similar hardware platform as the iPad (Apple A4 chip with 1GHz processor and 256 or 512 RAM)

Source: Gizmodo.

ATI HD 3xxx + Realtek HD problems on Windows XP.

I have a computer with an ATI HD 3850 graphic card which has, practically, included a sound card. The problem is that on the motherboard I have a Realtek HD sound card, which enters in conflict with the graphic card. From what I have observed, ATI starts the conflict and forces Windows to keep the sound played via their drivers (which is done through a HDMI connected to graphic card). This will make any try to play sound through motherboard's sound card to fail.

The solution is to go on device manager, and there to disable ATI HD sound card (under sound devices). Windows won't have any option, and will automatically playback sound via Realtek HD sound card.

This should apply to any ATI graphic card from series HD 3xxx.