Remember the LaCinema multimedia hard disk launched by LaCie last year with audio and video outputs? That was a spectacular product as it offered the users the ability to connect the hard disk directly to their TV sets and enjoy all the multimedia stuff stored within. It was the only one of its kind and was adored by many users. Now the same company has launched an upgraded version of the LaCinema multimedia hard disk, called the LaCinema Rugged, that is targeted to fulfill the needs of modern day consumer.

The LaCinema Rugged interfaces have been improved a lot and some additional goodies are also incorporated to make the hard drive compatible with the latest technology. The device has now got audio, composite video and HDMI outputs. It can handle most of the popular audio/video codecs (excluding H.264 and MPEG4). Like its predecessor, you can connect this one also directly to any normal TV set or a High Definition flat panel to access the videos. The user interface is very simple and easy to operate. The LaCie LaCinema Rugged 500GB hard disk comes with a fully functional remote that can be used to control all the operations whilst relaxing. This cinematic device is blessed with the HD up-scaling capabilities. It can improve the video playback by taking up the resolution up to 720p. That’s not the full HD but far better than the normal vision.

The LaCinema Rugged is far better in terms of portability and endurance as compared to the previous version.

You must have seen a variety of flash drives with different colours, shapes and designs imprinted on them but the two new entrants by LaCie will definitely make you feel distinctively amazed due to their coin shaped designed. That’s right, the two new flash drives called CurrenKey USB flash drives (where curren implies the currency) redefine the art and craft for portable memory drives completely. Unlike other rectangular flash drives, the CurrenKey USB flash drives incorporate a round shape for the first time and look exactly like a contemporary coin.

These are designed by the 5.5 designers exclusively for LaCie. The two CurrenKeys differ from each other with respect to colour, storage capacity and of course, price. One of them can accommodate 4GB of data and is available in bronze finish at a price of £19.99 whereas the other can hold 8GB of digital media and features a silver finish. You can get it at a price of £34.99. But both are obviously far behind the LaCie Brick Desktop Hard Drive 500GB in terms of storage capacity, although they make up for this deficiency with slimmer sizes, an interesting design, and low price. Both the flash drives can be opened by rotating the coin’s edge and plugged in to any Windows PC, Mac or Linux machine. Shock-proof, die-cast metal is used in making of these flash drives which gives it extreme endurance against hard drops, knocks and shakes. So you will never end up frustrated because of crashed data.

A major drawback of mobile computers, such as laptops, PDAs or tablet PCs, is often that the computers must sacrifice some level of performance in exchange for their portable size. Often this entails slower CPUs, smaller hard drives, and naturally smaller displays. While there is usually nothing that can be done to increase the processor speed, or the size of a display screen, increasing hard disk space is incredibly easy. In fact, with the latest USB portable hard drive from LaCie, you can even increase your computer’s storage capacity by an entire terabyte, more than enough for even the largest media collections.

The LaCie 1TB Desktop Hard Disk comes in black and measures only 1.6 x 4.4 x 7.6 inches with a weight of nearly one kilogram; making it easily portable. In fact, given the amount of storage space offered by the hard disk, its size is quite small and compact, if not unprecedented. Moreover, due to more advanced technology, the price of this latest model is significantly lower than LaCie’s other 1 TB hard drives, such as the Lacie Big Disk 1 TB. The device simply connects to your laptop via USB 2.0 with no installation necessary and automatic configuration for Windows and Mac computers. Backing up your computer’s files won’t take ages either, as the hard disk comes with a burst transfer rate of up to 35 MB/s. And with a pricetag of only £99.95 at expansys, there has scarcely been an easier way to outfit your storage deficient Eee PC. Not to mention, the hard disk from LaCie manages to look quite sleek as well and will blend in perfectly to any surroundings.