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Seagate says, "Say hi to D.A.V.E."
Author: Brett ThomasPublished: 9th January 2008
"Hi, Dave!" - You might be enthusiastic too if you see what Seagate has in store...
Dave is Seagate's latest pet project from its long-lost team of research and development. It's a portable 60GB HDD that very much resembles a rectangular hockey puck. Why do we care? Well, let me tell you (as if you had a choice)...
Dave, which is actually an acronym for Digital Audio Video Experience, is a hockey puck that also contains Bluetooth, Wifi (801.11g) and USB. It is an ultimate connection machine. It functions as the storage reserve for anything you want that can connect through those three mediums - meaning just about everything.
Furthermore, Dave is a tiny little handheld headless linux box. Under the very tightly closed hood, it contains a fully working Samba server, uPNP, and a few other connectivity mediums. The system runs off of the 1.8" 60GB HDD (which is formatted NFS, for those wondering just how penguin it is). Thanks to the Samba server, though, you'd never know it - the whole file system is served up through the built in web device.
It works by creating an ad-hoc network over wifi (or being discovered by a Bluetooth device). You can then enter in a special web address, which takes your phone, camera, etc over to DAVE to stream the data back out to either the original device or something entirely different.
The content goes with you then, and suddenly you're not limited by the 8GB of the iTouch or the 2GB of your SD camera card. Your phone numbers, texts, and emails can be archived automatically, making switching phones a snap. The system is actually infinitely robust - it's already being picked up by Nokia for its cell phones and by Harman/Becker for an in-car MP3 system.
Due to its simplicity and robust nature, there's really a world of opportunities for such a little device. Unfortunately, therein lies the rub - it's so open-ended that Seagate really doesn't want to market it on its own currently. After all, the company does storage - and though wireless storage of this level is pretty cool, it's nowhere near where a few partners can take it. So, rather than a retail release of yet another boring storage product, Seagate is sending it to OEM partners to let them develop custom interfaces and functions for it instead.
We're a bit sad to hear of the OEM release as that will mean each group uses the device for just one of its myriad possibilities, but the concept and its future potential is pretty thrilling. Even outside of the geek cred of carrying a running fully-functional headless NAS system in your pocket, it's another step forward in the ability to grab your data and go. Look Ma, no cords!
Do you have a thought on D.A.V.E.? Say hi and tell him your thoughts in our forums.
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Sam
Big question though, what's the battery life like?
All very well having your headless linux NAS box in your pocket but without power, its useless. :D
So I'm guessing its not as wireless as we'd like to believe.
I'm hoping its based on SSD tech so its really rugged and much more frugal??
I thought about all the Cameras used on sets. IE: Movies, Soaps, Photo shoots.
And the film they used.
And then thought that there should be a way to cut down on the amount of film used by these sets. And a way of unhinging a director or Camera operator from the pain in the ass of changing film or digi cards.
And so i thought of making a wifi or bluetooth (Not availible at that time) chip in place of the Mem card slot and set up a hard drive some where else in the room or some place else. Then every time the operator took a picture or filmed something, The image and sound would sent directly to the Hdd.
Kinda like in Mission Impossible 1. When Ethan takes a pic, it is wireless-ly whisked away to the computer display in the van.
But I think I was late to this concept and thanks to that, I am millions of dollars not the richer.
But this would be similar to that Idea and pretty cool. Except like you two said. What is the battery life like?
I wondered where he went after he left Peckham council.
looks like a great removable backup drive...
D.A.V.E. is awesome!
I hope that one can be had without all sorts of things mucking it up that some manufactures will do to it. It sounds nice as is and should be able to be hacked very nicely into something even better.
Seagate : "I'm sorry D.A.V.E. I'm afraid I can't do that."
Xtra: "hi Dave" *grin*
Dave: "Help! I'm surrounded!"
Phone: wifi & bluetooth
Laptop: wifi & bluetooth
desktop: wifi & bluetooth
:D
/me waits for a consumer release and some battery life data...
I was just thinking, if they fit this thing with a kinetic charger a la 'Seiko kinetic', it would be complete.
http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/5573/laza7qn.jpg
:) I want one of these so badly, it's a brilliant invention. Shame they won't market it for the rest of us, they'd sell like hotcakes...
great product, shame about the f***** up way to sell it though.
Wifi just wouldn't be good for a laptop though. You will most likely need your wifi to connect to the internet simultaneously so I guess bluetooth would be the only way to use the device while being on the net. Oh and could D.A.V.E handle multiple connections ? ( I don't remember reading about this in the article)