CES 2012: AR Drone 2.0, OCZ External Thunderbolt SSD

A few more interesting items are starting to leak out ahead of CES 2012.

AR Drone 2.0

ar
Engadget publishes a press release for Parrot's new AR Drone 2.0 which sports a 720P HD Camera. The original AR Drone was shown off at CES 2010. It's an iPhone-controlled quadricoptor that uses a number of sensors, including a downward facing camera, to help stabilize its flight. You control the flying machine with the use of your iPhone.

The 2.0 upgrade now offers a 1280x720 resolution camera that can be used to record videos as well as new flight control modes to allow for easier handling. Per Gizmodo:

Perhaps best of all, it's now even easier to pilot. Before you had to rely on the camera to know which way the AR.Drone was facing, and then send commands from the drone's perspective. That option is still available for advanced users, but the AR.Drone 2 now senses where you are, so tilting your phone/tablet away from you will send the drone away, and tilting it to your right will make the drone go that way, too. It's incredibly intuitive.

The 2.0 version of the AR Drone will be $299 and available in the 2nd Quarter of 2012. This video shows the original AR Drone in action:

OCZ Thunderbolt SSD

lightfoot2
PCPer spotted this new external SSD coming from OCZ. The company had previously offered a similar external USB 3.0 SSD, but this new model brings Thunderbolt support.

According to OCZ, the Thunderbolt-equipped SSD should have transfer rates as high as 750MB/s and "improved latency and highly accurate time synchronization" for professional audio/video work. No timeframe on release, but more details may arrive at next week.

Top Rated Comments

ri0ku Avatar
161 months ago
oh man if the thunderbolt ssd's are bootable I'm gonna be soooo happy. I bought an iMac but couldn't afford the internal ssd. So a few months down the line when money is saved an external drive would be great if its bootable since it will read faster than the 7200rpm hdd.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
iVoid Avatar
161 months ago
Unless it has another thunderbolt port on the other side (hard to tell from the pics), then massive FAIL.

Really need to have the dual ports to allow for daisy chaining and/or a MDP display at the end.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Richdmoore Avatar
161 months ago
Having one thunderbolt port on my iMac, I will automatically pass on anything that cannot be daisy chained, as I need the terminating device to be a display port to HDMI adapter.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Xenc Avatar
161 months ago
Yeah, use that drone to spy on your neighbor.
Your neighbour would need to be deaf and blind for that it be effective.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Krazy Bill Avatar
161 months ago
Hopefully the SSD isn't overly expensive.
Get ready to sell off one of your kids as an indentured servant for 7 years. :eek:

Seriously. External TB drives will cost much more than internal SSD's do now. (which most find out of their price reach).
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
KnightWRX Avatar
161 months ago
Sorry, it just sounded like you were trying to rally consumers into a movement akin to the "We are the 99%", but targeting instead the existence of elitist technologies that are priced higher than the masses can afford.
No, I'm not making such a statement since I'm probably closer to the 1% than the 99% anyhow. I'm saying all these products offer little value to consumers for the price they are at.

You know the saying, you can get 90% of the performance for 10% of the cost, and the other 10% of the performance for 90% of the cost. Consumers don't need the last 10% of performance.

Thunderbolt is that last 10%.

I think you're being a little narrow with your definition of "consumer." I can pick up an Apple TB display from at least 3 different stores at my local mall. And if I peruse the TV section of Best Buy I can find dozens of IPS displays that retail for more than $1k.
*sigh*. And I have a Cisco Pix 501 here in my house which I used for years as my Internet firewall. That doesn't make it a consumer product.

IPS TVs are not IPS computer monitors. There's a reason consumers want IPS in a TV, viewing angles. I don't always sit straight in front of a TV, especially if I'm having a bunch of people over to watch the game or something.

Thunderbolt looks more and more like its being aimed at the prosumer/professional market. Not the consumer. The products reflect that (SSD external enclosures, RAID arrays, 300$ port extenders, IPS monitors with some ports on it).
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

apple crush ad

Apple Apologizes for 'Crush' iPad Pro Ad, Won't Put It on TV

Friday May 10, 2024 8:32 am PDT by
When introducing the new M4 iPad Pro models, Apple showed a video of a hydraulic press crushing all manner of creative tools, including musical instruments, electronic equipment, arcade games, paint and brushes, computers, cameras, and more, with the aim of demonstrating how the iPad represents all of the tools condensed into a single device. The ad was a play on the popular hydraulic press...
Beyond iPhone 13 Better Blue Face ID Single Camera Hole

10 Reasons to Wait for Next Year's iPhone 17

Thursday May 9, 2024 9:00 am PDT by
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models concurrently, which is why we sometimes get rumored feature leaks so far ahead of launch. The iPhone 17 series is no different, and already we have some idea of what to expect from Apple's 2025 smartphone lineup. If you plan to skip...
iOS 17

Apple Releases iOS 17.5 With Cross-Platform Tracking Detection, EU App Downloads From Websites and More

Monday May 13, 2024 10:04 am PDT by
Apple today released iOS 17.5 and iPadOS 17.5, major updates to the iOS 17 and iPadOS 17 operating system updates that came out last September. The 17.5 updates come more than two months after the launch of iOS 17.4 and iPadOS 17.4. iOS 17.5 and iPadOS 17.5 can be downloaded on eligible iPhones and iPads over-the-air by going to Settings > General > Software Update. In the European Union, ...
ChatGPT for Mac

OpenAI Announces ChatGPT App for Mac, GPT-4 for Free, and More

Monday May 13, 2024 10:43 am PDT by
At its Spring Update event, OpenAI announced that it will be releasing a desktop app for the Mac, as seen in the screenshot below. The app will be rolling out to ChatGPT Plus subscribers starting today, ahead of a wider launch "in the coming weeks." "With a simple keyboard shortcut (Option + Space), you can instantly ask ChatGPT a question," OpenAI's press release says. In addition, Voice...
iPad Air 150 Off Feature

Every Model of Apple's M1 iPad Air Drops to Record Low Prices on Amazon

Friday May 10, 2024 7:30 am PDT by
Today we're tracking multiple record low prices across the M1 iPad Air on Amazon, with $150 off every configuration of these now-discontinued tablets. This comes just a few days after Apple announced the new M2 iPad Air, which start at $599. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Amazon. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the...