Toshiba storage breakthrough could bring 10TB HDDs

Toshiba has announced a storage breakthrough that it will demonstrate today at a conference in San Diego. By using a technique called bit-pattern recording, the prototype to be shown boasts an areal density of 2.5Tb per square inch. That's about five times more than the company's existing products, meaning three-platter 10TB hard drives are entirely plausible, and Toshiba is working on doubling that density to 5Tb per square inch -- just when we thought HDDs were on their way out.


Today's drives have a uniform magnetic coating that makes up the recording surface and each bit of data is stored in hundreds of grains across the disk. Bit-pattern media is more efficient. It breaks that recording surface up into numerous magnetic "bits" consisting of a few magnetic grains. Each "bit" holds one bit of data and they are organized into rows. The gaps between those rows act as markers, allowing data to be located quickly. Toshiba expects the technology to appear in hard drives as early as 2013.

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Weekend game deals: S.T.A.L.K.E.R. SoC & CoP for $10

It's Friday again, and you know what that means don't you? It's time for digital game peddlers to seduce you with bargain basement prices! As usual, we've collected sales from a handful of popular online stores. If you'd like to see another dealer included in the listings, let us know about them in the comments. Oh, and be sure to share any game sales you spot.

Steam
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat and Shadow of Chernobyl $10 (75% off)
Global Agenda $30 (25% off)
Avencast: Rise of the Mage $5 (50% off)
DogFighter $8.49 (50% off)

More game deals after the jump.

Impulse
Resident Evil 5 $25 (50% off)
Street Fighter IV $15 (50% off)
SimCity Societies $10 (50% off)
Flatspace I & II $6.49/$12.49 (both 50% off)
Zombie Shooter 2 $6 (40% off)

Direct2Drive
Men of War $7.50 (50% off)

Good Old Games
Gamescom weeklong promo, up to 40% off the following titles: Gothic 2 Gold Edition, Painkiller Black Edition, Realms of Arkania 1, 2 and 3, Spellforce Platinum, and The Guild Gold Edition -- all for $32.94, or $19 off.

EA Store
Battlefield: Bad Company 2 $20.07 (33% off)

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Valve: Steam for Linux isn't being developed

Evidence of a Linux Steam client surfaces every few months, sprinkling hope throughout the neglected penguin gaming community. The proof is usually limited to a trace of Linux code in Valve's software or a seemingly related job listing. A pending Linux release seems plausible because Steam was recently brought to Mac OS X, but the developer's lips have been sealed until now. In a recent sit-down with GameIndustry.biz, Valve marketing VP Doug Lombardi commented on the hearsay.

"There's no Linux version that we're working on right now," said Lombardi. Of course, there could be plans for a Linux port down the road, but don't expect anything to materialize in the very near future. Valve's Jason Holtman also partook in the two-page interview, which covers topics ranging from Steam for Mac to Portal 2's launch expectations. You'll have to register to read the complete dialogue, but it's free and only takes a moment.

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Valve sets February 9 release date for Portal 2

Countless release dates have poured out of Gamescom in the last week, including Crysis 2, Rage, Dragon Age II, and now Portal 2 has joined the party. After delaying the title from holiday 2010 to an ambiguous 2011 release window and cancelling its E3 press event, Valve has finally secured a precise launch day for the first-person puzzler: February 9, 2011. That goes for all platforms, including PC (both Windows and OS X), Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3.

The sequel takes place hundreds of years after the original, but players will still control the same character, Chell, who was apparently in stasis for that timeframe. Awakened by one of GLaDOS' personality cores, Chell inadvertently wakes GLaDOS and thus begins the twisted journey of dodging personified turrets and escaping deathtraps. Besides polished graphics and co-op, Portal 2 features new gameplay elements including tractor beams, paint-like gels and more.

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Weekend Open Forum: The most underrated video games

It's a cold hard fact of life: we can't all be winners. No matter how fun or unique a video game may be, the reality is, there's a chance it's destined for the eternal void that is Best Buy's bargain bin. Those odds increase substantially if the title isn't backed with media hype or the marketing budget of a multi-billion dollar publishing conglomerate. Even then, undeservingly harsh critics can steer consumers in the wrong direction. And sometimes, by the mysterious workings of an unjust universe, awesome games just slip between the cracks.


Whatever the case may be, we know there are hundreds, if not thousands of gems that have been tragically overlooked -- and you've undoubtedly come across at least one. A few examples from the last decade include Psychonauts, No One Lives Forever, and more recently, The Saboteur. Although we generally favor PC game discussions, all platforms, generations and genres are welcome in this edition of our Weekend Open Forum, so grab your soapbox and tell the world why a certain under-appreciated game deserves a little more attention.

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Tech Tip: Run Firefox 3.6 and Firefox 4 Beta Simultaneously

It's been a few weeks since Mozilla released the first beta of Firefox 4, a major overhaul of the world's second-most used web browser. While we're pleased to report that the performance issues plaguing earlier versions seem to be gone, the latest build isn't flawless ? but what software is, let alone in beta stage?

You will find that a handful of sites and many extensions don't work properly yet, and although that's mostly a non-issue, you'll undoubtedly need a working browser at some point. Sadly, you won't be able to
use your preexisting version of Firefox without closing the beta first, and that can be annoying.


Of course, you could just hop on Internet Explorer, but what orange-blooded Firefox advocate would stoop to such a level? Chrome and Opera are other obvious choices, but if you must have Firefox, there's a very basic workaround that will let you run multiple instances and versions of Mozilla's browser simultaneously. We are using v3.6.8 and the newly released Firefox 4 Beta 2 for testing.

Read our Tech Tip of the Week.

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Amazon overhauls Kindle, adds $139 Wi-Fi model

Facing increased competition, Amazon has revamped its Kindle e-reader, making improvements all around and adding a cheaper Wi-Fi-only model. The new device is 21% smaller with the same 6-inch reading area, 15% lighter (8.7 ounces), 20% faster at page turns (with quieter page turn buttons), and supposedly offers 50% better contrast than any other e-reader. Additionally, it can last for up to a month on a single charge with wireless disabled ? twice as long as before ? and up to 10 days with wireless on. Internal storage has been doubled to 4GB, which equates to around 3,500 books.

There's a handful of software improvements too, such as Twitter and Facebook integration, new functions like dictionary lookup as well as notes and highlights, and it even has an "experimental" WebKit-based browser. In case you're unfamiliar with the Kindle, it's worth noting that it has access to over 630,000 paid books and 1.8 million free out-of-copyright works, and any material downloaded is accessible on iPhone, iPad, PC, Mac, BlackBerry, and Android devices via Whispersync. If you're more into audio books, it also has a text-to-speech option that reads content to you.


The premium model is priced at $189, which includes both Wi-Fi and free 3G connectivity over AT&T's network. Alternatively, there's a Wi-Fi-only model for $139 (which undercuts the Nook Wi-Fi) that doesn't have access to 3G, but can still hop on AT&T's US hotspots. Both iterations will ship to customers worldwide on August 27 in graphite or white, and case options will include one that has a built-in, retractable LED light for late night readers.

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