Seagate's D.A.V.E., pictured on the right
What is it?
D.A.V.E. (Digital Audio Video Experience) Platform
How much will it cost me?
To be announced, but the rumor mill claims under $200.
Who makes it?
Seagate.
Why should I care?
It's a portable hard drive that connects wirelessly to a slew of devices--perfect for those memory-starved iPhones.
How would you describe it?
When
I first saw D.A.V.E. at hard drive manufacturer Seagate's fall press
tour in New York City, they didn't have a working model to show me. Now
they do, and it's one of the subtly coolest things we've seen at CES
2008. It's a 60 gigabyte hard drive with built-in Bluetooth 2.0 and
Wi-Fi, a Web server, and DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance)
support. What that means in plain English is that you can store a vast
amount of content on the drive--data, photos, music, movies--then
easily access it on your mobile phone, iPhone, PDA, laptop, TV or
Playstation 3 that supports Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. The demo I saw showed D.A.V.E. working in conjunction
with both an iPod Touch (pictured above) and a car stereo, and it was
sweet to be able to play a movie or listen to a song stored on a
separate device without needing a wire (though if necessary, there is a mini-USB connector). Even better, multiple devices
can access different files--or the same file--simultaneously.
What's
confusing me is that Seagate currently has no plans to offer D.A.V.E.
directly to consumers, even through its own Web site. Instead, it will
be teaming up with companies like Harman/Becker for car stereo systems;
PortoMedia for selling digital movies, TV and music at kiosks; and
Sanyo for use with its camcorders. I can't for the life of me believe
that retailers would turn away this product or that it couldn't at
least sell D.A.V.E. directly through its site, because all it would
take is a couple of video clips of this gadget in action and geeks
would be lining up to score one--especially iPhone users. Nevertheless,
Seagate execs are sticking to their guns on this strategy, but I hope
they'll change their minds.
When can I get my hands on it?
Last quarter of 2008.
What's your verdict?
Buy...if only Seagate would sell it to you directly.
