For ultrabooks and tablets: Samsung launches world´s first thinnest Optical Disk Drive. External DVD Writer.

WorldWide Tech & Science. Francisco De Jesús.

For ultrabooks and tablets: Samsung launches world´s first thinnest Optical Disk Drive. External DVD Writer.

Samsung Electronics has reportedly introduced today the new slim external DVD-Writer called SE-218BB. 

This optical disc drive (ODD) sets the industry standard for thin ultra portable DVD-Writer drives.

Build with Intel’s UltraBooks in mind, the SE-218BB will join a new generation of slim laptop designs. Intel was recently talking about thinner hard disk drives and thinner ODDs and it seems Samsung was sharing the thought.

The SE-218BB features a compact size that is 18% thinner than the standard light DVD writers.

Samsung claims that this is the world's thinnest external optical disc drive with just 14 millimeters in height. That’s 0.55 inches in imperial.

When comparing it with Samsung’s own slim ODDs released previously, the SE-218BB  is 8% lighter that the rest of the pack.

Using Smart Power technology, SE-218BB connects through an USB to PCs and notebook computers. The power is delivered through the same port as the drive doesn’t come with any external AC adapter.

For Tablet PCs, Samsung says the OS must be Android Honeycomb OS 3.1 or above for the SE-218BB play DVD content on the tablets.

Featuring the usual Buffer Under Run technology, the new SE-218BB ODD is an ecological product, made with lead-free soldering technology that eliminates harmful materials such as Pb, cd, cr+6, Hg, PBBs and PBDE.

The official write speed  specifications of the slim little wonder are as following: 24X for CD-ROM and CD-RW discs, 8X for DVD±R discs, 5X for DVD-RAM discs , 6X for DVD+R Dual Layer discs, 6X for DVD-R Dual Layer discs, 8X for DVD+RW discs and 6X for DVD-RW discs.

Surprisingly, the drive only comes with a minuscule 1 MB buffer. The official access time is a high 190ms and the whole thing weighs 255 grams. That’s around half a pound.

The price sits at 59.99 USD. That is around 46 EUR for the European customers.

2012: Samsung Electronics to Boost Growth, plans $41.7 Billion Spending.

WorldWide Tech & Science. Francisco De Jesús.

According to Bloomberg, Samsung Electronics Co., the world’s largest maker of computer-memory chips, and its affiliates will invest 47.8 trillion won ($41.7 billion) in 2012, a 12 percent increase from last year, the group said in an e-mailed statement today. The companies will invest 31 trillion won in capital expenditure, according to the statement. It didn’t give details on how the money will be spent.

Samsung, whose 2010 sales were equivalent to one-fifth of South Korea’s gross domestic product, plans to increase investment even as it predicts slowing growth in the global economy, according to the statement. Samsung said it will add 26,000 employees this year.

Suwon-based Samsung said yesterday it plans to issue as much as $1 billion in overseas bonds to expand a chip factory in Texas. 

Video: Phones power Samsung to record profits.

WorldWide Tech & Science. Francisco De Jesús.





Reuters: Samsung Electronics forecasts a 73 percent jump in operating profit for the Oct to Dec period, after record-smashing sales of smartphones.


Bloomberg: Samsung Electronics Co., Asia's largest consumer-electronics company, reported a record quarterly profit on surging sales of Galaxy phones and proceeds from selling its hard-disk drive business.

LTE products:NTT Docomo,Fujitsu,Fujitsu Semiconductor,NEC,Panasonic and Samsung in joint venture.

WorldWide Tech & Science. Francisco De Jesús.

NTT DOCOMO has reached a basic agreement with five companies to establish a fabless joint venture company by the end of March 2012 to develop and sell semiconductor products for mobile devices. The joint venture company will focus on developing products for LTE and LTE-Advanced mobile communication standards.

Companies in joint venture are Fujitsu Ltd., Fujitsu Semiconductor Ltd., NEC Corporation, Panasonic Mobile Communications Co., Ltd. and Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. 

The joint venture company, leveraging the six investing companies’ strong backgrounds in cellular communication technology and vast experience in application specific integrated circuits (ASIC) design and foundry manufacturing, will develop feature-rich, small-size, low-power-consumption semiconductor products equipped with modem functionality. The products will be sold in markets globally.

The envisioned joint venture company will be formed once all parties agree on the details, which are now being worked out through consultation. Following the basic agreement, and as part of preparing to form the joint venture company, DOCOMO plans to invest 450 million Japanese yen, or about 5.8 million USD, to establish a wholly owned subsidiary, called Communication Platform Planning Co., Ltd. and headed by CEO Mitsunobu Komori, concurrently an executive vice president and Chief Technical Officer of DOCOMO, by the middle of January.