Internet entrepreneur and founder of Mahalo.com, Jason Calacanis, joins Mr.
Black, Mr. White, and Mr. Blonde to discuss his recent test drive of a Tesla Roadster.

Jason has a Tesla on order, so Tesla CEO Elon Musk loaned Jason the demonstrator, serial number 0001, for a week-long test on the streets of Brentwood, Santa Monica, and greater L.A.

The conversation inevitably roams into macro issues like energy independence and Middle Eastern politics. It’s not just about the car this time.

• Duration: 55:48

• Size: 44.40 MB
• Format: Enhanced AAC
• Direct download: ORP-Episode030.m4a

• Duration: 55:48

• Size: 51.20 MB
• Format: MP3
• Direct download: ORP-Episode030.mp3

Cadco Systems Inc is proud to announce that they are now a reseller and partner with Data Robotics Inc, the manufacturer of the highly popular Drobo external storage solution.  The Drobo is the world’s first storage robot that is a fully automated data storage that ensures our data is always protected.  Your disk capacity is unlimited and requires no special knowledge or expertise.  

Drobo is an easy-to-use desktop storage array that plugs into your Mac, PC or Linux system via hi-speed USB 2.0. Drobo enables users to reliably store up to 16TB of data, using any combination of 3.5” SATA I or II drives - within four drive bays. Drobo provides the data redundancy features normally associated with RAID such as mirroring and data striping, without the complexities of RAID. Drobo, will create one large pool of protected expandable storage, enabling you to avoid managing multiple external drives.

Drobo guards everything on it
Even when a drive fails or data becomes corrupted, you’re protected. There are many advanced data redundancy and integrity checks built into Drobo.

Drobo makes storage a breeze
If you can read a traffic light, you’re a certified Drobo expert. Drobo uses simple LED lights to inform you about free capacity and drive status.

Drobo offers unlimited capacity upgrades
Use ANY drive you want, regardless of SIZE. Need to add capacity? Pop in a new hard drive or pop out an existing one and replace it with a bigger one. Drobo has an insatiable appetite for adding storage capacity. It can even extend to 16TB as hard disk sizes increase.

Drobo does not require drivers or software
Use Drobo right out of the box – with zero configuration. You’ll never have to worry about using a management console either. Drobo has the familiar benefits of RAID, without the complexity.

DroboShare it on your network
Connect your Drobo to a DroboShare and share your data over Gigabit Ethernet (GigE). With DroboShare, everybody on your network can benefit from the storage capabilities of Drobo.

Drobo is Windows, OS X, & Linux Friendly
We don’t care if you’re a Mac, PC, or Linux*. We’re proud to support NTFS, HFS+, EXT3, and FAT32 file systems. If you connect your Drobo to a DroboShare, you can share with all three operating systems or other devices like media centers, regardless of the file system you’ve chosen for Drobo. *Linux support now in beta.

After data is retrieved from a hard drive, is it reassembled to once again become a working drive?

Typically all source media is returned in the same condition as it arrived. Our objective is to get the drive functioning just long enough for us to acquire an image from it, not to repair the drive for future use.

Reassembling the failed source drive is part of the recovery process, but we would never recommend that a customer use that drive again after data has been recovered from it. Source drives are returned to their original state with their original parts and sent back to the customer as “nonfunctional”.

In the case of a logical recovery, however, the drive does not have to be opened and can be reformatted for future use.

Encrypted data storage devices are extremely common for businesses, government and individuals storing highly confidential or personal information on them. To understand and overcome the challenges of recovering data from encrypted drives, DriveSavers engineers have worked in partnership with all leading encryption software manufacturers and have been trained and certified by government-approved vendors to recover file and disk-level encrypted data safely and successfully.

As a result, government agencies with encrypted systems regularly rely on DriveSavers to recover their lost data. Recently, a US Army employee almost lost all his confidential data. His laptop over heated and began clicking, a symptom of electro-mechanical component failure. To complicate matters, the drive was encrypted.

To recover the data, the mechanical components in the 2.5″ hard drive first needed to be rebuilt by engineers in our Class 100 cleanroom. Once the mechanical repairs were completed, a file system engineer-certified in encryption data recovery protocol-successfully created a sector-by-sector image of the data on the drive.

“I can’t say enough about the professionalism that was exhibited throughout EVERY step of the recovery process,” remarked the owner.

In special cases, data is so sensitive that we return the sector image back to the customer fully encrypted. The customer can then enter the decryption key to verify the recovered data in their own protected environment.

Certain customers and data loss situations require extra security procedures. DriveSavers provides customized data recovery solutions that meet the most stringent data security requirements, including the successful recovery of data from encrypted drives.

The updated all-in-one iMac introduced today offers the latest Intel Core 2 Duo processors and the most powerful graphics ever available in an iMac. The ultimate all-in-one desktop computer includes faster processors with 6MB L2 cache, a faster 1066 MHz front-side bus across the entire line, and 2GB of memory standard in most models. And the 24-inch iMac now offers a 3.06 GHz Intel processor and the high-performance NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GS graphics as options. Available immediately, the new iMac starts at just $1,199.

 As usual, the rumor mill is hard at work with the release of the second-gen iPhone in July.  According to Engadget’s source:

• The first thing people will notice: the 2nd gen iPhone will be about the same size and shape as the first gen.
• It will, of course, have 3G. And proper GPS!
• The most noticeable physical difference is back of the phone is no longer metal — the whole thing is glossy black, from top to bottom. The volume buttons are now chrome.
• Because it’s got a little less metal to deal with, it doesn’t have quite as many angular edges. The battery is (still) not removable.
• The phone itself will be slightly thicker than the first gen device.
• The headphone jack will no longer be recessed, and will finally be flush with the body.
• The device itself uses roughly the same size and resolution screen as the first generation product.
• No solid word on battery life or storage capacity.

Episode #027, The Bourne Identity

Mr Black and Mr Blonde are joined by the one and only, and apparently infamous, Scott Bourne, the man who created Internet radio. Scott talks about his adventures with World Class Driving, an event company that rents time in exotics. The three also discuss his new purchase, an R-class Mercedes. You can view the photos and video that Scott took of this event on his web site, TWIPPhoto.com. Scott also produces various podcasts including our favorites, The Apple Phone Show, This Week in Photography, and MacBreak Weekly. You can subscribe to them in iTunes or can visit his site links here.

Duration: 44:17
Size: 37.80 mb
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Direct download: ORP-Episode027.m4a

Duration: 44:17
Size: 40.60 mb
Format: MP3
Direct download: ORP-Episode027.mp3

Open Road Podcast

Episode #026, BMW M3, Part 2

With the IS-F covered, the boys move onto the BMW M3, a brilliant technological statement.

Duration: 29:42
Size: 23.66 mb
Format: Enhanced AAC
Direct download: ORP-Episode026.m4a

Duration: 29:42
Size: 27.22 mb
Format: MP3
Direct download: ORP-Episode026.mp3

Apple Releases Aperture 2.1 with Powerful Image Editing Plug-In Architecture

CUPERTINO, California—March 28, 2008— Apple® today released Aperture™ 2.1, which introduces an open plug-in architecture that makes it easy for photographers to use specialized third party imaging software right from within Aperture. Available today as a free software update, Aperture 2.1 includes the Apple-developed plug-in, Dodge & Burn, which adds brush-based tools for dodge (lighten), burn (darken), contrast, saturation, sharpen and blur. Over the coming months, third party software developers will deliver image editing plug-ins for localized editing, filters and effects, noise analysis and reduction, fisheye lens correction and more.

“The image quality in Aperture 2 has won over the most demanding photographers,” said Rob Schoeben, Apple’s vice president of Applications Product Marketing. “Now, thanks to our open plug-in architecture, users can access an entire industry’s worth of imaging expertise without ever leaving Aperture.”

“To date, maybe two percent of my photographs needed to be touched up outside Aperture,” said John Stanmeyer, founding member of the VII Photo Agency and contributing photographer for Time and National Geographic magazines. “Now that I can dodge and burn right within Aperture’s new plug-in, I can’t imagine when I’ll have to open any other application to tone my images.”

By clicking on one or more images within Aperture, users can choose from a menu of installed plug-ins and apply specialized imaging operations to either TIFF or RAW images. Apple is working closely with key developers to bring the most requested plug-ins to Aperture such as:

• Nik Software’s Viveza plug-in, powered by U Point technology, which provides a powerful, precise and easy way for photographers to selectively control and adjust color and light in their digital images;
• PictureCode’s Noise Ninja plug-in that delivers advanced high ISO noise analysis and reduction;
• Digital Film Tools’ Power Stroke plug-in that features a simple, stroke-based interface to quickly mask and intuitively perform targeted adjustments;
• The Tiffen Company’s Dfx plug-in that provides an expansive suite of creative filters and effects;
• dvGarage’s dpMatte plug-in, which is a high performance chroma key tool for creating seamless composites, and the HDRtoner plug-in that enables the selection of multiple photos to create a single high dynamic range (HDR) image; and
• Image Trends’ plug-ins that include Fisheye-Hemi to quickly and effortlessly correct fisheye lens distortion, ShineOff which automatically removes shine from faces and PearlyWhites that automatically whitens and brightens teeth.

Pricing & Availability Aperture 2.1 is available immediately as a free software update to current Aperture 2.0 users. Full system requirements and more information on Aperture can be found at www.apple.com/aperture. Information and availability for third party imaging plug-ins can be found on www.apple.com/aperture/resources,www.apple.com/downloads and at the Aperture community site www.aperturepluggedin.com.

Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Today, Apple continues to lead the industry in innovation with its award-winning computers, OS X operating system and iLife and professional applications. Apple is also spearheading the digital media revolution with its iPod portable music and video players and iTunes online store, and has entered the mobile phone market with its revolutionary iPhone.