The 8TB model joins the 4big Quadra series—a 4-bay RAID solution that features swappable disks and seven RAID modes—that boasts transfer speeds up to 700MB/s and capacities as big as 32TB. The hard drives with higher capacities, like the 8TB, are also just bundles of smaller drives placed together.

Available in the May and starting at $1,199, the 8TB LaCie 4big Quadra Bundle will include two 4TB 4big Quadras, an eSATA II PCI Express Card and 4 ports. The 16TB and 32TB—besides having higher capacities—come with everything the 8TB bundle contains, as well as LaCie Rescue Kits, which consists of spare hard disks and power supplies. [Lacie via Engadget]

Though we had previously feared the worst, Pandora honcho Tim Westergren told us today that he and other web broadcasters were about to reach a settlement with SoundExchange, the RIAA and the Copyright Royalty Board. They needed a bit more time, which would be granted by a new bill, HR 7084. Though the bill, introduced by Congressman Jay Inslee and others, only extends the negotiation period, Westergren told us that it's the clincher. "We've negotiating for over a year, but people on both sides are now feeling optimistic about getting a deal done," he says. "This bill is a signal of that. We need more time, but we're getting there."

Enter the NAB, who issued the following statement to us and others from Executive VP Dennis Wharton:

NAB has concerns related to Congress attempting to fast-track a bill introduced less than 24 hours ago that could have serious implications for broadcasters, webcasters, and consumers of music. NAB spent more than a year trying to work out an equitable agreement on webcasting rates, only to be stonewalled by SoundExchange and the record labels. We will continue to work with policymakers on a solution that is fair to all parties.

The funny part about this, at least to Westergren, is that this bill and subsequent settlement would actually grant broadcasters lower fees on the internet, too. "If this falls apart, [NAB members] pay more for their webcasts, too," he says. "So there's only one interpretation, that they are trying to kill us."

Man, Pandora, why is everyone out to get you? If you readers feel like forming up in Pandora's defense, tell your congressperson that you support HR 7084, aka the Webcaster Settlement Act of 2008. Congressional switchboard is (202) 225-3121, and you know your congressperson has a website, right? Since Capitol Hill is abuzz nights and weekends trying to stem the financial crisis, you can pretty much call at any hour and someone will answer. [Pandora]

"We're hopeful that that will be made available so that Wi-Fi can explode in terms of its usage, even out into some of these less dense areas where distance has been a big problem for Wi-Fi."

Microsoft along with Google, Dell, HP, Intel and Philips, have been lobbying the FCC to permit white-space devices, which they have been continuously submitting for testing. Broadcasters and others fear static and other kinds of interference.

Dennis Wharton, a spokesman for the National Association of Broadcasters, argues for the regulated model:

"Broadband penetration could be drastically improved through a fixed, licensed service without interference to TV reception. Unfortunately, Microsoft continues to push for an unlicensed technology that simply does not work...TV viewers should not be inundated by the inevitable interference caused by such faulty devices."

Microsoft's chief research and strategy officer, Craig Mundie, addressed the situation in a more desperate tone:

White space activity today is sort of our last hope to get some good spectrum.

Moreover, Arbitron exec Bill Rose told the Times, "Heavy users of digital media don't think, 'If I'm doing this more, I'm doing the other thing less.' "

This directly contradicts what NAB President David Rehr wrote in a letter to the chairman of the House Judiciary Antitrust Task Force in March: "Simply put, every person who listens to satellite radio is one person not listening to a local radio station..."

Isn't there a way to let the customers decide what they want? If the XM/Sirius lovechild is as horrible as Rehr makes it out to be in his anti-monopoly spiel, they'll simply quit paying for it, and look for programming elsewhere, won't they? This study implicitly backs that up, beyond its more obvious conclusions. When it comes to media consumption, perhaps people are just little bit smarter than you've giving them credit for, Mr. Rehr. – Matt Buchanan

Digital Subscribers Like Free Radio, Too [NYT]

His full remarks on satellite radio after the jump.

This next clip is Mel Karmazin, familiar to some of you as the CEO of Sirius satellite radio, testifying before Congress recently. As you will see, he is attempting to define moving from two companies to one company as a merger, not the duopoly to monopoly that it is.

And on this point, Mel and I agree.

This merger will not be approved.

No matter how much Mr. Karmazin and everyone else at Sirius and XM use the word, it is not a merger they seek. It is a monopoly. It is a government sanctioned monopoly.

Now some of you might not be aware I am an economist by training. I ask you, when has a monopoly ever served the interests of the consumer?

In 1997, when the FCC authorized two nationwide satellite radio operators, it specifically prohibited them from merging. The bad business decisions of XM and Sirius — should not be rewarded with a government bailout in the form of a monopoly.

This certainly would not be in the consumer's benefit.

It will be a huge consumer headache because the companies use two different technologies which are not compatible with each other. Like beta and VHS. No, this is not about the consumer. It is not about advancing technology. It is about lining the pockets of financiers and corporate executives.

A monopoly is a monopoly is a monopoly, and we at NAB will continue to adamantly oppose it.

Of course, everyone has vested interests even as they spout that they're only acting on your behalf. Whether or not the merger is truly anticompetitive or totally consumer friendly remains to be seen, though if Karmazin keeps his word, it's looking more like the latter. – Matt Buchanan

The NAB: A history of hypocrisy [Orbitcast]

A new version of its video editing application Final Cut Pro.
Long overdue, so likely.

Accelerated video and graphics from NVIDIA in the 8-core Mac Pros
Interesting to think the machines that were just launched in April 4th could get a revision already. We heard a rumor about hardware h.264 decoders (and encoders, I'd assume) but there's no evidence.

New Cinema displays.
I like it. The rumors about iSight enabled super monitors have been floating since before the iPhone was unveiled. The chunky price cuts on the day the 8-core Mac Pros launched give us some hope.

Stick with us tomorrow and through the rest of NAB. Charlie's on the floor with a couple of friends who helped at CES, and he's no stranger to NAB, having gone every year since 1994. He'll keep you up to date on the latest from Apple and lots of others, too. The fun starts tomorrow.–Brian Lam

NAB [Gizmodo]

Apple is expected to introduce a new version of its video editing application Final Cut Pro, along with much-rumored hardware updates that might include accelerated video and graphics from NVIDIA as well as an eight-core Mac Pro workstation.

Stick with us—we're no strangers to NAB, we've been going every year since 1994—and we'll keep you up to date on the latest from Apple and lots of others, too. – Charlie White

These cards have more circuitry than ever, with three quarters of a billion transistors on board, and NVIDIA says not only can they display larger graphics faster than ever but use a concept called GP-GPU, allowing general-purpose programs to run on the GPU instead of the CPU.

Sharing some of the same technology with NVIDIA's GeForce 8 series of consumer cards released last November, these cards are aimed at high-end film effects artists and oil and gas explorers, and maybe a few absolutely fanatic gamers. More info, pics and pricing, plus a tantalizing hint from NVIDIA about Apple's interest in this technology, after the jump.

These cards have a brand-new GPU architecture on board, representing a brand new approach to graphics, where NVIDIA goes away from the pipeline model and into parallel processing.

Jeff Brown, General Manager, Professional Solutions Group at NVIDIA told us these new cards were four years in the making, and that NVIDIA spent half a billion dollars putting together this technology. He also gave us what might be a hint at what Apple has to show at NAB in April with its rumored workstations that are geared toward professional video editors and effects artists.

Said Brown, "Image processing is the fundamental algorithm set that video editing guys use, and traditionally that has been very CPU-centric, and now we're starting to see more and more image processing moving to the GPU. So folks like Adobe, Apple, Avid are excited about this concept. It gives them much, much higher levels of performance."

Expect to see those video editing giants, Adobe, Apple, and Avid, taking advantage of these graphics cards, perhaps showing systems involving the technology at the National Association of Broadcasters convention in mid-April. We'll be there to see what happens.

Meanwhile, these graphics cards aren't cheap, where the Quadro FX 4600 will retail for $1995, and the Quadro FX 5600 will run $2999. NVIDIA didn't say what its highest-end Quadro Plex VCS model IV will cost. – Charlie White

Press Release:

NEW NVIDIA QUADRO® ARCHITECTURE DELIVERS GREATEST GENERATIONAL LEAP IN COMPANY HISTORY
New Quadro Solutions Launch with Advanced Features Including: Unified Architecture, Shader Model 4.0, and GPU Computing for Visualization

SANTA CLARA, CA—MARCH 5, 2007—NVIDIA Corporation (Nasdaq: NVDA), the worldwide leader in programmable graphics processor technologies, today unveiled a new line of professional graphics solutions: NVIDIA Quadro FX 4600, Quadro FX 5600, and NVIDIA Quadro Plex VCS Model IV. Armed with the largest increase in GPU power and functionality to date, these solutions are designed to help solve the world's most complex professional graphics challenges.

Tackling the extreme visualization challenges of the automotive styling and design, oil and gas exploration, medical imaging, visual simulation and training, scientific research, and advanced visual effects industries, these new Quadro solutions offer:

Next-Generation Vertex and Pixel Programmability—Shader Model 4.0 enables a higher level of performance and ultra-realistic effects for OpenGL and DirectX 10 professional applications

Largest Frame Buffers—Up to 1.5 GB frame buffers deliver throughput needed for interactive visualization and real-time processing of large textures and frames, enabling the superior quality and resolution for full-scene antialiasing (FSAA)

New Unified Architecture—Industry-first unified architecture capable of dynamically allocating compute, geometry, shading and pixel processing power for optimized GPU performance

GPU Computing for Visualization—Featuring NVIDIA CUDA technology, developers are, for the first time, able to tap into Quadro's high-performance computing power to solve complex, visualization problems

"Today's cutting-edge gaming and film experiences are built around tremendous 3D imagery. Designing this content requires high quality real-time feedback regardless of complexity," said Bill Roberts, director of product management at Softimage Co. "NVIDIA's support of shader Model 4.0 combined with the real-time shader architecture of SOFTIMAGE|XSI allows game developers to quickly create advanced visual effects for the Microsoft Vista OS by providing the most accurate visual feedback. Also the massively scalable visual compute power provided by CUDA is what fuels modern software architectures like SOFTIMAGE|XSI and Face Robot, built on our unique Gigapolygon core, which are inherently designed to take advantage of parallel computing power."

Additional features in the new Quadro solutions include faster 3D texturing and massive 8Kx8K texture processing for better performance when zooming and panning of high-resolution images; NVIDIA® SLI™ technology for improved graphics performance; dual dual-link display connectivity; and NVIDIA® PureVideo™ technology for outstanding picture clarity, smooth video playback, and accurate color and precise image scaling for SD and HD content. NVIDIA GSync and HD SDI options are also offered.

"We bundle NVIDIA Quadro solutions with our kernel technology to accelerate simulations in the electromagnetic and energy markets," says Ryan Schneider, CTO for Acceleware Corp. "The CUDA SDK exposes an exciting new compute model that will help Acceleware to continue to make our products faster each year. This will also help our customers, including major cell phone and medical device designers, get their products to market faster, better and stronger."

NVIDIA Quadro solutions are widely available through leading OEMs such as HP, Dell, IBM, and Sun; leading workstation system integrators; and NVIDIA channel partners PNY Technologies (US and EMEA), Leadtek (APAC) and Elsa (Japan). For more information about the full lineup of NVIDIA professional solutions, please visit www.nvidia.com/quadro. The Quadro FX 4600 has a MSRP of $1995 and the Quadro FX 5600 has an MSRP of $2999.

NVIDIA Corporation
NVIDIA Corporation is the worldwide leader in programmable graphics processor technologies. The Company creates innovative, industry-changing products for computing, consumer electronics, and mobile devices. NVIDIA is headquartered in Santa Clara, CA and has offices throughout Asia, Europe, and the Americas. For more information, visit www.nvidia.com.

The take included an Ikegami HDN-X10 disk-based HD camera worth $55,000, a $34,000 Canon high-definition lens and a $50,000 Sony HD camera. The hardest-hit victim was Abel CineTech, which had a $72,000 Panasonic VariCam jacked, along with a $27,000 standard-definition Panasonic camera and a $4000 Panasonic MiniDV camcorder. Next year they'll just have to nail everything down.

HD Is Popular With Crooks, Too [Audio Video Producer]

The rumor mill is also cranking out murky tips about how Apple may be showing off early versions of Final Cut Pro 6.0 and video compositor Motion 3.0. Keep in mind, though, that any huge announcements are unlikely since Apple is not even holding a large-scale pre-show rollout press event as it usually does every year at NAB. Also, Apple is notorious for refusing to tip off the press about unannounced products.

Apple's flagship MacBook Pro to arrive at NAB [AppleInsider]

Excuse us, but we didn't realize fuel cell batteries and technology were this far along. The company calls hydrogen fuel "readily available." It's stored as a solid in a sand-like substance called metal hydride, which acts as a sponge that absorbs the hydrogen. Looking at the company's website, the first thing you see is the infinity symbol. Now that's some long-lasting power. Could cellphones and MP3 players be next?

Product Page [Jadoo Power Systems]