FABRIK LAUNCHES WORLD’S MOST ECO-FRIENDLY EXTERNAL DRIVE

New SimpleTech [re]drive with Turbo USB 2.0 Provides Consumers with an Energy-Efficient, Fast, Reliable and More Sustainable Alternative for Storing and Protecting Digital Files

San Mateo and Santa Ana, Calif, July 28, 2008 – Bump up your green meter with Fabrik’s ( HYPERLINK "http://www.fabrik.com" www.fabrik.com) new SimpleTech [re]drive™, the world’s most energy-efficient, resource-conscious, Turbo USB 2.0 external storage and backup drive. From its sustainable bamboo and recyclable aluminum enclosure, to its packaging and Energy Star® power adaptor, the SimpleTech [re]drive helps make the world a little greener while storing and protecting your data. With Turbo USB 2.0, which delivers up to 25 percent faster performance than USB 2.0, the [re]drive is speedy and reliable with plug n’ play simplicity for both Mac and PC users. To help you steer clear of life’s little digital disasters, the SimpleTech [re]drive’s automated backup software saves copies of your stuff on the drive, and on encrypted, secure servers using Fabrik Ultimate Backup ( HYPERLINK "http://www.FabrikUltimateBackup.com" www.FabrikUltimateBackup.com) for ultimate online backup protection.

“Many consumers are concerned with helping solve the most important environmental issue of our time – protecting our planet from the threats of climate change,” said Matt McRae, vice president of marketing at Fabrik. “At Fabrik, we’re making an effort to support the environment, while adapting our products to better meet consumer needs and interests. We know we have a lot more work to do across the board as a company, but we’re committed to change and hope we’ll make a small dent in improving the environment – through our products, services, partner choices and company best practices.”

[re]think
Blazing a path of innovation in making the products more sustainable, the new SimpleTech [re]drive is the most eco-friendly alternative on the market when compared to standard external hard drives. Renewable and recyclable materials are used in every aspect of the product where plausible and economically possible. For instance, it’s designed using bamboo, which is incredibly strong (16 percent harder than maple) and is one the earth’s most sustainable, environmentally-friendly natural resources. The bamboo is naturally grown local to Fabrik’s manufacturing facility so the material is not transported over long distances.

A thick aluminum casing is used not only for durability, but because it’s the most recycled metal on the planet. It also acts as a heat sink, cooling the drive without the use of a fan, saving additional energy and noise. Add to that a low-power internal hard drive, an Energy Star power adapter, and a feature that automatically powers the drive on and off with your computer, and you’ve got a storage and backup solution that keeps your grid demands to a minimum. Total power savings could equal up to 90 percent when compared to traditional external drives* or the equivalent of reducing approximately 475 lbs of carbon dioxide emissions over the life of the drive**.

In addition, the [re]drive’s simplified, 100 percent recyclable package contains just the bare essentials to reduce waste – there’s no extra bags or inserts, and the backup software and user guide are saved digitally on the drive. For added convenience, the quick set up guide is printed on the inside of the box.

As standard industry practice, Fabrik ensures that all of its products adhere to stringent, regulatory compliance standards such as Grunpunkt, RoHS and WEEE.

[re]store
The SimpleTech [re]drive is a reliable alternative for protecting precious data on a Mac or PC. A simple-to-use wizard guides you through a one-time set up process, where you can easily select what day, time, or specific files or folders you want protected. For PC users, virus protection is included to help prevent the transfer of infected files before the backup occurs. Free updates are continually made available to provide ongoing protection from the latest viruses. The backup software also lets you create a disaster recovery CD that can be used to boot your system in case of system failure, which could save hours of reinstalling the OS and various applications.

While backing up your digital files to the [re]drive is important, Fabrik Ultimate Backup provides the ultimate online backup data protection, so no matter what sort of disaster strikes your external drive or computer – a spilled drink, theft, fire, or other natural disaster – your pics, flicks and tunes are safe. Each SimpleTech [re]drive comes with 2GB of free online backup space, or for less than $5 per month you get unlimited capacity to securely backup all of your important files and media collections offsite. All online backups are secure, encrypted and most importantly are unobtrusive; performing incremental backups, so only the smallest amount of content that has been changed or modified within your files will be updated. Fabrik Ultimate Backup is also available as a standalone online backup service.

Fabrik’s new SimpleTech [re]drives Turbo USB 2.0 external drives are available today at many U.S. retail store and online sites. Manufacturer’s suggested retail pricing (MSRP) is $159.99 for 500GB.

Along with the [re]drive, Fabrik also announced today the availability of the new SimpleTech SimpleDrive and a new 500GB Signature Mini Portable USB 2.0 Drive. For more information about Fabrik’s new products, please visit HYPERLINK "http://www.fabrik.com" www.fabrik.com.

The 9-inch square clock was created by English sculptor Richard Miller out of a hunk of Pennsylvania blank slate, so it almost qualifies as a work of art as well as a space-saving communications device. But you'd think for $80, at least they would have included an eraser. – Charlie White

Product Page [Eco Artware, via The Uber Review]

I've got this uncle who's just thirteen months away from taking early retirement. He won't miss the work whatsoever—let's just say it involves getting up at 5 a.m., and wearing a uniform—but he's bummed about one thing: he'll no longer have a tech support guy on call to deal with his PC woes. How bummed is my beloved relative? Last time we met up, he pleaded with me to serve as his go-to tech advisor, in exchange for a case of Dixie Blackened Voodoo Lager per year. Considering that the bulk of the guy's queries are along the lines of "How do I erase my Internet Explorer history?", it seems like I'm getting the best of this deal.

After my initial jubilation, however, I got to thinking: what's the right price for tech support? You see, as a dedicated low-ender, the bulk of products I buy don't offer this luxury; if you want 24/7 phone access to a techie, you've got to pony up for a pretty recognizable name brand. The question is, how much more should a product cost if free tech support is one of the highlighted features? Especially in this day and age of ezboard and other online resources that, quite frankly, are often more effective at solving your problem than "Mike" in Mumbai. An answer that's admittedly muddled, yet hopefully somewhat entertaining, after the dreaded jump.

Knowing Gizmodo readers like I do, I'm sure some of y'all are getting ready to jump down my throat on this one: "Grow a brain! This is a simple calculation based on the cost of outsourcing the service to a call center, checked against a known percentage of consumers who will utilize said service during the lifetime of their product." Okay, granted, that's how the Logitechs and Samsungs of the world probably figure things out. But you don't think they're also padding the premium quite a bit? They know full well that the likes of my uncle view tech support as a highly desirable "spec", and will therefore pay a pretty big markup to get it.

How big? This is a toughie, but I think a good sector to look at is one I've got some experience with: external hard drives. I've long favored external drives by the likes of AcomData, simply because of the cost issue—always remember that I'm a cheap bastard at heart. (I'm currently rocking this tasty 120 GB number, which I picked up for even less than the $40 that CompUSA is asking.) Of course, the company offers zip in the way of phone support, and I'm certainly not going to delude myself into thinking that they're "Tech Support Request" form will get you any meaningful assistance. Caveat emptor to the extreme on this one.

On the other hand, you've got the SimpleTech SimpleDrive, which offers unlimited toll-free tech support. Same size as my AcomData drive, pretty much the same specs (though my drive is FireWire compatible, too), but a good $100 more expensive. I'll write off some of the difference to the SimpleTech drive being a newer model, but I'm still guessing estimating guesstimating they're charging a premium of between 30 and 70 percent for phone support.

This is an anathema to a low-ender, but also a pricing policy that just can't continue—can it? I can understand why someone of my uncle's generation may still enjoy the gentle vocal embrace of an operator, but it's hard to believe that those of us who're young enough to have mastered the Google search will be in the same boat. Honestly, show of hands on this: how many times do you call a gadget's support hotline, versus how many times do you just Google the model number looking for help? And when you do call the hotline, let's face it, for straightforward hardware (like those external hard drives) they're just reading off an instruction sheet anyway. The fact that they can't possibly know the specifics of your machine configuration means that, more often than not, the conversation is gonna end up in a collective shrug of the shoulders and a, "Sorry, sir, we've done all we can."

Does this mean the end of phone support? For a lot of products I'm going to argue, yeah, it will. If you want a snapshot of the future, take a look at Iomega, which has stopped offering toll-free support in order to better compete with the cheapo likes of AcomData. PCs will continue to be a different matter, since software flummoxes so many poor souls. (There's a reason, I reckon, why Geek Squad can afford those full-page magazine ads.) But with the increasing tech savvy of the consumer base, I just can't foresee toll-free support for, say, handsets or CD-ROM drives lasting a lot longer.

Okay, granted, this might be wishful thinking. As a bargain hunter, I want there to be some serious price wars, and that means higher-end brands abandoning their support premiums in favor of competing on nuts-and-bolts costs alone. And, yes, I'm aware that companies have tried to split the difference in the past, with those awful "online support agents" that have yet to resolve a single one of my pertinent issues.

Though I'd be happy just rolling the dice on the flotsam and jetsam of the low-end realm, I'll bow to reality and accept that, yes, some folks may not feel quite so comfortable leaving everything to chance. So I issue the following challenge to the software engineers of the world, who hold the key to dinosauring toll-free tech support: develop a bot that can do the work of 500 "Mikes" in Mumbai. I know you're almost there; just keep on striving for a sweet lick of that shiny brass ring, ai'ight?

NEXT WEEK: Microwaves—educational, and great at warming up frozen burritos.

Brendan I. Koerner is a contributing editor at Wired and a columnist for both The New York Times and Slate. His Low End Theory column appears every Thursday on Gizmodo.

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Created by the Italian design house Pininfaria Extra, the drives come in 40 to 100GB sizes at prices from $109 to $179.99. Available colors are red, gray, silver, white and black. Nice if you want something flashy to go with your glossy VoodooPC Envy:734 gaming laptop. – Jason Chen

Press Release [SimpleTech via MobileWhack]