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This year’s Consumer Electronics Show may be heating up the Las Vegas desert this week, but a big chunk of the country is buried under subzero temperatures unfit for either men or mice. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t any shiny new gadgets or tech news to talk about — why, just keep reading on and get a heaping helping in our Tuesday recap!
LaCie Announces Wi-Fi Equipped Fuel 1TB Hard Drive
Seagate-owned LaCie is getting into the Wi-Fi game with a new $199.99 hard drive called the Fuel, which allows five devices (iPads, for example) to access files — even when a wireless network isn’t available. With 1TB of storage, the LaCie Fuel offers up to 10 hours of battery life, and up to three devices can stream HD video content at once. Fuel is powered by the existing free Seagate Media app, and can even beam content to AirPlay-compatible speakers or an Apple TV. Fuel isn’t shipping quite yet, but interested buyers can sign up on the LaCie website to be notified when stock is available.
Plex Revamps Website for New Year
The gang at Plex kicked off 2014 by introducing an entirely new website, now located at Plex.tv. The glossy makeover is more than just a pretty face, however: Plex.tv consolidates all of the media server and client software into one place, including easy access to downloads for paid PlexPass members. The new Plex.tv caps off a year of growth for the company, which introduced a long list of new features in 2013 including Chromecast support, multiuser accounts, new NAS platforms and a complete makeover of its Windows Phone 8 and Android apps. Those used to typing Plex.com, fear not: You’ll be automatically redirected to the right place.
Evasi0n Delivers Holiday Jailbreak Surprise for iOS 7
iOS jailbreakers got a pre-Christmas surprise with the release of evasi0n7, a new method for jailbreaking iPhones, iPod touches, iPads and iPad minis running iOS 7.0 through 7.0.4 on either Mac or Windows. The latest jailbreak is said to take only five minutes to accomplish, but there’s a very big catch: “Many Cydia tweaks are not yet compatible with iOS 7.” Cydia, of course, is the alternative app store solution that delivers the stuff Apple would never allow, but many of those apps have yet to be updated for iOS 7 compatibility, let alone 64-bit support for the latest devices. The good news is that evasi0n7 is completely free, although PayPal donations are accepted, which are turned over to Public Knowledge, Electronic Frontier Foundation and Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure to help keep jailbreaking legal.
Alto by AOL Resurrects iCloud Email
Speaking of year-end surprises, AOL members using the company’s web-based Alto email service received an email with the good news that iCloud support has been restored. “The restored support for iCloud is permanent and you don’t need to worry or wonder if it’s going away or not,” the Altomail team explain. “We regret the confusion & frustration, and sincerely appreciate your patience with our developing product.” iCloud support includes all Apple-hosted domains, whether they’re icloud.com, me.com or even an aging mac.com address.
Tribune Acquires Gracenote Metadata Service from Sony
Ever stick a CD into your computer and wonder how iTunes knows what it is? The database that powers such metadata is Gracenote, which recently announced a change of hands from parent company Sony Corporation of America to Tribune Company. Billed as the largest source of music data in the world, Gracenote hosts metadata for more than 180 million tracks — a service that will now be combined with the existing Tribune Media Services, which specializes in movie and TV show content. The $170 million acquisition is a complete buyout of Gracenote, Inc. and the deal is expected to close in the first quarter of this year.
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