Western Digital

You can now get the streaming movie service VUDU, as well as new sports and entertainment services - SnagFilms, XOS College Sports, SEC Digital Network, Comedy Time and Watch Mojo - on Western Digital's WD TV Live and WD TV Live Hub media players, the company announced this week.

The company also announced the new WD TV Remote app, an app that turns your iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, or Android device (coming soon) into an advanced remote control for your WD TV. The new WD TV Remote app has all the features of the standard WD TV remote control but adds in a gesture pad to navigate menu screens and services with intuitive touch gestures, as well as QWERTY keyboard support. In addition, a favorites screen gives you quick access to entertainment services. The WD TV Remote connects over your wireless home network and can work with multiple WD TV media players. Read more

Spotify has been busy this year, with their streaming music service showing up on Sonos systems, Onkyo home theater components, Integra AV receivers, and most recently, Facebook. Not stopping there, the company recently teamed up with Western Digital (WD) to bring Spotify to the new WD TV Live and WD TV Live Hub media players.

WD TV Live is a Wi-Fi enabled media player that delivers movies, TV shows, music and online services from companies like Netflix, Hulu Plus, Blockbuster, CinemaNow, YouTube, Facebook, and now Spotify, directly to your TV. The player can connect to the Internet wirelessly or through an Ethernet connection, with the 802.11n wireless connectivity supporting Full-HD 1080p video resolution.

WD TV Live supports a range of file formats for streaming content from a connected USB drive, digital camcorder or camera, network drive, personal cloud storage, and any networked PC or Mac computer in the home.Read more

Western Digital announced this week that Hulu Plus is now available on its WD TV Live Plus and WD TV Live Hub media players.

The Hulu Plus subscription service will let WD TV owners watch current and classic hit TV shows from ABC, Comedy Central, FOX, MTV, NBC, VH-1 and more in HD. The addition of Hulu Plus rounds out the media players' content offerings which already include Netflix, Blockbuster, Cinema Now, Pandora, YouTube, Facebook and many others. WD TV Live Hub users will now also be able to listen to thousands of radio stations via SHOUTcast.

"WD TV is known for its ability to play almost any digital file as well as deliver hit movies, personalized music and user generated videos to the biggest screen in the house. With the addition of Hulu Plus, we add even more premier content services for our user community," said Brian Miller, director of business development for WD. "We know our users will enjoy the ability to watch hit shows when they want." Read more

Western Digital just launched its My Book Studio external hard drive, offering up to a 3TB storage capacity. Formatted for Mac, this drive is plug-and-play ready for Mac computer users.

The My Book Studio external hard drive includes FireWire 800/400 and USB 2.0 interfaces, user-controlled automatic backup software and drive management, password protection and hardware encryption. It features the WD Caviar Green internal hard drive which aids in reducing power consumption and drive noise. In addition, its brushed aluminum casing not only looks nice, but helps keep the drive cool.

My Book Studio is available now at www.wdstore.com in capacities of 1 TB, 2 TB and 3 TB. Even though it is formatted for Macs, it can be reformatted for PC use. The MSRP for My Book Studio with 1 TB is $149.99; My Book Studio with 2 TB is $199.99; and My Book Studio with 3 TB is $249.99.

What does summer mean to you? Whether you spend your time relaxing by the beach or hiking the Appalachian Trail…one thing is certain…more time is spent in the great outdoors. WD's My Passport drive has always been a staple in my summer packing list, allowing me to take my music and movies along for the ride. Now, thanks to the new WD Nomad Rugged case, I can include it without worrying about damaging the device or the digital content it holds!

The WD Nomad Rugged case protects My Passport portable hard drives from just about anything Mother Nature can throw at it including water, mud, and dust. It features a hard outer casing and inner cushion which also protects the drive against drops as high as seven feet and all the other mishaps that can occur while camping, hiking, fishing or any other outdoor activity. With convenience in mind, WD even designed the case so that the USB slot is always accessible, meaning once you put the My Passport drive in the protective case, it never has to leave! Read more

If you are one of the 2.5 million WD TV media player owners out there, you'll be glad to know that WD just made TuneIn Radio and Deezer content available to the WD TV Live media player family.

TuneIn Radio is the world's largest Internet radio guide with access to over 30,000 free radio stations, searchable by location, genre, or format; and Deezer, one of the most popular Internet and mobile music offerings in Europe, is a personalized on-demand music service with 7 million tracks that you can listen to anytime, anywhere.

TuneIn Radio is now available on the WD TV Live network media player, WD TV Live Plus media player. Deezer (already available on WD TV Live and WD TV Live Plus) is now being added to WD TV Live Hub media center. Read more

Usually when you visit BestStuff.com, you'll find us reporting on the latest and greatest products hitting the marketplace, but sometimes a device is so useful we just have to take a second look at it. That's the case with WD's My Book World Edition II. This network storage device is a dual-drive system, giving you double protection with its two Mirrored RAID 1 drives that automatically (and continuously) maintain a second copy of your data. If one drive ever fails, the system continues to run and your data is safe. Talk about peace of mind!

Available in either 2 TB or 4 TB capacities, the My Book World Edition II network storage system has ample storage space for all of your music, photos and videos. Your digital media can even be streamed directly from the My Book World Edition II to your PC, Mac or connected DLNA media player (such as your TV, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 or wireless digital picture frame) using the integrated UPnP media server and iTunes Music server software. Files can also be accessed securely from anywhere via the Internet using the free MioNet remote access service. Another handy feature is its capacity gauge, allowing you to see how much space is available on the drive by just glancing at it. Software is also included so you can easily set up data backup for all the PCs on your home network. Read more

Last week WD unveiled the WD TV Live Hub media center, a Full-HD 1080p media player featuring a 1TB network hard drive. The device allows you to rent movies through Blockbuster On Demand, as well as offers Netflix streaming, Pandora, YouTube, Flickr photo sharing, AccuWeather.com, and MediaFly video podcasts from CNN, NBC, MTV and ESPN. You can also upload photos and videos to Facebook, share your status, view your wall and read newsfeeds from your friends - all on your TV.

In addition, HD video, music and photos can be streamed from the hard drive to any DLNA/UPnP-compatible TV or multimedia device on the home network, including the WD TV Live Plus HD media player, connected TVs, Blu-ray players, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 game consoles. You also can stream content from your WD TV Live Hub media center to iPads, iPhones or Android smartphones (using third-party apps). Read more

Last week Western Digital announced the WD TV Live Plus HD media player, a device which allows you to stream content from YouTube, Pandora, Flickr, and now Netflix, to your big screen TV.

The WD TV Live Plus HD media player is wireless ready (optional USB wireless adapter sold separately), connects directly to your HDTV and plays almost any file stored on a connected USB drive in Full-HD 1080p resolution. It is available now for $149.99 at retail stores and online at shopwd.com.

"While Netflix can be found on an increasing number of products such as Internet TVs, Blu-ray Players, video game consoles, and other stand-alone devices, the WD TV Live Plus media player is unique as it allows digital media buffs to access and play all of their own personal HD media stored anywhere on their network or USB drives. At the same time they can easily stream Netflix, Pandora, YouTube and other Internet favorites to their HDTV," said Dale Pistilli, vice president of marketing for WD's branded products group. Read more