A 13 minute power outage in the Yokkaichi province in Japan on June 15, 2019, derailed two key flash memory manufactures. Due to an unforeseen blackout, Toshiba, which is the # 2 global supplier of Nand flash memory at approx. 20%, and Western Digital, which fluctuates between the 3rd and 4th largest supplier at approx. 15%, now find themselves struggling to compensate for what could be significant loses in wafers that were in production during the time of the blackout. Add that to a growing trade war between Japan and South Korea, the two leading countries as it relates to flash memory and semi-conductor production, in which each is withholding critical components to the other for the production of flash memory, and it all spells a prolonged and volatile market for flash memory in the near future.

One of the reasons for flash pricing to be so volatile, even before it’s reflected in street pricing of the flash media is that the time frame to produce the wafer dye that is used to create the flash memory is a long process that can take months to fully produce. So when production is underway and then a seismic event like a total prolonged power loss happens, it could effectively wipe out months of progress and force the factories to start over. That means a huge amount of flash memory that was intended for the market is ruined and that there will be a gap in time between when that production can be replaced. Because that flash was intended to be used in the future, and no one knows what the true demand will be at that time, there’s no way of telling what the full affect will be right away. For that reason, it sends the market into a panic and those that have flash inventory are steadily increasing the pricing or withholding inventory so that it can be used in the future when there may be a shortage.

Add on top of that, growing tension between the two nations that each rely on the other for certain elements in the production of flash memory, then you have a very unstable situation. As South Korea and Japan begin adding restrictions and penalties against the other, it greatly affects the business communities on both countries, especially as it relates to semiconductors and related products.
With the current instability, the market can expect to see shortages and increased prices when it comes to consumer related flash products, like USB, SD, and SSD, especially. I don’t know how long this could last or what the full affects will be, but for certain, the relative stability and decreasing pricing on flash look to be taking a dramatic reversal.

We all know someone that has thousands of pictures and videos stored on their phone, it may even be you. In most cases, the pictures and videos are not protected and they take a great risk that they never lose or break their phones and lose those precious memories forever. Some add insurance by paying a monthly fee to store their personal image files on a cloud service. That works if you don’t mind throwing money out the window every month or don’t mind risking your privacy if that cloud service should be hacked and your images and videos could be compromised.

I could go over scary scenarios all day on what could potentially happen to all the pictures and videos stored on your mobile phone, but instead I’d rather tell you how easy it is to back up and safely store those files for FREE on your own computer, portable hard drive, or burn them on to optical discs. The answer is the iXflash drive! Using the simple 1 touch back-up solution through the iXflash App on either an iPhone / iPad or an Android mobile phone or tablet, you can back up all of your pictures and videos onto 1 convenient flash drive. Then you can take those files and store them on any device that can read a USB drive.

Here are the main benefits of backing up your pictures and videos with the iXflash over other methods or options:

1. Convenience: It’s quick and easy – in just a few minutes, you can back-up thousands of pictures and videos just through 1 icon in the App

2. Multiple Devices: You can back-up from multiple devices, including Apple and Android mobile phones and tablets with the same flash drive

3. Personal Folders: You can create separate folders to store all the images and videos, especially if they are from different devices or people, in order to keep your files clean and concise

4. Maintains Original files: The iXflash App maintains all the original time stamps, locations, image names, photo types (i.e. Live Photo), and much more, so you can easily find or restore those photos onto your phone or tablet without losing anything

5. Favorites: You can make certain images or videos favorites so that you can quickly find them anytime

6. Not Dependent on Internet: You don’t need internet access in order to back-up or search for your files

7. Prevents Redundancy: It won’t backup images that are already stored on the drive, so you don’t waste time and space backing up files you already have.

8. Plus so much more ways to make your life easier and safer

Check it out for yourself, we guarantee you’ll find it incredibly easy to use and more helpful then you could have imagined.
For more details about this product or any of Vinpower’s offerings, please visit our website, www.vinpowerdigital.com, or contact a Vinpower representative near you.

This past June was declared the hottest June on record, especially in places like Europe where temperatures were unusually high. This is a problem as many areas where duplication is prevalent around the world do not have air conditioning for their facilities, either because it’s typically not needed or the cost is too high. Whatever the reason, the temperatures are rising and one of the biggest dangers for any electronic device is heat. As these devices are functioning, they are creating a large amount of heat, that heat needs to be removed from the device so that it doesn’t overheat and fail. This is mostly done using fans to blow the outside cooler air onto the internal component to cool it down. When the outer temperatures become too hot to cool the device down, then you have no recourse to keep the device operating and you must shut it down or risk failure. This is especially true of duplicators that use steel cases that traps hot air inside and creates a vacuum of hot air circulating around drives that are also getting hotter and hotter.

That’s where the SharkCopier becomes the perfect solution. The SharkCopier cases are made of aluminum instead of steal, which diffuses heat by pulling the hot air away from the drives and allowing cooler air to circulate and cool the drives down. In addition, with the cases side air vents, the hot air can escape without having to be pulled through the drives, like in the standard cases. By removing the heat quicker and more effectively, the Vinpower “Shark” cases allow for better air flow, cooler temperatures, and more efficient work flow, creating a better environment for the drives to work in producing better final results.

According to statistics, temperatures will continue to rise and the hot season will last longer, so if you depend on duplication for your livelihood, it would be wise to look into the one duplicators that won’t let you down when the heat is turned up. All of the “Shark” series of duplicators, from the SharkCopier, USBShark, SD/MicroSDShark, HDD/SSDShark, and any others that may come along in the future, will always be your coolest option.

For more details about the Vinpower Shark series of products or any item in our expansive product line, please visit our website at www.vinpowerdigital.com, or contact a Vinpower representative near you.