It seems like the only reason why you would need to purchase one of these is because Apple, in a blatant attempt to force upgrades, rejected our cries to put a SD card slot on their devices (micro, or otherwise). They even went so far as to actively prevent access to the storage through the usb adapter. Insult to injury?

Great model for greedy companies, not so great for consumers. Not Woots fault, it just seems like anything designed for Apple is geared towards unlimited income potential (notice that this device doesn't let you swap out any flash storage either).

imtigger2 wrote:Aren't you assuming this device will allow an ad-hock wireless network between your device and this drive? I think a serious flaw is that this has to be used on a personal, private wifi network that both devices can connect to so they can communicate together.

The assumption was correct. You can use this in your car.

Bluetooth is incredibly slow compared to wifi, it wouldn't function well over bluetooth.

ohioplayer wrote:This year Halloween fell on the weekend....
Me and Geto Boys Trick or Treatin'....
Robbin' little kids for bags...

--My Mind Playing Tricks On Me

Dude at least give credit where credit is due ! Atom & His Package ftw

The idea of a Wireless hard-drive does sound cool, very James Bond, but it's only 16GB! That's 1 Micro-SD Memory Card. What kind of sad little device can't use a 16GB memory card?

Oh yah, everything made by Apple. LOL, Losers.

Android FTW.

cvarney wrote:It seems like the only reason why you would need to purchase one of these is because Apple, in a blatant attempt to force upgrades, rejected our cries to put a SD card slot on their devices (micro, or otherwise). They even went so far as to actively prevent access to the storage through the usb adapter. Insult to injury?

Great model for greedy companies, not so great for consumers. Not Woots fault, it just seems like anything designed for Apple is geared towards unlimited income potential (notice that this device doesn't let you swap out any flash storage either).

LoL, I just posted the same thing. Man, some people are suckers.

Being a Systems person, I can see the advantage of Wi-fi over Bluetooth. However, what blows my mind is that the battery life is only rated for 4 hours, but doesn't come with a car charging unit. You'd kill the battery on a long drive, let alone a hike and render the battery useless after a couple times of draining it. Essentially ending up with a very pricy coffee table ornament.

miyoshinum5 wrote:Hmm seems like a good idea, but i don't like the fact that it uses wifi and not bluetooth. Also why would you want people to have access to all you stuff if you just want to show them one thing? Its really not that hard for two people to watch the same thing on one iPhone.

You realize how slow bluetooth is right? Depending on the version implemented the maximum speed is 1 megabit. Which is an astounding 150K/sec max speed. Even outdated G class wifi is 50x that speed.

xtravbx wrote:Dude at least give credit where credit is due ! Atom & His Package ftw

Ugh, he did. You do realize Atom & His Package was covering the Geto Boys which included Bushwick Bill...

Woot should know that those who Woot are aware of the problems associated with rebates! Woot, ask Kingston to lower the price and skip the rebate! If you read the fine print, the rebate is fulfilled by Rebate-Zone. I researched using Google (+"Rebate-Zone" +"ripoff") and saw "About 211,000 results" were posted. Other merchants are offering the same device with Free Shipping, for less than what Woot is selling this today! Do you really want this much of a hassle for $20 of savings?

coreysromero wrote:Seems like a waste for only 16GB. If the storage was a bit more I would buy it but you can pickup the Seagate wifi 500GB for $299

You can pick it up for $199.

Im still waiting for the mail in rebate woot was sending me from 2009.

imtigger2 wrote:Why? Really... Why? If its WiFi only, and it doesn't truly expand your iOS device space for Apps, why? With Dropbox being free, 2GB and having an iOS App, and Box.net having an App for 50GB space and FREE via Wifi, I don't see the benefit. All my music is in the cloud and readily available (Google Music, free), my videos are in the cloud (Netflix, Pogo plug, VPN, etc), and now with my photos in the cloud.. For free. Why?

The only benefit I see is immediate backup for photographers? A "local" WiFi device that will store photos much faster than the cloud can... Maybe?

Hmmmmm.....

Not everyone is near a free hotspot all the time as you are.Also,not everyone has unlimited 3G data(or even access to 3G data or a connection at all)as you do.Why,why would you want external storage for apps?Why?I can certainly see situations and jobs where this would be useful.Don't need one though,just got a 64GB 4s.

irina200200 wrote:Not to mention that he didn't have many inventions. Most things, like windowed operating systems and what became the "mouse" were someone else's inventions that he simply did an outstanding job of making mass-marketable.

No Apple products in our home, either, so I feel your irritation.

Haters gonna hate.Have a nice day.

LOL. this is what iphone users have to carry around with them because Apple won't allow MicroSD card slots on their devices?

Correct me if I'm wrong (as if I could stop you) but isn't bluetooth only capable of connecting one pair of devices at a time? If so, using bluetooth instead of wifi would limit this to prevent multiple devices to connect at once.

Plus the aforementioned speed issues. Battery life would improve however.

Nice idea, several years ago. Why would I waste that amount of money when there are free services like google music?

jaburg wrote:Wow, that is really awesome. Best thing ever.
Now ... how about something for those of us that DON'T drink the koolaid?

Ya know, if Jobs had REALLY been so brilliant, his inventions would have included expandable storage using conventional means like USB or SD Cards. Nope, sorry - you get wifi and THE CLOUD!

I hate apple but who ever does the marketing is brilliant!!!!
They don't have usb because it forces you to buy their stuff

After reading two pages of Apple being stupid etc, nobody actually says what I would like to know - what is inside?

Has anybody hacked one open? I'd be willing to bet it is simply an SD/miniSD/microSD on a PCB - it's usually cheaper to just do that.

It would still be kinda expensive, but would be a lot more tempting.

You have to love love the simplicity of Apple. Where else can you think of a more convoluted, expensive, slow, awkward solution to add a whole 16gb of storage. But it's wireless! I am awed by the technology. I am sue the genius that came up with the push button start concept in cars drafted this one. Apple only knows how to put one kind of port on anything. I hate Apple even though I own an IMAC and and IPOD. I do it just so I can mock them here at home in my own privacy.

I think most people are missing the point here. It's not about expanding the storage on your own device, it's about sharing content with other devices. (Without copying files to them, or syncing, or having access to an external network.)

Granted, it's still mostly pointless IMO, but let's at least criticize it accurately.

Amazon has the 32gb version for $99 if 16 isn't enough for you.

http://www.amazon.com/Kingston-Wi-Drive-Portable-WID-32GBZ/dp/B00576APEI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1321801949&sr=8-1

The 16 is the same price as woot too. And Ill bet you could wrangle free shipping out of amazon. That makes this a not-very-wooterific deal. Beat out by the mothership.

PASS.

eberin wrote:Bluetooth is MAGNITUDES slower - that is why they used WiFi.

WiFi (54Gb/s; higher for 11n) vs. Bluetooth (24Mb/s).

Actually, the iPad 2 only has Bluetooth 2.1 EDR which is only 2.1 Mb/s, which is quite slow.

Still you're right. Bluetooth isn't quite good enough for video streaming, at least at the current limitations on the iPad and most other devices.

The GoFlex Satellite that was mentioned before (500GB) is the best bet as it has iOS and Android apps available already.

Philyteach wrote:Nice idea, several years ago. Why would I waste that amount of money when there are free services like google music?

Google Music requires Internet access. Some iOS devices aren't phones, and those that are sometimes have limits on their data place and are very slow in non-3G areas.

This has all been covered, but it would require that you bother reading other comments before adding yours.

whtfrst wrote:An answer in search of a question that nobody cares to ask.

Exactly. And, Apple just answered it, anyway. Probably why these are being dumped via woot!, iCloud and the other online services (Box, Google, Amazon) just rendered this device moot this year.

Besides...16GB? If it was 128 it might have a purpose. Extra storage is supposed to be bigger than my phone, not smaller.

jaburg wrote:Wow, that is really awesome. Best thing ever.
Now ... how about something for those of us that DON'T drink the koolaid?

Ya know, if Jobs had REALLY been so brilliant, his inventions would have included expandable storage using conventional means like USB or SD Cards. Nope, sorry - you get wifi and THE CLOUD!

And this is why I have a Sansa Clip+ and not an iPod nano.

imtigger2 wrote:Learn to love the Cloud and it's backup and storage capabilities. ....

I hope you are kidding. You are asking me to trust my stuff to an internet that almost went down due to traffic just because Michael Jackson died?

And let's not forget privacy issues, snooping, the busting (someday) of net neutrality.

There is the real possibility that some "cloud" could fail, or announce that, henceforth, a monthly charge will be levied on your stuff, and no access will be allowed until you agree.

They don't care, just as the folks who made the Syquest Drive and the Floptical disk vaporized and left people with no way to get their data.

wootturf wrote:Is this what people with Apple products use instead of a $20 micro SD card?

No, people with Apple products already have memory built in.

The newest Droids still only offer 16GB internal, you must have a card to have any space at all, maximum becomes 48GB with a card. Apple offers up to 64GB built in.

And the iPad does offer SD card usage.

Apple figures these options cover most people, and millions seem to agree. Some disagree. Very vehemently, according to this thread, talk about koolaid.

radi0j0hn wrote:I hope you are kidding. You are asking me to trust my stuff to an internet that almost went down due to traffic just because Michael Jackson died?

And let's not forget privacy issues, snooping, the busting (someday) of net neutrality.

There is the real possibility that some "cloud" could fail, or announce that, henceforth, a monthly charge will be levied on your stuff, and no access will be allowed until you agree.

They don't care, just as the folks who made the Syquest Drive and the Floptical disk vaporized and left people with no way to get their data.

All it takes is one large CME and most of the world's ones and zeroes will be gone. I doubt the "cloud servers" all over the world are lined with lead for this sort of protection, but I can put my own storage media in such a protective box.

imtigger2 wrote:Learn to love the Cloud and it's backup and storage capabilities. ... It doesn't matter because your data will be there for you either way.

Until you travel outside of a metropolitan area. Remember downloading music at dial-up speeds? Yeah, most semi-rural communities are still on that. I love visiting my relatives in upstate NY, but their area's cable is capped at about 128Kb/s. The Cloud (even back in the '90s when it was called network storage) is great, don't get me wrong; but there is still no easier and faster way than microSD for today's non-Apple devices.

radi0j0hn wrote:I hope you are kidding. You are asking me to trust my stuff to an internet that almost went down due to traffic just because Michael Jackson died?

Why would you want modern devices at all, then? If you are afraid of the internet, get a dumb phone. Or, even safer, no cell phone. Problem solved.

pukeboy wrote:All it takes is one large CME and most of the world's ones and zeroes will be gone. I doubt the "cloud servers" all over the world are lined with lead for this sort of protection, but I can put my own storage media in such a protective box.

What's CME?

sdbcmr wrote:Will this work with my Kindle Fire? How 'bout my Sansa?

The Sansa will not see it, as that device does not have network capability.

It might with the Kindle Fire, albeit kludgy. Since it's Android based, you could use an app like File Expert to browse to it and setup a network drive. The music app might not see it directly, though.

twowootthree wrote:i hate mail-in rebates.

word. i never get 'em mailed in...which is what they're counting on.

tvagelos wrote:Woot should know that those who Woot are aware of the problems associated with rebates! Woot, ask Kingston to lower the price and skip the rebate! If you read the fine print, the rebate is fulfilled by Rebate-Zone. I researched using Google (+"Rebate-Zone" +"ripoff") and saw "About 211,000 results" were posted. Other merchants are offering the same device with Free Shipping, for less than what Woot is selling this today! Do you really want this much of a hassle for $20 of savings?

1. Provide links, please on the price elsewhere.
2. If you put "rebate zone" in quotations in the search, the # of entries comes down to <22k, and reading through the entries, many won't apply to the company, but we get your point.
If you want to get more specific on complaints, look at ripoffreport:
http://www.ripoffreport.com/Search/rebate-zone.aspx
The BBB entry is more curious: http://www.bbb.org/central-northern-western-arizona/business-reviews/fulfillment-services/rebate-zone-com-in-phoenix-az-38001543/
3. The over/under on how many more people are going to post the Amazon link because they didn't bother to read the comments/ignore the description page about the rebate? 3

Spiky wrote:What's CME?

Coronal Mass Ejection. A large one (enough to make the auroras visible all over the world instead of just near the poles) would also be enough to fry tons of storage devices across the planet.

It's $69.99 at Amazon with Free Shipping.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00576APBQ

So if you do have a use for this device, then save $5 getting it from Amazon.

pukeboy wrote:Coronal Mass Ejection. A large one (enough to make the auroras visible all over the world instead of just near the poles) would also be enough to fry tons of storage devices across the planet.

I'll start holding my breath, now.

I started to buy this, I'd mis-read the storage capacity and thought it said 64 GB, and at that level of storage capacity, I decided it was marginally useful. I even went to the trouble of printing out the rebate sheet. But then I realized that this was a 16 GB storage device, and lost all interest whatsoever.

pukeboy wrote:And this is why I have a Sansa Clip+ and not an iPod nano.

Sansa...xD