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Toshiba’s Canivo HD may supplement troubled Apple Time Capsules

webtech — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 09:21:40 +0000

Toshiba has rolled out Canivo backup drives for Mac, which may emerge as a substitute for Apple’s troubled Time Capsule backup device which is facing data-loss problems, if the device shuts down unexpectedly.

Toshiba introduced on Tuesday Canivo portable hard drive to support Mac operating systems with capacities of 500GB, 750GB and ITB priced at $99.99, $119.99 and $139.99 respectively.

It enables consumers store largest digital libraries on their hard drives. The 500GB can store up to 142,000 digital photos, or 131,000 digital music files, or 410 downloaded digital movies while 750GB is capable of storing up to 214,000 digital photos, or 197,000 digital music files, or 610 downloaded digital movies. But the largest of them all 1TB supports up to 285,000 digital photos, or 263,000 digital music files, or 820 downloaded digital movies.

According to a survey done by Impulse Research for Toshiba, nearly half of Americans worry about computer crashes and almost 89 percent of users believe in regularly backing up their computers to avoid loss of crucial data.

Mauel Camarena, a product manager at Toshiba Storage Device Division, says: “As the survey shows, home computers hold very personal and valuable assets, and yet the majority of people aren’t doing enough to help protect that precious data….For consumers who know backup is important and want an easy path to peace of mind, the Canvio is a no-brainer. It simply acts like an insurance policy against the loss of crucial data and precious digital memories.”

The Canvio drives are preloaded with NTI Shadow 5 for Mac software giving the users the ease to backup and synchronize the data in hard drives. One can secure the backup files with password protected data encryption up to 256-bit in order to prevent data theft. Also, Canvio hard drives have internal shock sensor and ramp loading technology to help protect users drive and data. One key feature is that the hard drive keeps a copy of everything saved on the user’s computer.

The timing is likely to help Toshiba push its product as Apple is facing major issues over defects in its Time Capsule.

Source: IBTimes

Velocity Micro to launch ‘Cruz’, akin to iPad

webtech — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 05:59:22 +0000

Velocity Micro introduced the new tablet PC “Cruz” nearly similar to Apple’s iPad, which is the leading the tablet computer in the market today.

But in many ways it is different from Apple iPad, in the sense, it is based on Google’s Android OS. Unlike iPad, Cruz has a 7-inch touchscreen compared to Apple’s 9.7-inch screen and Cruz offers 4GB of internal storage and 8GB of storage through an SD slot whereas Apple’s cheapest iPad has 16GB of storage.

When it comes to battery life, Apple’s iPad gives 10 hours of surfing the web on Wi-Fi, watching video or listening to music while Cruz may provide around 6 hours of battery life when watching video but claims up to 10 hours of use and over 24 hours of standby time, with a replaceable battery.

Looking at the wireless capability, Cruz offers 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi which is similar to that of Apple’s iPad.

Compared with the Apple’s iPad display screen resolution of 1024×768-pixel, Cruz screen display has only 800×480-pixel resolution. In addition, Cruz Tablet will provide the option to view Flash-enabled websites.

The Cruz tablet comes with an integrated microphone and also has memory-card readers. The Cruz device will have access to more than 3,500 applications offered by Cruz Market for users to download.

The biggest difference of course, lies in the pricing — Apple’s iPad price starts from $499 (for 16GB model) while Cruz offers its tablet computer at $299.

With iPad already leading the market, it remains to seen how Cruz will compete. While the lower price of Velocity Micro’s tablet computer may attract some consumers to its shores, the real demand for Cruz will unfold once the device hits markets in August.

Cruz is not an iPad Killer, says president and CEO of Velocity Micro Randy Copeland. “People are looking for the iPad killer. This is not the iPad killer. This is for a different customer.”

Meanwhile, in terms of operating system, NDP, a leading market research company, reports that based on unit sales Android operating system has moved into second position at 28 percent ahead of Apple’s operating system which was at 21 percent.

Source: IBTimes

Microsoft gears up to take iPad head on

webtech — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 10:52:46 +0000

Microsoft has announced its new tablet PC mainly to stem Apple’s increasing foray into the market segment with its iPad.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, in his keynote address at Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference on Monday in Washington DC, said “Over the course of the next several months, you will see a range of Windows 7-based slates that I think you’ll find quite impressive.”

Earlier this year at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Ballmer showed a device from HP-Microsoft joint venture, with a 10 to 12-inch display running on Windows 7 with a touch-screen but shied away from showcasing other features in view of Apple iPad that had taken over the market with many more features.

The HP-Microsoft tablet, a Slate prototype, looking similar to Amazon’s Kindle didn’t last long as the struggling project was scrapped by both Microsoft and HP.

The move to launch Microsoft Windows-based tablet may be due to the threat Microsoft is facing from Apple’s iPad and various other similar touch-screen devices running on Android, Web OS and other lightweight mobile operating systems.

Though Microsoft currently earns more than $10 billion in profit annually from its Windows desktop operating system, with many competing operating systems mushrooming in the market, Microsoft is increasingly coming under pressure.

To brighten up its stake in the OS segment, the launch of Windows-based Slate PC is critical for Microsoft. Ballmer said, “This year one of the most important things that we will do in the smart device category is really push forward with Windows 7-based slates and Windows 7 phones… Over the course of the next several months you will see a range of Windows 7-based slates that I think you’ll find quite impressive. This is a terribly important area for us. We are hard-core about this.”

Microsoft has teamed up with Asus, Dell, Samsung, Toshiba and Sony to make the tablet PC. “They’ll come with keyboards, they’ll come without keyboards, they’ll be dockable, there will be many form factors, many price points, many sizes,” said Ballmer.

“But they will all run Windows 7. They will run Windows 7 applications. They will run Office,” said Ballmer emphatically.

“On the phone side we missed a generation with Windows Mobile. We really did miss almost a release cycle, but Windows Phone 7 which we had a chance to debut at the Mobile World Congress earlier this year has received really quite remarkable reviews.”

Microsoft is keen not to give to Apple entirely in the portable computing market. The completely reworked Windows Phone 7 has the confidence of Ballmer who said at the conference, “I think we will give you a set of Windows-based devices people will be proud to carry.”

However, it will not be easy for Windows 7 to compete in the mobile platform, as the global share of the smartphone market of Windows Mobile has declined significantly down to 2 per cent as Google, Apple and Blackberry introduced compelling mobile platforms while Microsoft remained with its aging Windows 6.5.x platform.

The reworked Windows Phone 7 OS resembles HP’s WebOS, which will allow apps to be created across devices, the feature that was not available in the earlier planned Slate version of Microsoft. Ballmer is still uncertain about the release date of Slate PCs as smartphones with Windows 7 has topped the priority list.

After Windows XP, Windows 7 OS has gained significant amount of admirers around the world. Now, if Microsoft manages to build devices on Windows 7 platform, then its competition with Apple and Google will be worth watching.

Source: IBTimes

Control Internet Traffic With “NetBalancer”

webtech — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 16:57:38 +0000

When one wants to download multiple files at a time, there is always clash between bandwidth being shared between those downloading files. Browsing and any internet activity becomes very difficult. “NetBalancer”, helps you adjust or allows you to just lower their network priority.

NetBalancer can be set to download or upload transfer rate priority for any applications and monitor their internet traffic.

Those applications with a higher network priority will gain more traffic bandwidth than those with a lower one.

The most important features of NetBalancer are:

Set download and upload network priority for any process. Currently supported priorities are:
- High priority
- Normal priority
- Low priority
- Block traffic
- Ignore traffic
- Limit traffic
Set download and upload speed limits for a process
Show all system processes with their in and out network traffic speed
Show current connection for any process
Show downloaded and uploaded traffic for any process since NetBlancer’s start
View overall system traffic as a graph
Show last 15 seconds traffic in system tray
Fine tune priorities (see Level Severity setting).

Read More: NetBalancer

“MiddleClick” App For MacBook Touchpads and Magic Mouse

webtech — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 16:31:37 +0000

“MiddleClick” enables Mac users to open links in a new tab for free without the help of keyboard. The free app sits in your menu bar and allows you to use 3 fingers to middle click on Apple’s multi-touch devices.

Middleclick is really useful for all the Firefox junkie who loves to open in a new tab as it doesn’t require to use the keyboard (cmd+click is the default middleclick).

MiddleClick is a great option for those that are still missing this integral browsing feature on Apple’s lacking multi-touch touchpads and Magic Mouse.

Running the lightweight app allows you to use 3 finger tapping or 3 finger clicking as a middle click, just by picking one in its menu.

Read More: MiddleClick

BSNL Indian Broadband Service Provider Offers 24Mbps Speed, Fastest In India

webtech — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 11:32:57 +0000

To find good internet speed in India is a matter of concern. But BSNL (Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited) has become the fastest Internet speed provider in India today by offering new plan that will touch speed up to 24Mbps.

The 24Mbps speed provided by BSNL is the fastest compared to Bharti Airtel which provides only 16Mbps, that is 8Mbps more than Bharti Airtel.

BSNL will offer high speed broadband service through the high speed digital subscriber loop (VDSL) technology.

But the internet speed is nothing compared to speed offered developed countries like Japan and Korea offering 45Mbps and 60Mbps respectively.

Prior to this speed launch by BSNL, they used to offer maximum speed up to 8 Mbps only, that is a large shift. Infact VDSL will help speeds to go up to 52Mbps.

This news may sound good to those subscribers who are stationed 500 meter from BSNL’s broadband exchange nodes. Only those who come close to 500 meters can avail this offer, but those further away cannot. But in future, the offer will be expanded.

BSNL connection of 24 Mbps and 16 Mbps connections comes with an exorbitantly high price tag of Rs. 9,999 and Rs. 4,999 respectively.

Although BSNL had previously stated of offering 500 Mbps speeds, nothing much has been done about it. But this boast of 24Mbps may be the stepping stone for huge success in India. Infact India is pegged to hit a meagre number of 20 million broadband connection in the next 5 years which means that such high speeds with such expensive tags rarely have a ready market out there just yet.

In order to know more please dial 1504 or 1800-464-1600 or visit www.bsnl.co.in

And also BSNL in 2009 had stated that it would invest around Rs 1,600 crore in infrastructure facilities to support eight million broadband connections.

LG India Releases New ‘Ice Cream’ Clamshell Phone

webtech — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 10:41:55 +0000

Indian market will witness new LG ‘Ice Cream’ phone KF350, as LG launches it in India. The phone is basically targetted towards Indian women, as Women’s day is scheduled to be celebrated on March 8th 2010.

The clamshell phone comes in pastel colors like vanilla and pink. The phone is stylish and simple in design.

The KF350 phone will features 3 megapixel camera for good cam shots, 2.2-inch QVGA internal display resolution, it has 260,000-color TFT screen. It also features built-in MP3 player, supports MP3/AAC/AAC / eAAC / WMA format music files and video file formats MPEG4/H.263 play.

It also has video recording, night mode, timer, digital zoom, shutter tone and image editing. There is a large keypad with tactility for easy typing, auto panorama, clear shot effect and Jpeg tools and squeeze.

The phone has an internal memory of up to 25MB and 2GB Micro SD is provided to support external memory slot.

Other features include WAP 2.0/HTML browser, Bluetooth, and EDGE over GPRS. It weighs only 102g and its absolutely easy to carry.

KF350 clamshell phone is priced at Rs. 7949 comes close to $171 USD.

Samsung Introduces New Jet 2 Smartphone In India

webtech — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 10:21:34 +0000

Samsung will be launching their latest touch-screen handset known as Samsung Jet 2 in India soon.

Samsung’s Jet 2 phone is bit advanced compared to their earlier version Samsung Jet S8000 when it comes to slight software modifications. There are quite a few additions, like it comes with multi media features like 5 MP camera, SRS and DNSe sound effect, XviD and DivX video support. Jet 2 also combines intelligent functional and user-friendly interface.

When it comes to display, Samsung Jet 2 has 16M WVGA AMOLED display (3.1″) offers the most vivid and colorful touch experience and its 800MHz application processor delivers breathtaking speed and stunning performance.

Also the new handset has Google Push Email feature which allows media content sharing technology among DLNA certified devices. There is an English dictionary and an advanced Media Browser which lets users to close several widgets at once through motion control.

The new concept that comes with the phone is a 3D media gate UI, as well as with “one finger zoom.” This new concept enables one hand operation to zoom in and out” and can be used while browsing the Web, viewing photos or TXT, PDF and PPT files.

The phone runs on TouchWiz UI 2.0 but also features Motion UI and Media Gate 3D.

Mr.Ranjeet Yadav, the Director- Mobile & IT for Samsung Electronics said “Today’s mobile users seek smart features and easy-to –use user interface in their mobiles. Samsung Jet 2 combines both these qualities and gives the user a superior and differentiated experience.”

There are Photo album, Music player, Video player, FM Radio, Games and internet, all simply accessed by rolling a six sided cube UI on the screen.

Samsung Jet 2 is priced at Rs. 19,500, that is close to $421 USD

Onkyo Releases New All-In-One DE411 Desktop PC in Japan

webtech — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 09:55:07 +0000

Onkyo has released the new all-in-one desktop PC in Japan.

Features of DE411:

Integrated digital TV tuner
21.5-inch 1920×1080 Full HD LCD display
Intel Atom 330 dual core processor
2GB of RAM
NVIDIA ION graphics
320GB hard drive
DVD SuperMulti burner
A multi-in-one card reader
Supports WiFi connection
Built-in 5Wx2 speakers
Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit OS

Price: The device costs close to $1,005 USD (89,800 Yen)

Read More: Onkyo

New MSI GE600 Gaming Notebook Tech Specs

webtech — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 09:41:39 +0000

MSI has announced the release of their latest 16″ gaming notebook computer GE600. It has the latest Intel Core i5 processor with built-in ATI Radeon HD5730 discrete graphics card, also there is a Sub-woofer.

It also includes 1GB DDR3 VRAM and SRS Premium Sound audio. The laptop presents a 720p HD webcam. High-end video/audio equipment provides you with the experience of all-round multimedia entertainments

The gaming notebook features:

Low-profile Luxury Style with Mixed Black and Gold
High-tech Luminescent Touch-sensitive Hotkey Set
ATI Radeon HD5730 Discrete Graphics Card (with built-in 1GB DDR3 VRAM
Advanced 2010 Intel Core Processor
Sub-Woofer and SRS Premium Sound Audio
Sub-Woofer and SRS Premium Sound Audio
Exclusive GPU Boost Technology

Overall Tech Specs of MSI GE600:
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium
CPU: Intel core processor
Chipset: Intel HM55
Graphic: ATI Radeon HD5730 with 1G DDR3 VRAM
Memory: DDRIII SO-DIMM slot x2
LCD: 16″ HD TFT LCD
HDD: 2.5″ 250/320/500GB SATA
Card reader: 4 in 1 (XD/SD/MMC/Memory Stick)
I/O: HDMI, D-sub, USB 2.0*3, e-SASA, Mic-in, Headphone out, RJ-45/RJ-11
Battery: 6/9 cells (Optional)
Wireless: Intel 802.11 a/b/g/draft n, Bluetooth V2.1EDR
Webcam: 720p HD Webcam
Sound: Theater Class Speakers x2 / subwoofer x1
Dimension: 374 (L) x 246 (W) x 26.8-35 (H) mm
Weight: 2.7 kg
Special Feature: Cinema Pro, ECO Engine, Numeric Keyboard;

Read More: MSI