The Digital Lifestyle Show #307 – Bad Prawns

This weeks Digital Lifestyle Show has just been released – its show 307, and we are a man down!

DLS Show

Here’s what Ian says about this week show:

Just Andrew and I this week as Garry was feeling a bit unwell but we have a great show for you. It’s been a busy week with Windows 8 previews, E3 announcements and of course Apple’s WWDC conference. So we talk Windows 8, Xbox 360, watching Media Center TV on an iPad, iCloud, iOS and Windows Home Server news.

Download and listen to the show from here

Review of PerfectDisk 12 Home Server for Windows Home Server 2011

Today we announced the release of PerfectDisk 12, including the Windows Home Server versions. Here we review PerfectDisk 12 Home Server for Windows Home Server 2011.

UWHS Review - PerfectDisk 12 Home Server for Windows Home Server 2011

● Maximize streaming media performance
● Reduce back-up times
● Eliminate hard drive fragmentation
● Completely consolidate free space
● Bundles include PerfectDisk Professional for connected PCs

The main thing to note about PerfectDisk 12 Home Server for Windows Home Server 2011 is that the software is not integrated into the Dashboard. The PD12 application is a completely separate application so can only be accessed directly or via remote desktop.

Who Are Raxco?

From their website:

For over 30 years Raxco Software has developed award-winning defragmentation solutions and performance utilities that improve hard drive and server performance, simplify system administration and help our customers work more efficiently –at home and at the office.

Raxco has consistently been the first to support and receive certification on the latest Windows versions, including Windows 7, Vista, Windows Server 2008, and more. PerfectDisk’s innovations, such as the patented OptiWrite fragmentation prevention, patented SMARTPlacement optimization, Virtual Aware defragmentation for VMware’s vSphere/ESX Server and Microsoft’s Hyper-V, total free space consolidation, large drive support, Active Directory integration, single-pass defrag, and proactive enterprise console alerting and warning, continue to set the bar for the defrag market.

Why Do I Need It?

You might ask yourself why you would want to buy disk defragmentation software. Well the answer is that you may not want to. What do I mean by that? Well, put simply it is a matter of personal preference. Disk defragmentation software is one of those topics that often gets one of two similar responses – either “I must have it” or “I don’t want or need it”.

Personally I must have it. If you don’t know why you might want it, put simply, as files are stored, moved, deleted, updated and so on, over time they can be potentially stored on different areas of the disk rather than in a single block. This is called disk fragmentation. There could be thousands of parts of files scattered all over the disks on your home server. What this means is that it takes longer to read and write those files than it would do if they were all in the same place. That annoying delay waiting for that Word document to open? Could be disk fragmentation.

This is where disk defragmentation software comes into play. The software examines the disk and all of your files, figures out where the parts of the files physically on your drives are and attempts to move them together to make things run faster and smoother. This is a good thing – just imagine having hundreds of gigabytes of files scattered all over the disk.

What’s New?

Preconfigured to automatically optimize your digital life.

Optimize your entire Home Server environment so you can access your photos, music and videos quickly. PerfectDisk 12 Home Server speeds up processing times so your Home Server always runs like new.

Fragmentation Prevention with OptiWrite™

PerfectDisk’s new OptiWrite™ technology prevents most fragmentation on your drive before it occurs, which prevents your system from slowing down. OptiWrite™ detects when Windows is going to fragment files and intelligently redirects I/O to stop the fragmentation from occuring. System performance is maintained and the need to utilize CPU and Disk I/O resources to defragment files is greatly reduced. Because less defragmentation is needed, there is a direct benefit in the form of energy saved in both CPU usage and in the reading and writing to a disk. It saves users both in energy costs and in the time required to defragment a file system.

Intelligent Disk Optimization

For the limited fragmentation that can still occur, PerfectDisk’s patented SMARTPlacement optimization strategy optimizes disk drives according to your unique usage patterns. SMARTPlacement results in the most consolidated free space available, the elimination of most fragmentation before it occurs, and a reduced rate of fragmentation.

SSD Optimize is an optimization method for SSDs that focuses on free space consolidation without defragmentation of files. Solid State Drives are not affected by file fragmentation like traditional electromechanical disk drives. As such, it will leave files in a fragmented state while consolidating free space into large pieces.

Faster Start-Up

Experience faster system start-up times with our proprietary boot file optimization. Improve start-up time by 20% or more.

Auto-Optimization for Complete Unattended Optimization

PerfectDisk’s exclusive StealthPatrol™ tab is used to set automatic fragmentation prevention and optimize your system when it isn’t busy. Auto-optimization affords you the flexibility to optimize your system when it is idle or when the Windows screensaver is active. Auto-optimization provides the flexibility to not run during certain periods of the day or when a user-defined application is running. No other defrag or optimization utility proves this level of flexibility.

Advanced Boot Time Defrag

An important factor in faster PC performance is a thorough boot time defrag. PerfectDisk’s advanced boot time defrag capability is able to defragment files that otherwise would remain fragmented such as the Windows pagefile.sys or the file system’s MFT (Master File Table) and provides the best boot time defrag operation.

Total disk defragmentation and free space consolidation

PerfectDisk offers the most comprehensive solution for defragmentation by optimizing virtually every file on the system, including the Master File Table (MFT), all NTFS metadata files, paging files, directories, and datafiles, and completely consolidating free space. And it does it all in a single pass. There’s also a Selected Files Defrag option that is useful for defragmenting very large files such as video files, rather than defragmenting the entire drive.

S.M.A.R.T. Monitoring

New S.M.A.R.T. monitoring capabilities monitor the status of physical drives. It generates warnings and alerts for hardware performance and reliability, helping you ensure you are aware of any potential hardware problems.

CPU and I/O – control Resource Throttling

Perfectdisk provides resource throttling capabilities to manage resource usage as efficiently as possible. I/O throttling allows PerfectDisk to run on very busy disks without imposing additional load on the disk. CPU throttling allows you to raise or lower the CPU priority at which it runs. PerfectDisk uses very minimal CPU resources in its standard processing.

Synology Announces Various Updates for DiskStations including AirPlay Support

Today, Synology have announced a number of updates for their DiskStation boxes, including a VPN Center Package, a Mail Station Package Update and AirPlay Support.

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Here is the press release:

Synology® Announces Official Release of VPN Center Package, AirPlay Support, Mail Station Package Update for its NAS servers, and Official DSM 3.1 OS for USB Station 2

Taipei, Taiwan—June 8, 2011—Synology® Inc. today announced the official release of VPN Center Package and AirPlay support, along with the Mail Station 2 package update for its DiskStations and RackStations. The official DiskStation Manager 3.1 (DSM 3.1) for USB Station 2 was also launched.

With the official VPN Center package implemented, a Synology NAS server works as a VPN server to provide cost-effective remote access solutions. Businesses can establish virtual networks to achieve full connectivity between their office locations, and allow their employees to reach resources and data as if they were within the private network.

AirPlay support provides an alternative way to conveniently stream multimedia content stored on Audio Station. Users can switch to the Media Renderer mode on Audio Station, and play music on any AirPlay devices. With DS audio, iOS and Android devices can also be used for streaming music to any AirPlay compatible products.

The operating system of USB Station 2 is now officially upgraded to DSM 3.1. Sharing multimedia content and documents is made more efficient with revamped Audio Station and File Browser which offers searching criteria and document preview. AirPlay and AirPrint support enrich the capabilities of mobile devices. Other enhanced features such as RSS feeds and torrent search on Download Station are also available.

Availability

The VPN Center package and AirPlay support apply to the following models: RS2211+, RS2211RP+, DS1511+, RS411, DS411+II, DS411+, DS411j, DS411slim, DS211+, DS211, DS211j, DS111, DS1010+, RS810+, RS810RP+, DS410, DS410j, DS710+, DS210+, DS210j, DS110+, DS110j, DS509+, RS409+, RS409RP+, RS409, DS409+, DS409, DS209+II, DS209+, DS209, DS109+, DS109, DS409slim, RS408, RS408-RP, DS508, DS408

They are available for free download at http://www.synology.com/support/download.php

The Mail Station 2 package update additionally applies to the following models: DS209j, DS109j, DS108j, RS407, DS207+, DS207, DS107+, DS107, DS107e, CS407, CS407e

It is available for free download at http://www.synology.com/support/download.php

Synology DSM 3.1 for USB Station 2 is available for free download at
http://www.synology.com/support/download.php?lang=enu&b=Others&m=USB Station 2

Synology at a Glance

Founded in 2000, Synology is a young and energetic company dedicated to developing high-performance, reliable, versatile, and environmentally-friendly Network Attached Storage (NAS) server products. Our goal is to deliver user-friendly solutions and solid customer service to satisfy the needs of businesses, home offices, individual users and families.

Raxco Software Releases PerfectDisk 12

Today saw the release of PerfectDisk 12 from Raxco Software. The versions that have been released include versions for Windows Home Server V1 and Windows Home Server 2011. There is also support for SSDs.

PD12 image

The PerfectDisk 12 product line provides smarter optimization for all system drives. Improvements have been made throughout PerfectDisk 12 that result in up to 30% faster analyzes and optimization passes so users can work and play even faster. Plus, it saves energy costs by reducing the use of CPU and disk I/O resources.

Numerous new capabilities and enhancements are included in PerfectDisk 12, highlighted by:

  • New OptiWrite™ technology prevents most fragmentation on your drive before it occurs by detecting when Windows is going to fragment files and intelligently redirects I/O so that most fragmentation does not occur. It is the only technology available today that can minimize free space fragmentation while preventing file fragmentation.
  • Exclusive StealthPatrol™ tab is used to set automatic fragmentation prevention and optimize your system when it isn’t busy. Users can select the desired automation settings in one location and PerfectDisk 12 will run in the background to keep all drives optimized and running at peak performance.
  • Improved SSD optimization that specifically focuses on free space consolidation without defragmentation of files to improve write performance.  SSD optimization is included free of charge in all editions of PerfectDisk 12.
  • Enhanced capabilities to optimize virtualized environments through auto detection and configuration of PerfectDisk based on virtual hard drive type including thin provisioned drives, linked clones and non-persistent drives.
  • New Short Stroke method improves optimization speed and support for thin provisioned drives.
  • New Zero Fill Free Space capability to assist with migration from physical to virtual environments, shrinking virtual drives and the recovery of valuable disk space.
  • Enhanced scheduling that provides the world’s most flexible scheduling options according to a user’s or businesses’ unique requirements.

The PerfectDisk 12 product line introduces the new PerfectDisk 12 Professional for Networks which includes the PerfectDisk 12 Enterprise Console for central management and control of all systems throughout the enterprise. PerfectDisk 12 Server and PerfectDisk 12 Exchange also integrate with the PerfectDisk 12 Enterprise Console, which is included as a free add-on to all PerfectDisk 12 Server and Exchange purchases.

“PerfectDisk 12 delivers real value with the OptiWriteTM fragmentation-prevention technology and new support for SSD optimization,” said Dr. Steven Gurgevich, Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Arizona College Of Medicine, a Beta tester for PerfectDisk 12. “I’ve seen the perfect combination of faster systems yet reduced system resources and costs. And with enhanced support for thin provisioned drives, virtualization performance also benefits significantly. Raxco has covered all the bases for system performance with this release – it’s their best yet.”

“PerfectDisk 12 builds on the industry’s most powerful defrag and optimization engine with a quantum leap forward in performance, flexibility and reporting,” said Bob Nolan, president and CEO of Raxco Software. “Large enterprises, SMBs and consumers alike are looking to maximize their hardware investments to obtain the best possible computer performance, storage management, and information reporting on their PCs and servers. And from the glowing feedback we’ve received from our beta testers, we know PerfectDisk 12 delivers on all fronts.”

PerfectDisk 12 is available immediately via the Raxco Software website at http://www.raxco.com as well as favorite resellers everywhere. Free, fully functional 30-day trials are also available.

The PerfectDisk 12 product line includes PerfectDisk 12 Home Premium, PerfectDisk 12 Home Server, PerfectDisk 12 Professional, PerfectDisk 12 Professional for Networks, PerfectDisk 12 Server, PerfectDisk12 Exchange, PerfectDisk 12 Hyper-V, PerfectDisk 12 vSphere, PerfectDisk 12 VMware Workstation, and PerfectDisk 12 Enterprise Console.

Pricing starts at $24.99 for single copies of PerfectDisk 12 Home Premium, $39.99 for PerfectDisk 12 Professional and $99.99 for PerfectDisk 12 Server. Quantity discounts and special-priced bundles are also available.

Stay tuned for our reviews shortly.

Two Minute Review of the Kingston HyperX Plug and Play DDR3 Laptop Memory

In another of our Two Minute Reviews, we take a look at the new Kingston HyperX Plug and Play DDR3 Laptop Memory.

UWHS Review - Kingston HyperX Plug and Play DDR3 Laptop Memory

The new HyperX Plug and Play (PnP) series of high-performance enthusiast memory are the first modules to scale the higher memory heights that are a part of the second generation Intel® Core i5 and i7 CPUs. The memory is programmed with faster frequencies and when ‘plugged’ into a system using the Sandy Bridge chipset, will automatically ‘play’ at either 1600MHz or 1866MHz in both desktop and notebook PCs.

The modules are programmed using JEDEC-compliant settings, allowing 1600MHz and 1866MHz frequency support. It is as simple as plugging in the memory and turning on the machine, as the system automatically recognizes faster memory speed with no further BIOS settings required. Users will notice performance gains as overclocking is automatic with the HyperX Plug and Play modules. In addition, the modules are backwards compatible with previously released DDR3 systems on the market.

Who are Kingston?

From their website:

Kingston Technology Company, Inc. is the world’s independent memory leader.
Founded in 1987 with a single product offering, Kingston® now offers more than 2,000 memory products that support nearly every device that uses memory, from computers, servers and printers to MP3 players, digital cameras and mobile phones. In 2010, the company’s sales reached $6.5 billion.

With global headquarters in Fountain Valley, California, Kingston employs more than 4,000 people worldwide. Regarded as one of the “Best Companies to Work for in America” by Fortune magazine, Kingston’s tenets of respect, loyalty, flexibility and integrity create an exemplary corporate culture. Kingston believes that investing in its people is essential, and each employee is a vital part of Kingston’s success.

Kingston serves an international network of distributors, resellers, retailers and OEM customers on six continents. The company also provides contract manufacturing and supply chain management services for semiconductor manufacturers and system OEMs.

What’s in the Box?

The box contains the 2 4GB sticks and some paperwork.

UWHS Review - Kingston HyperX Plug and Play DDR3 Laptop Memory

Fitting the Memory

Fitting the memory was simply a case of removing the back cover of the laptop and fitting it in place.

UWHS Review - Kingston HyperX Plug and Play DDR3 Laptop Memory

HP ProLiant MicroServer Now With £100 Cashback Offer Extended Yet Again

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Since December, HP have been running a £100 cashback offer on the purchase of their HP ProLiant Microserver. Every time the offer runs out they extend it, and now they have done it again.

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We love the MicroServer here at UWHS, so this offer is really great. Where else can you get something like this, including a hard drive, for around £120 after cashback?

The offer is only valid if you purchase a 1X250GB ProLiant Microserver (part code 633724-421), so make sure you get the right one!

Just do a search on Google to see the best offers and stock.

Once you have your MicroServer, just visit the HP page for details on claiming your £100 back.

Don’t forget to check out Tim’s article and video here

Have you got one? What do you think?

Acer Announce the Acer AC100 Microserver

Acer have announced their new Acer AC100 Microserver – and it is perfect to run Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials.

AC100_01AC100_02AC100_03AC100_04

The Acer AC100 delivers essential server-class features and expandability along with unique Acer utilities1 and Microsoft Small Business Server 2011 Essentials to ensure the success of startup and small-size businesses. The ultra-micro tower server is ENERGY STAR certified and features an 80 PLUS efficient power supply that saves space and energy while keeping your employees and office highly productive.

Features

4 x hot-pluggable hard drives
Intel® Xeon® E3 or Core™ i3 or Pentium® series processor
2 x DDR3 ECC unbuffered DIMMs
6 x USB ports
eSATA port
Gigabit LAN port (RJ-45)
Video port
Recovery button
Pad lock and Kensington lock slots

Operating Systems

• Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials
• Microsoft Windows Server 2008
• Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
• SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP1

AC100 model options

AC100

AC100 standard comes in a wide range of specs to fit any customer need

AC100s

AC100s is preloaded with pre-built RAID and Windows Small Business Server 2011
Essentials. The preload package is the simplest way to deliver strong server
functionality in an easy-to-use package, and is perfect for the small office and SOHO
environments.

Pricing and availability have yet to be announced, but that should be forthcoming soon, so watch this space.

Here is some more information:

Smart investment for growing businesses

A brand-new Intel® architecture drives the AC100 ultra-micro tower server with an industry-leading 32 nm processor, greater memory capacity, and higher performance to handle large workloads more efficiently. A PCI Express® x8 expansion slot and multiple USB/eSATA ports are available for external expansion. Four hot-swappable hard disk drives for up to 6 TB of data storage satisfy the demands of growing businesses.

Server-class reliability and security

The AC100 is packed with dependable server-class hardware: an integrated Gigabit Ethernet controller transmits data quickly and safely; ECC memory protection enhances data integrity and reliability; pre-configured RAID 0, 1, 5 models1 ensure data security; and automatic backup protects valuable data and enables secure remote access from the web.

Friendly UI and add-ins optimize office productivity

Acer Dashboard1 and Acer ITSmart1 include powerful utilities to ease office IT operations and increase employee productivity: Sever Health Monitoring, Client PC Power Saving, Printer Sharing and Fax Notification, Intel® vPro™ Management2

Cost-effective expandability, green computing

The AC100 is designed with a tool-less micro tower chassis that allows easy component access, reducing maintenance and service costs. What’s more, this tower server is ENERGY STAR® certified and equipped with an 80 PLUS® power supply for maximum energy efficiency.

Learn more from the Acer website

Well you didn’t think I would miss an opportunity to plug my next book would you? I am working together with Charlie Russell and Sharon Crawford on an SBS 2011 Essentials book.

SBS 2011 book

You can pre-order the book from Amazon today.

Announcements from the Boxee Event in London

Tonight is the Boxee event in London and there have been some pretty interesting announcements.

boxee_logo1

Here is what they have said so far:

Tonight we’re in East London sharing some new partners, showing off the iPad, and establishing a beachhead for further European growth.  Here’s a quick run through of tonight’s announcements.

LAUNCHING TONIGHT

BBC iPlayer
Following some recent technical changes, BBC iPlayer is back and is better than ever. With a fresh new look, this is the BBC your way, giving you on demand access to all that the BBC has to offer from the past seven days. There’s nothing else to do, other than sit back, relax and enjoy your favourite BBC programmes from the comfort of your sofa at a time that suits you.

COMING SOON

Blink Box
As the UK’s largest online movies and TV website, BlinkBox is a perfect match for our first major rental service dedicated to Great Britain. They’ve partnered with pretty much every major studio to offer a huge selection of movies and TV at competitive prices and a load of free stuff as well (see one of my favorites, Summer Heights High for free).  Tonight we’ve announced a partnership with them to bring their shows and movies to both the Boxee library as well as to a special Blink Box app so UK users can enjoy everything the service provides. Work starts in September with a release currently slated for the end of the year.

SNEAK PEEK – Boxee for iPad
Tonight we’re also giving people a sneak peek at the Boxee iPad App.  The goal was to create something that stood on its own to bring Boxee to the iPad – videos your friends have shared, featured items, your watch later queue, as well as video files from your local network (using the new Boxee Media Server).  Of course if you’ve got a Boxee Box as well, you’ll be able to use the iPad app as a way to send stuff to your TV.

We were very excited to see the event in London sell out and we think it speaks volumes about the demand for Boxee not only in the UK but across Europe in general so we hope this will be the first of many events and announcements for our European users.

Apple Release iTunes 10.3

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Today Apple has released iTunes version 10.3, including the new iTunes in the Cloud beta.

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iTunes in the Cloud beta lets you automatically download new music, app, and book purchases to all your devices. Or you can download only the stuff you want to just the devices you want. It’s all part of iTunes 10.3.

What’s new in iTunes 10.3

Introducing iTunes in the Cloud beta. The music you purchase in iTunes appears automatically on all your devices. You can also download your past iTunes purchases. Where you want, when you want.
• Automatic Downloads. Purchase music from any device or computer and automatically download a copy to your Mac and iOS devices.
• Download Previous Purchases. Download your past music purchases again at no additional cost. Your purchases are available in the iTunes Store on your Mac or in the iTunes app on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. Previous purchases may be unavailable if they are no longer on the iTunes Store.

iTunes 10.3 also adds Books to the iTunes Store, where you can discover and buy your favorite books on your computer and automatically download them to iBooks on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.

This version also allows you to use Automatic Downloads with apps and books or download previously purchased apps and books from your computer or iOS device.

iTunes is still saying that 10.2.2.12 is the latest version, but if you visit the Apple website you can download 10.3.

Download iTunes 10.3 now

Drive Bender for Windows Home Server 2011 v.1.1.4.1

Today saw yet another update to Beta 3 of Drive Bender for Windows Home Server 2011 released, taking it to version v1.1.4.1 only a couple of days after v1.1.4.0.

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This is a major Drive Bender update as it addresses a long running bug that has caused numerous performance and reliability issues.

Here is what is included in the beta 3 update:

Release v1.1.4.1 – beta (2011-06-07)
– Bug fix: Under high CPU usage, a number of file system errors could occur. This bug also effected other areas of the application, and could have cause a number seemingly unrelated issues. This bug has been known to cause :-
* Sync / copy applications displaying errors with some files.
* WHS client backups failing.
* WHS backup service crashing.
* Client applications / services crashing.
* Memory leaks on large file transfers.
* Drive Bender slow down after a period of time.
* Excessive C drive usage due to the large log files being generated.
– Bug fix: Deleting a file can sometime leave an orphaned duplicate file.
– Update: Log files are now limited in size.
– Issue: On occasions a deleted file will NOT go to the recycled bin.
– Bug fix: Restarting the Drive Bender service could sometimes cause the service to hang.
– Update: Drive balancing and health monitoring now pause during heavy read / write activity.

For more information check out the Drive Bender website

Acer RevoCenter powered by Windows Home Server 2011 announced at Computex

Back in April we reported on the first shots of Acer’s new Windows Home Server 2011 box – the Acer RevoCenter. Now it has been officially announced at Computex.

RevoCenter_350x250

So it looks like one more Windows Home Server will be on the market, although these are still Atom powered, which worries me that they will be a little underpowered if you want to do lots with media! Time will tell I suppose.

http://us.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/series/revocenter

Steven Guggenheimer also demonstrated Windows Home Server 2011 ecosystem at his keynote.  The original video linked below was packed full of Microsoft goodies.

How To Recover A Tranquil PC Leo HS4 Windows Home Server 2011 Box

With Windows Home Server V1, different companies provided different methods to perform a server recovery. Now that the first Windows Home Server 2011 server is available in the guise of the Tranquil PC Leo HS4, it’s time to see how its done now.

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Check out our exclusive review of the Tranquil PC Leo HS4 Windows Home Server 2011 box

So assuming that you want, or need to perform a server recovery, or reinstall on your Windows Home Server 2011 box, you will need to perform a number of steps and you will need special media to do it.

In Windows Home Server V1 days, Tranquil provided a cool USB key credit card that you connected to your Home Server to do the reinstallation.

Tranquil Recovery Key

With Windows Home Server 2011, they only provide a Server Recovery DVD.

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Have no fear though as the Server Recovery DVD contains everything you need to perform the recovery.

Well ok, not everything, you will need a USB flash drive of at least 8 GB – so make sure you have one to hand when you want to do the recovery.

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First, pop the DVD into the DVD drive on one of your PCs. You will see the Getting Started screen which will walk you through creating a bootable USB flash drive with the recovery software on, or you can skip this step and go straight to recovery steps if you previously created the flash drive. Click Next to continue.

Tranquil Server Recovery step 1

Insert a USB flash drive of at least 8 GB. Click Next to continue.

Tranquil Server Recovery step 2

Ceton Announce $100 Instant Rebate Against Any InfiniTV 4 Product

Today the Ceton Corporation announced a special $100 instant rebate against the purchase of any InfiniTV 4 product.

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Ceton Corporation today announced that their best-selling line of InfiniTV digital cable TV solutions is now available for immediate purchase through four additional retail partners. Micro Center, the Microsoft Store, Newegg and Velocity Micro join existing retailers Amazon, Cannon PC, Fluid Digital and Zones as authorized retailers for Ceton solutions. In addition, the company has added D&H Distributing as a distribution partner for retailers, systems builders and OEMs who wish to offer Ceton products. In celebration of its expanding retail footprint, Ceton also announced a special $100 promotion for new InfiniTV purchases made before June 30, 2011. Anyone purchasing a new InfiniTV 4 product through one of the authorized retailers listed above between June 6 and June 30, 2011 will receive a $100 instant rebate at the time of purchase.

The Ceton InfiniTV 4 is the world’s first multi-tuner PC card for watching digital cable TV on the PC, including support for premium and encrypted cable channels like HBO and Showtime. It enables Media Center PCs to play or record up to four live channels of HDTV at once, and stream live HD channels or recordings to multiple HDTVs throughout the home, all from a single cable connection and using a single CableCARD from your local cable operator.
NOTE: this is a special pre-order program for Ceton InfiniTV 4. A valid credit card is required at the time of order but will not be charged until your order is shipped. InfiniTV 4 is expected to ship on May 31, 2010.

  • The first multi-tuner PC card for watching digital cable TV on the PC
  • Support for premium and encrypted cable channels like HBO and Showtime
  • Enables Media Center PCs to play or record up to four live channels of HDTV at once
  • Stream live HD channels or recordings to multiple HDTVs throughout the home
  • System Requirements: InfiniTV 4 is a PCIe low-profile PC card and ships with both low-profile and full-height backplates. The recommended minimum system requirements are: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium, Windows 7 Professional, Windows 7 Enterprise, or Windows 7 Ultimate; 2GHz or faster CPU minimum, either 32 bit (x86) or 64 bit (x64) – 2.7GHz or faster dual-core CPU is recommended; 2GB of RAM minimum – 3GB or more is recommended; 1 PCIe slot, which can be either an x1, x4, x8, or x16 type slot; HDCP compliant on-board graphics or graphics card; HDMI out, or DVI out with separate audio out; Multi-Stream CableCARD (M-Card) – available from your local cable provider; Digital cable subscription from a U.S. cable provider

Kingston Announce the Wi-Drive for Apple iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch Users

Last week Kingston announced the Wi-Drive, which is a wireless, portable storage system for Apple devices, such as the iPad and the iPhone.

styl_Wi_Drive

Wi-Drive, a wireless, portable storage solution, allows users to expand the number of documents, images, music and video files they can access from Apple devices, including Apple iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. The combination of this storage expansion, file sharing and a rugged portable form factor makes it a perfect companion device.

Wi-Drive, along with its app from the App Store SM, allows users to stream videos, access music or share files with other Apple device owners. The distinctively designed, pocket-sized Wi-Drive utilises Flash-based technology to store data from USB-compatible PCs. These files are then easily retrieved via Wi-Drive’s built-in wireless signal without requiring cables or an Internet connection. Three users can work simultaneously with different file types from a single Wi-Drive without any performance disruption.

With integrated Wi-Fi and four hours of battery life, accessing or sharing your personal media has never been easier. With Wi-Drive, you can add another 16GB or 32GB of space accessed wirelessly from your digital device and the content can even be shared with two other people so you are no longer limited to the space available within your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad.

Kingston offers Wi-Drive in both 16GB and 32GB sizes and the product will be available from August 1st 2011.

Kingston Wi-Drive Features and Specifications:

·         Capacities*: 16GB, 32GB

·         Dimensions: 121.5mm x 61.8mm x 9.8mm

·         Operating Temperature: 32°F to 122°F (0°C to 50°C)

·         Storage Temperature: 14°F to 185°F (-10°C to 70°C)

·         Wireless Network Interface: Wi-Fi 802.11g/n with wireless security (WPA/WEP)

·         Rechargeable Battery: up to four hours of continuous use

·         Cable: Mini-USB to USB cable included.  User can upload files and content from their PC/Mac to the Wi-Drive using the USB cable

·         Portable: Uses Flash-based technology for durability and reliability

·      Convenient: pocket-sized for easy transportability

·      Simple: just plug into a USB port

·      Guaranteed: one-year warranty

·         App: downloadable at Apple’s App Store

·         Compatible with: iPad, iPhone 3G/3GS/4, iPod touch (3G is limited to iOS 4.2.1+)

·         Configurable APN (access point name) and Key functions to connect to Wireless Access Point (Internet Connection)

·         Supported File Formats:

·         Audio: AAC, MP3, WAV

·         Video: m4v, mp4, mov, Motion JPEG (M-JPEG), AVI

·         Image: jpg, bmp, tiff

·         Document: pdf, doc, docx, ppt, pptx, txt, rtf, xls

* Some of the listed capacity is used for formatting and other functions and thus is not available for data storage. For more information, please consult Kingston’s Flash Memory Guide at Kingston.com/Flash_Memory_Guide.

Kingston Wi-Drive
Part Number Capacity and Features MSRP (excl VAT)
WID/16GZ Wi-Drive 16GB £79.50
WID/32GZ Wi-Drive 32GB £107
Learn more from the Kingston website