Events

New Overwatch Map Pack Coming this week to Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3

Gaming
News

Andrew Edney

-

Feb 16, 2012

New Overwatch Map Pack Coming this week to Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3’s third map pack will debut exclusively for Xbox 360 Call of Duty Elite subscribers on February 21st – and this one is called Overwatch.

This is how the new map is described:

Shots break out on a construction site atop a New York City skyscraper. Battle takes place along two levels in a near symmetrical layout, with the central bridge and side routes open to attack from multiple angles. Watch your every step, as a lack of boundaries surrounding the perimeter leaves nothing to prevent you from falling far to the ground below.

Check out the video preview below:

Check out our review of Call of Duty: MW3

Microsoft Launches msnNOW Portal

Andrew Edney

-

Feb 16, 2012

0

msnNOW is a new way to stay in the know on the topics people are talking about, searching for, and sharing the most.

This is how Microsoft describes msnNOW:

msnNOW is the only place that looks at the hottest trends from Facebook, Twitter, Bing and Breakingnews.com.

We give you the inside scoop so you always know about what’s trending, if it’s true, and why you should care.

And we’re constantly checking the latest buzz, so just look for links with the gray speech bubble on MSN.com to make msnNOW part of your daily routine.

Check out msnNOW today

Want SkyDrive on your Android Device then check out Browser for SkyDrive

Andrew Edney

-

Feb 15, 2012

0

Want SkyDrive on your Android Device then check out Browser for SkyDrive

I’m a recent convert to SkyDrive and people have been asking how to use it on the Android device. Well now there’s an app to help you with that called Browser for SkyDrive.

This is the description for the app:

Microsoft’s SkyDrive service is a nice chunk of cloud storage—25 GB, to be exact. Now you can view, download, and send your files in SkyDrive from your Android phone with Browser for SkyDrive.

You can download and upload and browsing the SkyDrive.

< Supported >
* Safety Login – It is done through the Microsoft’s Live web site so we never know your email or password.
* multi-selection
* Upload / Download
* Create folder
* Send a Link
* Dual-pane
* Thumbnails View(Grid view)
* Share to – by other APPs (like Gallery)
* Shared folder browsing (Read and download only)

Download the app from the Android Market

Sky Go App Coming to Android on 22nd February

Andrew Edney

-

Feb 15, 2012

0

Last month we told you that the Sky Go app for Android would be released in February, now we have an actual date for you!

So for all your Android lovers out there, the Sky Go app will be available from the 22nd February.

Have you used Sky Go? What do you think of it?

SanDisk Launches High-Performance Extreme Solid State Drives

Andrew Edney

-

Feb 15, 2012

0

SanDisk Launches High-Performance Extreme Solid State Drives

We have reviewed a number of SSD’s here at UWHS, and now news reaches us that SanDisk are launching a new range of SSD’s they are calling their Extreme SSD range.

Here is the press release from SanDisk:

Consumer Drive Delivers Faster, More Responsive Computing Experience and Extends the Life of Existing PCs

MILPITAS, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK), a global leader in flash memory storage solutions, today announced a high-performance solid state drive (SSD) for the retail channel. The SanDisk Extreme® SSD is up to 10 times faster than a 7,200 RPM hard disk drive, enabling computer users to quickly boot and shut down their systems, launch applications faster and reduce wait times. The drive is also more durable and power efficient, delivering a reliable computing experience while maximizing battery life.

Extreme Performance

The SanDisk Extreme SSD can boot a PC in less than 16 seconds and quickly shut down the system, delivering a significantly improved user experience to desktop and notebook users. For gamers, the SanDisk Extreme SSD can launch applications in a fraction of the time and reduce in-game delays by generating environments faster during sequence transitions. This is particularly important during massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs).

“Computer wait times are becoming a thing of the past thanks to SSDs,” said Kent Perry, director, product marketing, SanDisk. “Our SanDisk Extreme SSD delivers virtually instant boot and shutdown times along with faster application launches. It’s a huge improvement to the computing experience.”

The SanDisk Extreme SSD delivers up to 83,000 maximum random write Input-Output Operations Per Second (IOPS) and up to 44,000 random read IOPS. High sequential read performance of up to 550 megabytes-per-second (MB/s) and up to 520MB/s sequential write speed deliver faster, more responsive computing.

Extreme Reliability

The SanDisk Extreme SSD is more reliable and durable than a hard disk drive and is backed by SanDisk’s reputation for quality. The drive contains no moving parts, decreasing the risk of data loss due to shock and vibration, and its mean time between failure (MTBF) greatly exceeds that of hard disk drives, giving users peace of mind that it will retain their files for the long term.

Additional Benefits

The SanDisk Extreme SSD consumes 30 percent less power than a hard disk drive while generating less heat and noise, making it an ideal solution for notebook users who want to maximize their battery life while computing on the go. The drive provides cost savings for IT departments or DIY enthusiasts who want to extend the life of their existing PCs without buying an entirely new system. The drive is easy to install-simply plug it into a computer’s SATA port.

Pricing and Availability

The SanDisk Extreme SSD is available worldwide now in 120 gigabyte (GB) and 240GB capacities carrying MSRPs of $189.99 and $399.99 respectively. A 480GB version of the drive will ship later this year with an MSRP of $749.99.

SanDisk Solid State Drives

SanDisk also announced today the SanDisk X100 SSD, featuring the utmost in performance and storage capacity for desktop and notebook PC manufacturers.
SanDisk offers a full portfolio of products for the OEM, enterprise and retail channels that is supported more than 20 years of flash memory innovation and the benefits of vertical integration. The OEM products also include the U100 SSD for cost-effective performance and customizable form factors, and the SanDisk® iSSD™ for an embedded micro SSD SATA form factor. All models are available as standalone SSDs or dual drive caching solutions.

I’m looking forward to testing out these new drives and comparing them to my current favourite SSD the Samsung Series 830!

Learn more from the SanDisk website

Microsoft Release Small Business Server 2011 Essentials Update Rollup 2

Andrew Edney

-

Feb 15, 2012

2

Microsoft Release Small Business Server 2011 Essentials Update Rollup 2

Along with the Windows Home Server 2011 UR2 release, Microsoft has also released Update Rollup 2 for Small Business Server 2011 Essentials.

You can get the update from Windows Update!

Feature that is included in this update

The Office 365 Integration Module is an additional feature that is available for Windows Small Business Server (SBS) 2011 Essentials. This add-in feature simplifies the management of Office 365 by integrating the administration experience into the server Dashboard, which is the command-and-control center for Windows SBS 2011 Essentials.

Major issues that are resolved by this update

Issue 1

The network monitor service or the health service crashes occasionally. This issue causes the dashboard to crash in the configuration router wizard. Additionally, an event that resembles the following is logged in the Application log:

Log Name: Application
Source: .NET Runtime
Date: datetime
Event ID: 1026
Task Category: None
Level: Error
Keywords: Classic
User: N/A
Computer: computer name
Description:
Application: SharedServiceHost.exe
Framework Version: v4.0.30319
Description: The process was terminated due to an unhandled exception.
Exception Info: System.InvalidOperationException
Stack:
at System.Xml.Serialization.XmlSerializer.Deserialize(System.Xml.XmlReader, System.String, System.Xml.Serialization.XmlDeserializationEvents)
at Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.TaskManagement.Data.EngineStateFile.Load(System.String)
at Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.TaskManagement.TaskScheduler.ReadRestartState()
at Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.TaskManagement.TaskScheduler.RunTasks(System.String, System.String)
at Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Networking.NetworkingMonitor.RepairRouter()
at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.runTryCode(System.Object)
at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.RuntimeHelpers.ExecuteCodeWithGuaranteedCleanup(TryCode, CleanupCode, System.Object)
at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.Run(System.Threading.ExecutionContext, System.Threading.ContextCallback, System.Object, Boolean)
at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.Run(System.Threading.ExecutionContext, System.Threading.ContextCallback, System.Object)
at System.Threading.ThreadHelper.ThreadStart()

This issue occurs because the operating system uses the same state file for different task lists that are running in parallel.

Issue 2

When a web browser control add-in is installed, and you try to close the Dashboard, an empty confirmation dialog box appears. This issue occurs if Internet Explorer 9 is installed.

Issue 3

The Remote Web Access (RWA) website does not work correctly when you log on from a tablet device. For example, you cannot download files from the RWA website to a Google Android-based device, and you cannot upload files from an Apple IOS-based device to the RWA website.

Issue 4

The software name of the embedded Launchpad is the same for Mac Lion as it is for Windows. Therefore, the operating system assumes that the embedded Launchpad for Mac Lion is already installed. Because of this issue, you cannot install the connector on a Mac Lion-based client computer.

Issue 5

When you install a third-party application that uses the same altitude value as the Backupreader.sys, and then you try to restore the client backup, the restore process fails.

Issue 6

Assume that you try to perform a client backup. In this situation, the backup operation fails. Additionally, you receive the following error message:

Insufficient storage available for backup

This issue occurs because a hidden “Drivers for Full System Restore” folder is created on all the volumes that are included in the backup. If the client computer is running Windows 7, there is a hidden System Reserved partition that is only 100 megabytes (MB). However, the “Drivers for Full System Restore” folder is larger than 100 MB. Therefore, this issue occurs. After you apply this update, the “Drivers for Full System Restore” folder is not created on volumes that are smaller than one gigabyte (GB) or on volumes that do not have a driver letter.

Issue 7

The default input language for the Spanish version of Windows SBS 2011 Essentials is English. After you install this update, an alert is displayed that states that the default input language is changed to either English or Traditional Spanish.

Issue 8

If a certificate that has a blank common name (CN) is created in certain situations, the identity management service cannot be run.

Issue 9

When Update Rollup 1 for Windows SBS 2011 Essentials is installed on the server that is running a localized version of Windows SBS 2011 Essentials, two sets of shortcuts for Launchpad and Dashboard are created. In this situation, the names of the shortcuts are displayed in English in one of the set and in the local language in the other set.

Issue 10

This update fixes and updates links to documents that provide guidance for discovering and deploying add-ins and additional applications.

Issue 11

Sharedservicehost.exe throws exception errors when the health monitoring service and the client backup service are running. This issue also occurs when Launchpad or Dashboard is disconnected from the Internet. This behavior causes some services, such as the health monitoring service, the backup service, or the identity management service, to crash.

Issue 12

The Office 365 integration module fails when you use a new Office 365 organization ID.

Issue 13

The UI of the client connector is incompatible with the new version of Windows client.

Issue 14

Client computers disappear from the Dashboard if request IDs for certificates are not returned in a numeric sequence. This issue may also cause the server to disappear from the Dashboard.

Known issues

Issue 1

Assume that you install the Launchpad on a client computer before this update is applied on the server. In this situation, the connector on the client computer updates automatically. This behavior causes the notification tray to crash on some localized versions of Windows SBS 2011 Essentials, such as the Italian and Portuguese Brazilian versions. This issue occurs only after this update is applied.

Issue 2

You do not receive an alert that states that automatic software updates for Mac Lion are disabled.

Issue 3

You do not receive an alert that states that software updates for Mac Lion are available.

Issue 4

There are no time-outs when you try to update the health status after the network connection is disconnected in Mac Lion.

And don’t forget to buy my Working with Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials book.

The Digital Lifestyle Show #341-The Title Ian Forgot

Andrew Edney

-

Feb 15, 2012

0

The Digital Lifestyle Show #341-The Title Ian Forgot

This weeks Digital Lifestyle Show has just been released – and it’s show 341.

Here’s what Ian says about this week show:

A day earlier than normal but we still have all our usual features. Garry and Andrew join me to talk over Windows On ARM and what it going to mean for us, Samsumg Galaxy Tab 2, Kinect for Windows Media Center, XBMC, Roku boxes, Google coming out with home entertainment devices, plus lots of other stuff.

You can listen to or download the show from here.

Microsoft Release Windows Home Server 2011 Update Rollup 2

Andrew Edney

-

Feb 15, 2012

8

Microsoft Release Windows Home Server 2011 Update Rollup 2

Microsoft has just released Update Rollup 2 for Windows Home Server 2011 brining with it a number of fixes and a new feature!

You can get the update from Windows Update!

Feature that is included in this update

After you apply this update, the Media Streaming Metadata Synchronizer scheduled task is disabled. The Internet does not synchronize the album tags of the media files on the server share automatically. You can enable the scheduled task by using a new UI in Server Settings in the Dashboard.

Major issues that are resolved by this update

Issue 1

The network monitor service or the health service crashes occasionally. This issue causes the dashboard to also crash in the configuration router wizard. Additionally, an event that resembles the following is logged in the Application log:

Log Name: Application
Source: .NET Runtime
Date: datetime
Event ID: 1026
Task Category: None
Level: Error
Keywords: Classic
User: N/A
Computer: computer name
Description:
Application: SharedServiceHost.exe
Framework Version: v4.0.30319
Description: The process was terminated due to an unhandled exception.
Exception Info: System.InvalidOperationException
Stack:
at System.Xml.Serialization.XmlSerializer.Deserialize(System.Xml.XmlReader, System.String, System.Xml.Serialization.XmlDeserializationEvents)
at Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.TaskManagement.Data.EngineStateFile.Load(System.String)
at Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.TaskManagement.TaskScheduler.ReadRestartState()
at Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.TaskManagement.TaskScheduler.RunTasks(System.String, System.String)
at Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Networking.NetworkingMonitor.RepairRouter()
at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.runTryCode(System.Object)
at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.RuntimeHelpers.ExecuteCodeWithGuaranteedCleanup(TryCode, CleanupCode, System.Object)
at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.Run(System.Threading.ExecutionContext, System.Threading.ContextCallback, System.Object, Boolean)
at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.Run(System.Threading.ExecutionContext, System.Threading.ContextCallback, System.Object)
at System.Threading.ThreadHelper.ThreadStart()

This issue occurs because the operating system uses the same state file for different task lists that are running in parallel.

Issue 2

Music file tags are overwritten in a default share (\\server\music) that has remote access enabled. Additionally, the album art file is replaced by using a low-resolution hidden system file.

Issue 3

When a web browser control add-in is installed, and you try to close the Dashboard, an empty confirmation dialog box appears. This issue occurs if Internet Explorer 9 is installed.

Issue 4

Remote access permission restrictions do not apply to the Media Library. For example, when you grant a new user account permission to access the Music folder only, the new user can access the Picture and Video folders in Media Library by using a remote desktop session.

Issue 5

The Remote Web Access website (RWA) does not work correctly when you log on from a tablet device. For example, you cannot download files from the RWA website to a Google Android-based device, and you cannot upload files from an Apple IOS-based device to the RWA website.

Issue 6

The software name of the embedded Launchpad is the same for Mac Lion as it is for Windows. Therefore, the operating system assumes that the embedded Launchpad for Mac Lion is already installed. Because of this issue, you cannot install the connector on a Mac Lion-based client computer.

Issue 7

When you install a third-party application that uses the same altitude value as the Backupreader.sys, and then you try to restore the client backup, the restore process fails.

Issue 8

Assume that you try to perform a client backup. In this situation, the backup operation fails. Additionally, you receive the following error message:

Insufficient storage available for backup

This issue occurs because a hidden “Drivers for Full System Restore” folder is created on all the volumes that are included in the backup. If the client computer is running Windows 7, there is a hidden System Reserved partition that is only 100 megabytes (MB). However, the “Drivers for Full System Restore” folder is larger than 100 MB. Therefore, this issue occurs. After you apply this update, the “Drivers for Full System Restore” folder is not created on volumes that are smaller than one gigabyte (GB) or on volumes that do not have a driver letter.

Issue 9

The default input language for the Spanish version of Windows Home Server 2011 is English. After you install this update, an alert is displayed that states that the default input language is changed to either English or Traditional Spanish.

Issue 10

If a certificate that has a blank common name (CN) is created in certain situations, the identity management service cannot be run.

Issue 11

When Update Rollup 1 for Windows Home Server 2011 is installed on the server that is running a localized version of Windows Home Server 2011, two sets of shortcuts for Launchpad and Dashboard are created. In this situation, the names of the shortcuts are displayed in English in one of the sets and in the local language in the other set.

Issue 12

This update fixes and updates links to documents that provide guidance for discovering and deploying add-ins and additional applications.

Issue 13

Sharedservicehost.exe throws exception errors when the health monitoring service and the client backup service are running. This issue occurs when Launchpad or Dashboard is disconnected from the Internet. This behavior causes some services, such as the health monitoring service, the backup service, or the identity management service, to crash.

Issue 14

The UI of the client connector is incompatible with the new version of Windows client.

Issue 15

Client computers disappear from the Dashboard if request IDs for certificates are not returned in a numeric sequence. This issue may also cause the server to disappear from the Dashboard.

Known issues

Issue 1

Assume that you install the Launchpad on a client computer before this update is applied on the server. In this situation, the connector on the client computer updates automatically. This behavior causes the notification tray to crash on some localized versions of Windows Home Server 2011, such as the Italian and Portuguese Brazilian versions. This issue occurs only after this update is applied.

Issue 2

You do not receive an alert that states that automatic software updates for Mac Lion are disabled.

Issue 3

You do not receive an alert that states that software updates for Mac Lion are available.

Issue 4

There are no time-outs when you try to update the health status after the network connection is disconnected in Mac Lion.

LaCie Announce 2big Thunderbolt Series Available Now

Andrew Edney

-

Feb 14, 2012

0

LaCie Announce 2big Thunderbolt Series Available Now

LaCie today announced the availability of the 2big Thunderbolt Series.

With speeds up to 327MB/s, the Thunderbolt interface delivers speeds three times faster than FireWire 800. For data transfer gurus, that means 1TB of data – that’s nearly 235,000 MP3’s, 750 iTunes movies, or more than 450,000 photos — can be transferred in less than an hour! Furthermore, you can daisy chain multiple 2big Thunderbolt devices to increase overall performance.

The LaCie 2big Thunderbolt Series also features:

• RAID flexibility: speed or security with Mac OS
• Hot-swappable drives for easy replacement
• Aluminum heat sink design for efficient cooling

The 2big Thunderbolt Series is available in 4TB and 6TB capacities through the LaCie Online Store and LaCie Storage Partners starting at the suggested retail price of $649.00.

Learn more from the LaCie website

Amazon Kindle App for Android Updated to 3.4.1

Gadgets
News

Andrew Edney

-

Feb 14, 2012

0

Amazon Kindle App for Android Updated to 3.4.1

The Amazon Kindle app for Android has been updated again.

I use the Kindle app all the time on my iPad to read books and I know a number of people who use it on their Android devices, so it is really good to see that real page numbers are finally being used!

What’s New in v3.4.1

• Fixed a critical bug where the app would not open on certain devices.

Download the Kindle App from the Android Market