Events

BBC iPlayer App Now Available in Canada

Apple
News

Andrew Edney

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Dec 1, 2011

2

Today saw the BBC announce that it’s global BBC iPlayer App is now available in Canada.

Here is what the BBC said today:

BBC Worldwide, the BBC’s commercial arm, has announced that the global BBC iPlayer App will be offering users a free piece of festive content every day from 1st – 25th December, exclusively from the App store, as part of a special Christmas promotion.

From today the service will also be available in Canada – the sixteenth territory to be added to the pilot launch.

The global BBC iPlayer App is a unique Video on Demand pilot subscription service available on iPad that offers viewers in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, The Republic of Ireland, The Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland the opportunity to delve into an extensive archive of award-winning classic and contemporary British TV programming both at home and on the move.

Jana Bennett, BBC Worldwide President of Worldwide Networks and Global iPlayer said: “We’re proud to be building on the successful launch of this App by introducing it to Canada. It will open up the opportunity for a whole new audience to enjoy the best moments from seventy years of brilliant BBC programmes, wherever and whenever they want.”

From today those who download the App for free from the App store can access an episode every day until Christmas Day for no charge and without having to sign up to the monthly or annual subscription. The free content includes a festive themed variety of the best of BBC and the best of British creativity including Christmas specials from iconic shows Only Fools and Horses and Absolutely Fabulous, plus 12 Days of Gavin and Stacey, Jamie Oliver’s The Naked Chef – The Christmas Party, and Blackadder’s Christmas Carol dependent on availability per country.

Matthew Littleford, General Manager for Global iPlayer said: “For those not familiar with the great BBC content available on the App, the festive offering is the perfect way to trial the service and get a good flavour of the quality and breadth of programmes it provides.”

Those who wish to subscribe to the service can do so for a cost of €6.99 a month (or €64.99 for an annual subscription) in Europe, $8.99 a month (or $84.99 for an annual subscription) in Canada and $9.49 a month (or $89.99 for an annual subscription) in Australia. Viewers will be able to sample carefully selected content for free before subscribing.

Happy 30th Birthday to the BBC Microcomputer

News
Tech

Andrew Edney

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Dec 1, 2011

2

Happy 30th Birthday to the BBC Microcomputer

One of the very first computers I got to play with as a child was the BBC Microcomputer – the BBC Micro B and now it’s the 30th Birthday of this computer.

I have a lot of very fond memories of the BBC Micro B, ranging from playing Elite and Spitfire, not to mention one of my all time favourite games which was Castle Quest, to using the “PROC PUGWASH” command once you had broken out of the loading sequence for Frak!

Good times!

Do you have memories of the BBC Microcomputer? If so, why not share them with us….

Two Minute Review of Kinect Disneyland Adventures for the Xbox 360

Andrew Edney

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Dec 1, 2011

1

Two Minute Review of Kinect Disneyland Adventures for the Xbox 360

Recently UWHS attended the UK launch party for Microsoft’s Kinect Disneyland Adventures. Now it’s time for our two minute review of the game.

Experience a place where two magical worlds unite: Kinect for Xbox 360 invites you to take a journey where stories come to life and dreams come true, right in your living room! Explore Disneyland^® park — from Main Street U.S.A. to Critter Country — join Peter Pan to battle Captain Hook, high-five Mickey Mouse or hug Snow White.

Harnessing the controller-free magic of Kinect for Xbox 360, “Kinect: Disneyland Adventures” allows children, families and Disney fans of all ages to explore Disneyland park, step into adventures based on attractions, engage in challenging quests and interact with beloved Disney characters using their full bodies and voices,* no controller required. “Kinect: Disneyland Adventures” is your portal to a magical world of Disneyland park adventures through Kinect.

· Create memories. Whether it’s your first time or hundredth time exploring Disneyland park, relive your fondest memories or embark on a new adventure.

· Discover Disneyland park. Whether you want to go on an adventure in your favourite attraction or explore the entire park, “Kinect: Disneyland Adventures” allows you to play at your own pace and customize your own Disneyland park experiences right from your living room, whenever you want.

· Explore attractions. Experience your favourite Disneyland park attractions as immersive adventures — explore Neverland at Peter Pan’s side and take up your sword to fight Captain Hook; battle your way to the island in Pirates of the Caribbean; or partner with a friend to enjoy the fascinating world of Alice in Wonderland.

· Meet the characters. Share magical moments with your favorite Disney characters — hug a princess, high-five Mickey Mouse, collect autographs and accept quests.

· Collect and unlock. Collect Disney-themed items, rewards and Xbox 360 Achievements as you make your way through the park to discover new game experiences, including themed parades and firework displays.

· Cooperative play. Partner with a friend or family member to explore Disneyland park; have him or her jump in to lend a hand on difficult challenges and help you earn rewards. Designed to adjust difficulty based on skill, “Kinect: Disneyland Adventures” ensures that everyone is having fun and playing together.

Screenshots

Watch the trailer below:

Kinect Disneyland Adventures

Final Thoughts

This game is seriously good fun for all the family. You get to walk around an incredibly lifelike representation of Disneyland, you get to interact with all your favourite characters, including Mickey Mouse, and you get to play games and go on rides.

What more could you ask for?

Walking around the park you will find coins that you can collect in order to buy merchandise in the various shops (it is Disney after all). Some of this merchandise includes autograph books that you will need to complete tasks. At the very start of the game Mickey gives you your first autograph book and sets you off on a task, which in turn leads you to other tasks.

Interacting with the characters is fun – you talk to them, dance with them and even hug them.

Walking around the park takes a little getting used to – you have to walk like you were a puppet on a string, but it only takes a few moments, and certainly the kids pick it up quicker than the adults do (who are obviously only “testing” the game)!

You can play single player or with a friend.

The Kinect interaction works really well and you can even give voice commands which make playing that much better.

If your child (or you for that matter) love DIsney, want a great game to play and enjoy using the Kinect then this game should definitely be on someone’s Christmas list.

The Digital Lifestyle Show #331 – Disco Time

Andrew Edney

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Dec 1, 2011

0

The Digital Lifestyle Show #331 – Disco Time

This weeks Digital Lifestyle Show has just been released – its show 331.

Here’s what Ian says about this week show:

Garry is back after recovering from his illness but Andrew was out disco dancing so Garry and I talk over the weeks news. This week we talk Verizon FIOS with the Xbox 360, consumer interest in Windows tablets, Windows Phone rewards, DVBLink for Windows Phone, Lenovo’s new Media Center machine, new Boxee box and Garry talks about the new Tivo update.

You can listen to or download the show from here.

SBS 2011 Essentials & Microsoft Office 365 Integration

Andrew Edney

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Dec 1, 2011

1

My friend, fellow MVP and the Technical Reviewer on my Working with Small Business Server 2011 Essentials Book, Robert Pearman has just posted a really great article on SBS 2011 E and the Office 365 Integration Module.

Robert has split the article into the following sections:

Installation & Sign Up
Password Policy
Dashboard Integration
Add Domain Wizard & Domain Verification
Managing User Accounts & Password Sync
Log Files
Launchpad
Email Settings
Email Display Name
Office Applications

Check out the article if you want to read more – it’s really good.

WHS Add-In: iHomeServer for iTunes

Andrew Edney

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Dec 1, 2011

9

Do you want to run iTunes on your Windows Home Server? If so, there is an add-in called iHomeServer for iTunes you might want to look at.

Description

iTunes normally runs as a desktop application which requires you to be logged into your desktop at all times in order to play music or video remotely. Many people are now using Home Sharing to share a single iTunes music/video library with other iTunes clients, however, most know the frustration of trying to keep the iTunes always open on your computer.

There’s nothing more annoying than trying to stream music to your iPhone or iPad only to find that iTunes isn’t running, or worse still has crashed, on your computer! What’s the point of having all of your media centralised if you can’t access it?

Enter iHomeServer for iTunes! iHomeServer for iTunes installs an agent on top of a normal iTunes installation and runs iTunes in the background as a service.

iHomeServer now support iTunes 10.5 so new features such as Wifi sync and iCloud purchase synchronisation are also available to your iTunes Media Server!

iHomeServer for iTunes boasts the following features – click on the link for further information:

Runs iTunes as a background service
Custom “watch folders” scanned for new/changed media
Supports iTunes Airplay and Home Sharing
Supports iTunes Remote App for iOS
Supports iTunes Wifi Sync
Supports iTunes iCloud purchase synchronisation
Background refreshes iTunes media metadata
Background refreshes iTunes cover art
Transparently restarts if iTunes crashes
Dead content detection – automatically cleans the iTunes library if tracks have been removed from your hard disk
Supports iTunes even when no Sound Card is installed

Learn more and download the 30 day trial from here

WHS 2011 Add-in: Drive Bender Updated to version 1.2.2.0

Andrew Edney

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Dec 1, 2011

0

Drive Bender, the add-in for Windows Home Sever 2011 that replaces Drive Extender, has now been updated to version 1.2.2.0.

What is it?

Drive Bender is state of the art, single point storage pool technology for Microsoft Windows. Drive Bender presents multiple hard drives as a single pool of data storage, either as one or more drive letters, or a network shared drive. Drive Bender is able to do this with any drive recognized by Windows, including external drive such as USB, Firewire etc.

Expandability

Drive Bender also provides the user with the ability to seamless expand their storage pool by simply adding a new drive. Adding a new drive expands the pool by the size of the new drive. Existing data within the pool is redistributed to the new drive to ensure the pool remain balanced.

Drive merging and converting

Drive Bender also offers a merge capability, allowing users to take a drive that contains data, and merge that drive (and data) into the pool. In addition there is also a drive conversion feature. This can take and existing drive letter (mounted against a physical drive) and convert this into a pooled drive. Once completed, new hard drives can be added to expand the once fixed drive.

Data redundancy

To further ensure data safety, Drive Bender can automatically duplicate any file added to a Drive Bender pool. File duplication is determined at the folder level and occurs on the fly as data is being written to the pool. More importantly, files are only duplicated across physical drives ensuring maximum safety and data redundancy.

Non-destructive

One of the key Drive Bender features is its non-destructive file system technology. In short, this means that all drives within a Drive Bender pool are utilizing standard NTFS format and file structures. This is to such an extent that a drive can be pulled from the pool and read on any machine capable of reading an NTFS formatted drive. More over, drives attached to the pool can be done so without modification, if a drive is added (not merged) that contains existing data, that data will remain untouched.

Ease to try

Because of our non-destructive file system, taking Drive Bender for a test drive is easy. Simply specify the drives to be included in the pool, and you are ready go. The drives are not formatted (unless specified), the only change made to the drive is the addition of a folder that holds the contents of the pool and a small number of configuration files.

The technology

Drive Bender employs existing, proven kernel mode file system technology. Having spent many years developing kernel mode drivers, we are able to use this experience to great extent. The end result is a product whose performance will closely match that of the underlying drive.

The story

Early in 2010 we prototyped a Drive Extender style application with the view of releasing a product that would work with all versions of Microsoft Windows. However soon thereafter, Microsoft announced Vail (a new version of Windows Home Server) and a small business server product, codename Aurora, both of which contain their Drive Extender technology. Given this, and the possibility that Drive Extend may well make its way to other Microsoft platforms, we shelved the project.

However later that same year, Microsoft announced that they would be dropping Drive Extender from all their products (including Windows Home Server 2011), leaving the door open for Division-M to resurrect the Drive Bender project!

Release v1.2.2.0 release (2011-12-01)

– Update: Many improvements to file duplication, including a more verbose duplication feature.
– Bug fix: Under certain conditions a networked connection to a Drive Bender mounted drive can be dropped by Windows. This is the result of incorrect NTFS “File Id” handling.
– Update: Lazy duplication has been removed from the Drive Bender options.
– Update: Improved performance for file/folder enumeration across a pool.
– Update: Improved pool recovery process.
– Update: You are now able to change the volume label of a drive letter mounted point via Windows (i.e. F2 the drive in Windows explorer).
– Bug fix: A large number of files no longer cause an error when using the duplication feature.
– Bug fix: Many minor interface bugs have been fixed.

Download Drive Bender from here

Amazon Offer a Santa App for the Kindle Fire and the iPad

Andrew Edney

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Nov 30, 2011

0

Amazon Offer a Santa App for the Kindle Fire and the iPad

So it’s less than a month until Christmas now, and the ever helpful Amazon have created a Santa app to help you make those very important Christmas wish lists.

Here is what Amazon said:

Amazon.com, Inc. today announced Amazon Santa, a free app for Kindle Fire and iPad that makes it fun and easy for children and their parents to create holiday Wish Lists to share with friends, family and Mr. Claus. The Amazon Santa app provides a visual Wish List creation experience designed for children to browse and search more than five-hundred thousand kid-friendly items. With a little help from their parents, kids can make a holiday Wish List to share with loved ones, making it easier than ever for family and friends to give the right gifts this holiday season.

“Sometimes Santa can use help sorting out what gifts to give everyone and this new app makes it easy and fun for kids to create their perfect Wish List,” said Sam Hall, director of Amazon Mobile. “We’ve selected more than five-hundred thousand of the hottest kid-friendly holiday gifts and made it fun, easy and intuitive for kids to find exactly what they want. The Amazon Santa app is also a great way for parents to spend some quality time with their kids and help make certain there’s a smile Christmas morning.”

The Amazon Santa app gives kids and parents access to an online catalog of family-friendly toys and games, movies and TV shows, books, music, and video games. With the tap of a finger, kids and their parents can explore by a product category or type a search to find the perfect gift and instantly create a Wish List. Parents can review and edit the Wish List as needed, and easily share each child’s list with grandparents, aunts and uncles, brothers and sisters, and family friends. Wish Lists shared via the Amazon Santa app can only be viewed by family and friends who receive the Wish List link. The list shows recipients wished-for items, including those that have already been purchased, helping to eliminate duplicate gifts.

The new Amazon Santa app is optimized for tablets like the iPad and the new Kindle Fire – the Kindle for movies, TV shows, music, magazines, apps, books, games, and more. The Amazon Santa app is available for free from the Amazon Appstore at www.amazon.com/appstore or from iTunes. For more information please visit www.amazon.com/santa_app.

Amazon’s mobile shopping applications include Amazon Santa for iPad and Kindle Fire, Amazon Deals for iPhone, Price Check by Amazon for iPhone and Android, Amazon Student for iPhone, Amazon Windowshop for iPad and the Amazon Mobile App for iPhone, iPad, BlackBerry, Windows Phone 7 and Android-based devices. Customers can learn more by visiting www.amazon.com/amazonmobile.

Well that is certainly one way to make sure gifts are purchased through Amazon.

Spotify Platform – A World of Possibilities?

Andrew Edney

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Nov 30, 2011

0

Spotify Platform – A World of Possibilities?

Spotify today announced some exciting new possibilities with it’s Spotify Platform for apps.

Here is the press release:

Spotify, the largest and fastest-growing music service of its kind, today opens up a new world of possibilities with Spotify Platform.

Spotify Platform gives third party developers the opportunity to build innovative, engaging music-based apps. To us, it’s the next big step in musical enjoyment.

These free apps integrate beautifully with Spotify, both visually and functionally, and can be accessed and shared by millions of Spotify users through the new App Finder, launching today as a preview at www.spotify.com/download/previews/

The first generation of Spotify Apps features 16 partner apps, with 12 available from launch today. We’ve been lucky to partner with some of the brightest and best brands in the world to create engaging, fun, and social apps.

The 13 global partners launching on the Spotify App Finder include Billboard, Fuse, The Guardian, Last.fm, Moodagent, Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, Songkick, Soundrop, TuneWiki and We Are Hunted, with Top10 and ShareMyPlaylists apps coming soon. We also have three Nordic partners launching local apps, including Tunigo in Sweden which launches today, Gaffa in Denmark and Dagbladet in Norway, which will be launching local Nordic apps soon.

Our integration with Facebook in September has made more people than ever excited about sharing music again, adding more than 7 million new Spotify users in just over two months. And our users have now created more than 500 million playlists, a number which has doubled since just July.

With Spotify Platform, we want to enable innovation on top of music and add many more layers of music enjoyment. We want DJs to create the best lists, and virtual clubs where people can gather together to hear them, dance, and sing along. We want fans to get closer to their favorite artists, and give great editorial partners and tastemakers a way to recommend music to you.

It’s also what Spotify users have been asking for. Now anyone can enjoy great music reviews, buy tickets for gigs, sing along with the lyrics, all inside Spotify. In addition, you can curate the apps you want and make Spotify yours… and the launch apps are just the beginning.

Music is many things to many people. With Spotify Platform and a whole bunch of clever apps, we hope we can all get more out of music than ever before.

Speaking at the conference, Spotify CEO and Founder Daniel Ek commented: “Once you take a look, you’ll see why we believe this is truly the beginning of something game-changing for digital music. We think this will lead to integrations that keep Spotify beautiful and simple, but layer in great musical experiences designed to be social and fun. It’s what our users have been asking us for.”

Spotify Platform beta goes live later today as a preview, at: www.spotify.com/download/previews/. For more information about the apps please visit www.spotify.com/apps. The full consumer rollout will take place later in December.

If you were unable to watch Daniel make this announcement live in New York, you can watch again here:http://www.ustream.tv/channel/spotify-event Password: l0vemus1c (both times)

Synology Release DSM 3.2-1955 Update Including ARM Performance Acceleration Technology

Andrew Edney

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Nov 30, 2011

1

Synology Release DSM 3.2-1955 Update Including ARM Performance Acceleration Technology

Today saw Synology release another update for it’s DiskStation Manager (DSM) software, taking it up to version 3.2.-1955.

Here is press release:

Milton Keynes – November 30, 2011—Synology® today, introduced Synology ARM® Performance Acceleration Technology in its DSM 3.2-1955 update to deliver a substantial performance boost to its NAS servers.

“Synology strives to optimise the performance of its NAS servers, and today adds to its efforts with the ARM Performance Acceleration Technology,” said Evan Tu, software development group manager of Synology Inc. “The Technology enables a DiskStation to surpass its limit, achieving an up to 18.8% gain in performance while ensuring system reliability and stability at the same time,” added Tu. With the ARM Performance Acceleration Technology, for instance, the DS212+ writes faster at 65.69 MB/sec. For more information, please visit http://www.synology.com/releaseNote/DSM3.2_v1955_ARM.php.

The DSM 3.2-1955 update also improves data transfer stability of USB 3.0 storage devices and the compatibility of iSCSI targets with ESXi servers. Users are thus empowered to manage more data in less time and achieve greater productivity.

Availability The DSM 3.2-1955 update applies to the following models: DS712+, DS212, DS212+, DS212j, RS212, RS812, DS3611xs, RS3411xs, RS3411RPxs, DS2411+, RS2211+, RS2211RP+, DS1511+, RS411, DS411, 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, DS209j, DS109+, DS109, DS109j, DS409slim, DS508, DS408, RS408, RS408-RP, DS108j

It is available for free download at http://www.synology.com/support/download.php and in the DSM Update of DiskStation Manager.