LaCie announce the eSATA Hub Thunderbolt series

Today LaCie announced the availability of the eSATA Hub Thunderbolt Series, its latest peripheral featuring Thunderbolt technology.

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This product delivers a solution for connecting eSATA hard drives to Thunderbolt-compatible Mac computers, making them backwards compatible. The eSATA Hub also boosts transfer speeds and allows users to daisy chain with other Thunderbolt peripherals.

Give New Life to eSATA Drives
Consumers with new Macs who are interested in getting the best possible speeds with their existing multi-interface drives are no longer limited to USB or FireWire connections. In addition, businesses, photographers or other creative professionals who have upgraded their Macs to versions without ExpressCard/34 slots are now able to capitalize on their previous investment in eSATA hard drives.

Daisy Chain Capability 
The eSATA Hub’s dual Thunderbolt ports allow users to daisy chain other Thunderbolt peripherals. This means users can connect up to 12 eSATA drives (6 Hubs x 2 eSATA drives per Hub) to a Mac while maintaining full eSATA 3Gb/s speeds. It also helps organize desktops by connecting both a Thunderbolt compatible display and storage device via a single cable to their Mac.

Availability
The eSATA Hub Thunderbolt Series is available through the LaCie Online Store and LaCie Storage Partners starting at the suggested retail price of $199.00.

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Learn more from the LaCie website

Twonky Beam Browser app for Android updated to 2.0.2

Twonky have just released an update to its Beam Browser app for Android.

Twonky Beam Browser

Twonky Beam Browser provides you with a simple and familiar way to discover and enjoy Internet videos with your tablet or phone and beam them to your TV or other media players on your home network.

When you visit your favourite websites, or discover new ones, Twonky Beam Browser will display a Twonky Beam button over the media files that you are able beam to your TV or sound system. The home page of Twonky Beam Browser contains links to popular websites with great content you can beam. Browse many pages at once through tabs, with the home page always available to you as the main tab. You can also create and manage bookmarks, so that you can easily find your favourite sites.

A simple tap of the screen will beam the chosen content to your selected player, such as your Airplay enabled, UPnP or DLNA certified device. The beaming mode in Twonky Beam Browser can be toggled on and off, allowing you to use the application to discover and enjoy content locally on your tablet or phone.

What’s in this version:

• UI improvements
• Tabbed browsing

Download from Google Play

Treat Yourself to an ARCHOS 3Cam Vision Media Play this Easter

ARCHOS today announced that this bank holiday weekend the Easter Bunny will bring a fantastic deal on the ARCHOS 3Cam Vision portable media player, the perfect non-chocolate treat for you and your loved ones.

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Available now at Currys and PC World online and in store for only £59.99 (reduced from £69.99), the ARCHOS 3Cam Vision is a portable media player for enjoying your photos, videos and music. Not only is the 3Cam Vision easy to use, but it affords users amazing image clarity and crisp sound.

The built in video camera lets you capture life’s important moments and then instantly play them back on the 3 inch screen. You can also watch them on your PC with a simple copy and paste from the device, or upload them to YouTube™.  The camera also allows you to take still images.

Other features include:

– 8GB internal storage – store up to 4,000 songs or 20 hours video

– 400 x 240 pixels colour screen

– FM Radio

– Music, photo and video playback with support for multiple formats

– Compatibility with Windows®or Mac® and Linux

If you buy one let us know what you think of it.

The Digital Lifestyle Show #348 – Next Week In Paper Tape

This weeks Digital Lifestyle Show has just been released – and it’s show 348.

DLS Show

Here’s what Ian says about this week show:

We have a packed show for you this week, Garry, Andrew and Jason join me to talk over the weeks news including Windows 8 support in Made for Media Center, Ceton Windows Phone apps, Plex Windows Phone apps, My Movies updates, DVBLink updates, more Raspberry Pi delays, the cost of switching mobile platforms and details about our next user group meetup.

You can listen to or download the show from here.

PressReader for the iPhone and iPad Updated to Version 3.1

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At the start of December we reviewed PressReader, an app for iOS devices to read newspapers and publications. PressReader has just been updated to version 3.1.

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What is PressReader?

PressReader is a free application that enables you to download your favourite publications to your PC, Mac, tablet, mobile device or eReader allowing you to read them even when you’re offline.

Enjoy your favorite daily read from a selection of more than 2,000 newspapers and magazines from 95 countries in 51 languages with PressReader!

With every article, advertisement, crossword puzzle and cartoon presented in its original context, PressReader offers many of the same rich user interface and intuitive interactive features PressDisplay.com users have come to love.

And with the added convenience of being able to hold your favorite publication directly in your hands and read it from cover to cover just the way you would in-print, PressReader makes reading full-content digital replicas an absolute delight with features such as:

  • Flipping pages like you’re reading a real publication
  • The ability to pan, zoom or rotate pages, articles and photos
  • Navigating publications using thumbnails or table of contents
  • Opening full articles in easy-to-read text views
  • Listening to publications using on-demand audio
  • Searching online across titles and selecting the titles you wish to download

What’s New in Version 3.1

✓ Full Retina Display optimization for iPad 3
✓ Instant translations of full publications in up to 12 languages
✓ Auto-translation of all publications into a specific language with the ability to specify exceptions
✓ Saving articles to Evernote and Instapaper
✓ Stability and performance enhancements

Download from the Apple App Store

My new New iPad Book is now finished

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As many of you probably know by now I write a lot of books! Well my next book, An Introduction to the New iPad is now finished and will be out very soon.

The book is a 128 full colour pages which help you setup and configure your New iPad and how to get the most out of it.

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The price is £7.99 and it will be available in the next few weeks.

Why not pre-order it today? Well I had to try Smile

Sky Announce Sky WiFi Hotspots from The Cloud and Sky Cloud WiFi app

From mid-April millions of Sky Broadband customers will be able to quickly and easily access free, unlimited and high-speed WiFi at thousands of public places across the UK through new Sky “WiFi Hotspots from The Cloud”.

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Located in popular and useful locations such as in transport hubs, shopping centres and coffee shops, WiFi Hotspots from The Cloud will allow eligible Sky Broadband customers to take unlimited broadband with them whilst out and about, providing reliable, flexible and fast internet access across the high street and beyond. An estimated 4m people every day pass through The Cloud network by visiting one of its partners, including major outlets like Pizza Express, Caffè Nero, Eat, Pret A Manger, JD Wetherspoons and Wagamama, as well as First Great Western trains. Over 4,000 hotspots have been added to The Cloud’s network since 1st January 2012.

WiFi Hotspots from The Cloud will be available at no extra charge to all Sky Broadband Unlimited, Sky Fibre Unlimited and Sky Connect customers, removing the need to worry about mobile data caps or intermittent or overburdened 3G mobile coverage. Research shows that Sky customers are more likely than average to own smartphones and tablets, with around a third of Sky homes watching video content on their smartphones and more likely to want to get online, whether to catch the latest news headlines, watch video services such as Sky Go, use Facebook and Twitter, email or simply browse the web.

A free “Sky Cloud WiFi” app will be available for iOS and Android devices from mid-April and, once downloaded and registered, will allow people to automatically connect their smartphone or tablet to the internet without having to log-in ever again. This removes the hassle of signing into WiFi networks as there’s no need to remember passwords or log-in details each time you want to get online.

People can register up to six devices per household, helping families to ensure both parents and kids can make the most of the service. And just as with Sky’s unlimited home broadband, there will be no data allowances or usage limits, so customers can surf, stream and download with ease.

Free WiFi access is just one of many benefits on offer to Sky Broadband customers. Sky Broadband continues to be the UK’s fastest growing broadband provider, offering great value, reliable broadband, supported by industry-leading customer service, with Ofcom rating Sky Broadband customers most satisfied of any major broadband provider when it came to customer service. Each weekday thousands of customers join Sky Broadband to benefit from a totally unlimited broadband service which is completely free from any fair-use policies and data caps.

Lyssa McGowan, Director of Communication Products at Sky, said: “Whether it’s to go on Facebook, watch favourite TV shows with Sky Go, catch up on the news or send an email, our customers can now enjoy high quality, reliable and unlimited broadband whether it’s at home or when out and about. WiFi Hotspots from The Cloud now gives millions of Sky customers quick and easy one-touch access whenever they want to be online. And by ensuring our hotspots are located where our customers need them most, they know they’ll never be far from a high speed connection. With a one-off registration process, they’ll automatically connect to the network, which takes all the usual hassle out of connecting to WiFi.”

All Sky Broadband Unlimited, Sky Fibre Unlimited and Sky Connect customers are eligible to use WiFi Hotspots from The Cloud, and they do not have to be a Sky TV customer to benefit from it.

The launch of the “Sky Cloud WiFi” app makes it the 11th app to be added to Sky’s growing family of popular apps helping people to find, watch and do more on the move. Sky’s suite of apps for mobile devices have been downloaded more than 22 million times and Sky Go now has more than 10 million user sessions per week.

For more information about Sky Broadband visit www.sky.com/broadband

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Google Project Glass Augmented Reality Glasses one step closer

Google have posted some more information on Project Glass – their augmented reality glasses.

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This is what they posted:

A group of us from Google[x] started Project Glass to build this kind of technology, one that helps you explore and share your world, putting you back in the moment. We’re sharing this information now because we want to start a conversation and learn from your valuable input. So we took a few design photos to show what this technology could look like and created a video to demonstrate what it might enable you to do.

And here is a video showing what it could look like:

Very cool! Would you wear them? I know I would!

Windows Phone 7 Connector for Mac Updated to Version 2.02

Microsoft have released version 2.02 of it’s Windows Phone 7 Connector for the Mac.

We first mentioned the Windows Phone 7 Connector Mac last December when it was in beta.

Windows Phone 7 Connector is a simple, easy-to-use application designed to sync your favourite media files from your Mac, with your Windows Phone 7 or Zune HD. You can also sync photos and videos you captured on your phone with your Mac, and when needed, update your Windows Phone 7 software.

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Windows Phone 7 Connection 2.02 provides the following updates and changes:

Features:

• Full sync and import support for Apple Aperture software
• Drag and drop import of files from Browse Device
• Ringtone transfer support (for phones running Windows Phone 7.5 or later)
• Improved video conversion process with user configuration options
• Support for Windows Phone Marketplace (for phones running Windows Phone 7.5 or later)
• Localization support for 13 additional languages
• Improvements to backup and restore operations
• Improved configuration for podcast sync and photo import
• Improved iTunes import support in certain languages
• Improved metadata support for videos

Fixes:

• Added additional error codes and help references for device update
• Resolved connectivity issues with certain devices
• Resolved album art display issues for certain devices

Download from the App Store now

SONOS to stop selling separate Controller

SONOS have said that they are going to stop selling the separate Controller, the CR200.

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We reviewed the SONOS Controller as part of the Sonos bundle 250 a while ago and really liked it, but it is, or should that be was very expensive considering you could just download the app to your iPhone or iPad, or other device and do the same thing.

So you can still get them, while stocks last, but they are now a thing of the past!

Check out our review of the SONOS Bundle 250

via: Pocket-Lint

LaCie Delivers Scalable Storage with the Diskless 5Big Network 2

Today LaCie announced its professional 5-bay RAID server is now available in a diskless model. Now, users can get all the benefits of the 5big Network 2, designed by Neil Poulton, but with the flexibility to scale their storage and security as they desire – making it an efficient investment for resourceful professionals and small businesses alike.

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scalability and security

With the 5big Network 2 diskless model, users can migrate from zero to five disks without data loss – reducing initial investment while ensuring a long-term solution. The 5big Network 2 diskless model provides users with flexibility. They can leverage unused drives or purchase new drives based on availability and demand. It will automatically build the RAID mode accordingly. The 5big Network 2 also offers RAID modes 5 and 6, which provide automatic, hardware-level data protection. If a single disk fails, simply replace it without turning off the appliance or losing a single byte of data.

Designed for small businesses

Business owners, administrators and managers will appreciate the 5big Network 2’s easy integration and user interface. They can organise a backup regimen for multiple Linux, PC and Mac workstations, and ensure all data is safe and in one place. The 5big Network 2 is compatible with Time Machine™ and Windows 7 Backup. Additionally, with its dual LAN ports, the 5big Network 2 supports speeds up to 70MB/s. This ensures quick information sharing and backup speeds throughout the company.

For travel-bound employees, the 5big Network 2 features remote access. This allows them to share files anywhere with an Internet connection – ensuring data accessibility for those last minute presentations. Employees can even share files from their iPhone or iPad by installing LaCie’s free iOS app, MyNAS.

For more information on the 5big Network 2 visit http://www.lacie.com/products/product.htm?id=10485.

Availability

The 5big Network 2 is available in diskless, 5TB, 10TB, and 15TB capacities through the LaCie Online Store and LaCie Storage Partners starting at the suggested retail price of £309.00 (VAT included).

About LaCie

With operations in the Americas, Europe and Asia, LaCie is the leading manufacturer of storage devices for PC, Apple® and Linux. LaCie has differentiated itself through sleek design and remarkable technical performance. Find out more about our products at www.lacie.com/uk

Sky Sports for iPad updated to version 2.1

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Sky have just updated its dedicated Sky Sports app for the iPad, bringing with it the Masters Companion Experience if you are a Golf fan.

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What’s New in Version 2.1

– The Masters Companion Experience featuring multiple camera angles and real time highlights.
– Minor bug fixes.
– Note: This application can be used on a maximum of 1 iPad. An Apple subscriber will only have access to the Sky Sports News Channel in the app.
– The terms and conditions have been amended to reflect the above changes to the app. Please read them carefully before using the app.

It’s free for customers who have access to the Sky Sports News channel as part of their monthly subscription, otherwise it will cost you £4.99 a month.

Download the app from the Apple App Store

Want your own personal DJ then try out WE7 today

WE7 is a UK based music site delivering a personal DJ who selects music and creates personal radio stations for all of its users.

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WE7 believes that the music you like is more important than your in-depth music knowledge.  No matter what mood users are in, just tell the personal DJ via WE7.com and he’ll pull the right tune out of the 9.5 million song database to match it.  The more you tell we7 about what you like and don’t like the more we get to know you.  It’s your own free and easy personal radio.

Originally founded in 2006 by John Taysom who brought in CTO Gareth Reakes. CEO, Steve Purdham and legendary musician Peter Gabriel became founder investors in early 2007 and we7 was born in May 2007 – launching its streaming service in November 2008.

They believe what you like is more important than what you know. So you don’t have to trawl a massive catalogue – all you need to do is enter a single song, artist or genre to get started. From here the music you love keeps on coming – you get personalised radio stations full of songs that match this search. So if you search a specific artist, you’ll get their songs, with other similar ones thrown in. As they get to know you it just gets better and better. It’s completely free, easy and personalised – and potentially never-ending.

If you register, you’ll get unlimited access to play and create stations.You’ll also get 50 free requests a month – which means you can choose a particular song or album you’d like to hear and listen to straight away.

WE7, the personalised online radio service, has now announced tight integration with Facebook Open Graph to support the Facebook Music Bridge. The feature, that also supports Facebook’s new ‘timeline’ interface, enhances the social experience for WE7 listeners by allowing them to share their favourite music and personalised radio stations. Listeners can also explore their friend’s music taste and discover new music.

Pushing the sounds of WE7 beyond the realm of WE7.com, support for Facebook Music integrates WE7’s next generation online radio with cutting edge social media – bringing a vast array of popular, new and undiscovered music to Facebook users at the click of a button. Social listeners need not have a WE7 account to play their friends favourite music, and as WE7 is a cloud based web service there is no need to download any app, giving instant access to the music. Listens are posted to Facebook’s timeline allowing WE7 users to browse the songs their friends are listening to and view their favourite songs and stations.

WE7 is very conscious of user privacy and has ensured their new Facebook integration is a simple opt in /opt out procedure accessible from a user’s WE7 or Facebook settings page.

To explore WE7 head to http://www.WE7.com and let us know what you think of it.

Dragon Dictation App for iOS Updated to Version 2.0.19

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The Dragon Dictation app for the iPhone and iPad has just been updated to version 2.0.19.

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Dragon Dictation is an easy-to-use voice recognition application powered by Dragon NaturallySpeaking that allows you to easily speak and instantly see your text or email messages. In fact, it’s up to five (5) times faster than typing on the keyboard.

With Dragon Dictation you can also update your Facebook status, send notes and reminders to yourself, or Tweet to the world….all using your voice. So when you’re on-the-go, stop typing and start speaking – from short text messages to longer email messages, and anything in between. For best result, speak calmly and clearly.

Dragon Dictation supports a multitude of global languages. For a full list of currently supported languages visit www.dragonmobileapps.co.uk/.

Features

• Voice-to-text transcriptions that may be sent as SMS, Email, or pasted into any application using the clipboard
• Submit update to Twitter & Facebook
• Convenient editing feature that provides list of suggested alternatives
• Voice driven correction interface

What’s New in Version 2.0.19

Localisation updates

Download from the Apple App Store