WHS 2011 Add-in: Drive Bender Updated to version 1.2.1.6

Andrew Edney
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0
WHS 2011 Add-in: Drive Bender Updated to version 1.2.1.6

Drive Bender, the add-in for Windows Home Sever 2011 that replaces Drive Extender, has now been updated to version 1.2.1.6.

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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 v1.2.1.6 release (2011-11-12)

– Bug fix: During the duplication process (i.e. enabling duplication on a folder) could cause a file to have its read only flag removed.
– Bug fix: The file / duplication count for a pool can sometimes read zero.
– Update: Some performance improvements on file duplication.
– Update: Some performance improvements on file / folder renaming and deleting.
– Bug fix: The Drive Bender Manager does not display changes in mount points.

Download Drive Bender from here

Amazon UK Launch Kindle Daily Deal

Andrew Edney
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0
Amazon UK Launch Kindle Daily Deal

Today is the first day of the Kindle Daily Deal for us here in the UK. What is it you may ask?

Kindle Daily Deal

Basically, the Kindle Daily Deal is a daily deal (hence the name) where you can get a selected Kindle book significantly cheaper. Each day there will be a different book.

Today’s daily deal is Where the Shadows Lie – with a 75% discount making the book only 99 pence!

Kindle DD

Check back every day for the daily deal.

View the Amazon Kindle Daily Deal here

Two Minute Review of the Iomega eGo Mac Edition Portable Hard Drive

Andrew Edney
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0
Two Minute Review of the Iomega eGo Mac Edition Portable Hard Drive

Last week we told you that Iomega had released a new eGo Mac Edition portable hard drive. We got our hands on one and here is our two minute review.

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The Iomega eGoTM Portable Hard Drive, Mac Edition has great style and triple interface connections for Mac users! Two FireWire 800 and one USB 2.0 port combined with high-performance 7200 RPM disks offer industry leading performance and connectivity. The included Drop Guard Case helps protect the drive from drops up to 2.1m. Keep your files secure with built-in 256-bit hardware encryption. Plus, the Iomega eGo Portable Hard Drive requires no external power supply and includes Iomega Protection Suite, Mac Edition software via easy download.

The eGo Mac Edition portable drive comes in either black or white and in either 500GB or 1TB capacity options.

Who are Iomega?

From their website:

Iomega Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of EMC Corporation headquartered in San Diego, is a worldwide leader in innovative storage and network security solutions for small businesses, home offices, consumers and others. The Company has sold more than 410 million digital storage drives and disks since its inception in 1980. Today, Iomega’s product portfolio includes industry leading network attached storage products, external hard drives, multimedia drives, and our award-winning removable storage technology, the REV® Backup Drive.

Specifications

Cache – 8 MB
Data Transfer rates: USB 2.0 – up to 480 Mbits/s; FireWire 800 – up to 800 Mbits/s
Hardware Encryption: AES 256-bit Encrypted Storage Controller

Iomega Protection Suite Software (via download)

Trend Micro™ Smart Surfing for Mac (12 month free subscription)
Iomega QuikProtect
MozyHome™ Online Backup service (2GB free)

System Requirements

Built-in USB connection
Built-in FireWire 800 connection

    • Mac OS X 10.5 – 10.7
    • 128MB RAM

Weights and Dimensions

13.5 x 9.0 x 1.9 / 2.26* (cm)

0.24 / 0.26* kg

All dimensions L x W x H are approximations.

*1TB version.

What’s in the Box?

Along with the eGo drive, are one FireWire 800, one conversion FireWire 400-800, and one USB 2.0 cable, the usual paperwork and a drop guard case used to protect the drive.

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A Closer Look

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Using the Drive

Fitting the eGo drive into the rubber drop guard case is easy and gives it that little bit of extra protection.

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Connected the eGo to my Mac was simple and the drive worked straight away.

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Final Thoughts

The drive is very simple to use and does exactly what you would expect from a drive. The addition of a pass-through port for FireWire will make the drive more desirable for some.

My MacBook Air doesn’t have any FireWire ports so I could only test the USB 2.0 port, and using that connection the drive seemed “fast enough” for my needs on the Mac. It also worked perfectly with Time Machine as a backup drive.

I could have reformatted the drive and run proper performance tests on Windows but that seemed a little pointless as if you wanted a Windows drive you wouldn’t buy this one as it’s aimed at Mac owners!

The drop guard is a good idea, and worth having on all the time – sooner or later you will drop a drive, so better to be prepared.

The Iomega Protection Suite software is very useful and is a good addition to the package.

Price wise, the 500GB version retails for £138.00 and the 1TB version for £176.00, so not the cheapest portable drives available.

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Learn more from the Iomega website

No More Logitech Revue with Google TV Devices

Andrew Edney
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3
No More Logitech Revue with Google TV Devices

Last year we brought you the news that Logitech had launched a device called the Revue with Google TV. Well that device just didn’t sell well and now Logitech have called it a day on the device.

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According to website TheVerge:

CEO Guerrino De Luca pulled absolutely no punches in describing the “mistakes” the company made with its Logitech Revue Google TV set top box. Calling the company’s Christmas 2010 launch “a mistake of implementation of a gigantic nature,” De Luca told investors that the company had “brought closure to the Logitech Revue saga” by making plans to let inventory run out this quarter and that there are “no plans to introduce another box to replace Revue.”

De Luca suggested that Google TV was far from ready at launch, going so far as to call it “beta” software on one presentation slide, and that the company made a massive misstep by believing that it would revolutionize television right out of the gate. In short, Logitech “executed a full scale launch with a beta product and it cost us dearly.” He added more color about Logitech’s failure to read the television market in his remarks:

To make the long story short, we thought we had invented [sliced] bread and we just made them. [We made a commitment to] just build a lot because we expected everybody to line up for Christmas and buy these boxes [at] $300 […] that was a big mistake.

The mistake, plus “operational miscues in EMEA” cost the company “well over $100M in operating profits.” De Luca did throw Google a bone by saying that he believes Google TV will have a chance sometime in the future, but it would be a “grandchild of Google TV” that would do it. Logitech clearly has no plans to help make that happen, opting instead to sit “on the bench” (as De Luca had put it in an earlier call) until Google can find success.

Logitech posted this on their blog:

As our CEO Guerrino De Luca stated earlier this week, Logitech will not manufacture new Logitech Revue units. That said, we do believe that consumers in the U.S. will be able to purchase the product during this holiday season. And all owners of Logitech Revue will receive the automatic and free update of Google’s recently announced updated version of Google TV, which we expect to roll out before the end of the year.

So, just as I predicted the Logitech Revue with Google TV is dead.

Do you own one? Let us know your thoughts….

QNAP TurboNAS Firmware: 3.5 Deep Dive Part Four: Cloud Backup Services

Jim McCarthy
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4
QNAP TurboNAS Firmware: 3.5 Deep Dive Part Four: Cloud Backup Services

This is Part Four of our QNAP TurboNAS Deep Dive series and we look at cloud backup services.  Read on for details!

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In Part One of this series, we told you how to set up the ISCSI target functionality in TurboNAS 3.5. In Part Two, we covered adding users. In Part Three, we covered volume management and SMART data.  In Part Four, we’ll cover cloud backup services.

Cloud Backup: Services Available

TurboNAS support establishing cloud backups with two services: Amazon S3 and ElephantDrive.  Here is how the help file describes the two services:

Amazon S3

Amazon S3 (Simple Storage Service) is an online storage web service offered by AWS (Amazon Web Services), and it provides a simple web services interface that can be used to store and retrieve any amount of data, at any time, from anywhere on the web. With Amazon S3 support, you can now easily upload the data from your NAS to Amazon S3 or download the data from Amazon S3 to your NAS.

Note: Before starting use this service, you will need to create your AWS account.

ElephantDrive

ElephantDrive is an online storage service for users to back up data to their ElephantDrive account and restore data. The ElephantDrive service on the NAS allows you to create an ElephantDrive account and back up your NAS data to the online storage and restore data to the NAS via ElephantDrive website.

I’ve seen S3 before and it is a great service.  Amazon describes their service here:

Amazon S3 is storage for the Internet. It is designed to make web-scale computing easier for developers.
Amazon S3 provides a simple web services interface that can be used to store and retrieve any amount of data, at any time, from anywhere on the web. It gives any developer access to the same highly scalable, reliable, secure, fast, inexpensive infrastructure that Amazon uses to run its own global network of web sites. The service aims to maximize benefits of scale and to pass those benefits on to developers.

Amazon S3 is intentionally built with a minimal feature set.

  • Write, read, and delete objects containing from 1 byte to 5 terabytes of data each. The number of objects you can store is unlimited.
  • Each object is stored in a bucket and retrieved via a unique, developer-assigned key.
  • A bucket can be stored in one of several Regions. You can choose a Region to optimize for latency, minimize costs, or address regulatory requirements. Amazon S3 is currently available in the US Standard, US West (Oregon), US West (Northern California), EU (Ireland), Asia Pacific (Singapore), Asia Pacific (Tokyo) and GovCloud (US) Regions. The US Standard Region automatically routes requests to facilities in Northern Virginia or the Pacific Northwest using network maps.
  • Objects stored in a Region never leave the Region unless you transfer them out. For example, objects stored in the EU (Ireland) Region never leave the EU.
  • Authentication mechanisms are provided to ensure that data is kept secure from unauthorized access. Objects can be made private or public, and rights can be granted to specific users.
  • Options for secure data upload/download and encryption of data at rest are provided for additional data protection.
  • Uses standards-based REST and SOAP interfaces designed to work with any Internet-development toolkit.
  • Built to be flexible so that protocol or functional layers can easily be added. The default download protocol is HTTP. A BitTorrent™ protocol interface is provided to lower costs for high-scale distribution.
  • Reliability backed with the Amazon S3 Service Level Agreement.

As you can see, Amazon S3 is a pretty decent service.  US pricing starts at $0.140/GB/Month for the 1st 1TB of data transferred.

ElephantDrive support was added recently as well.  Here is how ElephantDrive describes themselves:

SIMPLE, SAFE AND SECURE ONLINE BACK UPS AND STORAGE
Military grade encryption keeps your files safe and secure
Intelligent software moves your data fast
Access and share your files anytime, anywhere
One program to unify your data
  • Secure 128-bit SSL transfer  Information sent from you to ElephantDrive is protected by the same system that banks and financial institutions use to secure their transactions.
  • Advanced 256-bit AES encryption  Before transfer, your files are encrypted with the preferred algorithm of the U.S. government (approved for “Top Secret” use by the NSA).
  • Innovative delivery technology  Our engineers have designed an advanced, proprietary system for maximizing your available bandwidth while minimizing the effects on your system.
  • Differential backups  ElephantDrive recognizes which files are new or have been modified so that after your first backup completes, all future backups will go much faster.
  • Universal access  With ElephantDrive’s web-based portal you have 24/7 access to all of your files, wherever you are!
  • Easy and secure file sharing  Share any file with a single click (great for files that are too large to email), and set a password for extra security.
  • Multiple devices and multiple platforms  Works with laptops, servers, external storage devices, MACs, PCs, and most server operating systems.
  • Powerful administrative controls  Create independent sub-accounts with different access privileges (Business Plan required), and monitor your account activity and data usage.

Personal plans start at $9.95 per month and QNAP offers a 30 day free trial.  Since there is a free trial and since I’ve never looked at ElephantDrive before, I decided to try it out here.

Installing ElephantDrive

Under the Backup tab in the web admin page, click on Backup and then Cloud Backup.
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If you are setting up Amazon S3, you are in the right place!  Since we’re doing ElephantDrive, click on the ElephantDrive tab.  Enter the email account and password that you want to use with Elephant Drive and click the Create button.
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Tranquil PC Announce the Silent Riley Server Series

Andrew Edney
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2
Tranquil PC Announce the Silent Riley Server Series

Today Tranquil PC announced a new series of silent servers called the Riley series.

Since September 2007, Tranquil PC have brought to market numerous innovative Windows Home Server appliances – the T7, T2, SQA and in 2011 the Leo performance server.

Since July 2011, the next generation have been evolving.  The next generation, known as “Riley“ series are now being completed for release for sale.

After selling 10,000’s of servers, getting substantial customer feedback over the various appliances, and more recently completing a huge customer survey, the Riley series will set a new standard in the market:

  • Processor units powered by Intel dual core Atom, or i3/i5 processors
  • Processor units include two 2.5” HDD bays to provide server OS drive and server backup drive
  • Storage units provide RAID0, 1, 5 or 10 (default 5) optimisation across the 4x internal 3.5” HDD bays
  • Multiple storage units can connect to the processor units (depending on processor model)

Key features (both processor and storage)

  • 100% fan less operation
  • Near silent operation (processor <3.5dBA, storage <6dBA)
  • Low power consumption
  • Single piece construction, without vents or any joints
  • Optimised for ‘living space’, visually and acoustically desirable
  • 3 year limited warranty
  • Designed and manufactured in UK

With a new strap line, the message is clear, these are servers to be seen, but never heard.

Amazon Announce Kindle Fire Newsstand

Andrew Edney
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0
Amazon Announce Kindle Fire Newsstand

Amazon have announce the Kindle Fire Newsstand – a place to get over 400 full colour magazines and newspapers for their forthcoming Kindle Fire device.

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Here is what Amazon said:

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) today announced that the Kindle Fire Newsstand will offer over 400 full-color magazines and newspapers. Kindle Fire customers who subscribe before March 1, 2012 will also receive an exclusive free three-month trial of 17 Condé Nast magazines, including Vanity Fair, GQ, WIRED and Glamour. Kindle Fire, which ships next week, is a new class of Kindle that brings the same ease-of-use and deep integration of content that helped Kindle re-invent reading to magazines, movies, TV shows, music, apps, games, books and more. Magazines and newspapers look beautiful on Kindle Fire’s 7” vibrant multi-touch color touch-screen that delivers 1024 X 600 pixel resolution at 169 ppi and 16 million colors in high resolution. Kindle Fire Newsstand customers will be able to enjoy their favorite magazines in rich, glossy, full-color from publishers such as Condé Nast, Meredith, and Hearst. Interactive editions with built-in video and audio are also available for many magazines such as Better Homes & Gardens, Allure and Self. To learn more about the Kindle Fire Newsstand, visit http://www.amazon.com/kindlefirenewsstand.

“We think Kindle Fire customers will love the beautiful, intuitive reading experience we’ve built for their favorite magazines such as Us Weekly, The New Yorker, and Reader’s Digest,” said Russ Grandinetti, Vice President, Kindle Content. “The response from publishers has been overwhelmingly positive and they are excited to make their magazines and newspapers available on Kindle Fire, and we’re adding new titles all the time.”

“We’re excited to work with Amazon to give Kindle Fire owners access to our magazines digitally,” said John Loughlin, EVP/GM, Hearst Magazines. “Kindle Fire’s beautiful touch-screen creates a great experience for readers, who will be able to enjoy magazines like Cosmopolitan and Esquire in a full-color, glossy format.”

“We are very pleased to be working with Amazon and getting our content to an even wider audience,” said Monica Ray, Executive Vice President, Consumer Marketing, Condé Nast. “Their Newsstand will provide the kind of access and ease-of-use consumers value and demand.”

“Meredith has worked with Amazon to create Kindle Fire optimized interactive apps, so readers can enjoy videos, how-to diagrams and more while reading magazines like Better Homes & Gardens and Parents,” said Liz Schimel, Chief Digital Officer, Meredith. “We think readers will love the experience of discovering our magazines in this new way on Kindle Fire’s beautiful full-color touch-screen.”

Kindle Fire offers more than 18 million movies, TV shows, songs, books, magazines, apps and games, as well as free storage in the Amazon Cloud, Whispersync for books and movies, a 14.6 ounce design that’s easy to hold with one hand, vibrant color touch screen, a powerful dual-core processor and Amazon Silk – Amazon’s new revolutionary web browser that accelerates the power of the mobile device by using the computing speed and power of the Amazon Web Services Cloud – all for only $199. Customers also enjoy a free month of Amazon Prime giving them access to Prime Instant Video with 13,000 movies and TV shows available for unlimited streaming and the new Kindle Owners’ Lending Library where Kindle owners can now choose from thousands of books to borrow for free including more than 100 current and former New York Times Bestsellers – as frequently as a book a month, with no due dates.

Are you going to buy the Kindle Fire, or have you already pre-ordered it? If so, let us know!

If not, why not pre-order it today?

Exclusive Review of the Acer AC100S Small Business Server 2011 Essentials Box

Andrew Edney
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1
Exclusive Review of the Acer AC100S Small Business Server 2011 Essentials Box

Back in June we told you that Acer were planning on launching a Small Business Server 2011 Essentials box called the AC100S. We have been using it for a while now and so here is our exclusive review.

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The Acer AC100S delivers essential server-class features and expandability along with unique Acer utilities1 and Microsoft Small Business Server 2011 Essentials to ensure the success of start-up 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.

Who are Acer?

From their website:

Since its founding in 1976, Acer has achieved the goal of breaking the barriers between people and technology. Globally, Acer ranks No. 2 for total PCs and notebooks. A profitable and sustainable Channel Business Model is instrumental to the company’s continuing growth, while its multi-brand approach effectively integrates Acer, Gateway, Packard Bell, and eMachines brands in worldwide markets.

Acer strives to design environmentally friendly products and establish a green supply chain through collaboration with suppliers. Acer is proud to be a Worldwide Partner of the Olympic Movement, including the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter and London 2012 Olympic Games.

Over 30 years of making history in the fast-paced IT industry, Acer’s far-reaching strategy of focusing on R&D and marketing development has laid the foundations and created a company ready to embrace the challenges of the future. The Acer Group employs 8,000 people worldwide. Estimated revenues for 2010 reached US$19.9 billion.

Acer were also one of the big players that supported the original V1 Windows Home Server.

Specifications

Processors and Chipset
· Intel® Xeon® E3-1200 series processors
· Intel® Core™ i3 series processors
· Intel® Pentium® series processors
· Chipset: Intel® C206
Memory
· Memory capacity:
Unbufferred DIMM: 2, 4, 8 GB
· Maximum capacity: up to 16 GB unbuffered DIMMs when fully populated with 1 DIMM per channel in 2 slots
Note: 8 GB DIMM availability may vary by region.
Network Controllers
· Integrated single-port Intel® 82579LM Gigabit Ethernet
Storage
· Hard disk form factor: 3.5”
· Type: SATA
· 3.5” Maximum capacity:
Up to 8 TB SATA HDD (2 TB 3.5″ x 4 HDDs)
Storage Controllers
· Intel® C206 onboard storage controller
Expansion slots
· 1 x PCIe x8
Management
· System LAN LEDs, System Health LED
· System Health Monitoring
Note: available in AC100S SKU only
· Intel Active Management Technology (Intel vPro)
Note: available in AC100S SKU with Intel Xeon processor only
Security
· Front panel key lock
· Rear Kensington lock hole
· Chassis intrusion
Deployment/Serviceability
· Acer Smart Setup
· BIOS Update Tool
Chassis/Form Factor
· Micro tower
Power Supply
· 200 W 80 PLUS® bronze-level efficient fixed power supply

For this review, we have the Intel Xeon E3-1260L series processor, 2GB ram, 2 x 500GB hard drives.

What’s in the Box?

• Power cable
• Server console
• Door keys (x2)
• Easy setup guide
• Server recovery disc
• Warranty booklet
• Network cable

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NVIDIA Release GeForce 285.79 Beta Driver

Andrew Edney
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0
NVIDIA Release GeForce 285.79 Beta Driver

NVIDIA have released a GeForce 285.79 beta driver for it’s graphics cards. This beta includes bug fixes and performance improvements for Battlefield 3.

GeForce Logo

New in Version 285.79

  • Includes several bug fixes and performance improvements for Battlefield 3.
    • Fixes cases of irregular performance (stuttering) primarily seen on DirectX 10 GPUs. The fix improves the performance of both DX10 and DX11 GPUs.
    • Fixes shadow map corruption seen with DirectX 10 GPUs.
    • Fixes cases of black corruption lines/triangles with DirectX 10 GPUs.
  • Fixes black screen during playback using Windows Media Center.
  • Added or updated SLI profiles for the following games:
    • Aion v3.0
    • Anno 2070
    • Assassins Creed: Revelations
    • Bastion
    • Need for Speed: The Run
    • Payday: The Heist
    • The Adventures of Tintin
    • The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim
  • Added or updated the following 3D Vision game profiles:
    • Airline Tycoon 2 – rated Fair
    • Assassin’s Creed: Revelations – rated Good
    • Batman: Arkham City – updated rating to 3D Vision Ready
    • Deus Ex: Human Revolution – rated Excellent
    • The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – rated Excellent
    • FIFA 12 – rated Good
    • Hard Reset – updated rating to 3D Vision Ready
    • inMomentum – rated Fair
    • The Lord of the Rings: War in the North
    • Smash Cars – rated Fair
    • Two Worlds 2: Castle Defense – rated Good
    • Zombie Driver – rated Excellent

Other Details

  • Includes HD Audio driver 1.2.24.0.
  • Includes PhysX System Software 9.11.11.07.

You can read more about this driver on GeForce.com.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Sets All-Time Record for the Biggest Entertainment Launch

Andrew Edney
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0
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Sets All-Time Record for the Biggest Entertainment Launch

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Sets All-Time Record for the Biggest Entertainment Launch with More than $400 Million in North America and United Kingdom Sales Alone.

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Here is what Activision said on Friday:

More Than 6.5 Million Units Sold in U.S. and U.K. in 24 Hours

SANTA MONICA, Calif., Nov. 11, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — Shattering its own day-one sales records, Activision Publishing, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Activision Blizzard (Nasdaq: ATVI), announced that its highly-anticipated Call of Duty®: Modern Warfare® 3 has become the biggest entertainment launch ever with an estimated sell-through of more than $400 million and more than 6.5 million units in North America and the United Kingdom alone in the first 24 hours of its release, according to Charttrack and retail customer sell-through information.

This marks the third consecutive year that the Call of Duty franchise has set day one launch records across all forms of entertainment, something no other entertainment franchise in any medium has ever accomplished. Last year, in North America and the United Kingdom, Activision’s Call of Duty: Black Ops™ had estimated day-one sell-through of $360 million and in 2009, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, set day-one records with estimated sell through of $310 million, according to Charttrack and retail customer sell-through information.

On November 8, 2011, millions of fans attended more than 13,000 midnight openings at retail stores around worldwide. According to Microsoft, after just two days, the number of gamers playing simultaneously on Xbox®  Live® set a new peak concurrency record.

“We believe the launch of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is the biggest entertainment launch of all time in any medium, and we achieved this record with sales from only two territories,” said Bobby Kotick, CEO, Activision Blizzard, Inc. “Other than Call of Duty, there has never been another entertainment franchise that has set opening day records three years in a row. Life-to-date sales for the Call of Duty franchise exceed worldwide theatrical box office for “Star Wars” and “Lord of the Rings,” two of the most successful entertainment franchises of all time.”

Eric Hirshberg, CEO, Activision Publishing added, “Call of Duty is more than a game. It’s become a major part of the pop cultural landscape. It is a game that core enthusiasts love, but that also consistently draws new people into the medium. It is the most intense, adrenaline pumping entertainment experience anywhere. I would like to thank our incredible teams at Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer Games for making a brilliant game. But most of all, I would like to thank our millions of passionate fans worldwide. We made this game for you.”

Separately, Activision announced this morning that in support and gratitude for the efforts of American servicemen and women, this Veterans Day it donated $3 million to the Call of Duty Endowment, a non-profit, public benefit corporation that seeks to provide job placement and training for veterans. This latest donation will be added to the $2 million that Activision has already donated to the Endowment, which has provided more than $1.5 million in grants and scholarships to veterans’ organizations across the country since it was conceived by Bobby Kotick in November of 2009.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is rated “M” (Mature) by the ESRB for Blood and Gore, Drug Reference, Intense Violence and Strong Language and is available now for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, and Windows® PC. For more information visit www.callofduty.com/mw3 and www.callofduty.com/elite.

We really enjoyed the launch party last week, and have been playing the game for a few days – watch out for our review shortly.

DVBLogic Update DVBLink Boxee Client

Andrew Edney
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0
DVBLogic Update DVBLink Boxee Client

For those of you running the DVBLink Boxee app, there is a new version included in the DVBLink 4.0.1 update.

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To access it, point your Boxee repository to dvblogic.com/boxee.

DVBLink Product Suit v4.0.1 Has Been Released

Andrew Edney
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0
DVBLink Product Suit v4.0.1 Has Been Released

Yesterday saw the release of version 4.0.1 of the DVBLink product suite.

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This release is a cumulative update for version 4.0 that contains all previously released patches.

What is new and fixed:

General

  • Fixed: Unstable channel synchronization/update in MediaCenter
  • Added: Full German, Dutch, Spanish, Danish and Ukrainian localizations
  • Fixed: DVBLink Server does not start if there is no active network connection
  • Added: Moved xmltv file location to ProgramData\DVBLogic\DVBLink\xmltv
  • Fixed: xmltv files with .XML (capitals) extension are not recognized
  • Added: ISO-8859-7 and Windows-1252 encodings to xmltv source

DVBLink TVSource

  • Added: Latest satellite transponder files from kingofsat
  • Fixed: Transponder files with comments cannot be read
  • Fixed: MediaCenter may display Playready message in the middle of viewing a channel for encrypted channels
  • Fixed: “Technical problem” stream is displayed after waking up a server from standby

DVBLink Connect! Server

  • Added: Use base streaming port (8080) as control port for DVBLink client
  • Fixed: No scheduled recordings are displayed on Recordings tab of mobile apps, even if there are recordings visible in MediaCenter
  • Fixed: iOS/Adroid app crashes when entering Recordings tab
  • Added: Timer recordings added from apps use default recording settings of MediaCenter
  • Fixed: DVBLink Network Client crashes if there is no connection to a DVBLink server
  • Fixed: Artifacts when viewing HD channels on DVBLink network client
  • Fixed: DVBLink Server crashes when trial period of DVBLink Connect Server expires
  • Fixed: It takes a long time to start live TV after standby on a DVBLink network client
  • Fixed: Streams containing AAC audio track are not played back in WinPhone client

DVBLink for Dreambox

  • Fixed: Stuttering playback of RTL4 (HD) channels
  • Fixed: Slow channel changes
  • Fixed: Dreambox with OpenPli2.0 cannot be used when it is in standby
  • Fixed: Second tuner cannot be used on a dual tuner enigma-2 based dreambox

Since there is a driver update involved you cannot upgrade your existing installation! You need to uninstall existing v4.0 DVBLink products and install DVBLink product v4.0.1 from the scratch.

Please use Backup-Restore functionality to restore your DVBLink settings after reinstallation! Do not forget about your modified transponders and a content of your Plugins folder!

Sorry for the inconvenience.

The installation instructions are described on our Wiki.

Important!

DVBLink Connect! Server v4.0.1 does not use anymore base port – 39876 – for control communication with its clients. Instead base streaming port is used – 8080.
Please change port value in your mobile apps for Android, iOS, WinPhone, Boxee for them to work correctly with a new version! Port 39876 does not have to be opened anymore on firewall/router for external streaming.

If you use direct http streaming (for MediaPortal integration for example) – change port value in urls to (base streaming port + 1) – e.g. 8081 if you use default port value.

XMLTV

The location of xmltv files is now fixed to ProgramData\DVBLogic\DVBLink\xmltv. This folder is writable without any special access permissions.

Download

The DVBLink products v4.0.1 can be downloaded from our main page at www.dvblogic.com

BYOB Podcast Episode 65 Out Now

Andrew Edney
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BYOB Podcast Episode 65 Out Now

The guys over at the BYOB podcast, including our very own Tim Daleo have just released episode 65.

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Here is what is included in this weeks show:

[box style=”rounded” border=”full”]RAID5 expansion, server Anti-Virus, printing tips, Gigabyte’s 3d UEFI interface and LAN optimizer.[/box]

As usual you can listen to the show from here.

QNAP TurboNAS Firmware: 3.5 Deep Dive Part Three: Volume Management

Jim McCarthy
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QNAP TurboNAS Firmware: 3.5 Deep Dive Part Three: Volume Management

This is Part Three of our QNAP TurboNAS Deep Dive series.  This article looks at volume management options.  Read on for details!

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In Part One of this series, we told you how to set up the ISCSI target functionality in TurboNAS 3.5.  In Part Two, we covered adding users.  In Part Three, we’ll show how to set up and administer the volumes and RAID arrays.  Let’s get going!

Volume Setup

QNAP’s TurboNAS makes setting up and changing RAID volumes pretty easy.  Let’s take a look.

Click on Disk Management to show the available volume and RAID management options.

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Click on Volume Management to start the process of creation of a volume set.  Note that the NAS that I am performing this on already has a RAID5 volume created that we will not be deleting, so I’ll show most of the process here while not damaging my RAID set.  You can see extensive options, including RAID0, RAID1, RAID5, RAID6, RAID10 and JBOD.  Simply select the type of volume that you want to create.  Note that TurboNAS also is telling me about all four loaded hard drives, including SMART data, and about the already-existing RAID5 array.  I could delete, format or check that array for errors here if I wanted to.

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The system will warn you that all services will be stopped for this effort, click OK to proceed.

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This is what happens when you have no free disks in the system; all four loaded disks are already in a RAID5, so it errors out.  If you had spare disks, you would have been able to select them and start to build the RAID array.  This is a very easy to use and powerful configuration tool.

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Once you issue the command to build the array, TurbNAS goes about building it and you can copy data to it during the array build.  I let this go overnight, and it was ready for action with full data protection the next morning.  Building a RAID5 array could not have been easier!

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