What is Windows Home Server?

Microsoft Announces Updates for SkyDrive for PC and Mac

Microsoft

Jim McCarthy

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May 31, 2012

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Microsoft announced today several updates for SkyDrive PC and Mac users. Read on for details!

Microsoft announced updates to the SkyDrive cloud service today. Here are the details:

Today we’re also starting to push updates to the SkyDrive apps for Windows desktop and for Mac, which will appear automatically on your PC or Mac over the course of the next week or so. You don’t need to do anything, as the updates occur automatically in the background.

Here are a few of the improvements and fixes in the updates:

SkyDrive for Windows desktop will power a cool new feature in the upcoming Windows 8 Release Preview, available the first week of June. Right from the Photos app in Windows 8, you can fetch photos stored on your other PCs that have SkyDrive installed – no matter where you are or how many terabytes of photos you have stored on the PC you are accessing. We’ll have more to say about this shortly, so stay tuned.

SkyDrive for OS X Lion no longer shows an app icon in the dock when running. We’ve definitely heard the feedback that it wasn’t necessary.

Your SkyDrive folder now updates more quickly and reliably when changes are made on other devices, including SkyDrive.com.

The limit on the number of total files in the SkyDrive folder created by the apps has been raised from 150,000 to a whopping 10 million! This should unblock some power users from easily adding lots of files to their SkyDrive folder.

We made lots of smaller bug fixes to improve overall reliability.

Our primary goal throughout this preview period for our desktop apps is to really nail the fundamentals. This means we want the synchronization process to be fast and dependable, and for your SkyDrive folder to “just work,” so that it simply feels like magic.

By the way, if you’d like to see if you’re running the latest build, you can see the build number by clicking Settings (in Windows, this is in the right-click menu for the SkyDrive system tray icon, and on the Mac, it’s on the application menu) and then About. The build number to look for is 16.4.4111.0525. But again, if you’re still running an older build (if the last four numbers are lower than 0525), there’s nothing you need to do. You’ll get the update automatically in the next week or so, provided the SkyDrive app is running.

I use SkyDrive pretty heavily now and really like it…how about you?

SkyDrive Update

Raxco Software Releases PerfectDisk 12.5 Service Pack 4

News

Jim McCarthy

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May 31, 2012

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Raxco Software announced the release of PerfectDisk 12.5 service pack 4 today. Read on for details!

Raxco announced the releaser of Service Pack 4 for PerfectDisk 12.5. First, some background on Raxco:

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

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

PerfectDisk – The Smarter Way to Defrag
Our PerfectDisk products provide innovative defragmentation features and a host of customizable administration tools, making PerfectDisk the industry’s leading defragmenting solution. Plus, all of our products are certified for Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 or Windows Vista.

A wide range of solutions cover the defragmentation requirements for desktops, laptops, servers, Exchange servers, Windows Home Server, and virtualilzation solutions from VMware, Microsoft and any Windows-based host system.

Meeting the Needs of Customers Worldwide
We serve a broad range of customers around the world through a network of international resellers and distributors in the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia, Latin America, South Africa, and the Pacific Rim. Over 25,000 companies worldwide, including Fortune 500 companies and leading government agencies, rely on PerfectDisk products to optimize their computer systems and networks, and manage enterprise-wide defragmentation with our systems administration tools.

Now, some details of today’s release:

PerfectDisk 12.5 Service Pack 4 (Build 311)

The PerfectDisk 12.5 Client and Enterprise Console have been updated to Service Pack 4 (Build 311).

The PerfectDisk Client contains the following changes:

Fixed a bug in handling of missed schedules.

Fixed a bug causing significant CPU consumption in the PDAgent service.

Improved identification of snapshots and other virtual machine properties in vSphere virtual guest.

Updated group policy files, including options for reclaiming free space before defragmentation, deleting temp files and emptying recycle bin in scheduled defrags.

OptiWrite and auto optimizatioins are now by default disabled for new drives.

Consistent setting of Disk I/O threshold in Stealth configuration across different PerfectDisk clients.

Fixed incorrect enabling of boot time defragmentation and auto optimization on the drives set as excluded via drive options in global settings.

Reclaiming free space before defragmentation has been enabled as an option in config.ini.

Changed handling of the drives not present in a VM in virtual guest.

The PerfectDisk Console contains the following changes:

Improved spacing of table columns.

Fixed an error in synchronization with PD 11 clients.

Fixed inconsistentsy between console and client alert settings.

Fixed incorrect handling of free space options and Kernel and user mode CPU settings during assignment of configuration profiles.

Improved handling of alerts.

In PerfectDisk, users can click Help then Check for Updates to immediately update to SP4, or wait for AutoUpdate.

If you are using PerfectDisk, go get your update!

PerfectDisk Service Pack 4 Announcement

XBMC Adding HD Audio

Jim McCarthy

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May 31, 2012

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XBMC announced today that the next version of the software will add HD Audio! Read on for details.

First of all, what is XBMC? Here is how they describe the project:

XBMC is an award-winning free and open source (GPL) software media player and entertainment hub for digital media. XBMC is available for Linux, OSX, and Windows. Created in 2003 by a group of like minded programmers, XBMC is a non-profit project run and developed by volunteers located around the world. More than 50 software developers have contributed to XBMC, and 100-plus translators have worked to expand its reach, making it available in more than 30 languages.

While XBMC functions very well as a standard media player application for your computer, it has been designed to be the perfect companion for your HTPC. Supporting an almost endless range of remote controls, and combined with its beautiful interface and powerful skinning engine, XBMC feels very natural to use from the couch and is the ideal solution for your home theater.

Currently XBMC can be used to play almost all popular audio and video formats around. It was designed for network playback, so you can stream your multimedia from anywhere in the house or directly from the internet using practically any protocol available. Use your media as-is: XBMC can play CDs and DVDs directly from the disk or image file, almost all popular archive formats from your hard drive, and even files inside ZIP and RAR archives. It will even scan all of your media and automatically create a personalized library complete with box covers, descriptions, and fanart. There are playlist and slideshow functions, a weather forecast feature and many audio visualizations. Once installed, your computer will become a fully functional multimedia jukebox.

It is difficult to put into words all that XBMC can do, head to the gallery to see some examples, or take the plunge and Try it Today.

If you are using XBMC and want to bitstream HD audio, this update is for you. Here is what XBMC announced today:

XBMC Audio goes HD

May 30th, 2012

It’s been long-awaited, oft-discussed and it’s finally here – AudioEngine for XBMC!

What is AudioEngine? A complete re-write of the core audio sub-system of XBMC, and a two-year project comprising some 22,000 lines of code.

Spear-headed by lead-developer gnif, with contributions from many other team developers (dddamian, gimli, fneufneu, anssi, memphiz and others!), AudioEngine brings high-definition audio to the already amazing XBMC. No matter the audio source, AE handles the decoding, resampling, transcoding, encoding and streaming of your media, including for the first time DTS-MA, TrueHD and 24-bit audio. XBMC has never sounded better!

With full floating-point audio pipes, even mp3’s sound audibly better, with dithering built-in to further reduce quantization noise.

After a herculean effort and many lost evenings, the team is happy to announce that AudioEngine has been merged with the master branch as of May 15th 2012. As such, it is now possible for the team as a whole to participate in it’s further development and for users to enjoy via the nightlies or your own builds.

Features of AE include:

– support for DTS-MA / Dolby TrueHD Bluray formats
– support for 24-bit and floating-point audio at up to 384,000hz
– mixing of all streams including GUI sounds even when passing through or transcoding audio
– start-up enumeration of hardware audio devices and their capablities with log output
– bitstreaming support in PAPlayer
– upmixing of stereo to full channel layout
– tighter syncing of A/V streams
– floating-point processing of audio
– 24-bit and floating-point decoding/handling of mp3
– full support for ReplayGain
– built-in sample-rate conversion and transcoding

Planned Features for upcoming AE releases:

– rules-based decisions for output formats based on hardware capabilites
– a range of DSP’s (digital signal processors) including headphone head-related transfer function processing, DRC (dynamic range compression), low-pass filtering for subs and an equalizer function
– custom channel-mixing/mapping for up and downmixing

It’s still early days for AE. Bugs will be found, and new and exciting features added. It’s stability and feature-set will develop as it matures and grows in the amazing open-source environment of XBMC. We’d especially like to thank all the testers who helped make it possible to bring this merge about.

If you want to give it a try just grab one of the nightly versions on one of XBMC’s mirrors. For further details and support links please visit the AudioEngine page in our Wiki where you will also find links to the support threads in our forum, if you have additional questions. From the development team, enjoy!

We’ll keep an eye on this project and let you know when HD Audio goes live with XBMC.

XBMC Blog Post

Sky announces limited edition designer Sky Box collection inspired by Formula 1

Andrew Edney

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May 30, 2012

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Sky celebrates season of in-depth F1 action with Limited Edition Designer Box Collection inspired by Formula 1.

To celebrate a season of in-depth Formula 1 coverage on the Sky Sports F1 HD channel, Sky has joined forces with racing legend Sir Stirling Moss OBE plus F1 fanatics, Jodie Kidd and Vic Reeves to create a limited edition Sky+HD 1TB Designer Box Collection, inspired by Formula 1.

The exclusive collection will launch ahead of the 2012 FORMULA ONE SANTANDER BRITISH GRAND PRIX in July – making it the perfect Father’s Day gift for sports mad dads. Sky Sports F1TM HD is the only place to enjoy live coverage of the whole Grand Prix season with all practice and qualifying sessions, plus every race in the calendar. Customers can register their interest in the boxes from 28 May 2012 via http://www.sky.com/designerboxes.

The Sky+HD 1TB Designer Box Collection is inspired by Formula 1 and each design offers an insight into the personality of the designer and their take on this iconic sport.

Sir Stirling Moss, OBE

“The idea for my design came from a car sculpture on the roof of my home which I designed myself, inspired by the racing cars from my era. The number 7 was a crucial element as it has always been a lucky number in my family. My mother was born on 7th July and I would always get the number 7 as my racing number if I could. I had a fair few wins driving cars with that number and, at one time when I was racing car number 43, I included a plus sign between the two numbers so they would add up to 7! I’m quite superstitious so everything I can control will always revolve around the number 7. The colour of my design includes a variety of racing car green, which comes in several different shades, something that many people don’t realise.”

Vic Reeves

“As a huge F1 fan I was delighted to be asked to design a Sky+HD box, particularly as some people might not be aware that I’m an artist as well as a comedian. I have many happy memories watching the races as a child, and even had a poster on my bedroom wall. I wanted my design to be playful and full of colour and because I love the shape of the old fashioned racing cars, I was keen to include one in there. I’ve grown up watching the sport and intend to be glued to the action this season with my family.”

Jodie Kidd

“I’ve always been a dedicated F1 fan and I am already hooked on this season. For my design, I wanted to create a glamorous ‘pin up girl’ look, as I love the iconic vintage paintings from the era. With the addition of the red racing car, it really stands out. My Sky+HD box sits in pride of place under my TV at home and I can’t wait to watch the British Grand Prix in July!”

The Sky+HD 1TB box lets customers access up to 60 HD channels depending on their subscription, with recording space of up to 240 hours of HD or 740 hours of standard definition programmes, and also comes 3D-ready. Viewers can also get hundreds of hours of great entertainment on demand including movies, entertainment, documentaries and drama ‘box sets’ at no extra cost once the box is linked to a broadband connection, with Sky Anytime+.

ReTrak launches Flavours range of multi-colours retractable accessories

Andrew Edney

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May 30, 2012

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ReTrak launches Flavours range of multi-colours retractable accessories

ReTrak launches Flavours a new line up of multi-coloured retractable accessories to suit fashion conscious consumers on the go.

ReTrak’s unique, retractable accessories just got brighter! Consumer demand for mobility and ease of use coupled with fashion diversity has encouraged Emerge Technology to launch 5 new and unique range of accessories in various colours to suit tastes for every consumer.

“Our range of retractable cables have been very well received in the UK and so it was natural for us to extend our range to more fashion and colour conscious consumers” says Scott Ledbetter, CEO of Emerge Technologies. He continues “Our aim is to bring high quality great value products to all consumers that need accessories that match their hectic and mobile lifestyles without having to compromise on their choice and taste”.

All products are available in five different colours and come with a 3 year warranty:

Retractable Headphones PINK GREEN PURPLE BLUE ORANGE £9.99
Retractable 3.3 to 3.5 Audio cable PINK GREEN PURPLE BLUE ORANGE £9.99
Retractable Splitter cable PINK GREEN PURPLE BLUE ORANGE £9.99
Retractable Micro USB cable PINK GREEN PURPLE BLUE ORANGE £9.99
Retractable iPod/iPad/iPhone cable PINK GREEN PURPLE BLUE ORANGE £9.99

Check out our review of the ReTrak Notebook charger

StableBit DrivePool for Windows Home Server 2011 Beta 1.0.2.6229 released

Andrew Edney

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May 30, 2012

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StableBit DrivePool for Windows Home Server 2011 Beta 1.0.2.6229 released

There has been another beta build from CoveCube! StableBit DrivePool development marches on – now its version 1.0.2.6229.

Here is how CoveCube describes this application:

Combine all your hard drives into one big storage pool (except the system drive with the OS).
Add and remove drives from the pool at any time without re-partitioning or manually moving folders.
Create duplicated folders on the storage drive pool that are protected against single drive failure. If a drive fails on which a duplicated file was stored, the contents of that file will remain readable even without the drive.
All your data is stored in standard NTFS files. You can always access your files even if the Windows Home Server completely crashes or this add-in can’t be used.

This beta version’s change log

1.0.2.6229

* Fixed settings / state getting reset on upgrading.
* Added UI option for network I/O prioritization to the Disks DrivePool tab.
After some testing, this option seems to be effective at minimizing stutter when streaming high bandwidth media
directly from the server (such as BluRay).
* Moved read striping option to the Disks DrivePool tab.
* [D] Added a new read striping algorithm called “block mode” after conducting some testing with read striping.
CoveFS will select the correct algorithm to use in real-time.
Added a number of read striping options to .config:
CoveFs_ReadStripingBlockMode
CoveFs_ReadStripingStripeSize
CoveFs_ReadStripingBlockModeNoCache
* [D] Added performance measuring instrumentation into the driver.
* Exposed CoveFS performance measurements, in real time, into the Dashboard.
Hidden feature exposed by hitting ‘P’ on the DrivePool tab.
* Added read striping and network I/O boost real-time visualizations to the DrivePool Disks tab.
When these features are actively working, you will see how much pool I/O is being affected, in percentages.
* Fixed installer service not starting on fresh install.
* Fixed delayed action firing too often, affecting much of the application. Delayed actions are used in the service
and Dashboard, not in the file system.:

QNAP Updates Peripheral Support for TurboNAS

Jim McCarthy

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May 30, 2012

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QNAP Updates Peripheral Support for TurboNAS

QNAP added several printers, a multimedia player, a hard drive and even several SSD’s to their compatibility list today. Read on for details.

QNAP updated their compatibility lists today. Here is what they announced:

QNAP Expands its Turbo NAS Peripherals Compatibility List, Adding Two New Printers, One 2.5-inch Internal SATA Hard Drive, Thirteen 2.5-inch Internal Solid State Drives, Four 3rd Party Backup Applications and One Multimedia Player

Taipei, Taiwan, May 30, 2012 – QNAP^®Systems, Inc. is extending the number of compatible peripherals for its Turbo NAS products. The additions, including two printers, one 2.5-inch 128GB internal SATA hard drive, thirteen 2.5-inch 60GB to 480GB internal Solid State Drives, four 3rd party backup applications, and one multimedia player are now fully compatible. The expanded peripherals are expected to give users greater convenience and deployment flexibility.The compatible printers are listed below:

Brother^® – DCP-7065DN

EPSON^® – AcuLaser M1400

The compatible 2.5″ internal SATA Hard Drive is listed below:

Crucial^® – CT128M4SSD2 (128GB)

The compatible 2.5″ internal Solid State Drives (SSD) are listed below:

Kingston^® – SVP200S3/60G (60GB), SVP200S3/90G (90GB), SVP200S3/120G (120GB), SVP200S3/240G (240GB), SVP200S3/480G (480GB)

Corsair^® – CSSD-F120GB3-BK (120GB), CSSD-F180GB3-BK (180GB), CSSD-F240GB3-BK (240GB), CSSD-F480GB3-BK (480GB), CSSD-F120GBGT-BK (120GB), CSSD-F180GBGT-BK (180GB), CSSD-F240GBGT-BK (240GB), CSSD-F480GBGT-BK (480GB)

The compatible 3rd party backup applications are listed below:

Veeam^® – Veeam Backup & Replication 5, Backup & Replication 6

Altaro – Altaro Hyper-V Backup

DataCore™ – SANsymphony™-V

The compatible multimedia player is listed below:

Mede8er™ – MED450X2

Visit www.qnap.com for more information.

About QNAP Systems, Inc.

QNAP Systems, Inc. is a privately held company founded in 2004 and is dedicated to bringing world class NAS storage, professional NVR video surveillance, and network video players to consumer, small/medium business, and entry level enterprise market segments. QNAP leverages not only hardware design but also a growing core competency in software engineering that is precisely focused on bringing to market products that offer the highest available performance coupled with outstanding reliability, scalability, and ease of installation and use. QNAP is a multi-national company with headquarters in Taipei, Taiwan, and subsidiary offices in China and the United States.

It’s nice to see DataCore’s SANsymphony™-V backup application added, and more hard drive, SSD and printer options doesn’t hurt either!

QNAP Updates Compatibility List

Phones 4u stocking limited edition The Dark Knight Rises Nokia Lumia 900 Windows Phone

Andrew Edney

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May 30, 2012

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Phones 4u stocking limited edition The Dark Knight Rises Nokia Lumia 900 Windows Phone

Phones 4u have confirmed that it will be exclusively stocking 900 of the hotly anticipated Limited Edition ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ Nokia Lumia 900 smartphone, in selected flagship stores across the UK from 1st June.

The smartphones will also be exclusively available to preorder from the Phones 4u website from 29th May, ideal for those who want to be amongst the very first to get their hands on Nokia’s highly exclusive new design.

Nokia has released the limited edition smartphone to celebrate the launch of The Dark Knight Rises- the latest installment in the hugely successful Batman blockbuster movie franchise, releasing nationwide on July 20th. Perfect for Batman fans and film buffs, the smartphone builds on the signature sleek and attention-grabbing design of the 900 range. Available in matte black, it is embossed with the famous Batman logo and also comes presented in limited edition packaging, with a Nokia exclusive app for the movie.

Throughout June all Phones 4u customers who order any Nokia Lumia 900 device – either the classic design or The Dark Knight Rises Limited Edition – will receive a pair of complimentary tickets to The Dark Knight Rises in cinemas! And as if that isn’t enough, every customer who purchases a Nokia Lumia smartphone will be entered into a competition for the chance to win once-in-a-lifetime, VIP experience tickets to the London premiere of The Dark Knight Rises movie.

Exclusive to Nokia, the official app for the The Dark Knight Rises is also included. Bringing exclusive The Dark Knight Rises content, including trailers, wallpapers and ringtones. Play the location-based challenge “Claim Gotham City”: choose a side – Batman or Bane – and check in using Foursquare at nearby locations to get points and unlock rewards. Find theaters near you and get directions to the show. Get info about the film, the cast and the social buzz on The Dark Knight Rises.”

The Nokia Lumia 900 smartphone features a 4.3-inch AMOLED ClearBlack Display for rich, bright images and Nokia’s highest capacity battery making it the perfect smartphone for enjoying media and entertainment on the move all day long. The primary camera on the Nokia Lumia 900 has exclusive Carl Zeiss optics, a large aperture for improved performance in low light conditions and wide angle focal length for capturing full 16:9 images. It also features a front-facing 1 MP HD camera, with large aperture and wide-angle lens for sharp, bright images and video calling.

Available free on contract from £31 a month or SIM free from £599.95, the Limited Edition The Dark Knight Rises Nokia Lumia 900 will be available online and in-store at flagship stores across the UK from 1st June. For those who can’t wait the smartphone can be preordered from Phones 4u from 29th May.

Learn more and order from the Phones 4u website

Google announce the Chromebox compact desktop PC

News
Tech

Andrew Edney

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May 30, 2012

0

Google announce the Chromebox compact desktop PC

After the less than warm reception of the Chromebooks, Google are trying again, this time with a desktop variant called the Chromebox.

This is what Google posted on their blog:

Our partner Samsung has just announced a new Chromebook and the industry’s first Chromebox. Like its predecessor, the newest Chromebook is a fast and portable laptop for everyday users. The Chromebox is a compact, powerful and versatile desktop perfect for the home or office.

Speed
Speed is integral to the Chrome experience. The new Chromebook and Chromebox, based on Intel Core processors, are nearly three times as fast as the first-generation Chromebooks. And support for hardware-accelerated graphics, a built-from-scratch multi-touch trackpad and an open-source firmware stack provide a much faster and more responsive computing experience. The new Chromebook boots in less than seven seconds and resumes instantly. With the Chromebox, you can be on a video conference while continuing to play your favorite role-playing game on the side.

An app-centric user interface
With the new user interface you can easily find and launch apps, and use them alongside your browser or other apps. You can pin commonly-used apps for quick access, display multiple windows side-by-side or experience your favorite apps in full-screen mode without any distractions.

Be much more productive…or not
Get more stuff done, online or offline: With the built-in ability to view Microsoft Office files and dozens of the most common file formats, you can access all your content without the hassle of installing additional software. Google Drive makes it easy to create, store and share with just one click. Drive will be seamlessly integrated with the File Manager and support offline access with the next release of Chrome OS in six weeks. With Google Docs offline support (rolling out over the next few weeks), you can keep working on your documents even when offline and seamlessly sync back up when you re-connect. In addition, there are hundreds of offline-capable web apps in the Chrome Web Store.

Have more fun: The revamped media player and a built-in photo editor and uploader enable you to easily play and manage your personal media collections. Through the Chrome Web Store, you can access entertainment apps such as Google Play, Netflix, Kindle Cloud Reader and Pandora, and thousands of games including popular games like Angry Birds and console titles such as Bastion.

Carry your other computers…inside your Chromebook: With Chrome Remote Desktop Beta, you can now securely connect to your PC or Mac from your Chromebook or Chromebox. With the underlying VP8 technology, it’s almost like you’re in front of your other computers in real time.

The (always) new computer
We’ve released eight stable updates over the past year, adding a number of major features and hundreds of improvements to all Chromebooks through our seamless auto-update mechanism. There’s a lot more on the way, so all you need to do is sit back and enjoy the benefits of the (always) new computer.

For those who want to try the Chromebook and Chromebox first-hand, they are expanding the Chrome Zone experience centers. In the U.S., Chromebooks will be available to try out in select Best Buy stores in the coming weeks. In the U.K., they’re now available in a growing list of PC World and Currys stores.

Starting today, you can get the new Chromebook and Chromebox from their online retail partners in the U.S. and U.K., and in other select countries over the coming weeks.

Samsung GALAXY S III available now on Three

Andrew Edney

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May 30, 2012

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Samsung GALAXY S III available now on Three

The Samsung GALAXY S III is now available on Pay Monthly from all Three stores or online at Three.co.uk.

The Samsung GALAXY S III is inspired by nature and designed for humans. It has a stunning design with gentle curves, is easy to hold and comes in marble white and pebble blue. It’s able to make calls by simply moving the phone towards your ear, tags your Facebook friends automatically after taking a photo and can wake up from the lock screen with a simple voice command. Add to this a screen with stunning clarity and colour, superfast processing and you get an amazing experience all round.

The Samsung GALAXY S III has a large 4.8” HD Super AMOLED screen which brings videos, web pages and games to life. Boasting Samsung’s first quad-core processor, the GALAXY S III is also incredibly speedy, so people won’t be left waiting for their favourite TV programmes to stream or apps to load. In addition to the powerful processor and stunning screen, Samsung’s flagship device has a big battery life too, so people can make the most of this phone and its features.

Nigel Field, Director of Devices at Three said: “From top specs, top design and intuitive features, the Samsung GALAXY S III is an incredibly well thought out smartphone and really does have it all and along with our highly competitive One Plan, we’re confident that customers using the Samsung GALAXY S III on Three will have the best experience.”

The Samsung GALAXY S III is available for free on Three on The One Plan for £34 per month, offering a fear-free mobile internet experience, with a guarantee of no surprise out of bundle data charges.

Check out our hands-on with the Samsung Galaxy S III

TomTom releases Summer map update

Andrew Edney

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May 30, 2012

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TomTom yesterday releases its Summer map. This latest map update includes road changes and Points of Interest (POI) related to major events across Europe this Summer.

New stadiums, temporary and permanent event venues and park & rides across the UK, Poland and the Ukraine are included. Surrounding areas have been checked and surveyed to ensure complete mapping accuracy around important events.

In total, 1.5 million km of new roads have been added to TomTom’s global map between May 2011 and May 2012. Major map changes include adding 107,000 km of new road networks in Brazil, and updating 12,000 km of motorways in Spain. Maps have been extended to cover greater areas of Mexico, Malaysia and Indonesia. Southern Africa maps now include more unpaved roads in rural areas for better routing and more accurate estimatedtimes of arrival.

“At TomTom, we know how important it is for the maps we provide to our customers to be as accurate as possible and include the latest road network updates,” says Corinne Vigreux, Managing Director of TomTom. “Roads are always changing and this Summer is no exception. TomTom’s latest map update will give the best routes and most accurate directions wherever you are driving.”

TomTom Summer maps are available on all new TomTom devices through the latest map guarantee, or to existing customers through Map Update Service.

Sony talks about Ice Cream Sandwich updates for Xperia Smartphones

Andrew Edney

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May 30, 2012

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Sony talks about Ice Cream Sandwich updates for Xperia Smartphones

Sony have made a statement about Ice Cream Sandwich updates for it’s Xperia smartphones.

This is what Sony said:

First up, the rollout plans for the Xperia NXT series (Xperia S, Xperia P and Xperia U) are progressing as planned. The first smartphone to be upgraded will be Xperia S, starting from the end of June. Then Xperia P will follow, whilst Xperia U will receive it a little later in Q3. As always we will keep you in the loop with the latest info as soon as we can.

For our 2011 range, as you know, we began our Ice Cream Sandwich software upgrade with Xperia arc S, Xperia ray and Xperia neo V last month.

Now, we are happy to confirm that the remaining 2011 smartphones; Xperia arc, Xperia neo, Xperia mini, Xperia mini pro, Xperia pro, Xperia active and Sony Ericsson Live with Walkman will start to receive their updates starting from next week.*

This software upgrade will be Android version 4.0.4 and the good news is that this latest version will also be made available for Xperia arc S, Xperia ray and Xperia neo V users, who received Android 4.0.3 the first time around.

In regards to Xperia PLAY, after extensive in house testing with our developer teams and working with our partners, we have concluded that a consistent and stable experience, particularly with gaming, cannot be guaranteed for this smartphone on Ice Cream Sandwich – therefore, we will not make the Android 4.0 upgrade available for Xperia PLAY.

This decision was also verified when we received similar feedback from the developer community; both experienced developers and advanced users, along with game content providers following our ICS beta ROM for unlocked Xperia PLAY smartphones.

Our priority has and always will be, to provide the best possible user experience on Xperia smartphones. In this instance the ICS upgrade would have compromised stability, where we look to ensure a quality gaming experience with games optimized and developed for Xperia PLAY.

Have you got an Xperia? Let us know when you get updated.

Microsoft releases Photosynth for Windows Phone

Andrew Edney

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May 30, 2012

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Microsoft releases Photosynth for Windows Phone

Microsoft has just released it’s Photosynth app for the Window Phone.

Photosynth for Windows Phone is the panorama app that makes it easy and fun to capture and share interactive panoramas of the places, people, and events that are important to you.

Using the latest in computer vision techniques, Photosynth is the acknowledged leader in mobile panorama creation. It is the only app available on any mobile platform that allows you to capture 360 degrees horizontally and vertically, making a perfect “sphere.” Once you’ve created a Photosynth, you can share it as an interactive panorama experience on Facebook and Twitter (using the free Photosynth.net service) or as a simple image.

You can also publish your panoramas to Bing where millions of people will see your panoramas, on Bing Maps and in Bing search results for the places you’ve captured. And check out our featured list, where we show off the best of what you and your fellow users create and share.

Download Photosynth from the Windows Marketplace