Last week AWIECO updated their DriveInfo add-in for Windows Home Server 2011 to version 1.03.
The AWIECO DriveInfo is a free add-in for Windows Home Server 2011 and Small Business Server 2011 Essentials. The add-in integrates itself into the “Server Folders and Hard Drives” area of your Dashboard. It shows a graphical overview of your hard disks and drives inside the Dashboard.
• Fixed: Detecting new disks, drives, folders
• Fixed: List server backup drives
The guys over at the BYOB podcast, including our very own Tim Daleo have just released episode 46.
Here is what is included in this weeks show:
[box style=”rounded” border=”full”]Corsair H80/100, Corsair Carbide Series 4000/500R, Windows 8 and much, much more. We are back after one week not doing the show. We apologize for missing a week and we cover all kinds of stuff tonight. Hope you enjoy the show and it feels great to be back.[/box]
As usual you can listen to the show from here.
Would you like a DVB T2 USB tuner? If so, take a look at our review of the PCTV Systems pctv nanoStick T2.
PCTV nanoStick T2 is the world’s first DVB-T2 (Freeview HD in the UK) receiver and turns your PC and laptop into an HDTV PVR. The included TVCenter application lets you time shift and record TV shows and even stream SD live-TV and TV recordings to your iPhone, iPad or other PCs and Macs. PCTV nanoStick T2 is fully backward compatible to DVB-T (Freeview) and delivers outstanding reception for both standards. Other features include support for Windows Media Center (DVB-T only). DVB-T antenna, USB extension cable and mini remote control are included.
The included DistanTV software lets you stream Live-TV and TV recordings to your iPhone and iPad. You can even schedule TV recordings over the Internet with your smart phone. DistanTV works in your home network (W-LAN) as well as over the Internet (Wi-Fi hotspot and 3G).
From their website:
The PCTV Systems brand stands for high quality and innovative products in the TV Viewing and Digital home marketplace.
The portfolio covers external (USB) and internal (PCI) TV tuner products for analog and digital TV reception on PC and MAC. Product development and quality management is driven by the product development group located in Braunschweig, Germany.
One major goal for the company is to develop well designed hardware and software solutions which enable customers to use the products without a deep knowledge of technologies. We are dedicated to satisfy our users with state of the art solutions.
Tuner
TV recording formats
Along with the PCTV nanoStick, there is a passive mini-rod antenna with magnetic foot, remote control with batteries, antenna adaptor, USB cable, installation CD and quick start guide.
The remote is tiny – just take a look at the size compared to my trusty iPhone 4.
Charlie Russell and Sharon Crawford’s new book the Windows Small Business Server 2011 Adminstrator’s Companion has just been released, and I was the technical reviewer on the book.
The Administrator’s Companion is the comprehensive, one-volume guide to deploying and administering Windows Small Business Server 2011 Standard edition. This edition is the ideal solution for small businesses with up to 75 users. And, a heck of a value. The software is built on Windows Server 2008 R2 and includes Exchange Server 2010 SP1, SharePoint Foundation Services 2010, and Windows Server Update Services. The Premium Add-on option provides SQL Server 2008 R2 for Small Business.
As the authors say, “The evolution of Microsoft Windows Small Business Server from its inception to the latest version in 2011 has been an orderly progression of improvements both large and small—and the total distance covered is immense.”
Learn more about the book from hereAnd don’t forget Working With Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials, the book I have written with Charlie and Sharon which will be available very soon.
We told you about the WHS Migration Assistant WHS2WHS last month, and now it has been updated to version 1.04.
The WHS Migration Assistant (WHS2WHS) is designed to help primarily with the planning of the data move from Windows Home Server to Windows Home Server 2011. There are two versions of WHS2WHS: the basic version and the Pro version. The Pro version, in addition to the planning functions, has functions for partially automating the actual data movements and other functions for saving, restoring and printing multiple plans. NOTE: WHS2WHS Pro does not directly copy, erase nor move any data. It provides a planning template as well as a framework for invoking other tools, using the plan as a guide.
Download WHS2WHS Basic here Learn more from the MediaDogg website Visit the Official WHS2WHS forums here// Version 1.0 Initial Release
// Version 1.01 Fixed bug in “Add Entry” context menu
// Version 1.02 (Basic and Pro)
// – Check for already running added
// – Log / View added to Main Menu of Basic version
// – “Open” added to Target disk context menu
// – Source and Target servers UserID is now restored across sessions
// – Tab order for controls has been improved to be more intuitive
// – Target disk volumes now ordered in drive letter sequence
// – Improved error messages and log entries
// – Double click on blank rows of disk volume brings up disk info edit
// – Discover folder size estimate improved (see note for limitations)
// – When a copy is checked “Complete” on the plan, the Source server name is replaced by the Target server name in the folder path
// Version 1.02 (Pro Only)
// – Improved discovery of BC and RichCopy on C: drive
// Version 1.03 (Basic and Pro) – Unreleased
// – Added disk inventory. View Inventory plus Physical Drives Used
// – In Pro, inventory is saved with the plan
// Version 1.04 (Basic and Pro)
// – Added Tooltips, tooltips On/Off buttons
// – Added help info header in edit dialogs
// – Added task-oriented Help Topics
// – Added smart sorting to Disk columns (by folder, drives not included)
// – Added discovery of DE/Shares
// – Rewording of some menu items and messages for clarity
// – Discovery of folders sizes is more accurate
// – Additional log messages and error recovery
// – View Plan Image now suppresses display of File dropdown
I recently picked up a new Sony Blu Ray player and TV for the bedroom. I also picked up a USB wireless adapter for the Blu Ray player. Here are some unboxing shots.
Here’s what Sony says about this adapter:
Easily connect your compatible BRAVIA® HDTV or home video product to your home network with this wireless adapter.
Bring wireless internet access to your Wi-Fi® ready BRAIVIA® HDTV or compatible home video product with the UWA-BR100 wireless adapter. This adapter plugs into your TV’s USB input, and with WPS (Wi-Fi Protected Setup) functionality, it’s simple to get your TV connected to your home network—no matter what flavor of Wi-Fi you are using.
Access Wireless Network
Access your home wireless network when connecting this Wi-Fi® adapter to a Sony Wi-Fi® Ready HDTV or Blu-ray Disc™ theater system.
Wi-Fi® Protected Set-up
Enjoy simple set-up when you pair this device with a Wi-Fi® Protected Set-up (WPS) wireless access point.
Some unboxing shots (note that my cat was interested in the box!):
This is hooking up to my Blu Ray player, a Sony BDP-S480, which is hooked up to my new Sony 32BX420 32” TV that went into the bedroom this weekend. I am installing it tonight, so I’ll have a review posted up this weekend. Stay tuned!
RT @akipekka Wow, this is cool! Twitter analytics tool from Microsoft for @office #MSExcel 2010: http://cot.ag/mKQL7M
Microsoft Analytics for Twitter allows users to query Twitter directly in Microsoft® Office Excel 2010. Utilizing the free PowerPivot Excel Add-in users can perform their own analysis such as who are the top Tweeters, what #hashtags are they using and do they have a positive or negative tweet tone. Sample code, used to create this application, is included as a sample and how-to.Microsoft Analytics for Twitter allows users to search Twitter and get dashboard views on Tweet statistics inside Microsoft® Office Excel 2010.With this FREE add-in, you can:
- Perform up to 5 parallel Twitter Searches (limited to 1500 results per query per day).
- Drive ad-hoc analysis of tweets by day, by hour, by tweeters, by #hashtags and @mentions.
- Customize your views (using slicers, DAX formulas or reference tables).
Important:
- Please note, that, after Installation, Microsoft Analytics for Twitter will manifest itself as a Microsoft® Excel 2010 file called “Microsoft Analytics for Twitter.xlsx” on your desktop.
- Please note that Microsoft Analytics for Twitter works only with the latest versions of Microsoft® Excel 2010 and of Microsoft® PowerPivot for Excel 2010. To download Microsoft® PowerPivot for Excel 2010, please go to www.PowerPivot.com.
- Please note that Microsoft Analytics for Twitter takes advantage of Twitter Search (http://search.twitter.com/). During periods of high traffic volume Twitter Search does not always return search results. Please be patient and try your search again.
This week saw the release of PerfectDisk 12, including the Home Server editions. If you buy any PerfectDisk 12 edition before June 15 2011 you can get 20% off.
So head over now to the Raxco website and use the code PerfectLaunch to save 20% on your entire license purchase through June 15, 2011.
What are you waiting for?
Win a copy of PerfectDisk 12 Home Server edition with UWHS
Earlier this week we reported that Apple had released iTunes 10.3. Well today I have been offered an update taking it to 10.3.1, but I can’t see what’s different from 10.3.
Apple Software Update reports it as 10.3! My existing version of iTunes says its 10.3.0.54. Rumour has it the update fixes a syncing bug, but Apple decided not to update their changelog!
So I am updating anyway…..
Introducing iTunes in the Cloud beta. The music you purchase in iTunes appears automatically on all your devices. You can also download your past iTunes purchases. Where you want, when you want.
• Automatic Downloads. Purchase music from any device or computer and automatically download a copy to your PC and iOS devices.
• Download Previous Purchases. Download your past music purchases again at no additional cost. Your purchases are available in the iTunes Store on your PC or in the iTunes app on your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. Previous purchases may be unavailable if they are no longer on the iTunes Store.
iTunes 10.3 also adds Books to the iTunes Store, where you can discover and buy your favourite books on your computer and automatically download them to iBooks on your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. This version also allows you to use Automatic Downloads with apps and books or download previously purchased apps and books from your computer or iOS device.
For information on the security content of this update, please visit: support.apple.com/kb/HT1222
Earlier in the week we announced the release of PerfectDisk 12, including the Windows Home Server versions. We then reviewed the Windows Home Server 2011 version. Here we review PerfectDisk 12 Home Server for Windows Home Server V1.
● Maximize streaming media performance
● Reduce back-up times
● Eliminate hard drive fragmentation
● Completely consolidate free space
● Bundles include PerfectDisk Professional for connected PCs
The main thing to note about PerfectDisk 12 Home Server for Windows Home Server V1 verses the Windows Home Server 2011 version is that the software is integrated into the Dashboard of WHS V1 (which is what you would expect of a WHS add-in). With Windows Home Server 2011. the PD12 application is a completely separate application so can only be accessed directly or via remote desktop. While this isn’t a major issue, it is just one more step to go through, so I am happy to see that it is integrated into V1!
From their website:
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.
You might ask yourself why you would want to buy disk defragmentation software. Well the answer is that you may not want to. What do I mean by that? Well, put simply it is a matter of personal preference. Disk defragmentation software is one of those topics that often gets one of two similar responses – either “I must have it” or “I don’t want or need it”.
Personally I must have it. If you don’t know why you might want it, put simply, as files are stored, moved, deleted, updated and so on, over time they can be potentially stored on different areas of the disk rather than in a single block. This is called disk fragmentation. There could be thousands of parts of files scattered all over the disks on your home server. What this means is that it takes longer to read and write those files than it would do if they were all in the same place. That annoying delay waiting for that Word document to open? Could be disk fragmentation.
This is where disk defragmentation software comes into play. The software examines the disk and all of your files, figures out where the parts of the files physically on your drives are and attempts to move them together to make things run faster and smoother. This is a good thing – just imagine having hundreds of gigabytes of files scattered all over the disk.
Optimize your entire Home Server environment so you can access your photos, music and videos quickly. PerfectDisk 12 Home Server speeds up processing times so your Home Server always runs like new.
PerfectDisk’s new OptiWrite™ technology prevents most fragmentation on your drive before it occurs, which prevents your system from slowing down. OptiWrite™ detects when Windows is going to fragment files and intelligently redirects I/O to stop the fragmentation from occuring. System performance is maintained and the need to utilize CPU and Disk I/O resources to defragment files is greatly reduced. Because less defragmentation is needed, there is a direct benefit in the form of energy saved in both CPU usage and in the reading and writing to a disk. It saves users both in energy costs and in the time required to defragment a file system.
For the limited fragmentation that can still occur, PerfectDisk’s patented SMARTPlacement optimization strategy optimizes disk drives according to your unique usage patterns. SMARTPlacement results in the most consolidated free space available, the elimination of most fragmentation before it occurs, and a reduced rate of fragmentation.
SSD Optimize is an optimization method for SSDs that focuses on free space consolidation without defragmentation of files. Solid State Drives are not affected by file fragmentation like traditional electromechanical disk drives. As such, it will leave files in a fragmented state while consolidating free space into large pieces.
Experience faster system start-up times with our proprietary boot file optimization. Improve start-up time by 20% or more.
PerfectDisk’s exclusive StealthPatrol™ tab is used to set automatic fragmentation prevention and optimize your system when it isn’t busy. Auto-optimization affords you the flexibility to optimize your system when it is idle or when the Windows screensaver is active. Auto-optimization provides the flexibility to not run during certain periods of the day or when a user-defined application is running. No other defrag or optimization utility proves this level of flexibility.
An important factor in faster PC performance is a thorough boot time defrag. PerfectDisk’s advanced boot time defrag capability is able to defragment files that otherwise would remain fragmented such as the Windows pagefile.sys or the file system’s MFT (Master File Table) and provides the best boot time defrag operation.
PerfectDisk offers the most comprehensive solution for defragmentation by optimizing virtually every file on the system, including the Master File Table (MFT), all NTFS metadata files, paging files, directories, and datafiles, and completely consolidating free space. And it does it all in a single pass. There’s also a Selected Files Defrag option that is useful for defragmenting very large files such as video files, rather than defragmenting the entire drive.
New S.M.A.R.T. monitoring capabilities monitor the status of physical drives. It generates warnings and alerts for hardware performance and reliability, helping you ensure you are aware of any potential hardware problems.
Perfectdisk provides resource throttling capabilities to manage resource usage as efficiently as possible. I/O throttling allows PerfectDisk to run on very busy disks without imposing additional load on the disk. CPU throttling allows you to raise or lower the CPU priority at which it runs. PerfectDisk uses very minimal CPU resources in its standard processing.
Dave and the guys have just released the Home Server Show episode 139.
![home_server_show_small_thumb_thumb_t[1]](https://i0.wp.com/moviesgamesandtech.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/home_server_show_small_thumb_thumb_t1.jpg?ssl=1 "home_server_show_small_thumb_thumb_t[1]")
Here’s what Dave says about this weeks show:
Crazy stuff never seems to stop on this podcast. The weather delayed the start but we managed to get it in. One full hour of Home Server goodness coming at you! We have news, Add-Ins, and giveaways on 139. If I seemed rushed I apologize but we were recording in a window between storms and I was on battery power several times during the recording. Otherwise, we had a good time and gave away two licenses of Lights Out for Windows Home Server 2011. We will give away 3 more in the forums so listen and then hit the forums!
As usual you can download the show from here.
Yesterday Raxco released PerfectDisk 12 and then we reviewed PerfectDisk 12 Home Server edition. We told you that we would be running another giveaway, so lets kick this off as Raxco have given us 5 copies of PerfectDisk 12 Home Server edition to give away.
PerfectDisk 12 Home Server edition comes with both the 32 bit version (for Windows Home Server V1) and the 64 bit version (for Windows Home Server 2011), so you will get both if you win.
Ok, so what do you have to do to win one of these licences, worth $39.99 each?
Well in the past we have done giveaways involving leaving a comment, answering a question, doing something in our forums, but we haven’t yet done one involving Twitter, so we figured it was about time!
So, make sure that you follow us on Twitter (@aedney) and then tweet the following:
I want to win PerfectDisk 12 with @aedney and UWHS. Visit http://bit.ly/Ct7vB and RT for your chance to win.
Or just click the Tweet button below to do it automatically.
[twitter style=”horizontal” text=”I want to win PerfectDisk 12 with @aedney and UWHS. Visit http://bit.ly/Ct7vB and RT for your chance to win.” float=”left”]
The giveaway will run until Thursday 16th June, and which point we will pick 5 winners at random who tweeted and post them on the site.
Good luck!
SSD’s are becoming more popular, with people using them for their system drives because of their speed. Kingston have a few SSDs on the market, and last week we reviewed the SSDNow V+100 and here we take a look at their SSDNow V100 drive.
Here is how Kingston describe the SSDNow V100:
Dramatically increase the performance of existing systems.
Kingston introduces its SSDNow V Series drives to help consumers and organisations of all sizes and consumers enhance the performance of computers with a Serial ATA (SATA) interface. By improving a computer’s performance and durability, SSDNow V Series drives help increase productivity, and extend the life of existing computers.
From their website:
Kingston Technology Company, Inc. is the world’s independent memory leader.
Founded in 1987 with a single product offering, Kingston® now offers more than 2,000 memory products that support nearly every device that uses memory, from computers, servers and printers to MP3 players, digital cameras and mobile phones. In 2010, the company’s sales reached $6.5 billion.With global headquarters in Fountain Valley, California, Kingston employs more than 4,000 people worldwide. Regarded as one of the “Best Companies to Work for in America” by Fortune magazine, Kingston’s tenets of respect, loyalty, flexibility and integrity create an exemplary corporate culture. Kingston believes that investing in its people is essential, and each employee is a vital part of Kingston’s success.
Kingston serves an international network of distributors, resellers, retailers and OEM customers on six continents. The company also provides contract manufacturing and supply chain management services for semiconductor manufacturers and system OEMs.
This week Apple announced that the next version of it’s operating system, codename Lion, will be released in July. So will it roar?
One of the most interesting things about the announcement was that Lion will be available as a download from the Mac App Store, and the price will be $29.99 or £20.99 in the UK.
They haven’t given a specific date, just “July” so watch this space.
Apple say that there are over 250 new features in Lion, so rather than go through them all here, just pay a visit to the Apple website to find out more.
So if you are a Mac user, will you be upgrading to Lion?
I guess this means I will have to update my Mac Book!
Here is what Apple said this week:
SAN FRANCISCO—June 6, 2011—Apple® today announced that Mac OS® X Lion, the eighth major release of the world’s most advanced operating system with more than 250 new features and 3,000 new developer APIs, will be available to customers in July as a download from the Mac® App Store™ for $29.99. Some of the amazing features in Lion include: new Multi-Touch® gestures; system-wide support for full screen apps; Mission Control, an innovative view of everything running on your Mac; the Mac App Store, the best place to find and explore great software, built right into the OS; Launchpad, a new home for all your apps; and a completely redesigned Mail app.
“The Mac has outpaced the PC industry every quarter for five years running and with OS X Lion we plan to keep extending our lead,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “The best version of OS X yet, Lion is packed with innovative features such as new Multi-Touch gestures, system-wide support for full screen apps, and Mission Control for instantly accessing everything running on your Mac.”
New Multi-Touch gestures and fluid animations built into Lion let you interact directly with content on the screen for a more intuitive way to use your Mac. New gestures include momentum scrolling, tapping or pinching your fingers to zoom in on a web page or image, and swiping left or right to turn a page or switch between full screen apps. All Mac notebooks ship with Multi-Touch trackpads and desktop Macs can use Apple’s Magic Trackpad.
Full screen apps take advantage of the entire display and are perfect for reading email, surfing the web or browsing photos, especially on a MacBook Air® or MacBook® Pro. With a single click your app fills the display and you can swipe from one window to another, between full screen apps, or back to your Desktop, Dashboard or Spaces® without ever leaving full screen. iWork® and iLife® apps, as well as Safari®, iTunes®, Mail, FaceTime® and others, all take advantage of Lion’s system-wide support for full screen apps.
Mission Control combines Exposé®, full screen apps, Dashboard and Spaces into one unified experience for a bird’s eye view of every app and window running on your Mac. With a simple swipe, your desktop zooms out to display your open windows grouped by app, thumbnails of your full screen apps and your Dashboard, and allows you to instantly navigate anywhere with a tap.
The Mac App Store is built into Lion and is the best place to discover great new Mac apps, buy them with your iTunes account, download and install them. Apps automatically install directly to Launchpad, and with Lion’s release, the Mac App Store will be able to deliver smaller “delta” app updates and new apps that can take advantage of features like In-App Purchase and Push Notifications.
Launchpad makes it easier than ever to find and launch any app. With a single Multi-Touch gesture, all your Mac apps are displayed in a stunning full screen layout. You can organize apps in any order or into folders and swipe through unlimited pages of apps to find the one you want.
Lion includes a completely redesigned Mail app with an elegant widescreen layout. The new Conversations feature groups related messages into an easily scrollable timeline, intelligently hiding repeated text so the conversation is easy to follow, and retaining graphics and attachments as they were originally sent. An incredibly powerful new search feature allows you to refine your search and suggests matches by person, subject and label as you type. Mail includes built-in support for Microsoft Exchange 2010.
Additional new features in Lion include:
- Resume, which conveniently brings your apps back exactly how you left them when you restart your Mac or quit and relaunch an app;
- Auto Save, which automatically and continuously saves your documents as you work;
- Versions, which automatically records the history of your document as you create it, and gives you an easy way to browse, revert and even copy and paste from previous versions; and
- AirDrop, which finds nearby Macs and automatically sets up a peer-to-peer wireless connection to make transferring files quick and easy.
Pricing & Availability Mac OS X Lion will be available in July as an upgrade to Mac OS X version 10.6 Snow Leopard® from the Mac App Store for $29.99 (US). Lion will be the easiest OS X upgrade and at about 4GB, it is the size of an HD movie from the iTunes Store®. Mac OS X Lion Server requires Lion and will be available in July from the Mac App Store for $49.99 (US).
Lion requires an Intel-based Mac with a Core 2 Duo, i3, i5, i7 or Xeon processor and 2GB of RAM. The Lion upgrade can be installed on all your authorized personal Macs.
The Mac OS X Lion Up-To-Date upgrade is available at no additional charge via the Mac App Store to all customers who purchased a qualifying new Mac system from Apple or an Apple Authorized Reseller on or after June 6, 2011. Users must request their Up-To-Date upgrade within 30 days of purchase of their Mac computer. Customers who purchase a qualifying Mac between June 6, 2011 and the date when Lion is available in the Mac App Store will have 30 days from Lion’s official release date to make a request.
Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced iPad 2 which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices.
