Techmate 7000

A Closer look to Sony’s fantastic SmartAR Technology

2011-06-08T19:47:00.000-07:00

Sony introduces a couple of weeks ago a new AR or Augmented Reality technology SmartAR, and after being able to enjoy Sony’s stunning demonstration at at the Sony Building (Video here after) I could not stop wanting to know more about it.
Luckily for me, the nice folks over at Sony was kind enough to organize a small private session with the Engineers and researchers behind SmartAR giving us the chance to know the very basic of this technology directly from the mouth of one of the lead researcher who worked on it.
So what’s SmartAR? SmartAR is in fact the child or shall say extension of years of research and development coming straight from Sony’s Robotic Department. During the past ten years Sony worked on many different aspects of Robotics and one of them was the capacity for a Robot to be able to visualize its position in a 3D world. These findings on such research are in the core of Sony’s AR Program with CyberCode and are now part of Sony new SmartAR technology.
Smart AR is based on three major features with MarkerLess Tracking, where SmartAR capable devices will be able to lock on any kind of objects without the needs of any QR like code, Speed and 3D Technology. While today’s presentation from Masaki FUKUCHI-San will only focus on the MarkerLess Tracking features, we have to remember that SmartAR has been developed to interact heavily with Internet content where most of the data that will comes to your smartphone or gaming device will be pulled from the cloud.
It is also very important to stress that SmartAR has been developed for two main usages including basic AR Needs that are already available right now, but also for gaming! And if unfortunately none could comment on this during our interview, I personally believe that SmartAR will most probably come in Sony’s future gaming console (PS Vita?) and Future tablets (S1 S2?)
Finally, and despite being technically possible, SmartAR will ONLY be available on Android devices for now. But as you have seen on Sony’s Official Video, SmartAR is nothing like you can imagine and will bring another “reality” to our world like never before, so stay tune for a better AR World with Sony!

Sony announces the PS3 Keyboard in Japan

2011-06-08T19:46:00.000-07:00

Looking for an Official Sony PlayStation Keyboard? If so, here is the CECH-ZKB1JP, announced at 5,000 Yen and available at the end of June. This 290.0 × 25.0 × 120.4mm Bluetooth 2.1+EDR keyboard comes with the usual PS Button as well as the ability to eject a Blu-Ray disc and even power ON/OFF your PS3 (Like the actual Bluetooth PS3 Remote).

Acer debuts new Aspire Ethos laptops

2011-06-08T19:45:00.000-07:00

Today Acer announced two new laptops in its Aspire Ethos line, the 8951G and 5951G.

The 15.6-inch Ethos 5951G can be fitted with Intel Core i3 to Core i7 processors up to the Core i7-2630QM, with other features including support for up to 16GB of DDR3 RAM, the NVIDIA GT 555M or the GT 540M, up to 750GB HDD, plus you have a choice of either a Blu-ray drive, Blu-ray burner, or standard DVD burner.

The 18.4-inch Ethos 8951G on the other hand, can also be fitted with Intel Core i3, i5, or i7 processors but up to the Core i7-2820M, plus the same graphics, HDD and amount of RAM as the 5951G.

One last cool feature both will have is a detachable trackpad that will work as a multimedia remote.

Complete with aluminum-magnesium alloy shells and glossy matte finishes, Acer plans to release both in mid-June with prices starting at a whopping £1,000 ($1,643).

Samsung Launches ‘Smart View’ App

2011-06-08T19:44:00.001-07:00

Samsung Electronics launched the Samsung “Smart View” application that enables users to view images from a Samsung Smart TV or other input device right on their mobile devices.

Available now for the Samsung GALAXY S II, the free Smart View application displays a variety of images right onto mobile devices via Samsung Smart TV and wireless Ethernet—whether consumers are enjoying cable broadcast programs or content from a Blu-ray player, camcorder, set-top box or other input device.

In addition, users can browse any currently installed Smart TV applications from their mobile devices, bringing even more functionality and convenience to the Samsung Apps experience.

The Samsung Smart View is now available in the Android Market for Samsung Smart TV D7000, D8000, and D9500 series, as well as the GALAXY S II, and will be available for the GALAXY player (YP-GB70) in July, along with the GALAXY S and GALAXY Tab later this year.

Gazoo Racing unleashes race-prepped Lexus CT hybrid at Nürburgring

2011-06-07T20:11:00.000-07:00

Sure Lexus’s CT200h is a hell of a hot hatchback, and its Hybrid powertrain is quite sexy, but frankly speaking I have drove “faster” cars in my life, but then again who’s said that Nothing can be improved? And this is exactly what the Guys at Gazoo Racing did with the Lexus Gazoo Racing CT a “Super Charged” Lexus CT200h that now comes with a more “powerful” engine of 2.4l instead of the 1.8l and that has been of course heavily modified to break records at Nürburgring!

Oh and here you are below one of Gazoo Racing finest piece… The Gazoo Racing LFA… Man this car is just pure madness!

Moto bringing Dual-Core, -Mode, -SIM Android Powerhouse to the Mainland

2011-06-07T20:06:00.000-07:00

Today we have some interesting news coming out of Beijing from Motorola, as they recently announced the release of the MOTO XT882 for mainland China, which bears a striking resemblance to the Motorola Atrix 4G.

Moto China said that this is the world’s first dual-core, dual-mode and dual-SIMsmartphone in China. Each core in the NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor is running at 1GHz, while it also supports both CDMA/GSM , meaning it will work on networks such as China Telecom and China Mobile, plus as with most phones in China, it can hold two SIM cards.

Launching with Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) and MOTOBLUR UI, other features include 8GB of internal storage, an 8MP camera with dual-LED flash, a front-facing camera, 4-inch qHD display, HDMI port, 1880 mAh battery and some unique Chinese features, such as smart dialer, a business card scanner and contact manager.

If you were hoping to bring one of these back for use in the US during your next trip to China, it will set you back about 5,380 RMB or about $830, making it one of the most expensive smartphones.

The MOTO XT882 will be available from authorized Motorola resellers and China Telecom’s stores across China sometime this month.

Sony upgrade its Vaio L and J All In One in Japan

2011-06-07T20:04:00.001-07:00

Sony has announced this morning that it will release by the end of the week a new and upgraded Vaio L, the VPCL229FJ/B. This New AIO or All-In-One Device comes with a 24-inch Full HD 3D display, an Intel Core i7-2630QM, 8GB of RAM, 2TB of HDD, a GeForce GT 540M with 1GB of VRAM, Blu-Ray and the now usual Digital TV Tuner, USB 3.0, Bluetooth 3.0+HS, HDMI, Wi-Fi and 1.3-megapixel web cam.

Alongside the Vaio L, Sony introduced a new Vaio J, another 21.5-inch AIO desktop PC that does not come with a 3D Screen or Core i72630QM, but comes with the choice between a Core i7-2620M, Core i5-2410M or Celeron B810, as well as the usual Digital TV Tuner, USB 3.0, Blu-Ray drive…

Samsung Smart TV Meets Van Gogh in Starry Night of Seoul

2011-06-07T20:02:00.000-07:00

Samsung Smart TV becomes a docent for the exhibition of 2011 Musée d’Orsay ㅡ Rêve et Réalité, opening from June 4 through September at Hangaram Art Museum, Seoul Art Center. With the subtitle of “Les Chefs-d’oeuvre du musée d’Orsay á Séoul”, this exhibition presents a rare opportunity to meet painters like Vincent Van Gogh, Jean F. Millet, and Claude Monet through their masterpieces. In particular, Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh is exhibited for the first time in Korea.

At the entrance of the exhibition, with the help of a ‘digital smart’ docent, viewers can gain knowledge and information about the exhibited pictures through video clips presented by Samsung Smart TV, and actually view those pictures through a four 46-inch LED integrated video wall. This Musée d’Orsay Exhibition is already attracting serene attention among picture lovers, for its ‘harmonic experience’ of art and technology.

BENQ brings new 24″ 3D LED display to stores

2011-06-07T20:00:00.000-07:00

A new product for their display section! BenQ today announced the new EW2430V, an advanced VA LED backlit panel. Beautiful, fun features, movies and more comfortable are some of the keywords BenQ used in their official press release.

Equipped with the new 16:9 aspect ratio 24″ Theatrical LCD display type, it gives you full-color drawing closer to natural color, a wide 178-degree vertical and horizontal viewing angle , 3000:1 (DCR 20 million: 1) high contrast ratio. Styled by expression, design from Ino Hukashi’s “dark shades”.

In addition, the EW2430V has a double HDMI jack and component video for better connection with various multimedia devices. New features in order to enjoy movies more comfortably include: a Super Resolution, 3D noise reduction, 3D De-interlace for smooth video and much more. Try one today to convince yourself of the clearly visible difference in display technology!

Type: EW2430V

Release: 17/06/2011

Est. price: 30.000 YEN

Max. res: 1920 x 1080p FULL HD

Contrast: 3000:1

Audio: 2 x 2W

Ports: HDMI/D-SUB/DVI/Audio/RCA/USB

3 Year warranty

LG Hitachi releases its first 4x External BDXL Writer

2011-06-02T19:59:00.000-07:00

Here you are LG Hitachi first 6x external BDXL Writer, the BP20N. Capable to burn BD-R Single or Dual Layer at 6x, the BP20N is also capable to burn BDXL-R 3 or 4 Layer at 4x maximum and comes completely automatous by being only USB powered.

ViewSonic Introduces the ViewPad 7x Series, the world first 7” Android 3.0 Tablet

2011-06-02T19:48:00.000-07:00

Here you are what could be the world first 7” Android 3.0 or Honeycomb Tablet, the ViewPad 7x Series! Running Android 3.0.1, this new slate comes with a 7” 1024×600 screen, the usual Tegra 2 Dual Core CPU, a pair of Camera, HDMI out in just 380g! Tempting? You Bet! And if I am telling you that this bad-ass will also includes HSPA+ I am sure that you will start saving money immediately to get one as soon as they start to be available!

Gigabyte unleashes the S1080 Windows 7 tablets with USB 3.0 and ODD Docking Station

2011-06-02T19:46:00.001-07:00

Here you are the S1080, Gigabyte new Window 7 Tablet that made its first official apparition to the world this week at Computex! This S1080 comes with a 10.1” capacitive touchscreen, an Intel Atom N570 CPU with 2GB of Ram, 320GB of HDD, Bluetooth 3.0, WiFi BGN, 3G a 1.3Mpix Camera and a docking station that gives our little S1080 both an optical Drive and USB 3.0! The S1080 will be available worldwide within June at something around 700 USD!

Pentax release the O-GPS1 a compact GPS for DSLR

2011-06-02T19:45:00.001-07:00

Designed to work only with the K-5, k-r and 645D, the O-GPS1 is a compact GPS that you stick on your camera where you would normally place your flash and that will Geotag all your photos with the appropriate coordinates. The O-GPS1 just requires a single AAA battery and will be put on the market within this month at a rather expensive price of around 20,000 Yen.

Handheld gamers rejoice, Nintendo 3DS eShop launching June 6

2011-06-02T19:44:00.001-07:00

Today gamers have even more to rejoice about as Nintendo of America recently made a huge announcement for its 3DS users. By the evening of June 6 PST, the first major system update for the 3DS will be available in North America.

This free update available via a Wi-Fi connection will give gamers access to an Internet browser and the Nintendo eShop, which contains a variety of new content. If you’re a Pokémon fan, there’s some equally exciting news for you as well, since Nintendo said also launching with the eShop is the Pokédex 3D, an app that lets you see Pokémon characters in 3D. The rest of the details are in the press release below, but with this app, players will be able to start collecting data for more than 150 Pokémon to complete their Pokédex by sharing data with friends and using the SpotPass feature, or by scanning special Pokémon AR Markers.

The news doesn’t stop here as in celebration of the grand opening of the Nintendo eShop, the company is offering Exitebike, the NES classic re-mastered in 3D, as a free download until July 7 for anyone who installs the system update.

Nintendo said new content will be added to the eShop on Thursdays.

Fujitsu Develops World’s First Personal Authentication Technology with Palm Vein and Fingerprint Authentication

2011-06-02T19:43:00.001-07:00

Fujitsu today announced the development of the world’s first biometric authentication technology that combines data on palm vein patterns with fingerprint data from three fingers. By employing both palm vein pattern and fingerprint data, the technology enables the rapid identification of a given individual out of data from a million people, processing the match within two seconds.

This technology makes it possible to construct biometric authentication systems that do not require ID cards and that can be tailor-made to fit different sized groups, from small-scale room access control to large-scale social platform systems. Moreover, the technology can be easily deployed by simply adding palm vein authentication to the fingerprint authentication systems that are already in widespread use.

ACER introduces a new AIO Core i7 PC with the Z5801

2011-06-01T02:23:00.001-07:00

Looking for a powerful All In One Desktop PC with a nice 24” Mulit-touch panel? Then ACER’s new Z5801 is made for you! Powered by Intel latest Series of Core CPUs (Sandy Bridge) up to i7, the Z5801 comes with a 24” Full HD edge to edge LED monitor with adjustable tilt angle from 5 to 60 degrees, NVDIA discrete graphics, up to 16GB of RAM, Blu-Ray burner, USB 3.0, HDMI, WIFi B/G/N and optional TV tuner!

Not only this new Z5801 is a really capable AIO device but also comes with a full aluminum alloy body and elegant lines, perfect for someone looking of a stylish PC to use at home or at the office.

ACER unveils the TravelMate 8481 housing LG’s Super Thin Display

2011-06-01T02:22:00.001-07:00

ACER has introduced today at Computex a new Business oriented Notebook with the TravelMate 8481. This new laptop comes with fitted with LG’s 14.1 Super Thin Bezel Display (1,366×768) making this new laptop one of the slimmest Core i7 Notebook available on the market.

The TravelMate 8481 comes powered by an Intel Sandy Bridge Core i7 CPU alongside an NVIDIA GeForce GT520M, 320GB of HDD, USB 3.0, Bluetooth 3.0, HDMI, WiFi and announce up to 13h of battery life on single charge.

ViewSonic brings its 24” LED with 3D Emitter screen at Computex!

2011-06-01T02:21:00.003-07:00

Here you are another 3D Screen that worth considering if you are looking for one! The ViewSonic V3D245WM is not just your average 3D monitor but comes with a 24” Full HD 120Hz Panel with a 20,000,000:1 contrast ratio, a 5ms response time, HDMI 1.4 and a built-in 3D emitter.

ASUS introduces External Slim Blu-Ray player AVWhere

2011-06-01T02:21:00.001-07:00

The SBC-06A1S-U from ASUS is not your average slim external Blu-Ray player but rather your personal and very transportable Bluy-Ray and 3D BLu-Ray player! Supporting Dolby EX and DTS-HD as well as offering DVD upscalling, the SBC-06A1S-U has been designed to be fully compatible with most TV USB OTG function allowing you to plug directly this little 3D Blu-Ray player on most TVs and get direct access to all your 3D or 3D Movies without having to purchase one of this very expensive BLu-Ray Drive. And to make things even cooler, the SBC-06A1S-U is also USB powered!

Turn any Smartphones into a Tablet thanks to ICE’s BIG Fone

2011-06-01T02:20:00.001-07:00

I admit that until today I never heard about ICE Before, but I really hope however that we will ear more about them in the near future! ICE is a small Start-up company that would like to launched within 2012 the BIG Fone, a 10.1” Tablet that will swallow your smartphone (iOS, Windows Phone 7 or even Android) and use your Smartphone raw power and OS as core system and allow you to turn your beloved phone into a tablet without having to buy two different devices.

What is also very appealing with the BIG Fone is that it will be technically capable to support most smartphone and OS but also give you the possibility to plug some “PC” modules in it allowing you to turn your BIG Fone into a real Linux or Windows tablet.

The concept is really interesting and I personally love the overall idea of the BIG Fone, but will this product ever come to reality? Will it work as advertise? Yep there are many questions that only the future will be able to answer but still, the BIG Fone is a very interesting concept!

ECS introduces a new Android based Color e-Book reader

2011-06-01T02:19:00.001-07:00

The Taiwanese company ECS has introduced at Computex 2011, a new Color e-Book reader with the EB-850R. This new devices comes with a 8” (800×600) Color resistive touchscreen, is powered by a Wondermedia 8650CPU, comes with 256MB or 512MB or RAM as well as internal capacity ranging from 2 to 32GB, a MicroSDHC Card reader, WiFI BGN, optional 2G/3G and runs on Android 2.2.

The EB-850R support ePUB, PDF, FB2, TXT, CHM, RTF as well as JPEG, BMP, PNG, GIF and MP3, AAC, OGG, WAV audio files.

[Review] QNAP TurboNAS TS-439 Pro II+

2011-05-15T20:04:00.000-07:00

Lately we received 3 NAS units from QNAP for review, these being the TS-119P+, TS-219P+ and the more advanced TS-439 Pro II+ model. In this review we will go more in depth on the TS-439 Pro II+. This model is a class on its own and focuses more to the business side of the market whereas the latter 2 are more targeted towards the home user and small office.

If you would be more interested in reading about the TS-119P+ and TS-219P+ models, please click here to be redirected to that specific review : QNAP TS-439 and TS-639 Pro Turbo Quick Review

Business class unit, no doubt about that

First impression you will get when you unbox it, is the solid build quality. This unit is really well made; the case itself consists of a thick layer of cold rolled steel. Front panel is made of PVC with a glossy screen for displaying information such as its IP address and to perform some basic settings. Next to the display there are 2 buttons (‘Enter’ and ‘Select’) to change certain network settings. Below the display you can find the status, LAN, USB and E-SATA led lights which light up depending on whether the unit is active; a USB/E-SATA device is connected. Not visible at first sight but visible when inserting the drive trays, you will see a light per hard drive to visually tell you in which slot a drive is currently present and active. They also visually tell you if the drives are currently being written to/read from.

Front drive bays are a bit different from the other QNAP models we recently reviewed, since these contain a key locking mechanism to secure and protect the drives from unwanted removal or accidental disconnect. Also on the front, are the power-on button and a USB slot with copy-button for instant data copy so everybody can access its content more quickly.

Unlike the home user models, this device has a built in power supply with silent fan to the rear.

Tech specifications

The TS-439 Pro II+ is a fairly powerful box for its small size. It sports one of Intel’s latest generation ATOM processing units (namely the D425 1.8 GHz Single-core model). Memory wise it has 1GB DDRII for instructions and 512MB dedicated DOM Flash memory for firmware/OS. The front has 4 hot swappable disk bays capable of holding either 3.5inch or 2.5inch hard drives. SSD support is present.

External slots:

1x reserved monitor port (VGA)

2x Gigabit LAN (possible to connect it to 2 separate networks or use 1 for data replication, load balancing or failover to another QNAP NAS).

5 USB 2.0 ports (1 in front, 4 at the back) for connecting USB hard drives, support up to 3 USB printers or other USB memory device.

2x E-SATA ports to connect E-SATA external hard drives.

Size: 177 H – 180 W – 235 D

Weight: 3.65 kg NET – 4.65 kg GROSS

As previously mentioned this unit has a built in power supply which means you only have to plug in the power cable. Also mentionable: the TS-439 Pro II+ uses a 92mm cooling fan, which in our opinion is a smart move over the 80mm fans which tend to produce a higher noise level. This 92mm fan on the other hand, is near silent. The cooling system is controlled based on a heat policy set up in the administration panel, thus the fan will only spin at full throttle when the disks get really hot. In our tests the unit has never made any significant noise, even with 4 fully charged bays with 7200rpm hard drives active.

Disk performance & setup recommendations

If there is one thing the QNAP TS-439 Pro II+ really shines, it just has to be the different configurations in disk management. And we are not talking about just the possibility to use 2.5 or 3.5 inch hard drives here. We tested the unit with 1 – 2 and 4 hard drives, all were 3.5 inch models both in 5400 RPM model as 7200 RPM counterpart.

Speed averages (made up from multiple tests on various systems in our gigabit network environment):

Small files (between 250kb and 1mb) 25 up to 50 Mb/Sec*

Medium sized (between 250mb and 700mb) up to 120 Mb/Sec

Large files (starting from 2gb up to 10gb) up to 100 Mb/Sec

*The speeds for small file sizes are very dependable on file size. Any photo below 300kb got us a steady 25 Mb/Sec, whereas larger HQ photos of 1mb and more push it to almost 50Mb/Sec. We tested these units on both Cat. 5E and Cat. 6 patch cables, we did gain a speed boost when this unit was connect through our patch Cat 6 vs. the default QNAP Cat 5E supplied with the NAS. It’ very dependent on the file size, thus we can’t put a fixed number on this. But averaging we would say for smaller files you gain at least 5%, yet with moderately (medium) sized files it was up to 20% speed gain. So for those amongst you with high speed switches, you might want to consider getting a Cat. 6 cable and see if it’s worth it for your goal.

A general iTunes album of about 100 Mb will be transferred in about 2 seconds. Which means word, excel, powerpoint and other various file formats can be opened by your network users in about the same time as if they were to load them from their physical (local) hard drive.

Unlike its smaller brothers, this 4 bay model has a higher level of RAID features. With the added power of this CPU and more RAM it’s also capable for iSCSI, Microsoft Hyper-V, VMware virtualized volumes and has Citrix support.

The advanced RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) consists of:

Single disk (1 disk inserted).

JBOD (Just A Bunch Of Disks, meaning all disks inside will be recognized as 1 big hard drive).

RAID 1 (Mirroring, for data security, at least 2 disks required).

RAID 0 (Striping, for increased speed, at least 2 disks required).

RAID 5 (Combines the speed of R1 with the security (parity) of R0), minimum 3 disks required).

RAID 5 + Hot spare (nX = 3 + 1 inactive serviceable when array detects failure of disk) 4 disks required).

RAID 6 (same benefit as R5 yet fault tolerance of nX = 2) 4 disks required).

Extra features include:

Online RAID level migration (when extending the system’s RAID setting by adding hard drives).

Online RAID capacity expansion (when increasing the volume capacity by adding hard drives).

Complete back-up solutions, from external hard drives to cloud-based storage up to Apple Time Machine backup for Apple devices.

Failover support & Load balancing to another QNAP NAS.

We can only applaud for QNAP for making it such an easy task to add new hard drives to your QNAP NAS. Usually this is a daunting task since extending a RAID level or expand its capacity isn’t always easy as cake for most manufacturers offering similar solutions. From our testing patterns we can recommend the following options:

Avoid RAID 0 (striping) since it only gains advantage when using multiple virtual machines and in the end isn’t all that secure for data storage. If you must be advised that your data is striped to 2 disks, thus when A fails, B will only have half of your file left. Always use the same type of hard drive if you must use this option.

For data storage, starting with only 2 hard drives is recommended to use RAID 1 (mirroring). You will only see the capacity of 1 drive available, but this is logical since the other one is a dedicated replica (or mirror) from the 1st hard drive. Always use the same type of hard drive.

For speed gain without compromising data integrity: use RAID 5 or 6. You can use a RAID 0 set with a RAID 1 set of drives to replicate what’s on the RAID 0 pair, but this is pointless and does not get you the speed boost which RAID 5 will give you. This is by far the most used setup for professional enterprise storage. You will need at least 3 hard drives of the same type, but we would recommend getting 4 (and hot spare it). You never can play safe enough when you are storing very important data on them.

JBOD is a way to go when you want it real easy. Yet there is no backup in this case, so be aware that you best have the data duplicated on your local PC/Mac/Linux, external hard drive or buy a 2nd QNAP NAS for backup of your current device. (But this is a fairly expensive solution when you can avoid the problem).

Note: with the TS-439 Pro II+ (and all other business class models) you have the option of encrypting your volume(s). This is a feature exclusive to these particular models.

File manager / Download manager / Multimedia station

Just like the home user models, this device is no difference when it comes to the basic capabilities of a NAS device. It features the Web file manager, the download manager and the multimedia features.

The Web file manager (which nobody who calls himself IT will use for office deployment) is nice feature for remote login onto your NAS from work or abroad. The way to really use it is by mapping a network drive, and using the NAS like it was local storage.

The Download manager is an easy way if you wish to download torrent, ftp or http files overnight, or just want to add them when you’re at work so they’re downloaded when you get back home. A nice application QNAP have included is the QGet, it’s a desktop client that sends (for example) a torrent file to your QNAP NAS and tells it to download it remotely without the need of your computer to be powered on.

This Multimedia station is the place where you can set up most of the home entertainment part. Since the TS-439 Pro II+ is fully compliant with UPnP and DLNA it’s easy to share movies and pictures in your multimedia station so your DLNA compliant media (such as TV’s, Iphone, Ipad, Ipod Touch, Bluray player, network streaming box,..) can access media from it.

Basic configuration

Since this little box is so advanced and we can’t really get in depth with every feature it boasts without making this review look like a textbook to Essential simplified Chinese grammar. We will give you the basics here, and allow you some margin to be impressed by your new purchase. In the end it will be up to you to set it up and fiddle with some options if you want to unlock its full power and potential.

Unlike the home user series, this business class NAS will not give you the 6-step software wizard. Instead it will ask you what you want to do on the display screen. When first powering the TS-439 Pro II+, you will be asked whether you wish to use RAID (and which level), and prompted if you wish the device to encrypt the hard drives. After this brief selection is done you will be greeted with the name of the NAS (by default this is the model number) and the IP address where you can access its administration panel and files on. By default the username and password used are twice ‘admin’ (but you can change this afterwards).

We recommend you installing both QGet and QFinder from the setup cd rom. The QFinder is a real nifty application for checking the NAS’s IP, fast network mapping, firmware update and configuring a couple of options like changing the device’s name, date/time, password, filename encoding and network settings. Via the network settings tab, you can quickly set it up to be used as a:

Standalone NAS

Balance –rr (Round Robin)

Active Backup (Fail Over)

Balance XOR

Broadcast

IEEE 802.3ad / Link Aggregation

Balance-tlb (Adaptive Transmit Load Balancing)

Balance-alb (Adaptive Load Balancing)

All other settings need to be configured by logging on to the web administration panel. You can do this by entering the IP in your browser, or by double clicking your device’s name in the QFinder application.

Basic features such as User management, folder privileges, hosting your own website, set up a personal ftp, remote access, security policies, backup & restore settings and Applications (QPKG) can be found in the review of the TS-119P+/TS-219P+ review. Since they are essentially the same for this model.

When you are a system administrator, you might prefer to change the default DCHP IP allocation to one of your choice (manual setting). You can do this both in the browser’s Administration panel or via the configure option button in the QNAP Finder application.

Notifications, alerts & logs

Notifications and alerts are an essential feature for most serious business owners, since they really want to know when something goes wrong before it is too late to interact or provide a potential solution.

Every QNAP NAS comes by default with quite the notifications portfolio. You can set up an SMTP server so the system can send you a mail when things go wrong. But the really nice feature is the ability to allow the system to send you a text message to your mobile in SMS format. Default they work with ClickATell.com, yet any other SMSC provider can be inserted manually.

Logs can be found in the ‘System Logs’ tab, and give you a well-made and compact overview about what’s going on inside your QNAP NAS. You can view the current online users, the system connections log and even set it up to save log files to a remote syslog server.

Power Management

When it comes to power consumption, the TS-439 Pro II+ really is a rock star. With an average power draw of only 33 watt (Inc. 4 active hard drives), you can hardly call it consumption. Compared to similar devices from direct competitors, the QNAP nibbles rather than consumes power.

Holding into account that 4 hard drives usually consume that number of power, we can say the overall design of the board and it’s power saving features deserve the highest ECO standard available to date. QNAP is very dedicated to bringing green devices into your home/business, and impressive numbers like this can be found over their whole range of products.

The QNAP TS-439 Pro II+, just like any other QNAP NAS, features an advanced power management schedule where you can choose when you want your QNAP product to be turned on/off or restart the server. This can be set up either on a weekly, weekend or day to day basis. Both startup and shutdown are configurable when choosing a daily schedule.

System info, services and resources

Every QNAP devices comes by default with various options to check how your new purchase is coping in its new environment. To make sure your TS-439 Pro II is doing fine it’s recommended to check the ‘System Status’ tab’s options from time to time.

Globally speaking we differentiate:

System Information (CPU temperature, HDD temperature, CPU usage, System FAN speed, and some basic network info).

System Services (Gives you a global overview about which services are currently running or disabled).

Resource Monitor ( CPU monitor, Memory usage monitor, Disk usage monitor, Bandwidth transfer and a Process monitor are included, very similar to the Windows resource monitor).

External hardware, power & storage

The QNAP TS-439 Pro II+ (and virtually all other models) support USB/E-SATA drive sharing. By plugging in a simple USB drive, the resources can be access by anybody who has access permission to your NAS. This comes in particularly handy when you just want to edit some files on your USB stick and 2 different people in the network need to edit this. There is no need to copy the files to the NAS itself, but this is always possible and can even be automated. Any inserted drive will automatically pop up in your shared folders.

USB hardware, such as printers, are easily shared to your network users. You just need to plug in a USB printer and a small wizard will guide you to the process. Unfortunately our Canon Pixma already featured a network connector, yet we imagine there are a lot of users out there who still have a printer which only supports the default USB plug.

External power can be provided over UPS. By default all QNAP models support the aid of UPS devices to make sure your data is safe when a power crash/ electrical shutdown was imminent. You can manually enter the IP of the UPS Server and choose whether your NAS should stay on longer than 5 minutes after a power cut and whether it should go into ‘auto protection’ mode so your data is safe until the current restores again.

Conclusion

One of these small things QNAP offers on all models, is the possibility to mount <.iso> files via your NAS. Personally we think this is a really good feature, making it unnecessary to attach USB dvd/cd rom stations to notebooks or pc’s who don’t feature an optical station. Not to say a network install will go 10x faster than reading it from optical media.

From a business perspective, the iSCSI feature really is a winner. Most servers and/or workstations nowadays can boot over the iSCSI network protocol. This is very practical when you prefer diskless systems in your office space, and gather all resources in your remote datacenter. The speeds when configured in RAID 1 and 5-5HS and 6 these business models push forward is powerful enough to satisfy the most demanding workstation loads. From a price/performance perspective you really are getting a good deal of this TS-439 Pro II model.

QNAP’s tech labs are inventive and their usability is easy and clear for the average network admin to set up in minutes. The QRAID (online RAID) make it very easy to add storage or change the migration level’s setting.

Firmware wise they are beefy in package yet slender enough to push up the performance. The advantage of sharing the same firmware interface with multiple devices is that QNAP can really focus on the delivery of debugged content unlike certain competition who are releasing device-specific patches.

Panasonic Lumix G3

2011-05-15T20:03:00.000-07:00

We flew to France just for that! Well no, not really since we had some for us who covered the French launched of the Lumix G3. This said we finally had some quality time with the new Lumix G3 another impressive camera from Panasonic.

First thing that will strike is how small the G3 is, actually the G3 is 25% smaller than the G2 and even you will still have some hard time in fitting this G3 into your pocket the G3 will always find its place into your backpack or carrying bag!

Another big plus is the Camera ultra fast AF. Featuring the GH2 AF, the G3 now offers an extremely prices and fast AF a huge plus compare its direct competitors, but the most impressive thing aspect of this camera is its ULTRA fast 20fps burst mode at 4Mpix… Sure we would love to enjoy the G3 full picture resolution at that speed, but for its purpose having a 20fps burst mode at 4Mpix will be just as good!

Here as well the G3 comes with the same “Touch to Focus” features found on the GH2 and the usual Full HD Video offering on the European version a nice 1080/50i while the North America version will feature the usual 1080/60i.

A really nice upgrade that we are really looking forward to have the chance to test!

Cowon brings the C2 to Japan as well

2011-05-15T20:00:00.000-07:00

Announced in Korea early April Cowon new C2 mini PMP is finally heading to Japan this month! Announced in 8 or 16Gb in Japan at around 13,000 and 17,000 Yen the Japanese C2 comes with the same specification as we Korean version with a 2.6” touchscreen (resistive) with a QVGA (320×240) resolution, Video out, MicroSD Slot, USB 2.0 minus the DMB TV Tuner.

The C2 is like most of Cowon’s creation compatible with pretty much everything you will give it and is even capable, according to Cowon, to offer you up to 55h of continuous video play on a single charge!

Fujitsu updates its ESPRIMO FH Series with BDXL, 3D and enhanced Gesture Control

2011-05-15T19:59:00.001-07:00

Fujitsu new Esprimo FH Series is the company latest All in One Series of desktop computers that runs exclusively on Intel’s latest Sandy Bridge CPUs. Available in different size and flavors, the FH Series comes with the choice between 23 or 20” Screens with 3D Models or ones fitted with a touch-panel. As far as the CPUs are concerned you will find on the High-end FH99/CM Series a Core i7-2630QM, while other models will comes with a Core i5-2520M or Core i3-2310M.

All models comes however with a BDXL Drive, SDXC Slot, Onkyo DTS Surround sound, USB 3.0, two digital TV Tuners and for the FH99/CM an Ionizer.

Finally depending of your model you will also have the pleasure to use Fujitsu latest enhanced Gesture control that will let your take basic control over some of Windows Media Player for example.