ESPN STAR Sports will be proudly showcasing the return of ESPN Grandstand with the live-screening of the highly-anticipated Barclays Premier League clash between giants Manchester United and Liverpool this Saturday 11 February 2012, at Red Carpet Avenue – Encorp Strand (Kota Damansara, Petaling Jaya). ESPN Grandstand’s high definition big screen brings a stadium-like experience to the thousand of fans who are expected to throng the venue for the big match-up. An unforgettable atmosphere, that’s for sure!

The event will be hosted by Maxis Football Extra stars – funnyman JD and the very hot Patricia, who will be sure liven up the atmosphere and serve plenty of fun and games leading up to the heart-thumping live football action. Fans also stand a chance of winning great prizes by participating in the games and activities.

Themed ‘It’s Like Being There’, the event is supported by ESPN STAR Sports’ Barclays Premier League presenting broadcast sponsor Maxis, associate broadcast sponsors MYEG, Panasonic, Wrigley and affiliate partner Astro.

Event details are as follows:

ESPN Grandstand “LIVE” Screening Event

Venue:              Red Carpet Avenue – Encorp Strand (Kota Damansara, PJ – Opposite Sunway Giza)

Date:                Saturday, 11 February 2012

Time:                7.30pm – Pre-match activities

8.45pm – Kick-off

Admission is Free

Samsung‘s new kind of ‘do-in-one’ device, the Samsung GALAXY Note, is an innovative ‘phablet’ which combines the portability of a smartphone with screen real estate of a tablet. It has been a phenomenal hit since it was launched last year. The do-all device has quickly become a note-taking tool, a doodler, a mind-mapper, a all-round creative device.

Samsung GALAXY Note Studio

Samsung is bringing the GALAXY Note experience to the public with the Samsung GALAXY Note Studio, to showcase its creative prowess through caricature and music. There is much installed for visitors to the event where you can get a portrait of you drawn by renowned artists, on the GALAXY Note. There will be a free giveaway of t-shirts, mugs and photo sleeves with your caricature on it. Also, step-by-step tutorials to maximize your user experience with your GALAXY Note. And to top it all off, get to meet the stars in person - Datuk Lee Chong Wei, Maria Farida, Neelofa, Sazzy Falak, Nadia Heng and Natasha Hudson.

The Samsung GALAXY Note Studio will be on from 9 to12 February at these two locations:

• Kuala Lumpur: Oval Concourse, One Utama (9-12 February)
• Penang: Centre Court, First Avenue (10-12 February)

Stay tuned to the Samsung U-nivez Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/#!/SamsungUnivez and Samsung official website http://www.samsung.com/my for updates on the Samsung GALAXY Note.

I’ve a new printer in the office! The new HP Deskjet All-In-One K209g Ink Advantage printer. The A4-sized printer does 600 x 600 dpi prints in black and 4800 x 1200 optimised dpi colour. I’m no stranger to HP printers, having two other HP printers currently in the office – the venerable HP Laserjet CP1515n and the older generation AIO, Officejet 5610. Here’s a quick unboxing video! Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XrQq3DVTMk

Here I write more about the HP Ink Advantage System and how you could get up to 600 pages of prints in black and white!

Oracle Utilities. Image source: Oracle

Oracle has announced that Oracle Utilities, which integrates industry-specific applications with the capabilities of Oracle’s industry-leading enterprise applications, has announced that it has processed more than one billion meter reads and 500,000 customer bills within eight hours. The unprecendented achievement was made possible using Oracle Utilities Customer Care and Billing, Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management and Oracle Utilities Smart Grid Gateway – integrated using Oracle Application Integration Architecture and running on Oracle Exadata Database Machine X2-2 and Oracle Exalogic Elastic Cloud X2-2.

The test, a simulation of real world business scenarios, processed data reported from 10 million smart meters, each reporting nearly 100 reads per day, which is representative of the daily processing needs for a typical utility service provider. The test used one month of historical meter data via Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management (30 billion meter readings) and a six-month billing history on Oracle Utilities Customer Care and Billing (60 million bills). The test billed each account using three different rates (simulating “peak,” “shoulder” and “off-peak” rates). The configuration tested was able to compress archive data at up to a 45X ratio using Oracle Exadata Hybrid Columnar Compression, enabling storage efficiencies that generate significant cost savings to utilities storing smart grid and other data.

Oracle Utilities delivers proven software applications that help utilities of all types and sizes achieve competitive advantage, business performance excellence and a lower total cost of technology ownership. Oracle Utilities integrates industry-specific customer care and billing, network management, work and asset management, mobile workforce management and meter data management applications with the capabilities of Oracle’s industry-leading enterprise applications, business intelligence tools, middleware, database technologies, as well as servers and storage.

For more information, visit www.oracle.com/goto/utilities.

HP has announced enhancements to its HP PartnerONE and HP ExpertONE programs, enabling networking partners to increase market competitiveness and revenue opportunities. The expanded programs are designed to drive growth and key market opportunities in the high-growth networking sector.

The HP PartnerONE program now enables networking partners to substantially increase margin potential through growth accelerators and rebates. Three refreshed specializations for networking are in the scope of Registered Networking Specialization, Registered Networking Specialization and Advanced Networking Specialization.

The refreshed specializations for networking are compatible with the previous UNS-Professional, UNS-Expert and UNS-Master specializations.

Raymond Ooi, Country Manager, HP Networking

HP PartnerONE and HP ExpertONE programs enable channel partners to use the HP FlexNetwork architecture which helps partners to address customer requirements without locking them in to vendors and technology by using open and scalable networking solutions.

For more details of the announcement, read the press release below:

Who was the first man to walk on the moon? Which was the last Apollo mission? Think you know the answers? Well, NASA, the US space agency, has launched its first ever multi-player online game to test your knowledge of the space program. Called Space Race Blastoff, the Facebook game tests your knowledge of NASA history, technology, science and even, pop culture. Earn virtual badges and points, badge sets and even premium badges.

While it is a multi-player game, you can still play a solo game. Once in the game, players choose an avatar and answer 10 multiple-choice questions. Each correct answer earns 100 points, with a 20-point bonus to the player who answers first. The winner advances to the bonus round to answer one additional question for more points. Correctly answering the bonus question earns the player a badge.

Play Space Race Blastoff now at: http://apps.facebook.com/spacerace

Apple has just released a whopping 730.6MB update for Mac OS X Lion – v10.7.3. As you can see from my measly broadband connection, which is by the way supposed to be a 30Mbps fibre service, the update is going to take another 3 hours to complete. The update which includes Safari 5.1.3 fixes a plethora of issues including using smart cards to log into OS X, compatibility issues with Microsoft Windows file sharing, resolves Wi-Fi connection issue when waking from sleep and includes RAW image compatibility for additional digital cameras. The update also fixes/enhances Directory Services.

Full list of fixes at Apple Support.

As you avid gamers may already know, mobile chip giant Qualcomm launched its Snapdragon GameCommand app portal at CES 2012 last month. Snapdragon GameCommand is where an Android owner will find latest and greatest, curated mobile gaming titles optimised for Snapdragon processors and Adreno GPUs. It will also provide feeds from top gaming news sites to keep gamers updated with the latest. This is not unlike NVIDIA’s TegraZone.

Snapdragon GameCommand enables users to easily access and play many of the over 100 Snapdragon GamePack featured games on a wide range of mobile phones and tablets. The Snapdragon GamePack includes several titles exclusively available on Snapdragon devices running on Android for a limited time, including “Fight Game Heroes” from Khaeon Gamestudio. “Fight Game Heroes” features head-to-head battles with real MMA fighters, including multiple combat champion and UFC fighter Alistair “The Reem” Overeem.

Catch the video below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zX8krTarQA

Little do we know that Qualcomm actually has an in-house game development studio, dedicated to conjuring out flagship Android mobile games. These games will showcase the best in graphics and performance, obviously possible with Qualcomm hardware.

Qualcomm expects to release one flagship gaming title per year, the first being a full-blown release of ‘Desert Wind’

Check out Qualcomm’s mobile gaming section for more - http://www.qualcomm.com/snapdragon/gaming

Source: PhoneArena, Qualcomm

Prosperity Toss: Josephine Hoh (fourth from right), Symantec Malaysia’s Enterprise Sales Director; and Nigel Tan (third from right), Symantec’s Principal Consultant for Asia South Region, hosting Malaysian business partners in a spirited round of Lou Sang at Symantec’s Chinese New Year celebration at the Tropicana Golf and Country Resort.

What’s Chinese New Year celebrations without the perennial ‘Lou Sang’, the tossing of ‘Yee Sang’, a vibrant platter of salmon, condiments and sweet sauce. The dish, of Malaysian origin, is a symbol of a year of good luck. I joined Symantec Malaysia for a special luncheon at Spring Garden Tropicana Restaurant, Tropicana Golf and Country Resort, together with close to 150 Symantec business partners and members of the media.

Ushering in the year of the Dragon: Luke Tan (first standing from left), Symantec Malaysia’s Channel and Alliance Manager; and Josephine Hoh (first sitting from left), Symantec Malaysia’s Enterprise Sales Director, ushering in the year of the Dragon at the sumptuous Chinese New Year lunch with a group of Symantec’s SMB business partners in Malaysia.

Josephine Hoh, Symantec Malaysia’s Enterprise Sales Director, who hosted the business partners at the luncheon expressed her well wishes for the year ahead. “Symantec Malaysia looks forward to another great year with our business partners in Malaysia. May the year of the Dragon strengthens our partnership and brings an abundance of joy and success to our collaboration,” she said.

Business Friends: Koh Ee Laine (first standing from left), Symantec Malaysia’s Senior Technical Consultant; and Allen Chin (third standing from left), Symantec Malaysia’s Principal Technical Consultant, with business partners from Software EXC (M) Sdn Bhd at Symantec’s Chinese New Year Lunch held at Spring Garden Tropicana Restaurant.

Aside from the scrumptious 8-course lunch, there were prizes given out for trivia questions to the channel partners. All in all, a great lunch and opportunity to meet with some new people from the Symantec team, to catch up with familar faces from the media and the team from Cohn&Wolfe XPR.

Symantec CNY Lunch – MalaysiaSME

Apple has released Final Cut Pro X v10.0.3, a significant update to the pro video editing application, bringing with it multicam editing multicam editing that automatically syncs up to 64 angles of video and photos; advanced chroma keying for handling complex adjustments right in the app; and enhanced XML for a richer interchange with third party apps and plug-ins that support the fast growing Final Cut Pro X ecosystem. It also adds a beta of broadcast monitoring that supports Thunderbolt I/O devices and PCIe cards. The update is available free from the Mac App Store.

The 64-bit Final Cut Pro X is a huge leap from Final Cut Pro 7 it replaces, which Apple believes will revolutionise the way you post-produce video. It has, however, received significant flak from the professional video production market due to huge interface and user experience changes, including missing key features and compatibility issues with older files. Some pros have called FCPX, “a pro version of iMovie” due to its interface likeness to the consumer app.

Apple has made additions and positive changes to FCPX since version 1.0, and hopefully this current update will appease the pros, for now.

Pricing & Availability
Final Cut Pro X v10.0.3 is available from the Mac App Store for $299.99 (US) to new users, or as a free update for existing Final Cut Pro X customers. A 30-day free trial of Final Cut Pro X is available atwww.apple.com/finalcutpro/trial. Full system requirements and more information on Final Cut Pro X can be found at www.apple.com/finalcutpro.

Are you a video professional? Do you use Final Cut Pro X or Final Cut Pro 7? What’s your opinion on FCPX?