Editor

Making tablets and Bluetooth-enabled smartphones more functional than ever before, iHome announced the availability of its new Executive Work Station, the iDM5. Its compact footprint features a full size QWERTY keyboard accompanied by built-in speakers, a microphone, and two USB ports for charging multiple devices simultaneously. The iDM5 is a space-saving Bluetooth-enabled desktop solution that delivers office quality accessibility wherever you choose to work.

“Whether video conferencing, typing up reports, making calls or streaming music, the iDM5 is the perfect product for the multi-tasker.”

“In addition to using their tablets and smartphones for entertainment purposes, people are relying on them to perform more intricate office tasks as well,” said Evan Stein, Director of Marketing, iHome. “Whether video conferencing, typing up reports, making calls or streaming music, the iDM5 is the perfect product for the multi-tasker.”

A 2012 CE Innovations Honoree, the iDM5 is a full sized, ergonomically angled QWERTY keyboard speaker system that lets you comfortably type on your tablet or smartphone, while simultaneously streaming your favorite music, all via a wireless Bluetooth connection. The built-in mic allows you to use the unit as a speakerphone for video conferencing, while two USB ports ensure your other devices never run out of power. You may also play music from any audio device through the universal 3.5mm aux line-in jack.

The iDM5 is now available for $129.99 at retailers nationwide and on www.ihomeaudio.com. For detailed product information, please visit https://www.ihomeaudio.com/iDM5B/.

About iHome

iHome was established in 2005 as a division of SDI Technologies to develop and market iPod compatible audio products. The first iHome product introduced, the iPod Clock Radio, was an exceptional success that became the top-selling iPod accessory for the year, and firmly established iHome as the premier brand in the iPod electronics market. Since then, iHome continues to be the #1 brand in iPod/iPhone/iPad clock radio and speaker systems according to NPD data and has been at the forefront of design with a growing lineup of award-winning iPod-compatible audio products that includes alarm clocks, clock radios, portable and home speaker systems, and headphones, as well as new licensed lines of computer accessories and New Balance sport/fitness headphones.

Acknowledged for its innovative features, unique designs, and advanced technology, iHome has garnered several prestigious industry awards including CES Innovations Awards, numerous Editor’s Choice Awards and iLounge’s “2011 Clock Radio Speaker of the Year.”

iHome supports its franchise with national print, broadcast and online advertising campaigns, and the company’s products can be found worldwide in 70 countries or on the web at www.ihomeaudio.com, on Facebook (facebook.com/iHome), or follow @iHome on Twitter .

Datalight announced that it has released Reliance Nitro 2.7, the first full-featured file system for Android. The new Android file system combines strong read and write performance with fast mount time, rock-solid reliability, a comprehensive tool set, and support by a dedicated team of in-house engineers.

Makers of embedded products need flexibility and access to professional support, as mobile and embedded devices continue to grow in complexity. The pressure is on OEMs to focus on their core competencies and rely on vendors for specialized components and expertise. Device manufacturers require the full catalogue of features to include performance, reliability, flexibility, tools and support as part of the complete file system package.

The Reliance Nitro 2.7 SDK for Android assists developers with every step of file system integration. Standard Linux utilities include tools to validate hardware (DCLTest, DevIOTest, and RelTest), test performance (FSIOTest and FSStressTest) as well as perform standard file system preparation activities such as formatting (relFsVolFormat) and integrity checking (relFsChk). Of particular utility are FSIOTest and FSStressTest – platform independent performance and reliability testing tools that can be used with any file system. Also included is a Reliance Nitro Windows Driver for seamlessly moving data between an Android System and a Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Windows 7-based system.

Reliance Nitro has a unique tree-based metadata and transactional extent-based architecture for fast file performance, and employs a system of configurable transaction settings the company calls Dynamic Transaction Point™ technology to balance performance with the amount of user data at risk for a wide variety of different use cases. It is also capable of working with virtually any storage medium, and is highly efficient whether an OEM is designing with hardware-managed or software-managed storage media.

“Our goal was to deliver a comprehensive and compelling set of features to Android developers,” said Datalight VP of Engineering Ken Whitaker. “With Reliance Nitro 2.7, OEMs using Android no longer have to choose between performance, reliability, a full set of tools and professional support.”

Reliance Nitro file system and FlashFX Tera flash media manager comprise the Datalight flash file system solution. Reliance Nitro was designed from the ground up for high performance applications. Dynamic Transaction Point™ technology provides 100% immunity from file corruption, even after unexpected system interruption. Reliance Nitro goes through extensive functional and reliability testing, including 20,000 random power cycle tests without a failure. Embedded applications can benefit from faster boot times that remain consistent for the life of the product, regardless of disk size. FlashFX™ Tera features pre-written support for over 300 flash parts, including MLC, works with virtually any NAND controller, and features wear leveling, bad block management, and background compaction for unrivaled performance. Datalight flash file system products are available on VxWorks, Windows Embedded CE, Linux and many other operating systems.

About Datalight
Datalight, Inc. headquartered just north of Seattle, Wash., develops technologies to enable risk-free mobile data. Datalight file system and device driver software ensures reliability, performance and flexibility, and is used worldwide on many of today’s most well-known devices. For more information, visit our embedded Android solutions page at http://www.datalight.com/solutions/operating-systems/android or call 800.221.6630.

Dropbox, a free service that lets people bring their documents, photos, and videos anywhere and share them easily, today announced an even easier way for people to instantly share the things that matter most, with just a link. Now documents, photos, and videos can be shared simply by creating and sending a link to friends, family, or colleagues, whether they are Dropbox users or not.

“We’re always looking for ways to make life easier and solve the basic problems people face everyday,” said Drew Houston, CEO and co-founder of Dropbox. “Sending files has always been a painful process, but now with Dropbox, sharing with friends, family, and colleagues is effortless.”

Dropbox links allow people to easily view documents, photos, and videos in a beautiful full-browser display without any setup. Business presentations, home movies, and even entire folders can be opened and viewed instantly without having to sign in, download anything, or open files separately.

How it works
From the Dropbox desktop, web, and mobile applications, the “Get link” button generates a unique link to a file or folder. The link can then be quickly sent to another person. For Dropbox users, opening a link will provide the option to instantly save the file to their Dropbox.

“Today we’re excited to add instant sharing to Dropbox,” said Jeff Bartelma, Director of Products. “We’ve simplified the process of sending files to just a few seconds and eliminated the need for email attachments.”

Dropbox has been refining this feature in beta since last year and today, with many improvements, it is available to all users. For more information, please visit www.dropbox.com/links/features

California photographer, Matthew Bamberg guides photographers in learning to use cloud services such as Dropbox, Carbonite, iCloud, Flickr, Picasa and Amazon Cloud Drive to host and publish their photography in the new book “Photography Applications for the Cloud,” which hits the bookshelves in early May.

Topics covered include photo resolution, cropping, saturation, portfolios, hosting, file types (including audio files) and sizes. “’Photography Applications for the Cloud’ is an opportunity for beginning and intermediate photographers to explore how to make all of their photos available online so that they can be accessed with any device—ipads, mobile devices and laptops,” Bamberg explained.

He added, “The book presents information on a variety of photography topics to assist photographers in creating an online venue for their photographs, detailing the best and most affordable ways to manipulate, manage, share and publish new and existing images.”

The book details the best ways to ensure that photos remain at their original resolutions throughout the uploading, editing and downloading process (including working with Raw files). The book explains how the cloud’s hardware and software infrastructure work together to safely store and manage a photography portfolio and how to use various cloud platforms by giving step-by-step directions for a variety of online photo storage, sharing/hosting, editing and management platforms.

Bamberg sees photography storage and hosting as a method to record history and family activities of this and past generations who experienced the photographic process. Also, by taking advantage of state-of-the-art Internet “Cloud” technology, photographers have an excellent opportunity to share their photographic vision to a large audience now and in the future.

Bamberg’s last book, “New Image Frontiers—Defining the Future of Photography” has received outstanding reviews and has had high rankings from Amazon.com for several weeks. He has taught The History of Fine Art Photography and Beginning HDR Photography for UCR-Extension and Cal State-Extension. He has a Masters in Creative Arts from San Francisco State University’s Inter-Arts Center.

This is the eighth book about technology and photography from Matthew Bamberg, a writer and photographer whose company by the same name has produced published products for education and technology for nearly a decade.

Contact:
Matt Bamberg
[email protected]
Palm Springs, CA
Ph: (760) 322-4388
New Book: http://www.amazon.com/New-Image-Frontiers-Defining-Photography/dp/1435458575
www.matthewbamberg.com

Adobe is unveiling the next versions of virtually all of the applications in its Creative Suite, and also launching its Creative Cloud online offerings, reports Techcrunch.

“This marks a major change in how Adobe is selling and marketing its flagship product: while the company will continue to offer a shrink-wrapped version of CS6, it’s also introducing a subscription service with this update. For $49/month with an annual subscription or $79/month for month-to-month memberships, users can now get full access to any CS6 tool, including Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, Premiere Pro and AfterEffects. The suite will also include Adobe’s new HTML5 design and development tools Muse and Edge, and will be deeply integrated into the company’s tablet apps. Users will be able to download and install these apps on up to two machines.

Photoshop, the most popular application in the suite, will also be available through a stand-alone subscription for $19.99/month with an annual membership and $29.99 without.

Adobe will also offer a student and teacher edition of Creative Cloud for $29.99/month. Current CS3, CS4 and CS5.5 users will qualify for a special introductory offer of $29.99/month. In the coming months, Adobe will also launch a version of Creative Cloud for teams, though the price for this one hasn’t been determined yet.

Read more

Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCE) announced that it will launch “nasne™,” a new networked recorder and media storage device with built in 500GB hard disk drive (HDD) and digital terrestrial and satellite broadcast tuners. “nasne” will become available in Japan on July 19, 2012, for a recommended retail price of 16,980 yen (including tax).

By connecting “nasne” to their home network, users will be able to watch and record digital terrestrial and satellite broadcast through dedicated applications such as “torne” for PlayStation®3 (PS3®) and “VAIO TV with nasne” for VAIO. Users will also be able to access recorded content from PlayStation®Vita (PS Vita), “Sony Tablet” and Xperia™. In addition, “nasne” will be able to stream live or recorded television programs simultaneously onto two of these supported Sony products, allowing multiple users to view the same content within the same home network.(1) “nasne” will also link with “G GUIDE TV OUKOKU CHAN-TORU”, a television guide web service for PC and smart phones provided by So-net Entertainment Corporation. Through “G GUIDE TV OUKOKU CHAN-TORU”, users will be able to schedule recordings of television programs on the go from their PS Vita, PC, tablet PCs, and smart phones.

In addition, “nasne” functions as a media storage device, allowing users to store their movies, photos and music on its 500GB built-in HDD, which can be enjoy on any DLNA compatible device connected to their home network. Users can also expand storage memory by connecting external HDD to “nasne.” (2)

“We are offering a seamless and unique Sony experience through ‘nasne,’ which serves as a home entertainment hub that connects to Sony’s various network products,” said Kazuo Hirai, Representative Corporate Executive Officer, President and CEO of Sony Corporation and Chairman of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. “‘nasne’ will give users more freedom to enjoy television in new ways by enabling them to watch programs on various Sony products through dedicated applications. We will continue to offer attractive products and services that inspire customers around the world and spark their curiosity, by further enhancing collaboration within Sony groups.”

“nasne” will deliver the following features through its combination with Sony products.

PlayStation®3
PS3 users will be able to watch and record (3) digital terrestrial and satellite broadcast through LAN cable by installing “torne” version 4.0, a dedicated application for PS3, which will come bundled with “nasne.”

By connecting a maximum of four “nasne” units to their PS3, users can simultaneously record up to four television programs. Those who already have a “torne” device connected to their PS3 will be able to connect a maximum of four “nasne” units to their PS3 and record up to five television programs.(4) Details of “torne” version 4.0 for PS3 will be announced separately.

PlayStation®Vita

PS Vita users will be able to watch and record digital terrestrial and satellite broadcasts through “torne for PS Vita” (tentative name), a dedicated application for accessing “nasne” from anywhere within the same home network via Wi-Fi connection . “torne for PS Vita” will become available within this calendar year.

By leveraging the ability of “nasne” to simultaneously create an export file while a television program is being recorded, users can quickly transfer recorded content through Wi-Fi connection and easily enjoy them on the go on their PS Vita’s beautiful 5-inch OLED. Details of “torne for PS Vita” will be announced in due course.

VAIO PC
VAIO PC users will be able to watch and record digital terrestrial and satellite broadcasts through “VAIO TV with nasne” (beta version)(5), a dedicated application for accessing “nasne” from anywhere within the same home network via Wi-Fi connection or LAN cable. “VAIO TV with nasne” (beta version) will become available concurrently with the release of “nasne.”

Key features of “VAIO TV with nasne”:

Recorded television programs on “nasne'” can be copied to Blu-ray Disc and DVD, or transferred to VAIO PC’s HDD or State Solid Drive (SSD).
Up to eight digital terrestrial and satellite broadcasts can be simultaneously recorded by connecting a maximum of eight “nasne” hardware units to VAIO PC.
Television programs can be searched by keywords.
“VAIO TV with nasne” will become available for Windows 7 equipped VAIO PCs (6) through “VAIO Update,” an automatic free update service for VAIO PC users.

“Sony Tablet” / Xperia™
Sony Tablet(7) / Xperia(8) users will be able to watch and record digital terrestrial and satellite broadcasts through dedicated applications for Sony Tablet / Xperia for accessing “nasne” from within the same home network via Wi-Fi connection. Users will be also able to schedule recordings of television programs through “G GUIDE TV OUKOKU CHAN-TORU.”

SCE will continue to aggressively expand the new world of entertainment through the combination of “nasne” and PlayStation platforms as well as other networked Sony products.

Product Outline

“nasne™”

Product name
nasne™
Product code
CECH-ZNR1J
Release date
July 19, 2012
Recommended retail price (RRP)
16,980 yen (including tax)
Product color
Black
External dimension
Approx. 43 × 189 × 136 mm (width × length ×height)
Weight
Approx 460g
RF tuners
Terrestrial: ISTB-T × 1
Satellite: ISDB-S × 1
Channels
Terrestrial: VHF 1-12ch, UHF 13-62ch, CATV C13-C63ch
Satellite: BS/CS110°digital (1032-2071MHz)
Internal HDD
SATA 2.5 inch (Capacity:500GB)
Inputs/Outputs
LAN port (100BASE-TX, 1000BASE-T)
ANTENNA IN connector
ANTENNA OUT connector
EXT HDD connector (USB 2.0, Type A)
B-CAS card slot
Buttons
Power button
IP RESET button
Indicators
Power indicator
REC indicator
IP status indicator
HDD access indicator
Power
AC 100V, DC 12V.1.5A
Power consumption
Recording and streaming two videos: 9.5W
ECO mode in stand-by: 1.5W
Network Recorder features
DTCP-IP support
Live streaming / recorded content streaming of digital terrestrial / satellite television program (for home and mobile devices)
2 recording mode (DR and SLP) support
Registration as remote PVR device to be accessed through the internet
Trick play / scene search support
Resume play
Media Storage Device features
Media server features
– DLNA 1.5 support
– Live tuner (terrestrial / satellite broadcasting) and DMS streaming of recorded programs
– Support image / music / video formats and metadata as PS3® (will be supported by “nasne” system software version 1.50. Some formats not supported)
– DMS streaming of image / music / video files on the media server (will be supported by “nasne” system software version 1.50)
– Support multiple DLNA devices (up to 2 DTCP-IP content streaming or 1 live streaming)
File server features
– Shared directory configuration
– Workgroup configuration
Other features
“nasne HOME” web browser application
Support an external hard drive
ECO mode (Stand-by after 10 minutes without an access)
Support “nasne” system software update
Included
“nasne” × 1
AC adaptor × 1
Power cable × 1
LAN cable × 1
RF coaxial cable × 1
B-CAS card × 1
Digital terrestrial broadcasting watching/recorder application for PS3® (Blu-ray™ Disc) × 1
Quick start guide × 1

About Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.

Recognized as the global leader and company responsible for the progression of consumer-based computer entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCEI) manufactures, distributes, develop and markets the PlayStation®2 (PS2®) computer entertainment system, the PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) handheld entertainment system, the PlayStation®3 (PS3®) computer entertainment system and the PlayStation®Vita (PS Vita) portable entertainment system. SCEI has revolutionized home entertainment since they launched PlayStation in 1994. PS2® further enhances the PlayStation legacy as the core of home networked entertainment. PSP® is a handheld entertainment system that allows users to enjoy 3D games with high-quality full-motion video and high-fidelity stereo audio. PS3® is an advanced computer system, incorporating the powerful Cell Broadband Engine and RSX processors. PS Vita is an ultimate portable entertainment system that offers a revolutionary combination of rich gaming and social connectivity within a real world context. SCEI also delivers the PlayStation® experience to open operating systems through PlayStation®Suite, a cross platform and cross device initiative. Headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, SCEI, along with its affiliated companies, Sony Computer Entertainment America LLC., and Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Ltd., and its division companies, Sony Computer Entertainment Japan and Sony Computer Entertainment Asia develops, publishes, markets and distributes hardware and software, and manages the third party licensing programs for these platforms in the respective markets worldwide.

“PlayStation” and “PS3” are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.

“nasne” and “torne” is a trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.

VAIO and “Sony Tablet” are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Sony Corporation.

“Xperia” is a registered trademark or a trademark of Sony Mobile Communications AB.

Windows is either a registered trademark or a trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.

All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

“nasne” will stream two recorded television programs through DTCP/IP simultaneously. As media storage devices, “nasne” will be able to share stored content with up to 63 connecting devices.
DLNA Functionality will become available by installing the system software update of “nasne” version 1.50.
To enjoy satellite broadcasting, users will need to install a satellite broadcasting antenna or establish an equal environment.
Up to four satellite broadcasting can be simultaneously recorded.
VAIO TV with nasne” Beta version will become available at the release timing, and no support will be available.
Details of supporting models will be announced in due course.
For Sony Tablet, “RECOPLA” provided by Sony Corporation will need to be installed on the device. “RECOPLA” will become available through “Select App” icon on “Sony Table” or Google Play Store for free download. Sony Table system software as well as “Media players” supporting “RECOPLA” will need to be updated.
Some models of “Xperia” will support “nasne” within this calendar year. Details will be announced on the Sony Mobile Communications AB web site in due course.
SOURCE Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc.

John Browning writing on Engadget has posted an interesting article “How-To: Set up a home file server using FreeNAS” a walkthrough on setting up an open source storage platform called FreeNAS as a “digital bookshelf”.

FreeNAS is an operating system based on FreeBSD that hasweb interface for management, and all the protocols you need to share files between Windows, Mac and Linux.

Read more at: http://www.engadget.com/2012/02/01/how-to-set-up-a-home-file-server-using-freenas/