We have extended the Facebook competition until the 31st May 2012! SOMEONE MUST WIN so please help us achieve 7500 LIKES >>>>> t&cs apply

We have extended the Okobe.co.uk Facebook competition until the 31st May 2012! SOMEONE MUST WIN so please help us achieve 7500 LIKES t&cs apply

http://www.facebook.com/Okobecom

WIN:
1 x Apple NEW iPad 3 (3rd Generation) 4G, 32GB- White
1 x Apple MD059BT/A iPod Touch 64GB, 4th Generation- White (Latest Model - Launched Oct 2011)
1 x Apple iPod Nano, 8GB, MP3 Player- Blue (6th Generation)
1 x Sony Vaio VPCSB3N9E 33.8 cm (13.3") Notebook - Intel Core i3 i3-2330M 2.20 GHz - Silver
1 x Wacom Bamboo CTH-470S-EN Graphics Tablet
1 x KOBO Ereader Touch Edition - Blue
1 x Iomega eGo Helium Portable 35730 500 GB External Hard Drive
1 x TomTom GO Live 1000, Sat Nav- Europe

We need to get to 7,500 Facebook Likes by 30th May 2012 so someone can WIN! >>>>

Terms & Conditions:
• One Winner will be announced on the Okobe.co.uk Facebook Page and via Facebook message when 7,500 ‘Likes’ is reached on the Okobe.co.uk Facebook Page.
• By entering this competition you allow Okobe.co.uk to publish your name on the Okobe.co.uk Facebook page.
• Please note only one entry per person is allowed, multiple Facebook accounts is not permitted.
• If you already 'Like' Okobe.co.uk on Facebook you will automatically be entered into the competition.
• Winner will be selected at random from the 7,500 Okobe.co.uk Facebook Page Followers.
• Okobe.co.uk reserves the right to terminate this competition at any point.
• There is no cash alternative available.
• Entrants are not restricted to the UK. Okobe.co.uk will pay for postage of the prize to any address Worldwide.
• No purchase is required.
• Entrants must be 18 years and over.
• Okobe.co.uk employees are excluded from this competition.
• Offers will run until the 30th May 2012, if the Okobe.co.uk Facebook page is below 7,500 ‘Likes’ the competition will close with no winner.
• Once the Okobe.co.uk Facebook Page reaches 7,500 ‘Likes’ the competition will close and the Winner will be announced within 24 hours.
• This competition is only being conducted on the Okobe.co.uk Official Facebook Page which is: http://www.facebook.com/​okobecom

Intel Tops Green and Sustainable Rankings

For the fourth consecutive year, Intel is ranked first on the EPA’s “Top 50 Green Power Partnership” Rankings. EPA rankings honor organizations voluntarily using clean, renewable electricity from natural resources. Additionally, Intel ranked among the top five companies honored in this week’s updated Maplecroft Climate Innovation Indexes, which measure companies’ adaptations to climate change. Learn more about Intel’s sustainability initiatives.

PlayMemories Online™ goes live

Cloud service from Sony gives ‘any time, any device’ access to all your precious photos and videos

Today Sony launches PlayMemories Online™, the free cloud-based service that safely stores your photos and HD videos to enjoy any time, and on any device.

Capture those precious moments with your digital camera or camcorder. Then connect to your PC and upload your photos and movie clips to PlayMemories Online in an instant. There’s also a free PlayMemories Online app for direct uploads from your Xperia™ or Android smartphone, Sony Tablet, iPhone/iPad or Android tablet. There’s no need for any time-consuming formatting, file conversion or resizing: PlayMemories Online takes care of everything.

Once they’re stored safely and securely in the cloud, it’s easy to view those images anytime and on any device. As long as you’re near a network connection, PlayMemories Online lets you relive those special memories – in your living room, at the coffee shop, on the move or on the beach. Photos and videos can be enjoyed on your PC, PlayStation®3, smartphone, tablet, BRAVIA® TV or S-Frame digital photo frame.

Don’t keep it to yourself: pictures and movies can be emailed with a choice of attractive ‘postcard’ templates and a personal message. As an extra refinement, private sharing lets you securely share images and video clips via a link sent to friends and family. It’s a great way to let grandparents on the other side of the world see those wedding or christening photos minutes after the event – with no need for bulky email attachments.

PlayMemories Online™ is one of the easy-to-use services that’s offered on Sony Entertainment Network (SEN). Registered SEN users can get 5GB of PlayMemories Online™ storage for free.

Dell Strengthens Virtual Network Architecture Portfolio to Help Customers Deliver Results Faster

Dell introduces its first 40 gigabit Ethernet-enabled blade server switch, the Dell Force10 MXL 10/40GbE, optimised for the heaviest workloads and highest performance needs
New fabric and network management tools to help simplify operations and improve efficiency in data center and campus environments
New network virtualisation capabilities along with interoperability with Big Switch Networks demonstrating software-defined, multi-tenancy solutions at Interop Las Vegas 2012, May 6-9

Bracknell, United Kingdom, April 24, 2012 - Dell today announced new hardware and software additions to its Virtual Network Architecture portfolio, an open networking framework for efficient IT management and workload intelligence. Dell introduced the Dell Force10 MXL 10/40GbE switch, its first 40 gigabit blade server switch for the Dell PowerEdge M1000e blade system, designed to support demanding workloads in traditional, virtual, public and private cloud environments.

Adding high-performance server blade switching expands customers' architecture options and extends Dell's abilities to deliver end-to-end 10 gigabit Ethernet (GbE) solutions across its server, storage and networking portfolio. This Dell infrastructure can deliver up to 10 times greater application performance for decision support and business intelligence workloads.[1]

Dell will demonstrate technologies and innovations from its Virtual Network Architecture (VNA) portfolio at Interop Las Vegas 2012 and share more of its vision for networking and IT during a keynote address by Dario Zamarian, Dell Networking vice president and general manager, on May 8.

Delivering Results Faster - Dell Force10 MXL 10/40GbE Switch

Dell Force10's VNA portfolio for virtualising, automating and orchestrating networking functions and services is significantly strengthened and can outpace the competition with the introduction of its first 40GbE-enabled blade server switch, the Dell Force10 MXL 10/40GbE. This builds on Dell's industry-leading position in 40GbE shipments, according to Dell'Oro Group.2

The Dell Force10 MXL 10/40GbE blade switch brings unprecedented bandwidth capacity to the Dell PowerEdge M1000e blade chassis, addressing the diverse needs of environments including data centers in large enterprises, government networks, education and research institutions, and high performance computing. The full-featured 1/10/40GbE Layer 2 and Layer 3 blade switch is powered by the Force10 operating system (FTOS) and provides increased bandwidth, scalability, performance and operational simplicity for blades at data center and campus environments. FTOS powers some of the largest and most demanding data center environments in the world providing predictable, reliable network performance while reducing operations and management overhead.

PNY Technologies and TYAN Developed the Strategic

To distribute TYAN's GPUs based HPC Servers across EMEA

London, UK - April 25th, 2012 - PNY Technologies and TYAN, an industry-leading server platform manufacturer and subsidiary of MiTAC International Corp., today announced that they have developed the strategic distribution partnership for the EMEA region. PNY Technologies will promote and distribute TYAN's full range of NVIDIA TESLA GPU based HPC servers through its wide network of channel partners across the region.

Designed for high performance in massively parallel computing environments , the PNY product portfolio of TYAN servers and NVIDIA GPUs easily meet users' complex workloads requirements while accelerating general computing capability.

The NVIDIA TESLA GPUs are designed from the ground up for High Performance Computing (HPC) to deliver up to 10X higher application performance and are ideal for seismic processing, biochemistry simulations, weather and climate modeling, signal processing, computational finance, CAE, CFD, and data analysis.

"TYAN is the industry-leading manufacturer of advanced X86 GPGPU server platforms," said Albert Mu, General Manager of TYAN. "TYAN's GPGPU products coupled with the PNY's professional solutions and technical support accelerate the success to EMEA customers who require effective, efficient and flexible IT infrastructure. Our strategic partnership with PNY strengthens our commitment to meeting customers' critical IT requirements and help them to achieve their business goals. "

"We are happy to distribute TYAN's GPU based servers as it complements our existing Professional Graphics Cards product portfolio and adds tremendous value to our channel. PNY is known for its ability to understand the needs of the professional graphics and HPC segment and is constantly innovating its technology to meet these needs. We plan to work closely with our channel partners and systems integrators to increase TYAN's visibility and market share in EMEA," says Jerome Belan, CEO of PNY Technologies EMEA.

The TYAN's GP/GPU servers by PNY are available to system integrators, value-added resellers, and distributors throughout Europe and Middle East.

Thecus® Announces the Latest 5-Bay N5550 NAS

Convenient multimedia features with secure McAfee antivirus protection

04/25/2012- Thecus® is proud to present itself as a technological innovator. Once again, Thecus® releases an all new 5-bay N5550 server to lead the competition. The past proves merit: link aggregation, LCM display, USB 3.0, multi RAID functions and so on. Impressive technologies have been used to develop the new N5550 NAS to serve one single purpose: improve user experience and satisfaction.

Intel® AtomTM CPU: silent power

Intel® AtomTM CPUs are designed to work without fans. This will dramatically reduce NAS noise and power consumption.

Associated with large amounts of DDR3, Intel® AtomTM CPUs will provide much better performance. Don't be restricted to a 4-bay NAS, bring it up a notch, Thecus® N5550 is available and boosts the best performance with a great price, without entering larger bay units. Multi-users environment, web hosting, intense backup, data encryption, application serving, heavy RAID computations, and HD multimedia streaming: welcome to the world of smooth multi-tasking!

McAfee Antivirus: preventing possible threats

The N5550 NAS is McAfee antivirus embedded meaning that users can have confidence that their sensitive data will be protected by the most advanced antivirus software, McAfee.

USB 3.0: from optional to mandatory

Thecus® started integrating USB 3.0 more than one year ago, enabling this blazing fast protocol on most storage devices by embedding a PCI-e slot. On popular demand, future NAS will equip at least one port for USB 3.0 transfer rates of 10 times faster than USB 2.0.

HDMI, VGA and Audio out: removing the middle man

After installing the proper module, simply plug a screen by the use of HDMI output, you don't even need a computer anymore to check on your NAS! Local display via HDMI makes things that much more convenient, directly attach keyboard and mouse to start data management.

The N5550 also supports VGA output for attaching traditional televisions, projectors and monitors. VGA output makes this 5-bay NAS convenient to display presentation or media files when HDMI is not on hand.

To add, users can attach speakers directly to the N5550 NAS to play audio files. With audio out, managing media and audio files is simple; attach the speaker plug to audio out and you're set to go!

Ideal for small installations and/or mobile users, these features are designed to lower the total cost of ownership of your network architecture.

Specifications: N5550 for High Value Storage
Intel® AtomTM Processor
2GB of DDR3
USB 3.0
HDMI output
LCM Display

AMD and Adobe® Creative Suite® 6 Innovate with OpenCL™ and GPU Acceleration

New effects get a boost by a factor of 10x1 on upcoming "Trinity" APU

SUNNYVALE, Calif. - April 24, 2012 - AMD (NYSE: AMD) today announced a collaboration with Adobe Systems Incorporated to optimize a new set of GPU-accelerated features for Adobe products including the newly announced Adobe Photoshop® CS6. Implementing GPU acceleration and incorporating OpenCL optimization improves the end-user experience by dramatically speeding up critical imaging features and generating real-time results when editing with key tools in Adobe Creative Suite 6.

"AMD brings its expertise in GPU and APU compute in the latest release of Adobe Creative Suite," said Winston Hendrickson, vice president products, Creative Media Solutions, Adobe. "This technology integration allows us to provide creative professionals with exciting new creative options and lightning-fast performance."

The collaboration between AMD and Adobe marks the first implementation of OpenCL within the Adobe Creative Suite family of products by accelerating features within Adobe Photoshop CS6 and Adobe Premiere® Pro CS6. The new Adobe Mercury Graphics Engine2 within Photoshop CS6 utilizes both OpenCL and OpenGLTM, to accelerate new and existing features such as the new Blur Gallery that runs up to 10x as fast1 on the upcoming "Trinity" APU with OpenCL GPU acceleration turned on. AMD has also worked with Adobe on a dramatically accelerated version of the Liquify tool, a filter within Adobe Photoshop CS6 that lets the user push, pull, rotate, reflect, pucker and bloat any area of an image for artistic effects. There are dozens of other GPU-accelerated features in the new Adobe Photoshop CS6.

"AMD engineers have worked closely with Adobe to ensure creative professionals have the best computing experience possible with the latest Adobe CS6 suite," said Manju Hegde, corporate vice president, Content, Applications and Solutions at AMD. "By working with Adobe on industry standards, we have helped bring GPU and APU acceleration and new levels of performance to the market's premier digital imaging software."

AMD and Adobe will be teaming up again on June 11-14, 2012 at the AMD Fusion Developer Summit (AFDS) where Tom Malloy, senior vice president and chief software architect at Adobe's Advanced Technology Labs will deliver a keynote address. In addition, the Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Premiere Pro and Adobe Flash® teams will provide attendees of the summit's technical breakout sessions with the latest updates and insight on working with open standards on heterogeneous compute.

Thecus® Officially a Windows Embedded Partner

04/24/2012- Thecus®, the leader in storage solutions, is now officially a Windows Embedded Partner. If you visit Microsoft's website, you will find Thecus® listed on their Windows Embedded Partner Program. Microsoft has recognized Thecus® to be reliable and trustworthy to join their partner list.

Microsoft is dedicated to delivering the best set of embedded technology, end-to-end development tools, support, and resources, and the Windows Embedded operating systems are designed to help build a better embedded device. As a Windows Embedded partner, Thecus® commits to its customers reliability and excellence by providing Windows Embedded solutions.

"To be recognized as a reliable partner by Windows, is a great honor for Thecus and we are looking forward to work closely with them to further develop our products." says Florence Shih, General Manager of Thecus® Technology.

As a Windows Embedded Partner, it allows Thecus® to get early access to the product development cycle, promote their Windows Embedded expertise and collaborate with Microsoft and their partners to share and develop new technologies. By doing so, Thecus® reinforces their reputation by having Windows show their clients that Thecus® is the number one choice when it comes to network attached storage solutions. Finally, Thecus® will be able to promote their affiliation with Microsoft by using the Windows Embedded Partner logo.

As a result of close work with Microsoft, Thecus® has launched the W series Windows Storage Servers. This new line of cost effective Windows-powered NAS offers users who are familiar with Windows Server with a more familiar interface for managing and protecting their essential business data. This appliance also offers new tools to manage and fulfill business needs.

Arrival of Full AMD Radeon™ HD 7000M Series Graphics Lineup

SUNNYVALE, Calif. - April 24, 2012 - AMD (NYSE: AMD) today introduced its full line of revolutionary mobile discrete graphics based on the company's acclaimed Graphics Core Next (GCN) architecture, which includes the AMD RadeonTM HD 7900M, HD 7800M, and HD 7700M Series GPUs.[i] New to the AMD Radeon HD 7000M Series is AMD EnduroTM technology[ii], the latest cutting-edge power solution from AMD which automatically and seamlessly switches between integrated graphics and the AMD RadeonTM discrete GPU, depending on system or application requirements - helping to maximize battery life without having to compromise performance. Based on the latest 28nm process technology, and fully equipped with DirectX® 11.1 support, the AMD Radeon HD 7000M Series of GPUs represent the most feature-rich mobile graphics launch since the company introduced its mobile product line.[iii]

"Three years ago AMD set out to push the graphics boundaries on notebook computers, and since then we've done exactly that with each of our mobile launches," said Matt Skynner, corporate vice president and general manager, GPU Division, AMD. "With our latest AMD Radeon HD 7000M Series GPUs, we've introduced one of AMD Graphics' most technologically advanced single-GPU notebook graphics processor ever, brought GCN to the mobile market, and introduced AMD Enduro technology, a cutting-edge solution that radically merges power efficiency with performance."

With the AMD Radeon HD 7900M Series graphics processors, ultra-enthusiasts can truly take gaming on the road, crank settings to the max and dominate their games wherever they set their notebook down. The AMD Radeon HD 7800M Series GPUs deliver exceptional performance and provide top-tier mobile experiences for those seeking to take advantage of the latest games and digital entertainment. The AMD Radeon HD 7700M Series is meant for those users demanding performance and power efficiency.

In addition to AMD Enduro technology, the AMD Radeon HD 7000M Series GPUs are also equipped with AMD power gating technology, which dynamically shuts down portions of the GPU when not in use, powering them back up when workloads increase, and AMD ZeroCore technology, which effectively powers the GPU down to a virtually zero-watt state when the AMD Radeon HD 7000M Series GPU switches to inactive mode.

Sophisticated style and refined sound with the CMT-V75BTiP and CMT-V50iP

Enhance your living space with a choice of new compact Hi-Fi systems featuring a dock for iPhone, iPod and iPad

• Sleek and stylish design that looks good anywhere in your home
• Built-in dock for iPhone, iPod and iPad gives you easy access to your digital playlists
• Innovative Magnetic Fluid speakers deliver crystal-clear, distortion-free sound

The complete package
From Elvis to Rihanna, looks and talent have always been a winning combination. And you’ll find this same star quality in the new CMT-V75BTiP and CMT-V50iP Hi-Fi systems from Sony.

With their sophisticated, minimalist design and high quality finish, these systems make a stylish addition to any room. Compact dimensions mean they’re easily portable too – so when the party inevitably moves into the kitchen, the music can follow.

As for sound quality, you won’t be disappointed. Thanks to the world's first Magnetic Fluid technology from Sony that creates crystal clear sound reproduction, the speakers are damperless, meaning less distortion and improved clarity – particularly in the mid-to-high range. Your favourite tracks have never sounded better.

What’s more, because there’s no damper, the speakers are even more slimline so the Hi-Fi systems’ design is sleeker and more compact.

Your music, your way
Got thousands of tracks on your iPhone, iPod or iPad? Just pop your Apple device into the Hi-Fi system’s built-in dock for instant access to your digital music library – no cables required.

The CMT-V75BTiP even features Bluetooth connectivity so you can stream music wirelessly from your iPhone or other Bluetooth-enabled devices. It also includes DAB and DAB+ radio, giving you access to a huge selection of digital radio stations.

Each system houses a CD player too, just in case you haven’t got round to digitising your collection yet. And the CMT-V50iP has USB connectivity so you can play music from memory sticks or hook up MP3 players and mobile phones using a USB cable.

Style and substance
“With the CMT-V50iP and CMT-V75BTiP Hi-Fi systems, we’ve paired iconic design with exceptional audio quality,” says Naoto Yoshioka, Product Manager of Home Audio Video Business at Sony Europe.

“These Hi-Fi systems not only offer exceptional depth and clarity of sound, they’re also elegant, beautiful objects in their own right. And with a range of intelligent features built in – for example, very few rival systems feature a dock that is iPad compatible – they’re the perfect blend of style and substance, form and function.”

New Boards on the Okobe.co.uk Pinterest Page

New Boards on the Okobe.co.uk Pinterest Page

http://pinterest.com/okobe/

XOLO X900, First Smartphone with Intel Inside Launches in India Market

XOLO X900 Brings the Best of Intel Computing to Mobile Users in India

XOLO X900 Smartphone from Lava International with Intel Inside®

New Delhi, India, April 19, 2012 – Intel Corporation and Lava International Ltd., one of India’s fastest-growing mobile handset companies, today announced the general availability of the XOLO X900, the first smartphone with Intel inside. The device will be available to customers for purchase beginning 23rd April at a best-buy street price of approximately INR 22000.

Lava also announced its long-term partnership with Croma, a national chain of mega stores of consumer electronics and durables, for promotion and sale of the XOLO X900.

The partnership between Intel and Lava was announced at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in February. The XOLO X900 is based on Intel’s smartphone reference design featuring the Intel® Atom™ processor Z2460 with Intel® Hyper Threading Technology and supporting HSPA+ 3G connectivity.

The high-performance 1.6 GHz Atom™ processor with Hyper Threading Technology brings speed and multi-tasking performance to consumers’ fingertips. The leading-edge 400 MHz graphics clock and the full 1080p HD video encoding and playback make this phone a perfect entertainment device, providing users with an immersive gaming and video experience. It also features an 8-megapixel camera delivering advanced imaging capabilities including burst mode that allows 10 pictures to be captured in under a second.

The XOLO X900 is housed in a sleek design with a 4.03-inch high-resolution LCD touch screen for crisp text and vibrant images. At launch, the X900 will run on Android Gingerbread*, with a planned over-the -air software upgrade to Android’s Ice Cream Sandwich* platform shortly thereafter. Intel’s technology enables a high-performance user experience, all while maintaining great battery life – up to 5 hours of 3G browsing, 45 hours of audio and 8 hours of talk time1.

“Through XOLO X900, we are happy to bring to the Indian market a device that addresses the needs of those for whom speed and performance matters. After our success in feature phones with over 10 million happy customers in under 3 years, XOLO will be a differentiated player in the fast-growing smartphone segment. The initial reviews of XOLO X900 have been very positive and independent benchmarks clearly point to the fact that when it comes to speed and performance, XOLO X900 is the gold standard,” said Vishal Sehgal, co-founder and director, Lava International.

“The first smartphone with Intel inside is now available to Indian consumers,” said Mike Bell, Intel corporate vice president and general manager of the Mobile and Communications Group. “The boundaries of personal computing are expanding. As we enter the India market with our first smartphone from Lava, the device not only showcases the rich capabilities and user benefits of Intel computing, but also highlights the exciting possibilities of what’s still to come.”

Commenting on the long-term strategic partnership with Lava, Ajit Joshi, MD and CEO, Infiniti Retail Limited, said “We at Croma are extremely pleased to collaborate with Intel and Lava to get this exciting new product into the market. We always endeavor to get the latest and best products first to our consumers and this is a step in that direction. We are very optimistic about the prospects of this exciting new product.”

OtterBox & OtterCares Promote Giving with Quarter-Million Dollar Donation

Fort Collins, COLO. — Over the span of just 24 days, OtterBox® employees donated more than a quarter of a million dollars and pledged over 1,000 hours of volunteer work during a giving challenge coordinated by the OtterCares® Foundation, the charitable arm of the Colorado case company.

On March 21, 2012 OtterBox employees each received a $200 grant certificate to kick off the “OtterCares Get it, Grow it, Give it Challenge” or the “G3 Challenge.” Employees were challenged to rise up and grow their donation to then give to a charity of their choice. They could grow the donation through fundraising, personal contributions, volunteer time or other creative ways.

At the end of last week, a total of $266,249.76 was donated to 156 charities. Of that total, over $214,000 was given to 76 organizations in Northern Colorado. The funds raised during this year’s campaign were more than double that of last year and easily surpassed OtterCares’ goal of $200,000.

Ingrained in the OtterBox culture at every level is the mantra, “To whom much is given, much is expected.” As a fast-growing Fort Collins, Colo. company, OtterBox is conscious of not only the ability, but the responsibility to enhance the communities in which they operate through charitable giving. OtterCares serves as an instrument of giving in the community for the booming case company as well as an outlet for employee volunteerism, offering opportunities to engage with initiatives like “G3.

“There are so many incredible stories of Otters working together for a common goal,” said Nancy Richardson, OtterCares founder and president. “We challenged employees to rise up and they responded with an incredible rally cry of enthusiasm and action.”

One group of OtterBox employees teamed up with other local businesses in support of Habitat for Humanity®. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, Brinkman Partners, Beck Total Office Interiors, IT Value Path, Kimball Office, Stucco Riter, Neuworks Mechanical, F&C Door, Air comfort, Gregory Electric, Ogelsby Designs, Masters Flooring and other individual contributors made donations of either time, materials or money. In addition to a $1,000 donation, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans will sponsor two build days for the team and other supporters.

Other Fort Collins businesses lent a helping hand by providing gift certificates and/or a location for fundraising events.

“These donations are a ‘thank you’ to those organizations that rise up to challenges every day,” Richardson said. “Many companies struggle with hard budgetary decisions today because of the economy. We have an opportunity to plant the seed in our employees and encourage giving outside of what we can do as a company and that’s the ultimate goal -- to watch generosity grow organically.”

Donations were hand-delivered to local non-profit organizations between Friday, April 13 and Monday, April 16, 2012.

GIGABYTE “Real Graphics, True Gaming” Tech Tour 2012

GeForce® GTX 680 SOC and high-end peripherals are going to be announced!

Taipei, Taiwan, April 18th, 2012 - GIGABYTE, a leading manufacturer of motherboards and graphics cards, is excited to kick off GIGABYTE "Real Graphics, True Gaming" Tech Tour 2012. GIGABYTE will start the Tech Tour from Taiwan on April 20th with an exciting announcement of several whole new products. As for last year, GIGABYTE presented a perfect gaming environment for hardcore gamers; this year, GIGABYTE is going to upgrade it even more!! With the latest 28nm fabrication process GeForce® GTX 680 GPU, GIGABYTE will unveil their own-designed GTX 680 Super Overclock Edition. Thanks for all the supports from gamers, GIGABYTE will also announce their new Aivia gaming keyboard and mouse, and wireless HD sync device during Tech Tour.

The tours are to promote the best products dedicated for serious gamers, especially new GIGABYTE's flagship GeForce GTX 680 Super Overclock SeriesTM, with innovative WINDFORCETM 5X cooling technology. To satisfy users who pursue higher performance with a larger screen when enjoying gaming and video entertainment, GIGABYTE will also introduce Aivia new gaming mouse "Krypton", the innovative new mechanical keyboard "Osmium" and the new product line of GIGABYTE peripherals - WHDI "SkyVision".

After successfully launching GIGABYTE Tech Tour from 2010, this year GIGABYTE still persists with the concept of "Real Graphics, True Gaming" to offer gamers a higher quality of gaming environment by GIGABYTE's best solutions. During Tech Tour 2012, GIGABYTE will communicate with worldwide manufactures, media, business partners, and users directly by traveling 11 major cities across 4 continents from April through May. The series events will start from Taiwan, and 10 more will be held in: Seoul (Korea), Moscow (Russia), Brno (CZ), Melbourne (Australia), Frankfurt (Germany), Tokyo (Japan), London (UK), Jakarta (Indonesia), Shanghai (China), and Bangkok (Thailand).

GIGABYTE Launches B75 Series Motherboards, Targeting Small Business Users with ‘Intel® Small Business Advantage’ Software Suite

Office and Home IT Management Made Easy

Taipei, Taiwan, April 16th 2012 - GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY Co. Ltd., a leading manufacturer of motherboards and graphics cards, today announced the launch of its GIGABYTE B75 series motherboards, designed to offer small business users a simple, easy to manage office IT infrastructure using the new and exclusive Intel® Small Business Advantage software suite.

"The GIGABYTE B75 series represents an exciting step up in GIGABYTE's commitment to Intel's business platforms, and we are investing significant company resources to promote broad adoption amongst our global customer base," commented Henry Kao, Vice President of GIGABYTE Motherboard Business Unit. "We plan to go to market on launch day with no less than 4 models that will be an integral part of our product portfolio as we believe the features offer an opportunity for our system integrator and retailer partners to differentiate their products and services with the elegant and easy-to-use Intel Small Business Advantage IT management system."

GIGABYTE B75 Series: Small Business Management Made Easy

GIGABYTE B75 motherboards are specifically designed to fill the gap between traditional entry-level products, and specialized business PCs. The Intel® B75 Express Chipset supports Intel 2nd and 3rd generation processors and is positioned between Intel® Q77 and Intel® H61 Express Chipsets, offering a sweet spot in terms of value and features.

Supporting the latest 22nm 3rd generation Intel® CoreTM processors codenamed Ivy Bridge, GIGABYTE B75 series motherboards utilize the Intel B75 Express Chipset, and are the first motherboards to be bundled with the latest Intel® Small Business Advantage software platform; a collection of free out-of-the-box software applications designed to make it easier than ever for small business users to manage and configure their IT infrastructure.

Intel® Small Business Advantage Features

Data Backup and Restore

This feature allows you to automatically wake up the PC and launch the Microsoft Backup and Restore application. This means that Backup and Restore sessions can be scheduled to run outside of the regular business hours, to minimize inconvenience and impact on employee productivity.

Energy Saver

Allowing the user quickly and easily set a power schedule for the computer, Energy Saver allows the computer to enter sleep mode at the end of business hours, and powered up just before the beginning of business hours, thus improving productivity and saving energy costs. After configuration, the computer will continue to power up and power down at the scheduled times, with no user intervention necessary.

PC Health Center

Lets Small Business owners quickly and easily schedule all maintenance tasks, including Windows updates, disk defragmentation, deletion of temporary Internet files and other temporary application files that can take up hard drive space. The PC Health Center application is able to wake up the computer and run the scheduled tasks, helping to simplify PC maintenance.

Software Monitor

Detects and monitors security-related applications that are installed on the computer; these include Microsoft Security Essentials, Norton 360, Kingsoft Antivirus Software, Trend Micro Worry-Free Business Security, McAfee Total Protection and Kaspersky Internet Security. If a monitored security application is disabled or attacked for any reason, Software Monitor sends an alert to tell the user that something has occurred. The user can also define which applications to monitor and how they want to be notified.

USB Blocker

Computers in a small business need protection from possible security threats caused by the increased use of USB ports and USB devices. The USB Blocker application allows you to quickly and easily define which USB devices can connect to the computer. Different categories of USB device can be identified (e.g. portable storage, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, smart phones etc), with specific rule configuration options available.

Unique GIGABYTE Features

Insist on Ultra DurableTM
GIGABYTE B75 series motherboards support the latest GIGABYTE Ultra DurableTM 4 technology, embracing a range of exclusive technologies that guarantee DIY PC builders the absolute best protection for their PC. Specific features prevent common malfunction threats including humidity and moisture, electro-static discharge, sudden power loss and high operating temperatures.

Humidity Protection

There is nothing more harmful to the longevity of your PC than moisture, and most parts of the world experience moisture in the air as humidity at some point during the year. GIGABYTE B75 series motherboards have been designed to make sure that humidity is never an issue, incorporating a new Glass Fabric PCB technology that repels moisture caused by humid and damp conditions. Using a new kind of PCB material which reduces the amount of space between the fiber weave, Glass Fiber PCB technology makes it more difficult for moisture to penetrate compared to traditional motherboard PCBs. This offers much better protection from short circuit and system malfunction caused by humid and damp conditions.

Electrostatic Protection

GIGABYTE B75 series motherboards use high quality IC microchips that are rated with higher electro-static discharge (ESD) resistance than traditional IC implementations. GIGABYTE Ultra DurableTM 4 motherboards use ICs with up to 3 times the ESD resistance levels compared to traditional ICs. This helps to better protect the motherboard, its components and the PC in general against potential damage caused by static electricity, a common threat to today's PCs.

Power Failure Protection

If your office experiences a sudden power outage for any reason, GIGABYTE B75 series motherboards are equipped to ensure that you won't be dealing with a fatal malfunction and use patented DualBIOSTM technology to provide fail safe protection for the BIOS on your motherboard, automatically refreshing your BIOS from a back up version in the case of a critical power outage.

GIGABYTE B75 motherboards also feature special anti-surge ICs that protect your motherboard, and your PC, from any surge in power delivery that may occur, helping to ensure that your PC is equipped to deal with any kind of irregular and inconsistent power delivery.

High Temperature Protection

GIGABYTE B75 series motherboards feature specially selected components that make your PC capable of higher temperatures in more extreme conditions, while at the same time preventing your PC from overheating. Using all solid capacitors for the GIGABYTE B75 series both reduces overall board temperatures while, making the motherboard more robust at higher temperatures. The choice of Lower RDS(on) MOSFETs also helps to reduce operating temperatures significantly compared to traditional MOSFET solutions. These component technologies combine to guarantee enhanced longevity and stability for your PC.

On/Off Charge

GIGABYTE B75 motherboards feature GIGABYTE's exclusive On/Off Charge technology. A derivative of GIGABYTE's highly acclaimed 3x USB Power feature, On/Off Charge technology allows iPhone, iPad and iPod touch devices to draw more current from GIGABYTE motherboard USB ports than standard USB ports allow, with the added benefit that the PC can be on, in standby mode or even off. Many mobile devices can be charged via a desktop PC's USB ports as long as the system is connected to an active power source, however this is not the case with the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. Even when the PC is being used and charging is enabled, these devices usually only draw a mere 0.5A for a trickle charge that can take 3 hours or more to fully charge the device. The benefits of GIGABYTE On/Off Charge are that users can reduce their charge time by around 40% while also acting responsibly and shutting down their PC system while it is not in use, e.g. while they sleep.


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Acer Reveals the K130 Travel Projector - Unique technology improves brightness, color, and light-source lifetime

Manno

Extremely light and ultra-compact, the ultra-portable projector K130 is so small it can even fit in a pocket or allow users to project vibrant visuals from just one hand.

Perfect for mobile users looking for an easy-to-carry, light and compact device, the Acer K130 weighs less than half a kilo and measures 140 x 116 x 41 mm, around half the size of an A4 paper. This high portability is complemented by a glamorous glossy white casing that portrays refined elegance. For ease of use the control pad is embedded on the sleek surface.

All the same, it ensures a remarkable performance for such a small projector.

The 300 ANSI Lumens brightness combined with a Dynamic Black™ 10,000:1 contrast ratio brings crisp, vibrant images and high impact projection performance. The native 1280x800 WXGA resolution, supporting up to full HD 1920X1080 resolution, renders ultra-sharp images and great looking presentations and permits the reproduction of high definition content. The K130 is extremely silent, too: just 29dBA in Eco Mode.

The K130 comes with USB and HDMI ports as well as a SD card reader, meaning you can easily connect it to your digital devices as well as share multimedia and office file directly from a SD card or a USB flash disc with no need to carry a notebook or a video player along. What’s more, this projector lets users enjoy the thrill of big screen entertainment on many levels. For a totally immersive three-dimensional experience the projector is DLP 3D ready, thus enabling users to watch any 3D content by wearing DLP 3D glasses. The optional USB Wireless Adapter allows a wireless projection from WiFi smartphone or Tablet with Mobishow and Equiview Application)

This projector is the proof of Acer commitment to creating greener, more environmentally friendly products, LED lamp technology is free of hazardous substances such as mercury or halogen gases and compared to a traditional lamp can reduce power consumption.

The K130 projector also features Acer EcoProjection, a complete environment-friendly power management solution. It includes ExtremeECO mode, a world leading technology that enables advanced lamp power control allowing to reduce the projector consumption up to 70%. Also featured in the Acer EcoProjection suite is Acer ePower Management for customized power-saving configurations.

AMD to Power TELUS’ New Virtual Private Cloud

AMD OpteronTM Processors Offer Significant Power/Performance Per-Dollar Benefits

SUNNYVALE, Calif. - April 17, 2012 - AMD (NYSE: AMD) today announced that TELUS (TSX: T, T.A; NYSE: TU), a leading Canadian telecommunications company, has chosen AMD OpteronTM processors to power its latest offering, the TELUS AgilIT Virtual Private Cloud. The TELUS AgilIT Virtual Private Cloud, announced today, offers AMDs' immense processing capabilities at outstanding power/performance per-dollar.

TELUS chose AMD OpteronTM 6100 Series processors as well as the new AMD OpteronTM 6200 Series processors, which are based on the high-throughput core formerly codenamed "Bulldozer", to power its cloud. AMD's high-performance server processors are ideal to help TELUS deliver computing resources on-demand across three world-class data centers located in Canada.

"In a data center, performance per-watt per-dollar is the most important metric used to calculate the true cost of a processor," said Tony Krueck, vice president of Business Products and Services, TELUS. "In our evaluation, our AMD-based servers use less power than comparable x86 solutions for the same workload, and are dramatically less expensive. And of course less power requires less cooling, adding even more savings to the equation. AMD was an obvious and easy choice."

"AMD Opteron processors are helping TELUS deliver a high performance, energy-efficient cloud solution," said Vladimir Rozanovich, vice president, North America Commercial Business, AMD. "AMD server solutions continue to be recognised by leading cloud providers, including TELUS, as a superior and efficient choice to deliver the services their customers demand in a cost effective way."

The TELUS AgilIT Virtual Private Cloud service allows businesses of all sizes access to on-demand computing resources, with a powerful, full-featured portal providing 24x7 remote access to their cloud, and a centralised view of cloud-based activity.

Sony gets you into the Summer spirit

Essential Sony products for your perfect Summer holiday

What would holidays be without great photos and videos?

To help you capture those precious holiday memories with fun and creative features, Sony has the right camera for you.

For those seeking the convenience of a slim and lightweight camera but with great quality, the Cyber-shot™ DSC-HX20 offers an amazing and powerful zoom (20x optical) matched with creative feature options.

For the ultimate in portable shooting, the NEX-5N will let you explore your creative side with its compact size and easy to use features. The range of interchangeable lenses help you shoot pro quality results on the move.

Timing is everything so take perfect pictures every time with the SLT-A57. The fast shooting speed (up to 12 frames per seconds) combined with a continuous autofocus ensures you’ll never miss those holiday moments. Complement your photo skills with the new Auto Portrait Framing that allows you to effortlessly create pro-style portraits of your friends or family.

Want to shoot one moment and share the next? The Handycam® HDR-PJ260 with built-in projector has what it takes for shooting great HD quality videos that are steadier than ever, with the sharpest quality and clearest sound. Then all you need to do is dim the lights and project on any white surface to turn any exotic place into your own home cinema room.

And now there’s no fear of losing those precious memories thanks to the x-ray-shock, water- and temperature-resistant SDHC memory cards. Ideal for fast shooting and quick transfer, there are no more worries of losing your shots thanks to the File Rescue software.

Share your images and videos with friends and family using the colourful (pink or green) USB Microvault style or simply upload them to Sony’s new cloud-based service PlayMemories Online.

Enjoy outdoors and being on the move during your summer holidays

What greater moment than relaxing by the pool with a book on your holiday? You won't run out of books and you won't have to cram them into your suitcase if you take the super thin and light Reader™ Wi-Fi® PRS-T1. The clear and glare-free display makes it easy to read for hours even in direct sunlight, and with the advanced touchscreen you can turn pages smoothly, pinch zoom in and out, look up words in dictionaries or even directly access Google™ and Wikipedia®.

Complement this ideal holiday experience by playing your favourite music with the RDPV20IP speakers (also acts as dock /charger for iPhone and iPod). Fully portable thanks to its internal battery and remote control, you can take it everywhere with you, whether relaxing by the pool or enjoying a barbecue with friends, you can enjoy your favourite tunes with the balanced 3600 Circle Sound.

Postcards are nice, but don't forget the Sony Tablet™ S. Keep your friends and family posted about your holiday and don't let those lovely photos and video clips just sit in your camera. Simply slip your camera’s SD card into Sony Tablet and start sharing from the detail-packed touchscreen. Besides staying connected, music, videos and games are also at your fingertips. Sony Tablet connects you with an exciting world of immersive online entertainment from Sony Entertainment Network and PlayStation® Network. 

Listen to your music and watch your videos in comfort thanks to the XBA-NC85D headphones. Small and light, these amazing noise-cancelling headphones let you enjoy an immersive noise-free environment with optimum sound quality while travelling.

Isn’t it the most annoying thing when on the move you run out of battery, whether on your phone or your music player? Simply take along the portable and convenient CP-ELS USB power supply to use on the go and never again wish you had a plug by your side. Recharge anywhere and anytime up to one complete charge of your Smartphone.

WD® VelociRaptor® hard drive reaches new performance peak

10,000 RPM, 2.5-inch, 6 Gb/s SATA Hard Drive Gets Performance and Capacity Boost to Offer the Ultimate Storage Experience for Demanding PC Enthusiasts

Western Digital® (NYSE: WDC), today announced it is now shipping the new WD VelociRaptor® 1 TB hard drive, the latest addition to its award-winning drive family, the largest capacity 10,000 RPM hard drive on the market today. Designed for high-performance PCs, Mac® computers and professional workstations that require a balance of high performance and capacity, the WD VelociRaptor drive is a favourite among enthusiasts and creative professionals. The WD VelociRaptor will also come in capacities of 500 GB and 250 GB.

Leveraging enterprise-class mechanics to provide 24x7 durability under high-performance workloads, the new WD VelociRaptor 1 TB hard drive is geared for creative professionals who demand the ultimate SATA drive. Creative pros use write-intensive applications that manage large, dynamic files; for example, video editing and digital content creation and management, which ultimately put a strain on storage devices that utilise write-challenged NAND memory for performance enhancement. WD VelociRaptor's outstanding read and write performance across the entire disk capacity make it a perfect match for the creative professional and enthusiast who want to optimise their tools, enhance productivity, and increase storage space at the same time.

"WD is committed to providing customers with the best performing and most reliable SATA hard drives and our WD VelociRaptor family of drives underscores that promise," said Darwin Kauffman, vice president and general manager of WD's enterprise storage. "With ever-increasing demand for greater capacity, the new 1 TB WD VelociRaptor drive delivers the ultimate combination of speed and storage for the power user."

The WD VelociRaptor 2.5-inch hard drive comes in the IcePackTM enclosure, a 3.5-inch mounting frame with built-in heat sink - a factory customization that fits the drive into a standard 3.5-inch system bay and keeps the powerful drive extra cool when installed in a high-performance desktop or workstation system.

AMD to Power TELUS’ New Virtual Private Cloud

AMD OpteronTM Processors Offer Significant Power/Performance Per-Dollar Benefits

SUNNYVALE, Calif. - April 17, 2012 - AMD (NYSE: AMD) today announced that TELUS (TSX: T, T.A; NYSE: TU), a leading Canadian telecommunications company, has chosen AMD OpteronTM processors to power its latest offering, the TELUS AgilIT Virtual Private Cloud. The TELUS AgilIT Virtual Private Cloud, announced today, offers AMDs' immense processing capabilities at outstanding power/performance per-dollar.

TELUS chose AMD OpteronTM 6100 Series processors as well as the new AMD OpteronTM 6200 Series processors, which are based on the high-throughput core formerly codenamed "Bulldozer", to power its cloud. AMD's high-performance server processors are ideal to help TELUS deliver computing resources on-demand across three world-class data centers located in Canada.

"In a data center, performance per-watt per-dollar is the most important metric used to calculate the true cost of a processor," said Tony Krueck, vice president of Business Products and Services, TELUS. "In our evaluation, our AMD-based servers use less power than comparable x86 solutions for the same workload, and are dramatically less expensive. And of course less power requires less cooling, adding even more savings to the equation. AMD was an obvious and easy choice."

"AMD Opteron processors are helping TELUS deliver a high performance, energy-efficient cloud solution," said Vladimir Rozanovich, vice president, North America Commercial Business, AMD. "AMD server solutions continue to be recognised by leading cloud providers, including TELUS, as a superior and efficient choice to deliver the services their customers demand in a cost effective way."

The TELUS AgilIT Virtual Private Cloud service allows businesses of all sizes access to on-demand computing resources, with a powerful, full-featured portal providing 24x7 remote access to their cloud, and a centralised view of cloud-based activity.

TIPA awards 2012: Triple wins for Sony

Sony expertise once again receives accolades from the imaging industry

BEST DSLR ADVANCED: SLT-A65
BEST CSC EXPERT: NEX-7
BEST IMAGING STORAGE MEDIA: XQD memory cards

The prestigious Technical Image Press Association has once again recognised Sony’s innovation in the digital imaging industry.

Sony’s SLT-A65, which won ‘Best DSLR Advanced’, especially impressed the judges of this year TIPA Awards “with the Camera’s OLED (and world’s first) electronic viewfinder quality with “real time” camera adjustment previews.” They state that “This impressive viewing experience (2359k dots) represents a breakthrough in ultra-high resolution clarity.” In addition to that feature the TIPA members highlighted that “Combining innovation with a class-high 24.3 MP sensor, the SLT-A65’s Translucent Mirror Technology enables 10 frames-per-second shooting at full resolution and Live View with phase detection focusing capability, available in all modes including HD Movie.” “The camera also offers three HD movie modes, including rich 25p and smooth 50p capability, all at Full HD resolution. For web videographers, the SLT-A65 allows users to shoot MP4 videos as well.”

Meanwhile, in the eyes of TIPA members, the NEX-7 compact system camera brings together excellent image quality with a responsive, exciting photographic experience. When talking about why the NEX-7 won the ‘Best CSC Expert’ awards, the TIPA judges cited: “The NEX-7 is a compact interchangeable lens camera that aims to provide the same quality as an expert reflex camera. It has the same 24 MP sensor as the SLT-A77 expert reflex while retaining compact size and offering a convenient, OLED-type EVF articulating monitor. Its elegant design, complemented by metal construction, sets it apart from other models. Offering numerous special effects modes, such as Sweep Panorama and Auto HDR, the camera can capture up to 10 frames per second, plus offers numerous HD movie options.”

Finally, the XQD memory card which won ‘Best Imaging Storage Media’, received the judges citation as follow: “Sony’s XQD Memory Cards are made for the demanding needs of today’s pro still and DSLR videographers. Offering read/write speeds of up to 125 MB per second (currently, when used with the Nikon D4s), the card can record approximately 100 RAW images in continuous shooting mode.” TIPA members also stressed that they “were also impressed by the card’s rugged construction and inset pins as well as the PCIe interface and controller that outperforms any conventional CompactFlash card.”

SLT-A65

The Translucent Mirror camera range has welcomed a new A-mount model appealing especially to advanced and serious photo enthusiasts. The α65 allows impressive high speed shooting (10fps) and continuous autofocus crisper and more responsive than ever for shooting moving subjects, whether in full HD videos or stills.

Not only is the α65 amongst the quickest cameras in its class, but it also provides impressive image quality with 24.3 effective megapixel resolution and broad sensitivity of ISO (100-16000). The electronic viewfinder brings the incredible option of previewing how the photo will actually appear so that you never have to take a photo over and over again to reach your ideal shot.

NEX-7

The NEX-7 takes the compact interchangeable lens camera to another level offering professional quality results in the body of a compact camera. Styled in magnesium alloy for strength and premium looks and weighing just 291g (body only), the NEX-7 combines the most advanced technical features to deliver an ultra rapid shooting response, highly responsive autofocus and flawless image quality with ultra low noise. Creative settings will help complement photography skills with 11 modes and 15 effects.

Enjoy even more freedom in your creativity thanks to full manual control and fully customizable control dials via the intuitive new TRINAVI control. New functions, such as the manual focus when shooting Full HD movies in 25p or 50p as well as the XGA OLED TruFinder, make it an ideal professional quality camera.

New iPad Arrives in South Korea & 11 Additional Countries This Week

CUPERTINO, California―April 16, 2012―Apple® today announced the new iPad®, the third generation of its category defining mobile device, will arrive in South Korea and 11 additional countries on Friday, April 20. The new iPad features a stunning new Retina™ display, Apple’s new A5X chip with quad-core graphics and a 5 megapixel iSight® camera with advanced optics for capturing amazing photos and 1080p HD video. The new iPad still delivers the same all-day 10 hour battery life* while remaining amazingly thin and light.

In addition to South Korea, the new iPad also will be available beginning on Friday, April 20 in Brunei, Croatia, Cyprus, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Malaysia, Panama, St Maarten, Uruguay and Venezuela. Beginning on Friday, April 27, the new iPad will be available in Colombia, Estonia, India, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, South Africa and Thailand.

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AMD and PTC® Team Up to Provide Advanced Graphics Performance in Creo® Parametric 2.0

AMD FireProTM is the Only Professional Graphics Card to Exclusively Support the New GPU-Accelerated Transparency Functionality in PTC Creo Parametric 2.0 Providing up to 900% Performance Increases

SUNNYVALE, Calif. - April 12, 2012 - AMD (NYSE: AMD) today announced its collaboration with PTC, a leading provider of product development software solutions and services, to enable 900%[ 1] faster performance in 3D transparency in PTC Creo Parametric 2.0 and shaded 3D frame rates and interactivity by over 4X on AMD FirePro professional graphics cards [2]. In addition, the AMD CatalystTM Pro driver supports optimisations to ensure AMD FirePro professional graphics cards enable winning performance, reliability and workflow innovation for Creo users at virtually every AMD FirePro professional graphics card price point.

"The latest AMD FirePro professional graphics cards and drivers have been specifically engineered to enhance the productivity of PTC Creo Parametric 2.0 users," said Antoine Reymond, senior strategic alliance manager, Workstation Graphics, AMD. "Technical designers rely on software and hardware tools to optimise their workflow and enable them to effectively design without performance bottlenecks. Our collaboration with PTC helps ensure design professionals using AMD FirePro professional graphics cards will experience a significant boost in performance, resulting in superior productivity and design intuition."

Through this collaborative process, AMD and PTC developed an ultra-fast GPU-accelerated 3D transparency mode for Creo Parametric 2.0, as well as GPU-accelerated OpenGL functions, which deliver always-on 3D interactivity increases for Creo users. For design professionals using PTC Creo Parametric 2.0, these innovations are designed to improve decision-making effectiveness, increase workflow efficiencies and build overall awareness throughout the design process.

"PTC and the AMD FirePro team have collaborated to deliver Creo graphics performance and workflow optimisations to help designers create, innovate and deliver products that meet their customers' needs," said Brian Thompson, vice president, MCAD Product Management at PTC. "The new performance enhancements in Creo Parametric 2.0 include GPU-accelerated transparency and 3D viewport performance enhancements. AMD FirePro professional performance-optimised graphics cards and drivers help users fully realise the power of Creo 2.0."

Buffalo Launches Interactive Online Game

London, UK - 11th April, 2012 - Buffalo Technology, the storage and wireless networking manufacturer, is today launching Buffalo Connected, a browser-based game that rewards players with discount codes and lets them earn their place on the leader board.

In the game players are challenged to connect different hardware devices to successfully transfer data between them. Buffalo Connected is designed to celebrate the connectivity of Buffalo's products, showcasing the storage and wireless portfolio.

Within the game, different scenarios are represented where Buffalo users connect to retrieve data; in the home, at the office or on the move. Players can share their high scores via Facebook and Twitter and challenge friends and family to join them on the leader board. The game increases in difficulty as you progress through the nine levels.

The game can be accessed via all mobile devices (including iPhones, Androids and iPads) and is supported by all latest web browsers.

Paul Hudson, Sales Director for Northern Europe at Buffalo Technology said: "We hope newcomers and existing advocates of Buffalo's products enjoy playing Buffalo Connected and that they take advantage of the discount codes that successful players will be rewarded with."

Buffalo will be showcasing the game at The Gadget Show Live 2012 at Birmingham NEC from April 11-15 when the show is open to the public.

Thecus® TopTower NAS Series Expands Opportunities

Thecus® rises up, rackmount performance within a tower design

04/11/2012 - Not everyone can possess a rackmount NAS. If you don't have the specific infrastructure, it's not really convenient. However, it's apparent that everyone requires more and more storage space and file sharing! That's why Thecus® came out with a brand new tower series with 6, 8 and 10-bay NAS. Each has been designed to be flexible and ideal for specific business network architecture.

TopTower N6850: Versatile Storage Solution

Thecus® is known for releasing NAS of uncommon size to meet customers' needs. Between the already best-selling N5200XXX and the famous N7700 series, the N6850 perfectly fills the gap.

Featuring an Intel® Pentium® G620 Dual-Core 2.6GHz and 2GB of RAM, this NAS can pile up to 18TB of data capacity. With this power, advanced RAID levels such as RAID10 or RAID50 can be enabled and won't suffer from CPU lag: not only is your data more secure, but transfers are even faster!

Ideal for multi-users, the N6850 is a premium choice for SMB users willing to centralize their data.

TopTower N8850: Perfect Balance

The previously released N8900 has been acclaimed by the press and Thecus® received a lot of positive feedback. Except one slight issue: what if I need more power in a tower form factor?

Problem solved! The N8850 is an 8-bay tower NAS embedding an Intel® Core TM i3 and 4GB of RAM. This unit is perfect for demanding businesses requiring frequent and simultaneous tasks at high speeds.

TopTower N10850: Behold Raw Power

The biggest Thecus® tower NAS by far, the N10850 is here to answer multiple needs within your enterprise, while centralizing all the requests and applications.

To do so, Thecus® equipped it with no less than an Intel® Xeon® E3 Quad-Core 3.1GHz and 4GB of RAM, which already performs well on the N12000V and N16000V. It's not a dream: power before was limited only to servers inside datacenters but now it's accessible in a simple tower NAS!

Hosting virtual-machines, application serving for dozen of users, web hosting, heavy backup operation, advanced RAID levels, and so on. The TopTower NAS Series has been designed to bring what's best in the most convenient format!

Different Yet Similar

The TopTower NAS Series are all 10Gb Ethernet ready and include USB 3.0 slots to eliminate possible bottlenecks. Featuring HDMI output, touch panel convenience, 10GBASE-T, this series is ideal for heavy data management utilizing transfer speeds of 10GbE. In addition, they all benefit from the McAfee® AntiVirus and provide the necessary software protection by scanning the files on your NAS and defending it against possible threats.

Kaspersky Lab Announces Kaspersky Flashfake Removal

Abingdon, UK, 11 April 2012 - In response to the recent discovery of the Flashfake botnet, which has infected 670,000 computers worldwide, Kaspersky Lab has announced the availability of its free Kaspersky Flashfake Removal Tool. Users can check if they're infected with Flashfake by visiting Kaspersky Lab's safe verification site, and can remove it using the Kaspersky Flashfake Removal Tool.

Kaspersky Lab's experts recently analysed the Flashfake botnet and found a total of 670,000 infected computers worldwide, with more than 98% of the computers most likely running Mac OS X. It is anticipated that the other 2% of machines running the Flashfake bot are very likely to be Macs as well. This is the largest Mac-based infection to date, with the largest number of victims targeting developed countries. The United States had the most infected computers (300,917) followed by Canada (94,625), the United Kingdom (47,109) and Australia (41,600). Other infected countries included France (7,891), Italy (6,585), Mexico (5,747), Spain (4,304), Germany (4,021) and Japan (3,864).

On 6 April Kaspersky Lab's researchers reverse-engineered the Flashfake malware and registered several domain names which could be used by criminals as a Command & Control (C&C) server for managing the botnet. This method enabled them to analyse the communications between infected computers and the C&Cs. By connecting to Flashfake, Kaspersky Lab's experts are able to continuously monitor the botnet's communication with active bots and have published their findings here.

Throughout the Bank Holiday weekend Kaspersky Lab experts saw a decline in the number of active bots: on 6 April the total number was 650,748. At the end of 8 April, the number of active bots was 237,103. However, the rapid decrease in infected bots does not mean the botnet is shrinking at the same rate. The statistics represent the number of active bots connected to Flashfake over the weekend - it is not the equivalent of the exact number of infected machines. Infected computers that were inactive over the weekend would not have communicated with Flashfake, thus they would not have appeared as an infected bot.

Flashfake is a family of OS X malware that first appeared in September 2011. Previous variants of the malware relied on cyber criminals using social engineering techniques to trick users into downloading the malicious program and installing it in their systems. However, this latest version of Flashfake does not require any user-interaction and is installed via a "drive-by download," which occurs when victims unwittingly visit infected websites, allowing the Trojan to be downloaded directly onto their computers through the Java vulnerabilities. Although Oracle issued a patch for this vulnerability three months ago, Apple delayed in sending a security update to its customer base until 2 April. Users who have not updated their systems with the latest security should install and update immediately to avoid infection.

"The three month delay in sending a security update was a bad decision on Apple's part," said Kaspersky Lab's Chief Security Expert, Alexander Gostev. "There are a few reasons for this. First, Apple doesn't allow Oracle to patch Java for Mac. They do it themselves, usually several months later. This means the window of exposure for Mac users is much longer than PC users. This is especially bad news since Apple's standard AV update is a rudimentary affair which only adds new signatures when a threat is deemed large enough. Apple knew about this Java vulnerability for three months, and yet neglected to push through an update in all that time! The problem is exacerbated because - up to now - Apple has enjoyed a mythical reputation for being ‘malware free'. Too many users are unaware that their computers have been infected, or that there is a real threat to Mac security."

WD® ships slim, energy-efficient hard drive for Ultrabook™ devices

New 7 mm 2.5-inch Mobile Hard Drive Delivers Lowest Power Consumption in the Industry

Western Digital® (NYSE: WDC), a worldwide storage leader, today announced it is shipping the WD Scorpio® BlueTM 7 mm hard drive, the latest addition to its mobile hard drive family and the 2.5-inch drive with the lowest power consumption on the market today. Specified to a best-in-class 400Gs shock tolerance, the new single-platter WD Scorpio Blue small form factor hard drives are available in 500 GB and 320 GB capacities and the drives' compatibility with industry-standard 9.5 mm slots make them ideal storage options for mainstream notebooks as well as slimmer notebook and UltrabookTM devices that require a 7 mm drive height.

"Consumers want thin and light personal computers, but the limited storage capacity of SSD-based notebooks forces them to pick and choose what files to bring from their library," said Matt Rutledge, vice president and general manager for WD client storage products. "With the release of the new WD Scorpio Blue 7 mm mobile hard drives, WD is able to offer capacity, reliability and data-protection features combined with excellent power management all in a slim form factor perfect for thin and light notebooks."

Features of the new WD Scorpio Blue 7 mm hard drives include:
Low power consumption -Advanced power management features and algorithms optimise the way the drive seeks data, which significantly improves power consumption.
Shock Tolerance- WD's ShockGuardTM technology, now increased to a best-in-market 400Gs shock specification, protects the drive mechanics and platter surfaces from shocks.
Cool and quiet -In a notebook drive, silence is golden. WD's exclusive WhisperDriveTM technology enables quiet performance.
Reliable -WD's SecureParkTM parks the recording heads off the disk surface during spin up, spin down, and when the drive is off. This ensures the recording head never touches the disk surface resulting in improved long term reliability due to less head wear, and improved non-operational shock tolerance.
Compatibility Tested -WD performs tests on hundreds of systems and a multitude of platforms in its FIT LabTM and Mobile Compatibility Lab to give customers confidence that drives will work in specific systems.

Kingston Digital Expands USB 3.0 Flash Drive Product Line

Impressive USB 3.0 performance at best value
USB 3.0 performance at an affordable price
Ideal for rapid large file transfers
Sleek,caplessretractable design

Sunbury -On- Thames, UK -- April 11th, 2012 -- Kingston Digital Europe Ltd, an affiliate of Kingston Technology Company Inc., the independent world leader in memory products, today announced the Kingston® DataTraveler® Elite 3.0. The DataTraveler Elite 3.0 is based on the USB 3.0 standard and is an economical choice for consumers looking for fast data transfers, enabling users to store and transfer their digital library quickly.

"As consumers store and carry more HD video, digital artwork, music and presentations, faster devices are required to keep pace with one's digital lifestyle," says Krystian Jaroszynski, Product Marketing Manager, Flash, Kingston Digital Europe. "The new DataTraveler Elite with USB 3.0 technology adds to our USB 3.0 family range and is the perfect solution for those who require faster transfer speeds, without breaking the budget."

The DataTraveler Elite 3.0 helps consumers save time. For example, in internal testing, DataTraveler Elite 3.0 was approximately two times faster than a standard USB 2.0 Flash drive copying over 22GB worth of data. The testing was done with a single Blu-rayTM movie, over 10,000 photos and more than 4,000 songs.

The DataTraveler Elite 3.0 is backwards compatible with USB 2.0. Available in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB capacities,DataTraveler Elite 3.0 features a sleek, capless and retractable design to protect the USB connector, allowing users to keep the drive with them at all times as it can be easily attached to a key ring or lanyard.

KYOCERA, IHI, MIZUHO Corporate Bank Reach Basic Agreement to Build & Operate 70MW Solar Power Plant in Japan

New business model to be established with 25 billion yen investment
10 April 2012 - Kyoto / Neuss − Kyocera Corporation (herein “Kyocera”), IHI Corporation (herein “IHI”) and Mizuho Corporate Bank, Ltd. (herein “Mizuho CB”) today announced that the three companies have reached a basic agreement to construct a 70-megawatt (MW) solar power plant in southern Japan and to further explore a business model for utility-scale solar power generation. The “mega-solar plant” is being built to help solve Japan’s power supply issues caused by the effects of the Great East Japan Earthquake, and to make a contribution to environmental protection, including the reduction of CO2 emissions.

To be built in Kagoshima City (Kagoshima Prefecture), the solar power project is being undertaken by combining the strengths of the three companies: Kyocera utilizing its more than 35 years of experience in the solar business; IHI implementing its proactive stance on promoting the increased use of renewable energy; and Mizuho CB applying its wide-ranging finance knowledge.

Within the agreement, the Kyocera Group will be responsible for the supply of 100% of the solar modules and part of the construction & maintenance of the system; IHI will lease the land and actively participate in the operation of the project; and Mizuho CB will devise a financing plan for the project. Furthermore, a special-purpose company will be established to undertake the business operation of the mega-solar plant, with Kyocera planning to become the largest shareholder. In the process of exploring the feasibility of the new business, Kyocera and IHI have enlisted the support of and plan to get cooperation for investment in the special-purpose company from KDDI Corporation; Kyudenko Corporation; Kagoshima Bank, Ltd.; Takenaka Corporation and others.

With the cooperation of the Kagoshima prefectural and municipal governments and others in the local area, the companies seek to both revitalize the local area, and through the spread of renewable energy use, to contribute to the preservation of the environment and the advancement of society.

The planned site of the solar power plant is approximately 1,270,000m² (approx. 314 acres) of land owned by IHI. The total project cost is estimated at approximately 25 billion yen (approx. EUR 234 million*1), with construction to commence in July of this year.

Plans for the plant include exclusive use of approximately 290,000 Kyocera multicrystalline solar modules, with a total capacity of 70MW, becoming the largest officially announced solar power plant in Japan. The planned 70MW of solar power generation is equal to almost 40% of the total amount of public/industrial-use solar power equipment shipped domestically in CY2011*2. The approximately 79,000MWh of annual electricity generated will provide the equivalent power for roughly 22,000 average households*3, and will help to offset roughly 25,000 tons of CO2 per year*4.

Expectations and interest in solar energy have heightened to a new level in Japan with the planned July 1 start of a revamped feed-in tariff (FIT) program and the need to resolve power supply issues caused by the effects of the Great East Japan Earthquake. Under these circumstances the three companies have reached this basic agreement as they believe that it is their corporate responsibility to proactively tackle environmental problems.

Intel, Beijing Municipal Government and Chinese Academy Of Sciences Establish 'Internet of Things' Joint Research

INTEL DEVELOPER FORUM, Beijing, April 11, 2012 – Intel Corporation announced today a joint agreement with the Beijing Municipal Government and Institute of Automation of Chinese Academy of Sciences to establish "China Intel Internet of Things" (IoT) Joint Labs to collaborate on IoT-related core technology research, development and business model innovation. The three organizations will invest 200 million RMB (US$31.7 million) over the next 5 years.

IoT is a global technology evolution through which data from billions of devices are seamlessly connected, intelligently managed and securely interacting over a network. This enables people, devices and systems to turn data into useful information and valued services.

The foundation of the joint research will address the core technologies associated with IoT including sensing, networking and processing, among others that will help address computing, storage and communication challenges of massive-scale systems derived from the large amounts of data gathered.

Tan Tieniu, director of National Laboratory of Pattern Recognition Institute of Automation of Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Jesse Fang, vice president of Intel Labs and managing director of Intel Labs China, were named co-presidents of the China Intel IoT Joint Labs.

"The China Intel IoT joint labs is the largest of its kind that Intel has participated in research collaboration in China, and it is unique in that Intel not only contributed funding but also employees as dedicated senior research leaders," said Fang. "New applications from personalized energy management to smart traffic control to smart cities will be made possible by the research conducted at these labs."

Get that fresh new look for spring with VAIO E Series 14P from Sony

Chic notebook PC with stylish colour accents for everyday multimedia computing

Stylish new ‘wrap-around’ design with colourful accents
Enjoy sound loud and clear with xLOUD, Clear Phase and Dolby Home Theatre V4
Backlit keyboard and large multi-gesture touchpad
Energy-efficient design with long battery life, performance hybrid graphics and Rapid Wake + Eco

Everyone can express their personal style this spring with VAIO E Series 14P – the 35.5cm (14”) notebook from Sony that’s made for smarter, easier everyday computing.

At home, on campus or carried easily to the nearest café, new VAIO E Series stands out from the crowd with its soft, discreetly reassuring ‘wrap-around’ design. Three fresh colours – white, black or pink – are accented by complementary colour flourishes around the notebook’s edge, lid, touchpad and keyboard. Chic, individual credentials are emphasized further by the aluminium speaker bezel.

The comfortably-spaced isolation keyboard features a handy backlight for error-free late-night typing. It’s activated by an ambient light sensor that also dims screen brightness to conserve power in low-light conditions.

The generously-sized multi-gesture touchpad offers a large clickable surface for intuitive, ‘button-free’ control. There’s plenty of space to navigate pages, edit photos and more with fingertip scroll, flick, pinch/zoom and pivot movements.

Brand-new to VAIO, Gesture Control lets you interact with your computer using intuitive hand movements. Just hold your hand up in front of the web camera and swipe left or right to flick though web pages or your photo gallery. Pull your hand down to pause music playback or a slideshow, or adjust music volume up or down with ‘rotate’ movements. Gesture Control is currently supported by Windows® Media Player, Internet Explorer® 9, PowerPoint® and PowerDVD.

Video chats are clearer and crisper with the built-in HD web camera powered by ‘Exmor for PC’. Friends and family will enjoy seeing you with sharper details, higher contrast and rich colours: even in low light where other web cameras struggle with grainy, fuzzy images.

New VAIO E Series 14P gives you effortlessly clear, sparkling sound to match its good looks. Unique to Sony, xLOUDTM and Clear PhaseTM technologies boost volume levels without distortion for impressive-sounding movies and games. Alternatively, switch to Dolby® Home Theatre® V4 for rich, cinema-style audio – whether you’re listening through built-in speakers, external loudspeakers or headphones.

At work or play, the energy-smart design of VAIO E Series keeps you up and running for longer. With battery life of up to 7 hours1, there’s plenty of power for note-taking in lectures, followed by some ‘me time’ surfing or after-hours social networking.

Hybrid graphics use a dedicated GPU for demanding applications like games, video and photo editing. For less intensive tasks VAIO automatically switches off the dedicated GPU to boost battery life. Endurance is stretched even further by the efficient VAIO Display and energy-efficient processors, plus an on-board optical drive that shuts down to zero power consumption when it’s not needed.

Can’t afford to hang around? With new Rapid Wake + Eco, you’re ready for action in moments. This energy-saving mode puts VAIO into an ultra-low power deep sleep, keeping all your data safe for up to ten days2. Open the PC’s lid and you’re up and running in seconds, with all your files just as you left them.

Don’t worry if your phone’s short of juice while you’re on the move: VAIO makes a handy ‘any time’ charger for your smartphone if there’s no AC socket nearby. Just plug in your phone via USB for a top-up - even when the computer is switched off or in sleep mode.

Organising, editing and sharing your media collection is even more of a pleasure with VAIO E Series. Bundled at no extra charge, PlayMemories Home by Sony lets you add effortless polish to your photos and video clips making home movies and even 3D content creation easier than ever.

New VAIO E Series 14P is available in a choice of white, black or pink colourways. Other colours and configurable options are available at Sony Store Online.

Enjoy making your VAIO more personal with a style-matching Bluetooth® mouse or soft travel pouch. Alternatively, you can get started right away with a bundle that includes VAIO plus coordinated accessories.

Double the pen experience with Wacom’s Bamboo Stylus duo

Bridging two worlds: best-in-class Bamboo Stylus for touch screens now also features analogue inking and sketching

10 April 2012 - Wacom launches Bamboo Stylus duo - a new, dual-purpose stylus for the iPad and Android tablets that combines a proven capacitive pen tip for on-screen input at one end, and a premium ball-point ink pen at the opposite end for use on traditional paper. With an elegant design and quality craftmanship synonymous with all Wacom products, Bamboo Stylus duo is the ideal tool for writing, drawing or doodling in both a digital and analogue world.

While consumers are using media tablets more and more in daily life, traditional paper is still being used for free-flowing creative expression. The Bamboo Stylus duo, with its simple clean shape and satin textured metal body, serves the needs of the analogue and digital user with just one tool. At one end of the Stylus, there is a smooth, best-in-class and responsive pen tip for on-screen usage, while the other end houses a high quality inking pen for traditional writing and drawing. The pen cap can be conveniently attached to either end of the pen.

The flexible Bamboo Stylus duo and the colourful Bamboo Stylus solo range - offering a rubber nib only - form the growing family of touch screen Styluses designed by Wacom. With any member of the Stylus family, people can visualise their thoughts in personal and business life: from note-taking, annotating and drawing, to creating visual communication aids such as mind maps, charts and sketches. Whether using a digital or traditional medium, the user experience is intuitive and natural.

Bamboo Paper app comes to Android

Wacom is continuously looking into the needs of users to make interaction with digital devices and technology easy. As such, Wacom announces the introduction of Bamboo Paper for the Android market - the free digital notebook app that recently passed the 2.5 million download mark on the iPad, Bamboo Paper allows users to create and share handwritten notes, doodles and sketches on their mobile devices. In combination with Bamboo Stylus, Bamboo Paper becomes the perfect companion for all touch screens. The app will be available as a free download from the Google Play Android marketplace in May. More features, such as multiple notebooks, will be added in the coming months.

Lenovo unveils exclusive UK showing of world’s slimmest full

Lenovo brings stunning design, new innovation and forward looking technology to new range

Birmingham NEC, UK, 10th April, 2012 - Lenovo, the world's second largest PC maker, is showcasing for the first time in the UK a whole range of desktops, laptops and All-in-ones at its stand D70 at the Gadget Show live at the Birmingham NEC.

The IdeaCentre A720 All-in-One takes touch experience in the home to the next level - the industry's slimmest 27 inch screen features an innovative screen hinge that allows a more widely adjustable angle from -5 degrees to 90 degrees that allows for a more comfortable use in any position. The A720 is an ultra-stylish and fun addition for the modern home entertainment centre with integrated entertainment features such as room-shaking Dolby Home Theatre V4 audio and Lenovo High-Sense Webcam and Lenovo IdeaTouch. It combines all this with a frameless display that supports 10-point multi-touch capabilities for a greatly enhanced multi-user experience.

IdeaPad U310 and U410 - Ultra Laptops for Style and Performance

Lenovo is also expanding its Ultrabook portfolio with the IdeaPad U310 and U410. Thesethin and light performance laptops include other smart elements such as Lenovo Smart Update, automatically updating your mailbox, instant messaging and social mediamessages even in sleep mode, with up to eight of hours of battery life.

The industry's first multi-mode notebook with a 360 degree flip-and-fold design comes in the form of the IdeaPad YOGA that gives consumers four-in-one personal computing, with four separate usage modes in one PC. Combining the tablet's ease-of-use with the Ultrabook's functionality, the IdeaPad YOGA is the industry's thinnest convertible Ultrabook measuring 0.67" (16.9mm) thin at 3.1lbs (1.47kg).

Lenovo G580, G780 - Affordable, Essential Laptops

The two models on display in the G Series are the G580 and G780 with 15.6" and 17.3" HD screens, OneKey® Rescue System for simple data backup and recovery, and Veriface facial recognition. The laptops offer durable build quality, smart Lenovo technologies and basic multimedia functions at an affordable price.

IdeaPad S200 and S206 - Say Hello to the Fashionable Mini Laptops

The new mini laptops, the IdeaPad S200 and S206 are lightweight and super thin, without sacrificing computing excellence; these slimmer-than-ever mini laptops showcase design details beyond the standard netbook.

IdeaPad Z380, Z580 - Stylish and Colourful Laptops

Striking the right balance of value and performance, the new IdeaPad Z Series laptops fit the bill perfectly. With the latest processor and graphics technology options, the Z Series laptops are ideal for multimedia tasks and are available in a range of dazzling colours - Amber Orange, Apple Green, Cherry Red, Coral Blue, Graphite Grey, and Peony Pink.

IdeaCentre B540 and B340 - High-Performance Touchscreen AIOs

The digital home is also getting a sleek upgrade with the new IdeaCentre B Series AIO desktops. Featuring a compact design suitable for any room of the home with its 21.5" full HD touch-screen display and Lenovo IdeaTouch.

Andrew Barrow, Director of Product and Pricing Consumer, EMEA, Lenovo comments, " We are delighted to be back at Gadget Show Live. As you can see from the wide range of products we have on show today, we're providing products that combine stunning design, new innovation and affordability to cater for all consumer's needs. Whether they are looking for an entry-level laptop or top of the range, there is something for everyone within the Lenovo range."