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Sony reveals new RX Cyber-shot cameras & HVL-F43M external flash

Thursday, June 27th, 2013

Sony has announced that its new Cyber-shot RX 100 II, Cyber-shot RX1R cameras will be available in Singapore from August 2013, while the HVL-F43M external flash will be available in July.

Update (1 July, 2013):

Sony has announced the pricing for its new Cyber-shot RX 100 II (S$999) and Cyber-shot RX1R (S$3,999) cameras.

From today, the retail price of the DSC-RX100 has been reduced to S$849 (from S$999).

Sony’s new 20,2MP Cyber-shot RX 100 II (left) and 24.3MP Cyber-shot RX1R (right) cameras will be available in Singapore from August 2013 onwards.

The Cyber-shot RX1R is a new full-frame compact camera and is the sister version of the Cyber-shot RX1.

Sony Cyber-shot RX1R is a S$3,999 full-frame compact camera with 24.3 megapixels and Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* F2 lens.

It has 24.3 effective megapixels and a Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* F2 lens.

The RX1R removes the optical low-pass filter (OLPF) found in front of the RX1’s sensor, enabling flawless capture of fine details without any distortions.

This makes it ideal for taking landscape and other high-detail scenes.

The camera’s compatibility with TRILUMINOS Colour technology ensures richer, more natural colours when viewing stills and video on the latest generation of BRAVIA televisions with TRILUMINOS Display.

Sony Cyber-shot RX100 II comes with 20.2 megapixels, Wi-Fi and NFC. S$999.

The new Cyber-shot RX100 II builds on the popular Cyber-shot RX100, with enhanced picture quality and convenient new features such as Wi-Fi and easy One-touch smartphone connection with NFC.

The RX100 II possesses increased sensor sensitivity with 20.2 effective megapixel back-illuminated Exmor R 1.0-type CMOS sensor, delivering DSLR-style shots regardless of the shooting situation.

(more…)

Tags:accessories, availability, cameras, compact, Cyber-shot, Flash, full-frame, Singapore, Sony
Posted in Accessories, Announce, Availability, camera flash, Cameras, Compact camera, Cyber-shot, Gadgets, Prices, Sony, Specifications | No Comments »

New Hitachi Accelerated Flash storage unveiled for enterprises

Saturday, November 10th, 2012

Hitachi Data Systems promises superior performance, capacity and reliability from the new flash module for demanding enterprise workloads.

Hitachi Accelerated Flash storage for demanding enterprise workloads.

The Hitachi Accelerated Flash storage features a new custom-designed rack-optimized form factor and new flash memory controller technology from Hitachi.

When compared with 400GB MLC SSDs, Hitachi Accelerated Flash storage achieves:

4 times better performance
46% lower cost per bit
improved environmental characteristics (power and space)

These offer higher performance, lowest cost per bit, and greater capacity compared to conventional solid-state drives (SSDs) on the market today.

Flash technology has become more pervasive in the data center over the past few years.

However, its widespread adoption as a mainstream storage option has been hampered by high costs, limited endurance and sub-optimal write performance.

(more…)

Tags:enterprise, enterprise IT, Flash, Hitachi, memory
Posted in Announce, Enterprise IT | No Comments »

New storage products: 6 SanDisk memory devices

Tuesday, July 10th, 2012

SanDisk launched in Singapore today the Cruzer Glide, Cruzer Facet, Cruzer Pop, and Extreme USB flash drives; as well as the Extreme Pro microSDHC UHS-1 card, and the Extreme SSD. Detailed prices and capacities below.

Mr Cheah Hon Wai (second from right), Senior Manager, Product Marketing Management, Asia Pacific; and Mark Eng (third from right), Country Manager, Singapore – launching SanDisk’s latest range of portable memory devices in Singapore at The Screening Room.

Following the global launch in India, and subsequent launches in Taiwan and Korea, SanDisk has launched its new range of portable storage drives in Singapore.

Compared to the range of devices SanDisk released at its previous launch in September last year, the devices have naturally increased tremendously in read/write speeds.

The new devices are tabulated below.

Memory device	Price & Description
	SanDisk Extreme Pro microSDHC UHS-1 Card (8GB: S$69, 16GB, S$119) For smartphones and tablets multi-tasking games, email, photo & Full-HD video recording. Up to 95 MB/s read and 90 MB/s write speeds. Compatible with microSDHC-slotted devices. Ideal for UHS-enabled smartphones & tablets.
	SanDisk Extreme USB Flash Drive (16 – 64GB: S$44.50 – S$139.50) USB 3.0-enabled offers up to 190 MB/s performance. 10 times faster than USB 2.0 drives. Transfer 3GB and 40GB files in 20 sec and 4 min respectively.
	Cruzer Glide USB Flash Drive (4 GB – 64 GB: S$7.90 – S$80.90) (128GB: S$150.90 in Q3 2012) SanDisk’s highest-capacity USB drive. 5-year limited warranty.
	Cruzer Facet USB Flash Drive (4 GB – 32 GB: S$7.90 – S$40.50) Stainless steel casing. Fashionable with rich colours and faceted texture. Available in blue, red and white.
	Cruzer Pop USB Flash Drive (4 GB – 32 GB: S$7.50 – S$39.50) Innovative pop design conceals and protects connector when not in use. Rich colours and patterns.
	SanDisk Extreme SSD (120GB, 240GB, 480GB) Solid State Drive (SSD) for the retail market instead of OEM. Up to 550/520 MB/s in read/write speeds. Offers low power consumption, silent and quick boot & launch. 10 times faster than a 7,200 RPM hard disk. Released earlier in Feb 2012.

Tags:Cruzer, drive, Extreme, Facet, Flash, Glide, microSDHC, Pop, SanDisk, Singapore, SSD, storage, The Screening Room, thumb USB 3.0
Posted in Events, Gadgets, Launch, Prices, SanDisk, Specifications, storage drive | 6 Comments »

Adobe CS6 is available now

Wednesday, May 9th, 2012

Adobe has announced the immediate availability of Adobe Creative Suite 6.

Adobe CS6 is available now.

Launched globally two weeks ago, Adobe Creative Suite 6 (CS6) comprises some 14 software for photo and video editing, graphics design and and web development, Flash/HTML and app building tools, as well as desktop publishing.

Suite	Price
Master Collection	S$3,925
Production Premium	S$2,868
Design & Web Premium	S$2,868
Design & Web Standard	S$1,963

These software include Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Illustrator, Premiere Pro, After Effects, InDesign and Flash.

The component software have been packaged in into four suites, depending on the needs of the customer.

A subscription-based version of CS6 (Creative Cloud: US$600 per year) is also available in the US although it is not available in Singapore and some other parts of the world.

Tags:Adobe, After Effects, Creative Suite, CS6, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Flash, Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop, Premiere Pro
Posted in Acrobat, Adobe, After Effects, Availability, Creative Suite, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Flash, Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop, Premiere Pro, Prices, Software, Specifications | No Comments »

Launch of Adobe CS6

Tuesday, April 24th, 2012

The latest iteration of Adobe’s flagship software suite has been launched. Available in May 2012, there will be 4 suites, comprising different combinations of 14 print, web and video software.

The suites are: Master Collection (S$3,924), Design & Web Premium (S$2,868), Design & Web Standard (S$1,962), and Production Premium (S$2,868).

Adobe has also launched the new subscription-based Creative Cloud (US$600 per year). This is not available in Singapore yet.

Adobe Creative Suite 6

Singapore was the first venue in the world to launch Adobe Creative Suite 6.

Shantanu Narayen, Adobe CEO, and David Wadhwani, SVP, Digital Media Business, Adobe, will host a launch event and press conference on the release of Adobe Creative Cloud and CS 6 at 10:00 am Pacific Time, 23 April.

Content-Aware XXX

The Content-Aware Scale (CS4) and Content-Aware Fill (CS5) features have new siblings in CS6 – Content-Aware Patch and Content-Aware Move.

Ever used the Content-Aware Fill on a photo and see it pick up pixels from wrong regions of the image?

Don’t you just wish you could simply specify and constrain from which portions of the photo Photoshop took the pixels from?

Content-Aware Patch now allows you to do so, just like the regular Patch tool.

Content-Aware Move combines a few steps into one. You just need to roughly select the subject that needs to be moved (quick-select the subject and then expand the selection), and use the feature to move it to another part of the image.

Photoshop pastes the selected subject to the destination, smooths out the border between the subject and the new background pixels, and then Content-Aware Fills the hole left behind by the moved subject.

CS6 is part of Adobe’s 2-year renewal of its creative suite of software. One year on from each major release is a mid-cycle update, as with Adobe CS5.5.

The Mercury engine that was introduced in Premiere Pro in CS5 has been implemented in other products in CS6, notably Photoshop and Illustrator.

For Photoshop, the impressive Content-Aware Fill feature in Photoshop CS5 has been supplemented with two new enhancements – Content-Aware Patch and Content-Aware Move.

Dreamweaver and other component products in CS5 was based on perpetuating the Flash platform.

Having had the rug pulled from under its feet by the late Steve Jobs, Adobe has shifted the emphasis for Dreamweaver in CS5.5 and CS6 more towards facilitating HTML5, “an open Web standard that’s replacing Adobe’s older Flash tools for many Web designers” (quoted from Bloomberg).

There are also more tools for designing apps for smartphones and tablets.

A big step for Adobe this time round is its foray into a subscription-based model, although it is not available in Singapore yet.

Creative Cloud will charge US$50 a month for a one-year commitment (US$75 without one).

Subscribers can access the 14 programs, which can be installed on an Apple Mac or on a Windows PC.

Users can use the installed software even when they are not connected to the Internet.

A cloud-based service will also enable users to collaborate and share work with colleagues and clients through a Web browser.

The list of software as well as the composition of each suite can be found here.

Tags:Adobe, After Effects, Creative Suite 6, CS6, Dreamweaver, Flash, Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop, Premiere Pro
Posted in Adobe, App, Creative Suite, Events, Launch, Phones, Prices, Software, Specifications, Tablets | 2 Comments »

Company byte: SanDisk Corporation

Saturday, August 27th, 2011

SanDisk is a Silicon Valley-based S&P 500 and Fortune 500 company producing flash memory storage devices, with more than half its sales outside the United States.

SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK) is a global leader in flash memory storage solutions, from research and development, product design and manufacturing to branding and distribution for OEM and retail channels.

Founded in 1988, and headquartered in California, SanDisk’s diverse product portfolio includes flash memory cards and embedded solutions used in smart phones, tablets, digital cameras, camcorders, digital media players and other consumer electronic devices, as well as USB flash drives and solid-state drives (SSD) for the computing market.

SanDisk’s products are used by consumers, manufacturers and enterprise customers.

Follow articles related to SanDisk on tech4tea.com.

Tags:Flash, memory, microSD, SanDisk, SD, SSD
Posted in Accessories, Company byte, Desktops, Gadgets, Notebooks, Phones, SanDisk, storage drive, Tablets | 3 Comments »

Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 Web Premium suite

Wednesday, April 13th, 2011

Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 Web Premium suite is a major mid-cycle update to the software for Web designers and developers. The new version give Web professionals the ability to bring high-impact content experiences and mobile apps to the latest form factors across Android, BlackBerry Tablet OS and iOS platforms.

New in the suite are updated versions of Adobe Dreamweaver, Adobe Flash Professional, Adobe Flash Catalyst, Adobe Flash Builder, the all-new Flex framework for mobile devices, Adobe Device Central and Adobe Acrobat X Pro.

Key enhancements include substantive HTML5 advancements in Dreamweaver, new tablet and smartphone application development capabilities in Flash Professional CS5.5 and Flash Builder Premium 4.5, and enhanced cross-browser testing as well as mobile emulation and on-device debugging.

Estimated street price for the Creative Suite 5.5 Web Premium suite is US$2185. It is one of five suite editions of the Creative Suite 5.5 line of software.

Advances in HTML5

Web Premium CS5.5 advances HTML5 authoring tools, enabling Web designers and developers to create browser-based content that gives end-users a seamless and immersive experience across virtually any screen.

New HTML5 support in Dreamweaver CS5.5 includes jQuery mobile framework integration for browser-based content and PhoneGap integration for native and mobile application design and development.

Enhancements to the multiscreen preview panel in Dreamweaver have also been made, supporting the latest in media queries, WebKit engine updates, and CSS3 attributes, enabling side-by-side renderings of what a single design looks like on different form factors.

“With Adobe the jQuery project has spent a significant amount of time researching and developing user interfaces for mobile browsers, the final result being the creation of the jQuery Mobile framework,” said John Resig, founder of the jQuery Project.

Enhanced Flash tooling

New additions in Flash Professional CS5.5 include content scaling so users can easily scale their content on stage to adapt to different screen sizes, which is a huge timesaver.

Flash Professional CS5.5 also includes a new shared assets feature for more streamlined publishing, as well as more than 20 new code snippets for creating mobile and Adobe AIR applications for accelerometer, multitouch gestures, and save/load data.

Enhanced Application Development for Mobile Devices

Adobe CS5.5 Web Premium includes new mobile application development support to deliver rich interactive applications to the latest Android, BlackBerry Tablet OS and iOS devices.

In the updated Flash Builder 4.5, users have new mobile support for ActionScript and mobile Flex projects, as well as improved designer-developer collaboration throughout application development with a new bi-directional workflow with Flash Catalyst CS5.5 and Flash Professional CS5.5.

New capabilities in Adobe Flash Builder 4.5, Flash Professional CS5.5 and the introduction of the Flex 4.5 framework for mobile devices, let designers and developers build mobile applications that run on iPhone, iPad, Android devices and BlackBerry PlayBook. The apps can be easily deployed through the application markets such as Apple’s iTunes App Store, Android Market and BlackBerry App World.

Enhanced Browser Compatibility Testing

To keep Web developers and designers ahead of rapidly changing technology, Web Premium CS5.5 includes new HTML5 emulation and support for the latest mobile devices in Adobe Device Central, software that simplifies the production of innovative and compelling content for mobile phones and consumer electronics devices.

Adobe BrowserLab, a key component of Adobe CS Live online services, has also been updated for cross-browser compatibility testing for the newest browsers to help ensure Web projects are accurately previewed across a spectrum of browsers.

Adobe CS Live online services are free until April 12, 2012.

Tags:Adobe, Android, BlackBerry, Creative Suite 5.5, CS5.5, Flash, iOS, tablets
Posted in Adobe, Creative Suite, Flash, Phones, Prices, Software, Specifications, Tablets | 1 Comment »

Adobe Refresh Roadshow in Singapore

Thursday, March 10th, 2011

Two product “evangelists” and the Product Manager of Flash Professional show designers and attendees how to design once but deploy to different hardware and software platforms and screen sizes.

Instead of designing for the standard desktop monitor at standard screen resolutions, end-users are accessing web content using a whole range of devices with different screen sizes/resolutions, and on different hardware and software platforms.

These devices range from the traditional PC to the whole range of smartphones and more recently the tablets and web TVs.

Richard Galvan, Product Manager - Flash Professional Flash Professional Product Manager, Richard Galvan, went through the trends of the day and predicted that the number of people surfing the Internet using smartphones and tablets will surpass the number using PCs by 2013 – maybe earlier.

He demonstrated how the existing and upcoming versions of Adobe’s Flash Professional and Flex application development platform facilitates the ability to develope apps only once but deploy to devices running different operating systems such as Google’s Android, Apple’s iOS and RIM’s BlackBerry.

Paul Burnett, APAC Evangelist - Adobe Systems Inc Michael Stoddart, APAC Evangelist - Adobe Systems Inc The product “evangelists” Paul Burnett and Michael Stoddart also illustrated how the software assisted coders by providing features such as code hints, code completion and code snippets – so much so that even designers could have a go at the coding.

Some of the sneak peeks of features being explored for future products were also presented. Some of these were first shown in Adobe Max 2010 developer conference in October last year.

The beta version of the BlackBerry Playbook, which made its first appearance during Adobe Max, was also displayed for the first time in Singapore.

Photoshop on a tablet?

Galvan also gave a demo on the recently released Wallaby – an experimental piece of software for converting Flash files into HTML5.

The simple animation he converted were identical before and after conversion – handy for banner ads without audio, video, or ActionScript.

Multi-touch interface for a future version of Photoshop?

Galvan believed that Flash and HTML5 were complementary instead of being mutually exclusive. He emphasised that Flash and HTML5 will continue to complement each other into the future, with Flash providing additional features and capabilities to HTML5 based content.

The roadshow was held at the NTUC auditorium at One Marina Boulevard from 8.30am to 5.30pm.

Tags:Adobe, Flash, Flex, smartphone, tablets
Posted in Adobe, Events, Flash, Gadgets, Notebooks, Phones, Photoshop, Software, Tablets, Technology | No Comments »

Flash-to-HTML5 conversion tool from Adobe

Wednesday, March 9th, 2011

At long last, Adobe has released an experimental piece of software codenamed Wallaby that can convert Flash files into HTML5. It’ll be interesting to see how the Flash vs HTML5 rivalry pens out.

HTML5 logo This tool was first demo-ed at Adobe Max 2010 developer conference in October last year. The cross-platform AIR app is available for free download as a technology preview for developers.

Wallaby allows Flash developers to deployFlash content on Apple iOS devices like iPads and iPhones, which has banned Flash on Steve Jobs’ accusations that it is vulnerable to exploits, battery draining, and prone to frequent crashes.

Flash logo FLA files from Flash can be instantly converted to HTML5 by a simple drag-and-drop. The HTML can then be edited in Dreamweaver or any HTML authoring tool.

Tom Barclay, senior product manager for Flash pointed out that not all elements from Flash files will make it into HTML5. Although the overall look and feel can be ported, much will be discarded in the migration.

The Wallaby Release Notes describe what features are supported, what differences we have already discovered between the various browsers, what device variations have been found, and any currently known issues.
Adobe logo What is thrashed: audio, video, ActionScript, as well as blend modes and filters (apart from simple alpha), dynamic masks, some Text Layout Framework text, and 3D tweens and transforms.

What is supported: vector art and images, classic text, keyframes, MovieClips and graphics, classic motion and shape tweens, rollover buttons, and instance names.

Immediate application of the tool would mainly be for making basic banner ads and animations, especially if the FLA files have already been developed.

iAds Producer Apple had released iAd Producer in December last year. It is a free tool “for online advertisers to create content for Apple’s iAd platform, helping the company to establish HTML5 as a viable alternative to Adobe Flash technology on mobile devices,” wrote Daniel Ionescu of PCWorld.

iAd Producer is a visual HTML5 authoring tool, available to Apple developers for producing advertisements for iOS devices, using a combination of HTML5, Javascript and CSS3.

Tags:Adobe, Apple, Flash, HTML5
Posted in Adobe, Apple, Flash, Gadgets, Phones, Software, Tablets, Tech news, Technology | 1 Comment »

Adobe Flash CS5 Professional

Monday, July 5th, 2010

Flash CS5 Professional was launched on 12 April 2010 as part of the Adobe CS5 Suite. It is the industry standard for adding animation, interactive content, videos and games to webpages.

New text engine in Flash CS5 Professional

Its top feature would have been its Packager for iPhone, which enables developers to write applications within Flash and then convert them into iPhone apps.

However, four days before its launch, and as part of Apple’s beta release of iPhone OS 4 Software Development Kit (SDK), Apple amended its developer licence agreement for iPhone developers to prohibit the use of third-party cross-platform development tools, like Flash, to produce iPhone apps.

Adobe has since announced that while it will ship the Packager as part of Flash CS5, it has stopped all new investments in this area.

Even without the Packager for iPhone, there are enough goodies within Flash CS5 Professional to entice code writers and designers. I will be delving into some of the main features below in more detail over the next few weeks. I also did a review of Adobe Flash CS5 Professional in Digital Life on 2 Jun 2010.

For the Designer:

New text engine – Print-quality typographic control like in desktop publication software, Global language support, Advanced inline text editing, Advanced rendering support.
Spring for Bones – The Inverse kinematics feature is enhanced with a dynamic physics engine that simulates realistically the springy vibrational oscillations of a spring.
New Deco drawing tools – Dynamic Deco brush tools are extended with new brushes with additional shapes and animation effects.

For the Coder:

Code Snippets panel – Prebuilt codes that can be injected into projects for things like timeline navigation, actions, animation, audio and video, and event handlers. The snippets contain helpful comments and clear instructions for easy customisation for the inexperienced programmer.
Enhanced ActionScript editor – Custom class code hinting and code completion, and reference your own code or external code libraries more efficiently.
Flash Builder – Formerly Adobe Flex Builder, this coding tool is bundled with Flash CS5 Professional and both are tightly integrated with each other.

For all users:

Distribute content virtually anywhere – Deliver consistently across screens of virtually any size and use Adobe Device Central for enhanced device testing.
XML-based FLA source files – XFL offers improved cross-product integration and workflow productivity.
Improved Creative Suite integration – Tight integration with Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash Catalyst, Flash Builder, InDesign, Fireworks, and After Effects.
Video improvements – Streamline embedding and encoding processes with on-stage video scrubbing and the ability to define cue points directly in the Properties panel. Playback FLV video directly on the stage instead of testing the movie.

Tags:Adobe, animation, CS5, Flash, video
Posted in Software | No Comments »

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