Archive for August 2nd, 2012

BlackBerry reveals 4G LTE PlayBook

Thursday, August 2nd, 2012

RIM has unveiled the new 4G LTE PlayBook. Available in Canada on 9 August with 32GB and a more powerful 1.5GHz dual-core CPU. Prices TBA.

The new PlayBook comes with much needed cellular connectivity.

The new PlayBook comes with much needed cellular connectivity.

The 4G LTE version of the BlackBerry PlayBook will make its debut in Canada next Thursday, with availability in other countries in the following months.

Cellular connectivity
LTE 700, 1700 MHz
HSPA+ 100, 1900, 1700, 800, 900 MHz

Given the incompatibility of 4G networks in different countries, it could be some time before a version compatible with your country becomes available.

In the meantime, the new PlayBook will at least bring much needed cellular connectivity (on 3G) for users from countries which do not have a 4G network yet (or who have incompatible networks).

Available in Canada on 9 August, 2012.

Available in Canada on 9 Aug.

Research In Motion (RIM) had announced earlier that the PlayBook will eventually run on BlackBerry 10 OS.

So the 4G LTE should be upgradeable from the current BlackBerry Tablet OS when BB10 becomes available next year.

Apart from the 4G LTE connectivity and CPU speed-up, the hardware for the new PlayBook remains the same – which is a testimony of how advanced it was to begin with when the original PlayBook was launched last year.

Brother launches a slew of MFCs, printers, scanners, and faxes

Thursday, August 2nd, 2012

Brother launched in Singapore 11 new products today – 3 MFCs, 4 printers, 1 laser fax, and 3 scanners. Prices within.

Brother launched its slew of products at Stellar, 1-Altitude in Singapore.

Brother launched its slew of products at Stellar, 1-Altitude in Singapore.

Founded in 1908 in Japan, the 104-year-old Japanese manufacturer introduced its slew of new office appliances in Singapore today.

The MFCs, printers and laser fax come with 3-years on-site warranty while the scanners come with 1-year carry-in warranty.

4 new mono-laser printers

The Brother HL-5440D & the HL-5450DN looks identical (left) while the HL-5470DW & HL-6180DW looks identical (right).

The Brother HL-5440D & the HL-5450DN looks identical (left) while the HL-5470DW & HL-6180DW looks identical (right).

The four mono-laser printers are targeted towards SMBs and large corporations, offering double-sided printing as well as print speeds of up to 40ppm.

Mono-laser printers Prices
HL-5440D S$288
HL-5450DN S$588
HL-5470DW S$688
HL-6180DW S$788

With Mobile Print (available in all the new models except HL-5440D), users can print anytime, anywhere from their desktops or mobile internet devices such as their Apple or Android smartphones.

The driverless printing supports various platforms, such as the Google Cloud Print, Apple Air-Print and Wi-Fi Direct (applicable for wireless models only).

3 new MFCs and 1 laser fax

Brother MFC-8910DW and MFC-8510DN

Brother MFC-8910DW and MFC-8510DN

The MFCs (Multi-Function Centres) can print, copy, scan and fax.

Multi-Function Centres Prices
MFC-8510DN S$888
MFC-8910DW S$1,088
MFC-7290 S$378
FAX-2840 S$268

Two new models with double-side printing and networking cater to SMBs and large corporations while one is a budget machine for the home or small office.

The FAX-2840 has a fast transmission speed of 33.6kbps and 500-page fax in memory. It can print up to 20ppm at resolutions of up to 2,400 x 600 dpi.

3 scanners

Brother scanners DS-700D, ADS-2100 and DS-600.

Brother scanners DS-700D, ADS-2100 and DS-600.

The ADS-2100 Desktop Document Scanner helps SMBs digitise hardcopy documents through single-pass high-speed duplex scanning.

Scanners Prices
ADS-2100 Desktop S$588
DS-600 Mobile S$218
DS-700D Mobile S$328

The DS-600 (single-sided) and DS-700D (double-sided) Mobile Document Scanners allow mobile workers to scan documents on the move, powered by a USB cable.

All three scanners are able to scan name cards as well as A4 size pages.

You can fold an A3 size poster into two so that the scanner can scan both sides and then stitch both halves together with the included software.

Brother FAX=2840. The MFC-7290 looks almost identical in size and form factor.

Brother FAX=2840. The MFC-7290 looks almost identical in size and form factor.

The scanning software can do OCR (Optical Character Recognition) to scan to editable text files (with no formatting); or scan to PDFs as images (layout preserved).

Alternatively you can also scan your documents into searchable PDFs (OCRed text layer superimposed on scanned image).

As these scanners are sheet-fed, they can only scan loose-leaf pages. For bound books, you’ll need to use a flat-bed scanner instead.

Notes:

“日本悠久制造商Brother在新加坡推出了一系列新产品。包括四部镭射打印机,三部多用途打印机,一部镭射传真机,以及三部文件扫描机。”科技点心(微薄)
  • All prices in this post include GST.
  • All photos are from Brother but have not been shown to scale.
  • Legend for Brother’s nomenclature:
    • D – double-side printing
    • N – network
    • W – WiFi

Microsoft announces Windows 8 Release to Manufacturing

Thursday, August 2nd, 2012

Milestone signals Windows 8 has completed product development and testing, and is being handed-off to hardware partners to get ready for October 26 general availability. Release schedule below.

Windows 8 has reached RTM (Release to Manufacturing).

Windows 8 has reached RTM (Release to Manufacturing).

Microsoft has just announced that Windows 8 has reached Release to Manufacturing (RTM), the latest milestone in the launch of the new Windows 8 operating system.

Developers can visit the Windows Dev Center to get access to all the tools and resources they need to design, build, and sell apps in the Windows Store.

Whereas all apps during the preview phases were free, developers can now begin charging for apps with the RTM.

Those with access to RTM bits will begin to see paid apps appear in the Windows Store.

The schedule for releasing the final RTM code to select audiences – including developers, IT professionals and partners – will begin in mid-August.

August 15th

  • Developers building new apps for Windows 8 will be able to download the final version of Windows 8 via an MSDN subscription. You can visit the Windows Dev Center to get access to the final build of Visual Studio 2012.
  • IT professionals testing Windows 8 in organizations will be able to access the final version of Windows 8 through a TechNet subscription.

August 16th

  • Customers with existing Microsoft Software Assurance for Windows will be able to download Windows 8 Enterprise edition through the Volume License Service Center (VLSC), allowing you to test, pilot and begin adopting Windows 8 Enterprise within your organization.
  • Microsoft Partner Network members will have access to Windows 8.

August 20th

  • Microsoft Action Pack Providers (MAPS) receive access to Windows 8.

August 26th

  • General availability of Windows 8 to customers.

September 1st