August 1st, 2012
Microsoft has released the preview of Outlook.com, a web-based “unified” email that allows the user to consolidate mails and messages from Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo mail.
It is also connected to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and soon – Skype.
Try out the Outlook.com preview here.
You can find more details for the Outlook.com preview on the Outlook blog.
To try out the preview, go to www.outlook.com.
You can use your existing email Microsoft email account or sign up for a new @outlook.com email account to try out the preview.
Below are the highlights of the Outlook.com preview:
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Tags: email, Facebook, Gmail, LinkIn, Microsoft, Outlook, Outlook.com, preview, Skype, software, Twitter, webmail, Yahoo
Posted in Announce, Email, Microsoft, Software | No Comments »
July 31st, 2012
Dell announced today its new mobile workstations for engineering and design professionals working on the move. The 15-inch M4700 and 17-inch M6700 are available now with prices starting from S$2,854 and S$3,669 respectively.
The popular Covet Edition is back on the 17-inch version, featuring a brilliant Phoenix Red color finish for extra appeal and edge to edge Corning Gorilla Glass 2 for brighter images and increased resilience and protection.
The powerful mobile workstations are targeted towards those demanding high computing performance on the go.
Dell Precision M6700
Examples include film editors on movie sets, architects at construction sites, and geophysicists in the field.
The Dell Precision M4700 and M6700 incorporate the latest Intel Core i5, i7 and Extreme Edition processors with Turbo Boost Technology for optimal performance and an extensive choice of professional graphics including the NVIDIA Quadro K-series GPUS and AMD FirePro graphics.
The M6700 offers the AMD FirePro M6000 with PCIe x16 Gen 3 for fast data throughput.
Dell Precision mobile workstation.
Additionally, Dell provides DDR3 SDRAM with up to 32GB of system memory and 1600MHz of memory speed and up to 16GB of 1866MHz memory, the fastest memory available on a mobile workstation, for high performance and fast access to large data sets.
They also offer an optional SATA3 512GB solid state drive (SSD).
Both systems expandable in the form of RAID 0/1/5 and additional storage devices.
The M4700 can have up to three storage devices with up to 1.8TB of total storage, while the M6700 can have up to four storage devices with up to 2.8TB of total storage.
The M6700 will be the first mobile workstation to offer optional 10+ finger multi-touch in the coming months.The M4700 and M6700 can power up to three simultaneous displays when undocked and up to five displays when docked and are compatible with the Latitude E-family dock.
As desktop replacements, the M4700 and M6700 offer a wide array of ports to connect to a greater number of formats and devices.
The I/O ports include two USB 3.0, two USB 2.0 and one eSATA/USB combo ports and three integrated video ports – one VGA, one HDMI and one DisplayPort 1.2.
An optional slice battery, ExpressCharge battery is also available.
Refer to the press release for the full details.
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Tags: AMD, availability, DELL, eSATA, Intel, laptops, M4700, M6700, mobile workstations, notebooks, NVIDIA, Precision, RAID, SSD
Posted in Announce, Availability, Dell, Gadgets, Prices, Specifications | No Comments »
July 30th, 2012
One of the first and most frequently asked questions from my readers when Microsoft first unveiled its Customer Release for Office 2013 – was the difference between Office 365 and Office 2013.
Microsoft has now clarified on its nomenclature.
Microsoft’s logo for “the new Office”. The new logo is highly reminiscent of the new Windows mark and is part of Microsoft’s company-wide approach to deliver a more consistent branding experience across all of its products.
The paras below are how Microsoft differentiates between Office 365 and Office 2013.
- Office 365. This is our services brand. Office 365 services are subscriptions with multiple installs for different devices and are always the latest technology every day of the year. Last week, we announced an extension of our Office 365 services for consumers – Office 365 Home Premium – and a new option for business users – Office 365 ProPlus, which join our Office 365 services for small businesses, enterprises, education and government.
- Office Client – Release Year Editions. Just like a car, these editions are the latest technology up to that year. The new release is the “2013” edition. You’ll see this label in suites such as “Office Home and Student 2013.” These editions are also in the cloud and save to SkyDrive by default, but people buy and install once on a single machine.
- Note: Individual client applications such as Word, Excel, Outlook, OneNote and PowerPoint carry a year-model moniker no matter how you get them. If you are a subscriber, the year model edition is updated as part of new updates.
Question from Seow HM (Microsoft unveils Customer Preview for Office 2013):So is it Office 2013 or Office 365? Totally confusing when I went to the Microsoft website.
My reply: It’s the next version of Office. Think everyone can relate to Office 2013. I believe Office 365 is more the packaging and subscription plan. The Office 365 was previously for business customers, but will now be extended to Office Home Premium version for home users as well. If you install the Customer Preview, you’ll find that they call it Office 15. Even more confused now?
In addition, the Office Web Apps are free browser-based companions to Office, which are available to everyone for quick viewing and light editing.
My interpretation? Office 2013, or Word 2013 and Excel 2013 marks the version number of each of the software components.
But Office 365 is more the subscription package, like the various previous Office bundles (eg. Office Professional, Office Home and Office) which included different combinations of the various component software.
By the way, Microsoft is now calling the new release – “the new office” (as in “the new iPad”).
This is something new in itself – at least to me, since I didn’t notice this term when the Customer Release was first unveiled. Does it refer to Office 365 or does it refer to Office 2013?
Tags: Excel, logo, Microsoft, nomenclature, Office, Office 2013, Office 365, Office Web Apps, OneNote, Outlook, Powerpoint, Word
Posted in Announce, App, Microsoft, Office, Software | 4 Comments »
July 29th, 2012
Luxury German brand Metz has introduced its new slim line Metz Caleo range of 3D LED televisions in 47-inch (S$8,500) and 42-inch (S$7,600) screens. Prices include GST.
Metz Caleo 3D LED TV
The Metz Caleo 3D LED televisions are styled in brushed aluminum with black anodised aluminum side panels
Premium LED, mecavisionHD+ and 200 Hz technologies make images come to life with large spatial depth, while the integrated 750 GB hard disk recorder allows 2D or 3D content to be viewed independently of the programme schedule.
The new Metz Caleo 3D LED is available only at the Schmidt Marketing Flagship Store in Ngee Ann City Tower A, #05-33.The prices include the TV, table base OR wall mounting, and 2 pairs of 3D glasses.
The retail price of each pair of 3D glasses is $100.
Dynamic motion compensation (DMC) displays rapid movements in perfect clarity, even from HD sources.
A 3D comb filter and cross-colour reduction provides brilliant images.
The mecaSoundpro sound system and a highly efficient 2-way bass reflex system combine to provide rich, immersive sound.
The integrated Metz Media System enables the display of photos and videos, playing of music, as well as access to online services.
An LED backlight makes the TVs eco-friendly by optimising energy efficiency.
Tags: 3D, Caleo, LED, Metz, Ngee Ann City, Schmidt, Singapore, TV
Posted in 3D, Availability, Gadgets, LED, Lifestyle, Prices, Shopping, Specifications, TV | No Comments »
July 27th, 2012
The two new apps joins more than 400 other apps available for the Samsung Smart TV, with more to come in the next few months.
Angry Birds is developed by Rovio Entertainment. Throughout game play, all actions – including level of difficulty selection and screen zoom in/out – are performed using motion control. Players can activate the unique skills of each bird and even control the game’s trademark slingshot action using arm movement enabled by the built-in camera.
The two new apps are part of a slew of high quality content that Samsung has lined up for consumers in the next few months.
New Smart TV apps in the pipeline
- Entertainment: Angry Birds, SingTel mio TV PLAY, StarHub Video Store, WOWtv and Viki Premiere
- Edutainment: Yummy Science, Calculus, Ferog in the Well, My First World and E-Assessment
- Information: Maybank
The new Angry Birds app for Samsung Smart TV utilises Samsung’s Motion Control technology, which works with just the wave of a hand in front of the screen.
The SingTel mio TV PLAY is an over-the-top (OTT) video streaming application providing access to web video content in SD, HD and 3D format through an online catalogue and an online video store with Hollywood and Asian movies.
Four interactive edutainment apps developed by the local developer community will be launched in September 2012.
The two Angry Birds and SingTel mio TV PLAY apps will be preloaded on the Samsung Smart TV.
Some of the new Smart TV apps in the pipeline are listed in the table below, together with a brief description and when they will become available.
These apps are a result of a joint call-for-proposal for the development of educational TV apps for the Samsung Smart TV platform and ecosystem announced in September 2011 with the Media Development Authority of Singapore’s (MDA) Interactive Digital Media Programme Office (IDMPO).
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Tags: Angry Birds, Apps, edutainment, local developers, Samsung, Singapore, SingTel, Smart TV
Posted in Announce, App, Gadgets, Samsung, SingTel, Software, TV | 1 Comment »
July 27th, 2012
The S$630,000 will help the underprivileged communities in Singapore, including children in need and the elderly.
“AWWA Community Home for Senior Citizens provides accommodation for elderly Singaporeans who are on public assistance or have no family or means of financial support. Seagate’s generous donation will go a long way in helping us support our residents through counseling services and regular activities to maintain their physical and mental health,” said Keith Lee, Director of Elderly Services, AWWA.
Seagate Technology raised the money as part of a charity drive organised to commemorate the company’s 30th anniversary in Singapore.
“The amount raised this year is the highest in Seagate Singapore’s history of community involvement, a result which has only been possible with the close collaboration and excellent teamwork across Seagate,” said Steve Luczo, Chairman, President and CEO of Seagate Technology.
As a mark to give back to the community that Seagate has been operating in, Seagate employees participated in a variety of activities organized by the company at the Asian Women’s Welfare Association (AWWA) Community Home for Senior Citizens and the Children’s Society Student Care Centre (Henderson).
They provided an afternoon of entertainment for the elderly residents through song and games and and conducted a balloon workshop for the children.
Seagate employees also organized a charity bazaar at Seagate’s Ang Mo Kio office cafeteria for an afternoon, where they ran game stalls to raise funds for the two charities.
“We are extremely thankful to Seagate for their generosity. Most of the children from Children’s Society Student Care Centre (Henderson) come from low income families and the funds raised will be a great help in providing a conducive environment to enhance the development of these needy children, who are the future of Singapore,” said Chia Boon Khiang, Director of Funding, Singapore Children’s Society.
Tags: AWWA, charity, Seagate, Singapore
Posted in Party, Seagate, storage drive | No Comments »
July 26th, 2012
Dash for Gold is a free and interactive online app that provides intuitive dashboards to analyse past and present medal counts to enable anyone to predict outcomes at sports competitions.
Try out Dash for Gold to predict the results of events in the London 2012 Olympics.
Dash for Gold is the result of collaboration between Actuate and KXEN.
Actuate produces Business Intelligence software while KXEN is its Big Data partner provides predictive analytics software for business users.
Contest: BIRT Dash for Gold
BIRT Dash for Gold is a competition beginning tomorrow (ends on 15 August) that will give participants an opportunity to create their own interactive dashboards to uncover trends and fun facts about the world’s top sporting competitions by comparing economic, climatic, historical and other indicators to sports data.
With simple drag and drop Google-style gadgets, users will be able to discover hidden correlations and expose exciting information about their favorite countries and sporting events.
Users can register and submit their dashboards to the contest and the dashboards will be published to the community for all to see.
Judges will evaluate and choose the top four dashboards and each will win a 32GB 3rd generation Apple iPad with WiFi.
Dash for Gold enables users to leverage Business Intelligence and predictive analytics to discover hidden trends that can be used to help predict performance and outcomes in sports competitions.
The app includes predetermined dashboards but allows users to perform their own analytics.
The app can be used by everyone to analyse competition results (not just the Olympics) since 1900 against 52 years of world statistics to hypothesize which statistics are determinants of medal success.
Dash for Gold, which covers sporting history for every competing country, is available as a mobile app, with a comprehensive browser version in English, French, German and Simplified Chinese.
People using Dash for Gold will be able to analyze massive data sets, via an intuitive user interface and also have the ability to share and publish their findings. No prior experience with analytics is necessary to find answers to questions such as:
- Which country has won the most medals in your favorite sports?
- Does the host nation have a home field advantage?
- Does your country send better men or women to major global sporting competitions?
- Does per capita wine consumption affect who stands on the podium?
Tags: Actuate, BIRT, Business Intelligence, Dash for Gold, KXEN, London 2012 Olympics, predictive analytics, sports competitions
Posted in App, Contest, Enterprise IT, Figures, Software | No Comments »
July 26th, 2012
Super high-resolution image will capture each of the 70,000 spectators in detail. The 20-Gigapixel photograph will be uploaded and spectators will be able to zoom in, locate and tag themselves.
Getty Images is the official Photographic Agency for the London 2012 Olympic Games which opens tomorrow.
Ahead of tomorrow’s Olympics Opening Ceremony in London, Getty Images and Fujitsu have announced that they will be snapping a gigapixel photograph of the event, enabling spectators – all 70,000 of them! – to zoom in, find and tag themselves.
This is the camera set up that Getty Images’ gigapixel photographer Henry Stuart will be using at London 2012 Olympics. It’s a Nikon D800. (Photo credit: Henry Stuart)
Images of such a high resolution usually take days to upload but thanks to leading-edge speed and performance of the Fujitsu CELSIUS R920 workstation, the image will be available to view on www.gettyimages.com overnight – up to 12 times faster than previously possible.
“有看过两千万像素的数码照片吗？我可没看过。Getty Images将于明日的伦敦2012奥运会开幕典礼拍摄一张两千万像素的数码照片，把七万名观众记录下来。照片将于当晚上载，让观众隔天就可上Getty Images 的网页搜寻自己的影像，并加以标记。” –
科技点心（微薄）
This will be the 13th consecutive Olympics for which Getty Images has been appointed as the Official Photographic Agency to the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
Tags: Fujitsu, Getty Images, Gigapixel, IOC, London 2012 Olympics, photography, photos
Posted in Cameras, Contest, DSLR, Fujitsu, Gadgets, Nikon, Photography, Photos | No Comments »
July 26th, 2012
SolarWinds has announced today that it is launching the SolarWinds Web Help Desk. Prices for the IT Help Desk solution start at US$495.
SolarWinds has announced today the launch of the SolarWinds Web Help Desk.
SolarWinds Web Help Desk is a boost to the growing portfolio of IT Management products from SolarWinds, which provides powerful and affordable IT management software for companies.
SolarWinds Web Help Desk highlights:
- Easily perform help desk ticketing support and management operations from a single, centralized web-console, purpose-built for IT processes and organizations.
- Automate change management operations with powerful and customizable change management functionality.
- Simplify asset management for both hardware and software assets through a centralized IT Asset Repository.
- Leverage the extensive KnowledgeBase Engine for capturing and sharing ITSM best practices and solutions.
SolarWinds Web Help Desk is a cross-platform, web-based solution that allows IT professionals to remove complexity from their IT service processes and to improve service to their end-users through practical, flexible tools.
Read the press release below for more details.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: enterprise IT, IT management tool, software, SolarWinds, Web Help Desk
Posted in Announce, Availability, Enterprise IT, Software, Utility | No Comments »
July 25th, 2012
The ninth major release of Apple’s desktop operating system is now available as a download from the Mac App Store. Mountain Lion is available as an upgrade from Lion or Snow Leopard for S$25.98.
Mountain Lion OS X, Apple’s new desktop operating system is available for download today.
Mountain Lion features more than 200 new features, including iCloud integration, the all new Messages app, Notification Center, system-wide Sharing, Facebook integration, Dictation, AirPlay Mirroring and Game Center.
Facebook integration will be available in an upcoming software update to Mountain Lion, while Dictation supports English (US, UK and Australia), French, German and Japanese.
New features for China include significantly improved text input, a new Chinese Dictionary, easy setup with popular email providers, Baidu search in Safari, and built-in sharing to Sina Weibo and popular video websites Youku and Tudou.
Pricing & Availability
OS X Mountain Lion is available from the Mac App Store for S$25.98.
Mountain Lion requires Lion or Snow Leopard (OS X v10.6.8 or later), 2GB of memory and 8GB of available space.
A complete list of system requirements and compatible systems can be found here.
OS X Server requires Mountain Lion and is available from the Mac App Store for S$25.98.
The OS X Mountain Lion Up-to-Date upgrade is available at no additional charge from the Mac App Store to all customers who purchased a qualifying new Mac system from Apple or an Apple Authorised Reseller on or after 11 June, 2012.
Below are some of these key new features.
- iCloud integration, for easy set up of your Mail, Contacts, Calendar, Messages, Reminders and Notes, and keeping everything, including iWork documents, up to date across all your devices.
- The new Messages app, which replaces iChat and brings iMessage to the Mac, so you can send messages to anyone with an iPhone, iPad, iPod touch or another Mac.
- Notification Center, which streamlines the presentation of notifications and provides easy access to alerts from Mail, Calendar, Messages, Reminders, system updates and third party apps.
- System-wide Sharing, to make it easy to share links, photos, videos and other files quickly without having to switch to another app, and you just need to sign in once to use third-party services like Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and Vimeo.
- Facebook integration, so you can post photos, links and comments with locations right from your apps, automatically add your Facebook friends to your Contacts, and even update your Facebook status from within Notification Center.
- Dictation, which allows you to dictate text anywhere you can type, whether you’re using an app from Apple or a third party developer.
- AirPlay Mirroring, an easy way to wirelessly send an up-to-1080p secure stream of what’s on your Mac to an HDTV using Apple TV, or send audio to a receiver or speakers that use AirPlay.
- Game Center, which brings the popular social gaming network from iOS to the Mac so you can enjoy live, multiplayer games with friends whether they’re on a Mac, iPhone, iPad or iPod touch.
- The new Gatekeeper, which makes downloading software from the Internet safer.
- Power Nap, which automatically updates your apps and system while your Mac is asleep.
- A faster Safari browser.
Tags: AirPlay Mirroring, Apple, available, Baidu, Calendar, Contacts, Dictation, Facebook, Game Center, iCloud, iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, Mac App Store, Mail, Messages, Mountain Lion, Notes, Notification Center, OS X, Reminders, Safari, Sina Weibo, Singapore, Snow Leopard, Tudou, Twitter, upgrade, Vimeo, Youku
Posted in App, Apple, Availability, Browser, Cloud, Mac, Mac OS, Mobile, Notebooks, Operating Systems, Prices, Safari, Software, Specifications | No Comments »
