Just what is Apple up to again ?
Ok so here I am surfing the web like i do, checking a couple of websites just to keep updated and guess what I stumled upon ( all pun intended).
I came across the image above, apparently when you visist www.apple.com right now this is what you get.
It appears Steve and his boys at Apple still have something awesome planned for us this year. This year has been such a success for Apple as they have enjoyed amazing success in all their new releases this year.
What's surprising about this teaser though is that absolutely no one saw it coming, Apple remains the king at keeping it's releases top secret.
What do you thing Apple will be announcing this time around ?
A new Macbook lineup ?
A new Imac range?
A new server range considering they just scrapped their Xserves?
Some sort of cloud service?
iPads with usb drives, full flash support, 1TB storage, native support for divx and mkv file formats, HD camera with dslr capabilities ?
We can't be seeing 10.7 so soon can we ?
Only time will tell, let's just wait and see
If i get the time, i will blog about anything IT. Server and Desktop Visualization, Network security, Applications, Disaster recovery, Linux, OSX - just about everything really ....and some photography too.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
BEST VIDEO PLAYER FOR APPLE IPAD - VLC vs BUZZ Player
One of the reasons, i didn't want to get an iPad was because of the limitation to be expected when playing videos. I wouldn't be able to play mkv, mov and divx format videos plus a lot of other video formats. Because of this i kept off the iPad.
So it was great news to me when VLC for iPad was announced, finally an app that would allow me play other video formats and if this iPad version was anything like its PC or Mac brother then it was sure to be an awesome app.
This single application influenced my decision to buy an iPad.
VLC is a free and open source multimedia player. It reads almost every video file, yet it's very powerful and simple to use.
VLC for ipad plays so many video formats that i was simply blown away but i was shocked when VLC for iPad choked on my mkv files. When ever i tried to play a mkv file i get an error telling me my iPad is probably to slow o play the file, when i tell it to play the file anyway, the audio plays flawlessly but you get no video.
This wasn't acceptable to me as i had grown the habit of converting most of my video files to mkv format to save space and retain quality so off i went in search of a better Video Player for my iPad and i boy did i find one.
At just $2, Buzz Player is in my opinion the best Video player available for the iPad. So far i am yet to come across a video file that it doesn't play.
BUZZ Player HD is a multimedia player supporting many audio and video codecs and file formats, and various streaming protocols.
☆ BUZZ Player can play almost anything, including:
+) Container formats: 3GP, AVI, ASF, FLV, MKV (Matroska), MOV (QuickTime), MP4, NUT, Ogg, OGM, RealMedia, Bink, WMV, XVID, DIVX.
+) Video formats: Cinepak, DV, H.263, H.264/MPEG-4 AVC, HuffYUV, Indeo, MJPEG, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 Part 2, RealVideo, Sorenson, Theora, WMV, Bink
+) Audio formats: AAC, AC3, ALAC, AMR, DTS, FLAC, Intel Music Coder, Monkey's Audio, MP3, Musepack, RealAudio, Shorten, Speex, Vorbis, WMA, Bink.
Supported video quality:
Up to full HD quality (1920 x 1080 pixels) for Quick Time media files (mp4, mov, m4v, mpv)
Up to DV quality (720 x 576 pixels) for other media files (flv, mkv, wmv, avi, asf, divx, xvid, dat, vob, mpg…)
☆ BUZZ Player support almost subtitle types including srt, a*s, ssa, msi, sub and embedded subtitle, it also can display almost languages such as Japanese, Chinese, Arabic, English, French, Italian, German, Thai, Vietnamese… BUZZ Player also allow user to change various settings of subtitle such as font color, font size, font type, position, timing offset.
☆ BUZZ Player supports various protocols: RTP, RTSP, HTTP, FTP, MMS, Netstream (mpst://), SMB, ffmpeg://, that allows user not only play media files from local but also play media files from remote servers and devices. User can use BUZZ Player to connect to their IP cameras and servers to play media from them.
☆ BUZZ Player also Built-in Network Browser allows user to play and copy files from Widows/Mac/Linux PC, remote FTP servers and Media Server (uPnP). (SMB & FTP & uPnP Support).
My ipad wouldn't be complete without BUZZ Player.
Top iPad deals from AMAZON
One of the reasons, i didn't want to get an iPad was because of the limitation to be expected when playing videos. I wouldn't be able to play mkv, mov and divx format videos plus a lot of other video formats. Because of this i kept off the iPad.
So it was great news to me when VLC for iPad was announced, finally an app that would allow me play other video formats and if this iPad version was anything like its PC or Mac brother then it was sure to be an awesome app.
This single application influenced my decision to buy an iPad.
VLC is a free and open source multimedia player. It reads almost every video file, yet it's very powerful and simple to use.
VLC for ipad plays so many video formats that i was simply blown away but i was shocked when VLC for iPad choked on my mkv files. When ever i tried to play a mkv file i get an error telling me my iPad is probably to slow o play the file, when i tell it to play the file anyway, the audio plays flawlessly but you get no video.
This wasn't acceptable to me as i had grown the habit of converting most of my video files to mkv format to save space and retain quality so off i went in search of a better Video Player for my iPad and i boy did i find one.
At just $2, Buzz Player is in my opinion the best Video player available for the iPad. So far i am yet to come across a video file that it doesn't play.
BUZZ Player HD is a multimedia player supporting many audio and video codecs and file formats, and various streaming protocols.
☆ BUZZ Player can play almost anything, including:
+) Container formats: 3GP, AVI, ASF, FLV, MKV (Matroska), MOV (QuickTime), MP4, NUT, Ogg, OGM, RealMedia, Bink, WMV, XVID, DIVX.
+) Video formats: Cinepak, DV, H.263, H.264/MPEG-4 AVC, HuffYUV, Indeo, MJPEG, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 Part 2, RealVideo, Sorenson, Theora, WMV, Bink
+) Audio formats: AAC, AC3, ALAC, AMR, DTS, FLAC, Intel Music Coder, Monkey's Audio, MP3, Musepack, RealAudio, Shorten, Speex, Vorbis, WMA, Bink.
Supported video quality:
Up to full HD quality (1920 x 1080 pixels) for Quick Time media files (mp4, mov, m4v, mpv)
Up to DV quality (720 x 576 pixels) for other media files (flv, mkv, wmv, avi, asf, divx, xvid, dat, vob, mpg…)
☆ BUZZ Player support almost subtitle types including srt, a*s, ssa, msi, sub and embedded subtitle, it also can display almost languages such as Japanese, Chinese, Arabic, English, French, Italian, German, Thai, Vietnamese… BUZZ Player also allow user to change various settings of subtitle such as font color, font size, font type, position, timing offset.
☆ BUZZ Player supports various protocols: RTP, RTSP, HTTP, FTP, MMS, Netstream (mpst://), SMB, ffmpeg://, that allows user not only play media files from local but also play media files from remote servers and devices. User can use BUZZ Player to connect to their IP cameras and servers to play media from them.
☆ BUZZ Player also Built-in Network Browser allows user to play and copy files from Widows/Mac/Linux PC, remote FTP servers and Media Server (uPnP). (SMB & FTP & uPnP Support).
My ipad wouldn't be complete without BUZZ Player.
Top iPad deals from AMAZON
Labels:
best buy,
buzz player,
ipad,
player,
video player,
vlc,
vs. best video player
Sunday, October 24, 2010
The World's Most Secure Data Center
The Swedish carrier Bahnhof offers its clientele bombproof bits.
If the whistleblower organization Wikileaks wanted to bolster its image as a league of invulnerable digital superheroes, it's found the right subterranean lair. Swedish broadband carrier Bahnhof confirms that some Wikileaks servers are now hosted in its Pionen data center, converted from an underground Cold War-era nuclear bunker in downtown Stockholm. The server farm, carved out of a 100-foot-tall granite hill, has a single entrance, protected by 20-inch-thick steel doors. Bahnhof Chairman Jon Karlung says the facility sends a message to clients: Your data are safe from all intrusions, physical or legal. "The resemblance to a James Bond setting is purely intentional."
1. CONFERENCE ROOM A glass conference room is embedded in the cave's rock ceiling with eight 13-foot-long steel bolts.
2. NETWORK OPERATIONS CENTER The room now holding Bahnhof's NOC was built to command Stockholm's civil defense during a nuclear winter.
3. ENTRANCE The data center offers only one way in or out. A planned "Batcave"-like chute from the surface was nixed due to budget concerns.
4. GENERATORS The facility's two backup generators were originally designed for German submarines.
5. SERVER HALL Would Pionen's 8,000 servers survive a nuclear blast? "I'm not sure about the people, but the machines would survive," says Bahnhof Chairman Jon Karlung.
5. SERVER HALL Would Pionen's 8,000 servers survive a nuclear blast? "I'm not sure about the people, but the machines would survive," says Bahnhof Chairman Jon Karlung.
Lagos says yes to WIMAX
Nigeria’s largest city, Lagos, is about to receive a boost in its Internet connectivity. According to goingwimax.com, Swift Networks has already begun testing a WIMAX network system in different parts of the city. The tests involve five hundred participants, who were chosen based on their Internet broadband requirements.
Chuma Okoye, COO of Swift Networks, said that the new network is aimed at addressing connectivity needs in terms of video, fax, phone service, and broadband. If successful, the service will see local businesses and banks strongly benefiting from the higher speed of the 4G WIMAX network.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Today at an event in San Francisco, Microsoft’s Office division is unveiling a new product: a suite of the company’s productivity services called Office 365.
Before now, Microsoft’s business-facing cloud services have been broken up in a few places: SharePoint, Lync Online, Exchange, and Office web apps. Office 365 looks to unify these. Microsoft SVP Chris Capossela says “This is everything we know about productivity brought to the cloud”.
The messaging here seems to indicate that Microsoft is more directly targeting Google Apps, the suite of online products that have been increasingly encroaching on Microsoft’s enterprise market. In what may have been a jab at Google, Capossela says “We can differentiate from our competition, particularly those coming from the consumer space, by making sure our servers are far more reliable”. I’m sure Google would object to this, as it often beats its chest about the security of Google Apps.
Microsoft is going to target small businesses in a way it hasn’t previously: for a business with under 25 employees, Microsoft will charge $6 per user per month; for larger companies, plans start at $2 per user per month for email alone — prices scale up to $27 per user a month, which includes telephony features (voicemail in your inbox) and video/voice conferencing. There’s also a single sign-on to access all of these services. Before now, Microsoft sold its Business Productivity Online Suite for $120/user/year; In contrast, Google Apps runs $50 per user per year, so Microsoft’s new price points are more competitive.
Microsoft says that before now it could only traget around 15% of an enterprise’s budget, because it was only selling software. Now it’s also helping run their infrastructure, which expands the potential market.
Office 365 is going to launch to the public in a worldwide release next year. For now, Microsoft is kicking off Office 365 with a limited beta rollout.
You’ll be able to learn more at Office 365.com, which Microsoft isn’t throwing live for another three hours for reasons that I’m sure make sense to them.
Nikon D7000 sold at Best Buy a little early, gets unboxed immediately
Best Buy's been a naughty retailer again by letting some people purchase Nikon's D7000 a few days ahead of its proper retail launch. Of those lucky buyers, a couple inevitably chose to document the unboxing experience and consequently we now have two videos awaiting you after the break, detailing just how neatly that black and gold box is arranged. The actual contents will hardly surprise you -- a neck strap, LCD protector, all the usual cables, plus an 18-105mm kit lens with soft pouch and petal-shaped hood are all present and accounted for -- but the thrill is in seeing the D7000 itself emerging from its plastic wrappings. You may do so just past the break.
11.6-inch MacBook Air detailed
So, we've just been discussing the rumored, and long overdue, MacBook Air refresh with a trusted source. This person recently had a working model in their possession for a few minutes and managed to glean quite a bit of detail that would seemingly confirm Apple's plan to announce an 11-inch MacBook Air at the "Back to the Mac" event later today. Here's what we've been told to expect:
- Smaller 11.6-inch display.
- 2.13GHz Intel Core 2 Duo (with a 2.33GHz option possible).
- 2GB of memory in the base configuration.
- No optical drive, naturally.
- Mini DisplayPort, USB, and SD card reader along the left-hand side and USB and power on the right (that's 2x USB).
- The trackpad has been updated to match that of the new MacBook Pros.
- Although smaller due to the 11.6-inch display, it's still about the same thickness as the current MacBook Air.
- A black power key now sits immediately to the right of a smaller eject key on the MBA's keyboard -- the round aluminum power button is gone. A design decision that might support the MBA's rumored instant-on capabilities though our source didn't see this functionality exhibited (possibly because it was running OS X 10.6.4).
Labels:
11.6-inch MacBook Air detailed,
apple,
details,
macbook air,
spec
The first million dollar laptop
March UK-based bespoke luxury goods creator Luvaglio has created the first million dollar laptop. That’s what the first of their luxury laptops will sell for. Full details of the laptop have not been released at this point, but it is known that it incorporates a 17" widescreen LED lit screen with a specially designed anti-reflective glare coating for clear and brighter image, 128GB of Solid State Disk space and a slot loading Blue-Ray drive. There is an integrated screen cleaning device and a very rare coloured diamond piece of jewellery that doubles up as the power button when placed into the laptop and also acts as security identification. Images here, videohere.
Luvaglio CEO Rohan Sinclair Luvaglio told Gizmag earlier today: “Unlike many of the highly priced products being released, we took our time to develop something out of the ordinary with real attention to detail. “
“I didn't want us to simply re-house a laptop into a diamond studded casing, or diamond encrust the entire thing simply to make it expensive. We've put thought in from the keyboard down to the power charger. There is an integrated screen cleaning device and a very rare coloured diamond piece of jewellery that doubles up as the power button when placed into the laptop and also acts as security identification. We have used diamonds elsewhere but have given them purpose.”
According to Luvaglio, “the brand is committed to re-defining luxury in a few sectors, technology being one of them.
“Many claim to produce luxury goods but we believe that the true element of luxury is having something that says "YOU", that money can't buy.
“At present and from our previous luxury work, our initial clients will be chosen from this selection as we have already established trust.
“The range to be released shortly would allow the owner to become the creator and visit our showroom at two or three well known upmarket stores we are in discussion with, whereby our selection of materials, finishes and accessories will be available to view and a choice selected.
“The choice will be based on our selection but of course other colours and finishes can be done on request. We have access to diamonds that are simply rare and near impossible to get hold of, so are able to offer a very embodied choice.
“The presentation boxes are of course supplied and finished in the choice that is selected by the client. Exact figures I am unable to provide at present due to negotiations but will certainly be more obtainable then our master piece.”
The first such masterpiece will sell for more than US$1,000,000.
OFF Technologies High End multimedia device
This device reads all available audio and video file formats, combining the functionality of several traditional devices. It offers the user the possibility of browsing photos on the Internet, listening to radio broadcasts, playing CDs and DVDs.
The prototype was constructed manually by the best polish technicians and manufactures with a supervision of the designer himself – Mr Janusz Kaniewski. The device was introduced on the Audio Show 2009 in November, which took place in Hotel Sobieski, Warsaw, Poland. A huge interest was generated, as the device was considered quite innovative. The device was manufactured from copper, silver compounds, glass and pespex. The project aroused interest between computer scientists, investors and also modern design fans. Every device will be individually customized to the future owner’s requirements and it will cost about $2000.
Via Press Release
Labels:
device,
expensive,
gadget,
multimedia,
toy
BlackBerry PlayBook 64GB variant confirmed, strapped to a 5,300mAh battery (video)
By Vlad Savov posted Oct 19th 2010 6:27AM
You already know most of the spec sheet delicacies that RIM has in store for its PlayBook, but here are a couple more details to complete the picture. The PlayBook will indeed match the iPad in having 16GB, 32GB and 64GB variants available, and will also come equipped with a pretty huge 5,300mAh battery. That'd be a generously proportioned cell for a full-sized laptop, we imagine it'll turn the PlayBook into quite the endurance champ.
By Vlad Savov posted Oct 19th 2010 6:27AM
You already know most of the spec sheet delicacies that RIM has in store for its PlayBook, but here are a couple more details to complete the picture. The PlayBook will indeed match the iPad in having 16GB, 32GB and 64GB variants available, and will also come equipped with a pretty huge 5,300mAh battery. That'd be a generously proportioned cell for a full-sized laptop, we imagine it'll turn the PlayBook into quite the endurance champ.
Labels:
32gb,
64gb,
battery,
blackberry playbook,
playbook
While it now looks like i will be getting an iPad i just found out my dream tablet, the Samsung Galaxy Tab costs €730 from Vodafone.de, €300 if bought with a two-year data plan
You can kind of tell we're growing ever closer to the Galaxy Tab's promised November 1 retail launch asprices for this slate just keep coming out of the woodwork, looking ever more solid with each passing day. Vodafone Germany is the latest to reveal the wallet damage Samsung's 7-inch Android tablet will demand, with a €730 ($1,017) levy for the 16GB version sans contract, or a €300 ($418) cost for those willing to commit to a two-year data plan at €35 a month. We'd advise against taking those direct currency conversions to heart, but the Tab's pricing here is €30 more than the 32GB iPad WiFi + 3G, making us scratch our heads as to how Samsung believes it'll manage to convince anyone to buy its smaller, less capacious alternative.
Came across the below article on one of my favorite websites, engadget.com and felt you would all like to read this.How much will a gold Vertu Constellation Quest set you back? About $27K, turns out
Feeling that Constellation Quest, but think it'd look a little better in brilliant yellow? Break open that piggy bank. Oh, and while you're at it, break open several dozen more piggy banks... and maybe even a real bank or two. We're hearing that the world's Vertu boutiques will be selling a yellow gold version of the Symbian-powered work of art for a cool €19,500 including VAT, which works out to about $27,000. Sure, that can buy a car -- but you already own the fleet of Bentleys and Bugattis, so let's be honest, another car would seem a bit excessive.
Labels:
Constellation. Quest,
expensive,
gold,
Vertu
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
N7700+ | |||||||||||
Ultimate Network Attached Storage Looking to get one of this enterprise grade NAS solutions? send me an email olumartins@gmail.com | |||||||||||
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The 7-bay NAS is shaping up to be the go-to desktop NAS device for users who require both massive storage and blazing performance. Today, Thecus® Technology is pleased to introduce the N7700+, a seven-bay storage server that retains all of the robust functionality of the N7700, but ups the ante with aPCIe x8 slot suitable for 10Gb Ethernet cards. Thecus® constantly engineers new ways to squeeze the maximum performance from existing technologies. The N7700+ one-ups its predecessor by including an internal PCIe x8 slot. Compared to the x1 slot found in the N7700, the N7700+’s PCIe slot offers up to eight times more bandwidth, which makes it perfect for 10Gb Ethernet cards. Outfitted with one of these cards, the N7700+ is fully compatible with the latest 10Gb networks, delivering unprecedented data transfer rates for the most demanding users. Of course, the N7700+ still includes the extensive feature set of the N7700. A wide selection of RAID modes including RAID 0, 1, 5, 6, 10, and JBOD are there, allowing system admins to choose the optimal level of data protection. The N7700+’s Dual DOM design gives added system reliability by reprogramming the primary DOM with a secondary DOM in case of a failure. System administrators don’t have to worry about the N7700+ not being compatible with their existing network as the N7700+ supports Ext3, XFS, and ZFS file systems, and is fully compatible with Windows, Mac and Linux. Admins will also love the fact that the N7700+ comes with online RAID expansion and migration, making it easy to administer from anywhere on the network. The N7700+ is powered with an Intel® Celeron™ M CPU and 2GB compliment of high-speed DDR2 memory, enabling it to achieve data transfer speeds of up to 300MB/s by adding a PCI-e 10Gb Ethernet adapter. This power can easily manipulate the up to 14TB of storage space offered by the N7700+’s seven 3.5” hard disk bays. And if 14TB isn’t enough, the N7700+ is also stackable with up to five other N7700+es, and all of these can be accessed via the master system for ultimate convenience. The N7700+ is even compatible with iSCSI initiators and supports iSCSI thin provisioning for added performance and flexibility With the popularity of VMware, virtualization technology is now widely used in the IT world. Thecus® is now the member of Technology Alliance Partner (TAP), and N7700+ is now officially VMware® Ready certified. “The N7700 offered unprecedented performance, and with the new N7700+, Thecus® has raised the bar yet again,” said Florence Shih, Thecus® Technology General Manager. “With the new PCIe x8 slot, N7700+ users will be able to connect the latest 10GbE NICs and enjoy next-generation transfer speeds in their corporate environment.”
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Wednesday, October 13, 2010
More on QNAP NAS solution
QNAP continues to lead the industry with innovations in design and technology. Their products have gained worldwide recognition. For example, TS-809 PRO was awarded the "2009 Best in Class of Enterprise NAS" from BenchMark Reviews (US), "2009 Technology Award" from PC World (Hungary), and "2009 Excellence Award" from WhichNAS.com (US) etc. The NMP-1000 was honored with the "2009 Gold Award" from Hardware.info (Netherlands), "2009 Best Buy" - PC World (Poland), and "2009 Expert Choice" - IT Expert (Russia) etc.
QNAP has also made huge advances with their new and much improved AJAX Web Interface and MAC friendly design.
What Makes QNAP NAS Different?
What Makes QNAP NAS Different?
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Tuesday, October 12, 2010
TS-859 Pro Turbo NAS in Nigeria
We have recently received shipment of a few units of TS-859 Pro Turbo NAS in Nigeria. The stock is limited and is guaranteed to run out very quickly.
You can also contact us to place orders for all QNAP range of products, all orders are backed up with full manufacturer’s warranty and support.
Please feel free to contact us to reserve one of the available units – qnap@24cube.co.uk
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