Ok. I know we don't all have printers strapped to our hips but what the heck?
I was on the road for many years and I probably would have wanted this capability back then when I was so busy documenting procedures and presenting them back to my clients (1978-1983), but the proliferation of printing functions that are available to us at this time are so prevalent I cant imaging the scenario that would require me presenting paper when I can present a digital image that you can carry any where with you on any device that you decide to have it available on.
Has anyone heard of print of PDF? The story this week of Dropbox now connecting to FedEx Office Retail Stores to be able to provide printing functions is really foreign to me as a positive new capability. This is supposedly a self-serve function, that you can send a job to the local FedEx Office and pick it up later in the day.This is not something that jumps in front of me says I need this capability.
Microsoft has just revamped the SkyDrive site to give it the same look and fell that Outlook.com received with the new Windows 8 Style interface. The rest of the site which includes Outlook, People, Calendar and SkyDrive are all on the drop menu and all have been converted to the new Windows 8 Style look except for Calendar which still is falling back to the old Windows Live Style. It even comes up with Windows Live and Hotmail (Outlook), Messenger, SkyDrive and MSN in the menu groupings.
You can get to SkyDrive directly by typing in skydrive.com. Microsoft states that the sight now defaults to a tile-based layout and boasts new features like instant search and a contextual toolbar. As the company notes, it's also designed with tablets in mind, in addition to desktop web browser. What's more, Microsoft has also rolled out updated SkyDrive apps for Windows and OS X, which promise faster uploads and other performance improvements, and it says it'll finally have an Android app in "just a few weeks."
See link below for a quick video on the changes. Click here if you want to access the skydrivevideos’s channel on YouTube.
Securing your WI-Fi connections is an important element of securing your personal data. You want your equipment and your data that is stored on that equipment to be protected from outside sources. Consider when you are setting up your network to purchase equipment that is able to use WPA2tm which provides both security (controlling who connects to your network) and prvacy (the transmissions cannot be read by others) for communications that move across the network. Remember, the security level or a network is determined by the least capable device. So if you have older wireless equipment consider updating your equipment with devices that are capable of WPA2tm.
Most Wi-Fi equipment is shipped with security disabled to make in easier to set up or connect to your network, Most new routers/wireless access points will walk you though your initial security setup and you have to force it not to do this to shut it off. It is very simple to set up and always pick the best overall protection that is suggested by the manufacturer. Change your SSID to a different name to differentiate from all the default units that are out there clogging up the airways. Make sure that you change the default administrative credentials as well (login and password). Though they make my job easier coming in to help you as a service person, it also makes it extremely easy for anyone to connect and make changes if you leave them with the defaults. Be sure to document what you did because otherwise you will have to reset everything back to factory defaults to and reset the connections if you forget.
The Wi-Fi Alliance has produced a short video (below), that provides a humorous and informative reasoning for setting up your network securely using WPA2tm. It is so important to lock things down so be sure that you are providing a secure safe access for your family in your home. (Download White Papers from WI=Fi Alliance)
Location
The performance of a Wi-Fi home network greatly depends on signal strength of the wireless router or wireless access point (base station).
If a given wireless client falls out of range of the base station signal, obviously that network connection will fail or "drop." Clients situated near the edge of the network range will likely experience intermittent dropped connections. But even when a wireless client stays within range consistently, its network performance can still be adversely affected by distance,obstructions, or interference.
To position your wireless equipment for optimal network performance, follow these guidelines:
First and foremost, don't settle prematurely on a location for the wireless access point or router. Experiment; try placing the device in several different promising locations. While trial-and-error may not be the most scientific way to find a good spot for your equipment, it is often the only practical way to assure the best possible Wi-Fi performance.
Strive to install the wireless access point or router in a central location. If you have only one wireless client, installing the base station near this client is best. For WLANs with multiple wireless clients, find a good compromise position. Clients too far away from the base station will manage only 10% - 50% the bandwidth of clients nearby to it. You might need to sacrifice the network performance of one client for the good of the others.
Next, avoid physical obstructions whenever possible. Any barriers along the "line of sight" between client and base station will degrade a Wi-Fi radio signal. Plaster or brick walls tend to have the most negative impact, but really any obstruction including cabinets or furniture will weaken the signal to some degree. Obstructions tend to reside closer to floor level; therefore, some folks prefer to install their wireless access point / router on or near the ceiling. Avoid reflective surfaces whenever possible. Some Wi-Fi signals literally bounce off of windows, mirrors, metal file cabinets and stainless steel countertops, lessening both network range and performance.
Install the wireless access point or router at least 1 m (3 feet) away from other home appliances that send wireless signals in the same frequency range. Such appliances include some microwave ovens, cordless telephones, baby monitors, and home automation equipment like X-10 devices. Any appliance that transmits in the same general range as802.11b or 802.11g (2.4 GHz) can generate interference.
Likewise, install the unit away from electrical equipment that also generates interference. Avoid electric fans, other motors, and fluorescent lighting.
If the best location you find is only marginally acceptable, consider adjusting the base station antennas to improve performance. Antennas on wireless access points and routers can usually be rotated or otherwise re-pointed to "fine tune" Wi-Fi signaling. Follow the specific manufacturer's recommendations for best results.
If using these guidelines you still cannot find a suitable location for your wireless gear, there are alternatives. You can, for example, replace and upgrade the base station antenna. You can also install a Wi-Fi repeater (often called a "range extender" or "signal booster.") Finally, in extreme cases, you may need to configure a second base station to extend the range of your WLAN.
eg. My home is one of the worst situations that I could have put myself in to create a strong environment. My first problem is that I live in a multi-level home that has a lot of brick on its outer walls and cement block surrounding the lover levels. I have a slate floor in the kitchen (this is a problem that I will explain later) and in the summer I need WiFi access in a greater than 150 foot area when I include the outdoor areas that we spend a lot of time in. My home office is in a wonderful little sunroom that sticks out away from the house so because the modem/router is located in this area I am feeding all my network and wireless access starting from this area. I ended up placing a second access point in a location that covers the second level bedrooms, mid-level living room and kitchen. The office unit covers the screened in porch and about half of the pool area outside. It is almost perfect but I could almost use a repeater to fully cover the pool area to bring it completely back into the network with speed and coverage. This took awhile to setup where I am now and you will find that you will want to work things out based on how you plan to use wireless access in your environment.
Let us know if you have any questions, I will be very happy to discuss your needs with your as any or our technicians can.
Want to connect your trusty Lexmark printer to a new computer, but can't find your printer CD? Don't put work on hold while you search every nook and cranny of your office. You can quickly download the most current drivers for your Lexmark printer right from our support site—and speed ahead like the pro you are. Here's how:
Unlike Acer Lenovo doesn’t seem to be afraid of the new Microsoft’s Surface Product.
Lenovo has officially announce their upcoming ThinkPad Tablet 2 and has listed pretty muck the same specs that have been rumored earlier. They still haven’t disclosed the price as of yet. The device is a 10-inch slate powered by Windows 8 and an Intel Atom processor. The screen is a 1366x768 IPS display, which should help with color reproduction and viewing angles. It reportedly gets 10 hours of battery life, comes with optional 3G/4G connectivity, and a micro-HDMI video output port. It sports two cameras, 2MP and 8MP. The cellular connection will mainly be HSPA+, however, the tablet will be compatible with AT&T's LTE network as well. More incredible is the thickness: 9.8mm. Inside that slim package, Lenovo has packed NFC connectivity, a fingerprint reader, and a stylus, which can be stored inside the tablet.
Windows 8 is going to be tightly integrated with Microsoft’s Cloud products and this may be a big draw for a lot of people to go this direction instead of Android and Apple especially in business environments. I would much rather have Windows running on my tablet because it would be linked more tightly with the way that I use a computer and would like a tablet to work as well. The big question is going to be price. We are still waiting to find out what Microsoft is doing and I am sure a lot of the PC Manufacturers are waiting as well.
The ThinkPad 2 Tablet will integrate tightly with Microsoft Exchange, SharePoint, Lync, Outlook, Active Directory and other corporate business applications, and it also offers a pen stylus, said Lenovo VP Dilip Bhatia. “Ladies and gentleman, this is the tablet the industry has been waiting for,” said Bhatia during an announcement Aug. 8 in New York.
“It’s designed for professionals and it’s designed life,” said Bhatia, speaking at a Lenovo event honoring the ThinkPad’s 20th anniversary. Among his key points:
First, it will provide a “great mobile experience” — weighing less than 600 grams, 10 hours of battery life, with 3G and 4G wireless capabilities.
A full-size USB port, HDMI capabilities
Multi-user login for doctors, sales reps and lawyers
A real pen stylus allows students to write formulas and real graphs
It will be available in October when Windows 8 is available
So you have been thinking about home automation but you want to do it for reasonable prices. Where should you look? Belkin is releasing soon a couple of devices that can be controlled both wirelessly and through motion detection. It can also be programmed to respond to a free service call IFTTT (IF This Then That). These are fairly simple on/off power control devices but they have the ability to be accessed using WiFi and your iPhone.
These switches connect to your home WiFi network and communicates via a free WeMo iOS app, so you can control any appliance or fixture that can plug into a regular outlet right from your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch. For example, you can use it to remotely turn on and off a light or heater, or schedule your coffee maker to turn on at a certain time in the morning. WeMo even comes with seamless support for the automated web service IFTTT, where you can set up "recipes" such as receiving a text message when an appliance turns on or off.
The WeMo Switch will cost you $49, or you can go for the Switch + Motion bundle for $99 where you get a motion-activated Switch that can trigger devices with a simple walk-by. Both are available now on Belkin's website.
I have had a little more time with the Nexus 7 and I have found a few quarks that have caused me a little frustration when I compare the same functions on my iOS devices.
Bluetooth Audio Streaming
The first has to do with Bluetooth streaming audio and Audible. I love to listen to my Audible audio books when I am driving in my car but there is some kind of lockup that occurs when I turn off the car and the book is still running. I have to totally power off the Nexus 7 and reset it to get the book to run on the device. This happens every time. My iPhone and iPad both don’t have a problem with this and keep going on their merry way. Once the Nexus has lost that Bluetooth connection it is frustratingly hard to get it back up and running.
Space Limitations
I also found myself loading up several books and podcasts and it didn’t take long for me to run out of space on the 16GB version. So I need to keep my eye on space limitations. However, most everything else seems to running fine. When I was running out of space the tablet began to run very slow and was timing out between functions. As soon as I backed off of the number of books and podcasts that I was running everything came back up to speed just fine.
EReader
I find reading books on this tablet just as nice as most other tablets. The one thing that the Kindle has over the Nexus are the physical buttons to page forward and back on both sides of the screen. This makes it much easier to flip pages. It seems to be more of two handed gesture on the Nexus to flip pages.You can single tap on the edge of the screen to flip a page but you have to tap on right to flip forward and the left to flip back. I haven’t found anything in setting as of yet to change this.
Exchange Email
I have noticed that my Exchange email access is very slow. On my iOS devices they normally beat Outlook to receiving an email response from the Exchange server, which really surprises me. The email does get there but is extremely slow.
Lenovo's upcoming Windows 8 tablet has been teased by the company several times and a mysterious source has leaked the specs of the device on the internet. The Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet successor will be running Windows 8 and come with a pen stylus and an optional physical keyboard dock that is similar to Microsoft's Surface's one.
The heart of the machine will be a dual-core Intel Clover Trail processor that has access to 2GB of RAM. The screen is said to be a 10.1-inch WXGA touchscreen--WXGA is 1366x768. The device will sport 64GB of storage. Looking at the spec list, it's pretty clearly set to be an iPad competitor, but if that's not enough convincing, one of the leaked slides shows a comparison of the device with the iPad.
Looking at the chart entitled "Best in Class", the iPad clearly wins out in several categories such as screen resolution and voice control. However, Lenovo's tablet features stereo speakers, which trumps the iPad's mono system, and dual microphones, which offer digital noise reduction. The ThinkPad Tablet 2 measures 262.6 x 164 x 9.8mm and weighs 650g.
On August 1st Windows 8 was released for testing and production. That means that the new operating system has reached RTM status and that OEMs now have access to the OS and can start building with it.
These PCs won’t be available until the October 26th release date but at least we are moving closer. Upgrades will be offered for $39.99, or if you have recently purchased a Windows 7 PC, the upgrade will only cost you $14.99.
Various audiences will get access to Windows 8 RTM before the rest of us:
August 15th: Developers will be able to download the final version of Windows 8 via your MSDN subscriptions.
August 15th: IT professionals testing Windows 8 in organizations will be able to access the final version of Windows 8 through your TechNet subscriptions.
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.
August 16th: Microsoft Partner Network members will have access to Windows 8.
August 20th: Microsoft Action Pack Providers (MAPS) receive access to Windows 8.
September 1st: Volume License customers without Software Assurance will be able to purchase Windows 8 through Microsoft Volume License Resellers.
As of August 15, developers will have access to the final build of Visual Studio 2012, which will include resources they need to design, build, and sell apps in the Windows Store. We're just under 3 months away from seeing the final version of Microsoft's latest OS.
Microsoft announced a new version of both the Windows Photo Gallery and Movie Maker for Windows 7 and Window 8. They have added a few new capabilities and are available for free from Windows Essentials 2012 (Web install).
If you look down through the Blog Comments you will see that there was some issues installing the update. You will need the newest version of .net and it isn’t part of the installation.
I have used Movie Maker in the past but I haven’t recently because it is a bit buggy and limited in features as compared to some of the simpler commercial programs that are out there like Adobe’s Premier Elements and Sony’s Vegas products.
IDC stated that in Q2, 2012 the iPad was certainly the leader when it comes to the overall tablet market.. With 17 million iPads shipped during this period the next nearest competitive tablet was the Samsung Galaxy Tab that reached 2.4 million units during the same quarter. That means that iPads are outpacing its next nearest competitor by a ratio of greater than 7 to 1. Amazon shipped 1.2 million units in this same quarter. It will be interesting to see how the Nexus 7 fairs this quarter in the mix.
In the fourth quarter Microsoft is going to be jumping into the fray as well with their Windows Surface RT tablet and that is going to make it that much more interesting as well. The question is whether we are going to see that many more tablets being sold or whether one or another will start eating into each other’s sales.
My use of voice to text recognition software goes in spurts. I don't use it routinely just because I am very seldom in a quiet enough area to make a good environment for the voice to text recognition software work well.
On my Windows 7 machine I use the built in Windows 7 software for speech recognition. It does pretty well, but I can't help but think that Dragon Naturally Speaking would do a much better job at this. I sometimes use the Dragon app on my iPhone to create like texts that I send out. But other than that, I don't use any of the boys search programs that are out there for my phone.
I have written a lot of blog posts using the voice to text technology on my iPad, and more recently on my new Nexus 7. On the iPad am using the Dragon app to create a note that I eventually will paste into another application to post up to my blog. The Nexus 7 has a very similar voice to text recognition application that you can use inside multiple applications on the device. This makes it a little more usable then the dragon app.
New wants is the software manufacturer of the Dragon series of software packages, and they are in constant development of their software to place it on as many devices that they can. We're starting to see it on some smart TV use and even in cars. They are hoping to have their software power in every application that you use.
They're placing a new software development kit so all iOS and Android app developers can use the same voice recognition technology in any app. This might be exciting for some of us that there is a scarier side to this coming to fruition. They are also hoping to combine actual voice ID’ing to financial applications to access banking and payment functions. Think about one click purchasing at Amazon being processed totally by voice control.
What is frightening is the possible loss of control as someone overhearing, recording your voice, or some other IP capture system to be able to take advantage of this voice function on devices and within applications that could hurt you financially. The question is do you want to open this Pandora's Box or not? Think about it.
This is from a recent email sent out by the Lexmark News Group on some suggestions on how to maintain the best quality printing from your Lexmark Inkjet Printer.
Don't get stuck troubleshooting print streaks, missing colors, or other print quality issues. Most of these printer problems are caused by clogs in ink cartridges, which form when ink dries inside the print head or ink nozzles. But if you keep your cartridges in good condition, your Lexmark printer will continue to run like a well-oiled machine. Here's a little advice that can help:
1. Do you use your printer regularly? Of course, you shouldn't just print for printing's sake, but when you naturally have print jobs to do, don't hold back! Printing black and color documents multiple times on most days will help to avoid print quality issues by keeping the ink flowing, so it doesn't dry out.
2. Use your printer less frequently? If your printer goes unused for lengthy periods of time with ink cartridges inside, your cartridge nozzles can dry out. This can affect your print quality or interfere with your printer's ability to do its job. When you're not planning on using your printer for a long period of time, remove your cartridges from the printer, place them in an airtight container and store them somewhere cool.
3. Regardless of your print habits, don't let your cartridges run completely out of ink. Just like you wouldn't let your car run on empty, you can't let your printer run until the very last drop of ink is used. Replace your cartridges just before you're running on fumes—your printer will alert you when it's time. This simple step will ensure that your printer continues to function properly.
The Lexmark Pro5500 is a really solid business class inkjet printer. All our old preconceptions of the limitations of inkjet printers go out the window when looking at these new class of inkjet printers. Priced at $399 the Pro5500 is fast and inexpensive to operate. This is a multifunction printer with Print, Scan, Copy and Fax functions that is network ready with wireless AirPrint capabilities.
Features:
Legal-sized Flatbed Scanner
4.3” touch screen with SmartSolutions
Fast laser-quality printing: 21/14 ipm
300 sheet tray
Optional 550 sheet tray takes the paper input capacity to 850 sheet total
Automatic duplex printing up to legal size
After market High Yield cartridges provide 2500 b/w 1600 color pages per cartridge
Business class fax with duplex and backup memory (up to 900 pages)
Network Ready: Ethernet & Wireless N
50 Sheet ADF with single pass duplex scan
Front USB port & media card reader
Solid and reliable- 30k page duty cycle
Cost per page: 1.5/7.9 cents BW/Color
I have one of the earlier Pro901’s but I really want to replace it with this one. Just the duplex scanning feature alone makes it worthwhile as well as the AirPrint capability. Take a look at the demo video below.
This is not official but you may have incentive to buy a new Chromebook or Chromebox here shortly. According to reports from several sources there is code in the Chromium open source operating system hinting at this.
Reported by:
Google+ user François Beaufort spotted the promo within the Chromium Code review site. Looking at the code, you’ll notice several mentions of an “alternative GDrive promo” and, within one JavaScript file there is welcome text that says “Get 100 GB free with Google Drive.”
The Chromium code may tell the tale.
100GB on Google’s online storage service would normally cost $4.99 per month, so it’s a savings of about $60 a year for Chromebook and Chromebox owners.
This may not be much of an incentive for some people give the small difference in cost between a Chromebook pc and an entry level Windows based notebook.
I received my Cubby invitation today so I loaded it up on my office workstation. I then immediately installed both the Android and IOS versions on my tablets. Just like that I had instant access to the published My Cubby folder. On your desktop you will click on your Cubby program icon and the dialog box that you see on the right will pop up. The wrench at the top of the screen will bring up a new dialog box that shows you your account, allows you to control notifications, and whether you want to start Cubby at startup. It also lets you setup a proxy server if you need to and provides an information screen on the version and links to terms and cubby.com.
You get 5GB’s of space to start with. At the bottom of the initial dialog screen you are shown the current used and available space on your account. If you run your cursor over this area a quick info box appears showing you total cloud capacity, file space used, archive space used and free space available for more storage.
When you add a new folder that you want to share from your machine its location doesn’t move it is just given access to the Cubby application. You can add a folder in a couple of ways. You can drag a folder from an explorer window onto the Dialog Box. You can also right mouse click on the folder in the explorer window and then choose Make this a Cubby Folder.
Once you have chosen a folder to be included as a Cubby Share folder, you can do several things to it. Hover over the folder and you will see 4 icons show up beside the folder. The screen icon gives you control of what devices will sync to the folder you are highlighting. The second icon represents invitations you can send out through email to individuals to share access to the folder. The third icon that appears as a chain (link) allows you to create a public link that you can share from a website, email or other method. The last icon is an “x” and by choosing this option you will delete the link to the folder. Very simple and very straight forward.
I am going to try this out for a couple of weeks. I will report back as to whether I find in more useful than Dropbox or not.
While still available by invite only this product might have some interesting uses. So if it isn’t available to the general public why the big hubbub? They have increased the referral reward program to 1GB, twice that of Dropbox’s and they give you unlimited space for the files that you are sharing between computers. Dropbox limits your storage capacity to initially 2gb’s for the free with a maximum of 16gb’s for your referral rewards. Your initial allotment for cloud storage with Cubby is 5gb’s more than double that of Dropbox and with the sharing of the data between computers, the data that is shared is not included in your cloud capacity. I was thinking to my self that this might be competition for Citrix’s ShareFile product. One nice feature of the Cubby system is that there isn’t an ongoing cost. Citrix is based on bandwidth usage and starts at a cost of $29.95 per month. While this is essentially similar to an FTP service with storage in the cloud it provides a much needed capability of sharing files with others that are larger than what your email transporter service allows. This is something that we run into all of the time. For years I have been telling people about Dropbox for this purpose but this might be and interesting alternative as well.
For more details about this product read the Press Release below.
Press Release:
Since the beta launch of Cubby earlier this year LogMeIn has taken on board a ton of great feedback from fellow Cubbsters and made the cloud service even better. Cubby is the cloud data service to simply and securely share information across PCs, Macs, iPads, iPhones, Android devices, or with other people.
Cubby is the first service built on LogMeIn's very own cloud data sync and storage platform letting people turn any number of PC or Mac folders into 'cubbies' that can be accessed from other devices, stored in the cloud, and shared with colleagues and friends. Cubby also gives people the option to simply share or sync an unlimited amount of information across their devices for free, and without ever counting against cloud storage limits.
So, to celebrate the next phase of the beta LogMeIn's Cubby now offer users:
New referral reward program – offering at least 2 x the additional free space (twice as much as Dropbox) per referral of any of the cloud sync and store offerings on the market. Cubbsters are given 1GB of additional space every time they refer a friend into Cubby. Simply invite 5 friends and it'll double the free storage you already have (from 5GB to 10GB)
Unlimited sharing of cubbies – sharing cubbies is half the fun of using Cubby and now LogMeIn allows users to share cubbies with everyone. Share your stuff with friends, family and colleagues alike for everyone to get the full Cubby experience and for easy and remote communication at all times
Updated iOS app – the improved app is now available from the Apple app store allowing users to open and upload any file on the iPhone or iPad into Cubby. Also, open any Cubby file in other apps, like QuickOffice, Pages, Keynote, Evernote and even Dropbox
Cubbies noted on desktop, explorer – now any folder that has been turned into a Cubby is marked with a Cubby icon when viewed on the desktop or via explorer to clearly mark cubbified folders
If you are looking for a effective method of adding phone service to your home, try the Obi100 Phone Gateway. The Obi Gateways all will work with Google Voice to give you free nationwide calling. You will need an Internet port on your router, power, and a Google Voice account and an analog phone. Starting at $59.99 for the OBi100, 69.99 for the OBi110 and $99.99 for the OBi202 it is a low cost gateway using internet technology.
OBi Technology
Do More with Your Phone - Do More with the Internet
By using the Internet, coupled with Obihai's state-aware, intelligent, secure, managed, application network called OBiTALK and our advanced OBi VoIP endpoints & applications, OBi users can aggregate and bridge services without the need for a service provider's intervention. With the OBi, you have the freedom to control almost every aspect and cost of your analog and digital communication life.
Stay In-Touch on Your Terms, Without Breaking the Bank
Given the multitude of ways and means by which we communicate with each other using the Internet, telephones and computers for conversations, instant messaging, e-mail and social networking it is clear that the currently available carrier services artificially restrict our ability and hinder us in our desire to stay in-touch with friends, family and work colleagues.
With the OBi, you can combine multiple services so that users can stay connected easily, without worrying about receiving a shockingly large bill from a telco or needing to cut conversations short, and potentially missing hearing an important piece of information or collaborating more effectively.
Intel is pushing for the OEM partners to produce an Ultrabook at a lower starting point and here is one of the first with this lower price model in mind. A great machine for back-to-school purchasers this is a hybrid drive machine with both an SSD for the operating system and boot up as well as regular spinning drive for your data storage. With a 13.3 inch screen and 3.7 lbs weight and 7-8 hour battery life this is a perfect machine to be carrying around from class to class all day long.
When initially looking at this ultrabook you will see that it has more plastic involved in its build then most other ultrabooks, of course those units in the higher price range have more metal involved in their design. If you are on a limited budget and still want some of what this style product brings to the table then the Lenovo U310 series might be a good choice for you.
Engadget has posted we can expect two accessories for the Nexus 7 tablet that include a docking station and a smart cover. On the heals of the the Nexus 7 16GB version becoming available again on Google’s Play site we can start expecting a docking station and two styles of covers being release in August. Already showing the case on Google Play Store the entry level case is just $19.99 and a leather one will be available for around $40.
ASUS is showing the cases in many different colors so you can let your imagination go wild and get the color you like best!
No prices are shown on Asus’s site but you can see the six different colors that are available to choose from. Of course I am so bland I will probably consider staying with the ugly grey one but who knows?
The Nexus 7 dock is a simple wedge design with standard 3.5mm jack plugs that you can plug into active speakers for sound. It has a micro USB connector for charging your Nexus 7 by laying it into the holder. It appears that the four prong connector may have a use after all. There isn’t any video output connector so we don’t have that available in this version, it will be interesting to see if that will ever be an option. Probably not because it doesn’t appear to have the circuitry to support that.
Thursday, August 16, 2012 at 12:01PM 
