CES 2011

Last year Jude and I had launched our video studio right about this time and had produced some videos about products that we thought were neat and that we wanted to have. Many of these products never came into production as is the nature of the beast, but it is still interesting that the same basic theme this year seems to be the same as last year.

Hands down I think that one of the most exciting products of last year was the iPad and I am so glad that I found a way to justify my purchase because once I did get it into my hands, I found many more uses for it then I originally imagined. One of the things that I do daily is look for either new applications or peripherals to add to my collection of supporting items for my iPad. My two newest purchases being speaker docks that charge my iPad and iPhone while playing content. Productivity enhancements and ease of sharing data between systems is still my biggest concern when choosing a new application.

So, enough of my Bully Pulpit! The main focus of new and improved upcoming products include iPad type devices either using Android and Microsoft's Windows for operating systems. Throw in products from HP and RIM and we have a large number of choices in many varying sizes. For many of these we will still have to wait and see if they will actually reach production.

Another carryover from last year is the eBook reader. My feeling is that Amazon and Barnes and Noble are our two leaders with Sony in as a distant third. I am not sure that there is any more room for anything else out there but when people see a successful product they will try to ride the coattails of those products with what they feel is a better mousetrap.

3D TV was introduced last year but this year we see it being put into almost everything with a screen. I am not sold on this yet as anything more than a gimmick, but there is a lot of money being poured into it.

Believe it or not there are some interesting things happening with desktop and notebook computers with the new integrated video residing right in the same silicon with the CPU. there are many benefits to be found doing this that I will discuss in some follow-up articles. But we are seeing a small resurgence in Tablet Notebooks (convertibles), and more units in smaller more powerful form factors.

I haven't seen any new product groups yet but we are still pretty early in the show for me to determine that, more on this later. Anyway, over the next few days we will be perusing CES from afar and as we come up with products that we fill compelling, we will be sure to bring them to your attention.
So for now I'll go back to work and see what I can find!

PR:Intel’s 34nm NAND flash memory now featured in its Solid State Drives

High-performance storage for notebook and desktop PCs – now on 34nm NAND flash memory featuring the Intel® Solid State Drive (Intel® SSD) Toolbox

Intel® Solid State Drives (Intel® SSDs) represent a revolutionary breakthrough that delivers a giant leap in storage performance. Intel Solid State Drives are designed to satisfy the most demanding gamers, media creators, and technology enthusiasts. These new drives bring a high level of performance and reliability to notebook and desktop PC storage, at a fraction of the cost of the previous generation of Intel® SSD products.

Wait less. Do more

Why wait for a traditional hard disk drive to spin up? Unlike traditional hard disk drives, Intel SSDs have no moving parts, resulting in a quiet, cool, highly rugged storage solution that also offers faster system responsiveness. And for laptop PCs, the lower power needs of Intel SSDs translate to longer battery life and lighter notebooks. Higher performance with more durability means you can be truly mobile with confidence.

Better by design

Drawing from decades of memory engineering experience, and now on new, industry-leading compute-quality 34nm NAND flash memory manufacturing processes, Intel® Mainstream SATA Solid-State Drives are designed to deliver outstanding performance, featuring the latest-generation native SATA interface with an advanced architecture employing 10 parallel NAND flash channels equipped with multi-level cell NAND flash memory. With powerful Native Command Queuing to enable up to 32 concurrent operations, Intel Mainstream SATA SSDs deliver higher input/output per second and throughput performance than other SSDs on the market today – and drastically outperform traditional hard disk drives. These drives also feature low write amplification and a unique wear-leveling design for higher reliability, meaning Intel drives not only perform better – they last longer.

Featuring the Intel® SSD Toolbox with Intel SSD Optimizer

The Intel® SSD Toolbox with Intel® SSD Optimizer provides a set of applications to easily manage the health and optimize the performance of your Intel SSD. The Intel SSD Toolbox includes a powerful set of management, information, and diagnostic tools, and is designed to work best with 34nm Intel SSDs. The Intel SSD Optimizer utilizes the new ATA Data Set Management Command (Trim Attribute) to help maintain your SSDs performance at "fresh-out-of-the-box" levels, and is specifically designed to run with Microsoft Windows* 7. The Intel SSD Optimizer also works with Microsoft Windows Vista* and XP* operating systems as well.

Two options. No worries

Intel Mainstream SATA Solid-State Drives are available in either 2.5in (Intel® X25-M Mainstream SATA Solid-State Drive) or 1.8in (Intel® X18-M Mainstream SATA Solid-State Drive) standard hard drive form factors. And all Intel Mainstream SSDs are tested and validated on the latest Intel-based mobile and desktop platforms for your peace of mind.

Skype 3.0 adds video calling

Those of you that use Skype will be interested in the new release from Skype of its IOS release of Skype 3.0. We tried it out over 3G yesterday and while it was a little grainy and choppy was useable for basic communications on your iPhone 4 and 3GS and 4th generation iPod. While the image displayed is really grainy you can make out larger objects but if you need to send text you are better off taking a picture and sending it that way.

You can see the image to the right that the back camera from my iPhone 3gs can only do so much. This was a screen grab from my computer’s Skype communication box. You can easily flip your phone’s camera on and off but the receiving system needs to accept the image as well.

Captured Lunar Eclipse a real work of art

We have so many things that we can experience that brings awe into our lives and the movement of the Earth and Moon and their relationship to the Sun makes some beautiful art. William Castleman took a series of time lapse photographs and put them together into movie from the hour plus long Lunar Eclipse that occurred during this year’s Winter Solstice.

I hope that you enjoy it as much as I did.

William Castleman’s vimeo blog.

Amazon rolls out Kindle lending support | ZDNet

Free Public Library Support is about the only major difference between the Nook and the Kindle now that Amazon has begun rolling out the capability to lend a book to a friend. It all has to be done through an Amazon Web Page but at least it is available now. You can now offer books up for lending and the recipient has seven days to accept, and they can borrow the book for up to 14 days once they accept the loan. While the recipient has the book on their Kindle device you will not be able to access it. You can check out the Amazon Help page on how to do this here…

Amazon rolls out Kindle lending support | ZDNet

Microsoft quietly shuts down Office Genuine Advantage program | ZDNet

Microsoft’s Office Genuine Advantage program appears to have been shut down on Dec 17, 2010. Ed Bott wrote a great article about this program, what it did, and what it doesn’t change. You still need your 25-character product key to activate your product but you will no longer need to authenticate the product every time you add an add-in application to any of your Office programs.

Microsoft quietly shuts down Office Genuine Advantage program | ZDNet

Lenovo ThinkPad T410s Reviewed: Fastest Notebook of the Year

Laptop Magazine just reviewed the Lenovo ThinkPad T410s rating it as the Fastest Notebook of the Year. This is the first notebook with Nvidia Optimus graphics that can power up to three external displays at once (see review).

Besides the discreet graphics card the model tested also has a 128GB solid state drive, 4GB/s of 1333-MHz RAM, Core i5 processor and weighs in at only 3.8 pounds. With our penchant for more screen real estate this product brings a lot to the table. It’s one negative is its battery life that can be boosted by replacing the optical drive with another battery.

Other add-ins include a webcam and microphone, DisplayPort, eSATA/USB, Ethernet, VGA, power, and a USB port that can charge gadgets when the notebook is sleeping or off. The left side houses the third USB port, the audio jack, and memory card slot. A DVD drive, Kensington lock slot, and wireless on/off switch line the right side. The touchpad supports multi touch gestures including pinch-to-zoom.

Accessories you will want to consider include:

• ThinkPad Mini Dock Plus Series 3 ($249), which houses two DVI connections, two DisplayPorts, and a VGA output.
• Mini Dock Series 3 ($219), is limited to a single DVI, DisplayPort, and VGA connection.
• Upgrade to the three-cell ultrabay battery ($120)
• Multitouch display can be added for $400
• 8GB of RAM ($240)
• Gobi 2000 3G with GPS is a $126

The ThinkPad T410s comes standard with a one-year warranty on parts and labor and 24/7 toll-free phone support.

Technical Specifications
Lenovo ThinkPad T410s (Nvidia Optimus)
http://www.lenovo.com/us

CompactFlash allies rally against dominant SD | Deep Tech - CNET News

CNET’s Stephen Shankland wrote a great article comparing the current technology and future advancements in both SD and CF memory choices. He has already suggested that SD has “vanquished xD and Memory Stick configurations especially in the digital camera a video segments. However, he comes up with some great arguments about where CF memory fits in this regard and why it might win out in some situations.

As our storage needs keep growing and the need for faster transfer rates continually increase CompactFlash memory could hold the the position of the only current product design that can meet many professional photographer’s needs. Setting up CF in RAID like designs can help to collect larger files sizes more quickly allowing for higher frame rate video capture than we enjoy today. If any of this peaks your interest, click on the link below to read more…

CompactFlash allies rally against dominant SD | Deep Tech - CNET News

Now here is something really scary or neat…

Fujitsu has created a hybrid energy harvester that makes power from light or heat.

Are we on the verge of becoming human batteries for alien friends? Or even scarier, the corporate world? With devices like this new Fujitsu product will help to capture motion and warmth and transform them into reusable energy. While we are in the beginning stages of this new product development the possibilities of capturing wasted energy to be reused for other purposes is intriguing. I guess we will have to wait and see how this progresses.

SPACEX'S DRAGON SPACECRAFT RE-ENTERS SUCCESSFULLY

Lands on Target in the Pacific Ocean, 500 miles Off of the Coast of Southern California
SpaceX/NASA to Hold Post-Mission Press Conference at 3:30 PM EST

Cape Canaveral, FL – Today, SpaceX became the first commercial company in history to re-enter a spacecraft from low-Earth orbit.

SpaceX and NASA will have a post-mission press conference at 3:30 PM EST at the press site at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Participants include:

• Elon Musk, SpaceX CEO and CTO (via satellite from Mission Control in Hawthorne, CA)
• Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX President
• Alan Lindenmoyer, NASA Commercial Crew and Cargo Program Manager

SpaceX launched its Dragon spacecraft into low-Earth orbit atop a Falcon 9 rocket at 10:43 AM EST from Launch Complex 40 at the Air Force Station at Cape Canaveral.

The Dragon spacecraft orbited the Earth at speeds greater than 17,000 miles per hour, reentered the Earth’s atmosphere, and landed in the Pacific Ocean shortly after 2:00 PM EST.

This marks the first time a commercial company has successfully recovered a spacecraft reentering from low-Earth orbit. It is a feat performed by only six nations or government agencies: the United States, Russia, China, Japan, India, and the European Space Agency.

It is also the first flight under NASA’s COTS program to develop commercial supply services to the International Space Station. After the Space Shuttle retires, SpaceX will fly at least 12 missions to carry cargo to and from the International Space Station as part of the Commercial Resupply Services contract for NASA. The Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft were designed to one day carry astronauts; both the COTS and CRS missions will yield valuable flight experience toward this goal.

View the press kit: cots1-201012.pdf

I have always been fascinated with space and space exploration. Whether it is real-life or fiction I can’t get enough of it. And here we have the first non-governmental, commercial company to successfully recover a spacecraft from low-Earth orbit. Welcome in a new era. I can’t wait to see what this company and others will achieve over the next few years.

We have had several interesting discussions at the store lately about eBook Readers

I was browsing through some of the Technology RSS feeds that I subscribe to, (I know that's kind of geeky, but that is what I do in lieu of thumbing through a Christmas catalog or magazine like my lovely wife), and I came across the headline of how Barnes & Noble is now producing 1,800 color Nooks per day. That equates to over 7 million shipping per year, not too bad. Add to that the number of Kindles that are shipping and the number of iPads still flowing into the hands of smiling owners.

Google E-Bookstore has gone live bringing over 3 million titles to any web-browsing capable device with a large selection of free titles. Apps for Android, iPhone, and iPad to read Google e-books are available as well and content will sync across any device you own as the other apps do from Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

So, back to the discussion we were having this morning about all of the different products that are now available to read an eBook on. Whether you own a device like the Kindle, Sony or the first version of the Nook (dedicated reading devices), a computer using one of the reading apps produced by these companies, browsing using the new amazon kindle browser site, or a special app on your smart phone or Pad device. There are so many ways to consume the books you buy that it becomes apparent to me that when you are really into a book you can always have it with you until you are done with it.

Personally I like going with the Amazon products mainly because of the types of devices that I own and the ways that I can access what I but and because I am an avid Audible patron dating all the way back to 1989 I have so many ways to consume my reading material.

So what is the point that I am trying to make. I think that the opportunities in this world for enjoying your reading have opened considerably. The devices you invest in will determine the path that you will be able take to access the literature formats that are exploding on the market. Whether you want to feel the paper or work with electronics you have so many options available to you. Whether you want to listen or read or do both you can do that as well.  The world is your oyster, enjoy!

Will 2011 be the era of the Pad Wars

Intel Plans to be a big part of this in 2011. Intel has won 35 agreements from manufacturers to put its ships into new tablet models to compete with Apple’s iPad next year. Dell, Asus, Lenovo and Toshiba among others have plans to roll out tablets and smartphones powered by Intel’s chips in the second half of 2011.

Intel is so bullish about the coming year they have resumed their stock buy-backs again.

Analysts see Intel's upcoming product news as positive, though they are also taking a wait-and-see approach. "Intel is moving in the right strategic direction but they still have a long way to go," said Gabelli & Company analyst Hendi Susanto. "They're late into the game. There is no clear visibility on what the products look like."

With Intel's growth into the mobile space solidifying for next year, the company is increasingly optimistic. "I'm happy to report that Intel has been back in the market this quarter," Otellini said. "The buy-back has resumed."

Intel has created a new business unit that it calls the netbook and tablet group. The unit will be run by Douglas L. Davis, the current head of Intel’s embedded and communications group, who will be charged with making sure Intel can fend off all kinds of competition in this area.

“Netbook shipments will be heading north of 100 million, and we’ll all soon will find out what kind of market potential there is for tablets and these increasingly popular hybrid designs,” Mr. Kircos said. “It makes sense for us to sharpen our focus on these friends of the PC, and Doug’s experience running a similar and very successful embedded division makes him the right guy to lead the group.”

As reported in the New York Times:

When netbooks first hit the scene, analysts were quick to predict possible doom-and-gloom for Intel.

The cheap, little netbooks run on cheap, little chips. And the thinking was that Intel’s profits would sink as people bought netbooks instead of proper laptops with fancier chips.

As it turns, most netbooks were bought as complements to existing computers. As a result, Intel simply sold more chips and piggybacked on computers that played well in some regions that had been cool to the PC.

The netbooks have also boosted Intel’s long-standing push in the education market. The San Diego public school system, for example, has bought 35,000 netbooks for third and fourth graders and is expected to buy 100,000 more as it expands a program aimed at giving all students access to computers.

Tablets are more challenging for Intel.

The iPad from Apple has proved the dominant device in this category, and it runs on Apple’s own ARM chip, the A4. A number of companies designing tablets have eyed ARM chips as lower-power, lower-cost alternatives to Intel’s Atom chip that can still provide enough computing oomph to keep people happy.

But at next month’s consumer electronics show in Las Vegas, a number of Atom-based tablets should appear from the usual suspects and some unusual ones. Intel expects more than 100 netbook and tablet designs based on Atom to hit the market over the next six months

LCD makers fined $857 million for price fixing

Other news today has the European Commission issuing a fine to AU Optronics, Samsung, LG, Chimei InnoLux, Chunghwa Picture Tubes and HannStar Display after the companies held so called "Crystal meetings" between 2001 and 2006. The fine? €648.925 million ($857.49 million).

The goal of these meetings was for the sic companies to agree on a price range for their products and the minimum pricing on LCDs.The intent of this agreement was of course to boost profit for these companies. Interestingly, Samsung was the company that reported the meetings and their content and was granted immunity. Each company was fined a different amount.

"Foreign companies, like European ones, need to understand that if they want to do business in Europe they must play fair," Joaquín Almunia, Vice President of Competition Policy in the EC, said in a statement. "The companies concerned knew they were breaking competition rules and took steps to conceal their illegal behavior. The only understanding we will show is for those that come forward to denounce a cartel and help prove its existence."

Europa Press Release

Looks like VGA is in its last days

Manufacturers are taming up to phase out the VGA and LVDS display connectors by 2015. You may be surprised in who they are: Intel, AMD, Dell, Lenovo, Samsung and LG have all made this commitment. So, what are they replacing it with? HDMI and DisplayPort will be pushed as you new default connections (and this is happening already).

AMD has said that it will discontinue VGA and LVDS outputs from most of it's products by 2013 following this by a complete stop by 2015.

Intel has also said that HDMI is being increasingly adopted by PC's for easy connection to consumer electronics and TV's while DisplayPort is expected to become the single PC display output for monitors, projectors and embedded flat panels.

HDMI and DisplayPort allow for slimmer laptops, support higher resolutions, more colors and features than the 20-year-old VGA connector. On top of the features and benefits they also consume less power which is always a good thing for mobile tech.

AMD had a little something to say: "Display standards are rapidly evolving, with new features such as multi-display support, stereoscopic 3-D, higher resolutions and increased color depth quickly moving from early adopter and niche usage to mainstream application,". "VGA, DVI and LVDS have not kept pace."

Adobe Lightroom 3.3 Release

The big news in Photography today seems to be the new release of several module updates not only with Lightroom but Camera Raw 6.3 and PS CS5.

PS CS5 update: Mac, Win

Camera Raw 6.3 Mac, Win

Lightroom 3.3 Mac, Win

Camera Raw 6.3 update

This new version of the Camera Raw plug-in replaces the original Camera Raw plug-in that was installed with Adobe® Creative Suite® 5 or Adobe® Photoshop® CS5 software.
Support for the following cameras has been added in this update. Visit the Camera Raw page for a complete list of supported cameras.

• Canon PowerShot G12
• Canon PowerShot S95
• Nikon D7000
• Nikon Coolpix P7000
• Nikon D3100
• Olympus E-5
• Panasonic DMC-GF2
• Panasonic DMC-GH2
• Pentax K-5
• Pentax K-r
• Samsung NX100
• Samsung TL350 (WB2000)
• Sony A560
• Sony A580

Refer to the following ReadMe file for other updates in this version:

• Camera Raw 6.3 ReadMe

The Camera Raw 6.3 plug-in is not compatible with versions of Photoshop earlier than Photoshop CS5.

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you use Photoshop Elements or Premiere Elements, use the appropriate link below and follow the installation instructions on those pages:

• Photoshop Elements Camera Raw 6.3 plug-in for PSE
• Premiere Elements Camera Raw 6.3 plug-in for PRE

For Photoshop CS5 and Creative Suite 5 customers, we recommend that you install Camera Raw 6.3 by selecting Updates from the Help menu and follow the on-screen dialogs to download and install the latest available Camera Raw update. You can also click the link below to download an installer that replaces the existing Camera Raw plug-in with Camera Raw 6.3 for all CS5 applications.

File Information

Product
Adobe Camera Raw and DNG Converter

Version
6.3

Platform
Windows

File Name
Camera_Raw_6_3_updater.zip

File Size
34.9MB

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3.3

The Adobe® Photoshop® Lightroom® 3.3 update includes these enhancements:
• Additional camera support for several new camera models including the Canon PowerShot 95, Nikon D7000 and Olympus E-5
• Corrections for issues introduced in Lightroom 3.0
See the Lightroom 3.3 ReadMe file for additional details.

Adobe Photoshop 12.0.2 update for Adobe Photoshop CS5

Applies to all languages EXCEPT Middle Eastern, North African and Greek.
The Adobe Photoshop 12.0.2 update fixes a number of high priority bugs including painting performance and type-related issues.
The most significant fixes in the Photoshop 12.0.2 update include the following:
— A number of potential security vulnerabilities have been addressed
— Top type and font crashers found in the field have been addressed
— A number of performance issues have been addressed
— Crash opening 3D layers has been addressed
— Color Engine crash has been resolved
— Intermittent file format issues addressed
— Shift scrolling bug fixed
— Sharpen crasher fixed
— Marching ants not seen at certain zoom levels fixed
— Metadata focus distance issue addressed
— File info bug addressed for Orphea Studio jpg files
— TWAIN crashers fixed
— Brush cursor bug fixed
— Histogram progress bar issue fixed
— Droplet issues addressed

LOOXCIE–Take video handsfree!

The Looxcie (LOOKSEE) video camera is a combination Bluetooth earpiece and video camera rolled up in one. There is a IOS4 app that allows you to control, capture and share your video using your iPhone 3GS and 4. Position the Bendable Earloop over your ear and adjust the camera so it points to where you are looking. Use your iPhone as your viewfinder to make sure that your Looxcie is level and pointing where you are looking. You can adjust it to wear on either your left or right side and it comes with multiple earbuds to give you the best fit for comfort and function.

Specifications

Wearable Weighs less than 28g (1 oz.) Video HVGA video resolution 4 GB on-board storage f 2.8 lens Auto high color and light correction 5+ hours video storage 4+ hours record time MP4 video files Battery Fast-charging 365mAh lithium polymer battery UL/CSA-approved power supply

Headset Bluetooth Class 2 Bluetooth V2.1 + EDR Hands Free Profile (HFP 1.5) Dual silicon MEMS microphones DSP-based noise cancellation 6+ hours talk time Range to 33 feet USB Micro-USB Connector USB 2.0 mass storage compatibility

This product has had some great reviews and I can see some instances that it would be nice to have it available. However, it is a bit pricy at $199 but if you have the extra cash available and some real uses then it could be a good addition to your gadget list.

They have some great video on their site and more detail on how to set it up and use it. If your interested in this product you will definitely want to take a look at this.

AVG Product Update

December 3, 2010
Over the past 24 hours, AVG had two update issues which problems affected Windows 7 users on 64-bit products. As soon we were first notified about the issues, we immediately began fixing the problems. A patch for the update issue to our consumer and SMB user base was issued within hours of first being notified of the problem. We are committed to our users, and, as such, we took the following actions:

• Updates were issued for both of these issues and are currently being propagated to the broad AVG user base.
• For the next 48 hours, we are offering free technical support to our entire user base; anyone who has been affected by either of these issues

PAID CUSTOMERS: Support for System Crash After the Recent AVG 2011 Update 3292 (BSOD)
If your customers have encountered the above mentioned issue with the latest AVG update and FAQ 4079 didn’t help them, they can contact our support team by dialing the following number:

• Business customers: 9:30am-6:30pm EST 1-828-459-5436 or skype:avg-nc

AVG is proud to have created the caliber and quality of products that are capable of helping us build one of the largest single user communities in the world. It is a privilege to have the trust and confidence of more than 110 million users and it is a responsibility we do not take lightly. We are committed to you, our resellers and user base. We will work hard to address any concerns, and regain the trust of our customers. AVG sincerely regrets any inconvenience this issue has caused and we are ready to help your customers resolve this as quickly as possible.

Windows Live Account automatic upgrade to Skydrive

On 12/18/2010 your Office Live Workspace account will be automatically upgraded to a Windows Live SkyDrive account. You can store and share up to 25 GB of files, view and edit Microsoft Office Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote documents with the new Office Web Apps. If you don’t want to wait until the 18th, go into your account and click on Upgrade Now.

Click Here to see Upgrade FAQ.

If you choose to force the upgrade you will not have access to the acount contents for up to 30 minutes.

Your account is being upgraded

Thank you for your patience while your account is upgraded to the free Windows Live SkyDrive service. This process could take up to 30 minutes. During this time you will not be able to edit your documents. When the upgrade is complete, you will be notified by email at bappleby@paconnect.com.

However, when I upgrade my account it took about a minute. If you stay in the browser window it will report when it is completed with the process.

Your documents are now available on Windows Live SkyDrive

Windows Live SkyDrive lets you store and share up to 25 GB of files. Plus, you can view and edit Microsoft Office Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote documents with the new Office Web Apps.

Go to SkyDrive

You can still access your shared workspaces in Office Live Workspace until everyone who shared with you has upgraded to Windows Live SkyDrive.

You will also get an email that tells you that the account is ready to go as well with a button on the screen to link you to your account.

Astaro Mail Archiving

Mailbox servers often suffer from the heavy load of growing email traffic and administrators struggle with mailbox quotas and user storage demands. Through the Astaro Mail Archiving Service, you can free up valuable server resources and get control of compliance requirements while improving productivity of end-users at the same time. All of this is provided as a reliable hosted service with no need for additional hardware or software. Learn more about the individual features which make up the Mail Archiving service.

Compliance

Enforce requirements from local laws and regulations.

In many countries, businesses are obliged to archive emails for several years due to legal requirements. Astaro Mail Archiving Service lets you decide what needs to be archived and for how long. Where email audits are necessary, discovery tasks can be fulfilled with special auditor privileges within the archive, following a four-eye principle to comply with data protection requirements.

Modern industrial and governmental rules and regulations make email archiving an obligation for all businesses. Emails must be archived for a certain period of time and in the case of audits, specific information must be presented within due time.

The Astaro Mail Archiving Service gives enables you to offload emails from your messaging servers and provides end users with a stunning discovery experience. The archive also offers granular control over retention periods, so that you can set individual periods per mailbox or even filter for specific content or exclude certain emails from being archived at all.

While these easy-to-enforce retention policies can be configured within the graphical interface of the ArchiveManager, the even more important question is how you will rapidly find and produce important emails when required. Users with special auditor privileges – optionally based on a four-eye principle – can instantly access and search through the companies entire email communication, providing results within seconds. Accessible through a web-based discovery portal, legal departments or auditors are now enabled to easily retrieve information so that the IT department is no longer involved in these tasks.

Designed as a cloud-based service, Astaro Mail Archiving doesn’t require the deployment of additional hardware or software. By hosting the service in redundant data centers that are highly available and practically offer unlimited scalability, initial deployment efforts are kept to a minimum and in the future will scale automatically when requirements are growing.

Capacity:

• Storage Capacity: unlimited
• User Capacity: unlimited.

Supported E-Mail Servers & Protocols:

• Microsoft Exchange Server 2003, 2007, 2010
• Support for SMTP, POP3
• IMAP based Journaling

Supported Clients:

• Microsoft Outlook Client 2003, 2007, 2010

Team Black Sheep–Flying in New York City Really Cool Video!

This is a great video showing parts of New Your City from the air. The really neat thing about this video is how it was taken. The video was shot using a camera attached to a remote-controlled airplane which was flown around New York City.

More information:

Team Black Sheep flying in New York, over the Brooklyn and Verazano Bridge, around Downtown Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty. Enjoy!
How to build your own / FPV system information, camera and transmitter details, etc: http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showth...
Music: Sackcloth Fashion - Under Man (Instrumental)
http://www.amazon.com/Under-Man-Instr...
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