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WaterField Designs Unveils Microsoft Surface Pro 3 Cases
San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) June 24, 2014
WaterField Designs, an innovative maker of custom laptop sleeves, and designer bags and cases for digital gear, unveils four new custom Microsoft Pro 3 cases: two protective sleeves—the SleeveCase ™ and the Outback Sleeve—and two tablet and accessory cases that can be converted into minimalist shoulder bags—the Travel Express and the Outback Solo.
“We’re happy to support Surface Pro users with four carrying options so that they can choose the one that best fits their lifestyle,” explained company owner, Gary Waterfield. “Our Surface Pro cases have done well in the past. The new Pro 3 model is even more impressive, and over the last few months customers have emailed specifics about what cases they’d like.”
Surface Pro 3 SleeveCase: A water-resistant, black ballistic nylon shell envelops shock-absorbing neoprene for ultimate protection. Two custom sizes: one fits just the Surface Pro 3 and the other fits the tablet with the Type Cover attached. Choices include three trim colors, horizontal or vertical orientation, and add-on options including a lightly padded flap closure, d-rings and a strap, and a Piggyback accessory pouch. TSA-friendly.
Surface Pro 3 Outback Sleeve: Same excellent protection as the WaterField SleeveCase. A brown, waxed-canvas shell and grizzly or chocolate leather trim combine for a TSA-friendly sleeve. Two custom sizes: one fits just the Surface Pro 3 and the other fits the tablet with the Type Cover attached. Choices include a horizontal or vertical orientation, and add-on options including a lightly padded flap closure, d-rings and a strap, and a Piggyback accessory pouch; TSA-friendly.
Surface Pro 3 Travel Express: This grab-and-go case includes a custom-sized pocket for the Surface Pro 3 plus space for additional necessities. Features include scratch-free interior pockets, foam lining, an impact-resistant plastic insert, and an optional strap. Made from water-resistant black ballistic nylon with a bold stripe in a choice of seven colors.
Surface Pro 3 Outback Solo: Two layers of protection—high-grade neoprene enveloped in highly water-resistant, tan waxed canvas. An offset, distressed leather flap secures contents with a firm magnetic closure and lends the bag a vintage look. Two front pockets fit a smartphone and necessities like a charger, wallet and keys. An optional strap transforms the Surface Pro 3 case into a svelte, minimalist over-the-shoulder bag.
Pricing & Availability
SleeveCase™—
Price: $49. Size: 16 fits Surface Pro 3 ‘naked’ and size 17 fits Surface Pro 3 with Type Cover. Color: Black with trim in lead checkered Indium, or brown or black leather (+$10). Options—Flap: $15. D-rings only: $5. Simple Strap: $12. Suspension Shoulder Strap: $22. Piggyback accessory pouch: $25-$27. Pre-order now. Ships July 7, 2014.
Outback Sleeve™—
Price: $59. Sizes: 16 fits Surface Pro 3 ‘naked’ and size 17 fits Surface Pro 3 with Type Cover. Color: Tan waxed canvas with trim in grizzly or chocolate full-grain leather. Options—Flap: $20. D-rings only: $8. Simple Strap: $14. Suspension Shoulder Strap: $24. Piggyback accessory pouch: $30. Pre-order now. Ships July 7, 2014.
Travel Express—
Price: $79. One size. Color: black ballistic nylon with stripe in black, copper, flame, green, pearl, pine, or brown leather (+$10). Options—Simple Strap: $14. Suspension Shoulder Strap: $24. Pre-order now. Ships July 7, 2014.
Outback Solo™—
Price: $109. One size. Color: Tan waxed canvas with chocolate leather flap.
Options—Shoulder strap: $19. Pre-order now. Ships July 14, 2014.
About WaterField Designs
WaterField Designs manufactures custom-fitted, high-quality cases and bags for a full-range of laptop computers, tablets, smartphones, gaming devices, and other digital gear. All products are manufactured to exacting standards entirely in San Francisco. More information is available at the company website under “Our Story.”
Open Mic Night: IK Multimedia’s iRig Voice Microphone (Review)
iRig Voice Microphone
IK Multimedia
$39.99
If you’re like a majority of surveyed people, you want to sing. You also want to write what you sing. Singer/songwriters are a very common person type. Other than a good singing voice and an audience, you need some basic equipment with which to record your masterpieces, namely a microphone and some recording equipment. These days, your required recording equipment can be emulated with software. You can record, mix, add effects, and export your works to a variety of formats for public consumption.
The iRig Voice microphone is a standard microphone with a 3.5mm jack, but also includes a free working lite recording studio app named EZ Voice. The input jack also features an earphone jack so that you can speak and listen through the same interface.
The EZ Voice App (Free) allows you to do some basic voice recording, add some live effects, and record foreground vocals with your songs. But, the iRig Voice microphone is compatible with other multimedia apps as well. It works on the iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, newer Mac models and Android devices. I’ve personally tested it on my iPhone 5, iPad 4, Mac mini, Windows Phone (Nokia 928B) Metro, and my Android-based HP Slate 7+. All successful and perfect.
Audio App Compatibility List
- EZ Voice
- Dragon Dictation
- QuickVoice
- Skype
- SP Multitrack
- Garage Band
I recorded a short message using the EZ Voice app for you as a demonstration.
I don’t sing well enough to record a music demo, so you’ll have to use your imagination.
EZ Voice Main Screen
The microphone feels and sounds like any professional microphone I’ve ever used. The mic and apps worked together the first time without any issues. I did have to turn off Siri on my iPhone and on my iPad, but that might just be my experience and not yours. Siri kept popping up when I spoke into the mic during testing, so to avoid that annoyance, I disabled Siri.
This is one of the few products that I’ve ever reviewed that I’m absolutely convinced that the pricing is spot on. At $39.99, the iRig Voice is a great value. It performs as well as any microphone that I’ve ever used. I do suggest, as I would with any microphone, that you purchase a pop filter (about $3.00) to alleviate wind noise, pop, and some ambient noise.
Don’t use the mic when you’re charging your device because it creates a little bit of static, or it did for me, on my iPhone.
Why it’s Frugal: The iRig Voice microphone is frugal because its $39.99 price tag is perfect for anyone who wants to get into podcasting, song recording, or voiceover acting without spending a huge amount of money. It’s a great microphone at a great price. It’s an excellent value. Sure, you could spend $1,000 on a better microphone, but why would you?
EZ Voice – List of Effects
The microphone’s clarity is demonstrated very well when using it with the Dragon Dictation app on the iPhone or on the iPad. I’m not the best at enunciating my words (It’s a Texas thing), but the software picked up and correctly typed out every word I said on my iPhone and on my iPad. That’s impressive. I’ve never had that happen before and I always use the same lines for testing:
“Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their party” and “Conjunction Junction, what’s your function”.
Those are two fun phrases that can confuse dictation software due to speech patterns. If you don’t think you can confuse the software, try it by using your device’s built-in microphone. It almost never gets them perfect.
Features
- Handheld vocal microphone delivers professional sound quality
- Compatible with iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, newer Mac models and Android devices
- Compact cardioid pattern minimizes feedback
- Constructed of durable, lightweight thermoplastic
- Available in 5 colors: Green, Blue, Yellow, Pink and White
- Comes with EZ Voice app
- Works with dozens of karaoke, sing-along and music making apps
- Headphone jack for real-time monitoring
- Convenient on/off switch located on the mic
EZ Voice, while free of charge, does prompt you to purchase sound effect add-ons for $0.99 each. I purchased Tune and Morph, although I’m not sure exactly how to use them. I tap the FX icon and then tap the settings but the same list of settings shows up for each, so I must be doing something wrong. I’m not sure at this point if it’s me, that the app isn’t intuitive enough, or that it’s working as designed and I just don’t realize it.
EZ Voice – In App Effect Purchases
In either case, $2.00 isn’t a lot to spend trying out an app. It’s just too bad that it isn’t more obvious how to use the effects. There is a long list of effects that cover everything from arena to robotic to extremely deep to childlike. The effects are a lot of fun. There is one very cool effect called ‘Diana’ that changes your voice into a normal sounding female voice. It’s useful in case you need to sing a female part or speak a female part but don’t have a woman to provide the voice for you. It would work great for recording script dialog or for creating a voiceover for a product or service. It’s very impressive and I recommend it.
The app also allows you to sing along with and record your favorite songs. The instrumental parts are normal volume but the original vocals become background for you. EZ Voice is very well constructed and well thought out app. I do wish it were more obvious how to use the effects, but that isn’t a major flaw, but a little annoying.
I really like the iRig Voice microphone and the EZ Voice app. The microphone is a welcome addition to any musician’s, aspiring singer/songwriter’s, or voice artist’s toolbox. It’s cool to have multiple colors from which to choose. The only problem is that you might not be able to choose a color without a little buyer’s remorse. I suppose that you could collect all six and have one for every mood or gig.
I chose the green one for review because that lime green color has a special meaning for my daughter and me. The microphones are sturdy and well-built. They’re heavy on the end, just like you’d expect, and although IK Multimedia sells a professional digital microphone (iRig Mic HD), this one feels right and sounds right to me. But, this mic is probably best suited for song demos, podcasting, and voiceover work where extreme quality isn’t needed. The ads tell you that it’s perfect for karaoke and portable vocal studio. I’d have to agree, but you won’t be at all disappointed with the quality or the good looks of this mic. For $40, you can’t go wrong.
Rating: 9/10
Recommendation: Buy it, have some fun, and maybe hit the big time!
EZ Voice – Recording My Test Message
Note: I tested the iRig Voice microphone on my Windows Nokia 928B phone. This is not an officially ‘certified’ product and IK Multimedia does not endorse the use of the microphone on the Windows phone, so your mileage may vary. I tried it just to see if it would work and it did without any issues, but don’t blame me or IK Multimedia if the mic doesn’t work on your Windows phone.
You can also follow IK Multimedia and share your audio and video material on our YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and SoundCloud channels.
Also, check out the complete range of iOS accessories and apps for vocalists and recording!
– iRig MIC HD, digital handheld microphone for iPhone/iPod touch/iPad and Mac
– iRig Voice, new colored handheld microphones for smartphones and tablets
– iRig MIC, the first handheld microphone for iPhone/iPod touch/iPad and Android
– iRig MIC Cast, ultra-compact microphone for iPhone/iPod touch/iPad and Android
– iRig PRO, universal audio/MIDI interface for iPhone/iPod touch/iPad and Mac
– iRig PRE, XLR microphone interface for iPhone/iPod touch/iPad and Android
– iLoud, studio quality portable speaker
– VocaLive, professional vocal effects/recording suite
– iRig Recorder, audio recorder and editor
EZ Voice – Recording Playback
And also check out IK‘s:
– iKlip, range of stage and studio support and stand for your mobile device
– iLine, range of quality audio cable adapters
– All the music creation accessories and apps
– All the music software for Mac/PC
IK Multimedia is a “Musicians First” music technology company. It makes a complete range of sound and tone solutions for Guitar & Bass players, Keyboardists, Sound Designers, Engineers, DJs and Producers. You can check out their full line of professional mobile and studio performance products at www.ikmultimedia.com.
IK Multimedia launches iRig Voice – The colorful vocal microphone for the singer in you
June 19, 2014 – IK Multimedia, the global leader in mobile apps and accessories for musicians and music fans on the move, is pleased to announce the new iRig® Voice microphone line – the fun, easy-to-use and affordable vocal microphone for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and Android devices. iRig Voice comes with the new free EZ Voice app, which lets you quickly and easily sing along and record with any song on your iOS or Android mobile device’s music library.
iRig Voice is designed specifically for quality voice recording and is the perfect companion to the most popular singing and music apps like IK’s EZ Voice and partner apps like Smule’s Sing! Karaoke and AutoRap, plus The Voice: On Stage by StarMaker, musiXmatch, Karaoke Anywhere by JoltSoft and many more.
iRig Voice features an ergonomic design for comfortable handheld performance, and its shape fits easily into most standard microphone stand clips for stage use. And for maximum clarity its unidirectional cardioid design features a pickup that minimizes feedback when used with speaker systems.
iRig Voice provides a unidirectional close voice pickup that’s tuned for optimal vocal frequency range reproduction. It has an on/off slide switch for quick muting, and it connects through the microphone/headphone jack found on all iOS and Android devices providing a stereo output to connect headphones or earbuds for private practice and performance.
Fun and Easy to Use for Everyone
iRig Voice is extremely easy to use. Simply connect the microphone, connect headphones or speakers, launch its free EZ Voice companion app (compatible with iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and Android) and you are ready to start singing for hours of fun. You don’t need any audio skills to use EZ Voice, it’s the simple-to-use sing along app that lets you quickly and easily import your favorite songs from your music library, cancel the original vocals and add professional quality effects like reverb, chorus, pitch correction and more. Then when you’re ready, EZ Voice lets you record your performances and share them with the world via email or SoundCloud. With EZ Voice, iRig Voice is packed with a powerful app that can turn any mobile device into a fun, great sounding vocal and recording suite.
The Color of Sound – Bling it
iRig Voice comes in 5 eye-catching colors that look great on stage: Green, Blue, Yellow, Pink and White match the colors of the iPhone 5C adding a bright new level of style to any performance.
The Microphone for Everyone
With a street price comparable to a phone case, iRig Voice is so affordable that anyone can get started down the path to vocal stardom. iRig Voice is also perfect for capturing broadcast interviews in the field, conference calls, school projects, parties – it’s an ideal solution anytime vocals need to be captured.
Pricing and Availability
iRig Voice costs only $39.99/€29.99 (excluding tax) and is now shipping from music and electronics retailers worldwide and from the IK Multimedia online store. EZ Voice is a free app available for download from the App StoreSM and from the Google Play™ store.
80 Percent of IT Administrators Fear Exposure Through Mobile Devices
DURHAM, N.C., June 4, 2014 – GFI Software™ today announced the findings of an extensive independent research project examining the “Internet of Things” (IoT) and the impact IT administrators expect from the increased volume of internet-enabled and addressable devices on their network. Respondents overwhelmingly cited greater exposure to existing and undiscovered threats, particularly from mobile devices, as among their most pressing concerns about the onward march of the Internet of Things into their organization.
The survey of 202 IT decision makers in U.S. workplaces employing up to 250 people was conducted by Opinion Matters for GFI Software, and revealed that the growing relevance of IoT for small and medium-sized businesses (SMB) means growing security threats, greater device management challenges and increased costs for IT management.
Analysts expect the number of devices – or “things” – that will connect to the Internet to grow radically by 2020, with Gartner estimating that 26 billion addressable devices will find a home on a corporate network. This spike in connected devices will create billions of new unsecured endpoints that will in turn produce new vectors of attack designed to either compromise the device or gain access to the infrastructure.
Disruption is a significant concern, as 96.5 percent of IT decision makers surveyed said that IoT would produce at least some negative impacts for their organizations, with more than half (55 percent) saying it will impose new security threats while extending existing threats to a greater number of devices. Furthermore, 30 percent said IoT will result in an increased IT spend, while 26.7 percent expected device management to spiral out of control as a result of the rise of IoT. 14 percent expect that deploying patches across multiple platforms will present a particular challenge.
“The research findings reveal that the Internet of Things will transform business security, as even standard employee devices could present an opportunity for exploitation and pose a real danger to organizations if they are connected to the Internet without proper security protections,” said Sergio, Galindo, general manager, infrastructure business unit at GFI Software. “With billions of devices poised to connect to the Internet, organizations are exposed to billions of insecure new endpoints that can compromise the network. The key takeaway is clear: IT organizations must plan effectively to ensure adequate operating system, firmware and patch support within the new IoT age.”
A Sea-Change for IT Administration
Each new modern innovation requires adaption to new technologies – not only to take advantage of the new opportunities, but also to adjust to the new problems that inevitably arise from it. So it goes with the Internet of Things, as more than three-quarters (78.6 percent) of IT administrators expect their security practices to change as a result of IoT. Among these changes, nearly one-third (30 percent) expect to have to revise policies about connectivity in the workplace to manage this adaption.
Going Mobile: Danger Ahead
The increasingly prominent role wireless devices play in the daily lives of employees results in greater security risks in general for an organization. When it comes to IoT, the risks from mobile devices become particularly acute, according to survey respondents, 81.7 percent of whom indicated that mobile devices create the most potential as a point of exploitation in the IoT age.
Build That Wall
Existing anti-spam, anti-virus and anti-malware infrastructure may not do the job of protecting against the multitude of risks posed by the billions of insecure new endpoints. When asked to rank priority areas of security focus, 45 percent of IT decision makers surveyed pointed to firewalls as their very top priority, while 35.7 percent cited mobile device management. Anti-virus was cited as a top priority by less than a fifth (18.7 percent) of respondents.
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About GFI
GFI Software™ develops quality IT solutions for small to mid-sized businesses with generally up to 1,000 users. GFI® offers two main technology solutions: GFI MAX™, which enables managed service providers (MSPs) to deliver superior services to their customers; and GFI Cloud™, which empowers companies with their own internal IT teams to manage and maintain their networks via the cloud. Serving an expanding customer base of more than 200,000 companies, GFI’s product line also includes collaboration, network security, anti-spam, patch management, faxing, mail archiving and web monitoring. GFI is a channel-focused company with thousands of partners throughout the world. The company has received numerous awards and industry accolades, and is a longtime Microsoft® Gold ISV Partner.
IBM’s Entry into Software-Defined Storage: Elastic Storage
By now, everyone has heard of the hot new buzzword: software-defined data center (SDDC). SDDC is the new data center paradigm where everything is software-defined: network, computers, and storage. Yes, there’s underlying hardware making the whole thing possible but what do software-defined resources really do for us? The answer is simple: It abstracts hardware into pooled resources that users can partake of in discreet slices for cloud applications and for cloud workloads.
But the real story here is IBM’s venture into software-defined storage that it calls Elastic Storage. On May 12, 2014, IBM announced a portfolio of software defined storage products that deliver improved economics at the same time they enable organizations to access and process any type of data, on any type of storage device, anywhere in the world. Elastic Storage offers unprecedented performance, infinite scale, and is capable of reducing storage costs up to 90 percent by automatically moving data onto the most economical storage device.
For example, if a company has data that’s accessed infrequently, that data will be moved to tape or to low cost disk systems for archiving. Alternatively, data that’s accessed regularly or that requires high speed access will be moved to flash storage. Data redistribution is based on policy-driven rules and data analytics. This type of automated data movement shows cost savings of up to 90 percent.
“Born in IBM Research Labs, this new, patented breakthrough technology allows enterprises to exploit – not just manage – the exploding growth of data in a variety of forms generated by countless devices, sensors, business processes, and social networks. The new storage software is ideally suited for the most data-intensive applications, which require high-speed access to massive volumes of information – from seismic data processing, risk management and financial analysis, weather modeling, and scientific research, to determining the next best action in real-time retail situations.”
Elastic Storage features and benefits:
- Enhanced security – Protects data on disk from security breaches, unauthorized access, or being lost, stolen or improperly discarded with encryption of data at rest and enable HIPAA, Sarbanes-Oxley, EU, and various national data privacy laws compliance.
- Extreme performance – Server-side Elastic Storage flash caches speed IO performance up to 6X, benefitting application performance, while still enjoying all the manageability benefits of shared storage.
- Save acquisition costs – Uses standard servers and storage instead of expensive, special purpose hardware.
- Limitless elastic data scaling – Scale out with relatively inexpensive standard hardware, while maintaining world-class storage management.
- Increase resource and operational efficiency – Pools redundant isolated resources and optimizes utilization.
- Achieve greater IT agility – Quickly reacts, provisions and redeploys resources in response to new requirements.
- Intelligent resource utilization and automated management – Automated, policy-driven management of storage reduces storage costs up to 90% and drives operational efficiencies.
- Empower geographically distributed workflows – Places critical data close to everyone and everything that needs it, accelerating schedules and time to market.
As for performance, IBM’s Elastic Storages boasts the capability of scanning over 10 billion files on just one cluster in less than 45 minutes. This type of performance as extreme implications for analytics and big data applications. IBM’s Elastic Storage solution is built for performance for big data and is based on the same technologies used in the Watson computer.
“Elastic Storage offers unprecedented performance, infinite scale, and is capable of reducing storage costs up to 90 percent by automatically moving data onto the most economical storage device.”
Part of Elastic Storage’s performance enhancement is due to IBM’s parallel data access technology: (General Parallel File System (GPFS). It eliminates the performance bottlenecks and so-called “choke” points of other data access algorithms and technologies.
What it all means is that now you have the same capability to access, analyze, and report on huge data sets in a fraction of the time it used to take to perform these analyses as large companies have. Elastic Storage puts the data where it needs to be to best serve you and your data requirements at a tremendous cost savings.
IBM Elastic Storage supports OpenStack Cinder and Swift interfaces. IBM is a platinum sponsor of OpenStack Foundation and is now its second most prolific contributor. It also supports other open APIs, such as POSIX and Hadoop.
This post was written as part of the IBM for Midsize Business program, which provides midsize businesses with the tools, expertise and solutions they need to become engines of a smarter planet.
I’ve been compensated to contribute to this program, but the opinions expressed in this post are my own and don’t necessarily represent IBM’s positions, strategies or opinions.
The Nova Wireless Flash for iPhone (Review)
Nova Wireless Flash Unit for iPhone
Sneaky Squid, LLC.
$59 (Order from http://wantnova.com)
Any photographer worth his or her salt (no salt print pun intended) will tell you that light is the key to great photos. A well lit subject has an appeal, whether it’s a portrait, a landscape, or a product that you’re going to sell; good lighting makes photographs better. The Nova Wireless Flash Unit for iPhone (Nova) excited me when I saw it. I definitely wanted one and I needed one. I’m guessing a lot of other people did as well because they received $85,480 of their $25,000 Kickstarter goal. Not many projects do that well on Kickstarter or any other so-called crowdfunding sites.
I’ve demonstrated the Nova for several people and they love it. I don’t simply run up to unsuspecting friends and coworkers and show them the Nova and give them the elevator speech. I have a clever way of introducing the product: I let them hold it and try to figure out what it is that I’m showing them.
While they’re figuring out what I’ve handed them, I grab my phone, open the Nova app, and snap their picture. It’s always a shock to the system, but after that initial shock, they always want to know all about it and they also want one.
The cool part of it is that the photos are always natural and unexpected, as you can see in the photo of my son analyzing the Nova.
You can also see that, although I didn’t tamper with the default settings and he’s holding the Nova quite close, his face isn’t washed out with light. That’s an amazing feat for camera flash of any kind.
The Nova flash unit is small–about the size of a credit card. It’s also quite thin (less than the iPhone’s thickness). The size makes it easy to handle and use in a variety of situations. You can hold it high to light large areas, you can hold it close for spotlighting, or you can have your subject hold it to get a nice even light for portraits.
The price for the Nova Wireless Flash for iPhone is $59, which to me, is high. I think a better price point would be in the $29 to $39 range, but apparently people knew the price going into the Kickstarter campaign, so I might be wrong. I’m sure that if it’s ever sold on Amazon, the price will be more along the lines of what I’ve suggested.
- Size: 86mm × 53mm × 6.3mm (3.4″ × 2.1″ × 0.25″)
- Weight: 28g (1oz)
- Supported OS: iOS 7
- Supported devices: iPhone 4S/5/5C/5S, iPad 3/4/Mini/Air, iPod Touch 5G
- Wireless communication: Bluetooth 4.0 Low Energy
- Battery: Built-in lithium-ion polymer battery
- Charging: USB Micro B cable (included)
You can change the flash settings from Off to custom settings, as shown in the photo. If one of the presets (Default is Warm) doesn’t work for you, you can setup custom lighting conditions that fit your needs.
If you select Custom, you’ll see two sliders that offer a range of brightness and lighting tone. The two scales are: Cool Brightness and Warm Brightness. I suggest that you test a range of custom lighting settings before you attempt to use it on a field shoot. And I’m not telling you that because the settings are random or that they don’t work–they do, but you’ll need to understand what changing the sliders means to the light output that you get.
For those of you who aren’t pro photographer types, “Cool” means that it will have a bluish tone and “Warm” means more yellows/browns in the light.
Experimentation will give you the best results. If you’re in a hurry, my suggestion would be to use the default (Warm) setting or the Bright setting. The Bright setting gives you kind of a standard bright blue light.
Why it’s Frugal: The Nova is frugal if you take a lot of pictures with your iPhone and you require good lighting. The iPhone has a pretty good back-facing camera and some photographers and iPhoneographers use it extensively. The off camera flash gives you the opportunity to use more professional lighting for your shots, without investing hundreds of dollars on light fixtures that are cumbersome and power hungry.
The Nova is an impressive little device. There’s no Bluetooth pairing required. Once you open the Nova App, it’s already paired for you and it’s ready to use.
If you’re an avid iPhoneographer and you need better light than the built-in flash can give you, the Nova is a great item to have. It’s there when you need it and it’s not big, bulky, or cumbersome to use. It powers up in a couple of hours via the mini USB cable that’s included and a full charge will carry you through hundreds of well-lit photographs.
Rating: 9/10
Recommendation: Buy it and take your iPhoneography to a whole new level.
The mykeyO Executive Restt iPad Keyboard Stand and Organizer (Review)
mykeyO Executive Restt iPad Keyboard Stand and Organizer
mykeyO
$34.95/$24.95 Amazon(Prime)
Rarely do I find a product that I like so much that I spoil the story at the very beginning of my review, but this is one of those products. I love the mykeyO executive restt™ (restt™). It is a keyboard caddy, an iPad stand, a pen holder, and under the keyboard rest, there’s storage for all the clutter on your desk. As soon as the restt™ arrived, I placed it under my keyboard and I haven’t tossed it aside or changed its location at all.
The restt™ has found a permanent home on my desk.
The Apple Wireless Bluetooth Keyboard (not included with the restt™) fits perfectly into the keyboard slot. As you can see in the picture, you can raise your keyboard to reveal all your goodies stored below. Your iPad, iPhone, or other tablet fits nicely into the large slot so that you can work with your device as if it were a laptop without the rigidity of a laptop.
Plus, your device is close enough and tilted just right so that you can tap and swipe as needed.
I use the restt™ as a keyboard caddy for my Apple Wireless Keyboard for my Mac mini, but the cool thing is that I can place my iPad or my iPhone into the slot and have it there handy as well. In fact, as I write this post, my iPhone is in the slot. I have to keep track of my retweets and messages, so this makes it very convenient. Plus, the restt™ is made of silicone rubber, which means that it’s rigid enough to be stable and sturdy for typing but soft enough to absorb the vibrations from typing and from my ever-vibrating phone.
Silicone rubber also won’t scratch any surfaces nor will it make those odd looking greasy spots that some pure petroleum-based rubber products do. And silicone rubber is easy to clean and it doesn’t fade or turn funny colors as it ages. This is a product that you’ll have around a while.
I haven’t found any flaws or negatives with the restt™. It’s a thoughtfully made product that really helps keep my sundries organized and out of sight.
One notable feature is that the keyboard doesn’t “walk” around while you’re typing on it. No matter how hard you type, or how fast, your keyboard stays put.
Why it’s Frugal: The mykeyO executive restt™ is frugal because it keeps you organized, it won’t harm your furniture, it keeps your iPad, iPhone, or other tablet handy, and you can take it from place to place easily. It provides you with a comfortable work surface and environment, which will make you more efficient and productive. If that’s not frugal, I don’t know the definition of frugal.
Now we come to the price. $34.95 is the retail price, but you can buy it for $24.95 on Amazon and if you’re a Prime member, there’s no shipping charges. $24.95 is a very good price for the restt™. I love the design features and you have your choice of colors to boot, which coupled with its sheer utility value, I don’t think you can go wrong with it.
The only stipulation is that you have to have an Apple Wireless Keyboard to use with the restt™. If you don’t have one, but want one, you can purchase a reasonable facsimile of an Apple Wireless Keyboard from mykeyO. Actually, the mykeyO version is a tiny bit wider than the Apple keyboard but is much better. It’s better because it has functions specific for Windows, Apple, and Android-based devices. I’ll have a full review of that product posted soon, so keep watching.
Rating: 10/10
Recommendation: Forget the rest and buy the restt™ and get yourself organized.
The Hornet’s Nest Movie: Tribute Video
If you haven’t seen the movie, “The Hornet’s Nest,” you should as soon as it’s available in your area. It’s one of the most powerful movies I’ve ever seen. It’s the year long story of veteran war correspondent Mike Boettcher’s embedded adventures with the US military in Afghanistan. The sounds, the action, the scenes, the bullets, and the bombs are all real. The Hornet’s Nest is a slice of life from the war in Afghanistan.
During the course of the movie, Mike Boettcher captures some of the most compelling war footage ever seen. And he also captures moments with his son, Carlos. Early in the film, you’ll hear panic in Mike’s voice when Carlos is pinned down by enemy fire. Bullets buzz by like bees. Bullets hit the trees just in front of Carlos and his life is in real danger.
One mission takes Mike and a platoon into the hornet’s nest. A two-day mission that stretches into nine. Exhaustion, fear, and casualties take their toll on the group.
Perhaps the most emotional moments in the film, though, are near the end at the muster. As the Sergeant Major calls roll, you can see the pain of battle in young men’s and young women’s faces.
If you see this film, you’ll never forget it. And you’ll know why young men’s dreams are haunted by battle scenes. The range of emotion you’ll feel in this movie span everything from fear to sadness to relief to happiness. Watch all the way to the end for outtakes and tributes to the men and women who’ve made the ultimate sacrifice in service to the United States of America.
Every parent who watches this movie will go home and hug his or her children or call the ones that aren’t close enough to touch. You’ll never be the same after watching it.
It’s rated R for language and violence.
I think everyone should see this movie.
My personal message to the people of Afghanistan:
I’m sorry for what’s been brought upon you and your families. I believe that you want the same things we want: to worship God, to enjoy your families, to work, and to live peacefully without any person imposing his will on you and your people. Please know that the American people mean you no harm nor wish you any ill will. We are not your enemy and we want you to be free from oppression. Our hearts go out to yours.
May Allah protect you and bless you all the days of your life.
The Story of Storlets: IBM’s Computational Storage Model
Cloud storage vendors generally use commodity servers as the underlying storage nodes that serve large data sets to users. IBM leverages storage node processing capabilities to execute computational modules, namely storlets, close to where the data is stored. The Storlet Engine provides cloud storage with the capability to dynamically upload storlets and execute them in sandboxes that insulate the storlets from the rest of the system and from other storlets.
Interestingly, IBM proposes that a Storlets Marketplace can be used as a repository of storlets from different vendors. An application on top of the storage can mash-up and use various storlets from the marketplace to create its logic and functionality.
Storlet Benefits:
- Reduced WAN bandwidth used from fewer bytes transferred
- Enhanced security through decreased data exposure
- Cost savings from reduced amount of infrastructure
- Compliance support from improved provenance tracking
The definition of a storlet is a bit elusive but can best be described as a unit of computation where required computations are brought to the data, instead of the other way around. Storlets can analyze each object and extract its metadata, including size, subject, resolution, format, and more. Storlets are dynamically loaded code. Perhaps the primary researcher and developer of storlets, Michael Factor, Distinguished Engineer and expert on Storage Systems at IBM Research in Haifa, Israel can explain in his own words:
“A new method of storing information is called object storage. This approach stores information as objects. Each object contains the data (the bits and bytes of our documents, movies, images, and so forth), together with metadata that holds user- and system-defined tags. These smart data objects include rich information – or metadata – that describes the content of the data, how the object is related to other objects, how the data should be handled, replicated, or backed up, and more.
Although object storage can store objects, manage them, protect them, and so on – it doesn’t by itself dramatically increase the rate at which we can extract value from objects. But what if we could turn a software-defined object store into a smart storage platform?
Storlets bring the computation to the data
A new research prototype called “storlets” holds the promise of greatly increasing the value we get out of storage and the speed at which we can access what we need. A new software-defined mechanism, storlets allow object storage to move the computation to the data, instead of the system having to move the data to a server to carry out the computation.”
The significance of storlets might not be immediately apparent but the real value is that the technology allows you to process data where it’s stored. This means that there’s no over-the-network data transfer, which saves both time and money.
“Our vision is to reduce costs, increase flexibility and improve security by turning the object store into a platform, and allowing the functionality of the object store to be extended using software.”
Also known as “computational storage,” storlets introduce stored procedures for storage cloud which provide the ability to run computations (“storlets”) safely and securely, close to the data in the cloud. Storlets typically run in a sandbox, loaded as objects and triggered by events on objects (e.g., put/get) or on their associated metadata attributes.
IBM researchers in Haifa, Israel have been working on prototyping storlets for several years in the context of European Union Research projects such as ENSURE, VISION Cloud, and Forget IT.
You can view the entire 1:31 hour video that covers IBM’s software-defined storage offerings and research.
This post was written as part of the IBM for Midsize Business program, which provides midsize businesses with the tools, expertise and solutions they need to become engines of a smarter planet.
I’ve been compensated to contribute to this program, but the opinions expressed in this post are my own and don’t necessarily represent IBM’s positions, strategies or opinions.
Plextor Will Give Away SSDs Every Week to Fans as Part of Their “Life Is Better With Plextor” Campaign
Fremont, Calif., (May 20, 2014)–Plextor (www.plextoramericas.com) kicked off the year with its new lineup of M6 series solid-state drives led by the M6e PCl-e SSD. The full M6 lineup features the M6S, the M6M, and –later this year –the M6Pro.To emphasize their working premise that better computers make for a better life, they have announced the “Life is Better With Plextor” campaign. As part of this campaign, Plextor will be giving away one solid-state drive every week for the remainder of 2014. Plextor’s tech partners, YouTubers, Publishers, and prominent members of the IT Community will be joining them in this unprecedented giveaway campaign for SSD fans.
Contest Details: On May 19, 2014 the weekly sweepstakes begins. Winners will be announced Monday of every week and the contest will end every Sunday.
How to sign up: Each week fans can enter to win at Plextor America’s Facebook contest page http://win.plextoramericas.com/. Throughout the year there will be many other opportunities to win additional product from Plextor and their tech partners.
Plextor will also launch an exclusive promotion with NewEgg USA of up to $30 off certain capacities of the M6e PCI-e SSD for a limited time only. Use promo code: prm6e.
The new lineup includes:
M6S 2.5″ SATA- The M6S is the perfect hard-drive upgrade for any desktop or laptop PC, improving the computing experience for the everyday user and power-users alike providing faster boot times, faster application loading, and faster response time than a traditional hard drive (HDD).
M6M mSATA – The M6M mSATA is the ultimate ultra-book upgrade and ideal solution for users looking to upgrade any device that requires a SSD with a small footprint. At nearly one-eighth the size of a standard 2.5-inch SSD, the M6M still manages to pack in all of the performance and reliability that is expected of a Plextor drive.
M6e PCI-e – The M6e PCI-e is the first SSD specifically designed to meet the demanding requirements of the gaming community. The M6e PCI-e SSD uses a new generation of high-bandwidth components to deliver smooth, uninterrupted gameplay, allowing players to excel to the next level.
M6Pro 2.5″ SATA (available later this year) – This highly anticipated product is expected to deliver dramatically enhanced speed, massive throughput, and fault tolerant performance that is ideal for prosumers, serious gamers, and system integrators.
All Plextor M6 Series SSDs feature a server-grade Marvell controller, Toshiba 19nm NAND Flash (M6S/M6M feature Toshiba A19), and Plextor’s proprietary firmware with TrueSpeed Technology that prevents SSD speed drops by automatically returning performance to like-new speeds. Plextor knows that speed doesn’t count for much unless products are reliable–ultimately reliable. Plextor SSDs typically have an MTBF (mean time between failures) of 2.4 million hours. This level of reliability gives Plextor the highest ranking in the industry. All M6 drives are backed with a 3-5 year limited warranty and are available in 64, 128, 256, and 512 GB capacities, depending on model.
For additional product information, please visit:
Website: www.plextoramericas.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/PlextorAmericas
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/plextor-americas
Twitter: www.twitter.com/plextorusa
YouTube: www.youtube.com/plextorofficial
About Plextor
Plextor is a leading developer of high-performance digital storage equipment for professionals, consumers, and enterprises. Plextor launched its first CD-ROM drive in 1989. Since then, Plextor’s prestigious multi–award winning products have set the standard for quality and performance. Plextor will continue to deliver generations of innovative industry-leading products, including Blu-ray optical disc drives, solid state drives, digital video converters, and multimedia devices. The Plextor brand of storage and multimedia products is owned by Shinano Kenshi of Japan.
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