Siemens Home and Office Communication Devices (SHC) is expanding its portfolio of WiMAX subscriber devices with an Express Card. The Gigaset SE68 WiMAX Express Card makes it easy for users to get broadband access via computer even on the road. The card is based on the IEEE 802.16-2005 standard, complies with the Wave 2 specifications, including MIMO (Multiple Input / Multiple Output) A and B, and supports beamforming. SHC demonstrates the card live at the WiMAX Forum Congress Asia in Singapore.
The Express Card Gigaset SE68 WiMAX permits mobile broadband access at up to 20 Mbps and thus enables the use of very rich media and data applications on the road. As a result, it increases mobility and flexibility for professional and private users alike.
Gigaset SE68 WiMAX complies with the Wave 2 specifications and therefore offers optimal capacity, throughput and network coverage. The card will be available in the summer of 2008 supporting the 2.5 and 3.5 GHz frequency bands. It supports the computer’s idle mode, thus reducing battery consumption. The Express Card can also be operated via a USB 2.0 port or a PC Card port with the aid of an adapter. The enclosed CD ensures simple installation of the software and guides users in a few easy steps through the set-up process.
“The Gigaset SE68 WiMAX Express Card is a perfect fit for our existing WiMAX portfolio, which comprises a data modem, a VoIP modem and two gateways with an extensive range of data and voice functionalities. With this extended portfolio we can better address our customers’ needs for flexibility and freedom of choice,” said Dr. Marc Achhammer, Senior Vice President and Head of WiMAX at Siemens Home and Office Communication Devices.
Siemens Home and Office Communication Devices GmbH & Co KG is a wholly owned subsidiary of Siemens AG. The company, with its headquarters in Munich, focuses on the design, development, manufacturing and distribution of a range of high-quality products under the brand Siemens Gigaset, including classic cordless and fixed-network phones, Voice over IP devices, routers, gateways and software solutions. The portfolio also includes WIMAX devices as well as home media products such as set-top boxes. The company operates worldwide. Its primary production site is in Bocholt, Germany, where the Gigaset products are developed and manufactured under the most stringent quality and environmental standards.
nova media offers seasonal fun and discounts as it joins forces with many other individual Macintosh software developers who offer a 20% discount on many excellent software titles like Tables, Sandvox, GraphicConverter, launch2net and HoudahSpot on a special easter egg hunt.
“It is so easy and fun, too.” states Jan Fuellemann, PR spokesperson at nova media. “Head over to our website, click on the banner and you can begin the search for the discounts. Once you find an egg on one of the participating websites, click on it and you already see the coupon code to buy selected software for 20% off.”
The ‘Easter mEgg Hunt’ runs till end of March 2008. More information can be found at http://easter.houdahpromo.com/
Other World Computing (OWC), a leading Mac and PC technology company, announced today new Superdrive optical drives for all Mac computers, including Mac Pro; PowerBook G4 Titanium 15”, 12/15/17” Aluminum; iBook G4; PowerMac G3, G4, G5; iMac G4; and eMac.
Whether upgrading from a read-only drive, replacing an older Superdrive or adding additional optical drive, OWC’s Superdrives are priced right and are Plug & Play easy to install. OWC offers the newest, fastest, and quietest SuperDrive technology from Pioneer, including 20X DL SuperDrive DVR-115D to read and write DVDs, CDs, and dual-layer DVDs. Capacity for dual layer DVDs is 8.5GB at speeds of 10X; regular DVDs for 4.7GB capacity at 20X; and CDs for 700MB at 40X.
“Replacing an existing optical drive or even adding an additional drive lets you enjoy the latest DVD and CD authoring performance and reliability,” said Larry O’Connor, President, Other World Computing . “For most Macs, this is an incredibly easy upgrade and one of great return for anyone who’s currently making or planning to make their own DVDs or CDs.”
OWC makes it easy to upgrade to fast DVD/CD burners compatible with the latest software, such as Apple iLife, Apple Discburner, Roxio Toast, NTI Dragonburn, and other CD/DVD authoring applications. Superdrives are available immediately from OWC priced starting at $29.99. Online installation guides and videos show users how to quickly install. For more information, see: http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/optical-drives/superdrives/.
LapWorks has announced its newest laptop stands for notebook computers – the sleek Attaché Laptop Stand and Envoy Laptop Stand.
Both portable Laptop Stands elevate PC and Mac notebooks to:
1) improve screen viewing ergonomics
2) Enhance typing ergonomics
3) Cool a laptop to extend its life.
Each sturdy Laptop Stand includes two silent built-in cooling fans, a 4-port USB 2.0 hub, and 4 push-button elevation settings. The lowest elevation allows for cooling and improved ergonomics while using the laptop’s own keyboard. In addition to cooling, the 3 steeper inclines raise the screen closer to eye level to create an ergonomically-sound desktop workstation when using a separate keyboard and mouse. With the exception of the Attaché’s heat-absorbing aluminum face plate, both units are identical.
The $69.95 Attaché Laptop Stand and the $49.95 Envoy Laptop Stand are available directly from LapWorks.
Both Laptop Stands are constructed of high-impact ABS plastic and measure 12-7/8 inches wide by 11 ¾ inches long and 1-5/8 inches thick when folded closed. The Envoy weighs 1 pound, 10.5 ounces while the Attaché weighs 2 pounds, 7.5 ounces with its aluminum face plate. Each is easily transportable and carries a one year warranty.
You will finally be able to truly conquer Time Machine and Spaces with Apple’s latest update, 10.5.2. With the ability to turn off Space’s funky spring view of the folders, you’ll be able to go back to that great simply listing of Tiger. Also fixed is Time Machine’s inability to see some external hard drivers as well as automatically popping up the status window when running. Also noted by Apple is, ” Improved general stability when running third-party applications.” That would be nice since 10.5.1 seems to crash so many of my applications when I was on that awful rev. No specifics if Windows Network shares are fixed, but this comment, “Addresses a hanging issue that may occur when connecting to an AFP network volume,” on Apple’s release notes seems to indicate maybe you mixed network folk should have no more issues.
Leopard users can initiate download via there Software Update on their Mac.
For a complete list of fixes in the near 400 MB upgrade, take the leap below…
Other World Computing (OWC), a leading Mac and PC technology company and leading after-market supplier of memory upgrades for the Mac Pro, today announced its new “Quick Install” Guide for OWC Memory Upgrade Kits for the latest Mac Pro 8-Core Xeon models for the fastest, easiest installation a user can do on their own. Priced as low as $48.75 per GB, OWC memory upgrades offer a savings of well over 70% as compared to factory-installed and other competitors.
There are some slight changes to the memory riser configuration vs. the prior model, so users need to plan for a slightly different memory installation procedure. To simplify the process, OWC has created both a standard “Quick Install” Guide included with every Mac Pro 800MHz Memory set shipped and an online video installation guide to show just how easy it is to install. As OWC’s guide and online video affirms (see http://eshop.macsales.com/how_to_install/Apple/Mac_Pro_Memory_800Mhz_2008 for video), Mac Pro memory is an easily user installable upgrade.
OWC (FB-DIMM) 800MHz DDR2 72-Bit ECC fully-buffered Memory Upgrade Modules are available in matched sets of 1.0GB, 2.0GB, and 4.0GB modules for up to 32.0GB of total memory (see full pricing info below).
OWC Memory Module New Pricing:
2.0GB Matched Sets (1.0GB Module x 2) for as low as $60.00/GB
4.0GB Matched Sets (2.0GB Module x 2) for as low as $48.75/GB
8.0GB Matched Sets (4.0GB Module x 2) for as low as $85.94/GB
OWC has been providing memory to upgrade Apple computers for nearly 20 years. In August of 2006, OWC was the first to provide true Apple-Qualified memory for the first Apple Mac Pro Quad Xeon computers at independent prices and now without delay, has the new 800MHz memory available for these most recent Apple Mac Pro 8-Core Xeon models. OWC Memory Upgrade Kits provide premium quality, fully-tested modules that completely meet and/or exceed all Apple specifications. Utilizing superior components, including true Apple-Qualified heat spreaders, the modules provide a lifetime of high-performance, reliable operation backed by OWC’s Lifetime Advance Replacement Warranty.
Cash Back Trade-In Rebate
A cash-back rebate of up to $55 per set is also available from OWC for the trade-in of Apple factory memory. Available for immediate order, the OWC Memory Upgrade Kits consist of matched pairs of FB-DIMM modules manufactured to Apple’s stringent Mac Pro specifications, far exceeding JEDEC (the leading developer of solid-state industry standards) specifications. For additional information on OWC’s Mac Pro 8-Way Quad Xeon Memory Modules, See: http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/memory/Mac-Pro-Memory or call toll free (800) 275-4576.
OWC also offers a full line of memory for upgrading nearly every Apple model made from the last twenty years, including MacBook, MacBook Pro, iMac, PowerMac, and PowerBook computers. The full OWC Memory line, as well as a compatibility guide which directs customers to the correct upgrades for each specific Apple model, can be found online here: http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/apple/memory/
SuperDuper! 2.5 (84) Brings Full Compatibility for Leopard Users and Some Sweet New Features to Boot
After a long hard journey through months of coding and testing, Shirt Pocket has finally mastered Leopard’s changes and added some sweet new features to make this $30 archive utility something worthy of a Must Have on any Macintosh HD. SuperDuper! 2.5 (Build 84) not only backs up your existing hard drive to a bootable archive, but it also lives side-by-side Apple’s archiving utility, Time Machine. The release notes also specify that, “You can now store a bootable backup side-by-side with a Time Machine backup on a single volume.” Further, you can now copy Time Machine backup volumes to other drives as well as being able to execute scheduled tasks immediately with the “Run Now” button. Other changes include Exposé, Time Machine, Spaces and Front Row are added to the Leopard Sandboxes as well as the ability to ignore Google Desktop Index files.
All in all, this is a long anticipated update and we here at SvenOnTech highly recommend it for those looking for a simple, easy, and robust archiving utility that will work in conjunction with Time Machine.
equinux has just released the fifth generation of its award-winning online auction management solution, iSale. iSale 5 offers all Mac users a way to flexibly create and manage their online eBay auctions. The Template Editor allows each of the 222 templates, included with iSale, to be easily edited to fit the user’s needs. Additionally, iSale 5 simplifies the search for product information and pictures and can display running auctions on Facebook platform.
Import and search for product information
With the new Research Assistant, product descriptions can be easily taken from FileMaker databases and Delicious Library and then added to an auction per mouse click. Additional plug-ins allow you to research product information, as well as pictures, using Google, Amazon, the ISBN Database for books and any other website a user might wish to use. The Research Assistant saves all of the information it collects in folders, so it can easily be copied and pasted into your auctions.
“All iSale users will greatly benefit from the new version. iSale 5 not only gives you the possibility to manage and create your auctions, but it now also shortens the time it takes to look up information about the items you’re selling,” says equinux CEO Till Schadde. “iSale 5 is the most powerful and comprehensive online auction management software that equinux has ever released. iSale 5 includes an all-new Template Editor that allows users to edit every iSale template, we ever shipped and save them as your favorites.”
Manage and Archive Auctions
Anyone who wants to let his contacts know about any upcoming auctions, can post running auctions on his Facebook profile. And iSale 5 makes it possible to manage multiple libraries, allowing users to archive old auctions.
Full power with Mac OS X
iSale 5 takes full advantage of new functions and capabilities in Leopard. The user interface reflects the style and design of Leopard, as well as the other features from Leopard that seamlessly integrate into iSale. iSale 5 used the systemwide Calendar system so users can manage their deadlines. The QuickLook preview allows all users to find any auction with Finder. To benefit from all of the new features, iSale 5 requires Mac OS X 10.5.
Prices and Availability
Upgrades for iSale 5 are available starting today for $19.95. And all customers, that purchased their iSale license after December 15th, 2007 can upgrade for free at my.equinux.com. Full version of iSale 5 are available, starting at $39.95.
eBay has come a long way with it’s web interface on the worlds most popular bidding site on the world wide web. But, there still could be some improvements made, namely, with speed. One of my main gripes with eBay is that it can be slow at times. Not a biggy when you’re browsing but it can mean the difference between winning and losing at bid time. It’s happened a couple of times to me. Granted, network issues could be related to the speed problem; however, with its complex layout, eBay can take some of the burden of blame as well. Thankfully, eBay has an API (Application Program Interface) that allows developers to tap into the eBay engine externally. This means people at companies like iwascoding can make an eBay manager that works as if you were on eBay…but better.
iwascoding are the makers of the well known GarageSale, an eBay sell manager. This has been the more popular use of the eBay API but fortunately, those whacky German coding guys understand that there is a need to manage sales as well manage bids, so they created GarageBuy.
When I first saw GarageBuy, I was hesitant. What could it possibly do better than eBay’s web interface? Yes, speed was my key draw to this application, but was it worth opening another application to take more resources away from my Mac? Needless to say, the cost, free, was the strongest pull for me to click that download link.
Once installed, GarageBuy asks for you to authorize the application, much like wonderful Flickr Uploadr (also free) does. Once authorized, you’re already signed in and ready to go. First thing GarageBuy will do is import any items on your Watch list and other eBay information locally. Then, you’re off to the races.
I did a test search, “Purple Birkenstock”, to see how well the search would perform. To my surprise, it was quick and presented very nicely. The left side of the column shows your search term along with the hit count. To the right is the results. These results include brief auction information and a picture (if available.) With a limited pool of results, I went for something I wanted: NAS. NAS, short for Network Attached Storage, is a need at my home-based office. I’ve been looking for a rack mount product but this hardware form factor starts at 3k. Ouch! But what better way to test GarageBuy’s speed and see if I could find a deal? Well a deal indeed is what I found and speed was another feature rich benefit. My results quickly filled up the screen (over 700 total) and within minutes I found the perfect NAS at the perfect price. I’m sure I would have found it on my web browser as well, but no way would it have been this easy and this pleasurable.
Why pleasurable? The layout is so intelligently done that one would think iwascoding spent countless hours and Euros on this program. So why is this free, guys? On the right side, the Gallery display, where all your hits are shown, you can sort by time left, current price, Buy It Now price, or title. Above this sort line you can narrow down the results by clicking on soft buttons that differ from search to search that allow you really get into the details. You can also increase the size of the Gallery picture if you’d like. To watch an auction or hide it from the results, just click the appropriate button on the tool bar above.
To bid on an auction, all you need to do is click the money icon and up comes a new window with bid information including a place for your bid. The window is updated in real-time, so the auctions remaining time is displayed in countdown fashion along with the price being updated with the current bidders name. Placing your bid couldn’t be any easier than typing in your price, clicking the bid button, confirming the bid (which you can have disabled for future bids) and that’s it. Your bid is in and the screen updates with your information! It is very fast!
The left column will keep you up to date on your bids and other items you are watching. Green colored bubbles mean you’ve won the auction, red indicates a loss, and light red with dark red means it’s in auction your watching but you haven’t bid on yet (or your losing the bid.) Yellow is for the ended auction without a winner. Another nice feature of GarageBuy is the darker color will progress to the right as a time indicator. The closer it fills up the bubble, the less time you have left. It’s just so easy to glance at any auction and know when time is almost up.
GarageBuy is fully Growl compatible, so if you’re watching an auction, you’re notified when the bid changes. All other actions by you are also shown such as making a bid.
In short, GarageBuy, the first officially certified client for the Mac by eBay, is nothing short of awesome. Any user of eBay with a Mac should have this in their Applications folder. Light users to heavy users are going to thoroughly enjoy this eBay buyer manager. I know I am.
One of the biggest gripes with most for all the other iTunes wannabe types is the lack of Mac software. Universal yanked its content from Apple’s popular video downloading service for its own little venture with the likes of Fox called hulu. As you may have guessed, hulu is Windows only and at this point, is a private beta. Sources have indicated to SvenOnTech that only a few episodes are available for viewing of each show and it is using Adobe’s Flash technology. Your stuck to your PC screen.
SyncTV wants to change all that. It wants to share the video love with Windows, Mac, and Linux users. Giving each of them a client, now everyone can enjoy their favorite shows, now or later. Unlike hulu, all shows will be downloadable and will eventually even support portable media devices. What ever you choose to download, you can go a la carte or get every episode of every year. No restrictions. While this all sounds like iTunes, sans the Linux version, Apple won’t give you any of its content in HD. SyncTV does. To prove how good it looks, SyncTV is showing off its service on a 1080p HDTV at CES this week.
As for content, this seems to be the limited aspect of SyncTV. Only recognizing one show, Dexter, SyncTV has a long way to go before it can take on Apple or even hulu. Fortunately though, the Internet has removed the boundaries of “popular” and with “networks” such as Revision3 and ZiffDavis, featuring DL.TV, the old school TV networks may find itself lost in the shuffle just a few short years from now.