IT-Code-News: IT News HeadLines (TechConnect Magazine)30/09/2009

Windows Home Server add-in allows more remote control goodies
Windows Home Server plug-ins come in all shapes and sizes these days - and some of the most interesting and useful applications tap into the web-server functionality of the operating system. One such app is Kris Rodenhaussen's P-80 software, which has reached version 1.3 and allows you to access your home server's status, specs and other details anywhere that you can get online (including from smartphone!)

Used in conjunction with other plug-ins (such as AutoExit), P-80 lets you shut down or restart your server remotely... you can even control another machine on the same network as the server.

An example of the server info in your browser.

If you are a Windows Home Server user, check it out here.

Asus readies its cheapest P55 motherboard yet
Asus' large P55 motherboard offer will get even larger very soon as the Taiwanese manufacturer will be introducing the yet another model which is claimed to be the most affordable Lynnfield solution (like ever). Dubbed P7P55 LX, the cheapo P55 board has a 4+1 phase power design, four DDR3-2000 memory slots, two PCI-Express x16 slots (CrossFireX is supported), the TurboV overclocking feature and the ExpressGate instant-on OS.

The motherboard also comes with MemOK!, an EPU (energy processing unit), six SATA 3.0 Gbps ports, a PATA connector, Gigabit Ethernet, and 7.1 channel audio. The P7P55 LX's price tag is yet unknown but it be under that of the P7P55D LE (~ 100 Euro).

Pictures courtesy of XFastest.

Old name returns to Apple exploding tablet speculation
One of the original members of the Newton development team, Michael Tchao, has gone back to Apple after a 15 year stint away from the company. This move is further fueling reports that the Cupertino company is planning a new tablet launch in the coming months. Tchao has the "scars and the great ideas about tablet computing", according to a former colleague at Apple.

Apple is widely expected to enter the tablet PC market with a 10in unit this year - or at least to announce something before the year is up. This, combined with reports that Taiwanese manufacturers are reportedly providing touch screens for Apple, and the possibility of Apple's adopting the Intel Atom processor for a tablet device was discussed at last week's Intel Developer Forum.

Tchao is the brain credited with selling Apple's former CEO John Sully on the Newton project, with special emphasis placed on the handwriting recognition system that proved to be incredibly effective at the time.

Apple has confirmed Tchao's appointment as vice president of product marketing but has said no more. Tchao spent nearly a decade at Apple in the firm's Personal Interactive Electronics division, and a similar period at Nike designing iPod tie-in products.

FileZilla 3.2.8 RC1 software release
FileZilla is an FTP program for file uploading and downloading to and from your FTP site, server, or host. The program lets you transfer files and navigate among folders, Web sites, and your computer. This software enables you to perform multiple file transfers simultaneously.

Changes include:
- Remember last used search conditions
- Display link overlay on icons of links in remote file list
- Display of average transfer speed should converge faster to overall average
- Simplify default file exists action dialogs
- Apply decimal places size formatting option also to total queue size
- MSW: Reduce number of needed user interactions in installer if update started from within FileZilla
- MSW: Check that there are no running instances of FileZilla before installing
- Fix handling of remote directory names with leading or trailing spaces
- *nix: Fix memory leaks in D-Bus session management and power management inhibitor client code
- *nix: Fall back to org.gnome.SessionManager if org.freedesktop.PowerManagment does not exit to inhibit idle sleep during transfers
- Increase default size of SO_RCVBUF (TCP advertised window) to fix performance issues on high-latency connections
- MSW: Fix displaying list of shares on local network resources
- MSW: Remote file editing no longer gets confused if two filenames only differ in character case
- Fix dialog line wrapping issues
- Ensure width of site manager is large enough to fit all tabs
- Better guard against filename columns being moved or hidden
- *nix, OS X: Handle filesystems without advisory file locking instead of falsely warning about site manager being opened in a different instance of FileZilla

Website: FileZilla Project
Download: FileZilla 3.2.8 RC1

Samsung reveals the SCH-W880 12MP touchscreen phone
Samsung has just announced SCH-W880, a shiny new mobile phone that packs a 3.3-inch (800x480) AMOLED capacitive touchscreen and a 12 megapixel camera with autofocus, flash, and 3x optical zoom.

This camera phone/phone camera measures 115.8 x 56.9 x 16.3 mm, has three-band GSM and CDMA2000 1xEV-DO support, and also comes with 4GB of built-in memory, a microSD slot, an accelerometer, a T-DMB TV receiver, USB, Bluetooth, and the ability to record 1280x720 videos @ 30 frames per second.

The SCH-W880 is set to become available in South Korea as of next month, with a more 'international' version of it hopefully coming later on.

Windows Home Server Power Pack 3 gets delayed
Previously planned to arrive before October 22nd, the general availability date of Windows 7, the third Power Pack for Microsoft's Windows Home Server will need a bit more time to prepare its debut.

As revealed in a posting on the Windows Home Server Blog, Microsoft, while 'excited' about the feedback received on Power Pack 3, is also planning on doing additional testing to make sure the software is of the highest quality upon release. What this means is that the Redmond company has tweaked the pack's release schedule and is now expecting to deliver it in full by the end of the year.

Power Pack 3 comes with backup and recovery for Windows 7-powered PCs, Windows 7 Libraries integration, Windows Search 4, Console Quick View, TV archiving, (and more Windows Media Center enhancements), plus better netbook support.

Intel prepping more dual-core ULV processors
Betting big on the CULV (consumer ultra-low voltage) movement, Intel is reported to be planning quite an update of its low-voltage mobile processor offer in October. The chip company is expected to introduce more dual-core CPU series - the Core 2 Duo SU7000, SU4000 and Celeron SU3000 to replace the single-core Core 2 Solo SU3000 and Pentium SU2000 line-ups, as well as the dual-core Celeron SU2000 offer (which only includes the 1.2 GHz SU2300).

As revealed by various notebook manufacturers, among the new models are the SU4100 and SU7300, but a total of seven CPUs are said to be released throughout Q4.

Prolimatech delivers new revision of the Megahalems cooler
Taiwan-based Prolimatech has this week started shipping a new revision of its first CPU cooler, the Megahalems. The Rev. B release is basically the Megahalems you know, love, hate or are indifferent about, that's bundled with a new mounting kit supporting AMD AM2, AM2+, AM3, Intel LGA 775, 1366 and also 1156 processors, and comes with four fan brackets (as opposed to two on the Rev. A) which enable the installation of two 120mm fans.

The Megahalems Rev. B can be found on sale for just under 55 Euro.

Vodafone inks iPhone distribution deal for the UK too
With O2 no longer the exclusive carrier of the iPhone in the UK it seems everybody wants to sell the shiny smartphone, with Orange, and now Vodafone, signing distribution deals with Apple.

According to the agreement reached with the Cupertino company, Vodafone will be offering the iPhone 3G and 3GS in both the UK and Ireland as of early 2010. It's a little weird that Vodafone will be missing out on providing the iPhone during the upcoming holiday season but UK buyers will still have two choices - Orange and O2.

HP readies touchscreen-equipped Pavilion dv3
Preparing for Windows 7 and the touch support it includes, HP is going to release a new Pavilion dv3 model, one that features a 13.3-inch touchscreen and is loaded with the TouchSmart 3.0 software.

The upcoming laptop weights as low as 2.12kg and boasts a Pentium or Core 2 processor, up to 8GB of RAM, a maximum of 500GB of storage space, a GeForce G 105M graphics card, a 5-in-1 card reader, a webcam and, of course, Windows 7 (Home Premium to be exact). No word on pricing or a release date for the 'new' dv3 but it's probable we'll start seeing it around October 22nd.

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

IT News HeadLines (TechConnect Magazine)30/09/2009

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