Apple's Mountain Lion OS: Macs Now Work Better With iPads, iPhones

Apple (NSDQ:AAPL)'s OS X Mountain Lion, the ninth iteration of its operating system for Macs, is now available for download, Apple confirmed Wednesday.

The new OS, which is selling in the Mac App Store for $19.99, requires users to be running Apple's Lion or Snow Leopard OS, version 10.6 or later, on a Mac desktop or laptop with at least 2 GB of memory and 8 GB of storage. Apple, Cupertino, Calif., said users that have purchased a new Mac on or after June 11 can upgrade for free.

Mountain Lion delivers more than 200 new features, including tighter integration with Facebook and Apple's homegrown cloud service, iCloud. With iCloud support now included natively, users can synchronize apps such as email, reminders, calendar and contacts across all their Apple devices, eliminating the need for manual file sharing or updates.

ADATA Appoints Regional Distributors and Expands base in India

ADATA Technology announced its renewed strategy for business in India. ADATA is joining hands with strong, well reputed existing IT distributors that have a strong financial background, impeccable reputation, and the ability & passion to sell its range of storage products targeted primarily for Home, SOHO and Corporate segments.

With the appointment of Regional Distributors (RDs), ADATA plans to expand its distribution footprint beyond the top 30 cities and B&C class towns. The intent behind this move is to make the whole gamut of innovative ADATA products available to a wider consumer base. The appointment of Regional Distributors (RDs) is a part of ADATA India's overall strategy to garner higher market share in the Indian market.

On the occasion of the appointment of these RDs, Chris Chang, MD, ADATA India Technology said, "ADATA remains committed in providing quality innovative products to Indian consumers and in our endeavor to expand our product's reach to wider spectrum of consumers; we are immensely pleased to appoint the new set of Regional Distributors. The RDs are chosen based on their market strengths and whether they meet the criteria set by ADATA to cater to a larger cross section of consumers. With these appointments we are expecting rapid growth for ADATA brand in the current year. “

The company that till date had a single tier distribution setup through Ingram Micro, Rashi Peripherals and Technocrat Infotech, for its entire range of products, has now gone one step ahead and has appointed 3 regional distributors. The newly appointed regional distributors are Champion Computers for North, Aldous Glare for South and Creative Computers for West and they will focus only on external hard drives and SSDs (Solid State Drive).

With the ultra-notebook segment picking up in a big way, the company plans to focus on the key emerging storage segment of SSDs and the ubiquitous external hard drives this year as its part of its strategy.

Furthering its focused strategy for India market, the company also has recently appointed Sudip De as Vice President who will be overall in-charge of India business development, along with Regional Sales persons at key strategic locations in every region.

Cyberoam Ramps up CCNSP Certification Drive for Partners Security

Cyberoam is conducting a 2-day CCNSP (Cyberoam Certified Network Security Professional) certification course for its partners across 10 cities. As part of the certification programme, Cyberoam will provide hands-on training on security configuration and troubleshooting of UTM products.

“Being a partner-centric company, the CCNSP program is aligned with Cyberoam’s philosophy to help partners become more responsive to customer needs,” says Sunil Sharma, VP –Sales, Cyberoam.

Sunil further adds, “CCNSP is one of the few industry-recognized security certification programs which equip partners with desired levels of competence in UTM security. We invite our partners avail the training facility and increase the skill level in advising and guiding their customers regarding security best practices.”

As part of the CCNSP program, partners are put through case studies and know-how on latest networking and security concepts. They further gain practical experience by learning complete deployment and configuration of Cyberoam UTM appliances. Also, It helps the partners gain capabilities in handling emerging threats and guide customers regarding security best practices, thus,   increasing their credibility with customers, leading to stronger and long-lasting partnerships and higher revenues. There are already 1000+ CCNSP professionals and the demand is growing 

Cyberoam UTM appliances are unique in providing total visibility into the individual user activity within the enterprise network, delivering robust network security through control over the user activity. With its multi-core

UTM appliances, Cyberoam offers one of the best price-performance ratios in the industry.

DIGISOL Launches India's Fastest Wireless Range Booster

DIGISOL has introduced its new and India's fastest 300Mbps Wireless Universal Repeater DG- WR3001N a unique new product for frequent flyers and portable wireless devices users for all. The DG-WR3001N can easily boost and extend the wireless range of your wireless network and improves the signal quality of the Wi-Fi network.

This has an Integrated power adapter and a compact design that’s makes this device easy to plug the device directly into an electrical outlet & reduce the clutter of cables. The users can download, share and experience uninterrupted multimedia within the LAN. This unique and one of its kind device offers 3-in-1 functionality of Access point, Wireless Repeater and Wireless client, which can be controlled by an easy toggle switch.

Bimal Raj. CEO, Smartlink Network Systems Ltd. said. “The ever growing use of handheld mobile devices is creating a need for wireless connectivity across. Our new product caters to this need and provides instant high speed internet connectivity to professionals on move or home users. A compact plug-in device is very handy when you are at location where internet connectivity is poor and you need high speed internet”.

DG-WR3001N supports latest IEEE802.11n standard and is backward compatible with IEEE802.11b/g standard. This Wireless Repeater has an in-built power adapter and hence can be easily wall mounted on the power outlet present on the wall. This makes it easy to install and use. Due to compact design the wireless repeater can be easily installed in the location where the wireless signals are weak and need enhancement.

DG-WR3001N provides robust wireless security to protect sensitive data from hackers and also maintain confidentially of the Wireless Network. This is achieved by using security protocols ranging from 64/128 bit WEP encryption (first level of Security) to WPA2 Enterprise (highest level). The signal strength LED on the device helps in better placement of the unit in the area in which primary Access Point signals are available. It also notifies the user about a weak or an excellent signal.

A toggle switch on the unit helps in selecting the operational modes between Universal Repeater, Access Point and a Wireless Client. This simplifies the configuration & installation of the device. DG-WR3001N supports WPS (Wi-Fi Protected Setup) function, it simplifies the procedure to setup a secured wireless network. By pressing a WPS button on the unit, DG-WR3001N can wirelessly associate it with another WPS enabled network device securely.

Techcom Presents CHAMATKAR, SSD-921 Relay for FM based Products

Techcom has introduced the latest product CHAMATKAR (SSD-921 Relay). This mini USB device, which you might mistake for a pen drive by its looks is most advanced in its own kind. The USB SSD-921 works like an FM radio transmitter and connect to all FM based products.

You can connect all speakers & Headphone with FM, wirelessly with your computer & listen to music. Simply follow the below steps. Like, insert the USB Relay to the computer’s USB port to install the driver automatically. Now set FM Radio frequency to 88.1 or search FM automatically on any product with Fm, and then the product will be paired to the computer and will play music. Open the computer player to play sound or video files.

It is light weight and easy to carry. It has micro SD card reader in-built. It effective range is 10 meters within room, it supports windows XP/VISTA/WINDOWS 7.

A10 Networks Signs Distribution Agreement with RAH Infotech

A10 Networks announced the signing of a distribution agreement with RAH Infotech Pvt. Ltd., one of the fastest growing Value Added Distributors (VADs) in India, for distribution of its entire range of products and solutions in India.

A10 Networks delivers industry leading Application Networking solutions that accelerate, optimize and secure customers' web sites and applications. A10's flagship AX Series platforms deliver solutions for: Application Delivery/Server Load Balancing, IPv6 Migration and Cloud Computing & Virtualization. The AX Series is deployed in numerous verticals including customers of all sizes in the service provider, Web portal, financial, education, manufacturing, technology and numerous additional markets.

"We are proud to be associated with RAH Infotech who brings on board vast experience in the distribution arena and a huge partner and customer base. A10 Networks' vision of providing its customers with superior application delivery solutions complements RAH Infotech's single minded focus on providing its customers with best-of-breed information management solutions. We look forward to leveraging RAH Infotech's vision and market reach to establish a strong foothold in India," said Hayato Koeda, VP of South Asia and ANZ for A10 Networks.

"A10 Networks is the leader in Application Networking and its flagship AX Series Application Delivery Controllers are deployed by over 2,000 customers worldwide, which is a testimony to the superiority of the product. The AX Series surpasses the competition with superior reliability, high-performance and an energy efficient footprint for lower total cost of ownership making it the right choice for Application Delivery/Server Load Balancing, IPv6 Migration and Cloud Computing & Virtualization," said Ashok Kumar, CEO, Rah Infotech Pvt. Ltd. "We are pleased with this association and eagerly look forward to extending these services to our partners and customers."

Belkin N150 Wireless Router

Designed for easy setup, the Belkin N150 Wireless Router lets you get your wireless network up and running in three steps. Belkin's exclusive MultiBeam technology minimizes dead spots and provides strong coverage throughout your home, and preset security settings ensure that your network is safe. Additionally, four Ethernet LAN ports allow you to connect multiple computers or devices. With twice the speed of G technology, the N150 is ideal for wirelessly surfing the Web, emailing, and instant messaging.

NETGEAR N150 UNBOXING Setting up Netgear Wireless N Router

Here it is guys, one of the best home owner wireless router, secure and it works the best, u can connect up to 4 computers and the wifi works perfect, with secure password, if you have any questions hit me up.

Strontium Bold USB Drive

Looking for a value- for-money storage device? Strontium Bold USB drive series could be the storage device that you were looking for all these while. Designed with a swivel cap, you could easily rotate its cap without losing the cap easily. With its robust and shock resistant design, you could put away your worries even if you drop your USB drive.

For more details visit http://www.strontium.biz/products/usb-drives/bold-usb-drives

Seagate Go-Flex External Hard Drive Review

Seagate Go-Flex External Hard Drive Review

How To Sell Remote Access Solutions And Generate Revenue

Providing modern remote access services makes customers more efficient and offers them a scalable technology that can grow over time. That gives VARs an opportunity to create a recurring revenue stream. Bager, CEO of remote access technology vendor, Netop, offers insight on how VARs can sell such solutions.—Jennifer Bosavage, editor.

An often overlooked, but incredibly valuable component of any IT infrastructure, is remote access. Though not as sexy as virtualization or cloud computing, remote access performs a valuable service that can help IT departments improve productivity, save money and drive efficiencies. Remote access solutions also provide universal opportunity for VARs to increase their own revenue.

IBM Reports Q2 Sales Decline, Profit Growth

IBM (NYSE:IBM) reported a 3 percent decline in second-quarter revenue as hardware and service revenue fell and software sales were flat.

But, IBM executives pointed to solid growth in net income, up 6 percent, gross profit margins, up 1.2 points to 47.6 percent, and free cash, up 9 percent to $3.7 billion, during the quarter as evidence the company is on track.

"We run this business for profit and cash contribution," said CFO Mark Loughridge during a conference call with analysts. "I think the results demonstrate the strength and resiliency of IBM's business model, delivering profit and cash on a sustained basis. Despite currency headwinds and a tough pipeline comparison, we delivered strong performance."

Microsoft's Ballmer Bets Big On Cloud, Mobility; Partners Want In

Steve Ballmer is fired up. The Microsoft (NSDQ:MSFT) CEO has just come offstage after speaking to 16,000 Worldwide Partner Conference attendees at the Air Canada Centre, home of the Toronto Maple Leafs, and he is talking about a new, more competitive Microsoft. It is a Microsoft more in line with Ballmer's hard-checking, hypercompetitive style. It is a Microsoft playing offense, willing to do what it takes to win as it moves to stop Apple--or anyone else, for that matter-- from wresting away its crown as the undisputed world leader in bringing personal computing to the masses.

Ballmer is now backstage at the Air Canada Centre in a private room with CRN, shouting and stretching out the word "any" in a rising crescendo to make a point--loudly and clearly--that Microsoft will not cede any market segment to Apple even if that means stepping on the toes of longtime hardware partners with its own Surface tablet.

"We are not going to let annyyyyyyyyyyyyy piece of this [go uncontested to Apple (NSDQ:AAPL)]," he bellowed in our exclusive interview. "Not the consumer cloud. Not hardware/software innovation. We are not leaving any of that to Apple by itself. Not going to happen! Not on our watch!"

10 Things We Learned At The Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference

Summing Up The Microsoft WPC 2012

More than 16,000 Microsoft partners came to this year's Worldwide Partner Conference in Toronto with a lot of questions. Just when would Windows 8 be ready to ship? Was Microsoft serious about not selling its Surface tablets through the channel? And what kinds of changes to the Microsoft Partner Network would the company unveil?

With so much crammed into four days, it was a lot for attendees to take in and it would be easy to miss some of the big-picture stuff coming out of the conference. Here's what we thought were the 10 key takeaways from WPC

How To Be Agile In IT

he term "agile IT" has been around, but lately, it's gaining traction. With growing emphasis on time to market, and mounting global competition, solution providers are tasked with responding and adapting quickly to the needs of customers. Julie Parrish, vice president of worldwide sales at NetApp, shares how an agile IT infrastructure can enable business right now.—Jennifer D. Bosavage, editor

You've probably been hearing the words agile and agility a lot recently, and there's a good reason for it. We're entering a new era in technology, an era in which IT agility is going to be central to business success. Because your customers are increasingly hearing this message, you as a channel partner need to be ready to help them think differently about how their IT can respond at the pace of global business today.

Related: How to Update a Customer's Data Protection Plan

Competition, an always-on global economy, and the urgency to make data a propellant for advantage all require your customers to have an infrastructure that’s agile enough to cope with their very dynamic business environment.

Customers want to accelerate their business with greater efficiency and productivity, but they must think differently to remove the complexity, cost, and inefficiencies of decade-old IT approaches. They are reaching an inflection point, and they must fundamentally rethink their approach to information technology to be more agile. This is change. This is our future. This is your opportunity.

SAP Quarterly Software Sales Surpass 1 Billion Euros

SAP's software sales exceeded 1 billion Euros in its second quarter, the company said Tuesday, the first time the company's quarterly software sales have surpassed that threshold.

SAP, Walldorf, Germany, also reported that revenue from cloud subscriptions and support reached 52 million Euros ($62.9 million) in the quarter, including revenue from its SuccessFactors acquisition.

For the second quarter ended June 30, SAP reported total revenue of 3.9 billion Euros ($4.7 billion), up 18 percent from 3.3 billion Euros ($4.0 billion) in the second quarter of fiscal 2011. Profit after tax was 661 million Euros ($799 million), up 12 percent from 588 million Euros ($711 million) in the earlier quarter.

"We reached the upper end of our second-quarter software revenue guidance range and were at the midpoint of the software and software-related service revenue guidance range," said Werner Brandt, SAP CFO, in a statement. He said the company was on track to meet its 2012 targets and its longer-range 2015 goals.

Software sales in the second quarter were up 26 percent to 1.1 billion Euros ($1.3 billion) from one year earlier. Support revenue grew 16 percent to just more than 2 billion Euros ($2.4 billion).

Growing its cloud software offerings is one of SAP's major goals. Revenue from cloud subscriptions and services one year earlier was only 4 million Euros ($4.8 million). While some of the most recent quarter's 52 million Euros in cloud-related revenue was generated by the company's Business ByDesign on-demand applications, much of it was the result of SAP's $3.4 billion acquisition earlier this year of SuccessFactors, the provider of cloud-based human capital management applications.

Sales for the first six months of fiscal 2012 reached 7.2 billion Euros ($8.8 billion), up 15 percent from 6.3 billion Euros ($7.6 billion) in the first half of fiscal 2011.

Software sales for the first half of fiscal 2012 were 1.7 billion Euros ($2.0 billion), up 17 percent from 1.5 billion Euros ($1.8 billion) one year earlier. Revenue from cloud subscriptions and support in the first six months was 81 million ($97.7 million) Euros compared to 8 million Euros ($9.7 million) in the same period one year ago.

Support-related revenue in the first half of fiscal 2012 was 4.0 billion Euros ($4.8 billion), up 15 percent from 3.4 billion Euros ($4.2 billion) in the same period one year ago.

ARM-Powered Cloud Open For Test, Development Via TryStack

The OpenStack cloud community on Wednesday said several of its members have collaborated to make an ARM server-based cloud available for free test deployments.

That cloud is available through TryStack, which is a free site for testing applications designed using the OpenStack cloud. However, TryStack does not allow production runs of cloud applications.

The move to make ARM-based servers available in a test cloud stems from work from several vendors in the OpenStack community, including server vendors Calxeda and Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ), Ubuntu developer Canonical, and Core NAP, an Austin, Texas-based provider of hosted data center services.

HP Pledges 99.95 Percent Uptime To Lure Cloud Customers

Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ) is gearing up to launch the first two offerings in its Cloud Services portfolio, and the company is dangling an aggressive service-level agreement to attract customers.

HP's Cloud Object Storage and Cloud Content Delivery Network services, currently in public beta, will be generally available Aug. 1, said Gavin Pratt, senior product manager on HP's Cloud Services team, in a Wednesday blog post.

Cloud Object Storage handles archiving and backup, storage of large data sets, and the serving of static content for Web apps. Cloud CDN, powered by Akamai, uses cached and distributed servers to improve performance of Cloud Object Storage.

Cloud Object Storage was one of the two services HP unveiled last September when it debuted its Cloud Services portfolio. The other, HP Cloud Compute, lets customers purchase compute instances on a pay-as-you-go basis, and it is still in public beta.

VMware CEO Maritz Says No Spin-Off Of Cloud, Big Data Assets

The rumored spin-off of VMware's Cloud Foundry platform-as-a-service and big data analytics assets from EMC (NYSE:EMC) Greenplum is not happening, at least for the foreseeable future.

"We have no specific plans [for a spin-off] at this point in time," outgoing VMware CEO Paul Maritz said Monday when asked about the spin-off speculation in a Q&A during VMware's fiscal second quarter earnings call.

In fact, VMware will look to step up its spending on cloud technologies and be more strategic about utilizing those it has already developed, according to Maritz.

"We see the cloud investments we have made as being absolutely critical, and we intend to make further investments going forward," Maritz said on the call. "We are thinking about how to use those assets even more effectively in the future."

Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet review

When Lenovo announced a pair of Android tablets this summer, we didn\'t even imagine it was theIdeaPad K1 we were most jazzed about. Sure, it was exciting to see Lenovo enter the Android tablet market on any terms, but it was the Think Pad Tablet that set our curious minds rolling.

There was the design, for one -- an obvious homage to those black, red-nubbed laptops with the same name. It has personalThere was the design, for one -- an obvious homage to those black, red-nubbed laptops with the same name. It has personality, one that's inextricably tied to Lenovo's laptop know-how. It offers a full-sized USB port, an SD slot, 1080p output, a 3G SIM and a slew of accessories that includes a dock, pen and keyboard folio case. It's the kind of tablet we don't review all that often: one that might actually make for some painless productivity on the road.

As you can imagine, we've been waiting months to learn more, and if your tweets, comments and emails are any indication, so have you. Well, wait no more, friends. We've been spending almost a week with one and have oh-so much to say. So what are you waiting for? Meet us past the break, won't you?

Look and feel

The first time we saw the ThinkPad Tablet, back in July, we were struck by its odd proportions. It wasn't just that this thing was on the plump side (after all, most slates with a full-sized USB port are). No, this tablet was simply... outsized. At 10. 3 x 7.2 x 0.6 inches (260.4 x 181.7 x 14mm), it's both taller and wider than the Galaxy Tab 10.1 (it measures 10.1 x 6.9 x .34 inches). On paper, that gulf might seem trivial, but the unusual shape was the first thing we noticed. Check the comparison above if you don't believe us!

At 1.58 pounds (715 grams), the ThinkPad Tablet feels like the serious productivity slate it claims to be. Because of the extra width, we found ourselves making an effort not to type in portrait mode, since the weight distribution felt particularly imbalanced. Fortunately, even though we felt some stretch in our thumbs while typing in landscape mode, we were still able to do so with relative ease, and discovered that holding the tablet that way made way more sense ergonomically.

This tablet's heft is also offset, in part, by the fact that it's generally a well made device. And if you're the kind of person who already finds ThinkPads' red nubs and boxy chassis endearing, you might even call it handsome. The back side has a nice, soft finish -- one of many ways in which the ThinkPad Tablet borrows design elements from the laptops with the same name. The lid's also stamped with not one, but two logos -- metal Lenovo and ThinkPad insignias, placed catty-corner to each other. As an added flourish, the "i" in "ThinkPad" glows red when the tablet is powered on.

Other things that make this tablet visually striking: a row of four physical buttons, which line the bottom of the screen when you holding the tablet in portrait mode with the front-facing camera up top. These include one to lock the screen orientation, a browser launcher, a backward navigation key and your requisite home button. Alas, they're stiff -- very hard to press -- and we eventually gave up on our efforts to get used to them and simply stuck with the touchscreen. It's a shame, really, since that tactile experience could have been yet another way for Lenovo to hearken back to the experience of using a ThinkPad laptop.

Taking a tour around the device, you'll also find a plethora of ports sitting just below that row of physical buttons. These include a door covering an SD reader and a 3G SIM card slot, along with an exposed docking connector, micro-USB port, mini-HDMI socket (1080p capable) and a headphone jack. On the opposite end (the other short edge), you'll find a volume rocker, along with a slot for the optional pen (much more on that in a moment). Moving along to the long edges, you've got a lone USB 2.0 port on one side, hidden behind a neat little sliding door, with a power / lock button rounding out the opposite side.

NVIDIA Unveils First GeForce GPUs Based on Kepler Architecture

NVIDIA has launched the first GPUs based on its next-generation Kepler™ graphics architecture, which deliver dramatic gaming performance and exceptional levels of power efficiency. 

The result of some 1.8 million man-hours of work over five years, the Kepler architecture's first offerings bring unprecedented technical capabilities to both gaming desktops and Ultrabooks.

For desktop gaming, the NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX

The result of some 1.8 million man-hours of work over five years, the Kepler architecture's first offerings bring unprecedented technical capabilities to both gaming desktops and Ultrabooks.

For desktop gaming, the NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 680 GPU provides a faster, smoother and richer experience. For notebooks, the new lineup of GeForce 600M GPUs puts the "ultra" in Ultrabooks, enabling smaller, more powerful designs than were previously possible. Both are available immediately.

"The Kepler architecture stands as NVIDIA's greatest technical achievement to date," said Brian Kelleher, senior vice president of GPU engineering at NVIDIA. "It brings enormous performance and exceptional efficiency. Gamers will love the GTX680's performance, as well as the fact that it doesn't require loud fans or exotic power supplies. Ultrabook users will love the GT600M family for its performance and power efficiency." 

 

GeForce GTX680:  A Marriage of Speed and Extreme Efficiency  

The GeForce GTX 680 GPU brings impressive performance and extreme efficiency to the desktop gaming market, delivering a quiet, smooth, extremely fast experience.

Compared with the closest competitive product, the GeForce GTX 680 GPU is more than 300 percent faster in DirectX 11 tessellation performance and up to 43 percent faster in cutting-edge games such as Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, yet consumes 28 percent less power. It also provides twice the performance per watt of the GeForce GTX 580, the flagship Fermi-based processor that it replaces. 

Kelt Reeves, president of Falcon Northwest, a leading producer of high-end gaming systems, said: "The GTX 680 lays down what should be whiplash-inducing speed at the sound of a whisper. Even at full throttle, it doesn't heat up. In the immortal words of Obi-Wan describing a lightsaber, it's 'an elegant weapon for a more civilized age.'" 

Mark Rein, vice president of Epic Games, creators of the award-winning Unreal Engine and billion-dollar "Gears of War" franchise, said: "The GTX 680 is amazing and completely redefines what an enthusiast-class GPU is. We have already shown outstanding success with the GTX 680, recently presenting our real-time Samaritan demonstration running on it along with a special preview of Unreal Engine 4 for select developers."

GeForce 600M GPU Family: Putting the "Ultra" In Ultrabooks

The NVIDIA GeForce 600M family of GPUs, when paired with the latest processor technology from Intel, enables Ultrabook and notebook PC designs that are thin, light and fast. 

"The Acer Aspire Timeline Ultra M3 brings a superior level of performance to the Ultrabook category," said Sumit Agnihotry, vice president of product marketing at Acer America. "With a GeForce GPU onboard, our thin and light Ultrabook does everything our customers want it to do, with no compromises."

Rene Haas, general manager of notebook products at NVIDIA, said: "Customers are about to see notebook manufacturers unveil a host of Ultrabooks that are truly worthy of the 'ultra' moniker. The more efficient and powerful GeForce 600M GPUs will raise performance from the Ultrabook segment all the way up to gaming notebooks. And they will be the most popular discrete GPUs used with Intel's upcoming Ivy Bridge processor."

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 GPU is now available from the world's leading add-in card suppliers, including ASUS, Gainward, Galaxy, MSI, Palit, POV, Sparkle and Zotac. 

Samsung Series 5 Ultra Notebooks Hits the Indian market

Samsung Electronics has announced the launch of its new Series 5 Ultra notebooks.

A family of extremely portable, no compromise Ultrabooks, the Samsung Series 5 boasts a slim design profile with a rich feature set and an Intel Core i5 processor. The Series 5 Ultrabooks, available in 13" and 14" screen sizes, redefine the computing experience by offering users top-of-the line performance, with near instant starts using Fa

A family of extremely portable, no compromise Ultrabooks, the Samsung Series 5 boasts a slim design profile with a rich feature set and an Intel Core i5 processor. The Series 5 Ultrabooks, available in 13" and 14" screen sizes, redefine the computing experience by offering users top-of-the line performance, with near instant starts using FastStart and the innovative ExpressCache storage, all in a stylish yet sturdy design.

Performance alone is insufficient without enough space to store your data. Despite the recent trend of cloud storage, local storage is still preferred among users on a daily basis. The Series 5's performance is matched by its storage capacity, with the 14'' model delivering up to 1TB of storage capacity and the 13" model delivering up to 500 GB, thus ensuring that users never need to carry additional storage devices with them. The performance has been further enhanced by the extended battery life.

Taking its design cues from Samsung's existing popular Notebook PC lines, particularly the high-end Series 9, the Series 5 Ultra features sleek lines and a cool, sophisticated design.

To ensure ease-of-use while on the move, the 13" variant is just 14.9~17.6mm thin and 1.42kg light (w/SSD). It features the Intel Core i5 processor with 8GB memory, up to 500GB storage and 16GB iSSD with ExpressCache. Consumers can also choose from a 128GB SSD or 258GB SSD as their preferred storage. To offer maximum connection to other devices, the 13" model also carries a full-size HDMI port along with one USB 3.0, two USB 2.0, 4-in-1 multi SD card slot, Ethernet and webcam.

The 14" model is equipped with Intel Core i5 processor and has 8GB memory and 16GB iSSD with ExpressCache system offers exceptional performance. For larger storage and heightened visual experience, it can accommodate up to 1TB storage as well as an AMD Radeon HD7550M 1GB graphics card. An integrated Optical Disc Drive is also installed for maximum convenience.

Whether you're sharing vacation photos with friends or giving a presentation to clients, images come alive on the Series 5 Ultrabook's 13.3" or 14" 1366 x 768 high resolution display with Samsung's SuperBright Technology. With 16 million color saturation and an easy-to-view matte screen, users enjoy the high quality visual experience in a wide range of environments, both indoors and out.

The 13" and 14" Ultrabook models will retail at Rs. 48,990/- and Rs. 54,390/- respectively.

The Samsung NotePC range is available in the price range between Rs 14,990/- to Rs 100,000 /-.

AGC Networks Honored '2011 APAC Commercial Partner of the Year' by Juniper Networks

Juniper Networks has announced AGC Networks as the winner of its 2011 APAC Commercial Partner of the Year at its first annual Global Partner Conference in Las Vegas earlier this year.

The annual awards honor the outstanding achievements and commitment from Juniper Networks' top channel partners in the areas of sales, customer service excellence, technology expertise and service specializations.

Speaking on

The annual awards honor the outstanding achievements and commitment from Juniper Networks' top channel partners in the areas of sales, customer service excellence, technology expertise and service specializations.

 

Speaking on this occasion, Bhavin Barbhaya, VP - Sales (Network Infrastructure), AGC Networks Limited added, "This acknowledgement confirms our commitment to deliver customer service excellence, technology expertise and service specializations as an honored partner of Juniper Networks. This recognition also helps us strengthen our position as a leading solutions integrator that is focused on delivering innovative solutions thus maximizing business efficiency."

 "We congratulate AGC Networks for winning Juniper Networks' 2011 APAC Commercial Partner of the Year award," said Ravi Chauhan, managing director, Juniper Networks India. "Juniper Networks is committed to the long term success of our partners and AGC Networks' achievement is a testament to their customer service and innovation excellence in the market."

Stellar Inaugurates New Data Recovery Facility in Kolkata

Stellar Data Recovery has announced the opening of its new facility in Kolkata. This new initiative in East India is a part of company continued geographic expansion in country's key growth market.

"Kolkata is an important city in Eastern India and it has experienced immense growth in IT deployment in recent past. There was also a strong increase in customers demand to recover their lost data. In order to address this void we

"Kolkata is an important city in Eastern India and it has experienced immense growth in IT deployment in recent past. There was also a strong increase in customers demand to recover their lost data. In order to address this void we are opening our new state of art lab in Kolkata and to substantially reduce the turnaround time for recovery of your valuable data," said Sunil Chandna, 'CEO' Stellar Data Recovery.

With more than 18 years of practical experience in data recovery service, Stellar will cater to the data recovery, optimization & sanitization needs of the affected costumers of Eastern part of India. The new facility is now functional& is located at a convenient location in Salt Lake City. Stellar is offering a limited period promotion of Rs. 1000 off on data recovery services for our customers in West Bengal.

McAfee eyes the Ever Growing SMB Market

McAfee has announced increased focus and updated security solutions specifically designed to meet the needs of today's small to medium sized businesses (SMBs). 

McAfee will offer SMBs the same level of protection as enterprises in an easy to manage solution that is tailored for the needs of cost constrained SMB budgets. Because the channel is critical for growth withi

McAfee will offer SMBs the same level of protection as enterprises in an easy to manage solution that is tailored for the needs of cost constrained SMB budgets. Because the channel is critical for growth within this market, McAfee has designed a program that accelerates growth, offers marketing support, includes great sales incentives all with increased profit for SMB partners.

SMBs are in a unique situation when it comes to defending themselves against the rising tide of cyber threats that cover the business and technology landscape. They can't afford high-priced IT and security talent on site; they can't afford a breach that threatens their very existence, and they know that the space they occupy is going to attract more, not less, attention from the hacker community. Additionally, the proliferation of mobile devices driven by the need for any time - any place access to company data and service is adding to the enormous challenge of keeping these companies secure with limited IT resources.

"SMBs face the challenge of increased threats including spam, phishing, viruses and Web attacks that can easily disrupt the network and the livelihood of the business," said Gavin Struthers, senior vice president of worldwide channels at McAfee. "Without constant updates, security software becomes obsolete. Keeping the business continuously up to date requires total protection against known and unknown threats.  McAfee understands the unique needs of the SMB."

McAfee security suites for SMBs safeguard a business' desktops, file servers, and email servers-with the convenience and ease of maintenance of a single, integrated SaaS solution. McAfee has taken a good, better and best approach to packaging the solutions for SMB customers and now provides the following suites:

•    McAfee SaaS Endpoint Protection Suite-Defends the devices on your network on all attack routes- this all-in-one flexible security protection gives SMB customers the freedom to deploy security on their terms

•    McAfee SaaS Endpoint and Email Protection Suite-Adds protection from malicious email content before it enters the network, email continuity to ensure uninterrupted access to email, and client-side web category filtering

•    McAfee SaaS Total Protection Suite-Adds email encryption and pre-built compliance libraries to protect sensitive data and meet compliance requirements, and cloud-based web filtering for antivirus, antimalware, and category filtering to ensure unwanted content never makes it into the network

Chennai to be Center of Excellence in Networking for Dell

Dell India announced that it is turning its research and development center in Chennai into a Center of Excellence in Networking for Dell.Since the acquisition of Force10 Networks in August 2011, Chennai has become a critical research and development (R&D) hub for Dell’s Networking business, leading transformation projects in three domains: Servers, Networking and Storage.

Intex Launches Slimmest 7 inch android Tablet in South India

Intex Technologies announced the launch of its first 7 inch android tablet - INTEX i-Buddy -. i-Buddy has an ultra slim design with 9mm thickness which makes it perhaps the slimmest 7" tablet in India. Thoughtfully designed as an infotainment device, it is targeted at the evolved youth and urban & semi-urban professionals who aspire to own a computing device and learn the fun way!

HP launches Pavilion-G Series Consumer Notebooks

HP unveiled its new range of consumer notebooks, the Pavilion G-series that delight users with new styles, exciting colors and enhanced features. The updated consumer notebooks reflect HP’s new Mosaic design approach, ensuring that each HP notebook is individually unique, yet collectively complete, perfect for the ‘style conscious’ Gen Y.

PNY Speeds Up with the Bar Attaché USB Flash Drive

PNY has introduced the new fast paced Bar Attaché USB flash drive. Its high speed 3.0 data transmission surpasses the standard USB 2.0 drives and accelerates data transfer making it less time consuming to access your digital files and media.

ZyXEL unveils New Wireless Home Router

ZyXEL Communications introduces its NBG-419N v2 Wireless N NetUSB Router, a value-for-price wireless router designed for the home market. Inherited from NBG-419N, its successful predecessor that had received recognition from customers and many international media, the new version offers not only the accredited features but also more state-of-the-art designs to benefit users with refreshing home wireless networking experience.

Transcend Upgrades Industrial SDHC Card Lineup

Transcend Information, Inc. (Transcend)  announced a new high capacity 16GB Industrial Grade SDHC Class 10 card, and an SLC Flash upgrade for its “Ultimate” SDHC150 SDHC Class 10 cards.

Rashi launches Cruzer USB flash drive from SanDisk

Rashi Peripherals is embarking on distribution of the Cruzer  USB flash drive from SanDisk, its core USB product offering, which features an enhanced design, encryption features and a variety of colors.

Delta Rolls Out Ultron Series High Performance UPS

Delta Electronics announced its roll out of the Ultron Series UPS high performance uninterruptible power supply (UPS) series to Taiwan and South East Asia. First introduced to Europe, Russia, South America, and India in 2011 this series is receiving customer acclaim in each market. Delta’s Ultron Series is a double-conversion and IGBT-rectifier three phase UPS.

ASUS Launches Wireless-N Gigabit Ethernet router

The ASUS RT-N66U dual-band wireless-N900 router brings a unique combination of features and optimized engineering for enthusiast-grade networking. The new flagship model of the award-winning Black Diamond series, it delivers leading performance on both 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands with up to 900Mbps in total bandwidth.

Genius unveils PenSketch M912

Genius is proudly introduces the milestone new professional tablet -PenSketch M912. It comes with 5120 LPI, and is a superior advanced pen tablet for designers, artists and professionals using Windows or Mac systems.

Dell Alienware M11x First Look - Dell Launch Event 2010

The Tech65 crew take a first look at Dell's smallest Alienware gaming rig, the M11x.

Samsung Series 9 Notebook at CES 2012

Samsung's new Series 9 ultraportable notebook has a 15" display, but is thinner and lighter than     many notebooks with smaller displays.

Hackers break into Symantec's anti-virus source code

NEW YORK, USA: Symantec Corp, the top maker of security software, said hackers had exposed a chunk of its source code, which is essentially the blueprint for its products, potentially giving rivals some insight into the company's technology.

The developer of the popular Norton antivirus software said the hackers stole the code from a third party and that the company's own network had not been breached, nor had any customer information been affected.

The software maker would not confirm the claim of a group called the Lords of Dharmaraja, who said that they had obtained Symantec's source code by hacking the Indian military.

Some governments ask their security vendors to provide their source code to ensure there is nothing in the code that could act as spyware, said Rob Rachwald, director of security strategy at data security firm Imperva.

Microsoft Corp, for example, in 2003 began allowing governments including Russia and international organizations such as NATO to look at the source code for its Windows operating system to dispel rumors that it had a secret "back door" built in to let the U.S. government spy on its users.

Symantec downplayed the risks, saying the exposed code was several years old.

"Symantec can confirm that a segment of its source code used in two of our older enterprise products has been accessed, one of which has been discontinued," Cris Paden, a spokesman for Symantec, said in an email on Friday.

WeP Peripherals launches new UPS technology

BANGALORE, INDIA: WeP Peripherals, India's leading peripherals company, rolled out its new 690 VA (Volt Ampere) special 415 Watt UPS which is compatible with modern gaming technology. The UPS is based on LI UPS topology and is designed with a minimum back up support of 15 minutes.

The 690 VA UPS comes with multitalented features, which can support 17 inches monitor. The UPS can also be started from battery directly without AC utility. It enables green mode wherein if minimum load is not connected to UPS, it will turn off output power within 45 seconds. In addition to this, the UPS is compatible with most of the generators available because of its wide Input frequency range.

Most of the PC's recommended for graphics and gaming applications come with High speed processors and 17'' monitors, which usually have high surge current which supports overloading.

690VA is specially designed to support such high inrush load current. The UPS Technology is environment friendly and can withstand itself in climate conditions with maximum temperatures upto 40 degrees with humidity levels upto 90%  and supports upto 50 – 55 decibels. The pricing for the same is Rs.. 3200/- (MRP)

Ramdinsanga Saiwi, marketing manager, WeP Peripherals said "We at WeP Peripherals have constantly been making efforts to introduce innovative technology tools and to provide better-quality services for the Indian consumers. This UPS has been designed keeping in mind the growing demand for such products targeting customers across various industrial segments. This is especially useful in our country because it supports during unpredictable power cuts."

Mellanox soars as storage, cloud demand boosts results

NEW YORK, USA: Shares of Mellanox Technologies touched their life high on Thursday, after the Israeli chipmaker's quarterly profit handily beat analysts' expectations on strong storage, data and cloud trends.

At least 10 brokerages raised their price targets on the company's stock.

"This is the second quarter in a row that Mellanox breaks every growth record possible and raises the level of investors' expectations to new heights," Harel Finance analyst Rami Rozen said in a note to clients.

Rozen, who has an 'outperform' rating on Mellanox's stock, raised his price target by $30 to $110.

Mellanox, which designs chips for the InfiniBand data exchange standard that regulates the way servers and data storage systems communicate with each other, counts Hewlett-Packard Co and IBM Corp among its customers.

"In InfiniBand (IB), Mellanox is a generation ahead of Intel Corp and clearly benefiting from IB gaining share in various servers/storage platforms," Needham & Co wrote in a note.

The brokerage raised its price target on the stock to $100 from $69.

Psagot analyst Aviad Shimon, who had just raised his price target to $81 a week ago, said demand for Mellanox's products remains strong despite the economic slowdown. He raised his price target to $115 on Thursday.

Shares of the company jumped 44 per cent to $95.55 in early trading, making them one of the biggest percentage gainers on the Nasdaq.

The stock has more than doubled in the past year

Best cloud storage for smartphones

BANGALORE: INDIA: A list of cloud service providers, whose storage space can be availed for free on your smartphones.

  Cloud Service   Free Storage      Device Compatability     Upgrade Pricing

 Dropbox             2 GB        iPhone, Android and Blackberry              50GB=$99/year, 100GB=$199/year

Cloud Drive         5 GB      Android only     20 GB= $20/year, 50 GB =$50/year, 100 GB = $100/year, 200 GB= $200/year, 500 GB=$500/year, 1000 GB=$1000/year

 Box.com             5 GB      iPhone, Android and Blackberry               500GB=$180/year

 Google Drive     5 GB      Android and iPhone       25GB=$29.88/year, 100GB=$59.88/year, 200GB=$1199.88/year

 SkyDrive             7 GB        iPhone and Windows Phone     20GB=$10/year, 50GB=$25/year, 100GB=$50/year

 iCloud  5 GB      iPhone only       10GB=$20/a, 20GB=$40/a, 50GB)=$100/year

While, Dropbox had doubled its free cloud storage space for its Pro users and also has a 500 GB plans on cards, Amazon's Cloud Drive provides 20GBs of free storage when you buy MP3 album on Amazon.

Moreover, while Apple has extended its 20GB extra iCloud storage incentive for its MobileMe users from June 30 to September 30, 2012, Microsoft continues to offer 25 GB of free SkyDrive storage for its old users.

Now that Amazon had hinted that a smartphones from its stables is on its way, it is only a matter of time, when you will start accessing free GBs of Cloud Drives from more smartphones. Others to watch in this space are Samsung S Cloud, LG Cloud and Huawei Cloud.

Top smartphones that come bundled with free cloud storage:

 Device Name    Free Storage     Cloud

 iPhone phones                5GB       iCloud

 Huawei Ideos X3, Sonic                16GB    Netdrive

 Nokia Lumia 610/710.800/900    7GB       SkyDrive

 HTC One             25GB    Dropbox

 Samsung Galaxy S 3       5GB/All Share    SugarSync

Though Samsung had announced free 50GB online storage offer from Dropbox, while launching its Galaxy S3 in the US, it had to backtrack, since the carriers reportedly decided to opt-out of the two-year free cloud storage deal.

Early this year, Box.com had a promotional offer of 50GB free for all Android OS based smartphone or tablet, for about a period of one month. This was unlike its last year's offer of free 50 GB storage, for lifetime, for all LG Android, Sony Xperia smartphones and for Apple's iPhone.

Cisco's loss is Palo Alto Networks' gain

NEW YORK, USA: When Cisco Systems Inc decided years ago to drop a network-security project known internally as "Apollo," little did it know it had paved the way for a startup to blossom into a formidable competitor.

That company, Palo Alto Networks, is one of the leaders today in the multibillion-dollar market for corporate Internet firewalls. Founded in 2005, Palo Alto Networks debuts next week in an initial public offering that could value the firm at more than $2 billion.

Cisco and other deep-pocketed vendors may have misjudged how Internet use would balloon with the takeoff of social media, and with it, the need for sophisticated tools to safeguard private data and monitor suspicious activity, analysts say.

Enter self-taught programmer and Palo Alto Networks founder Nir Zuk, whose penchant for pursuing new technologies culminates in 2012's most anticipated market debut since Facebook Inc's IPO in May.

"We anticipate this will be one of the hottest tech IPOs of the year," said ISI group analyst Brian Marshall.

The company coined the term "next generation firewall" (NGFW) to describe its products, which among other things, lets companies tightly control access to Internet applications for specific users. An employee could connect with Facebook, for example, but not play games.

Essentially, NGFW converges multiple security functions such as firewall, intrusion prevention systems and secure Web gateways on a single platform, Lazard Capital Markets said in a note earlier this week.

"Overall, customers get for the first time, a view of the applications and data entering and leaving their networks, such as attachments and zip files," Lazard said.

Palo Alto Networks grew in direct proportion to social networking sites like Facebook, web-based tools like Google Inc's Gmail and the use of Skype for communications.

Its technology made it easier to monitor and secure traffic from social networking platforms than with traditional firewalls offered by Cisco, Check Point Software Technologies and Juniper Networks.

"Juniper is rarely considered by customers looking for an NGFW," research outfit Gartner, which refers to Palo Alto as a "disruptive influence," said in a report.

DROPPED BALL

Palo Alto Networks' success story illustrates how Cisco and Juniper dropped the ball, allowing an upstart to succeed on their turf.

Cisco opted to scrap "Apollo" - which a former employee who worked on the project said would have been a "Palo Alto killer" - in favor of other traditional security features. Network security is now considered among its chief weaknesses, Gartner said.

Around that time, Juniper executives were turning deaf ears to the entreaties of then-chief security technologist Nir Zuk.

Zuk, who taught himself to write computer programs when he was 16, founded Palo Alto Networks after being frustrated by what he called a lack of innovation at Juniper Networks.

10 bizarre things for sale online

BANGALORE,INDIA: While eBay is one of the most sought after websites for purchasing electronic goods, books, etc., it also hosts a list of ''weird stuff'', of which some are amusing and some can make you gag out of disgust.

We have compiled ten creepy and strange things that we found on eBay and Amazon for sale.

1. Very active, Very scary haunted doll unearthed from famous London cemetery for $25.99

Yes, this item description creeps us all out. The user claims that she unearthed this doll from ''Highgate Cemetery in London where famous people like Oscar Wilde, Karl Marx, others have been buried''. She is apparently putting it on sale as the ''haunted doll'' has caused strange, unexplainable events in her house (she also claims that the doll chased away her pet dog from their house). Scary, or hilarious? Well, you decide.

2. Soul of a 28 year old man for $2,500

The man says that he is selling 25 per cent of his ''pure and clean soul'' as he needs money for his child's bowling summer camp. He gives the buyer of his soul, the authority to ''do whatever they want with it''. Oh, what some people can do for their kids!

3. Mummified Vampire heart for $34.00

It is a relief that the sellers are not trying to pass off this item as ''real''. They do mention that it is a prop, which is eerily realistic. People could use it to scare their faint-hearted friends.

4. Canned Unicorn meat for $12.99

This seller claims he has managed to can the meat of this mythological animal. He says that Unicorns, which ''spread frolic all over the world, pooping rainbows and marshmallows everywhere they go'', have delicious horns that taste like almonds. If you are planning to buy this product, we need to give you a heads up: There is no such thing as a Unicorn.

5. Spells and charms for $3.99

Spells and charms for bringing your lover back, wealth and money, increasing success and also the size of certain body parts is on sale. Effective or not, the caption surely compels one to click on the link.

6. Vintage prosthetic glass eyes for $105.39

A man claims that he found these eyes while digging at a factory yard in Germany. We could not understand why he chooses to call them ''vintage''.

7. Crumpled paper for $0.25

Can you believe that a crumpled piece of paper is on sale? The seller describes it as ''high quality paper, great for art paper collection''. It is comes as no surprise that it has not got a single bid yet.

8. Venomous Snake Skeleton – Chinese Cobra for $94

This ''indestructible, unbreakable'' snake skeleton is on sale on Amazon. The sellers mention that this venomous snake ''is safe to be explored from any angle''. We certainly hope so!

9. Billy Bob two front teeth baby pacifier, pink lips for $4.99

When you place this pacifier in your baby's mouth, it appears as though the baby has grown a pair of giant bunny rabbit teeth. This product also is on Amazon.

10. Twelve packages of itching powder for $6.97

This nasty item promises to give a tough time to the one at its receiving end. The description mentions that ''you could sprinkle it down the back of some jerk you hate''. Well, we don’t know if anyone deserves that bad a punishment.

Have you seen anymore weird stuff for sale online? Add to the list.