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  • Seagate Disrupts Cloud Economics with Storage That Can Cut Infrastructure Costs by 50%

    The internet cloud storage stage is set to change following the launch of a new platform. The product is the brainchild of Seagate, a firm situated in Cupertino, California. Among the benefits of the new platform include reduced infrastructural cost, improved scalability and performance. It also makes data management simple.
    Among the salient features of this platform is that it eliminates the need for data centers. Users do not have to procure large storage devices. Organizations are able to maximize on savings owing to the reduction in the amount of hardware required as well as power costs.

    Rocky Pimentel, an executive official from Seagate said that their teams designed a unique platform that would minimize expenditure on unnecessary software and hardware. He added that IT personnel would make use of a cost effective technology that would save their organizations a lot of money.

    Yahoo is one of the clients giving the new technology a trial. Yahoo’s Kevin Graham said the company was continuously searching for ways of becoming more efficient while simplifying its infrastructure. Graham added that Yahoo had been consulting Seagate on ways through which the Kinetic Open Storage platform can yield an efficient and reliable way of storing Yahoo’s user data.

    An interface intended to enable connection from client to hard drives owned by Seagate will soon be launched. Seagate has acknowledged the help it has received from other companies. These include SwiftStack, Supermicro, Newisys, Rackspace, Huawei, EVault, Basho Technologies and Dell among others.

    Seagate’s core business has all along been the provision of virtual storage space. The new ambitious project, Kinetic Open Storage platform may soon change the way data centers should be formulated. Laura Dubois an authority within the industry reckons that the new technology has the potential to bring changes in the way storage is done.

  • HTC-built smartphone To Be Launched by Amazon, Reports Say


    Reports indicate that HTC and Amazon are working on a range of android-powered smartphones. According to people familiar with the project, three devices are on the roadmap and are set to be released in 2014. For a long time, there have been rumors that Amazon is working on a smartphone to pair with its Kindle Fire range of tablets as it seeks to compete with offering from Apple and Google.

    HTC faces expulsion from the Open handset alliance if it has worked with Amazon to release a forked version of the android operating system from Google. The OHA is a consortium of mobile phone makers that aims at accelerating innovation in mobile services.

    As part of the OHA, HTC has free access to the android software from Google. It also has certification for its android devices to be pre loaded with access to Google play as well as Google’s android app suit that comes with Gmail, Chrome, search, Maps and Calendar.

    In 2012, Amazon forked android to produce software for its kindle fire tablets in order to access their own app store. The kindle fire range makes use of Microsoft’s Bing search engine, Nokia’s maps as well as its own silk browser.

    The threat for HTC being pulled out of the OHA could be double edged especially following its third quarter’s dip in loss. It is losing its market space to Samsung’s larger phone range and marketing spend, and has set its eyes on China where android is only used on a tiny percentage.

  • The Stunning Features of the new iPad Air from Apple


    The leaked videos, images and specs speculated for the past few months have finally proven true. The fifth generation iPad is now here and it resembles the iPad mini. However, Apple surprised many by giving the new gadget a new branding: the iPad Air.

    The Thinnest and Lightest Tablet

    Apple claims that the new tablet is the thinnest in the world. This is 20 percent thinner compared to its predecessor. The new tablet is also lighter and weighs only 1 pound compared to the previous version’s 1.4 pounds.

    A7 Chip

    The iPad Air’s A7 chip takes it to new peaks of speed and power. Games are even more responsive and apps run insanely fast. Everything you do with this gadget feels quicker. It also supports the OpenGL ES edition 3.0, which enables detailed visual effects and graphics once possible only among game consoles and desktop computers. The A7 chip has 64-bit architecture that opens a door for more powerful and robust apps hence more possibilities for the things you could do with the new iPad Air.

    M7 Coprocessor

    The M7 coprocessor is the main proof that iPad Air was created to be just on the move. The M7 coprocessor measures motion from the iPad Air by simply pulling data from the gyroscope, accelerometer, and compass.

    Thus, based on iPad Air’s movement, you can get a better experience from your apps. While A7 would typically shoulder this task, M7 does it more efficiently thus saving power.
    Awesome Battery Life

    Well, iPad Air remains powerful though not power-hungry. While it’s twice as fast and 20 percent thinner than the previous version, it still provides the same stunning battery life of 10 hours. This is because the A7 chip is not only more powerful but also more efficient.

    Ultrafast Wi-Fi

    Whether it’s your best app, movie, or book, iPad Air’s ultrafast wireless allows you to access what you love hence you can stay in touch and in sync. With the dual-band (2.4GHz & 5GHz), MIMO (multiple-input multiple-output) technology, and two antennas, the download speed can reach 300 Mbps. This is twice the previous version’s data rate.
    Pricing

    The cost of iPad Air will be $499 and above. The devices will be available starting November 1.

  • Top 5 Features of iPad mini with Retina Display


    The highly anticipated iPad mini’s second iteration was launched at Apple’s special event on Tuesday. Apple didn’t disappoint its customers and upgraded the renowned compact tablet. ipad mini with Retina display will be going for $399 and people will access it "sometime in November".

    Here are the top 5 feature of the newly released iPad mini:

    1. Advanced Retina Display

    Customers liked the iPad mini’s form factor and pricing but its low resolution display disappointed them. Apple has worked on the feedback and created a great 7.9-inch Retina display having a pixel density of 326ppi and a resolution of up to 2038×1536 pixels. This makes the new iPad mini a more appealing proposition.

    2. Dual-microphones

    The iPad mini with a Retina display has a different feature from the original version: two microphones, one being at the back and the other at the top edge. These two microphones function together in capturing better sound. They achieve this by suppressing any audio from a source, which the user doesn’t focus on. This helps to create high quality FaceTime Calls, enhances the capability of Siri’s voice recognition and makes video recording even better.

    3. New A7 Chip

    The latest iPad mini with a Retina display comes with a 64-bit, A7 chip that is also known to power the new iPhone 5s. This new chip provides 4 times faster CPU and a graphic performance, which is 8 times faster that of the previous version.
    The new gadget runs a 64-bit version of the iOS7, meant to function with the A7 chip. Besides, the A7 chip actually supports version 3.0 of OpenGLES to offer complex visual effects and detailed graphics.

    4. Quality Wi-Fi Reception

    The just released iPad mini has two antennas for supporting MIMO (multiple-input multiple-output), which makes the Wi-Fi to have a speed of up to 802.11n. The cellular model of the Wi-Fi has more LTE bands that offer support for more 4G LTE networks.

    5. M7 Coprocessor

    Similar to the iPhone 5s, this gadget sports the M7 motion coprocessor that helps to measure data from gyroscope, compass sensors, and accelerometer and then sends them to apps without affecting the A7 processor. This leads to an improved battery life. Moreover, it detects different kinds of motion.

  • VoIP-Catalog.com Announces the Top Four Business VoIP Providers

    The telecommunication industry has had its roof blown off due to the immense demand for VoIP telephone services. Being 80% cheaper than traditional office phone systems, it also has features that enable SMBs to operate like other large companies. This has seen a mass exodus from the traditional telephone service to the new and cost effective next generation technology. VoIP-Catalog.com has performed an in depth analysis of VoIP for business provider’s service plan, prices and customer reviews in order to assist customers to sort the good, the bad and the ugly in the industry.

    1. Nextivaed

    The Nextiva Office service is offered for $19.95/month per user depending on the number of users. It offers big business features such as toll free numbers, unlimited faxing as well as unlimited local and long distance calls. Other scalable features include 2-stage dialing, softphone integration, 15-way call conferencing and on-hold for VoIP conferencing.

    2. 8×8

    The Business for VoIP service from 8×8 will cost you $19.99/month. This includes features such as unlimited local and long distance calling, Video conferencing, voicemail to email transcription as well as sms texting and messaging.

    3. Mitel

    Mitel business VoIP service goes for $18.89/month. The service plans come with a preconfigured IP telephone. Mitel is adequate for a business that aims at taking a leap and does not want to risk in investing on any equipments.

    4. Avoxi
    Avoxi.com has an advanced and powerful cloud based private branch exchange service. The company focuses on providing digital clarity, scalability, mobility and reliability throughout the world. The company handles the task of maintenance as well as enhancing performance of the PBX equipment.

  • Flashy Debut for Private Cloud Storage Startup Coho Data

    Coho Data, a Calif.-based startup has emerged with a new software-defined storage platform that combines Intel PCIe flash cards, commodity hardware and Amazon EC2-inspired cloud technology. According to the company, the result is a cost effective storage architecture that beats all flash arrays.

    Coho Data CTO Andy Warfield indicated that the company has a deep familiarity with computing efficiency and scale as well as getting value from commodity hardware. This experience has led to the new Coho DataStream product line that consists of a storage stack anchored by Coho Data’s 1000 MicroArray DataStream.

    The Coho MicroArray operates under an 80/20 read/write workload and can reach up to 90,000 IOPS. This allows each 2U DataStream Chassis to provide 180,000 IOPS. Coho Data’s extensible Data Profiles provides multi-tenant, multi-protocol and applications direct access to the data stored on the platform.

    Coho Data CEO Ramana Jonnala said that the company has taken the best ideas from public cloud-based architectures by designing the storage stack. He added that the Coho Data’s DataStream platform leverages from sophisticated software to make use of flash for all the applications.

    Jonnala asserted that data should be on a storage architecture that meets the performance and scalability or today’s cloud generation company’s needs whether they are private or public. Before duplication ad compression, the pricing is set at $2.50 per GB for a 40 TB DataStream chassis. It is expected that Coho DataStream will be shipped latter this year.

  • World’s First Curved Screen Smartphone Unveiled by Samsung


    Samsung has released a variant of the Galaxy Note that is the world’s first smartphone with a curved display. Curved displays are poised to bring Samsung closer to achieving wearable devices with unbreakable and flexible screens.

    This comes in the frontline of Samsung’s innovations war with LG electronics and Apple. Samsung is seeking to expand its lead in the market for high end smartphones.

    The smartphone will have a 5.7-inch display and also has a horizontal curve. It has a comfortable grip as compared to other flat screen models and also weighs less than the Galaxy note 3.

    Key features on this smartphone include a tilt function which allows users to check various information including missed calls as well as battery life when the home screen is off. The users are also able to browse through various media files by pressing the right or left sides of the screen.

    Curved displays are opening up possibilities for the creation of bendable designs, which might revolutionize the high end smartphone market.

    Competition amongst Samsung and LG electronics is heating up with the announcement that LG is launching a smartphone with vertical curved display in early November. LG chem. Ltd, its component affiliate is poised to start production of a curved battery for the device.

    Technology analysts also indicate that Apple is planning to launch a smartphone with a curved screen.

    The new Samsung smartphone will be available in South Korea and a decision to release it on other markets is yet to be made.

  • Private Cloud for the Videogame Empire Built By Disney


    Cloud computing has significantly eased hosting and running of applications. Now developers can house their applications thanks to Joe Arnold, the chief technology officer at Engine Yard. Over the past decade, he has witnessed a shift towards building software that runs across numerous severs. He asserts that now developers are using completely different storage spaces.

    Engine Yard plunged into the cloud storage service through Amazon when it launched Simple Storage System, which is also known as S3. The S3 provides more speed and scalability through stripping away of traditional storage characteristics such as style of organization and hierarchical file folder. It is now a great and highly popular way of storing static content such as images and videos.

    Disney interactive is the latest addition to cloud computing. The web properties and video game division revealed that it had built a private cloud. This cloud is made through open source technologies such as swift. Disney is not making use of the entire OpenStack in its cloud. It is making use of CloudStack – an open source Amazon alternative.

  • Online Storage Firm Sets Its Sights beyond the Cloud


    Egnyte, an online storage company, has formulated plans to beef up its security as it seeks to position itself as a cloud player that can ease privacy anxieties attributed to the US government’s online surveillance program.

    The Mountain View Company, which prides itself from raising $33 million from venture capitalists such as Kleiner Perkins and Google ventures, is set to announce five additions to its advisory board on Wednesday. It is taping the tech executives from marketing giant Y&R, biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, security firm Sophos and elsewhere.

    Egnyte provides cloud storage as well as collaboration tools for businesses and competes with firms such as SugarSync,  and DropBox.

    Late last month, Egnyte announced a new product dubbed Storage Connect that will allow businesses to access data on different levels of sensitivity and in various physical locations through one user interface.

    The company is also set to unveil its prism prevention program on the same day that will allow businesses to detect when their employees make use of insecure file sharing programs that could enlist government monitoring.

    Vineet Jain, the chief executive officer of Egnyte has intimated that cloud is overhyped and many corporations will certainly relocate some of their data from behind the corporate firewalls into remote servers.

    Most companies deal with data dichotomy by setting up and managing different systems for different types of information through different vendors. However, Egnyte that was formed in 2007 has developed an on-premise storage service as well as a hybrid cloud.

  • Home or Small Office VOIP Intercom Service

    An intercom device for your home or small office has been built by two German companies. This system will give you an opportunity to talk to a visitor to your front door through your iPad, iPhone or android device.

    The device which has been dubbed “myintercom One,” kicks in whenever a visitor on your front door rings the bell. You will get an instant notification when the visitor pushes the button and you can then commence a video chat with him or her. This device also gives the user the ability to open the door. The user can chat with the visitor from anywhere, either at home, office or while driving.

    Through an app, the system provides you with the visitor’s history. This includes the last 20 incidents of people ringing your door bell, along with a picture, the date and time of the visit. The app runs on 4G, 3G, WLAN and can also be integrated with other automation subsystems in your home or office. 

    The device which has been produced in Germany comes in four colors and is enclosed in a water resistant metal box. It has a HDTV camera module, a ring button, speaker, microphone and an LED lighting circle.

    The data and switch signals are encrypted and support up to eight mobile devices in various languages including English, German, Spanish and French.  Users can also buy two wire modules as add-ons in order to transmit power and data via VOIP, add-on camera or a card reader.