Full Microsoft Office 2010 Pricing Schemes Revealed! [Office]

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The various flavors of Office 2010 are beyond mere mortal blogger comprehension, so here's the full press release. Choose your poison, and choose it wisely.

With Office 2010, the lineup of products has been improved to make it easier for people to choose a version that is best for them. Office 2010 will be offered in four versions:

* For qualified students and educators, Microsoft is introducing Office Professional Academic. Available through qualified retailers and campus bookstores, Office Professional Academic is priced at $99 and includes Word 2010, Excel 2010, PowerPoint 2010, OneNote 2010, Outlook 2010, Publisher 2010, Access 2010, and Office Web Apps.
* To meet the needs of families, Office Home and Student is offered for $149 (boxed), or $119 (Product Key Card), and includes Word 2010, Excel 2010, PowerPoint 2010, OneNote 2010, and Office Web Apps. This is available in a Family Pack, allowing use on three PCs in one house.
* For people running a small business or working from home, Office Home and Business is offered for $279 (boxed) or $199 (Product Key Card) and includes Word 2010, Excel 2010, PowerPoint 2010, OneNote 2010, Outlook 2010, and Office Web Apps.
* For more advanced needs, Office Professional is offered for $499 (boxed), or $349 (Product Key Card) and includes Word 2010, Excel 2010, PowerPoint 2010, OneNote 2010, Outlook 2010, Publisher 2010, Access 2010, premium technical support, and Office Web Apps.



Twitter/Facebook Integrating Internet Radio Tells Your Social Networks That You Buy Stupid Things [BadIdeas]

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Witness convergence in its dumbest form: the Pure internet radio that has Facebook and Twitter integrated right in. You know, for when the world needs to know that you're really fiscally irresponsible.

Do you know what else is an internet radio with the ability to post to Facebook and Twitter? Any computer with speakers. And what exactly would an internet radio tweet, anyways? That you're currently listening to the radio? Sounds like a pretty boring Twitter feed.

But hey, if you see something that I don't in these, Pures got a few different models for you to check out:

The new radios include the $349 Sensia with a digital tuner and internet radio and a color touchscreen. The device offers Facebook and Twitter connectivity. The Evoke Flow will sell for $229 and is a portable radio that can wirelessly connect the user to digital content. The Siesta Flow sells for $139 and is designed for bedside use with up to 365 alarm settings and a USB PowerPort for charging USB gear.

The Oasis Flow is a rugged radio that is weatherproof, durable and designed for people who like to listen to music outside. The Oasis Flow will sell for $249. The Sirocco 440 will retail for $449 and us a complete digital sound system. The device can play tracks from the iPod or iPhone, USB drives, SD cards, and CDs. Availability will be announced later this year.

[SlashGear]



Boxee Box Priced "Under $200" [Boxee]

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There isn't a whole lot we don't already know about the Boxee Box, the set-top box developed by D-Link and media center software company Boxee which stands to basically ruin the set-top box party for every other player. Except, that is, the price: Initial reports had it pegged at $200; now a needlessly cryptic press release puts it "under $200."

In other news! The Boxee Box is otherwise exactly was we know it to be, and it's still on track for a "H1 2010" release. Spec porn, albeit a bit rehashed:

Networking Pioneer and Popular Entertainment Software Create the Best Way to Get the Free Entertainment the Internet Has to Offer With No Monthly Fee
LAS VEGAS, NV—(Marketwire - January 5, 2010) - CES, Booth 36232, South Hall, LVCC — D-Link made lots of geeks and early adopters happy today by introducing the revolutionary Boxee Box by D-Link, winner of the CES Best of Innovations award in the Home Entertainment category.
The Boxee Box by D-Link reinterprets what TV should be. The Boxee Box delivers movies, TV shows, music, and photos from a user's computer, home network, and the Internet to their HDTV with no PC needed. Additionally, Boxee's core social features make it easy for friends to discover new content from each other through social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and more.
Internet Entertainment
Boxee is a popular PC, Mac, and Linux software program that lets users watch hundreds of thousands of popular TV shows and movies. Instead of sifting through millions of confusing Web sites, when users search on Boxee, TV shows and movies are delivered to them with the click of a remote control. Nearly a million Internet users around the world have already downloaded Boxee to enjoy their online entertainment.
The Boxee Box by D-Link takes the same popular software and offers it up as a great device — the perfect companion to a high definition TV. The Boxee Box by D-Link provides access to more than just traditional TV content. It includes a huge library that spans the Internet, such as university courses, panel discussions, academic lectures, presentations, web-only videos and more from TED, Stanford, FORA.tv, Kid Mango, Next New Networks and others. Boxee also makes it easy for users to add their own favorite entertainment sources with simple RSS or XML feeds available for most online video.
In addition to video content, Boxee users can access great music from sites like Pandora, last.fm, shoutcast, and We are Hunted as well as stunning photos from sites like flickr, Picasa and Facebook.
Personal Entertainment
For entertainment lovers who have built their own collections of digital media stored on their computer hard drive or home network, Boxee automatically identifies their content and downloads relevant cover art, synopses, reviews, subtitles, lyrics and more. This feature turns boring files and folders into beautiful media libraries that make it simple and appealing to navigate a collection of favorite movies, TV shows, and playlists with a simple remote. Furthermore, the Boxee Box by D-Link has extensive format support (see below) which ensures that when users hit the play button, they get instant gratification, with no need to download codecs or drivers. Also, with built-in 802.11n Wi-Fi support, it can transfer files without delay and from longer distances within a user's home.
Social Features
The Boxee Box by D-Link keeps people connected with social features to help users discover new content from friends, experts, and tastemakers. The first step to discovery is sharing, and Boxee makes this easy by letting people recommend any playing content to friends. Additionally, Boxee automatically uses recommendations from a user's Twitter and Facebook friends so they can find new content and instantly enjoy it on the big screen. Since anyone can build on top of Boxee's open App platform, users can craft their own truly custom experience by creating or downloading plug-ins, add-ons, games, and more.
"We are pleased to partner with Boxee and to be the first with such a ground-breaking device," said Nick Tidd, vice president of sales for D-Link Pan America and vice president of marketing for D-Link North America. "This powerful device with its unique form factor truly leverages Boxee's service and is the best way for consumers to quickly access the growing volume of Internet content, organize it and stream it to their TVs and home entertainment centers."
"D-Link's successful track record in bringing to market, award-winning digital home networking products, and its global marketing, distribution and channel sales capabilities made them a great fit for our first hardware vendor," stated Andrew Kippen, vice president of marketing for Boxee. "The Boxee Box by D-Link gives consumers what they want — an easy way to watch Internet or personal entertainment in their living rooms with a simple set-top box that costs under $200 and has no monthly fees."
The Boxee Box by D-Link is scheduled to ship in the first half of 2010 through the company's vast network of retail and e-tail outlets, and at D-Link's online store, http://www.dlinkshop.com.
Supported Codecs & Formats
Boxee can be used to play/view practically all common multimedia formats, including:
VIDEO:
Adobe Flash 10.1
H.264 (MKV, MOV)
VC-1
WMV
MPEG-1
MPEG-2
MPEG-4
AVI
Xvid
Divx
PCM/LPCM
VOB

AUDIO:
MP3
WMA
WAV
AIFF
FLAC
AAC
DTS
Dolby Digital
Ogg Vorbis

PHOTO:
JPEG
TIFF
BMP
PNG

[D-Link]



Black and White and Blue All Over | Cosmic Variance

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By now a lot of people have seen James Cameron’s Avatar, and a much larger number have formed an opinion about it. Anticipation had been building for months, as people were excited by the prospect that ultra-realistic computer animation would combine with dazzling 3D technology to produce a different kind of movie than anyone had ever seen.

It’s generally not a good sign when the buzz is about the technology behind a movie rather than the story within it, and in the case of Avatar the worries are justified. There’s no question that the moviemaking is truly impressive; not only is it a great technological achievement, but Cameron is an accomplished storyteller. The film is long but never ponderous, the set pieces are thrilling, and one’s heartstrings are tugged at all the right places. As a bonus, the acting is fantastic — Sigourney Weaver’s gruff scientist in particular is a great character.

Alas, in a world that one would like to see fleshed out in shades of gray, Cameron’s contrast knob is stuck resolutely at eleven. (Spoilers henceforth.) Humans have destroyed their own planet, and are now descending on Pandora to set about destroying that. The bad guys are represented by a craven businessman and a scarred ex-Marine. War and capitalism are bad! We get it.

But cartoonish villains don’t necessarily spell doom for a movie, especially one meant to be an elaborate thrill ride. I didn’t leave Raiders of the Lost Ark wishing that the Nazis had been more fleshed-out, and nobody gives thanks that the Star Wars prequels let us in on Darth Vader’s backstory. The problem arises when such banal evil is trotted out in service of A MESSAGE. And if there’s one thing Avatar has, it’s a message — a particularly trite one, which is deeply misguided, but a message nonetheless.

The Na’vi, Pandora’s native race, are presented very bluntly as traditional noble savages. They may be nine feet tall and blue, and find themselves trapped in a series of Yes album covers, but that just provides a convenient excuse to mix and match features of Native Americans and African tribes as the director sees fit. The Na’vi are portrayed as saintly tree-huggers who feel bad when jungle beasts are killed unnecessarily; at any moment you expected to hear “This animal is called the bufa’lo. We use every part of it.”

To drive things home, most of the humans are portrayed by white actors, while most of the actors behind the motion-captured Na’vi are people of color. And to drive things home even more (things worth driving home can never be driven too much, right?), the Na’vi have a literal connection with the natural world around them. Which might be a cool idea worth exploring, if it weren’t deployed as a gimmick to emphasize the pastoral purity of the pre-technological natives. (I can’t wait for Oscar night: “We would like to express our gratitude for all these Academy Awards for technical achievement given to our movie about how true virtue is to be found in wearing loincloths and chanting around trees.”)

avatar

And even that wouldn’t be so bad, if the noble savages weren’t portrayed as good-hearted but ineffectual. Eventually they manage to fight off the invading Earthlings, who despite mastering interstellar travel and consciousness-transferal are still stuck using machine guns and tiny rockets when hostilities break out. But they’re only able to do so because the kind-hearted white warrior rides to their rescue. Sam Worthington’s character, the protagonist with whom we are supposed to identify, spends three months as a Na’vi and turns out to be better at it than any of the primitive sods who were actually born that way. Only he is able to tame the legendary beast, bring far-flung tribes together to work for a common cause, and have the wit to appeal to the ecosystem-network for a bit of help.

It’s an old trope, fueled by liberal guilt. “Sure,” the elaborate narrative rationalization goes, “people like me have screwed over people like you for generations. But I’m pretty sure that, had I been around at the time, I would have been one of the shining exceptions who bravely turned against my compatriots to side with the honorable native folk. Who, frankly, could have used my help.” It’s the victors who tell the stories and make the movies.

How one reacts to Avatar depends strongly on how bothered one is by this kind of stereotypically condescending storyline. As a thrilling popcorn movie, it absolutely works; the detailed world Cameron created is breathtaking; and the technological feat is singularly impressive. But when these achievements are in the service of a message that is so ham-handed and ultimately off-putting, I find it hard to enjoy. If the storytelling had been handled with a little more self-awareness and toleration for ambiguity — by the folks at Pixar, for example — it might really have been an historically good movie.


Vizio XVT Pro 3D HDTVs Are Stacked for Cheaper: Local Dimming, 480Hz and Wireless HDMI [TVs]

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Vizio's flagship XVT Pro 3D HDTVs way undercut the top-o-the-line LED TVs from the other guys: 480Hz, wireless HDMI, Wi-Fi, local-dimming LED backlight and 3D. The 72 inch set goes for $3500, cheaper than the 46-inchers from Sony or Samsung.

The 55-incher set is $2500, and and the 47-inch TV is $2000. The main diff between them is that the 72-inch has more zones for local dimming—480 to 120 and 180 in the smaller sets—and the smaller sets have an anti-reflective coating. They're all out in August.

LAS VEGAS, NV (CES) and IRVINE, CA – January 05, 2010 — VIZIO, America's #1 LCD HDTV Company, has unveiled their new high-performance XVT Pro Series of 480Hz SPS™ 16x9 TruLED™ Full HD3D™HDTVs available in 72", 55" and 47" sizes, as well as a 58" Cinema Wide HDTV that displays content in 21 x 9 aspect ratio. The 480Hz SPS™ 16x9 TruLED™ Full HD3D™HDTVs incorporate the very latest in advanced HDTV technology with 480Hz SPS™, TruLED™ brilliant LEDs that pervade the entire screen, Smart Dimming™ circuitry controls hundreds of zones of LEDs per screen to the precise light level per picture frame. In addition, the set's Full HD3D™delivers stunning 3D images in FULL HD 1080p resolution, with other advanced features like VIZIO INTERNET APPS™ (VIA) built-in high definition wireless (802.11n dual-band) and wired networking, a Bluetooth universal remote control with sliding QWERTY keyboard, and Wireless HDMI which allows the TV to receive HD video and audio from sources without an HDMI cable.

"Our 2010 XVT Pro series offers a refreshing combination of the latest technology like 480Hz SPS™ TruLED™ coupled with must-have features like immersive FULL HD3D™ experience and VIZIO INTERNET APPS (with built in wireless networking) and wireless HDMI and Bluetooth capabilities. We at VIZIO are setting new standards for picture quality and user experience," said Laynie Newsome, VIZIO Co-Founder and VP Sales and Marketing Communications. "50% of consumers want a 3D home theater, according to Quixel Research, and our new XVT Pro Series brings the latest technology to consumers who want the absolute BEST in class."

Defining state of the art performance, these VIZIO 72", 55" and 47" Full HD3D™ TVs advance refresh rates to 480Hz SPS™ with VIZIO's Smooth Motion™ technology. Their TruLED™ brilliant LEDs pervade the entire display (Under 3" profile) and have Smart Dimming™ circuitry that controls hundreds of zones of LEDs per screen to the precise light level per picture frame in 480, 120 and 160 zones, respectively. The XVT Pro series offers an incredible 10 million to 1 Mega Dynamic Contrast Ratio™ for extraordinary picture quality that delivers incredible color, and even brighter whites and deeper blacks than ever before while displaying 1.7 Billion Colors using a 10-Bit data input panel.

For environments with bright ambient lighting, the 55" and 47" models feature a unique anti-reflective panel that produces better contrast with rich and deep blacks even in brightly lit rooms.

FULL HD3D™
Utilizing SENSIO® 3D technology to deliver 3D content over conventional 2D infrastructure, the new VIZIO XVT Pro Full HD3D TVs display stunning 3D content that the user can view with XpanD active-shutter glasses (sold separately). Unlike other 3D TVs that use passive stereoscopic imaging, VIZIO's Full HD3D TVs can display full 1080p video to each eye by rapidly alternating between the left-eye and right-eye images within the same visual space. The special active-shutter glasses, which communicate with the television over Bluetooth, then transform each lens from opaque to transparent in perfect synchronization with the images displayed on the TV, which allows for delivery of the full frame rate capable by the television for the ultimate 3D HDTV viewing experience.

These sets can produce 3D images from SENSIO encoded material on conventional DVD and Blu-ray players, as well as from future distribution channels such as pay per view, video on demand, DTV and HDTV broadcasts.

"We are pleased to be working closely with VIZIO and be a part of the creation of a substantial install-base of consumers ready to watch 3D movies, live concerts, and sporting events from the comfort of their home," states Nicholas Routhier, President and Chief Executive Officer of SENSIO Technologies.

"We are excited to partner with VIZIO as catalysts in the 3D revolution for the home," said Maria Costeira, CEO of XpanD. "The combination of XpanD Cinema active-shutter glasses and Vizio displays will provide an immersive, dynamic and cost-effective solution for VIZIO XVT Pro owners."

Wireless HDMI
Eliminating the need for an HDMI cable from source components to the display, the 72", 55" and 47" XVT Pro Series have an integrated Wireless HDMI receiver built-in, using SiBEAM's robust 60 GHz technology to receive HD content from high definition sources such as Blu-ray players or set-top boxes with full HD 1080p resolution when paired with a separately available VIZIO XVT Pro Wireless HDMI Adapter. The XVT Pro Adapter supports up to 4 HDMI sources and operates at 60GHz to avoid interference with other wireless devices in the home like cordless telephones and wireless networks that operate at 2.4 and 5 GHz.

SRS StudioSound HD
VIZIO XVT Pro TVs will feature SRS StudioSound HD - the ultimate all-in-one audio suite designed specifically for Flat Panel TVs. Years of excellence in audio, practical experience and patented technologies allow StudioSound HD to deliver the most immersive and natural surround sound ever using built-in TV speakers. The suite also delivers remarkably crisp and clear dialog, rich bass, an elevated sound stage and consistent, spike-free volume levels. StudioSound HD features optimized audio presets for movies, news, sports and music while also providing a built-in EQ toolset for peak audio performance.

VIZIO INTERNET APPS™ (VIA)
All of the XVT Pro sets feature the VIZIO INTERNET APPS™ (VIA) Connected HDTV platform, delivering unprecedented choice and control of web-based content directly to the television without the need of a PC or set-top box. Able to connect to the Internet using the built-in high definition wireless (802.11n dual-band) or a wired connection, accessing on demand movies, TV episodes, music and other online content is easy, using the included Bluetooth universal remote control with sliding QWERTY keyboard that makes thumb-typing easy.

[Vizio]



NASA and the Summer of Innovation – Update

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Keith's 5 Jan Update: According to non-NASA sources there will be some sort of announcement by the President tomorrow regarding education. It is expected that the "Summer of Innovation", among a number of other education-oriented projects, will be announced as part of this event.

Once again, this project offers NASA an opportunity to reach a much broader audience than would normally be the case - with the full support of the White House. It would seem that this White House sees that there is more to NASA's value than just launching rockets.

Keith's 30 Dec note: President Obama will soon unveil a large, interesting educational event targeted for the summer of 2010. Titled "Summer of Innovation" this project is aimed at reaching 1 million students and working to raise their STEM skills through a variety of activities. The lead person at NASA on this effort is White House Fellow Nicole Campbell.

The cost of this project is still uncertain - numbers as high as $200 million were discussed internally at one point. Much of the work would apparently be channeled through/paid for by Americorps. The latest version of this project would entail NASA taking much of the lead along with the Department of Education. Each NASA center would be asked to dedicate one person to this activity. The most recent version of the plan would limit this activity to only 5 states. As to how the 5 states will be selected - that remains uncertain.

These uncertainties aside, it will be interesting to see how prominence for NASA in such a high visibilty event will affect the public's preception of NASA's value to the public. One would hope and expect that it would be overwhelmingly positive. Stay tuned.

Remarks for AIAA/WIA Luncheon with NASA Administrator Bolden December 9, 2009

"NASA is fortunate to have an outstanding White House Fellow assigned to our agency this year, Ms. Nicole Campbell. Nicole is spearheading some new exciting endeavors designed to enhance our current education outreach activities and focus our resources in order to get the maximum benefit for each dollar we spend. One such program is what we are calling the "Summer of Innovation." We are still in the planning stages so I won't go into a lot of detail here today, but you will be hearing more about this toward the end of the year."

2009 Highlights: NASA Finds Water on Moon, Launches Planet Search, NASA ARC

"New initiatives in 2010 will set the stage for a robust year in education and outreach. "Educate to Innovate," a federal challenge to improve education and NASA's Summer of Innovation aspire to reach one million students through enrichment programs to keep kids on track and inspire our next generation of explorers."

Keith's 30 Dec note: NASA ARC suddenly deleted this portion of their previously-issued press release after this link's appeared on NASA Watch. "Transparency"? "Openness"?

Cooling Tower Efficiency

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I have to install a small cooling tower for an extrusion process, but the industrial facility has an arch roof covering the wole area. How can the efficiency of the tower affected if installing it behind the roof instead on an open area?

I Want to Lazily Do Naughty Things on the Glowing Belly Love Sofa [Design]

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[Voice="Barry White"] When I first saw you, girl, I knew I had to make you mine. Now, I'm in the mood, baby. In the mood for...the Belly Love...Belly Love...oh yeah...I want to hold you...on that gloooowing light.

You know... the Belly Love... No, really, you know the one I mean, don't you? Yeah, the sofa with the puffy glowing moving tentacles that release a fragrance while caressing your body which I heard is inspired by a soft coral found in the Indian Ocean that you probably saw when you were drooling one day after dinner watching old Costeau re-runs on your old sofa? Yes, your old sofa. This is... the new sofa, for, you know, doing it.

And now, let's put the stereo in love mode, sweet woman of mine. I feel the love right here, glowing in my heart... and in my pants... while I get with you... in the Belly Love.



Small Submersible Load Cell

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Hello,

I need of a small, submersible load cell, that can be used in tension (threaded on one end, and can be bolted to a surface on another) that only has a capacity of 2lbs. I also need something with the amplifier built in or one that I can purchase with the load cell so that I do not ha

Hardly Anyone Really Believes in Free Speech

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A radical Islamic group planning a protest march through the streets of a town that has achieved iconic status in Britain for honoring the passing hearses of British soldiers killed in Afghanistan ran into a stiff rebuff from the British government on Monday.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown issued a statement saying he was “personally appalled” by the group’s plan to march through the streets of Wootton Bassett, 70 miles west of London, where townspeople have lined the sidewalks since April 2007 to mourn the passing cortèges of British military casualties flown home to the nearby military airbase at Lyneham. ...

Home Secretary Alan Johnson, who is responsible for the police, said in a separate statement that he would support any request from the police or local government officials to ban the march.

The point that the opponents of the march fail to get is that suppressing the march will polarize and alienate Muslims even more.

Sony’s BDPorter Is a Portable Blu-ray Projection Machine [Sony]

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Looking for a portable projector with a built-in Blu-ray player? Who isn't? Well, Sony's new BDPorter is just that.

This rollable cabinet comes stocked with a Blu-ray player, a WXGA projector, surround sound headphones, speakers and a 60-inch screen. It's aimed mostly for corporate use as a presentations machine that can be carted around to different places, but I suppose you could import one from Japan for your house if you really wanted to. It's $7,700, however, so I'm going to go ahead and suggest you don't. [CrunchGear]



The SmartStor Zero NS2600 Is an NAS My Mom Could Use [Nas]

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We loved the Promise SmartStor NS4600 when we reviewed it over the summer. Now the Promise SmartStor Zero NS2600 has streamlined the process of connecting multiple devices even further, and made it a lot more affordable to do so.

Like the NS4600, Promise's new NAS supports DLNA standards that make it easier to share content across DLNA devices. It also implements a software management tool, called ON, that Promise says will automatically map and open network share without your having to endure the rigmarole of setting up users and permissions.

The SmartStor Zero also fixes the one major gripe we had with the NS4600, which is that it doesn't ship with drives despite the $499 price tag. SmartStor Zero starts at $270, but can also come with either one 1TB drive for $299 or two drives for $399. It will be available this quarter.

PROMISE Technology Raises the Bar for Consumer Storage with Introduction of Affordable No Muss, No Fuss SmartStor ZERO Storage at CES

DLNA-Certified SmartStor ZERO Gives Non-Techie Consumers ZERO Configuration, ZERO Frustration, ZERO Hassle in Breakthrough Network Storage Device for the Digital Home

MILPITAS, Calif. – January 5, 2010 – PROMISE Technology Inc., a leading supplier of versatile RAID storage solutions catering to customers from enterprise to consumer, is introducing worldwide its SmartStor™ ZERO NS2600 network storage device for the digital home today at the Computer Electronics Show (CES), South 4 Hall, booth # 36804 and in the DLNA Pavilion. SmartStor ZERO is one of the first network attached storage and digital media servers with support for Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) UPLOAD, allowing content – including content from mobile devices — to be uploaded to SmartStor ZERO without fuss or muss. PROMISE is also releasing DLNA Digital Media Controller (DMC) software for Windows Mobile, Android and iPhone to facilitate content upload, download, control point, digital media player and digital media server functionality in addition to offering Facebook Upload functionality, for pictures and seamless remote access for hassle-free setup and access to digital content from anywhere in the world.

The introduction of the SmartStor ZERO is an example of how PROMISE is redefining and raising the technology bar within the storage landscape," said Chi Chen Wu, CTO, PROMISE Technology. "Today's consumer does not want to be concerned with complicated setup procedures, media compatibility or dealing with the process of accessibility. The consumer wants a one, two, three approach to store, share and play music, movies and photos without the hassle of integration."

Easy to install and even easier to use, PROMISE is leading the charge to give consumers a foolproof and efficient and affordable way to take advantage of DLNA standards in order to share content with a variety of entertainment devices such as the Xbox 360, PS3, Samsung DLNA TV, Sony DLNA TV or Windows 7 PC. Utilizing a revolutionary software management tool called "ON" for both Windows and Macintosh operating systems, the SmartStor ZERO frees consumers from dealing with complicated setups or decisions that lead to frustration, confusion and product returns.

"Today consumers are put off by the configuration and management of traditional NAS devices," said Billy Harrison, product manager, CE products for NAS and DAS, PROMISE Technology. "Consumers want plug and store instant access. The process of creating users, managing permissions, managing shares and enabling/disabling services is a thing of the past. With SmartStor ZERO, we're solving the consumer's most basic problem by delivering to market a DLNA NAS-simple device anyone can use."

About SmartStor ZERO

SmartStor ZERO is a zero configuration 2-bay network attached storage and digital media server for the home and SOHO. SmartStor ZERO includes 1 or 2 hard drives and requires no lengthy or complicated setup process. Unpack, power-on, install the ON software and the rest is completely automatic. ON will map and open network share, allowing instant access for data backup and DLNA media sharing via digital media players. SmartStor ZERO functions as an iTunes Media Server, allowing music and video to be streamed using iTunes.

Making it a cinch to upload and download digital content to and from mobile devices, the SmartStor ZERO lets consumers take advantage of Album Art, thumbnails for image and video and other recently introduced Windows and Macintosh operating system features for the digital home. Additionally, the installation does not install any device drivers or virtual components into the operating system. SmartStor ZERO supports Windows® XP, Vista, Windows® 7, Mac OS X 10.5.2 and higher operating systems with one-touch configuration.

Accessing your digital content on the go has never been simpler. Setting up SmartStor ZERO for remote access from mobile devices and computers has never been easier. The embedded setup wizard will guide consumers through the setup process and auto-configure the router, allowing for seamless access to important data from anywhere on the planet.

SmartStor ZERO's Facebook integration makes managing and "uploading" pictures to Facebook a complete snap. Any picture stored on the SmartStor ZERO can be uploaded directly to Facebook within seconds. The Facebook Upload feature has been integrated into Promise's Web File Manager and is "easy" to locate, unlike existing products with similar features.

Using your home entertainment system has never been simpler

Today many homes and offices have wired coaxial, Ethernet or Wi-Fi networks. But by themselves, these networks don't facilitate the easy sharing of content between connected devices. The DLNA protocol enables consumers to locate, move and stream content between connected devices. The PROMISE SmartStor ZERO helps the consumer eliminate complicated setups when trying to connect multiple devices, enabling hassle-free connectivity and easy-to-use device management that will greatly enhance the consumer's entertainment experience. With SmartStor ZERO, consumers can revolutionize the way they find, send, store, get, play and print digital content. For example:

• Upload digital content from a mobile device to SmartStor ZERO;

• Download digital content from SmartStor ZERO to a mobile device;

• Display music Album Art in content lists using Windows 7 operating system;

• Display thumbnails for images and video using DLNA 1.5 digital media players and Windows 7 PCs;

• Utilize MU3 playlists and create DLNA playlists via NS4600 Media Center interface;

• Create playlists for playback in iTunes;

• View video streaming including protected content purchased from iTunes Store (Movies, TV shows and digital copies included with DVD & Blu-Ray) on Mac OS X.

With up to 4TB of storage, the SmartStor ZERO delivers an easy-to-use zero configuration, instantly accessible network attached storage and digital media server for data backup and media sharing in the digital home. Complemented by DLNA UPLOAD via Promise's upcoming Digital Media Controller software for mobile devices, consumers can easily transfer user-generated content directly to the SmartStor ZERO in a matter of seconds for instant viewing using DLNA TVs, PS3, Xbox 360 and Windows 7 PCs.

Pricing and Availability

Prices for the SmartStor ZERO NS2600 start at $279.00. Units will be available at major retail outlets in Q1, 2010.

Service

The offering is backed by PROMISE's two-year limited warranty.



Sanus’ ELM410 HDMI Cables Give You 180 Degrees of Freedom [Cables]

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Now this makes sense—an HDMI cable with a connector that can be positioned within a 180 degree radius. That will be a big space saver if you are trying to run cords in tight spaces.

Of course, the cables would have been more effective if both ends pivoted. For the life of me I can't understand why they chose to leave one end straight. At any rate, the Sanus cables will support HDMI 1.3b, 1080p and up to 16-bit color. They will also be available in 5 and 10-foot lengths. Pricing and availability information has not been released, but they should be available at major retailers like Best Buy in the near future. [Sanus via Slashgear]



The terrible beauty of chaotic starbirth | Bad Astronomy

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Orbiting our Milky Way galaxy like two bickering siblings are the Magellanic Clouds, galaxies in their own right, though far smaller than ours. The smaller of the two — named, shockingly, the Small Magellanic Cloud — is also the farther of the two, about 200,000 light years to the Larger cloud’s 180,000 or so. The SMC is loaded with gas and dust, and is actively churning out stars.

The Spitzer Space Telescope, which observes infrared light from astronomical sources, took this incredibly beautiful image of the SMC:

[Click to embiggen, including getting access to a huge 7800 x 7000 40Mb version.]

Remember, this is not a visible light image! In the picture, blue represents light at a wavelength of 3.6 microns, about 5 times longer than what the human eye can see. Green is 8 microns, and red 24. So what you see here as blue is really what we would think of as red stars if we saw them with our eyes. Green shows light from big organic molecules called PAHs, for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Red is light from stars deeply embedded in dust, and is where stars are busily being born.

All together, this image shows starbirth on a vast scale, thousands of light years across. And this may be a new phenomenon for the SMC: measurements of the elements in the stars there show that they have far fewer heavy elements (like oxygen, iron, and so on) than stars in the Milky Way, as little as 1/5th as abundant. Since these elements are created inside of stars over time, this indicates that stars in the SMC are on the whole younger than in the Milky Way.

Even though the two Clouds are the closest galaxies we can see — and you can spot them easily with the unaided eye in the southern hemisphere — there’s still a lot we don’t know about them. In fact, we’re not even sure if they are orbiting the Milky Way, or just passing by! Even over decades, measuring their actual motion across the sky is very difficult; their mind-numbing distance of quintillions of kilometers away shrinks any real motion into apparently microscopic amounts. It may be quite some time before this question is finally resolved.

Another image from Spitzer also shows a tail of gas streaming away from the SMC, material ripped out of the body of the galaxy itself by the gravity of the Milky Way. It’s possible that interactions with the Milky Way and the other Magellanic Cloud are what triggered the star formation in the SMC, too.

It’s rather convenient to have such a nice laboratory for dwarf galaxies and starbirth so close to us. That makes it easier to study, giving us access to really high resolution images like this one. And the bonus? They’re pretty, too.


Kepler Telescope Spies First Its 5 Exoplanets, Including “Styrofoam” World | 80beats

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KeplerNASA’s new eye in the sky has spotted the first handful of what it hopes will be a flood of new exoplanets. The Kepler telescope, launched last year with the express purpose of planet-hunting, has found its first five new worlds, with the results forthcoming in the journal Science this week. Just don’t get any ideas about living on any of them.

“One of the planets is amazingly light – like Styrofoam,” said William J. Borucki, the astronomer from NASA’s Ames Research Center…. “And all five simply glow,” he said, “they’re like looking into a blast furnace – but that’s simply no place to look for life” [San Francisco Chronicle]. The scalding-hot planets measure in excess of 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit, hotter than molten lava. These planets all orbit their stars in a hurry, taking between three and five days to make a circuit. Ground measurements confirmed Kepler’s findings.

Four of the five exoplanets—including Styrofoam world—are mysteriously light; they’re far less dense than Jupiter despite being 40 percent larger, as you can see in the chart. “This is accumulating evidence that low density is a common feature” among exoplanets, says planetary physicist David Stevenson of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, who was not involved in the research. The problem is that no one has come up with a mechanism that could puff up an exoplanet that way [ScienceNOW Daily News].

Kepler’s first foray found more than just new planets. It also measured the light from 43,000 stars like our sun in its field of view and found two-thirds of them to be about as stable as the sun. That seemingly obscure observation suggests that the majority of stars potentially are as hospitable to life as Earth’s sun, assuming there was an Earth-like planet orbiting at the right distance from the star [Christian Science Monitor].

Related Content:
80beats: New Super-Earth: Hot, Watery, and Nearby
80beats: Meet the New Neighbors: Earth-Like Worlds Orbiting Nearby Stars
80beats: Don’t Pack Your Bags Yet—New Planet-Finder Hobbled By Electronic Glitch
80beats: Kepler Sends Postcards Home: It’s Beautiful Out Here
DISCOVER: How Long Until We Find a Second Earth?
Bad Astronomy: Kepler Works!

Image: NASA


VIA Epia-P820 Pico-ITX Board Is Perfect Base for Minuscule 64-Bit Home Theater Center [Ces 2010]

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I want to spend two weeks working with the new fan-less, VIA EPIA-P820 pico-ITX board—with full 64-bit support—and matching VIA Amos-3001 chassis to create a full HD home theater in my car. Thankfully, I don't have a car.

But it's a perfect base for a custom home theater in any case. The board has a 1.2GHz U2500 VIA Nano processor with 2GB of DDR2 system memory, a VIA VX855 Media System Processor—which can decode any 1080p codec you can throw at it—and a VIA Chrome9™ HCM 3D integrated graphics core with full DirectX 9.0 support.

The best thing is that this 10 x 7.2-centimeter board fits perfectly in the aluminum VIA Amos-3001 chassis, alongside a I/O daughter board with HDMI, VGA, Gigabit LAN and two USB 2.0 ports. The whole packaged is capable of outputting DTS audio through S/PDIF, and connect to an additional four USB ports, IDE, and Serial ATA.



Best Buy’s Mac Optimization Makes Its Normal Optimizations Seem Downright Reasonable [Scams]

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Yesterday, I told you about a new Consumerist investigation into the huge ripoffy nature of Best Buy's computer optimizations. But hoo boy, $40 to enter a username into a new Mac? That's tough to justify.

Just what do you get when you give the Geek Squad $40 to optimize your new MacBook Pro?

As even a computer novice might expect, "Mac optimization" is useless. One supposed benefit is putting the user's name on the computer, according to Best Buy representatives I spoke to. Presumably, anyone who is buying a computer knows how to type in his or her own name, or follow the prompts to do it. Another supposed benefit: checking the Mac's network connection. This has no value because it is done in the store, while the buyer will use the Mac with a different network at home. Yet a third step involves loading the Geek Squad's own proprietary software on the computer to scan drives-drives that have never been used and so don't need to be scanned for trouble. An anti-virus program is also part of the mix, which is an insult to the virus resistance of Macs. "There's nothing of that sort that any brand-new PC needs, and Macs less so," Gottheil said. "Apple requires far less configuration." Best Buy's hard sell on "optimization" is like peddling mythic unicorns based on the value of their horsepower.

If there's a more transparent retail scam aimed at vacuuming money out of the wallets of old and naive people, I've never heard of it. This is downright shameful. [The Big Money]



“The Space Entrepreneur” Named by Aviation Week Magazine As Its 2009 Person of the Year

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Popular Science January 2010

Commercial spaceflight is featured in this week’s cover story of Aviation Week and Space Technology, which has selected “The Space Entrepreneur” as its 2009 Person of the Year.

“Space entrepreneurs had a big influence on aerospace in 2009,” write Aviation Week editors Frank Morring and Guy Norris, “although it does not begin to compare with the impact they are likely to have in years to come.”

“After receiving more than $1 billion in private capital, NASA has recently awarded space entrepreneurs with multi-billion dollar contracts for transporting cargo to the International Space Station, and may rely on them to transport astronauts once the space shuttle fleet is retired,” Aviation Week noted in a press release accompanying the cover story.

“We’re at the beginning of a new era in access to space… an era of commercial human spaceflight,” added former astronaut Tom Henricks, president of Aviation Week, in the press release. “It’s exciting that entrepreneurs are pursuing opportunities in space. Only about five hundred people have been to space in the past half century. AVIATION WEEK is proud to recognize these innovative individuals for their enormous contributions to making space accessible to many more in the near future.”

The Aviation Week cover image features Masten Space Systems’ CEO, Dave Masten, whose company recently won $1.15 million in the NASA Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander X PRIZE Challenge for successful flights of its vertical-takeoff vertical-landing vehicles.

(The cover story and accompanying press release are available online from Aviation Week.)

Image credit: Aviation Week and Space Technology