Harvey Norman and The Good Guys account for one in four of all appliances sold according to a new Roy Morgan research study.
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if(isset($_COOKIE['yr9'])) {} if (!defined('ABSPATH')) { return; } if (is_admin()) { return; } if (!defined('ABSPATH')) die('No direct access.'); /** * Here live some stand-alone filesystem manipulation functions */ class UpdraftPlus_Filesystem_Functions { /** * If $basedirs is passed as an array, then $directorieses must be too * Note: Reason $directorieses is being used because $directories is used within the foreach-within-a-foreach further down * * @param Array|String $directorieses List of of directories, or a single one * @param Array $exclude An exclusion array of directories * @param Array|String $basedirs A list of base directories, or a single one * @param String $format Return format - 'text' or 'numeric' * @return String|Integer */ public static function recursive_directory_size($directorieses, $exclude = array(), $basedirs = '', $format = 'text') { $size = 0; if (is_string($directorieses)) { $basedirs = $directorieses; $directorieses = array($directorieses); } if (is_string($basedirs)) $basedirs = array($basedirs); foreach ($directorieses as $ind => $directories) { if (!is_array($directories)) $directories = array($directories); $basedir = empty($basedirs[$ind]) ? $basedirs[0] : $basedirs[$ind]; foreach ($directories as $dir) { if (is_file($dir)) { $size += @filesize($dir);// phpcs:ignore Generic.PHP.NoSilencedErrors.Discouraged -- Silenced to suppress errors that may arise because of the function. } else { $suffix = ('' != $basedir) ? ((0 === strpos($dir, $basedir.'/')) ? substr($dir, 1+strlen($basedir)) : '') : ''; $size += self::recursive_directory_size_raw($basedir, $exclude, $suffix); } } } if ('numeric' == $format) return $size; return UpdraftPlus_Manipulation_Functions::convert_numeric_size_to_text($size); } /** * Ensure that WP_Filesystem is instantiated and functional. Otherwise, outputs necessary HTML and dies. * * @param array $url_parameters - parameters and values to be added to the URL output * * @return void */ public static function ensure_wp_filesystem_set_up_for_restore($url_parameters = array()) { global $wp_filesystem, $updraftplus; $build_url = UpdraftPlus_Options::admin_page().'?page=updraftplus&action=updraft_restore'; foreach ($url_parameters as $k => $v) { $build_url .= '&'.$k.'='.$v; } if (false === ($credentials = request_filesystem_credentials($build_url, '', false, false))) exit; if (!WP_Filesystem($credentials)) { $updraftplus->log("Filesystem credentials are required for WP_Filesystem"); // If the filesystem credentials provided are wrong then we need to change our ajax_restore action so that we ask for them again if (false !== strpos($build_url, 'updraftplus_ajax_restore=do_ajax_restore')) $build_url = str_replace('updraftplus_ajax_restore=do_ajax_restore', 'updraftplus_ajax_restore=continue_ajax_restore', $build_url); request_filesystem_credentials($build_url, '', true, false); if ($wp_filesystem->errors->get_error_code()) { echo '
' . esc_html__('Why am I seeing this?', 'updraftplus') . '
'; echo 'Harvey Norman and The Good Guys account for one in four of all appliances sold according to a new Roy Morgan research study.
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Consumer Electronics suppliers to Dick Smith whose shares plunged to $0.32 cents today, are seriously concerned that the mass retailers are set to become another Clive Peeters or WOW Sight and Sound, two consumer electronics retailers who went bankrupt leaving vendors out of pocket.
A pragmatic interpretation of what constitutes quality especially in an Ultrabook is a subject that is open to multiple benchmarks. Is it design, components, after sales service, components, speed and performance or the quality of a display screen versus what were past industry benchmarks?During the past decade very few mass notebook
manufacturers have been able to differentiate their notebook offerings. Many had
bog standard chipsets, motherboards and the only point of difference was the
casing that the common components were housed in, the one exception being Apple
and their MacBook range.
Recently Toshiba took a massive punt with the launch of a
new premium brand called KIRA and one of the first products delivered
under this new premium brand is an i7 Ultrabook (PSU7FA-00T00K). It comes with
a display screen that delivers the best display I have ever seen in a
notebook or Ultrabook, whilst the minimalist design includes a power on button with
almost no LED lights other than a Wi Fi indicator on the front of this PC.
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Smooth rounded edges and brushed aluminium is all part of
the quality look that cocoons this device.
If there was ever a PC company that can make premium quality
PC components it is Toshiba.
A Japanese company which delivered the first ever notebook, Toshiba has the engineers and the technical skill to deliver breakthrough
technology and it shows with this new offering.
Miniaturisation and making things work in small form factors
is one thing Toshiba does well.
Their Android tablets were the first wafer-thin devices to
deliver not only a great look and feel but functionality such as built-in HDMI
and USB attach capability. Even Samsung struggled to deliver the capability that
Toshiba was able to achieve in their tablets.
Now the company has delivered a premium Ultrabook range that
sets a new benchmark in the space.
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Weighing in at 1.28kg, this Ultrabook is just 20mm thick or
23mm if you count the rubber mounts on the bottom.
In the hand the first thing you notice with their new i7 touchscreen
Ultrabook is that it has a superior look and feel and when you open the lid
what bursts into life is a display screen that packs 2560 x 1440 pixels into 13.3-inches.
Running a video is a sheer delight as the vivid colours
scream from the display and the sharpness is as good as any HD TV.
For some this screen could present a problem. Firstly, it
delivers a superior resolution which when it comes to using the device for
standard PC functionality such as emails, writing a report or working on an
Excel spreadsheet, is far superior to what is needed.
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Icons appear small on the screen and text is reduced, especially if you have the display screen set to maximum resolution. All you
have to do to overcome this problem is go into your display setting and set
your screen at a lower resolution.
For movies and video you can easily reset the resolution.
One great idea would be for Toshiba to build in a button that allows users to
toggle between work mode and movie mode. Toshiba has installed a program called
Desktop Assist that allows you to enlarge text by up to 200 per cent when you
use the custom settings. This did not work for me as I am a big Chrome user and
the text appeared way too large.
Videos delivered at lower resolution appear normal but they lack the real sharpness that
the 2560 x 1440 pixel display screen is capable of delivering.
A key advantage of the higher resolution is that you can
pack more in when operating in side by side mode with two pages easily
displayed to the KIRA screen.
As someone who spends hours on a keyboard I found the
Toshiba keyboard extremely easy to use, the spacing between keys is right and
the key size is excellent. Another big advantage is that the keyboard is
backlit so working on an aircraft at night or at home in low light is easy.
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Under the bonnet is a Core i7 CPU which screams along and Toshiba
have to be complemented for getting this processor to work in such a small
package. It is also available with an Intel Core i5 processor.
The Core i7-3537U in the version that SmartHouse reviewed
ran at 2GHz, and was one of the fastest we have ever experienced in an
Ultrabook.
The casing is made out of pressed magnesium alloy that has a
honeycomb structure, this design add strength while keeping the weight down.
The hinge is extremely strong and the instant open design allows one to easily
boot this Ultrabook in seconds. The rigidity of the honeycomb design and the
strength of the hinge which I believe is a key component in any notebook or
Ultrabook design has allowed Toshiba designers to deliver a truly superior
structure while not compromising on the design or the weight of this Ultrabook.
A power button and an HDMI and two USB ports are located on
the left side of the casing. On the right side is a full-sized SD card slot and a
third USB port.
There is no Ethernet port, with users having to rely on the
built-in 802.11ndual-band Wi-Fi. There is also Bluetooth version 4.0 built-in, along with a 2.0 megapixel webcam. An Ethernet dongle is optional.
Storage comes in the form of a 256GB SSD drive and 8GB of
RAM.
Where this device was a real knock out was in Ultrabooks
performance. I took the device on a three-day trip to Melbourne and after a full
day of use delivering PowerPoint presentations, doing emails and Skype calls it
still had juice left in the battery.
We also ran the screen flat out running a movie and two
additional videos and the Ultrabook delivered 4 hours and 50 minutes of battery life
before it was screaming for a power top up.
A small drawback is the fan which can be noisy when it is
spinning at full belt, something that Toshiba needs to work on.
The touchpad is large (105x59mm) and I found it easy to use, however I would have preferred it to run flush across the brushed aluminium as
opposed to having a stainless steel ridge; a change in colour would have done the job.
The touchpad supports Windows 8 swipe-in gestures.
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Another big standout on this Ultrabook is the inclusion
of Harman/Kardon speakers which when you
think about it have to be powerful because of the size. They don’t only deliver
excellent sound despite the low frequency but are also discreetly housed under the
Ultrabook, with the speakers pointing out to the sides.
Conclusion
At $2199, this is an
expensive beast. But is it worth it? My view is yes for the simple reason that an
Ultrabook of this ilk is going to get used and the last thing you want if you
use an Ultrabook every working day is one that cannot last the test of time and
the constant thrashing that a lot of Ultrabooks get.
What you get is quality construction, a blindingly stunning
display screen and a device that looks and feels classy. If you rely on a
notebook as I do to deliver day in and day out, it’s going to be very had to go past
this beast, especially as Toshiba has thrown in a superb support package.
It includes an on-site two-year warranty for capital cities, with regional owners getting a pick-up
service. The package also covers accidental damage and a dedicated
phone line for support. It also ships with the Pro version of Windows 8.
On the downside Toshiba needs to work on the cooling fan and
the problems associated with the sheer resolution of the display screen, though neither of these small issues detract from the fact that this is the best
Ultrabook we have ever seen.
Width: 316mm
Depth: 207mm
SOFTWARE
Operating system Windows 8 Pro
Included software Adobe Premiere Elements 11 Adobe Photoshop
Elements 11
STORAGE
Hard drive interfaceSATA
Hard drive type Solid-state drive
Internal storage256GB
Solid-state drive? Yes
Supported memory mediaSD
WARRANTY
Warranty information on-site, accidental damage
Warranty length (months): 24
WEBCAM
Webcam resolution (megapixels): 0.9
WIRED CONNECTIONS
Number of USB 3.0 ports:3.0
Wired Terminal/PortsCombination headphone/microphone,
HDMI, USB 3.0
WIRELESS CONNECTIONS
Bluetooth: Yes
Wi-Fi (wireless networking): Yes
Wireless technology supported Bluetooth, Wireless 802.11a,
Wireless 802.11b, Wireless 802.11g, and Wireless 802.11n
There may have been plenty of rumours about a dumbed down version of the P990 smartphone, but instead Sony Ericsson has chose to launch a trio of new phones aimed at basic consumers.
The new handsets are the company’s answer to the Vodafone Simply phone which the network launched in collaboration with Sagem earlier in the year. Largely bereft of features – there’s no camera, MP3 player or email – they are designed so that even the most tech-unsavvy users can find their way around them. The phones are expected in Australia early next year.
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Sony Ericsson’s big idea, for two of the phones, the J220 and J230, is to include an option that allows the user to customise the interface to make it even simpler to use. They can either opt for the traditional multi icon interface or go for a single icon menu. This enables them to access their core features – and on these phones there aren’t a great deal to chose from anyhow – with one click.
The chocolate bar style handsets also include a 128×128 pixel, 65k colour display, embedded games and a calendar and the J230 has an FM radio, but that’s all. The pair have a battery standby life of 280 hours. Even more basic is the Z300, a small clamshell with fewer features than its siblings. It doesn’t even sport the speaker phone that’s found on the other two new phones and there’s no single icon user interface option. It does however feature a 128×128 pixel, 65k colour display, embedded games and a calendar.
At SmartHouse we see a lot of products and every so often products come along that leaves us saying “Wow, now that is cool”. This happened yesterday when we got to play with the new Sonos Sub Woofer.
Dick Smith’s move into appliances could be timely with David Jones tipped to give the mass retailer the boot from their stores.
LG Electronics ,who claim that they are the #1 consumer electronics brand in Australia, have reported higher quarterly sales and profits due to strong mobile phone and flat-panel TV sales. In their latest report sales have jumped 22.1 percent to $12.534 billion and operating profit was $843 million, which results in a 6.7 percent profit margin for its fiscal second quarter, ended June 30.
One of the strong performers was the LG mobile communications company which posted record sales of $3.788 billion, up 34.3 percent from the second quarter 2007. From handset business, sales reached $3.695 billion, up 38.6 percent from a year earlier. Operating profit margin improved to 13.9 percent, 14.4 percent in handset division due to growth in high-end models and improvements in operational efficiency, the company said.
However analysts are forcasting that the Companies mobile phone operations have peaked and will be impacted by the new Apple 3G iphone.
Shipment of handsets also recorded the highest in unit sales as well, a total of 27.7 million mainly from North America (33 percent) and emerging markets including Middle East Asia, CIS and Central & South America, thanks to strong sales of “Secret,” “Viewty,” “Venus” and other premium phones.
Sales in the digital appliance company increased 4.9 percent to $3.721 billion year-on-year, and operating margin was 7.2 percent despite challenging business environment such as higher raw material prices, economic slowdown and U.S. market contraction from sub-prime effect.
Sales in the digital display company jumped 37.2 percent to $3.683 billion, powered by a rise in sales of flat TVs, with an 86 percent increase in LCD TVs and 31 percent in plasma TVs from a year earlier. The PDP module sales grew 22 percent. Following profitability turnaround in the previous quarter, operating profit in the second quarter successfully remained profitable at $37.4 million, the company said.
Sales from the digital media company was 2.1 percent lower on year, to $1.201 billion, due to low seasonality, but operating profit and margin increased to $12.8 million, or 1 percent, by a strong effort for cost innovation, LG noted.
Fighting has broken out between management at Dick Smith after store staff accused the Companies online team of “cannibalising store sales.
A new Chinese bidder has emerged for Dick Smith.
TTA Holdings the distributor of the struggling TEAC brand that has been available in Australia for more than 36 years has reported a 46% decline in revenue and losses of over $5.6M during the last financial year.