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New Portable HD Projector From Sharp

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Sharp has launched a new projector that comes with a carry handle, making it suitable for mobile use says the company.


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The Sharp PDG3750W promises superb image and colour nuances with its BrilliantColour technology, has a brightness of 3700 ANSI lumens and a 2200:1 contrast ratio. It features a Wide-XGA (1280 x 800) image with 1080p capability.

The projector includes an HDMI terminal, two RGB component inputs, S-video, composite video and stereo audio, an RS-232C port and a USB input for mouse control. There is also an RJ-45 LAN connection for remote control and web browser access for diagnostics and automatic e-mail of product status.
 
An built-in high power output stereo speakers (5W per channel) are sufficient for use without the need for a peripheral audio system. Low maintenance filter-free design with sealed DLP optical system further contributes to low total cost of ownership.
 
Other useful features include system lock, key lock function as well as presentation assist functions by remote control (page up/down, pointer, spotlight and mouse control).
 
The Sharp PG-D3750W projector is available now for $3,299.

BenQ Announces World’s Slimmest LED Monitors

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BenQ has launched two new LED monitors that claim to be the slimmest in the world.


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According to BenQ, the V2420H and V2420HP are the world’s slimmest LED monitors. These new monitors use LED backlighting that consume around 44 percent less power and up to 71 percent less whilst used in BenQ’s exclusive ‘Eco’ mode compared to CCFL monitors. The shell of the new V Series monitors is produced from 28 percent recycled plastic, giving the product a distinct environmental edge.

In addition, the new monitors offer full 1080p High-Definition (HD) at 16:9 aspect ratio, with images being enhanced with BenQ’s Senseye Human Visual Technology.

BenQ Australia’s General Manager, Chee Chung said, “The new V2410 provides an amazing 5,000,000:1 ultra-high contrast ratio, while the new ultra-slim 15mm thick V2420 Series provides an amazing 10,000,000:1 ultra-high dynamic contrast ratio.  This equates to picture quality that is brighter and more balanced, but most impressively, they cost significantly less to run than their predecessors.”

“LED technology is the revolutionary way forward for display monitors and televisions offering a reduction in power consumption, more balanced display properties, a longer lifespan and lighter weight,” added Chung.

The company is also set to launch the V2410T, a monitor that is height adjustable for added versatility and comfort.  

The BenQ V2420H, V2420HP, and V2410T are available now for $479.00, $479 (glare panel), and $549, respectively.

Netgear Unveils New Powerline Adapters

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Netgear has launched new powerline kits that provide data transfer speeds of up to 500Mbps on a user’s electrical outlets.


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The Netgear Powerline AV 500 Adapter Kit (XAVB5001) is smaller than a deck of cards and up to 50 percent smaller than competing products, while the Powerline AV+ 500 Adapter Kit (XAVB5501) offers a cutting-edge integrated filtered power socket for “pass-through” capability. This will enable customers to connect a wide range of power-hungry and electrically noisy devices while still maintaining the highest performance. Both powerlines promise speeds of up to 500 Mbps, whole-home coverage and good performance.

Netgear’s Managing Director for Australia and New Zealand, Ryan Parker said, “Netgear continues to drive its leadership in the Powerline networking space in a global capacity through providing innovative, high performance products. The Australian market has been slow to adopt Powerline technology for in home distribution of network access, the Internet and personal media.”

“However with the advent of Home Plug AV (200MB) and now the Powerline AV+ range, we are excited by the enthusiasm from our channel partners to take on the challenge of educating the Australian and NZ consumers on the benefits of using Powerline to internet connect every room in the home for hi def media streaming,” added Parker.

 

The adapters incorporate the latest in technology innovations and are designed to be compatible with the draft international IEEE P1901 powerline standard. Thus, these solutions provide greater speeds for bandwidth-hungry applications such as lag-free Internet gaming, Voice over IP (VoIP), large file transfers to networked devices, and even simultaneous 1080p HD video streaming to multiple TVs throughout the home.

Features of the new Powerline include:

  • 500 Mbps PHY rates and Gigabit link rates
  • Backwards compatibility with other HomePlug AV products from NETGEAR, as well as other installed HomePlug AV-certified products from other vendors.
  • Designed for compatibility with the draft IEEE P1901 global standard for high-speed powerline communications.
  • Ideal for use with Internet-connected devices that demand high bandwidth, such as the NETGEAR Digital Entertainer Express (EVA9100), Elite (EVA9150) and Live (EVA2000) digital media players, Blu-ray players, TiVo, AppleTV, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, DVRs and network-enabled TVs.

Local pricing will be announced at a later date.

Maxtor Armoured Drive For Total Data Protection

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The new portable hard drive from Maxtor will provide you with government-grade security, thanks to its encrypting storage solution.


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Named BlackArmour, this new device claims to provide AES government-grade encryption solution that protects against ‘unauthorised access to valuable and private information.’

Using Seagate Secure technology, Maxtor’s BlackArmour drive is designed to keep data locked up and protected in the event of loss or theft. Seagate Secure technology is a hardware-based encryption, making the encryption transparent to the user and free of complicated installation and use procedures required by software-based security.

This device provides transparent, real-time encryption of all that data on the device, not just selected files; providing performance and ease of use advantages over manual software-based security controls. The BlackArmour product also puts all security keys and cryptographic operations within the device, delivering protection against hacking and tampering.

 

Senior Analyst of Information Security at Enterprise Strategy Group, John Oltsik said, “Government regulations on organisations that manage confidential and personal information continue to get more stringent, making security of sensitive information a mission-critical requirement. Unfortunately, this is a monumental set of tasks that organisations are faced with, when confidential data is created, copied, and stored across the enterprise at an ever-increasing rate from data centre systems to desktop and mobile devices.”

Seagate Asia Pacific’s vice President and managing Director, BanSeng Teh said, “Maxtor storage solutions are focused on security and back up of your valued digital assets. BlackArmour is an innovative new product that delivers on the promise of providing our customers with a level of security that is both reliable and robust, for a plug-and-play, easy-to-manage storage device.”

Availability and Pricing:

The Maxtor BlackArmour will be available in 160GB and 320GB and will have an RRP of $179 and $259, respectively.

New Vodafone And 3 Plans Arrive Tomorrow

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Vodafone Hutchison Australia announced that it will introduce a set of new postpaid plans to its Vodafone and 3 Mobile customers tomorrow.


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New Vodafone and 3 Plans: Part 1 of 2

According to the company, the new plans have more value, increased mobile data allowance, as well as unlimited calls within the Vodafone and 3 network.

Vodafone Hutchison Australia’s Director of Marketing, John Casey said, “Vodafone and 3 are determined to lead the market by giving customers the best value for money. It’s great to be delivering even more value at a time when prices continue to rise on most other everyday items.”

“We’ve designed these caps be used in a way that’s convenient and relevant to our customer’s needs. For customers with friends, family members or business interests overseas, we’ve provided them with the ability to use their cap value towards international calls,” added Casey.

 

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New Vodafone and 3 Plans: Part 2 of 2

In addition to the increase in cap value, the new Vodafone or 3 Contract Cap from $29 a month will feature the ability for customers to make free unlimited standard voice calls in Australia to friends and family on both Vodafone and 3.

This free calls offer for Vodafone customers to Vodafone and 3 numbers is currently rolling out and the free calls offer for 3 customers to 3 and Vodafone numbers will launch by the end of July.

“That’s free standard voice calls to almost six million people in Australia, anytime of the day or night. VHA is thrilled to be leading the way with a simple promise to consumers that if you’re with Vodafone or 3, you’ll get more value for your money,” concluded Casey.

Click on the screenshot for the new caps launching tomorrow.

Small And Quiet Printer From Samsung

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Samsung has unveiled a multifunction printer which, the company claims, is the world’s smallest and quietest laser printer.


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The CLX-3170 Multifunction Printer (MFP) claims to produces picture perfect results with the crisp sharp finish of a laser printer. The compact design and quiet operation make this model perfect for a small office with limited space.

The printer comes with a direct USB interface, allowing a user to print or scan a document by simply hooking s USB memory key to the port. It also comes with Samsung’s No-Nois technology that ensures noise levels stay at 46 decibels.

Available in a choice of two colours, sleek black or professional two-tone grey, this quality MFP will complement any small office space. The small footprint which is the same size as a folded newspaper (415mm x 360mm x 311mm) and has a multitude of functions (print, copy, scan and fax.

Availability and Pricing

The CLX series will come with the following RRP:
CLX-3175: $499 (Available December 1, 2008)
CLX-3170FN: $599 (Available Now)
CLX-3175FN: $599 (Available Now)

See: www.samsung.com.au

Retail Expert To Share Business Secrets

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PMA Australia has announced that business educator, Tony Gattari, will share his secrets for marketing, negotiating and retailing success at the PMA conference in Melbourne on 3 June to 6 June 2010.


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Tony was an organiser of Harvey Norman’s computer and communications division. And within a few years he was promoted to general manager and increased the division’s turnover from $12 million to $565 million.

Tony then left Harvey Norman and began his own venture, Smartbuy in the field of online retailing. Tony survived a ‘perfect storm’ of market trouble and emerged as the CEO of a profitable technology company, bringing nearly all of his original employees with him. In March 2002, Tony stepped down as CEO of Uniqueworld to set up a new company, Achievers Group Pty Ltd. Tony also spent one year working as a CEO of a Public listed retailer.  

Tony is the co-author of “Pillars of Business Success” and “Marketing success” and has contributed as a key author to “Secrets of Tops Sales Professionals Exposed” and “Secrets of Marketing experts exposed” and has articles read by over 200,000 people every month. He is also the author of “Business Success” which has recently released in the United States.  He has also starred in a number of business training products and has also created and presented a business building program on Pay TV.

Tony Gattari’s appearance has been sponsored by Nikon Australia and the session will be chaired by Nikon’s James Murray.

PMA Director, Peter Rose said, “Tony’s advice will help get our delegate’s tills jingling. So this is a session that anyone passionately involved with retailing must be sure to catch.”

The PMA Conference is held in conjunction with the PMA Australia Digital Life Expo. All in the industry, whether they are a retailer, distributor, photographer or someone with a business connection to the imaging business, are welcome to attend.

Netgear Network Attached Storage Offers Cloud Control

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Netgear has launched its new range of ReadyNAS devices aimed at businesses and consumers. The new line includes a network attached storage that can be controlled on the cloud as well as a NAS that streams data without slowing down.The ReadyNAS Replicate from NETGEAR provides a single cloud based interface that enables customers to schedule multi-site backup jobs and to restore files across locations. This means that Smart IT departments looking for a reliable data management method across multiple sites can use ReadyNAS Replicate to reduce operational costs and standardise disaster recovery.

The Netgear ReadyNAS Pro family comes with VMware, Microsoft, hybrid cloud and disk-based backup and recovery solutions. It includes 2-bay, 4-bay, and 6-bay desktop products, five year warranty and disk drive specifications for business applications, as well as a complete range of 3rd party certifications.

The family also supports a range of disk-based backup applications including the only officially supported Symantec Backup Exec agent in this product class, Veeam and Vizioncore backup software compatibility for virtual environments and Acronis and StorageCraft backup software compatibility for mixed physical/virtual environments.

The new releases also come with some exciting value added features for hybrid cloud services, including a free 12 month, 100GB ReadyNAS Vault cloud archive subscription for online file archive and disaster recovery, multi-site file backup, restore and disaster recovery with the ReadyNAS Replicate option and ReadyNAS Remote, an automatic VPN service for secure remote access.

 

Finally, the company has launched the NETGEAR ReadyNAS Ultra range that delivers music, movies, photos, and file streaming. In addition, the two bay model of the ReadyNAS Ultra family will soon be available worldwide.

TiVo users can use the ReadyNAS Ultra Plus to exponentially upgrade their DVR capacity while Orb transcoding support puts the right media formats on the right screens, making the process of streaming movies to handheld devices far more intuitive. Skifta shifts movies and music onto any DLNA networked screen and remote file access is now available for iPhone users with the new ReadyNAS Remote iPhone App.

Netgear Australia and New Zealand’s Managing Director, Ryan Parker said, “The ReadyNAS platform is a great example of how NETGEAR maximises the performance of technology for the benefits of the business and home users. It doesn’t matter if you are a business or a personal user, NETGEAR’s comprehensive range of Business and Prosumer NAS solutions will provide the perfect solution to ensure a centralised, easily accessible, storage space for your digital data.  Business and consumer data requirements generally grow at 50 percent per year and NETGEAR’s ReadyNAS platform make it easy to grow your storage capacity as your needs increase.”

Kensington Unveils New Notebook Accessories

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Kensington has launched its new range of notebook accessories which include a universal docking station, two new Pro Fit mice, a wireless presenter, and two compact power adaptors.


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Kensington Universal Notebook Docking Station

The Kensington Universal Notebook Docking Station with VGA/DVI and Ethernet converts your notebook into a desktop with its multitude of ports. All a user needs to do is to plug a single USB cable into your laptop and users will instantly be connected to a high-resolution monitor, printer, speakers, and all other hardware devices you may need. It is available now for $250.

Kensington also unveiled the Pro Fit Wireless Mid-Size Mouse ($29.95) – a mouse that sports a right-handed design and uses 2.4GHz wireless technology for wireless control. A wired version, called Pro Fit USB/PS2 Wired Mid-Size Mouse is also available for $19.95.

The Kensington Wireless Presenter Pro with Green Laser Pointer ($89.95) has an extended 150 foot wireless range, four intuitive control buttons, and a USB receiver. It offers intuitive control and comfort in the palm of your hand and even includes a convenient travel case for protection on the go.

The company has also unveiled a new Wall Ultra Compact Notebook Power Adaptor ($149.95/$169.95) that includes a retractable mini USB charging cable and micro USB adapter tip.

“The Kensington Wall/Air Ultra Compact Notebook Power Adaptor includes a travel pack with airline charging cable, retractable mini USB charging cable, micro USB adapter tip and travel pouch,” said the company. 

First Review: HTC 3G Phone Redefines Touch

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HTC looked at its Touch phone released last year, took down some points of improvement, and implemented the changes to its new Touch 3G. This smartphone has a great form factor, comes with better specifications, and is set to take the touch experience to another level.


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The most noticeable improvement on the Touch 3D is its TouchFLO interface: it is now more responsive and allowed us to navigate the tabs and press the various icons without any problems. It also comes with a number of connectivity features to help you stay in touch and a number of useful applications for added versatility. Moreover, users may like the Touch’s form factor: it only weighs 96g and is designed to fit comfortably in the palm of your hand.

The Touch 3G is 102mm long, 53.6mm wide, and is only 14.5mm thick, which fits perfectly in your pants pocket. There are only a couple of essential buttons on the Touch (a power button, five-way navigation keys, end button, power/standby button, and volume up and down), which makes it simpler to operate. Located at the bottom part of the unit is the sync connector/ earphone jack, while the unit’s stylus is located at the upper right side. HTC has also included a 3.2-megapixel camera, which is located at the back of the unit.

 


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Removing the back cover reveals the SIM card slot, the battery compartment (uses 1100mAh Li-ion battery), and a microSD card slot for memory expansion. While located inside the back cover, memory cards can be swapped without shutting down the device.

After starting up the unit, aligning the screen, setting the date and time, and configuring the data connection settings (manually or automatically), HTC’s TouchFLO will automatically kick in and users will be brought to the Home Screen. The 2.8-inch QVGA screen is big enough for its size, with the icons not being too big or too small.

The Main screen shows the time, call history, and upcoming events, but there are 10 more tabs to choose from. By sliding your finger on the tabs or pressing left/right on the navigation pad, one can immediately have access to People (12 favourite contacts with a photo), Messages, Mail, Internet, Photos and Videos, Music, Weather, Maps Search, Settings, and Programs with quick shortcut icons (up to 18 shortcuts).

The new generation TouchFLo enabled us to slide our finger across the tabs and scroll thorough the sub-menus without experiencing any problems. And thanks to its 528Mhz Qualcomm chipset and 192MB RAM, the HTC Touch was able to launch programs quickly.

 


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Composing text messages became a whole lot easier, as HTC has included three different touch input layouts (Phone Keypad, Compact Keypad, and Full QWERTY) in addition to the default input layouts set by Windows Mobile (Block Recogniser, Keyboard, Letter Recogniser, and Transcriber). Despite having large fingers, I did not have a hard time sending messages or composing e-mails.

The built-in Opera browser displayed various websites properly, although the browser was unable to handle flash files. Since the unit is HSDPA-enabled, websites and YouTube content loaded in just a matter of seconds. If you don’t want to incur additional data charges, you can always turn on the built-in Wi-Fi and surf the Internet wirelessly. The Touch can also be used as a modem by hooking it up to the computer (an option will be available).

HTC has also included a Weather Tab that displays the current weather as well as a 4-day weather forecast. Users can update the forecast as often as they want and customise the cities to be displayed.

The Maps function (powered by Google) allowed us to search for nearby points of interest such as ATMs, restaurants, or petrol stations near our location. For example, typing in ‘Petrol’ displayed 11 nearby petrol stations in our location. The entries shown only displays the address, but by clicking on the hyperlink, Google will be able to display the telephone number and the website, with users being able to save it to their contact or get directions.

 

Received SMS are displayed on the Messages tab. Clicking on any message received automatically shows previous messages sent and received between the two parties. The messages are laid out conversation-style, which made it easy for us to remember what we said.

Users can also set the unit up to retrieve e-mail from POP3-enabled accounts such as Yahoo or Gmail and can also be configured to synchronise with an Exchange Server. The unit also comes pre-installed with Office Mobile for quick document edits anytime.

The 3.2-megapixel camera took fairly decent shots, although it did not have any auto focus function, producing some blurred shots in the process. The camera can also be used as a video camera and will capture footages in MPEG4 format. Stored photos and videos are displayed on the ‘Photos and Videos’ tab, with users being able to look at them with a single touch.

The unit lasted for almost three days with normal use, with the unit’s Wi-Fi occasionally turned on to surf the Internet and update the weather. HTC promises up to 360 minutes of talk time and up to 450 hours of standby time for the Touch 3G.

Better is probably the word that describes HTC’s Touch 3G. This 3G phone is slick, has an improved TouchFLO interface that resulted to a better touch experience, and is packed with a lot of connectivity options to boot. For those who find Apple’s iPhone too big, then perhaps this small wonder may be worth looking at. The Touch 3G is available now from authorised Brightpoint mobile phone retailers with an RRP of $799.

See page over for product specifications and final rating.

 

HTC Touch 3G Specifications:

  • Chipset: Qualcomm MSM7225 528 MHz
  • Connectivity: GSM/EDGE: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz & WCDMA / HSPA: 900/2100MHz.
  • HSDPA 7.2 Mbps
  • Software/Operating system: HTC TouchFLO with Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional
  • Internal memory: 256 MB flash; 192 MB RAM
  • Display: 2.8 inch QVGA screen
  • Interface: HTC ExtUSB (mini-USB and audio jack in one; USB 2.0 High-Speed)
  • Camera: 3.2 megapixel
  • Memory card: microSD
  • Bluetooth: 2.0 with EDR
  • GPS: GPS/AGPS
  • Battery: 1100 mAh
  • Talk time: WCDMA: Up to 360 minutes / GSM: Up to 400 minutes
  • Standby time: WCDMA: Up to 450 hours / GSM: Up to 365 hours
  • Size: 102 x 53.6 x 14.5 mm
  • Weight: 96g

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HTC Touch 3G | $799 |  | www.htc.com/au

For: Small profile; Responsive TouchFLO interface; Easy to use; HSDPA-enabled; Wi-Fi and Bluetooth built-in; QWERTY keypad is responsive; Google Maps allows you to look for nearby points of interest
Against: Good interface only limited to TouchFLO skin; microSD card needs to be purchased to store additional data; Camera lacks auto focus function; Browser lacks flash support
Conclusion: HTC refines the art of touch with its new slick 3G phone