Smart Office

Menu

Mike Wheeler

Refillable Bottle To Reduce Landfill Waste

by

Hydration in the home or office is about to go green with the launch of the Kor refillable hydration vessel, claims local distributor Culligan Water.


Click to enlarge
Designed for both the home and office, the Kor refillable water bottle has features that include one-handed lid hatch system that allows easy opening and closing, a hinged cap that stays open while you drink and doesn’t leak even when laid flat, and an extra-wide mouth small enough for a sip but big enough to chug or for ice cubes.

“We want Australians to think “refill, reuse, recycle” by combining a refillable water bottle with their home or office water filter,” says Tim Gordon, general manager of Culligan Water. “For only cents per litre of impurity-free drinking water, everyone can reduce the use of water, oil, plastic and carbon emissions required to make bottled water by each person using just one bottle.

“Our aim is to reduce plastic bottle waste into landfills by 100 million bottles per year. We can achieve this if people move from buying single use disposable bottles to re-useable bottles like the Kor bottle.”

Designed into the cap is a place for a KOR Stone – a small, disc-shaped token with a message that only you can see when drinking. Also the bottle is made from Eastman Tritan, which is free of bisphenol-A (BPA), a leaching toxin found in polycarbonate bottles.

RRP
Bottle $39

See it: www.culliganwater.com.au

Netgear Storage Solution For Small Businesses

by

A six-bay desktop network-attached storage solution for small- and medium-sized businesses that provides up to 6TB of network-attached storage. This enables SMBs with up to 200 users to store, back up and share digital data across the LAN or WAN from a combination of Windows, Macintosh and Linux platforms, claims Netgear.

The ReadyNAS Pro product line is available in storage capacities of 1.5TB, 3TB and 6TB.

“Small- and medium-sized businesses have been yearning for a tailor-made storage solution to help them better manage their ever-increasing volumes of digital information,” says Ryan Parker, managing director, NETGEAR Australia. “The ReadyNAS Pro family has the capacity and scalability of a true business-class solution that will help smaller businesses backup and protect their critical information today, and provide additional capacity as their storage needs grow.”

Parker says that SMBs looking to replace their traditional file and print servers should seriously consider the ReadyNAS Pro.
The ReadyNAS Pro supports RAID 0, 1, 5, 6 and auto-expandable X-RAID2 to provide solid data protection against single or double disk failure. It features dual redundant Gigabit Ethernet ports for failover protection, which ensures availability to stored data. Housed in a compact desktop form factor, the ReadyNAS Pro products support up to six SATA II hard drives via six lockable, hot-swappable disk trays. Three USB 2.0 ports enable the connection of external USB drives, printers and battery backup devices.

With an Intel dual-core processor, ReadyNAS Pro can read data at over 108 MBps and writing at over 102 MBps. In addition to a Web-based graphical user interface (GUI) and setup wizard for ease-of-use and setup, ReadyNAS Pro features an LCD display that provides quick and intuitive system status readings. It incorporates active system monitoring that continually monitors for abnormal situations or part failures, and emails system alerts to the network administrator.

RRP
From $3,099

Cheap Running Costs For Kyocera Printers

by

While Kyocera sees itself as environmentally friendly, its claims its new range of colour printers will open the eyes of its competitors due to its low running costs.


Click to enlarge
The A4 colour 21-30ppm printer market continues to grow strongly (+33 percent in 2008 over 2007), with predictions by IDC that growth will continue over the next few years.
Taking advantage of this market, Kyocera has responded by releasing its A4 colour printer range, which it claims has easy toner installation, as well as easy cleaning and paper jam removal thanks to the complete front access.
The company says there is improved printer quality due to:

  •  New small spherical toner and enlarged colour spectrum
  • Continuous calibration process keeps quality high
  • Automatic cleaning and registration for high quality and reliability
  • 3rd generation of interactive touch down developing system
  • 9,600 dpi equivalent resolution, trapping functionality
  • Perfect for Office Software: Excel, Word, PowerPoint

Other features include:

  • High print engine speed supported by 533/667 MHz CPU, 256 MB
  • Fast first page printing and reduced warm-up time
  • Print jobs can be managed individually
  • Duplex and network interface as standard
  • Duplex printing in landscape and portrait modes
  • Up to 3/4 paper cassettes for a maximum of 1,400/2,150 sheets
  • Support of coated paper with optional Multi-Media Feeder
  • Dedicated envelope mode
  • Control Panel timeout eliminates performance bottleneck in networks
  • New print controller technology for state of the art security functionality
  • Easy set up departmental codes via Control Panel for accounting
  • Up to 100 department codes can be managed
  • The department codes are locked with a pin code
  • Accounting reports with detailed information per department code

FS-C5100DN $899
FS-C5200DN $1,399
FS-C5300DN $1,69

Iomega Hard Drive Integrates Dual Backup

by

Iomega Corporation today announced an industry first in integrating local and remote backup in a single product offering designed for the home office and small businesses.


Click to enlarge
Iomega’s Prestige 500GB Desktop HDD external hard drives, which is the company’s entry-level USB 2.0 desktop drive, are rolling out with a new downloadable software bundle that integrates EMC Retrospect Express backup and recovery software with Mozy online backup service. Iomega claims this improves the convenience of securely storing, protecting and accessing important files.

The new EMC backup bundle is currently available on the newly introduced Prestige 500GB Desktop HDD, which is Iomega’s entry level USB 2.0 desktop drive.

Today, buyers of Iomega external hard drives can now choose the version of Retrospect Express backup software that is right for their needs, as well as the easy-to-use added bonus of 2GB of MozyHome online backup.

MozyHome is a consumer service that enables Windows and Mac users to securely back up important files – such as photos, music, videos, financial documents and more – over the internet to world-class EMC data centres. By automatically sending copies of these files to a safe, remote location, MozyHome provides protection against fire, theft, natural disaster, and all the other unexpected events from which a local backup provides little or no relief. Because MozyHome backs up throughout the day and night, it provides an additional layer of protection from hardware failure and accidental deletion. With 2GB of free storage, MozyHome makes it easy to try online backup.

RRP
$169

Primitive Infrastructure Stifles Internet Speed

by

Australia’s lack of fiberoptic infrastructure could be seen as a stumbling block to taking on a new innovation developed by Australian researchers out of the University of Sydney.

The new technology, which is said to increase the speed of the internet by up to 6,000 percent, is a superfast optical switch on a chip that replaces electrical switches that are used to convert optical signals to a spread of electrical signals that in turn are rerouted to other places on the net.

“This is a switch that’s 64 times faster than anything that’s happening in Telstra’s networks,” said Professor Benjamin Eggleton, who is director of the Centre for Ultrahigh bandwidth Devices for Optical Systems, when talking to the ABC. “We can create switches that are instantaneous, essentially. You can’t switch that fast with electronics.”

Eggleton claims that researchers have demonstrated the switch can split a 640 gigabit per second signal into 64 separate 10 gigabit per second signals.

The switch takes only one picosecond to “change tracks”, meaning that it can switch on and off at an incredible rate of one million million times per second.

 


For the Australian home user to benefit fully from such a switch though, Professor Eggleton says they will have to wait until fibre optics go directly to the home.

“We are so constrained at the moment because our backbone and infrastructure is primitive compared to what has been deployed in Japan,” says Professor Eggleton.

South Korea and Japan are said to have the fastest internet in the world with speeds in the order of hundreds of megabits per second being delivered to some home users.

Aussie Online Addiction Costs Employers

by

A new report out by Sensis shows that Australians are costing their employers money by spending too much time on social networks during work time, and at home a significant number of parents are not keeping tabs on their children’s internet habits.


Click to enlarge
Over 30 percent of children under the age of 15 are left unsupervised on the computer, which can be dangerous for those left open to dodgy websites on the net. The up side is that 4 in 10 households do use internet filters.

Also on the downside is the 20 percent of employees who spend company time on social networks such as Myspace and Facebook. 

“But at the same time, we are seeing many businesses clamp down on employees using [these] sites,” report author Christena Singh said. “Whether we love or loath new technology, it appears Australians can’t stay away from its allure.”
With social networking sites as a whole, seven out of 10 Australians in their 20s use these sites, and the drop-off rate is exponential as age increases, and taper off at less than one in 10 for over 65s.

Mobile technology has also been embraced including six out of 10 using a mobile e-mail device mainly for work, with half of those surveyed saying they respond to work-related e-mails in their personal time, either always or most of the time.

Other interesting facts is an increase in notebook computers amongst small businesses (up 10 percent to 60 percent); 84 percent of households are internet enabled with 73 percent having broadband connections; six in 10 Australians (64 per cent) made purchases online in the past year; an increase in businesses with websites (up 3 percent to 54 percent); while interestingly, more Australians supplied personal information online during the year (up four percentage points to 38 per cent).

Compact Media Player Offers Wireless Downloads

by

A new credit-card sized digital media player from Creative Technologies is not only available in 16 and 32-GB configurations, but also offers wireless technology for downloading and streaming music and videos.


Click to enlarge
The Zen X-Fi digital media player uses the manufacturer’s X-Fi improves digital audio sound by restoring the high and lows lost during file compression back to crystal clear clarity.

The Zen X-Fi 16GB and 32GB models feature wireless technology, for downloading and streaming music and videos wirelessly from a PC to the player instantly within a home network. There is also an 8GB model, but it is not wireless. The Zen chat function means users can keep in touch with friends and family at free Wi-Fi hotspots through Yahoo Messenger and MSN Messenger.

With a 2.5-inch-high resolution colour LCD screen, users can watch movies in precision, and the included EP-830 earphones offer excellent noise-isolation capabilities and minimise sound loss.

Sharing audio is easy with a built-in speaker in the Zen X-Fi, so family and friends can enjoy music and movies without the need for a separate speaker system.

Other features of the unit include an integrated 32 station FM radio, SD card slot, a battery life of up to 36 hours audio and 5 hours video playtime, voice recording functions, and a personal organiser for the ultimate all-in-one entertainment solution.

RRPs:
Zen X-Fi 8GB (no Wi-Fi) – $249.95
Zen X-Fi 16GB (with Wi-Fi) – $329.95
Zen X-Fi 32GB (with Wi-Fi) – $399.95

Lightweight Tripod For Snappers In A Hurry

by

Velbon has released the all-new V-Pod, which allows compact camera and camera-phone photographers to be ready for night scene long-exposure shots, family and event shots where the photographer wants to be included in the image, and to improve between-image registration for multi-image Panorama stitching.


Click to enlarge
With folded height of 29cm and weighing 260g, this tripod can make all the difference. It is not designed for the big pro SLRs, but is more for unobtrusive convenient use to ensure the best pictures from a digital compact or a more advanced camera-phone.

Supplied with a suitable adaptor to securely attach a mobile phone, the Velbon V-Pod also comes together with a soft protective pouch that takes almost no extra space, but prevents abrasions to the tripod from the occasional knock.

Specifications:
Extended Height:  1.01M /39.49 inch               
Folded Length:   290 mm/11.42 inch
Net Weight:   260g/0.57 lbs
Maximum Load:  2.0kg.
Leg construction: 4-section O-Tube, 15mm diameter
Head:   Ball head with tilt/pan handle
Brace:   Hinged, central column attachment
Adjustable Height: Elevator for fine height adjustment of camera and panhead
Locking controls Elevator height lock, Panhead lock, twist-section leg lock
Finish:   Black

RRP:
$49

Storage Solution For Small Businesses

by

Powered by Intel Celeron 1.6GHz CPU, 1GB DDRII memory, the Q-Nap 5-bay TS-509 Pro delivers multiple business applications and intensive concurrent data access for SMBs.


Click to enlarge
The Linux OS and applications of the NAS are embedded in the flash DOM. Moreover, the dual Gigabit LAN ports can be configured as Failover, Load balancing, or serving two different subnets, which enables more deployment options in a business network environment.

With versatile server features, RAID data protection, and solid hot swappable hard drive design, the TS-509 Pro also has a handy LCD panel for “Touch-N-Go” PC-less RAID installation, displaying system information, and basic server configuration.

The schedule power on/off and Wake on LAN features are available for IT administrators to flexibly manage the NAS server’s up time and wake up the NAS in the local network remotely. Hard Disk Drive S.M.A.R.T (Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology) and comprehensive log system are offered to let server managers monitor the system closely.

Each unit is equipped with unique Online RAID Capacity Expansion and Online RAID Level Migration. With Online RAID Capacity Expansion, users can select to purchase the most cost-effective hard drives for initial server setup and upgrade to larger ones in the future. With Online RAID Level Migration, users can start from one drive firstly and add more to upgrade the RAID level in the future with the data retained.

 



The TS-509 Pro supports versatile server functions, e.g. File server, FTP server, printer server (max. 3 sets), DDNS support, Web server with built-in php, MyAdmin, Joomla, MySQL/ SQLite, editable php.ini, MySQL server, UPnP/DLNA media streaming (built-in TwonkyMedia server), iTunes server for music sharing, as well as HTTP/FTP/BT download server. All these server functions can be shared among different users across Linux, UNIX, Mac, and Windows platforms.

Users can also make use of the encrypted remote replication and backup to external devices features for extra data protection. Various data storage and management mechanisms- FTP server with SSL/TLS encrypted technology, SSH login, and web page SSL login are provided for secure data transfer and access.

RRP
$1,099

Hand Cleaner Has Massive Kill Rate

by

InstantFOAM is claimed to be the first alcohol-based foam hand sanitiser to reach the Australian market, which requires no water and has a hospital-strength formula that kills 99.999 percent of germs instantly without any sticky residue.


Click to enlarge
Statistics show that as winter temperatures drop Australian employers can expect 58 percent of their workforce to be absent from the workplace due to cold and flu-related illnesses costing businesses millions of dollars in lost time and productivity, claims instantFOAM local distributor Deb Australia.

Local and international scientific research has found hands to be the most insidious vehicles for the spread of germs in the workplace. Germs spread easily from person to person by shaking hands and touching common surfaces such as telephones, lift buttons, door handles, desk surfaces, keyboards and pens.

Custom designed for the industrial and commercial sector, InstantFOAM is a specialist, hospital-grade product only available by direct order. It comes available in dispensers and foaming pumps.

RRP
TBA