HP MediaSmart Server: Now Mac friendly
It’s been a long, long while since we’ve heard the words HP MediaSmart, and in fact, the last mention that was made wasn’t exactly positive. HP’s looking to put the past away and forge ahead with two new ones in the line: the Mac-friendly ex485 and ex487. Both devices are (of course) based on Microsoft’s Windows Home Server platform, and just like their predecessors, these are meant to automatically backup machines around the home and act as a network-accessible repository for all things media. The pair features HP’s Media Collector (used to schedule, copy and centralize digital files from networked PCs) and also acts as an iTunes server and an external backup device for Macs running Leopard and using Apple’s Time Machine software. As for specs, you’ll find a 2GHz Celeron CPU in each with 2GB of DDR2 RAM, gigabit Ethernet, four USB 2.0 ports, one eSATA jack and four internal HDD bays. The February-bound duo can be pre-ordered on January 5th for $599 (ex485; 750GB) / $749 (ex487; 1.5TB), and each can be scaled up to 9TB. Full release:
HP Launches New Home Server for PCs and Macs
HP MediaSmart Server centralizes digital media and files for backup, remote access, sharing and uploading to social media sites
PALO ALTO, Calif., Dec. 29, 2008 – HP today launched a home server designed for use with both Windows and Mac computers.
Based on the Microsoft Windows® Home Server platform, the HP MediaSmart Server ex485/ex487 is a central repository for automatically backing up and accessing digital music, videos, photos and documents from multiple computers on a home network.(1)
The MediaSmart Server automatically organizes files across all PCs, streams media across a home network and the Internet,(2) and publishes photos to popular social networking and photo sharing sites.
“A growing number of digital-savvy households have both Windows and Mac computers, with hundreds and sometimes thousands of media files and documents scattered across these devices,” said Jason Zajac, vice president of strategy, Worldwide Attach Group, HP. “The HP MediaSmart Server protects, stores and organizes this content from anywhere on a network so consumers can access and share it any place they are connected.”
“HP continues to innovate on the Windows Home Server platform giving consumers even more options to enjoy and protect their precious memories and valuable data,” said Charlie Kindel, general manager, Windows Server Solutions, Microsoft. “We believe consumers will embrace the new MediaSmart Server as one of the most exciting computing products for the home.”
MediaSmart Server ex485/ex487 features include:
· HP Media Collector: conveniently schedules the MediaSmart Server to copy and centralize digital files and libraries from networked PCs
· Media Streaming: remotely streams photos and music to any Internet-connected PC or Mac
· Server for iTunes: centralizes iTunes music libraries on the server for playback to any networked Mac or PC running iTunes
· HP Photo Publisher: easily upload photos to Facebook®, PicasaTM Web Albums and Snapfish(3)
· HP Photo Viewer: allows easy sharing of photos with friends and family
· PC Hard Drive Backup: backs up networked PCs via the Windows Home Server backup feature
· Mac Hard Drive Backup: backs up Macs running Leopard using Apple Time Machine software
· Server Backup: duplicates designated shared folders to a separate hard disk drive
· Online Backup: duplicates designated folders to Amazon’s S3 online backup service for an additional layer of protection
· Smart Power Management: can schedule times for server to go to “sleep” and “wake up,” saving on energy costs
· Processor: Intel® Celeron®, 2.0 GHz 64-bit. Two gigabytes (GB) of 800-MHz DDR2 DRAM now standard on MediaSmart Server
· Expandability: additional drives can be added for up to 9 terabytes (TB)
“Customers are always looking for the right mix of features and ease-of-use when choosing digital home products,” said Danielle Levitas, group vice president, consumer, broadband and digital marketplace at IDC. “HP’s focus and investment in software allows it to deliver a home server with compelling features for Mac and PC users while offering a great customer experience that helps simplify the complexity of the connected home. This unique offering will help expand the home server market.”
Pricing and availability
Manufacturer’s suggested retail price for the HP MediaSmart Server ex485 with 750 GB of hard disk storage is $599 while the HP MediaSmart Server ex487 with 1.5 TB is $749.(4)
The HP MediaSmart Server can be pre-ordered beginning on Jan. 5, 2009, from Amazon.com, BestBuy.com, Buy.com, Frys.com and NewEgg.com; it is expected to ship in February.
The first 200 consumers who visit HP Home & Home Office (www.hpshopping.com) or call +1 888 271 2982 between Jan. 5 – 11, 2009, to reserve a MediaSmart Server and use coupon code “AC5674″ will receive a $50 savings off their purchase.(5)
More information is available at www.hp.com/go/mediasmartserver.
New to Josh’s Blog? Make sure you follow my RSS feed so you don’t miss anymore great stuff!
Windows 7 Beta 1 ISO leaked on bittorrent
Apparently you won’t even have to wait until January to get your hands on the Windows 7 Beta release. That’s right, there’s already been an ISO file leaked to several torrent trackers.
The ISO appears to contain the Windows 7 M1 build (7000) highlighted by Paul Thurrott on SuperSite. So far the new build seems to perform slightly better than 6801, and memory usage has been improved. A number of previously hidden features – like the iconized task bar – are also now active.
Before comments start asking why there’s no link to the file, it’s because this is something that we’re not supposed to have yet. If you want to get your hands on it, check your favorite torrent search site. Also keep in mind that this is a leak, and there’s always the possibility that the ISO has been tampered with.
New to Josh’s Blog? Make sure you follow my RSS feed so you don’t miss anymore great stuff!
Best Buy gets Windows XP and Vista confused
“Surf and e-mail with the simplicity of Windows XP”, said the header above the netbook section. That’s a great line; it’s simple and to the point. Thing is, the display of every netbook below the header is showing not XP, but Vista.
Oddly, everyone of the netbook models shown does come with XP by default. All they had to do to catch the error was actually look at one of them, or at least hit up Google Image Search for “default Windows XP desktop”
New to Josh’s Blog? Make sure you follow my RSS feed so you don’t miss anymore great stuff!
boxee alpha opens up on Mac, Ubuntu January 8; Windows invites to follow
Six months and 150,000 signups later, boxee is preparing to move from alpha to beta status, ready to drop any unsent invites on all interested parties by the 25th ahead of the open alpha period starting January 8, 2009. While OS X / Apple TV / Ubuntu have been the required attire so far, Windows users won’t be out in the cold much longer, as CEO Avner Ronen revealed in comments on the boxee blog that the Windows alpha program will start “early 2009″ with thousands of invites sent out every week. That enough to pique your interest in this media streaming set-top box software? Read
New to Josh’s Blog? Make sure you follow my RSS feed so you don’t miss anymore great stuff!
Microsoft extends Windows XP deliveries to May 30, 2009
Man, Microsoft just can’t bring itself to kill Windows XP dead — it just extended the final OEM and reseller delivery date for the venerable OS to May 30, 2009. Vendors will still have to place their orders before the official cutoff date of January 31, but they won’t have to take delivery (or pay, we’d imagine) until May. All of this is supposed to alleviate the problem of vendors stockpiling copies of XP — it wouldn’t be good for Microsoft if manufacturers start charging a demand-related premium for XP licenses after Redmond goes Vista-only. Of course, Microsoft also recently extended the Vista “downgrade” deadline for OEMs to July 31 and netbooks will still be able to kick it old-school until at least June 2010, so chances are you’ll be able to get XP one way or another until Windows 7 ships — let’s just hope all this waffling on XP means that 7′s going to be as good as we think it is.
New to Josh’s Blog? Make sure you follow my RSS feed so you don’t miss anymore great stuff!
Microsoft Vista Ultimate gets the (PRODUCT) RED treatment
It’s not like (PRODUCT) RED versions of Windows Vista haven’t been shipping on associated systems for months now, but for those who’d prefer to keep the rig they have and just get a colorful / charitable upgrade to Microsoft’s latest OS, this is for you. Listed on the official (PRODUCT) RED website and up for pre-order now at Amazon, the special edition of Windows Vista Ultimate is slated to ship on December 15th. There’s not too many extras here to make you splurge for a second copy (a few new wallpapers and a big warm, fuzzy feeling are definitely nice, though), but those looking to get a new OS and support the push to end AIDS in Africa can buy in now for $219.95 ($64.95 for students).
Read – (PRODUCT) RED website
Read – Pre-order at Amazon
Read – Pre-order for students
Windows 7′s new boot video
Sure, you’ll have to bide your time until at least January to get your hands on a proper beta of Windows 7, but why sweat out the wait forRedmond’s latest and greatest when you can get a taste of the experience in naughty, low-res web video today? Video after the break.
New to Josh’s Blog? Make sure you follow my RSS feed so you don’t miss anymore great stuff!
Windows 7 WARP system to allow for DirectX 10 CPU acceleration
We’ve already heard that Microsoft plans to make use of GPU acceleration in Windows 7, but it looks like the company is also going to be doing its part for the GPU-less out there, with the OS’s new so-called WARP system promising to allow for DirectX 10 acceleration using nothing more than a plain old CPU. Among other things, that’s apparently being done to avoid a recurrence of the Vista-capable debacle that happened last time around, when some systems that were said to be capable of running the OS were, in fact, anything but. According to Microsoft, WARP (or Windows Advanced Rasterization Platform) will work with as little as an 800MHz CPU, although it says it’ll work better on multi-core processors with SSE 4.1. To really put it to the test, Microsoft apparently even went so far as to run a few Crysis benchmarks with the system, and managed to clock in a blistering 7.36 fps frame rate at 800 x 600 on a Core i7-equipped PC, which is actually slightly better than what Intel’s current integrated graphics were able to eek out. Read
New to Josh’s Blog? Make sure you follow my RSS feed so you don’t miss anymore great stuff!
On this day, 25 years ago.. Windows 1!
10 Awesome Windows 7 Features
10. Easier and better wireless networking. Windows 7 takes a little from XP and a little from Vista, and rolls it all into a neat little package. Connection switching only requires two clicks and it can be done right from the system tray icon. Windows 7 also detects three more access points near my home than XP and Vista, and the connections to my work and home routers resume instantly when my laptop wakes. 9. Device stage. Right now, Windows treats multifunction devices like separate entities.This really doesn’t make much sense: is your all-in-one three separate pieces of hardware? No? WIth device stage, you’ll see only a single device in the control panel which you can then explore to access its multiple capabilities. To see it in action, check out Engadget’s video from WinHEC. 8. Better battery life. Engadget talked about it, and I’ve been seeing it in action. By managing wireless lan and bluetooth radios more intelligently and tweaking the OS kernel to allow both lower CPU frequencies and higher idle times, Windows 7 yields a gain of 11-15%. The stats from my MSI Wind jive: its 6-cell battery lasts almost 40 minutes longer. 6. Improved UAC. Vista’s UAC is brutal, nagging like the email solictors that keep trying to push Viagra on me. On any Vista install I’ve used for more than a few days, I’ve ended up disabling it entirely. It should have been a good thing, helping to prevent accidental and unwanted changes to the system. 5. The new taskbar. There have been a number of improvements, including re-ordering icons, better visual task tips, and a more customizable system tray. Windows Media Player’s tip view even provides basic playback controls automatically – no need for a special taskbar mode. The icon only mode is also a welcome change: it helps reduce taskbar clutter and pinning simplifies access to my favorite apps. 4. WinMin. We haven’t seen much of it yet, but we know it’s there somewhere. The promise of instant-on features in Windows 7 is a big deal for mobile users. As a netbook owner, I know I’d love to be able to boot a minimal shell with access to essential apps like my web browser and IM client. 3. Libraries. Hey, they work for Media Player, so why not make them a part of the OS? Windows 7′s libraries provide a powerful addition to Explorer. They simplify file sharing, speed browsing and searching, and improve organization. They’re a fantastic way to group related content regardless of where it’s stored – especially if you suck at maintaining a logical folder setup like me. 2. PC Safeguard. Vista is a bit better at staying virus-free than Windows XP (I say this because my customers with Vista don’t come in with SmitFraud infections nearly as often).
Enough mucking about: here are ten Windows 7 features that are genuinely worth getting excited about.
Device Stage will improve integration with cell phones, PDAs, personal media players, cameras, and more – and it’s a sign that Microsoft is more concerned about simplicity and ease of use than they were with Vista.
7. Network file sharing is wicked fast. While I haven’t pulled out the stopwatch just yet, I do know this: files accessed from the machine I use to serve my repair apps open in a flash since I installed Windows 7. With XP and Vista, there was always a momentary hiccup after issuing a run command (like \\service\spyware) to connect to a share.
Now, the hiccup is gone. With the same networking hardware, my SMB shares now open almost instantly.
UAC in Windows 7 is much smarter. If I initiate something manually, I’m not prompted. If I tell Windows once that an application is trusted, that’s it – no more nags. Faith and begorah, I don’t have to authorize my mouse click on ridiculously simple things like change date and time any more.
Windows 7 has taken restricted user accounts to the next level: by enabling PC Safeguard, you can force all changes a user makes to be discarded at log off. That means shortcuts, downloads, documents, temp files – everything just disappears. It’s easy enough for the average home user to configure, and provides an additional layer of defense against malware and reckless computer use.
And the best thing to look forward to about Windows 7: once it’s finally released, you’ll only be reading about it for another eight years.
