Archive for January 21, 2015

BlackBerry Offering Limited Edition Black & Gold BlackBerry Passport

Posted in Commentary with tags on January 21, 2015 by itnerd

BlackBerry is offering its most exclusive product to date: the Limited Edition Black & Gold BlackBerry Passport! In fact, only 50 of these limited edition devices have been built for the world.

Black, Gold BlackBerry Passport_Front Down

The Limited Edition Black and Gold BlackBerry Passport has been designed to allow high-powered mobile professionals to stand out in a crowd with a gold colored stainless steel frame and detailing. Meticulously crafted and engraved with “Limited Edition” and the production number, the device is truly a unique item.

Black, Gold BlackBerry Passport_Back

This special device also comes with a Valextra cover made from soft calf leather with Valextra “costa” lacquered piping. The cover has a slim profile and is NFC-friendly, allowing message notifications and automatic power saving.

The Limited Edition Black & Gold BlackBerry Passport is available today through ShopBlackBerry for $899 USD and $999CAD. More info can be found in this blog post from BlackBerry.

Leave a comment »

ViewSonic Introduces the LightStream Networkable Series of Projectors

Posted in Commentary with tags on January 21, 2015 by itnerd

Viewsonic introduced the LightStream PJD6 Networkable Series of Projectors yesterday. The LightStream line delivers the ultimate in true-to-life colours in any lighting condition.  Based on the company’s SuperColor technology, the days of sacrificing colour accuracy for brightness levels are gone. Ideal for any classroom or meeting room, the new LightStream PJD6 delivers smart features including ViewSonic’s patent pending PortAll for secured wireless streaming, SonicExpert for enhanced fuller range of integrated sound, an integrated cable management cover and “My Button” auto configuration mode.

image003

With SuperColor technology that features a newly designed colour wheel and 3200 to 3800 lumens of brightness, these projectors offer true-to-life colour in any lighting conditions. The PJD6 series includes XGA and WXGA resolutions, 15000:1 Dynamic contrast, and a lamp life of 10,000 hours. SonicExpert enhanced sound technology delivers best in class audio performance from the integrated (10W/16W) speaker for greater frequency range and minimized distortion at even the highest levels.  Flexible inputs include 2xVGA, 2xHDMI (1xMHL/HDMI), Composite Video, and S-Video.

Smart design features include PortAll – an integrated compartment supporting an MHL/HDMI port that allows users to wirelessly stream multimedia content via a wireless HDMI dongle. Smart horizontal keystone and corner adjustment allows for flexible placement of the projectors in classrooms or boardrooms. All LightStream PJD6 projectors include a discreet cable management cover for easy cable organization.

image005

The user-friendly remote features a unique “My Button” control that configures to a user’s preferred setting with one simple click. With a single remote, installers have the flexibility to operate up to eight projectors in the same room by switching the codes. The new intuitive keypad layout featured on all LightStream Series projectors allows users to easily operate the projector without complicated on-screen display menus.

ViewSonic also announces its new WPG-300 wireless presentation gateway dongle which can be used with the LightStream PortAll™ feature.  The compact HDMI dongle offers multiple functions, including WiFi display, media streaming, screen mirroring and much more. ViewSonic’s new wireless dongle will be available in Q2 with an MSRP of (USD) $149.99.

The new LightStream PJD6 Networkable series include the PJD6250L, PJD6350, PJD6355, PJD6550W, PJD6552W, PJD6352LS, and PJD6552LWS. All will be available in Q2 2015 with MSRPs ranging from (USD) $599.99 to $999.99.

Leave a comment »

Microsoft Rolls Out Details Of Windows 10

Posted in Commentary with tags on January 21, 2015 by itnerd

This week has been a slow week in the tech space. However that changed today because Microsoft has announced details of Windows 10. Let me hit the highlights:

  • It’s going to be free. You read that correctly. Updates in the first year for Windows 7, 8.1 and even Windows Phone 8.1 users will be free. That’s sort of like what Apple has been doing for some time with OS X. And it helps them to get quick adoption of their OSes.
  • Windows Siri like assistant Cortana will be baked into the OS and it doesn’t matter if you’re on a desktop, tablet, or phone. And it’s been enhanced to be everywhere in everything that you do.
  • If you have a Windows 10 desktop and a Windows 10 tablet or phone, you’ll be able to unify the user experience across them. MS Office apps under Windows 10 will automatically sync your place so each time you zoom in on your calendar or flag an email or pick some photos to look at, those actions will be reflected on your other devices as well. OS X Yosemite users may not be impressed by this as they have had a flavor of this feature for months now.
  • Internet Explorer is dead. In its place is the Spartan browser. At least that is what it is codenamed. You can take notes by drawing onto the browser. You can rearrange web view to make them easier to read. And Cortana even works in the browser.
  • If you happen to have an Xbox One in your house, you’ll be able to stream games to a Windows 10 device. Not only that. There’s going to be an Xbox app. It will let you do things like interact with the Activity Feed, right from your desktop, laptop or tablet. It can list Xbox and Steam games alongside each other. Finally there is a game DVR feature that lets you capture and edit footage on your Windows 10 device in similar fashion to what can already be done on the Xbox One.
  • Microsoft is jumping into the virtual reality game with something called Hololens. They are Holographic Glasses that include a CPU, a GPU, and something Microsoft is calling a Holographic Processor. The latter is a big deal for Microsoft as they’re calling it “the next PC.” Cue the cynics. It will ship around the time Windows 10 hits the streets.
  • On top of showing off Windows 10 today, Microsoft showed off the Surface Hub. It’s a 84″ 4K TV that includes an all-in-one PC-come-display that is fully-loaded with sensors, WiFi, a mic, camera and Skype for Business. Clearly this is the net result of Microsoft’s purchase of Perspective Pixel a while back. It’s likely aimed at businesses, but it’s a safe bet that someone will buy it for their home to impress the neighbors.

There’s a lot here. So let me make life easy for you and link you to a blog entry on the Windows Blog.

Leave a comment »