Apple iPad pre-orders are live (US-only)
Whist today’s iPad pre-order doesn’t specifically apply to Australians, it is important. It turns out the launch of the iPad coincides with my arrival to the US (no I didn’t fly there just to get one, honest). There’s two options for pre-order, one being free delivery to your home, the other being store pickup.
I’ve pre-ordered the 16GB Wi-Fi version using the pickup method from The Grove Apple Store in Los Angeles on April 3rd. If I don’t make it there by 3pm, the pre-order will be cancelled and the device will go on sale to the public. Given there was really no liability if I decide not to get one, I pre-ordered in the event that I fall in love with the device when i get hands on.
If all goes well, I’ll be one of the first Australians to use the device. Depending on network connectivity, I’ll be posting photos and video of a first hands-on, then a more detailed review later on.
More @ Apple
HP releases MediaSmart add-in for TiVo, step-by-step guide
Earlier today HP released an awesome new add-in for their MediaSmart Home Servers. The MediaSmart Expander for TiVo allows you to copy your favourite recordings to the MediaSmart so running out of storage should never be an issue again. Another feature is the ability to stream those shows from your PC back through your TiVo to your TV.
This means you’ll never need to fork out for that Western Digital 1TB Expander drive, your own storage that you’ve already invested in. The only downside is the transfer is a manual one. So you’ll need to open the Home Server Console Periodically and transfer the show you wish to keep, then delete them from the TiVo. While that may seem annoying, the upside is the storage amount is only limited to the size of your Home Server array, which as you know is easily upgradable.
This Add-in is supported on HP MediaSmart EX490/EX495 and HP DataVault X510 models, earlier models are not compatible. On the TiVo side you’ll need a Series II, Series III, TiVo Premier. Both Australian TiVo models will work. One more caveat is that both the TiVo and MediaSmart must be on the same network. In the standard home setup, this isn’t an issue.
If you in the US, you’ll see a new Add-in available in the Settings screen of the Home Server Console. If your outside of the US, then head over to http://www.hp.com/united-states/consumer/everyday-computing/mediasmartserver/us/en/tivo.html and download the Add-in manually.
Step 1 – Setup
Copy the HPTivoExpanderAddin.msi file into the Software/Add-ins folder on your Home Server.
Step 2 – Install the add-in
Open the Windows Home Server Console, click Settings in the top-right corner.
Step 3 – Activate
Select the MediaSmart Add-in and click install. Once finished installing the Home Server Console will need to restart.
The next time you launch it, you’ll notice the addition of the HP MediaSmart Expander for TiVO© item to the left-hand side menu.
Step 4 – Configure
There’s very minor configuration required before the devices can talk to one another. Simply click on the Configuration button at the top-right and enter your TiVo Media Access Key, available from your account page on http://tivo.com.au
Step 5 – Select
Once configured you’ll see the files stored on your TiVo. To transfer files to your MediaSmart, select each file (holding CTRL+click for multiple), when your ready to go, click the Transfer Selected Files button.
Once the Transfer is in progress, go make yourself a coffee, or 10.. this process is not fast. When complete the files (shows) will display in the third tab Files on Server where they can be deleted if you wish, or simply browse to the folder and delete them like normal files.
Step 6 – Location and Playback
After some investigation I discovered the files are actually transferred to \\MEDIASMART\Recorded TV\tivo. If you’d like to playback the files, you’ll need the TiVo Desktop software installed on your machine.
Step 7 – Watch on TV
Another option, and probably the more common, is for playback through the TiVo to your TV. To play the files (now located on your MediaSmart, scroll right to the bottom of your Now Playing list and you’ll find a new item called HP MediaSmart Server (MEDIASMART) where MEDIASMART is the name of your server.
That’s it, that’s all there is.. well except for an nice little easter egg.. those guys at HP seem to love them. Discovered by the guys over at mediasmartserver.net, if you double-right click on the TiVo DVRs Found section, you get a 4th tab Team Info.
In other news.. while hunting around HP site today I noticed, the HP EX490 MediaSmart Servers have dropped in price. I paid A$899 for mine only a few months back, they are now A$749.
More info @ HP.com
Location update: Gowalla and Foursquare update apps
Foursquare and Gowalla have both updated their iPhone apps overnight ahead of the SXSW conference in the US.
Let’s start with Foursquare, version 1.7 contains a refreshed UI, speed improvements, and places now support categories like the website.
Available from the iTunes Store
Gowalla gets a full point release, reaching version 2.0. This update also contains a update to the design, which increases usability and is easier to read. You can now add photos to a venue after checking in and browse photos others have taken at that location. That’s huge !
Available from the iTunes Store
Jalopnik Car Pack Available now
The latest round of Forza 3 DLC is out. Jalopnik is a Gawker Media blog that focuses on everything car-related. Naturally they’ve partnered with Forza to bring a hot new lineup of cars to the game in the for of DLC. The Jalopnik Car Pack which contains 10 cars will set you back 400 Microsoft points (A$6.60).
Jalopnik Car Pack includes:
2008 MAZDA FURAI
2010 HONDA CIVIC TYPE R MUGEN
2009 #40 ROBERTSON RACING FORD GT
2010 ASTON MARTIN RAPIDE
2011 BMW Z4
2010 AUDI TT RS
2010 #33 RSR JAGUAR XKR
2010 PORSCHE 911 SPORT CLASSIC
2010 ASTON MARTIN V12 VANTAGE
1992 BUGATTI EB110SS
More @ ForzaMotorsport.net
Forza Update
Forza fans shouldn’t forget there’s a major patch due for release in the next 24hrs. Codenamed Title Update 4 (TU4), the patch will be rolling out between 2AM and 4AM PST. There’s lots of changes coming, best to read all the info over at ForzaMotorsport.
Adobe shows off Flash/AIR on the HP slate
The last time we seen the HP slate was during Steve Ballmer’s keynote speech at CES. Information has been so scarce that many were starting to call it vapourware. With no confirmed ship date, specs or price, it’s easy to understand why, especially with it’s greatest competitor – the Apple iPad only a month away from shipping.
Adobe shows off the HP slate running Flash in the browser, based on 10.1, it makes use of GPU acceleration to reduce CPU cycles. Also showcased in the video is the ability to run Adobe AIR apps in Windows 7 on the slate. These are out of browser apps that make use of the Windows 7 on-screen keyboard for input. Those familiar with the on-screen keyboard would know this is resizable so as to adjust to your hand size.
Update
There’s now an embeddable version on YouTube.
Watch the video @ Adobe
YouTube Audio Transcription broken, hates Australians
Announced on the 5th of March, YouTube had added audio transcription to videos in an effort to increase accessibility. Just hover over the CC button in the player, then select the ‘Transcribe Audio’ option. Available in 50 different languages, it’s an ambitious venture from Google. One that could potentially open up videos to truly world-wide viewing.
The Transcribe audio feature is currently in beta and they’ve certainly got some work to do. I tested it on one of my videos (obviously have an Australian accent), it got this sentence completely wrong.
In the example below, I actually say the words:
“Hi this is Jason from Wodonga Australia and I think the story of the decade has..”
YouTube Translate interprets what I said as:
”but is this just in from would over a stray a and I think the story of the day Kennedy has”.
Clearly it’s not even close, naturally I wasn’t expecting 100% accuracy here, but this translation is so far off, it’s completely unusable. Have you experienced the same results ?
More @ YouTube and the YouTube Blog
Office 2010 release date announced
Microsoft have officially announced May 12th, 2010 will be the launch date for Office 2010 and SharePoint 2010. This date represents the retail launch of the products, with the RTM date scheduled for sometime in April. This means MSDN and TechNet subscribers should have the bits before the end of April.
Office 2010 provides some important updates like the ribbon UI across all apps, new backstage view, threaded email conversations, social connector add-in support and some much needed updated same templates. Ultimately its a very polished Office 2007, using the same .docx, .xlsx file types. New in 2010 is the web apps, although we’re still yet to see editing of word docs online, this should be available at launch.
Here’s a good comparison video showing what’s new in Office 2010 and Office 2007.
SharePoint 2010 on the other hand is a massive upgrade on SharePoint 2007. A completely new UI features the ribbon that users are familiar with from the using Office products. There’s also an extended range of in-built site types. Integration between SharePoint and Office has been improved with a new SharePoint Workspace application added to Office. This allows important SharePoint content to be available whilst offline. If you create any new documents while out on the road, you can easily sync these back when you return to the office.
More @ Microsoft SharePoint Team Blog