|
|
|
|
 |
March 2007 |
|
|
|
|
|
Welcome to B&D System Engineers newsletter for March.
We would like to keep you up to date with the latest IT developments and
trust you will enjoy reading this newsletter.
| |
|
|
How is a Personal Media Player different from a DVD player?
Instead
of playing movies from DVD discs, a PMP will typically have
flash memory or a hard drive for storing digital videos, which
are usually stored in the Xvid, DivX and WMV formats that are
popular on the net.
How do I get video on my PMP?
All
PMPs allow you to download video from your computer via USB.
Some also have onboard recording so you can hook them up to your
DSTV decoder and record TV directly, eliminating the need for a
PC.
What's the quality like?
It depends on
the quality of the original file, but most PMPs are capable of
playing video that looks as good as movies on DVD. Some players,
such as the Creative Zen Vision W, can even play Hi-Def video,
although they have to scale it down in order to make it fit on
to their standard definition screens.
How many movies can I fit on to the hard disk?
A full
movie encoded in Xvid or WMV format at a similar resolution to
DVD will typically take up between 700MB and 1.2GB of disk
space. That means you can fit 25 to 30 full length movies
recorded at DVD quality on a machine with a 30GB hard drive. Of
coarse, lower quality video takes up less space, so you can fit
more on your player by recording or encoding your video at lower
resolution or with higher compression.
Will I be able to hook my player up to my television?
Yes,
many media players have an AV output jack that lets you connect
them to a standard TV. Using the AV cable that's supplied with
the player, you'll be able to connect it to the composite or
S-Video socket on your TV. An AV output is handy if you want to
watch movies at a friend's place, for example.
Will I be able to listen to my music tracks as well?
Absolutely.
All PMPs allow you to listen to music in compressed digital
formats such as MP3 and WMA. Players that are branded with
Microsoft's plays for sure logo can also be used with
subscription services like Napster.
 What about photos?
As
well as video and music playback, all PMPs allow you to store
digital pictures on them. Some even have a host USB port, which
means you can connect your camera directly to your player and
transfer images without the need for a PC. Supported file
formats usually include JPEG, BMP and PNG. |
|
|
The new Sony Playstation 3 is arriving in March 2007
The trio of next generation consoles is complete, will the PS3 be crowned king of gaming?
Sony's Playstation 3 (PS3) gaming console will be available in South
Africa on the 23rd of March 2007. An expected 1 million gaming
units will be available with the launch of the Playstation.
The bulky
Sony PS3 weighs in at 5kg, the equivalent of precisely
five-and-a-half Playstation 2s. It certainly looks the business
though, with shiny black casing and silver trim and ‘PlayStation
3’ emblazoned across the top, or its side, if you stand the
console vertically.
A lot of powerful technology has been packed inside the box too, including a Blu-ray drive and support for 1080p high definition (HD) video
The PS3 does have some fancy tricks up its sleeve. That 60GB
hard disk is great for media functions such as storing music
files, photos for slideshows and downloadable content such as
movies, demos and trailers.
The internal hard disk drive is upgradeable and it's also possible to play back and store media on external USB drives, so storage need never be an issue. Using Wifi, you can wirelessly connect a Sony PSP and stream media, providing you're in about a 10m range.
No word has been spoken about how much
the Playstation is going to cost. Apparently only the 60GB model
will be available and will be costing more or less between
R6200.00 and R6500.00.
*Please note that
B&D will not be
selling the Sony Playstation. above article is just for your
information. |
- Intel research Chip Advances 'Era Of Tera'
|
 80 - Core Programmable Processor First to
Deliver Teraflop Performance with Remarkable Energy Efficiency
Intel Corporation researchers have developed the world's first
programmable processor that delivers supercomputer-like
performance from a single, 80-core chip not much larger than the
size of a finger nail while using less electricity than most of
today's home appliances. This is the result of the company's
innovative 'Tera-scale computing' research aimed at delivering
Teraflop--or trillions of calculations per second --performance
for future PCs and servers.
Intel has no plans to bring
this exact chip designed with floating point cores to market.
However, the company's Tera-scale research is instrumental in
investigating new innovations in individual or specialized
processor or core functions, the types of chip-to-chip and
chip-to-computer interconnects required to best move data and
most importantly, how software will need to be designed to best
leverage multiple processor cores. This Teraflop research chip
offered specific insights in new silicon design methodologies,
high bandwidth interconnects and energy management approaches.
The
first time Teraflop performance that was achieved was in 1996.
That computer, that was built by Intel, took up more than 185m²,
was powered by nearly 10,000 Pentium Pro processors, and
consumed over 500 kilowatts of electricity. Intel's research
chip achieves this same performance on a multi-core chip that
could rest on the tip of a finger.
Also remarkable is
that this 80-core research chip achieves a teraflop of
performance while consuming only 62 watts - less than many
single-core processors today.
The Teraflop chip also
features a mesh-like "network-on-a-chip" architecture allowing
super high bandwidth communications between the cores, and
capable of moving Terabits of data per second inside the chip.
The research also investigated methods to power cores on and off
independently, so only the ones needed to complete a task are
used, providing more energy efficiency. |
- Windows Vista Top 10 Tips & Tricks
|
Search & Organize in
Windows Vista
1 - Explore the new Windows Vista start menu.
Looking for specific applications, Web sites, and e-mails
is faster than ever with the streamlined Windows Vista
start menu. To find a specific application or file, click the
Windows key on the keyboard (or open the start menu)
and enter the file name in the Instant Search field. As
you type, Windows Vista dynamically searches filenames,
metadata, and the full text of all files and displays the
choices by file type. For example, type “out” to find
Microsoft® Outlook®.
2 - Discover the new search
explorer.
Try filtering by type using the search pane and selecting
Documents. Next choose to see your files in another way,
via the new stack view. Select the author column header
control drop down menu, and choose the option to Stack
by author. Explore all the documents by a particular
author by double clicking on an author’s stack. Now, save
that search as a new search folder. Choose the option
Save Search found on the top command bar and name
and save your search folder. In the future, to
re-run it, simply select the Searches folder link on the
left side navigation pane, and double click on your search
folder.
3 - Experience the enhanced user
interface.
If your PC supports the Windows® Aero™ user experience,
open multiple files and see how easy it is to locate the
right open window using the breakthrough Windows Flip
(simply ALT+TAB) or Flip 3D (Windows key+TAB).
Browsing with Internet
Explorer 7
4 - Browse multiple Web sites.
Tabbed browsing in Internet Explorer® 7 enables a single
Internet Explorer window to run with the convenience of
multiple pages. Open a new page by clicking the empty
tab on the toolbar or by right-clicking any hyperlink and
choosing New Tab. Tabs can also be right-clicked to
refresh individual pages or refresh pages as a group. You
can close either individual tabs or an entire group, and
you can save tabs as one favorite group. With the Quick
Tabs feature, the icon just to the right of the Favorites
icon, thumbnail images of all open tabs can be seen in a
single view helping you manage multiple open tabs.
5 -
Print picture perfect Web content.
Most Web sites are simply not formatted to fit cleanly on a
standard piece of paper. With the new shrink to fit printing
feature found in Internet Explorer 7 Web sites will no
longer get cut off when sent to the printer.
Collaboration
6 - Collaborate with a co-worker.
Want an easy way to share files and applications with a
colleague or customer—even when you may not be part
of the same network? Windows Meeting Space is a new
experience in Windows Vista that enables you to start
an impromptu collaboration session with other Windows
Vista users. Simply open Windows Meeting Space and
start a session. Windows Vista will automatically detect
other Windows Vista users that are on the same sub-net
infrastructure or close enough for you to create an
ad hoc (direct PC-to-PC connection) wireless connection.
Once you have invited them and they have accepted,
you can share documents by simply dragging a document
to the Handouts area on the bottom right which instantly
replicates that file across the other meeting participants’
machines. Dragging the file to the presentation area on
the left side starts application sharing, enabling the other
participants to watch as you present that file. If someone
has a good edit for your file, you can make that edit in
real time, or pass control of the application directly to that
participant for them to make that edit for you.
7 -
Share a folder or file directly from your PC.
Windows Vista improves on the Windows network folder
sharing experience first introduced with Windows XP by
giving you more flexibility in what you can share with other
people and improving the setup process. With Windows
Vista you can now share folders and individual files with
any other user on the same corporate network. From any
explorer, select a file or folder and on the command bar
choose the option to Share. Enter the name of another
user on the same network, and give them appropriate
rights of access—reader, co-owner, etc. To help close the
loop, Windows Vista can even automatically compose an
e-mail to the individuals with which you have shared the
content. The auto-generated e-mail contains a hyperlink
to the shared content, enabling the recipient to instantly
be taken to the shared content.
8 - Create an XPS
Document.
XPS documents are a new archiving format perfect for
preserving content and for securely sharing information
in an application independent way. To create an XPS
document, open any document in virtually any application,
and select the print option. In the printer selection menu,
choose Microsoft XPS Document Writer, and save the
file. Double click on the file, which should open it in the
XPS Viewer, which is hosted by Internet Explorer 7. The
XPS document is a pixel-perfect rendition of the original
source material.
Backup & Security
9 - Speed up your PC’s performance.
Windows Vista introduces a new concept for adding
additional performance to a running system. Windows
ReadyBoost™ lets people use flash memory on a USB
2.0 drive, SD Card, Compact Flash, or other memory form
factor to provide additional memory cache—memory that
the computer can access much more quickly than it can
access data on the hard drive. Insert a USB 2.0 memory
drive with at least 512 MB capacity. When prompted, click
use this device to speed up my computer.
10 - Recover a previous version of a document.
Windows Vista introduces a new feature: Previous
Versions. This allows you to “roll back” the clock to an
earlier version of a file that you may have accidentally
saved over or edited. In the Documents Explorer, open a
document, edit it, save it, and then close it. While selecting
the document, choose the Previous Versions option on
the command bar, which will bring up a list of previously
saved versions of the individual file. Choose a previous
version and Windows Vista will restore your file to that
version. Careful: all edits since that version will be lost.
|
.
|
Our Support hours are from 08h00 until 18h00 (Monday to Friday) |
| |
|
|
1 |
The central Support number is 086 123 HELP (4357) |
|
2 |
Technical and on-site support is available during normal
business hours: |
| |
Monday to Friday 08h00 to 17h00. |
|
3 |
Telephonic support
is available Monday to Friday 08h00 to 18h00 |
|
4 |
Support e-mail Address:
support@bdse.co.za |
|
5 |
Support Desk – Web Access:
http://support.bdse.co.za |
| |
|
| |
|
|
All support requests must be logged through the support desk, either by telephone, email or through the web portal
A field technician is not able to log a support request on your behalf;
Support requests may only be logged by our designated support staff
|
|
|
Remember to visit our website at
www.bdse.co.za
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Life at B&D |
| |
 |
| B&D System Engineers understands that there is more to a job than work. |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
Newsletter |
|
|
|
|
| Read more about the
latest technology. |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
| |
| |
| |
| |
|
|
|
