NAS Boxes or Network Attached Storage boxes are becoming more and more popular not only for their uses but because they are getting more and more powerful and feature packed! When NAS boxes first came out they were your basic network storage solution but now they got their own CPUs, ram and operating systems built into them so that they are basically a server that can do on a small scale what mutli-thousand dollar servers do. With these new breeds of NAS boxes you can even host your own website, stream media, and of course access your data from anywhere in the world just by typing in a web address.

A little bit ago I took a look at the Thecus N3200 NAS box and it was a nice choice overall, but today for review I’ve got the TS-109 Pro II Turbo NAS from QNAP that personally I like much better than the Thecus. One of the main reasons is that it only uses one drive, the other reason is because of the features and abilities of the TS-109 Pro II, this box is small but packed to the brim with numerous features that anyone will love and use. This box even has a 500Mhz CPU with 256MB of DDR2 ram built in to make sure the system runs smoothly and does what you want when you want it to.

So continue on to learn more about a very nice product from QNAP…

Read Full Review HERE

QNAP TS-409 Pro Turbo NAS Honored Golden Bear Award from Bjorn3d
& Editor’s Choice from techPowerUp

Taipei, Taiwan, August 2008 - The leading storage solution provider QNAP Systems, Inc. today announced its All-in-One TS-409 Pro Turbo NAS has been honored the “Golden Bear Award” from Bjorn3d.com and “Editor’s Choice” from techPowerUp.com for its complete functions, good performance, ease of use, and outstanding RAID features for data protection.

The 4-bay, hot-swappable TS-409 Pro Turbo NAS is designed for business users who require high performance, mass storage, and useful server features. Powered by 500 MHz CPU and 256MB DRII memory, the NAS supports a wide range of enterprise-grade server features, e.g. RAID 0/ 1/ 5/ 6/ 5+spare disk redundancy, Online RAID Capacity Expansion, Online RAID Level Migration, HDD S.M.A.R.T. and complete log system. According to Bjorn3d, “After more than a month of use extensively testing the TS-409 we were left very favorably impressed, especially with the seemingly endless array of features and available configurations…(The TS-409 Pro) offered good performance, data protection, and differentiated themselves from their competition.”

The TS-409 Pro offers advanced RAID protection features which are rarely seen in other NASes of the same level. The unique Online RAID Capacity Expansion enables users to purchase the most cost-effective hard drives for initial server setup and upgrade to larger ones in the future. The Online RAID Level Migration allows users to start from one drive firstly and add more to upgrade the RAID level in the future with the data retained. As techPowerUp commented, “The added value comes from the extra disks and RAID levels supported. And when I say RAID I’m not talking about a simple onboard controller, the QNAP TS-409 Pro surprised me with RAID 6 (although slightly pointless with only 4 disks) and features like online expansion and migration. Such functionality is usually only found on advanced controllers you’d find in high end servers.”

The TS-409 Pro supports multiple file sharing protocols for users to share files across Linux, UNIX, Mac, and Windows platforms. Abundant valuable server functions including File Server, FTP Server, Web Server and Printer Server, etc., are supported. Also, encrypted remote replication and backup to external devices are available to enhance data protection. Various data storage and management mechanisms, e.g. FTP server with SSL/TLS encrypted technology, SSH login, and web page SSL login are offered for secure data transfer and sharing. Moreover, the TS-409 Pro adopts silent fan and power-saving design which is excellent for long-term operation and deployment in small business environment without server room. The hot-swap design is supported for replacing failed hard drive of a RAID configuration without turning off the server to ensure non-stop services and minimize maintenance cost and effort. Besides, the HDD S.M.A.R.T. provides complete information of the hard drive status to prevent potential physical drive failure. The comprehensive log system summarizes the detail data access records and connection status to server administrator. All error and warning messages can also be sent via e-mail alerts for ease of maintenance.

About Bjorn3d.com and techPowerUp.com
Bjorn3d and techPowerUp are the influential and professional online media devoted to providing interesting computer news, and best-in-hand reviews and previews to readers. For the complete review of Bjorn3d.com on QNAP TS-409 Pro, please visit http://www.bjorn3d.com/read.php?cID=1280&pageID=4870. To read the review of the TS-409 Pro from techPowerUp.com, please visit http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/QNAP/TS409.

For the specifications and features of QNAP TS-409 series, please visit http://www.qnap.com/pro_detail_feature.asp?p_id=85. You may also visit QNAP forum to join the discussion about using QNAP NAS. http://forum.qnap.com.

About QNAP
QNAP Systems, Inc. (QNAP) is a devoted and dominant provider of Internet Appliance products. With our solid and integrated expertise in the Linux embedded platform, QNAP has released more than 30 models for the network storage and digital network surveillance series over the past 5 years, providing our consumers with high performance and high reliability storage, backup, and surveillance solutions. Today, QNAP continues to lead the industry with our innovation in design and technology. Our products have gained worldwide recognition. For example, TS-409 Pro was honored “Golden Bear Award” from Bjorn3d (US), “Gold Award” from HWM (Singapore, Malaysia), “Dam Good” from Hardware Canucks (Canada), and “Golden Tachometer Award” from Benchmark Reviews (US) etc. TS-409U was awarded “Editor’s Choice” from Bios Level (US). TS-109 Pro was honored the “The Best NAS Box” from MAXIMUMPC (US), “Lord of NAS” from Hexus (UK), and “Golden Bear Award” from Bjorn3d (US) etc. TS-209 Pro was honored “Gold Medal Award” from ComputerGEIL.dk (Denmark), Golden Award from InfoMods (France), and “Product of the Year 2007″ from Hardware-TEST.dk (Denmark) etc.

NEW CONTENT (Visual) - ASUS GeForce EN9600GT Matrix Graphics Card

QUOTE: “Just when we thought we would no longer receive any more 9600 GTs because we figured we’d reviewed just about every single one on the market, ASUS has decided to run around and release a new one.

The particular card we’re looking at today is part of the Republic of Gamers collection, which is something we tend to see more in the motherboard department. It makes a lot of sense, though, that ASUS are going to expand this popular naming scheme out to more than just motherboards. This new card comes to us as the EN9600GT Matrix. Matrix is also something we haven’t heard of from ASUS before, so it will be interesting to see if they’re going to start creating some new lines.”

For more information, please visit - http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/1564/asus_geforce_en9600gt_matrix_graphics_card/index.html

Best Regards,

The TweakTown Team
http://www.tweaktown.com

While Craig Barrett delivered a rather non-technical, but socially-charged keynote earlier in the day at IDF, Pat Gelsinger’s (Intel Senior Vice President and General Manager, Digital Enterprise Group) keynote address by contrast was all about the tech.  We’ve got all of the details of Gelsinger’s keynote which includes news on Nehalem and Larrabee posted right here:

IDF Day 1: Pat Gelsinger Keynote: Embedded + Dynamic + Visual:

http://www.hothardware.com/Articles/IDF-Day-1-Pat-Gelsinger-Keynote-IA-Embedded–Dynamic–Visual/

Immediately following Pat Gelsinger was David Perlmutter (Intel Senior Vice President and General Manager, Mobility Group).  David delivered the final keynote of the first day of IDF and talk about Intel’s mobile offerings.  The details of the keynote are available here:

IDF Day 1: David Perlmutter: “Where Will ‘On-the-Go’ Go?”:

http://www.hothardware.com/Articles/IDF-Day-1-David-Perlmutter-Where-Will-OntheGo-Go/

BurnOutPC.com has just posted their review on the Noctua NH-C12P Cooler.

Quote
“Sporting 6 heat pipes and the award-winning, psycho-acoustically optimized NF-P12 120mm fan, the NH-C12P achieves excellent performance and outstanding quietness. The down-facing c-type design doesn’t only allow for optimal motherboard and case compatibility, but also provides additional cooling for motherboard components through two Airflow-Gaps. Outfitted with the professional SecuFirm™ mounting system and Noctua’s much acclaimed NT-H1 thermal compound, the NH-C12P is a premium-class silent cooler through and through.”

Direct Link - http://www.burnoutpc.com/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=303

Date: 08-20-2008 By Elric PharesUnderneath almost every 280 card sticker is the same card in the GTX280 family of cards, with differences being cosmetic in nature in almost every case. There are a few bold partners who make spec changes and such, but that is a limited number of cards being brought to market at best. My point is this; almost every GTX280 you see on the shelf was made with the same spec and same manufacturing procedures so who you buy from becomes a very valid concern in a sea of manufactures. Palit is the biggest NVIDIA and ATI partner with the positions and distribution levels to bring solid business to the game. The Palit GTX280 is another Gamer’s Choice Gold as it features the fastest single chipset card in the world the NVIDIA GTX280 and Palit’s card is priced at under $500.00, a winning price at this time point.

Link: http://www.gamepyre.com/hardwared.html?aid=999&p=1

Lian-Li V1100 Black Case Review

Author: Benjamin Sun Date: 08-20-2008

Lian Li cases are the best designed in the business and this is one of them. The V1100 Black has five 5.25″ drive bays, but more importantly, has the ability to install six HDDs. There are a total of four 120mm fans on the case, offering total cooling solution for any user with the caveat that tall CPU coolers will preclude the optimal use of the fans. Otherwise the case has the features, and looks to be well worth the price online. Quality cases are important for the hardware enthusiast as it determines what can be installed in the computer. This is a very stylish piece of equipment and it is very functional as well as being attractive to the eye. Its priced in the mid $200.00 range and is available online and at a few retail outlets.

Review Link: http://www.motherboards.org/reviews/hardware/1806_1.html

Title: Nikon Coolpix S600 Camera Review
Link: http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/607
Category: Reviews

Summary:
Our review of Nikon S600 10 Mpixel digital camera.

Here is a snippet:
“Nikon boasts their Coolpix S600 as the camera with the world’s fastest start-up time and the world’s most compact design. We set out to check out these claims as well as to test the capabilities of this small point-and-shoot camera. We will look at the S600 from the view-point of the everyday photographer.”