June 2012
Tail Toes Eyes Ears Nose by Auryn, Inc. – iMums Review
June 29, 2012
iMums - June 29, 2012 By Amanda Tail Toes Eyes Ears Nose by Auryn Inc. is a charming book app aimed at children 2-5 that helps them learn to recognise different parts of the body on animals and humans. Originally a print book written by Marilee Robin Burton, it has made a successful transition to digital which opens up a whole new world of interactivity, much to the delight of children that love the printed version. Familiar animals such as a horse, pig, mouse, cat, dog, rabbit and more are depicted throughout the book which has a riddle-type element to it. Each page begins by showing just the animals tail, toes, eyes, ears and nose with the main part of the body missing so the reader must guess the animal in question. The app features simple animations and basic navigation, easy enough for the intended age group to use, and offers three ways to experience the story. With “Read myself” mode chosen, there is no continuous narration and the user can simply touch the various parts of the animal to have them read aloud and once all the body parts on a page have been touched, the animal is then revealed. In “Read to me” mode, the user will have the story read aloud with the narrator identifying the body parts until the whole body is revealed and the user can then swipe to move to the next page. “Auto play” will also be read aloud in the same fashion except once the animal is revealed, it will move to the next page automatically. To return to the home screen, the user must finish the story or swipe to the very end so perhaps a button to easily return to the home screen would make a great update. Tail Toes Eyes Ears Nose is an entertaining and enjoyable way for children to learn body parts and is sure to captivate early readers and non-readers alike. The real highlight of this book is the young narrator with his hilarious animal noise interpretations. He manages to have all three of my boys and I in hysterics each time we read the story. The app contains no advertisements or social links but does include an ‘Information’ button on the home screen that links to your Auryn Library and other Auracle titles available for purchase from the App Store. The app is very reasonably priced and is worth a purchase for the giggle factor alone! Check out the iPad lite version for yourself. Our Rating: 4/5 Category: Books Requirements: Compatible with iPad. Requires iOS 4.3 or later. Cost: iPhone AU$1.99 (10.2 MB) – iPad AU$1.99 (10.4MB) Disclosure:Pricing was correct at the time of publishing the review but is subject to change so please confirm before downloading. Developers sometimes supply promo codes to download their app for review on this website. Unless explicitly stated, we have no affiliation or relationship with the supplier of the app or product being reviewed. The views and opinions expressed on this website are purely the authors own.
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Pricelock Adds Railcar Lease Auction Capabilities to its Award-Winning Auction Platform
June 28, 2012
REDWOOD CITY, CA (June 28, 2012)—Pricelock, a leader in online energy auctions announced today the addition of railcar leases to Marketplace, its suite of energy and energy-related product auctions, and the completion of its first railcar lease auction. The platform supports all types of railcars including those used for transportation of crude oil, coal, ethanol, fracking sand, agriculture and mining products. The Pricelock platform, designed in close collaboration with railcar lessees and lessors, supports railcar leasing companies looking to get the best price for their railcars by auctioning them to the highest bidder. It works equally well for shippers who are soliciting competitive lease terms to replace railcars or extend their fleet. “Marketplace has already brought tremendous efficiencies and transparencies to the process of buying and selling energy,” said Naveen Agarwal, chief executive officer. “We are pleased to bring the same efficiencies to the infrastructure underlying our national energy supply chain with the addition of railcar lease auctions and look forward to expanding into the railroad, agricultural and mining markets which have the same logistics and pricing challenges as their energy counterparts.” The lessee in today’s real-time auction, a large shipper seeking to lease coal railcars for a variety of terms, chose to lease 20% more railcars than anticipated due to the efficiencies realized on the platform. In addition, by using Marketplace the shipper was able to eliminate the cumbersome process of soliciting and analyzing bids. The platform allowed the shipper to define their specifications and attribute costs based on any factors such as the type and age of the cars or full vs. net service options. This information was used to automatically adjust the bids so all counterparties knew what was needed to create a winning bid. Marketplace allows buyers and sellers to create highly customized auctions in either real-time or sealed bid formats. By bringing this process online, Marketplace creates money-saving efficiencies for everyone involved. “Pricelock’s singular mission is to transform the way energy and related products are bought and sold by major companies around the world.” Agarwal said. About Pricelock Pricelock, headquartered in Silicon Valley, leverages breakthrough technology to offer major energy buyers and sellers the most powerful and easy-to-use online energy auction platform. The company serves some of the largest power generators, utilities, commercial buyers, railroads, and airlines in North America. Its solutions are designed in close collaboration with leading industry buyers and sellers of gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, natural gas, storage, pipeline capacity, power, coal and railcars to offer customers the ability to understand, control, and reduce energy costs in innovative ways. Pricelock is proud to have been recognized on the Forbes list of America’s Most Promising Companies, awarded the Global Energy Award of Excellence by Platts, and named one of the Hottest Companies in Silicon Valley by Lead 411. Pricelock’s investors include Artiman Ventures, Barclays, Goldman Sachs, RenaissanceRe and Traveler’s Insurance. To learn more about Pricelock please visit www.pricelock.com. Contact information Pricelock Inc. Phone: 650.517.5400
Continue Reading »Infinite Z Appoints VP of Hardware Engineering to Accelerate Product Development
June 27, 2012
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA — June 27, 2012 — Infinite Z, Inc.®, a technology provider that enables virtual-holographic 3D imagery to bring designs to life, today announced that Kevin Morishige has joined the company as vice president of hardware engineering. Morishige is a senior executive with 23 years experience growing hardware and architecture teams for numerous industry leaders and start-up companies specializing in workstation, networking, and mobile electronics. He has managed product development teams through the full range of the product life cycle, from initial concept to volume production. “I am extremely impressed with Kevin’s broad experience with hardware, software, and user interface development,” said Paul Kellenberger, CEO of Infinite Z. “We are happy to have Kevin leading our hardware team to drive the innovation of our next generation technology.” At Infinite Z, Morishige will lead the hardware engineering function and focus on product development of their 3D virtual-holographic product, zSpace. He has extensive experience working with suppliers and manufacturing partners worldwide, with a particular emphasis in India. Morishige comes to Infinite Z from Hewlett Packard, where he was vice president of engineering responsible for leading a team of specialists in the areas of RF/antenna, display, WiFi/BT/NFC, touch, cameras, power, performance analysis/benchmarking and CPU architecture. Prior to that, he served 11 years as senior director of engineering for Cisco Systems, Inc. where he managed teams of hardware, software and ASIC engineers, and contributed to product architecture and definition. About Infinite Z, Inc. Infinite Z, Inc. ® is a digital design technology provider that enables natural interaction with virtual-holographic 3D imagery to bring designs to life. The company’s mission is to transform human interactions with today’s computing environment into an incredibly lifelike, interactive and immersive experience. Its revolutionary platform, zSpace®, provides a highly realistic visualization experience that enables designers and engineers to directly interact with virtual holographic simulations as if they were real physical objects, which accelerates the design and development process and increases productivity. Infinite Z is a privately held, venture backed company located in Mountain View, CA, and has filed more than 30 patents for its innovative technologies. For additional information about zSpace, visit http://www.zspace.com/ Press Contact Mike Harper Infinite Z 408-493-0819 x595 mharper@infinitez.com
Continue Reading »Looxcie Buzz - June 2012
June 27, 2012
The Today Show - Today's Father's Day Gift Guide Clip "Somebody at home can watch the video or you can download it later… edit it, do whatever you want." MSN.com - Bring The Road Trip Homie in 3D Video "...Looxcie is a low-cost, high-output device…" USAToday.com - Valentine’s Day Technology Gifts - Tech Gift Guide Roundup 2012 "The recent addition of accessories and streaming allows users to record from almost any surface and stream live feeds in real time to those who matter most."
Continue Reading »Chuggy and The Blue Caboose by Auryn Apps
June 27, 2012
Chuggy and The Blue Caboose by Auryn Apps - iMums Review June 27, 2012 By Mary Chuggy and The Blue Caboose is based on the print book of the same name by Lydia and Don Freeman, author of the Corduroy books, and it is brought to the app store by Auryn apps. It is available in both HD (iPad only) and universal versions. This charming story can be enjoyed in read to me, read myself or autoplay modes, and the words are highlighted as it is read. As well as enjoying it in its original form you can personalize it – this option allows you not only to record your own narration but also to change the text too. When an image is touched it is labelled and the word spoken, you can also touch a word to hear it spoken. This story was originally published in 1951 and is currently out of print, the original illustrations give it an old-fashioned feel, but that just adds to it’s charm. Lucy is a blue caboose, she was once part of a circus train, but years before she had come loose and was left standing alone on a siding near a busy rail yard. All the other cabooses made fun of her for being different – for who has ever heard of a blue caboose? She has just one friend – Chuggy, an old-fashioned little engine who works in the train yard switching, hitching, pushing and pulling the freight cars. Chuggy is lonely too- the other engines laugh at him and call him old-fashioned ,even though he once was a snow plough train in the Rocky Mountains. One harsh winter Chuggy is very pleased for his friend when Lucy gets turned into a club car for the switchmen, and she is lit up and in use again. When a heavy snowfall, comes the railway grinds to a halt until Chuggy saves the day, the other trains now see him as a hero instead of a has-been. When the winter is over, their friend Mitch the Switchman finds Chuggy and Lucy a new home as part of a circus train and they chugg on happily ever after. I really enjoyed this story, it has a lovely feel to it, I originally chose it for my train crazy son, but it has a much wider appeal than that – it is a great story for any kid. As well as being a story about trains it is a story about friendships, accepting differences and realizing that everyone has their own role to play. The word highlighting as it is read, word association and personalization options are all great features to encourage children to read and get involved in the story. I would highly recommend this book. Requirements: Chuggy and The Blue Caboose HD: Compatible with iPad. Requires iOS 4.3 or later. Cost: $3.99 (78.7MB) Requirements: Chuggy and The Blue Caboose: Compatible with iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. Requires iOS 4.3 or later. Cost: $3.99 (78.5MB) Disclosure:Pricing was correct at the time of publishing the review but is subject to change so please confirm before downloading. Developers sometimes supply promo codes to download their app for review on this website. Unless explicitly stated, we have no affiliation or relationship with the supplier of the app or product being reviewed. The views and opinions expressed on this website are purely the authors own. The iMums will only ever endorse apps or products that we believe, based on our experience, are worthy of endorsement. For our full disclosure, please click here.
Continue Reading »InfiniteZ Article - Space: The Future of 3D Learning
June 25, 2012
Getting Smart, Tom Vander Ark - June 25, 2012 I started my engineering career on a drafting board in the late seventies before CAD programs were widely used. I recall the challenge of drawing objects in multiple perspectives. I remember my calculus teacher asking me to imagine rotating a curve around an axis. Today I visited the future of 3D learning and I’m excited about what’s in store for STEM students. Zspace is an immersive, interactive 3D environment created by InfiniteZ, a five year old company in Mountain View (also home of Google and Khan Academy). CEO Paul Kellenberger launched me on an amazing 3D field trip into Zspace, a beautiful 24 inch stereoscopic user interface. After putting on the polarized passive 3D glasses I was able to examine machine parts in ultra-high realism—not just rotating but picking them off the screen and seemingly putting them right in front of my nose for up close inspection. I toured levels of a building in extraordinary detail. With a laser stylus, I was able to dissect a robotic arm. With a movable camera, I could view any aspect of any environment from any angle. I sent the camera careening around a virtual environment and watched the movie it created. The implications for design and learning are immediately obvious, but Zspace is a platform—a hardware, software, and interface bundle—not yet a giant content library. InfiniteZ is beginning to form content partnerships and today works with objects created in many CAD applications including Autodesk Maya. There’s a developer’s zSpace software development kit (SDK) and a growing list of supported applications. These workstations will be pricy for a while, so Zspace is not an education 1:1 solution just yet. But every young person needs to experience an immersive design and learning space like this. These workstations should be in high school and college STEM labs and public libraries. Virtual dissections, field trips, and design projects must be part of every high school experience. Virtual environments like Zspace build the confidence of creators, fearlessness of experimenters, and conceptual understanding of calculators. Tom Vander Ark Tom is author of Getting Smart: How Digital Learning is Changing the World and founder of GettingSmart.com. Tom is also CEO of Open Education Solutions and a partner in Learn Capital, a venture capital firm investing in learning content, platforms, and services with the goal of transforming educational engagement, access, and effectiveness.
Continue Reading »Guavus Creates Technology Advisory Board
June 19, 2012
San Mateo, Calif. – June 19, 2012 – Guavus Inc., a leading provider of big data analytics solutions that enable service providers and enterprises to make intelligent and timely business decisions, today announced the formation of its Technology Advisory Board. Members include Boston University computer science professor and Guavus Chief Scientist Mark Crovella, Technicolor Chief Scientist Christophe Diot and University of Maryland Associate Professor Nick Feamster. The board's primary responsibility is to keep Guavus at the forefront of a rapidly evolving data science landscape. "Guavus's Technology Advisory Board is comprised of some of the best and brightest minds in data science," said Anukool Lakhina, founder and CEO of Guavus. "Their combined experience ensures that we remain at the forefront of technical innovation, and continue to develop novel data science methods to address some of the most challenging problems in large-scale data analysis." Mark Crovella was recently named Guavus's Chief Scientist and has been a Professor of Computer Science at Boston University since 1994. From 2003-2004 he was a Visiting Associate Professor at the Laboratoire d'Informatique de Paris VI (LIP6). He received a BS from Cornell University in 1982; he also earned an MS from the State University of New York at Buffalo and a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Rochester. The owner of five patents, Crovella co-authored Internet Measurement: Infrastructure, Traffic, and Applications (Wiley Press, 2006) and authored more than one hundred papers on networking and computer systems. As Chief Scientist for Technicolor, Christophe Diot is in charge of the company's long-term research strategy. Previously he worked with Intel Research in Cambridge, where he launched three projects in the area of network monitoring, wireless networking and opportunistic communication. Diot also worked with Sprint, where his research group designed a unique measurement infrastructure made of GPS synchronized packet traces, routing events, SNMP data, and active probing – which yielded design tools, models, and traffic engineering mechanisms for Sprint to increase performance and more easily manage networks. "Guavus has already made it clear that one of its lasting contributions to big data is the drastic reduction of the economic and technological risks associated with deploying an analytics system," said Diot. "Rather than sinking millions of dollars upfront into data storage and transport, Guavus's holistic approach of continuous analytics and agile proof-of-concept modeling, generates actionable solutions and accelerated ROI. It's this kind of edge that drew me to the company and that the board is committed to maintaining." Nick Feamster is currently the Darnell-Kanal Associate Professor of Computer Science in the Department of Computer Science at University of Maryland. Prior to this, he served as an associate professor in the College of Computing at Georgia Tech. His research focuses on many aspects of computer networking and networked systems, including the design, measurement, and analysis of network routing protocols, network operations and security and anonymous communication systems. In December 2008, he received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) for his contributions to cyber security. He received his Ph.D. in Computer science from MIT in 2005, and his S.B. and M.Eng. degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT in 2000 and 2001, respectively. "Mark, Christophe and I believe that Guavus has an innovative approach that addresses some of the most challenging big data problems" said Feamster. "With its focus on solving difficult problems associated with the data explosion – rather than provide tools to address bits and pieces of the puzzle – Guavus has demonstrated it has both the rigor and talent to consistently exceed customer expectations. It's the board's job to keep Guavus's overall technology ahead of the market." About Guavus Founded in June 2006, Guavus has been built from the ground up to unlock the value of operational, sensor and network generated big data and reduce the economic and technology risk associated with deploying a traditional business intelligence solution. Guavus big data analytics solutions, which are based on pioneering patent-pending technology, include the Guavus Reflex ™ platform integrated with a suite of analytics applications that enable intelligent and timely decision-making. Two of the top three mobile operators and backbone carriers in the United States utilize Guavus big data analytics solutions to control costs, maximize profits and deliver an enhanced end-to-end customer experience. The company is headquartered in San Mateo, CA with research and development offices in Gurgaon and Ahmedabad, India. For more information please visit us on Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter. Contact: Ty Sheppard Finn Partners for Guavus (310) 488-4495 ty@finnpartners.com
Continue Reading »Renowned Computer Science Professor Mark Crovella Joins Guavus Executive Team as Chief Scientist
June 19, 2012
San Mateo, Calif. – June 19, 2012 – Guavus Inc., a leading provider of big data analytics solutions that enable service providers and enterprises to make intelligent and timely decisions, today announced that Mark Crovella has joined the company as chief scientist. A global authority on data analytics, Crovella is also a professor of computer science at Boston University. "Guavus is incredibly honored by Mark's commitment to helping us continue our tradition of leadership and innovation in big data analytics," said Anukool Lakhina, founder and CEO of Guavus. "Mark is a true visionary whose guidance will be invaluable as we scale and enrich our architecture to accommodate the exponentially rising demand for timely and continuous analytics systems." Crovella has been a Professor of Computer Science at Boston University since 1994. From 2003-2004 he was a Visiting Associate Professor at the Laboratoire d'Informatique de Paris VI (LIP6). He received a BS from Cornell University in 1982; he also earned an MS from the State University of New York at Buffalo and a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Rochester. The owner of five patents, Crovella co-authored Internet Measurement: Infrastructure, Traffic, and Applications (Wiley Press, 2006) and authored more than one hundred papers on networking and computer systems. As Chief Scientist, Crovella is also an integral part of Guavus's Technology Advisory Board, whose anchor members include Technicolor Chief Scientist Christophe Diot and University of Maryland Darnell-Kanal Associate Professor of Computer Science, Nick Feamster. The board's primary responsibility is to keep Guavus at the forefront of a rapidly evolving data science landscape. "While some companies only offer pieces of analytics technology for niche deployments, Guavus has a truly horizontal and comprehensive approach to mastering the global big data opportunity across markets," said Crovella. "With a stable of tier-one clients and several more on deck, Guavus has steadily risen to the challenge of creating proven solutions for tackling the challenges associated with analyzing data so businesses can make smarter, timely decisions to gain a competitive edge. As chief scientist, my aim is to help Guavus bring to market even more innovative solutions as additional industries look to take advantage of big data to transform their business." About Guavus Founded in June 2006, Guavus has been built from the ground up to unlock the value of operational, sensor and network generated big data and reduce the economic and technology risk associated with deploying a traditional business intelligence solution. Guavus big data analytics solutions, which are based on pioneering patent-pending technology, include the Guavus Reflex ™ platform integrated with a suite of analytics applications that enable intelligent and timely decision-making. Two of the top three mobile operators and backbone carriers in the United States utilize Guavus big data analytics solutions to control costs, maximize profits and deliver an enhanced end-to-end customer experience. The company is headquartered in San Mateo, CA with research and development offices in Gurgaon and Ahmedabad, India. For more information please visit us on Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter. Contact: Ty Sheppard Finn Partners for Guavus (310) 488-4495 ty@finnpartners.com
Continue Reading »Vail Systems Deploys Virident FlashMAX to Deliver Real-Time Billing
June 19, 2012
MILPITAS, Calif., June 19th, 2012 - Virident Systems, a performance leader in flash-based Storage Class Memory (SCM) solutions, announced today that Vail Systems, an enhanced network services provider, has purchased the Virident FlashMAX™ solution to improve the response time of its customer-care database. Vail System's clients base their customer care on its hosting solutions, but existing hard disk drives were unable to support the desired response time to customer queries regarding billing records. With FlashMAX, response time has dropped from an average of five seconds to real time: as low as 500 milliseconds. A Top Hosting Company Vail Systems processes more than 48 million billing records a day. Vail Systems handles its customer billing records database in a Microsoft SQL Server, but the company's usage model made it difficult to maintain high performance with the system's hard disk drives. Each billing-record call created multiple sequential database writes that blocked read access until they were completed, and billing-record writes add more than 4.5 GB to the database each day. Client queries required significant disk access because the server's memory could not handle random access across the whole database. The databases are mirrored for redundancy, but while redundant writes occurred, they effectively blocked read operations. “We needed to eliminate the disk-drive bottleneck without changing the architecture of the billing system or the customer-care interface," said David Fruin, Vail Systems' vice president of engineering. "Re-engineering the billing system on a No-SQL solution wouldn't achieve these goals. We found that upgrading to Virident's FlashMAX boards dramatically increased performance without requiring us to make any other changes. And the improved performance has helped us differentiate our offerings as a competitive advantage.” Replacing the hard disk drives with Virident FlashMAX has provided Vail Systems with many benefits: The provider expects its improved billing system will be able to service two to four times more clients. Overhead of client-query performance on the SQL server is down by more than 50 percent. Database load capacity has doubled, allowing Vail Systems to store more billing records for clients to use as trending data. Hard drives had been a significant source of downtime; Vail Systems expects the Virident flash-based solution will improve the reliability of its systems and services. About Virident Systems Virident Systems enterprise-class Storage Class Memory (SCM) solutions deliver unconditional, consistent performance that supports the most data-intensive content and applications. The inherent advantage associated with this disruptive technology revolutionizes computing by speeding application response time and optimizing datacenter efficiency for new levels of ROI. Virident Systems is backed by strategic investors, Intel®, Cisco® Systems and a leading storage hardware and software solutions provider, as well as venture investors Globespan Capital Partners, Sequoia Capital, and Artiman Ventures. For more information, visit www.virident.com. Virident, Virident FlashMAX, vFAS and the Virident logo are trademarks of Virident Systems. All other products and services listed herein are trademarks of their respective companies. Media Contact: Todd Lane Trainer Communications virident@trainercomm.com 925.271.8213
Continue Reading »Virident Systems to Demonstrate How Flash Storage can Streamline MYSQL Performance at the O’Reilly Velocity 2012 Web Performance & Operations Conference
June 18, 2012
MILPITAS, CA - June 18th, 2012 - Virident Systems, a performance leader in flash-based storage class memory (SCM) solutions, will demonstrate solutions for optimizing MySQL performance using flash storage at the O’Reilly Velocity 2012 Web Performance & Operations Conference, June 25 – 27, 2012 at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, California. At its booth #703 during exhibit hall hours, Virident will demonstrate how to consolidate four MySQL servers into a single server, resulting in better scalability; cost reduction; power reduction; reduced data center footprint; and the ability to better handle demand growth for MySQL data using flash storage. Who: Virident Systems What: Solutions for optimizing MySQL performance using flash storage When: Tuesday, June 26, 10:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. and 6:00 – 7:00 p.m.; Wednesday, June 27, 10:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Where: Booth 703, O’Reilly Velocity 2012 Web Performance & Operations Conference, Santa Clara Convention Center, Santa Clara, California Virident FlashMAX, a PCIe storage class memory solution, ensures that application performance is 10 times faster than HDD systems at one-third of the total cost of ownership. FlashMAX offers the industry's highest storage capacity in the smallest footprint while delivering twice the performance of competing solutions. FlashMAX SCM has been designed from the ground up to fully exploit today’s computer architectures which leverage many fast CPU cores and the PCI Express interconnect bus to deliver maximum application performance. About Virident Systems Virident Systems enterprise-class Storage Class Memory (SCM) solutions deliver unconditional, consistent performance that supports the most data-intensive content and applications. The inherent advantage associated with this disruptive technology revolutionizes computing by speeding application response time and optimizing datacenter efficiency for new levels of ROI. Virident Systems is backed by strategic investors, Intel®, Cisco® Systems and a leading storage hardware and software solutions provider, as well as venture investors Globespan Capital Partners, Sequoia Capital, and Artiman Ventures. For more information, visit www.virident.com. Virident, Virident FlashMAX, vFAS and the Virident logo are trademarks of Virident Systems. All other products and services listed herein are trademarks of their respective companies. Media Contact: Todd Lane Trainer Communications virident@trainercomm.com 925.271.8213
Continue Reading »Prysm Demonstrates Live Telepresence at InfoComm 2012
June 15, 2012
Las Vegas, NV- June 15, 2012 - Prysm is demonstrating larger than life telepresence at InfoComm 2012, showing visitors how the two revolutionary technology platforms can create a seamless, lifelike viewing experience on a huge scale. Live action from the Cisco booth N904 is being transmitted in real time to Prysm’s booth N1062, to showcase lifesize, lifelike telepresence on a 6.6ft wide by 3.75ft tall Laser Phosphor Display (LPD) videowall. This incredible display will deliver Cisco experts giving demonstrations of the latest video collaboration solutions in a live environment. Laser Phosphor Display works by lasers scanning the surface of the screen and exciting the phosphors to create an image on the surface of the display. This process is incredibly environmentally friendly drawing just 30 watts of power per 25” tile which during the product lifetime will reduce the total cost of ownership when compared to other display forms. Amit Jain, Co Founder and CEO for Prysm commented: “It is an honor to work with Cisco, the worldwide leader in networking, to bring together our common goals of transforming how people connect, communicate and collaborate. Prysm’s LPD videowall will enable a seamless, Full HD resolution of live videoconferencing for visitors to see first-hand the power of the collaboration in action.” About Prysm Prysm, Inc. has invented a new display platform based on the Laser Phosphor Display (LPD) technology that it owns entirely. LPD is a large format display platform that can be organized in any size or shape to support a wide range of complete solutions for a variety of commercial markets. When compared to traditional technologies, LPD offers brilliant life-like and life-size displays which deliver truly immersive experiences, while offering the lowest cost of ownership and meeting the highest standards of environmental impact. Prysm is a privately held company based in Silicon Valley, California with sales offices in New York, San Jose, London, Dubai and Beijing. For more information, please visit http://www.prysm.com.
Continue Reading »Prysm Partners with Crestron at InfoComm 2012
June 15, 2012
Las Vegas, NV- June 15, 2012 - Display manufacturer Prysm has partnered with advanced home and building control automation solutions provider Crestron at infoComm 2012. Two cutting edge LPD videowall displays demonstrate the power of the automation solutions for visitors to booth C7508. Prysm manufacturers revolutionary Laser Phosphor Display (LPD) technology, which is perfect for creating seamless and lifelike videowall displays. The Crestron booth features a 10ft wide x 6ft tall formation videowall as the centerpiece for the presentation area, as well as a 4ft x 4ft combination with multi-touch capability. Jeffrey Singer, Director of Global Marketing Campaigns for Creston explains; “At InfoComm 2012 we are focused on demonstrating how Crestron brings all your technology and infrastructure together on one platform, enabling anything with a network connection to speak the same language, so every system and device works together seamlessly and can be managed from one view. Having Prysm LPD display technology on the booth enables us to show how videowalls can be integrated into the system in a live exhibition environment.” The presentation videowall will form the backdrop to the Crestron presentation stage where a series of technology seminars are planned throughout the event. The touchscreen demonstrates Crestron’s high speed control and collaboration in the Core 3 UI multi-touch experience. Amit Jain, CEO and Founder of Prysm explains; “We are pleased to be supporting such a respected global AV brand at Infocomm this year bringing our revolutionary technologies together to showcase the best in display. This demonstrates collaboration at its highest level and the integration of digital solutions.” About Prysm Prysm, Inc. has invented a new display platform based on the Laser Phosphor Display (LPD) technology that it owns entirely. LPD is a large format display platform that can be organized in any size or shape to support a wide range of complete solutions for a variety of commercial markets. When compared to traditional technologies, LPD offers brilliant life-like and life-size displays which deliver truly immersive experiences, while offering the lowest cost of ownership and meeting the highest standards of environmental impact. Prysm is a privately held company based in Silicon Valley, California with sales offices in New York, San Jose, London, Dubai and Beijing. For more information, please visit http://www.prysm.com. About Crestron For 40 years Crestron has been the world's leading manufacturer of advanced control and automation systems, innovating technology to simplify and enhance modern lifestyles and businesses. Offering integrated solutions to control audio, video, computer, and environmental systems, Crestron streamlines technology, improving the quality of life in commercial buildings, universities, hotels, hospitals and homes. In addition to its World Headquarters in Rockleigh, New Jersey, Crestron has sales and support offices throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe, Middle East, Asia, Latin America and Australia.
Continue Reading »Auryn Article - The Emperor’s Race App Review
June 15, 2012
The Review Wire - The Emperor’s Race App Review - Written by Dena On June - 15 - 2012 The Emperor’s Race By Auryn Inc. Thirteen animals have come to the river for the Emperor’s race. The first twelve ones reaching the other side of the river will be the signs of the new calendar. Those animals try their best to come across the river; some choose to work on their own while others choose to cooperate. Who will be the first one? This story is a tale about how and what order the animals were chosen for The Chinese New Year. I really enjoyed the graphics in this app. The characters were like cutouts that were placed on a background which had a soft watercolor feel to them. With this app you are able to customize the pages using your voice, or your child’s! There is also a matching game with the characters of the story. Three ways to read the book. “Read to me” – Listen to the narrated story while the text is displayed Karaoke style. After the narration finishes on a page the child can interact with objects till they are ready to move to the next page. “Read myself” – There is no narration but the child can touch a word to hear it being spoken aloud. “Auto Play” – same as “Read to Me” except the page advances automatically once the narration is finished. Useful for those long car rides when you want the child to have a complete book experience. This app runs $3.99 and is compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Stay Connected: Visit Auryn on Facebook or The Auryn Website to See Their Latest Apps Buy It: Emperors Race App Disclosure: I was provided with product for this review. All views and opinions with regard to the products or the company are my own and were not influenced by the company.
Continue Reading »Auryn Article - ‘Trixie and Jinx’ by Dean Koontz
June 15, 2012
School Library Journal Review: ‘Trixie and Jinx’ by Dean Koontz - Posted by Daryl Grabarek on June 15th, 2012 Trixie and Jinx is the second story in a series of three by Dean Koontz, best known for the horror stories he’s written for adults. The first title, I, Trixie, Who is Dog, was reviewed here earlier this year. There’s no trailer for for Trixie and Jinx, but a “lite” version is available for free. Title: Trixie and Jinx Author: Dean Koontz Illustrator: Janet Cleland Published by: Putnam, 2010 Developed by: Auryn, Inc. Platform: iOS, requires 4.3 or later Version: 1.0.0 Price: $3.99 PreS-Gr 1-In this follow-up to I, Trixie, Who Is Dog (Putnam, 2009), golden retriever Trixie is forlorn when her best pal, Jinx, an adventurous dachshund, goes on a seaside vacation with his family. Young readers will empathize with Trixie’s struggle to cope with her companion’s absence, despite some clunky text (“I, Trixie, am having fun summer.”) and an uninspired narration. Janet Cleland’s cheerful watercolor illustrations and the app’s pleasing sound effects enhance the story. The first time the app is launched, it opens with a video of Koontz sharing his inspiration for the story and introducing the app’s features. Users can experience the story in three modes: the full-featured “Read to Me,” with audio and interactive components; “Read Myself,” which is silent (though users can tap on words to hear pronunciations if they need help); and “Auto Play,” which has audio, but requires no interaction. The app is easy to use, with straightforward navigation. Viewers can touch the illustrations to see and hear the words for items pictured. Extras include a slideshow of the real Trixie as well as personalization options. Children will delight in putting their own special touches on this app. They can color the story’s pages and record their own narration of the text. Recording a personalized voiceover is simple and fun; users records small bits of text at a time, and can re-record until they’re satisfied. Children can also personalize the story by giving Trixie’s best friend a new name, although that might detract from the rhyme scheme.While not a standout, Trixie and Jinx is a pleasant addition to a child’s app library. Allison Tran, Mission Viejo Library, CA
Continue Reading »Virident Systems and JMR Electronics Deliver Next-Generation Digital Cinema Finishing Systems
June 12, 2012
MILPITAS, Calif., and CULVER CITY, Calif., June 12th, 2012 - Virident Systems, a performance leader in flash-based storage class memory (SCM) solutions, and JMR Electronics, Inc., a leading provider of scalable storage solutions, today announced the availability of high-throughput digital content solutions for digital cinema finishing developed as part of their strategic partnership. The digital cinema finishing systems deliver simultaneous I/O operations orders of magnitude greater than systems equipped with traditional hard disk drives (HDDs) in a small, portable form-factor that can be easily stored on a set for nearly instantaneous processing. This would enable, for example, a production planner to save time on workflows and increase the number of setups from 15 to 20 in a single day. The systems are custom-configured for each customer. One configuration consists of JMR’s high-performance SilverStor™ eight-bay desktop server, featuring next-generation processors and Virident’s FlashMAX PCIe SSD. This solution powers a 4K and 5K stereoscopic color-grading workflow featuring Blackmagic Design’s Davinci Resolve color corrector with performance accelerated by multiple graphics processing units (GPUs). “We chose Virident because its benchmarking results displayed graphs of unconditional sustained I/O performance, with no peaks and valleys,” said Mitchell Guzik, chief operating officer at JMR Electronics. “Unconditional performance is a key requirement that our customers have for digital cinema finishing systems, so they can quickly deliver next-generation cinema experiences of up to 6K resolution and up to 60 frames per second.” “Virident partnered with JMR because of its 30-year history of excellence in delivering state-of-the-art server and storage systems to the film industry and other vertical markets such as military, aerospace, and enterprise high-performance computing applications,” said Shridar Subramanian, vice president of product marketing at Virident. “Our mutual customers share a need for the highest sustained I/O performance and low latency for their advanced work in digital cinema and high-performance computing.” Virident FlashMAX, a PCIe storage-class memory solution, ensures that application performance is 10 times faster than with hard disk drive systems, at one-third of the total cost of ownership. FlashMAX offers the industry's highest storage capacity in the smallest footprint while delivering twice the performance of competing solutions. FlashMAX SCM has been designed from the ground up to fully exploit today’s computer architectures, which leverage many fast CPU cores and the PCI Express interconnect bus to deliver maximum application performance. High-performance server solutions for digital cinema finishing are available in a wide variety of custom configurations from JMR Electronics and Virident. For more information contact Virident at sales@virident.com or (408) 503-0100; contact JMR Electronics at ussales@jmr.com or (818) 993-4801. About JMR Electronics, Inc. JMR is a leading value provider of scalable storage systems for high performance and capacity driven applications for multiple markets including: video and post-production, military and government, education, VOD, DCC, gaming, security, medical imaging, HPC and Web 2.0. Since 1982, JMR’s reliable and innovative RAID systems are proudly made in the U.S.A., manufactured entirely from their Chatsworth, California facilities. JMR’s complete line of SilverStor™ and BlueStor™ cloud-ready rackmount and desktop solutions are built to handle the most demanding project needs from ingest to deliverable. Reliability. Innovation. Performance. This is JMR. For further information please visit www.jmr.com. About Virident Systems Virident Systems enterprise-class Storage Class Memory (SCM) solutions deliver unconditional, consistent performance that supports the most data-intensive content and applications. The inherent advantage associated with this disruptive technology revolutionizes computing by speeding application response time and optimizing datacenter efficiency for new levels of ROI. Virident Systems is backed by strategic investors, Intel®, Cisco® Systems and a leading storage hardware and software solutions provider, as well as venture investors Globespan Capital Partners, Sequoia Capital, and Artiman Ventures. For more information, visit www.virident.com. ### Virident, Virident FlashMAX, vFAS and the Virident logo are trademarks of Virident Systems. All other products and services listed herein are trademarks of their respective companies. The JMR logo is the trademark or registered trademark of JMR Electronics, Inc. (JMR). All other brands and names may be trademarks of their representative companies. Media Contact: Todd Lane Trainer Communications virident@trainercomm.com 925.271.8213
Continue Reading »Virident Systems and JMR Electronics Deliver Next-Generation Digital Cinema Finishing Systems
June 12, 2012
MILPITAS, Calif., and CULVER CITY, Calif., June 12th, 2012 - Virident Systems, a performance leader in flash-based storage class memory (SCM) solutions, and JMR Electronics, Inc., a leading provider of scalable storage solutions, today announced the availability of high-throughput digital content solutions for digital cinema finishing developed as part of their strategic partnership. The digital cinema finishing systems deliver simultaneous I/O operations orders of magnitude greater than systems equipped with traditional hard disk drives (HDDs) in a small, portable form-factor that can be easily stored on a set for nearly instantaneous processing. This would enable, for example, a production planner to save time on workflows and increase the number of setups from 15 to 20 in a single day. The systems are custom-configured for each customer. One configuration consists of JMR’s high-performance SilverStor™ eight-bay desktop server, featuring next-generation processors and Virident’s FlashMAX PCIe SSD. This solution powers a 4K and 5K stereoscopic color-grading workflow featuring Blackmagic Design’s Davinci Resolve color corrector with performance accelerated by multiple graphics processing units (GPUs). “We chose Virident because its benchmarking results displayed graphs of unconditional sustained I/O performance, with no peaks and valleys,” said Mitchell Guzik, chief operating officer at JMR Electronics. “Unconditional performance is a key requirement that our customers have for digital cinema finishing systems, so they can quickly deliver next-generation cinema experiences of up to 6K resolution and up to 60 frames per second.” “Virident partnered with JMR because of its 30-year history of excellence in delivering state-of-the-art server and storage systems to the film industry and other vertical markets such as military, aerospace, and enterprise high-performance computing applications,” said Shridar Subramanian, vice president of product marketing at Virident. “Our mutual customers share a need for the highest sustained I/O performance and low latency for their advanced work in digital cinema and high-performance computing.” Virident FlashMAX, a PCIe storage-class memory solution, ensures that application performance is 10 times faster than with hard disk drive systems, at one-third of the total cost of ownership. FlashMAX offers the industry's highest storage capacity in the smallest footprint while delivering twice the performance of competing solutions. FlashMAX SCM has been designed from the ground up to fully exploit today’s computer architectures, which leverage many fast CPU cores and the PCI Express interconnect bus to deliver maximum application performance. High-performance server solutions for digital cinema finishing are available in a wide variety of custom configurations from JMR Electronics and Virident. For more information contact Virident at sales@virident.com or (408) 503-0100; contact JMR Electronics at ussales@jmr.com or (818) 993-4801. About JMR Electronics, Inc. JMR is a leading value provider of scalable storage systems for high performance and capacity driven applications for multiple markets including: video and post-production, military and government, education, VOD, DCC, gaming, security, medical imaging, HPC and Web 2.0. Since 1982, JMR’s reliable and innovative RAID systems are proudly made in the U.S.A., manufactured entirely from their Chatsworth, California facilities. JMR’s complete line of SilverStor™ and BlueStor™ cloud-ready rackmount and desktop solutions are built to handle the most demanding project needs from ingest to deliverable. Reliability. Innovation. Performance. This is JMR. For further information please visit www.jmr.com. About Virident Systems Virident Systems enterprise-class Storage Class Memory (SCM) solutions deliver unconditional, consistent performance that supports the most data-intensive content and applications. The inherent advantage associated with this disruptive technology revolutionizes computing by speeding application response time and optimizing datacenter efficiency for new levels of ROI. Virident Systems is backed by strategic investors, Intel®, Cisco® Systems and a leading storage hardware and software solutions provider, as well as venture investors Globespan Capital Partners, Sequoia Capital, and Artiman Ventures. For more information, visit www.virident.com. Virident, Virident FlashMAX, vFAS and the Virident logo are trademarks of Virident Systems. All other products and services listed herein are trademarks of their respective companies. The JMR logo is the trademark or registered trademark of JMR Electronics, Inc. (JMR). All other brands and names may be trademarks of their representative companies. Media Contact: Todd Lane Trainer Communications virident@trainercomm.com 925.271.8213
Continue Reading »Guavus Appoints Rowan Scranage Vice President of Client Services for EMEA and Asia Pacific
June 12, 2012
San Mateo, Calif. – June 12, 2012 – Guavus Inc., a leading provider of big data analytics solutions that enable service providers and enterprises to make intelligent and timely decisions, today announced that Rowan Scranage has joined the company as vice president of client services for the EMEA and APAC regions. With more than two decades of telecommunications business development experience, Scranage will spearhead the company’s international expansion. In February, Guavus announced its entry to Europe at the GSMA Mobile World Congress. "Rowan has extensive experience and a proven track record for initiating and growing long-term relationships with leading service providers in both the European and Asian markets," said Anukool Lakhina, founder and CEO of Guavus. "With battle-tested insight into network investment methodologies, Rowan can structure commercial and technical solutions that operators will find indispensible. As carriers worldwide gear up for critical 4G deployments, the timing is ideal to deliver comprehensive, holistic analytics solutions that deliver clear and rapid ROI and are scalable for future growth." Scranage comes to Guavus from Mformation, where he was responsible for global business development, corporate strategy and marketing. He also served as Mformation’s vice president of sales for EMEA and Asia, where he was instrumental in securing first customers and building long-term relationships with market-leading mobile operators around the world, including Bharti Airtel, Orange,T-Mobile Europe, Telefónica and Vodafone Group. Prior to Mformation, Scranage was sales and operations director of the global accounts group at SmartTrust. He was also business development director for EMEA at Lucent Technologies, where he was responsible for identifying new opportunities for Lucent’s GSM/UMTS offerings and building business within key global accounts. Prior to Lucent, Scranage was regional director at Iridium Communications Germany, a provider of mobile satellite services. While at Iridium, he developed sales channels through service providers and cellular network operators, initially in the UK and Ireland, and subsequently in the 22 European countries in which Iridium owned the license. "Guavus couldn’t have chosen a better time to drive expansion in key EMEA and APAC markets," said Scranage. "Their big data analytics solution is unique in the marketplace in that it its been designed from the ground up to help service providers compete more effectively in today’s data driven economy. By turning the traditional data analytics model upside down and working in a proof of concept model, they are allowing operators to recognize real business value from analytic insights that were previously either unavailable or not even feasible due to high cost or unmanageable data scale. I am very excited to be a part of this management team and look forward to expanding the company’s impressive traction to new markets." Guavus specializes in a growing set of streaming analytics problems involving the explosion of data, the need for faster business decision-making, and the fusing of data from multiple silos both within service providers and across their extended value chain. With a data driven approach, Guavus analytics applications address specific use cases and help operators master the most strategically critical areas of their businesses. For example, network-focused apps help operators better manage the explosion in data use; customer-experience apps deal with issues ranging from multimedia content delivery to customer care. About Guavus Founded in June 2006, Guavus has been built from the ground up to unlock the value of operational, sensor and network generated big data and reduce the economic and technology risk associated with deploying a traditional business intelligence solution. Guavus big data analytics solutions, which are based on pioneering patent-pending technology, include the Guavus Reflex ™ platform integrated with a suite of analytics applications that enable intelligent and timely decision-making. Two of the top three mobile operators and backbone carriers in the United States utilize Guavus big data analytics solutions to control costs, maximize profits and deliver an enhanced end-to-end customer experience. The company is headquartered in San Mateo, CA with research and development offices in Gurgaon and Ahmedabad, India. For more information please visit us on Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter. Contact: Ty Sheppard Finn Partners for Guavus (310) 488-4495 ty@finnpartners.com
Continue Reading »InfiniteZ Article - Spy Agency Fund Targets Bay Area Technology
June 11, 2012
San Jose Mercury News, Steve Johnson - June 11, 2012 With technology that would make James Bond envious, Silicon Valley companies are playing a behind-the-scenes role with the nation's most clandestine agencies, helping to develop everything from miniature cameras to surreptitious communication gear to holograms that highlight patterns in mountains of data. Silicon Valley in years past has supplied surveillance satellites, missiles and electronic warfare gadgets to the government. But more recently, a dazzling array of other innovations has grabbed the interest of the country's covert operatives. Nearly a third of the 87 companies listed in the portfolio of In-Q-Tel, an investment fund for the CIA and other secretive branches of the federal government, are based here. "Silicon Valley has a rich history of attracting great minds and producing cutting-edge results," said Chris Darby, the fund's CEO and a former vice president at Santa Clara chipmaker Intel (INTC). Noting that one of the fund's three offices is in Menlo Park, he added, "It's important for us to maintain relationships in the startup and investment communities to understand future trends and help keep our partners informed about what's on the horizon." In-Q-Tel doesn't reveal how much money it gives companies, though Darby said of the more than 180 firms it has financed since its inception in 1999, most typically receive $1 million to $3 million. While the websites for companies financed by the group suggest that many have technology that can be used to analyze personal data -- an issue of concern to privacy rights advocates -- Darby declined to discuss which technologies the intelligence community has adopted from Silicon Valley. Executives with several of the Bay Area companies it has financed also were hesitant to talk. Some declined to be interviewed. Others said they either didn't know how their innovations were being used or were prohibited from commenting. But a few gave tantalizing hints. Amir Abolfathi, CEO of Sonitus Medical of San Mateo, revealed that the company is developing a tiny, wireless, two-way communications device for "the U.S. intelligence community." Noting that it covertly sits in a person's mouth, he said one of its chief attributes is that "nobody knows you are wearing anything." Another In-Q-Tel recipient is Infinite Z of Mountain View, which makes holographic simulations. While commenting that "In-Q-Tel has been extremely supportive of us," CEO Paul Kellenberger was vague about possible governmental applications of the technology, called zSpace. But the product's website notes that by manipulating data in three dimensions to spot patterns and trends, it serves "the demanding needs of intelligence analysts," among others. Another firm financed by the clandestine group is Fluidigm of South San Francisco, which makes microchips that analyze genetic samples. CEO Gajus Worthington speculated that the chips could be used to identify the human remains of terrorist bombings and track down the culprits, but added, "I have no idea what In-Q-Tel wanted to do with our platform." And then there is Silver Trail Systems' technology, which can spot suspicious activity on government websites. That's a topic of particular interest to federal authorities, who in recent months have appealed to Bay Area companies for help in combating cyberattacks. "They paid us to develop certain features that were of interest to their community," said co-founder Laura Mather, formerly with eBay (EBAY) and the National Security Agency. She added that based on her company's experience with In-Q-Tel, "we're investing in the resources to pursue additional government customers." Others financed by the spy agencies include LensVector of Sunnyvale, which makes technology for tiny cameras; 3VR of San Francisco, whose video surveillance gear can analyze faces, license plates and other images; and Palo Alto-based Palantir Technologies, which says its database tools can peruse vast troves of information to find links among terrorists. Yet another intriguing In-Q-Tel venture is NetBase, which offers "semantic-search capabilities" that can read online postings in English, Spanish, French, German and Portuguese. The company touts its technology for monitoring social media sites, which its said contain "a wealth of useful information hidden in the millions of conversations." Virginia-based In-Q-Tel was created to address the shift from the time when the federal government was a key financier of cutting-edge technology to the current reality, where private industry is the primary innovator. Not everyone is enthusiastic about spy agencies getting their hands on new technology, particularly since much of it can be used to monitor individuals. "They're definitely gathering information on everyone," said Rebecca Jeschke, a digital rights analyst with the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "It's a problem for the average person because the government is just sucking up data about your everyday life and we don't know what they are going to do with that." Given its interest in data, it's not surprising the government is so keen on the Bay Area, said Steve Blank, a longtime entrepreneur and Stanford University lecturer, who has written a history of Silicon Valley's ties to covert agencies. For more than a half-century, this region produced everything from surveillance satellites to radar-jamming devices. But now, it is cranking out computerized consumer gadgets and related products that are generating vast amounts of information about U.S. citizens and others around the world. As a result, "you have more data than the NSA and CIA could ever dream about," he said. "J. Edgar Hoover would have died for this." Contact Steve Johnson at 408-920-5043. In-Q-Tel Founded: By private citizens in 1999 at the request of the CIA's director to "build a bridge between the agency and a new set of technology innovators." Offices: Based in Arlington, Va., it also has offices in Menlo Park and Waltham, Mass. Number of companies financed: More than 180 Leadership: Four of its 12 board members have Silicon Valley ties. They are CEO Chris Darby, a former vice president at Intel; former Netscape Communications CEO James Barksdale; Howard Cox, of the Menlo Park venture capital firm Greylock Partners; and Elisabeth Paté-Cornell, a management science and engineering professor at Stanford University. By Steve Johnson sjohnson@mercurynews.com Posted: 06/11/2012 06:30:44 AM PDT Updated: 06/18/2012 11:27:13 AM PDT
Continue Reading »Dyyno Puts TV in the Cloud with 'TV Everywhere'
June 11, 2012
The Cable Show Feature Articles June 11, 2012 By Braden Becker, Copy Editor “TV Everywhere” (TVE) is the next installment of cloud storage, letting cable operators distribute content that is centralized and universal to any TV device tethered to a cable provider. Its parent company, Dyyno, has developed a new platform allowing this form of broadcasting, and was on site with TMC’s Erik Linask (News - Alert), at The Cable Show 2012 in Boston, Mass., to talk about it. “We are enabling anyone whose got license to content – TV channels, movies and TV shows, etc. – to take video and make it available on connected devices,” Vamshi Sriperumbudur, VP of marketing at Dyyno, told Linask at the event. Devices like the iPad, Kindle Fire and Android’s (News - Alert) Ice Cream Sandwich tablets – as well as broadband set-top boxes and Samsung or LG smart TVs – are all subject to Dyyno’s cloud-based TV access, which streams any content with broadcasting quality up to 1080p HD. Over 25 content aggregators and multiple system operators (MSO) worldwide currently employ Dyyno’s cloud-based TV Everywhere platform, an initiative boasting the industry’s first and compatibility with video on demand (VOD), digital video recorders (DVR) and a number of subscription-based viewing plans. A system especially appealing to the typical connected household, according to Sriperumbudur, TV Everywhere is valuable moving from one room to another when your program traditionally can’t go with you. “You’re watching something in the family room,” he said, “but then you want to spend another 45 minutes in bed watching in the iPad. You want to continue; take your ‘TV everywhere.’” But Dyyno, which also acknowledges its use to the traveler, has yet to see this system of broadcasting more extensively used. “One [issue] is licensing,” the VP said. “We are stream about 500+ TV channels from 50 countries, but this is content coming from other countries outside the U.S.,” a country he said has much stricter licensing policies than the rest of the world. The company issues the service to cable companies, though, so those entities alone can extend their licenses internationally, accelerating TV Everywhere’s global subscription. Dyyno wants to see TV Everywhere become a reality for everyone, and as smarter hybrid devices enter the market, the platform is only getting more appropriate. TV Everywhere is available for a one-time development fee of $1,995 with standard branding, or $25,000 with full branding on 10 TVs, plus a monthly revenue share. Edited by Braden Becker
Continue Reading »Auryn Article - Edsel McFarlan’s New Car iPad App Review
June 08, 2012
The Review Wire™ - Written by Dena On June - 8 - 2012 Edsel McFarlan’s New Car By Auryn Inc. The app is based on the print edition book “Edsel McFarlan’s New Car” written by Max Holechek, illustrated by Darrell Toland. This is a very cute and all true story about the “phases” kids go through. Edsel, loves cars. And now the whole neighborhood knows! The pictures were bright and almost seem to pop off the page (iPad). When a word is spoken during narration the word is then highlighted (see middle picture), which helps with word recognition. This app runs $2.99 and is compatible with the iPad. A great feature this app has is customization. You can use your voice to record the pages, so when your child reads the story, they will hear your voice. There are three ways to read this book: Read to Me, Auto Play and Read Myself. Stay Connected: Visit the Auryn Website Like on: Facebook.com/appsbyauryn Follow on: Twitter.com/aurynapps and pinterest.com/appsbyauryn Buy It: Edsel McFarlan’s New Car iPad App Disclosure: I was provided with product for this review. All views and opinions with regard to the products or the company are my own and were not influenced by the company.
Continue Reading »Auryn Article - Trixie and Jinx: Interactive Storybook App
June 08, 2012
Apps4Moms - June 8, 2012 Who’s your child’s best friend? Has your child ever had to be separated from his or her best friend? It’s a hard sitution that many kids have to go through, and the storybook app Trixie and Jinx, captures those feelings in quite a uniqe way; through the voice of a dog named Trixie. You may already be a fan of the Trixie book series by Dean Koontz, or may have read my review of the I, Trixie, Who Is Dog app. If so, then you’ll want to add this great app by Auryn, Inc., to your collection, and if not, you’ll want to start collecting. This app is based on the book Trixie and Jinx by Dean Koontz, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author, and is illustrated by Janet Cleland. Trixie, the golden retriever, is best friends with Jinx the weiner dog, who is the only other dog in the neighborhood. Trixie learns that Jinx is going away for a week this summer on vacation with his family, and is heart-broken that she’ll have to be away from her friend that long (with kids and dogs, a week seems like forever!). Trixie tries meeting and playing with new friends on her street, like a spider, but “things that eat flies have no humor at all”, and the spider and other animals in the neighborhood just can’t replace the precious and priceless friendship she has with Jinx. Trixie and Jinx is available for the iPad at $3.99, and is recommended for children ages 2 and up. There is also the Lite version you can try out for free. Trixe and Jinx offers lots of features to keep the fun of the book going, long after you’ve read all the pages. Access the Personalization page on the home screen to edit the pages of the entire book. Personalize the story by coloring-in Trixie in each scene, by painting with your fingers. You can also record your own voice reading the story aloud, so your child can listen even when you are not there. This app also offers the ability to edit the words or create new action words, focus on unfamiliar words to build vocabulary, and change Jinx’s name in the story to your own dog’s name. There are three ways to read Trixie and Jinx: Read to Me: Follow along as Trixie reads the story aloud, and each word is highlighted when spoken. When the narration is complete, your child can interact with the page by tapping on objects to see and hear the word. When your child is done interacting with a page, he or she may turn the page by swiping a finger across the screen. Read Myself: No narration is spoken, so big kids can read on their own, or listen to the story read aloud by a parent. Kids can still interact with each page by tapping on objects, and also tap on words in the text of the story to hear the word spoken; great if he or she gets stuck. Autoplay: This option is the same as “Read to Me” except that the pages will turn automatically. This is an excellent feature for your little one to enjoy the story on their own, while in the car or when you’re doing chores around the house. Be sure to also check out the Extras section, in Trixie and Jinx. Watch video introductions, where your child can meet the author and the real Trixie, review a tutorial of how to navigate and use all the features available in the app, view a photo gallery of the real Trixie dog, and learn more about Canine Companions for Independence, a program that provides trained dog assistance for children and adults with disabilities. I love the sound effects in the background of the story to help bring it to life, and how when you tap and interact with objects on the screen, they boggle and display the word as it is read aloud, helping to reinforce word association and spelling. I also enjoy how well the narrator delivers the voice to the infamous Trixie. Trixie and Jinx wonderfully brings to life Dean Koontz’s beloved storybooks, by transforming a very humanly relatable story, through the point of view of a dog you just can’t help but love, and shines the book even further by offering great interactive and educational features. Disclosure: The author does not receive compensation for writing this app review. The photos used were taken as screen shots from author's iPhone or iPad. Views expressed in this review are purely and only those of the author. Pricing was accurate at the time of this review.
Continue Reading »Video Demo of Dyyno Media Streaming at Cable Show 2012 - Part 2
June 07, 2012
More details from Vamshi Sriperumbudur of Dyyno on their media streaming capabilities. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlIXCPzpz_Q
Continue Reading »Video Demo of Dyyno Media Streaming at Cable Show 2012 - Part 1
June 07, 2012
Vamshi Sriperumbudur, VP of Marketing at Dyyno, on their media streaming capabilities. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWgrfrRMncs
Continue Reading »Virident Systems and Colfax International Deliver Customized Server Solutions Tuned for High Performance
June 05, 2012
MILPITAS, Calif., and SUNNYVALE, Calif., June 5th, 2012) - Virident Systems, a performance leader in flash-based storage class memory (SCM) solutions, and Colfax International, a leading provider of innovative and expertly engineered workstations, servers, clusters, storage, and personal supercomputing solutions, today announced a strategic partnership and the availability of custom-designed high-performance server solutions for enterprise customers. The custom-designed servers will feature high-performance processing from Colfax’s extensive line of server solutions, and Virident’s FlashMAX high capacity PCIe storage class memory solutions delivering unconditional performance. Customers in the defense, aerospace, energy, government, education, finance, manufacturing, digital media, Web 2.0, and scientific research industries will benefit from the high-performance processing and storage performance of the server solutions. For example, a computer-aided design and manufacturing (CAD/CAM) application will return stress, fluid, or material analysis results much quicker than before possible, and create time for additional queries. Any applications running on Oracle, MySQL, or SQL Server will run faster with custom-configured server solutions from Colfax featuring Virident FlashMAX SCM solutions, which are able to support the ever-increasing capabilities and speeds of multi-core processors, the influx of big data, and demands for application performance. “Virident’s and Colfax International’s customers fit a similar profile,” said Kumar Ganapathy, CEO of Virident. “We both cater to large enterprises where unconditional, peak performance is critical to their business. Our joint solutions are ideal for high-performance applications based on Oracle, MySQL, and SQL Server databases.” “Colfax International chose Virident because of the unconditional performance characteristics of FlashMAX for high-performance applications,” said Gautam Shah, CEO of Colfax International. “We are confident that Virident FlashMAX will be an excellent complement to our product portfolio because our customers rate top performance as their measurement for success.” Virident FlashMAX, a PCIe storage class memory solution, ensures that application performance is 10 times faster than hard disk drive systems at one-third of the total cost of ownership. FlashMAX offers the industry's highest storage capacity in the smallest footprint while delivering twice the performance of competing solutions. FlashMAX SCM has been designed from the ground up to fully exploit today’s computer architectures which leverage many fast CPU cores and the PCI Express interconnect bus to deliver maximum application performance. High-performance server solutions are available in a wide variety of custom configurations from Colfax International and Virident. For more information contact Virident at sales@virident.com or (408) 503-0100; contact Colfax International at sales@colfax-intl.com or (408) 730-2275. About Colfax International Colfax International is a global provider of customized workstations, servers, clusters, storage and personal supercomputing solutions. Founded in 1987, Colfax International is based in Sunnyvale, California and is privately held. For more information, please visit www.colfax-intl.com. About Virident Systems Virident Systems enterprise-class Storage Class Memory (SCM) solutions deliver unconditional, consistent performance that supports the most data-intensive content and applications. The inherent advantage associated with this disruptive technology revolutionizes computing by speeding application response time and optimizing datacenter efficiency for new levels of ROI. Virident Systems is backed by strategic investors, Intel®, Cisco® Systems and a leading storage hardware and software solutions provider, as well as venture investors Globespan Capital Partners, Sequoia Capital, and Artiman Ventures. For more information, visit www.virident.com. Virident, Virident FlashMAX, vFAS and the Virident logo are trademarks of Virident Systems. All other products and services listed herein are trademarks of their respective companies. Media Contact: Todd Lane Trainer Communications virident@trainercomm.com 925.271.8213
Continue Reading »InvenSense to Highlight Technology Breakthroughs at Sensors Expo & Conference: New Industrial Gyroscope, Wearable Sensor Technology, and NF-Shuttle
June 04, 2012
SUNNYVALE, California, June 4, 2012 – InvenSense, Inc. (NYSE: INVN), the leading provider of MotionTracking™ devices, today announced that it will be showcasing its latest technology breakthroughs at the Sensors Expo & Conference at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, IL on June 6-7, 2012 in booth #601. Of particular significance is the MPU-3300, the world’s first single-chip, high performance integrated 3-axis industrial gyroscope for the industrial market (see today’s MPU-3300 press release. The company is also profiling its 10-axis wearable sensor technology for health and fitness monitoring. In addition, it is showing MEMS developers how they can manufacture silicon on the newly-announced NF-Shuttle (see May 23, 2012 press release). The company’s Vice President of Engineering and New Product Development, Stephen Lloyd, is also delivering a compelling presentation, “An Integrated 6-Axis MotionProcessor™” on the first day of the conference, June 6, from 2:40 pm - 3:20 pm. About InvenSense InvenSense Inc. (NYSE: INVN) is the leading provider of MotionTracking™ solutions for consumer electronic devices in the world. The company’s patented Nasiri-Fabrication platform and patent-pending MotionFusion™ technology address the emerging needs of many mass-market consumer applications such as, improved performance, accuracy, and intuitive motion- and gesture-based interfaces. InvenSense technology can be found in consumer electronic markets including smartphones, tablets, gaming devices, optical image stabilization, and remote controls for Smart TVs. InvenSense is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California and has offices in China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, and Dubai. More information can be found at www.invensense.com. ©2012 InvenSense, Inc. All rights reserved. InvenSense, MotionTracking, MotionProcessing, MotionProcessor, MotionFusion, MotionApps, DMP, and the InvenSense logo are trademarks of InvenSense, Inc. Other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.
Continue Reading »InvenSense Expands Into Industrial Applications With the World's First Single-Chip, Integrated High-Performance 3-Axis Industrial Gyroscope
June 04, 2012
SUNNYVALE, California, June 4, 2012 – InvenSense, Inc. (NYSE: INVN), the leading provider of MotionTracking™ devices, today announced its entry into the industrial market with the introduction of its MPU-3300, the world’s first single-chip, high performance integrated 3-axis industrial gyroscope. Leveraging the company’s proven high volume production capabilities, InvenSense is providing high performance, high reliability, low power and low cost with ultra-precise positioning and monitoring information for industrial applications. Drastically cutting the size through integration, MPU-3300 is 10X smaller than currently shipping industrial gyroscopes. Industrial product designers can easily assemble the single-chip, three-axis digital gyroscope into their devices with the highest degree of axis alignment vs. assembling three discrete gyroscope devices. The MPU-3300 also offers more than 100% lower noise compared to alternative offerings, providing accurate measurements for critical industrial applications. “InvenSense has demonstrated leadership and innovation in the consumer electronics market, with the world’s first integrated 2-axis gyroscope, 3-axis gyroscope, and single chip integrated 6-axis MotionTracking device,” said Steve Nasiri founder and CEO of InvenSense. “The MPU-3300 leverages our core technical expertise in design and manufacturing of MEMS gyroscopes, and offers the latest in integration and performance for the industrial market with the best combination of high performance, low cost, low power, small size, and long-term reliability.” The MPU-3300, with a bias instability of 15 degrees/hour, is highly suited for a range of industrial applications including Attitude Heading Reference Systems (AHRS) which require extremely stable performance for precision-attitude tracking. AHRS systems are found in aerospace, robotics, and other applications where the orientation of a device must be measured. Navigation systems in industrial vehicles, aircraft and ships can also benefit from the highly accurate gyroscope technology while manufacturers of industrial instruments such as hand-held inventory control devices value the low-power consumption of the MPU-3300 at less than 10mW. Other applications that can benefit from the new MPU-3300 include antenna stabilization, precision robotics, inventory control systems, survey instruments, factory equipment, industrial power tools, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), precision agricultural machinery, guidance and steering products, and construction equipment. The MPU-3300 features a factory calibrated, monolithic 3-axis gyroscope in a small 4x4x0.9mm QFN package that simplifies placement, alignment and calibration tasks for easy integration into space-constrained products. It is designed for operation in temperatures ranging from -40°C to +105°C, making it ideally suited for harsh industrial environments. The MPU-3300 sensitivity scale factor variation over this temperature range is ±2%, and zero-rate output variation over this temperature range is ±0.14dps/°C. MPU-3300 also offers industry leading noise performance at 0.005dps/√Hz which is significantly better than competitor industrial gyroscope performance of 0.01 to 0.03dps/√Hz. Moreover, the MPU-3300 includes high resolution 16-bit analog-to-digital converters (ADCs), programmable digital filters, low current consumption of only 3.6mA, an embedded temperature sensor, and both SPI and I2C interfaces. The MPU-3300 is available now in mass production and is priced at $35 USD in 1000 unit quantities, an industry breakthrough price point compared to multichip industrial gyroscopes solutions. The MPU-3300 is being demonstrated in booth #601 at the Sensors Expo Conference in Rosemont, Illinois, June 6-7, 2012. To purchase samples or for additional information about the MPU-3300, please visit our website at www.invensense.com or contact InvenSense Sales at sales@invensense.com. About InvenSense InvenSense Inc. (NYSE: INVN) is the leading provider of MotionTracking™ solutions for consumer electronic devices in the world. The company’s patented Nasiri-Fabrication platform and patent-pending MotionFusion™ technology address the emerging needs of many mass-market consumer applications such as, improved performance, accuracy, and intuitive motion- and gesture-based interfaces. InvenSense technology can be found in consumer electronic markets including smartphones, tablets, gaming devices, optical image stabilization, and remote controls for Smart TVs. InvenSense is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California and has offices in China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, and Dubai. More information can be found at www.invensense.com. ©2012 InvenSense, Inc. All rights reserved. InvenSense, MotionTracking, MotionProcessing, MotionProcessor, MotionFusion, MotionApps, DMP, and the InvenSense logo are trademarks of InvenSense, Inc. Other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.
Continue Reading »InvenSense opens up process to enable fabless MEMS
June 01, 2012
Peter Clarke - EE Times - 6/1/2012 2:21 AM EDT CAMBRIDGE, England – InvenSense Inc. (Sunnyvale, California), a supplier of motion tracking components based on MEMS technology, has announced that it is opening up the use of its proprietary MEMS manufacturing process for use by others on a licensing basis. InvenSense recently announced that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. and Globalfoundries Inc. are now dual-source suppliers of its own CMOS-MEMS components. InvenSense is now offering third party developers the option to include designs on the NF-Shuttle. This allows emerging MEMS developers to focus on innovation in design rather than spending time working on specialized fabrication development and process transfer to a foundry. The InvenSense NF-Shuttle is a silicon CMOS-MEMS platform where mask costs are split amongst multiple users on the same mask set. This approach reduces production costs and provides an opportunity to verify prototypes in silicon. The initial shuttle test run took place in January and was offered to participants from University of California Berkeley, U.C Davis, Stanford University and other institutions. InvenSense's second shuttle was scheduled for May 30, with an increased number of selected participants. InvenSense is offering space on the third shuttle, slated to begin processing on Dec. 5, 2012. "At InvenSense, we are committed to seeing the proliferation of MEMS products on our proprietary fabrication platform not only in inertial sensors but also in resonators, microphones, switches, pressure sensors, RF tuners, etcetera," said Steve Nasiri founder and CEO of InvenSense, in a statement. "We have found there are many companies and universities that have brilliant ideas yet they need to spend as much as 60 to 80 percent of their time and development resources on MEMS-related fabrication due to lack of any viable off-the-shelf processes. With our platform it is now possible to bring innovative MEMS products to market much faster and at significantly lower costs," he added. Copyright ©2012 UBM Electronics, A UBM company All rights reserved
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