The New Face of Computing

 

Jimmy is a humanoid robot based on Intel Core i5 technology that walks, talks, makes hand gestures, uses social media channels and more. It is part of the 21st Century Robot Project that provides a forum for makers worldwide to collaborate and build affordable, personalized robots using open-source design files and available apps. Combined with the growing maker culture, technologies such as Intel Galileo, Intel Edison, 3-D printing and open-source app development are making it easier for individuals to create inventions such as Jimmy. It is feasible that within the next five years people may be able to build affordable custom robots based on Intel technology for less than $1,000. 

Intel is committed to lowering the barriers to entry for all innovators - whether it's a child, the hobbyist or a professional designer- who have great ideas but not deep experience with technology. Intel Labs is bringing Jimmy to life in collaboration with publisher MAKE, University of Southern California*, Olin College for Engineering*, maker space The Artisans Asylum* and Trossen Robotics.

Jimmy helps encourage people to think differently about what a computational device could look like in the future and to spark the imagination of inventors of any age to reimagine the ways in which people can design, create, enjoy and use new digital technologies. Powered by Intel, these new computing models - like robotics - may become mainstream consumer electronic devices that could act as social companions, organizers, educators and more. Imagine a robot that acts as a caretaker to senior citizens to remind them to take their medicine or is used in the classroom to augment the teacher to provide more individualized attention to students.

High speed mobile Wi-Fi – The Huawei E5372 LTE from DCC

Take advantage of LTE mobile broadband speeds and securely share your connection across a home, office or any other location with the Huawei E5372 LTE from distributor Drive Control Corporation (DCC). This mobile Wi-Fi hotspot boots up in just five seconds, enabling users to wirelessly connect up to 11 devices at a time and share high-speed Wi-Fi connectivity with download speeds of up to 150 Megabits per second (Mbps).

“Many users in South Africa do not have access to ADSL or fibre, and therefore turn to mobile broadband for Internet access such as 3G and more recently, LTE. With the growing availability of LTE, this is becoming an even more viable option. The Huawei E5372 LTE is the perfect device for turning mobile broadband into a Wi-Fi network for sharing in a small office or with friends and family at home, and even for taking your hotspot with you wherever you go. Simply boot up, enter the password and connect. The device can also be connected via USB to a computer, and supports Vodacom, MTN and Cell C networks,” says Fayaaz Seedat, Huawei Consumer Product Specialist at DCC. 

The E5372 features AC power as well as up to 10 hours of battery life on a full charge, making it ultra-portable for a wide range of applications. Two internal antenna interfaces enhance indoor Wi-Fi signal coverage, ideal for larger homes or offices. Unauthorised access is prevented by password protection to ensure security, and a MicroSD card slot enables you to store and share data through your Wi-Fi hotspot. The E5372 supports both Windows and Mac Operating Systems (OS), compatible with all versions of Windows from XP onward and with Mac OSX 10.5 and up.

The Huawei E5372 LTE will be available mid-June from resellers and leading retailers for a recommended retail price of R2 560.00 including VAT.

For more information, visit www.drivecon.net.

High performance NAS with personal cloud capability – WD’s My Cloud EX4 from DCC

Get ahead of your data storage needs with up to 16 Terabytes (TB) of Network Attached Storage (NAS) as well as personal cloud functionality with WD’s new  My Cloud EX4 from distributor Drive Control Corporation (DCC). The My Cloud EX4 is a high-performance, four-bay NAS for your home or small office, built from the ground up with the quality and reliability users have come to expect from WD. It offers a robust all-metal enclosure, multiple Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) volumes, easy drive installation and a full suite of applications (apps) for the power and flexibility to expand your NAS features. In addition, the My Cloud EX4 gives users their own personal cloud, allowing you to take advantage of the benefits cloud has to offer without any of the hassles or drawbacks.

“The My Cloud EX4 delivers centralised NAS storage for your home or office, allowing you to keep all of your content safe in one place. However, the real innovation is the personal cloud functionality, which means you can access this content remotely using a variety of devices, by using the WD My Cloud mobile and desktop applications, no matter where you are in the world. Your own cloud means you are in control of your data and where it is stored, and if you need more space, you can simply add capacity to the device – up to 16TBs in total and no need for monthly fees to a cloud provider,” says Ruben Naicker, WD Product Specialist at DCC.

The My Cloud EX4 offers a number of configuration options to suit any requirements. A diskless enclosure allows users to easily install and hot swap to add up to four compatible drives and add capacity as needed. The solution is also available pre-populated with WD Red hard drives, which are purpose-built for 24x7 NAS environments for enhanced performance and reliability. Features include dual network and power supply, 512 Megabytes (MB) memory and a 2.0 Gigahertz (GHz) processor for superior performance.

To deliver enhanced data management, the My Cloud EX4 supports multiple RAID configurations, including RAID 1, 5, 10, as well as spanning and JBOD modes. Data protection options include remote backup to another My Cloud EX4, integrated cloud backup or local LAN/WAN backup. The device includes WD SmartWare Pro for PC users and Apple Time Machine for Mac to ensure optimal data protection.

The solution is designed to be easy to use and easy to manage, with a powerful dashboard and LCD display for continuous monitoring of drives, management of users and utilisation of energy saving features. The My Cloud EX4 enables users to stream videos and photos to connected TVs, media players, gaming consoles and more, and an integrated file server, FTP server, backup server and P2P torrent download server provide advanced servicing options. In addition, email and mobile alerts keep you informed on the status of your My Cloud EX4 at all times.

“The My Cloud EX4 also gives users access to a number of award-winning desktop and mobile apps. WD’s app allows you to upload, access and share your documents from anywhere and transfer files from your public cloud service to the My Cloud EX4 directly from the mobile app. Other industry-leading apps include aMule, Icecast, Joomla! phpBB, phpMyAdmin and SqueezeCenter, which allow you to customise your NAS to meet your unique requirements,” says Naicker.

Expanding capacity is easy - simply attach a compatible USB hard drive directly to one of the two USB 3.0 expansion ports on the My Cloud EX4 and instantly expand your storage. Users can also save power consumption with integrated energy-saving features such as disk spin-down and scheduled power on/off. A full suite of advanced features include iSCSI target, full-featured FTP services, link aggregation and failover support, jumbo frame support, iPv6 ready, UPS support (USB and network), real time resource monitor, volume encryption with boot-up password, SNMP and virtual volumes.

“This product is a unique offering on the market, with a host of powerful yet easy to use features. By adding this enclosure to our portfolio we are enabling resellers to target both the SME market and prosumers with a comprehensive solution that provides capacity, redundancy and high performance NAS, critical in today’s data-driven world, along with a host of value-added features,” Naicker concludes.

The WD My Cloud EX4 is available immediately from selected resellers. For the latest list of compatible drives, visitwd.com/mycloudex4.

For more information visit www.drivecon.net.