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Matthew Lentini

IBM Behind NBN-Powered E-Health Push

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IBM previewed its healthcare patient portal at CeBIT in Germany last week after winning a $23.6 million contract to design and build a similar service in Australia.The IBM Patient Empowerment System, a portal for patients to find information, alerts and recommendations and to interact with healthcare professionals online, was developed by IBM Research alongside physicians from Korea’s Gacheon University Gil Hospital.

The aim of the original pilot was to increase efficiency and reduce costs by giving patients an active role in their treatments.

The roll-out of the National Broadband Network (NBN) in Australia was promoted by the Gillard Government last year for its potential e-health benefits like online medical consulting for rural Australians.

The Australian Medical Association (AMA) told a Parliamentary Inquiry last week that lacking data transfer protocols were one of the chief barriers to effective e-healthcare services. The AMA noted the impact of connectivity loss during the Queensland floods.

Also noted was the concern over encryption of patient information. IBM has taken up the e-health bill in Australia, recently winning a $23.6 million contract to build the National Authentication Service for Health last week to combat this.

The construction of infrastructure for this e-health authentication system was originally to be undertaken by the National E-Health Transition Authority, but the group released the project to third parties last September after realising the complexity of the project.

The technology used in IBM’s Watson, a super computer that beat humans at the American quiz show, Jeopardy!, is similarly used in IBM’s healthcare service tests as a means of gathering context-relevant healthcare information from databases for physicians.

New Etailer Stocks Cheaper TVs

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Move over Kogan and Tyagi – there’s a new kid on the block.Chinese TV imports are making their way to Australia by more means than ever before thanks to a saturation of e-vendors who bypass retail costs by selling direct online.

OHKI is the latest player in that market, going up against established e-tailers like Tyagi and Kogan who either partly produce goods in Australia or more often ship them straight from Chinese factories.

OHKI goes up against Kogan’s LivePrice system with a monthly ‘flexirent’ system that acts similarly to Radio Rentals, where customers can pay monthly fees toward the cost of their TV rather than a full, upfront payment. Kogan’s LivePrice was announced last year where customers could pay up front before production began on their TV to get a discount.

OHKI are currently offering a 42 inch LED TV for $999 that features all the contemporary TV perks like in-built USB ports, digital tuner and PVR functions with a two week free trial period.

While Harvey Norman and other retailers are being pushed further over the edge by online competition in consumer electronics, e-tailers are also facing stiff competition from their own marketplace.

New BenQ Monitor With Smart Focus Enhances 3D

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The latest LED monitor from BenQ, paralleling top flatscreen TV functions, is hitting stores soon.
Announced back in January, the EW2430V is set to be released this month, sporting a range of high-end specs like a 3,000:1 contrast ratio, 3D support, minimal light leakage and the same wide viewing angle of BenQ’s latest releases.

 The high contrast ratio means the brighter whites and darker blacks are more defined when you’re in a dark room, so the true 8-bit colour panel’s visuals stands out.

There’s also enhanced 3D support on this model, including automatic noise reduction to create sharper 3D picture and de-interlacing to reduce the flickering effect you get with many 3D movies.

A ‘smart focus’ addition allows users to pinpoint a window on the screen and make that the focal point, so that it stands out from the rest of the visual content on the monitor – like having a video open next to a word document you’re ignoring. ‘Super resolution’ increases the density of low res images, so that if it’s small videos files you’re playing, they’ll come out looking a little better.

There’s also a long range of connectivity options include component jacks, HDMI ports, D-Sub and DVI-D ports for gaming consoles and USB ports.

The BenQ EW2430V hits stores this month, retailing at $449.

BlackBerry PlayBook Gets Classified Government Tick Of Approval

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The wing of the Department of Defence that provides information security to the government has found Research In Motion’s (RIM) BlackBerry PlayBook tablet safe for holding classified government information deemed restricted or protected.The PlayBook is the first tablet to be approved by the Defence Signals Directorate (DSD) for use in Australian Government agencies after the organisation completed a recent cryptographic evaluation on the device.

“Encryption is primarily used to provide confidentiality, thus protecting against the risk of information being intercepted by an attacker,” according to the DSD’s Information Security Manual on which it based its testing.

The approval comes so long as the device is connected to a separately approved BlackBerry smartphone through the Bridge application.

Users can access content like their push emails, calendar and contacts through Bridge on their PlayBook, backed up by a host of class-leading encryption standards.

These include support for ECC (Elliptical Curve Cryptography) and AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) according to RIM.

The move gives RIM a one-up against Apple as it gains the security rating ahead of the popular iPad that leads the tablet market. The iPad has similarly been shunned by the Russian government in favour of the PlayBook according to the RBK Daily.

Telstra Lands New HTC Smartphone Sensationally Late

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HTC is finally set to bring the Sensation smartphone to the Australian market after months of dumping old models into stores behind US and European new releases.

Telstra will be exclusively launching the HTC Sensation in Australia this July on its Next G network, despite a PR executive for HTC’s Australian division stating that “at this stage there were no plans to launch the new phone in Australia” less than two weeks ago.

Pricing is yet to surface, though the July period release is currently known. Telstra customers are able to register their interest for the Sensation on the Telstra website.

You can read the full review of up-and-coming 1.2GHz dual-core smartphone here.

The HTC Sensation has been most-commonly compared to the Samsung Galaxy II, seen as its biggest competitor.

Review: We Ran Over The ioSafe Rugged Portable With A Car – Is It Indestructible Storage?

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It’s been touted as the most resilient piece of hardware since metal-coated sliced bread from its crowd-stopping appearance at CES with its waterproof, crush-resistant, shock-proof and chemical-safe build, so we decided to put it to the test. We beat it, dropped it – even ran it over with a car – but did it survive?

The ioSafe Rugged Portable looks anything but rugged from the outside, with a brushed metal finish in titanium or aluminium that mimics the look and feel of a MacBook, with a weighty feel of reliability underhand. This clean body is sealed tight with only a USB 3.0 cable connector and a Kensington security lock slot – though new models only recently released in Australia now come with an added FireWire 800 port.

The drive comes with Genie9 Timeline Pro, valued at roughly $60, which is a backup service with high-security AES encryption. For Apple users, TimeMachine is supported by the device.

It comes in hard disk drive (HDD) and solid state drive (SSD) version, ranging up to 1TB capacities. For HDD, the 250GB starts at $329, moving up to $429 for 500GB, $529 for 750GB and $629 for 1TB. The drives run at either 5400 rpm or 7200 rpm. On the SSD side, capacities cap out at 512GB. There’s also a choice of enclosures, either being aluminium or the heavier (but tougher) titanium enclosure.

We tested an aluminium HDD version, sitting at 5,400 RPM with 750GB of storage. The interesting part of these HDDs over SSDs is that there are more sensitive moving parts that could break from dinks and drops than in a solid state drive which is more… well, solid. So we put the ‘full suspension drive’ system that is supposed to protect the unit from drops across six axis to the test to see if this drive really meets the hype.

 

Out of the box, the brick-like unit weighs in around a pound (so less than a kilo), and comes with a thick USB 3.0 cable and a separate cable for low-power USB 2.0 slots. The USB 3.0 cable will suck power from a USB 3.0 port, but USB 2.0 ports may need an extra leg to juice the drive, so the separate specially-made cable has a double-USB side that takes up two USB ports – one for data, one for power.

First off, they say it’s waterproof in freezing water at ten feet depths for up to 72 hours. So we left the unit out in a bucket through the day and overnight to catch a few of the elements with the socket exposed and all. True to its word, we dried it off and plugged it in and it ran just fine.

They also claim to be impervious to 10 feet drops (or 20 if you’ve got an SSD version). A few drops from chest height and on the odd angle or two gave the casing a few scuff marks and made a few little marks on the concrete, but it still ran. Rather than a drop we threw it against a wall to see if sudden angled jostles would whack the needle out of place. Admittedly it wasn’t a baseball pitch, but I hardly want to rip up the bricks of my home. In any case, it lived on.

Next up was the ‘full metal jacket’ test against its aluminium chassis. The unit has an advertised crush resistance of up to 2,500 pounds for the aluminium unit (double that for the titanium unit), and since we don’t have much industrial equipment lying around to test these kinds of things, we just ran it over a few times.

And it came out pretty much unscathed, apart from a few black tyre scuffs. We drove over it and drove onto it to see if it’d live for a few minutes that way, and it did.  Note: It’s everything-proof except fire-proof – you’ll need to buy the ioSafe Solo Pro if you’re that keen on data protection. The moral of this story is that you could probably drop this out of your window while driving, run it over and have your data still breathing. And even if it isn’t, you’re covered – no questions asked. Read on.

 

The ioSafe Rugged Portable can be seen as a premium portable hard drives in a few respects. You’ll be spending an arm and a leg for peace of mind that almost no matter what, your data will be safe. They throw in one no-questions-asked data recovery (so you can throw it off a bridge, break it and have your data fetched) of up to $2500 for the HDD version or $5000 for the SSD version in forensic data recovery services. The bundled backup software and compatibility with open source and Apple backup programs means you can save that same data away safe on your computer. There’s also the one year warranty that’s expandable to up to five years.

While a platter spinning at 5,400 RPM isn’t the quickest of the lot, the USB 3.0 port allows for lightning fast speeds if you’ve got the supporting hardware, i.e. in-built USB 3.0 ports on a notebook or computer with a fast SSD for a hard drive. If you’re a Mac user, you’ll have to reformat the drive to run it.

Read speeds on USB 2.0 aren’t anything to cheer over at around 30MB/s, and a little closer to 20MB/s for write speeds. On the USB 3.0 side, read speeds pushed over the 100MB/s mark when sending data between another HDD, with write speeds hitting from high-70s to low 80MB/s. It’s a high performer if you’ve got the right rig, but most of the cost comes from the super rugged build.

If you’re hazard prone or work with data outdoors (or out on the job), then this drive will suit you and then some. If not, there are cheaper portables on the market that provide adequate protection from bumps and knocks without being too overzealous on the protection. Either way, the ioSafe Rugged Portable doesn’t disappoint.

Kingston Touts Military-Grade Security On Its Most Secure USB Flash Drive Yet

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Kingston has touted its new, high-security USB thumb drive to its DataTraveler range that sports military grade protection as the most secure USB Flash drive on the market.

The DT6000 is a slim USB stick that comes in four sizes from 2GB to 16GB and supports 256-bit AES encryption. The security focus delivers ‘military grade’ elliptic curve cryptography by US standards.

The advanced security features include a complete lock down that blocks out users after 10 intrusion attempts as well as other customisable security options.

It’s built tough with a titanium and stainless steel build and waterproof coating, with a warranty spanning five years.

Though it lacks USB 3.0 connectivity, capping out at 11MB/s read and 5MB/s write speeds. The premium of up to $313 comes on the back of security over performance here, with the DT6000 suited more for sensitive documents rather than media.

See over the page for the full AUS/NZ price list on the DT6000.

 

Lenovo Grabs Business Over Consumer With SMB ThinkPads, ThinkCentres & Tablets

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Lenovo is set to make a splash in the business market over the next month with the roll out of new ThinkPad notebooks and the Australian release of its own tablet.The 10.1-inch ThinkPad Tablet has just gone on sale overseas this Tuesday and is slated for an official Australian release in September.

Lenovo’s tablet contender faces up against its heavy competition in similar stead to its ThinkPad notebooks – the design is bland but the focus is on performance suited to business users rather than overreaching to grab the whole consumer space.

They’re not the first to claim the business label, with Fujitsu and Research In Motion each recently coming out with ‘professional’ and ‘business’ tablets. The ThinkPad Tablet differentiates (while still being an Android tablet) with an attachable folio keyboard, stylus and physical button set.

This tablet is preceded by a slew of new business releases, including today’s launch of the entry-level desktop ThinkCentre M71e.

 

The M71e gets its business tag from Lenovo’s ‘Enhanced Experience 2.0’ badge that includes fast boot-up times and a range of security settings, an Intel Core i7 processor and multi-monitor support.

There’s an optional solid state drive (SSD) for faster performance than the typical hard disk drive, and six external USB slots are thrown in to boost connectivity.

As an entry level unit, the M71e starts at a modest $689, stacking higher as options like the SSD are thrown in.

On the small-to-medium business front, Lenovo announced the ThinkPad Edge E320 notebook earlier this week, with prices starting at $499.

Review: Huawei Revamps Slow Motion Android For Under $100

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Huawei has rebadged its flagship budget Android phone and slashed the price in half. Question is, is the X1 an outdated smartphone relic or a must-have bargain for first-time Android users?Huawei made an aggressive push to steal the prepaid phone market in Australia late last year with an extensive range of budget Android phones, and is doubling up this year by pushing out more budget models with notable improvements.

The Chinese company that once sold rebadged phones to other phone makers has essentially rebadged its own Ideos U8150 from last year with the new X1 – doesn’t sound impressive, but slashing the price in half for a sleeker rebuild does.

The X1 sports the same 10x5cm frame of the U8150, weighing a few unnoticeable grams less, but in a more refined body. The plastic body is coated is an ever-so-slightly rubbery finish more akin to other smartphones – a welcome departure from the glossy, multicoloured cases of the U8150 that gave the phone a cheap look to match the price tag.

The X1 sports the same meagre 528 MHz processor as its predecessor along with the same 2.2 version of Android. It adds a few advances to the operating system that are mostly cosmetic, including a cube-like home screen interface that revolves each home screen around on a visual cube as you swipe across. It runs a little choppy and won’t always recognise your finger swipe unless you pull the screen across from more than halfway. But the ability to swipe straight from the rightmost to the leftmost panel (or vice versa) is a welcome addition.

 

There’s a lot more polish in the flow of the apps menu, and other added features include a screensaver, recorder, radio, A-GPS and RSS reader – but no flash for the camera.  The 2.8 inch screen has the poor resolution and doesn’t give much real estate for typing messages. On the software side, Huawei has thrown in a few handy icons like Optus’ SmartSafe cloud service and one-touch buttons for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, brightness and sound.

The most notable improvement is the new physical interface, which now consists of three soft touch buttons and a single, hard ‘home’ button. Apart from the obligatory power button and a volume up/down button on the side, the home button is the only physical button on the fascia and replaces the typical soft touch house icon underneath the screen.

The soft touch buttons only consist of back, menu and search icons now, making the front screen look less cluttered and simpler to navigate. It improves the design on the previous Ideos model which housed a fatter home button with an unnecessary ring, adorned by physical answer and hang up buttons.

You’re pretty much getting the same phone you would’ve gotten last year with the U8150, and with the shortening lifespan of new smartphones, that is a definite downer. But the value you get for a sub-$100 price tag can’t be ignored, especially given that X1 is half the price of the original Ideos with a complimentary design revamp.

TDK Goes Green With Smaller Energy-Efficient Tech

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Overseas manufacturers could take the edge from Chinese manufacturers through a bit of green marketing.Japanese electronics company TDK is setting plans to be more energy-efficient in its means of productions in order to pass the potential for being green down to consumers with lighter, smaller and more environmentally friendly products.

TDK president Takehiro Kamigama held a briefing on the company’s business plans yesterday, stressing the goal to “achieve more CO2 emissions reductions through the contribution of its products to society than through cuts made via production,” by the end of the 2020 financial year.

But lowering CO2 emissions is also seen as a plus for promotions sake against cheaper production houses in China.

“It is easier to differentiate from Chinese manufacturers in terms of environmental performance,” said Kamigama.

While Japanese companies like Toshiba, Panasonic and Sharp are big players in clean-energy hardware, Japan is still behind China as the biggest solar panel manufacturer in the world. The catch is that the country exports more solar panels than it uses domestically though.

Beyond the basic consumer product level, the company’s power product division, TDK-Lambda, recently developed energy-efficient power supplies for light industrial equipment and broadcast equipment as part of its green agenda.