Acer Aspire S5 UltraBook

Hi folks! So the release date for the Acer Aspire UltraBook is fast approaching!

For those of you that don’t know, this UltraBook is deemed to be one of the few that can actually stand toe to to with the MacBook Air. It debuted at CES 2012 and they said that it should be arriving in Q2 this year.

I will probably buy one of these myself and compare it to the MacBook Air I already have and see how it fairs. You can get more details about the Acer Aspire S5 UltraBook here.

You can also checkout the FaceBook fan page here.

-RP

SSD on a Budget!

Hi folks! As I mentioned before, one of the best ways to have a fast laptop is to buy one with an SSD drive in it.

Having an SSD drive will help with those boot times and with resuming your laptop from hibernation/sleep modes. However not all of you are fortunate enough to own a laptop with SSD, and not everyone wants to spend the coin on a new laptop.

If your current laptop supports upgrading to an SSD drive, you can take advantage of the budget SSD drives from Kingston. The Hyper-X 3K SSD.

-RP

iPhone 5 Release Date?

Hi folks! Here’s another tidbit from the rumour mill. Apparently someone at Foxconn has let slip the release date of the iPhone 5.

The latest rumours state that the iPhone 5 could be released in June or as late as October. Is this for real? There is no way to know for certain as Apple is notoriously tight lipped about these kinds of things.

All we can say is that the world is waiting with baited breath. It should be interesting to see what the iPhone 5 release does for Apple’s stock, it already skyrocketed amongst greater than expected results.

-RP

RIM Updating Apps for BBM

Hi folks! So as part of RIM’s efforts to save itself from the clutches of death, they have decided to update their apps.

RIM is going to be updating their apps to be more BBM friendly. This is supposed to help social networking integration with the BlackBerry.

Now I think this is a great idea in theory, but once again, this could be too little too late. Both Apple and Android have gained tons of ground at BlackBerry’s expense so we’ll see what happens here.

-RP

Microsoft brings the MCSE name back!

Hi folks! So do you remember the old days of the MCSE certification? Well some people look at those old days in a good or a bad light depending on who you are.

But there is one thing you can’t deny, and that’s the proliferation of the MCSE name/brand and how recognizable it is. Well Microsoft has gone and brought the name back! It no longer stands for Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer however. It now stands for Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert, so all you professional engineers out there can relax.

You can read more about it here.

-RP

EPIC Technology Day a Great Success Again!

Hi folks! Thanks again to everyone who attended EPIC Technology Day! It was a great event and once again we had a record turnout!

This event couldn’t be run without the hard work of all the great vendors and the employees of EPIC, but most importantly without you wonderful customers attending! So thanks again for coming and we hope you came away from the event with some great information.

There was a lot of buzz about the usual topics such as virtualization and unified communications, but this time BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) also seemed to garner a lot of interest.

Stay tuned for another great event in October!

-RP

Jim Balsillie and RIM

Hi folks! So before Jim left RIM he seemed to make some waves. What did he do?

He tried to get them to play ball by utilizing the RIM network with other carriers. This could have meant big business for RIM. Unfortunately he was out voted and it never came to fruition.

Time will tell if this was the right move by the board. You can read more here.

-RP

Samsung Galaxy S3 Pictures Leaked

Hi folks! So as we all wait in anticipation for the latest phone from Samsung, some pictures were leaked!

Apparently these pictures were of the S3 in a dummy case to throw off would be spies. So basically it makes it easy for employees to test the phone in the field without fear of the word getting out.

In any case it still makes for exciting news and hopefully we’ll see the phone soon!

-RP

Wireless N Connectivity Issues with New Gadgets

Hi folks, so you get that brand new phone or tablet and are wondering why you aren’t getting N speeds? Well that might be because your manufacturer cheaper out and only put in a wireless card that supports 2.4 GHZ N only.

You see most new devices only support the 2.4 GHZ wireless range and not the 5 GHZ range. Whereas N can actually be made available in both ranges. A lot of wireless installations only support N in the 5 GHZ range which then means that your device ends up connecting at non N speeds if it only supports 2.4 GHZ.

What can you do to fix this? Not much. If it’s your own network, you can make sure your solution support N on both ranges. But if it’s not you out of luck unless you opt to buy a different smart phone or tablet that supports A/B/G/N instead of just B/G/N.

You can read more here.

-RP

Ice Cream Sandwich Update List Released

Hi folks, after many rumours over the past month, Samsung has finally released an update list for ICS.

Samsung’s list only covers US carriers however. This list will give some of you an idea of what you are waiting for.

You can read more about the list here.

-RP