easy

It's been a while since I last had opportunity to take on a Windows Server-based NAS server, such as the Acer Aspire EasyStore or HP's MediaSmart series. And now when Microsoft fanboys are starting to worry that the company has abandoned the NAS server market, LaCie has announced its first network storage server that's based on an NAS-specific operating system (OS) from the software giant, the 5big Storage Server.

The new NAS server is powered by Microsoft's Windows Storage Server 2008 R2 Standard operating system, which was introduced in October 2010 and is based on Windows … Read more

All the consumers who complain about paying $60 for a video game have an important ally in their corner.

Ben Cousins, general manager of Electronic Arts' Easy Studios, told Rock, Paper, Shotgun it's simply awful that consumers must shell out $60 for a game they may or may not like.

"I can't think of anything more exploitative than gating all of your content behind having to pay someone $60," Cousins told the U.K.-based gaming blog in an interview posted yesterday. "That's a really harsh business model if you think about it objectively.&… Read more

Fruit Ninja HD is a faithful iPad adaptation of the popular iPhone and iPod Touch game of the same name. This HD version adds same-device multiplayer and sharper graphics to the original's unique gameplay.

The interface hasn't changed, but the game's goofy and addictive premise--slashing through fast-flying fruit with swiping strokes of a virtual sword--works especially well on the iPad's bigger screen. You can even "go Wolverine" with up to eight-finger multitouch.

The game gives you several options for solo and multiplayer: In single-player, you can play Classic (the game ends when you hit … Read more

Hash functions have a variety of cryptographic uses, such as providing digital signatures, checking the contents of downloaded files and programs for corrupted or changed files, and time-stamping secure documents without revealing their content. Easy Hash is a freeware hash value calculator from odzysk.info. It supports more than 130 file and text hash functions, and it can crack CRC-32 passwords. It can also reset passwords in a variety of dynamic content management and e-commerce platforms, including Joomla, Mambo, Wordpress, Magento, Drupal, and Prestashop.

Easy Hash's compact interface is easy to manage, with a plain window that displays the … Read more

Directflights.com is now offering a search engine for finding the cheapest carbon-friendly flights between two destinations, the company announced today.

The tool was developed in conjunction with The Carbon Consultancy, a British company that offers reports on emissions data and offset procurement information for travel industry companies.

It offers to show international flights, as well as those contained within the U.K. and Europe, or contained within the U.S., among other places. Flights can be viewed by cheapest only, or by most carbon-friendly with a choice to see flights in different currency options.

The tool ranks flights on … Read more

Apple's iPhone 4 camera packs a technology that a lot of buyers of the phone may have missed: a new image sensor tech that is coming into focus--pardon the pun--as camera makers like Kodak adopt the technology in higher-end cameras.

The technology, called backside illumination, or BSI, was highlighted by Steve Jobs when he took the stage to roll out the new iPhone, as Joshua Goldman of CNET Reviews wrote here.

Apple's savviness shines through here. The company had to do its homework to get out in front of this trend, particularly in smartphones, which are not necessarily … Read more

It's tough to judge just how small the Kodak EasyShare Mini is from the photo here. It's actually the same height and width as a credit card; it's not that much thicker than one either. That's pretty amazing considering this 10-megapixel camera still has a 29mm-equivalent wide-angle lens with 3x zoom and a 2.5-inch LCD.

The Mini doesn't do much beyond basics, though you do get Kodak's sharing features and some creative photo and video modes. It also has a built-in front mirror for self portraits.

Look for the EasyShare Mini in spring … Read more

Every manufacturer should really have a touch-screen pocket camera in its 2011 lineup and Kodak's is the EasyShare Touch. It's a 14-megapixel ultracompact with a 3-inch touch screen and a 28mm-equivalent wide-angle lens with a 5x optical zoom.

Beyond those basic specs you get 720p HD video capture with a one-touch record button, so no fumbling with switching modes; HDMI output; automatic photo organization that sorts by people, date, keywords, and videos; artistic effects for photos and videos; and, of course, Kodak's Share button for quickly tagging your shots to be sent off to e-mail addresses or … Read more

Rugged and waterproof cameras are growing segments of the point-and-shoot market, but most of them will cost you more than $200. The 12-megapixel Kodak EasyShare Sport, however, is less than $100 and is waterproof down to 10 feet. Unfortunately, the camera is otherwise unremarkable.

Despite the appearance of a zoom rocker on back, there is no optical zoom on this camera; it's digital zoom only. The LCD on back is small at 2.4 inches, too, and the Sport seems to have a bare minimum of shooting options.

Look for the EasyShare Sport in spring 2011 for $79.95 … Read more