iPad is More than Just an Efficient Business Tool

Photo Credit: Ben Swinnerton/Herald Sun

Companies who come to us to rent the iPad or iPad 2 for their next event, project, survey or training look to the revolutionary technology of the tablets to enhance business efficiency and productivity.

But Apple’s tablets are doing so much more in various fields, like education for those with disabilities.

For instance, Holly Bligh of Melbourne, Australia, who has albinism, has been using her iPad to counter her visual deficiencies caused by the disease.  Before, she had to use a magnifying glass or teachers had to provide her with material with enlarged text.  Now, she has a super-cool tool that makes her standout among other students, and allows her to view reading material with the swipe of her finger. She can read twice as long as she could with hard copies.

Bligh’s mother wrote Steve Jobs to thank him for the technology: “All the other kids think it’s awesome that she gets an iPad!” Fiona Bligh. “Sometimes in the past Holly has found her extra equipment embarrassing … But the iPad has a coolness factor!”

According to blogs across the Web, Jobs was touched by the story and wrote back: “Thanks for sharing your experience with me. Do you mind if I read your email to a group of our top 100 leaders at Apple?”

This is just one area where the iPad has helped those with disabilities as an effective assistive technology tool.

To learn more about iPad and iPad 2 rental for your organization, contact Hamilton Rentals.

Consider a ThinkPad X Series Tablet Laptop Rental

Lenovo has been a long-time favorite of companies all over the world. In a recent interview with the company’s vice president, Milko van Duijl, The Telegraph coined the company the “biggest computer-maker most people have never heard of.”

After buying IBM’s personal computer business in 2005, taking on the “ThinkPad” brand, the maker’s influence with the corporate sect begin to grow, so much so that the paper wrote, “anyone you spot on the Tube using a ThinkPad has almost certainly obtained it from their employer.”

While probably not entirely true, the ThinkPad models within our own laptop rental fleet have time and again proven to be a popular choice among companies looking to fulfill their short term computer needs.

Among the most popular models are the tablet laptops, like the ThinkPad X series—laptops with a “twist” and an interactive touchscreen you can manage with the attached stylus.

Have you considered renting laptops for a training seminar, and on-site project, or have another temporary need for an onslaught of computers for your company?  Consider renting from our Lenovo ThinkPad X series tablets from Hamilton rentals to give your employees a tool that will optimize productivity.

One reviewer of the Lenovo ThinkPad X220T described the laptop as a “machine for people who know their work,” who “want to buy the best tool possible to get it done.”

Contact Hamilton Rentals to learn more.

The Latest External Hard Drive Companion for Apple Hire

Touted the “next great Pc-to-peripheral interconnect” by Apple and Intel, the  Thunderbolt ports of your iMac and MacBook Pro can be put to good use with the Promise Pegasus line of external RAID hard drives.

The Promise Pegasus R4 is a four-bay external drive with 4TB and 8TB capacities, according to PC Magazine’s Joel Santo Domingo.  The R6 version of the Promise Pegasus is likewise a six-bay external drive with 6TB and 12TB capacities.

The Thunderbolt’s praise from its makers evolves from the 10Gbps “theoretical maximum throughput.”

According to Domingo, “This trumps both eSATA (3Gbps) and USB 3.0 (5Gbps), plus Thunderbolt can be daisy-chained so monitors, hard drives, and other peripherals can be connected together to the single Thunderbolt connector on newer iMacs and MacBook Pros.”

Configurations for the Promise Pegasus drives are RAID 0, 1, 5, 50, 6 and 10—providing varying levels of speed, data redundancy, or a measure of both, depend on the needs of the user.

To learn more about Apple hire for your company, visit us at Hamilton Rentals where we have the iMac, MacBook, MacBook Pro and MacBook Air available for rent.

Technology for Every Girl, Boy and Religious Leader

The Pope uses an iPad, too.

Every organization functioning within today’s modern age has utilized technology to get their word out.  The “word” is typically referred to as “advertising” or “branding” efforts in the corporate world, but there is another “word” being pushed out on the Web of a different kind.

One of the oldest functioning institutions in the world, the Vatican is to launch a new Web portal that will streamline its various sects of its online media.  Didn’t realize the core of the Catholic Church was so tech savvy? Think again!  From smartphones to social media, it’s there and apparently, it’s maturing quickly.

The Telegraph recently touched on several separate media outlets the Vatican has already utilized for current and future members of the faith.

First, there are the mobile apps for iPhone and Android. The Vatican has officially endorsed “The Confession Program”—described as “a how-to guide through the sacrament of confession for Catholics,” catering to the needs of the people as “the perfect aid for every peitent.”  This app allows users to monitor their sins and act accordingly.  Another app, “iBreviary” gives users access to Church liturgy on their iPhones.

Subscribed to the Vatican channel on YouTube yet?  It’s been up and active since 2009, sharing clips of the Pope’s public addresses as well as commentary and shorts in Italian, English, Spanish and German.  The content should appeal to followers of the church as well as “curious browsers.”

As recently as the 44th world Communications Day address, Pope Benedict XVI encouraged priests to start blogging to spread the word.  The request has been met with enthusiasm from Brooklyn to Chicago—where one Cardinal even offers regular email messages of reflection and Scripture.

There are several other notable tech mediums the Church uses: the Pope’s Twitter account’ prayer podcasts; texting subscribers a “though of the day” derived from the Pop’s speeches and homilies; the Vatican even has its own domain .va.

As you can see, technology excludes no one. Virtually any organization from multiple brands, nationalities and faiths has a place in our connected world. To learn more about the above, visit the Vatican’s website.

To learn more about technology and how your organization can gain access to hardware for the short term, you can visit our website at Hamilton Rentals, where we specialize in everything from computer, to LCD, to iPad 2 rentals.

Server Rental News: Get your Head out of the Cloud and Prepare for Outages

While cloud migration continues to grow and companies turn to virtualisation as a convenient, or perhaps a cost-effective storage method, we are reminded of the risks that come with cloud outages as they are often very public, and embarrassing.

JR Raphael from InfoWorld listed 10 of the worst cloud outages that you’ll likely remember as a frustrated user, or as someone who’s keeping up with industry news.  What we can learn from these outages, reminds Raphael, is that that the cloud isn’t always the “end all, be all” data storage solution but rather a “mixed bag” of sorts.

“What you gain in avoiding upkeep, you lose in control.  And the security concerns are considerable.  But nowhere is the nightmare as vivid as it is when your cloud service goes down,” he wrote.

In short, the top five of Raphael’s list of worst cloud outages are the following (to the full list in more detail, check out his article):

AMAZON
The most notable, recent event at the top of the list occurred when Amazon’s Northern Virginia data center suffered a glitch during a network upgrade. Chaos ensued for businesses that had signed up for the company’s new cloud services and were unprepared for such a mishap.

SIDEKICK
In 2009, Sidekick (owned by Microsoft) suffered a week-long service outage that left users without access to email and other personal data stored on their phones, after which the company completely lost the cloud-stored data forever.

GMAIL
When Gmail suffered its outage, 150,000 users were left with no email, folders, or any of the settings on their personal accounts.  It took some users up to four days to recover their lost files.

HOTMAIL
While on email service providers, let’s not forget Hotmail who at the end of 2010, mistakenly deleted 17,000 of its users’ accounts when running a script meant to target those faux or “dummy” accounts.

INTUIT
Intuit suffered not just one, but two back-to-back outages, infuriating its users in an over 36-hour span.  When the first outage occurred, affecting platforms like TurboTax, Quicken and QuickBooks, the primary and the backup systems were completely shut down or “off the grid.”  The second outage followed only a few weeks later.

To summarize, here’s a few clichés based on the advice of industry experts everywhere: don’t put all of your eggs in one basket.  Get your head out of the clouds. Be prepared and have a backup ready—assume the system is going to fail.

At Hamilton Rentals, we have a huge selection of storage options available that you can peruse on our server rental page.  Contact us for more information.

Rent the Samsung 32” Widescreen Full HD 1080p (LE32D550) from Hamilton Rentals

Hire the right display for your next event, and experience twice the detail and resolution of regular HDTV with Full, 1080p HD  on the Samsung 32” Widescreen TV.  Whether it’s a flow chart showing your company’s growth in your industry, or the video your marketing department put together with lots of color, flash and pizazz to show off your company’s brand—the crystal clear picture of this TV will set you apart from the rest.

With rich color and striking detail, this model will even correct errors from stand definition content streamed through its 32” display. When the picture is not so perfect in a poor reception area, the TV’s filter reduces analog noise created during the transmission, bringing you the type of picture you expect from a top-of-the line HD TV.

Users can connect multiple devices through the TV’s four HDMI and two USB portals, allowing you to sync up your laptop, iPad 2, camera, or just about anything else you use to collect multimedia.

The Samsung 32” Widescreen Full HD 1080p (LE32D550) Specifications

• Screen size (in): 31.5”
• Native Resolution: 1920 x 1080
• Dynamic Contrast Ratio: 200,000:1
• Clear Motion Rate: 60

Dimensions:

• Size (W x H x D): 31.7” x 20.0” x 3.1”
• Product Weight wigh Stand (lbs): 26.5
• Shipping Weight (lbs): 29.5

Enhance your Exhibition Display with Full HD in Samsung’s 32” LE32D550
Hamilton Rentals provides companies around with the world with the largest selection of 3D, plasma, and LCD rental options for corporate meetings, trade shows and other exhibitions.  To learn more about how your company can benefit from hiring an HD display, request a quote and a sales representative will get back to you shortly.

Technology in the Classroom; from iPad to Laptop Rentals

photo from library.thinkquest.org

With every generation, students are inundated with the latest technology that their educational institutions can afford to make available. Classrooms today have come a long way from those clunky Macintosh desktop PCs from the 90s—and particularly in the U.S., slim laptops, tablets and ereaders have taken the place of textbooks and mobile apps,  engaging students like never before.

The BBC cited a few American schools of various levels in a video exclusive, showing the growing presence of technology in the ever-increasing number of better connected schools.

In the video, students are taught to turn in their homework on Google Docs to share their insights with other students as well as the teacher.  The teachers post homework on a homepage visible to both students and their parents, and the kids use lightweight ereaders instead of heavy textbooks.  When teachers ask for a reflective writing assignment, the students can save all of their work in a digital locker.

Schools even have Twitter accounts to keep everyone posted on daily bulletins.

Some schools in higher education have even taken to developing their own software, for example, one student in a class at Long Island University developed an iPad app to study the frequency of shock waves generated by earthquakes.

There has been some divide in less affluent areas where students lack mobile devices to check notifications, or do not have access to the Internet at home–something local governments and organizations are continuing to work around.

As schools around the world continue to adapt this technology into their classrooms, Hamilton Rentals is ready to support educational efforts whether through laptop hire, or renting iPads or Interactive WhiteBoards with SMART technology.

Server Rental News: Facebook’s Data Centre Goes Green with Heat

Earlier this morning, a spokesperson for the social networking giant Facebook’s Open Compute Project has announced its intentions to operate its new datacenter at a high server-inlet temperature.

The move will be made in place of using air cooling servers found in other datacentres.

The first implementation will go into effect in its newest development in Forest City, N.C. Member of the Open Compute Project team, Yael Maguire said the temperature in the datacenter will be raised from 80°F to 85°F, in addition to raising the level of relative humidity from 65 percent to 90 percent.

Macguire wrote on the Facebook blog: “Our teams have learned a number of things over the past few months of operation, which have led to changes in our second phase of Prineville as well as our new data center in Forest City, North Carolina […] Comparing our first phase of Prineville with how we plan to operate Forest City, we’ve raised the inlet temperature for each server from 80°F to 85°, 65 percent relative humidity to 90 percent, and a 25°F Delta T to 35°. This will further reduce our environmental impact and allow us to have 45 percent less air handling hardware than we have in Prineville.”

For those of you unfamiliar with the term “Delta T,” it refers to the difference in temperature between the “hot” and “cold” isles of Facebook’s datacenters.  This means the “hot” isle currently in the centre will increase to 125°F.

According to Data Center Knowledge, “Raising the baseline temperature inside the data center – known as a set point – can save money spent on air conditioning. By some estimates, data center managers can save 4 percent in energy costs for every degree of upward change in the set point. But nudging the thermostat higher may also leave less time to recover from a cooling failure, and is only appropriate for companies with a strong understanding of the cooling conditions in their facility.”

As working in the increased heat would prove to be truly unpleasant for datacenter workers, Facebook has designed the Open Compute Servers in the new datacenter with cabling on the front of the server so they can perform maintenance while standing in the “cold” isle.

Before datacenters line their isles with servers, companies must select the right make and model to satisfy their specific requirements. Before making the costly investment in purchasing servers outright, many companies come to us at Hamilton Rentals to test the servers of top names like IBM, HP, Oracle and Dell before making the final commitment.  Contact us to learn more about the extensive line of Hamilton’s server rental fleet.

Rent the 19” D450 HD LCD TV (LE19D450) from Hamilton Rentals

If your company can use a little boost in your overall presentation for your next event, but you don’t need, or want to use the space required for a large plasma or LCD display, consider renting Samsung’s 19” D450 HD LCD TV from Hamilton Rentals.

This HD Ready TV allows your visitors to enjoy twice the onscreen resolution of a regular HD TV, while streaming the multimedia of your choice from an array of compatible devices.

To enhance aesthetics even further—beyond its impressive, sharp resolution—the latest Touch of Colour technology from Samsung, allows your TV’s surround to bring “beauty and warmth” to any room in the form of a unique, black-rose material that subtly changes colour under different lighting conditions.

The 19” D450 HD LCD TV (LE19D450) Specifications

• Resolution 1366 x 768
• Clear Motion Rate: 50
• DNIe+ Picture Engine
• High Dynamic Contrast Ratio
• HDMI x 1
• USB
• 1 x Component In (Y / Pb / Pr)
• Digital Audio Out (Optical)
• PC In (D-sub)
• CI Slot
• Scart
• Headphone
• PC Audio In (Mini Jack)
• Dimensions:
• Width: 476.5 mm
• Height: With stand, 356.1 mm; Without stand, 315.7mm

The Right Choice for your LCD Rental
If your company can use a fantastic display at its next exhibition, contact us at Hamilton Rentals.  With the largest IT and AV rental fleet in the world, we can cater to events of all sizes.  The 19” D450 HD LCD TV is one of our latest editions to our extensive LCD rental line.

Computer Rental News: Essex Teenager a Piece of the LulzSec Puzzle

Photo Credit: Steve Meddle / Rex Features

Now who would have thought one of the masterminds behind infamous hacking group, LulzSec, would be a 19-year-old kid from Essex?

Well, one of the alleged mastermind-hackers striking fear into the hearts of governments and major corporations worldwide, that is.

Ryan Cleary was taken from his home in Wickford, Essex and arrested under suspicions of five hacking offenses that now have him under lock-down through combined U.K./U.S. efforts.

Cleary was formally charged with a cyber-attack against Britain’s Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) at the City of London magistrates court on Monday.  The attacks in question occurred in November 2010 on the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, and the British Phonographic Industry just  a month before that.

His affiliation with LulzSec has sent a buzz all over the world, as the hacking group has flustered major entities to the like of the American CIA, the U.S. Senate, and electronics major Sony.

Although Cleary’s charges in the U.K. take precedence over extradition requests from the U.S., the number of FBI officials pouring in suggest that Washington officials think otherwise, according to The Guardian.

Police are now combing through Cleary’s computer equipment in search for further evidence that may incur additional charges, district judge Quentin Purdy told Cleary in court.

Sometimes, covering industry topics for a company offering computer rental services like Hamilton Rentals can kick up some pretty interesting local news. As was mentioned before, who would have thought a piece of the very complex puzzle of LulzSec would be in this quaint Essex home?