http://www.deepsense.com DeepSense - Latest News en-uk Sat, 01 May 2010 08:00:00 GMT Sat, 01 May 2010 08:00:00 GMT DeepSense RSS Generator 60 Solid State Drives (SSDs) have been getting a lot of attention recently, but not from us. Why? Well, the truth is, SSDs just aren't ready for general purpose use, and they're certainly not ready for use in servers. Their speed deteriorates over time (without the use of TRIM), their reliability is as yet unproven (Recent Examples are Here and Here), and they're more expensive per gigabyte than traditional HDDs. It's not all bad though, they do fit very well into a few niche markets. We would, for example, still recommend them in the following scenarios...

As a silent boot drive in a Media Centre or Nettop, or
As a fast boot drive in a high end Desktop or Laptop, or
As a cool and power efficient drive in a Laptop or Netbook

There are signs of things getting better though. Prices are definity falling, and some drives such as the Western Digital SiliconEdge Blue (Reviewed Here and Here) are focused on compatibility and reliability rather than speed. For now though, unless you fit into one of the above mentioned niche markets, your probably better off sticking to a more traditional HDD.
]]> Sat, 01 May 2010 08:00:00 GMT http://www.deepsense.com/rssfeed.php?feed=Latest%20News&articleid=31 James Britton http://www.deepsense.com/news.php?articleid=31 For those who prefer Ubuntu rather than Windows, this is a reminder that Ubuntu 10.04 LTS is out today. As this is a Long Term Support (LTS) Release, upgrading to this version is recommended. Please ensure you have a complete backup of your entire system before commencing the upgrade. Due to our careful selection of hardware and strict quality control standards, all Desktop Computers purchased from us, in the last two years, are compatible with Ubuntu.

Reviews : Ars Technica, Atolstoy, BestTechie.net, Chema Martin, Dektop Linux Reviews, ExtremeTech, Jesse Kline, MakeUseOf.com, The Register, Times Online, Tom's Hardware.
]]> Thu, 29 Apr 2010 08:00:00 GMT http://www.deepsense.com/rssfeed.php?feed=Latest%20News&articleid=29 James Britton http://www.deepsense.com/news.php?articleid=29 We're not huge fans of the iPhone, but we know some of our clients are, so when Gray Powell, a software engineer from Apple, lost a next generation iPhone, we thought you might like to know. Fortunately, Gizmodo got their hands on it, and promptly photographed and dissected it! Conspiracy theories are abound, but Gizmodo believes this is the real thing. Apple have even written asking for their ball back.
]]> Thu, 15 Apr 2010 08:00:00 GMT http://www.deepsense.com/rssfeed.php?feed=Latest%20News&articleid=28 James Britton http://www.deepsense.com/news.php?articleid=28 If your looking for a portable Laptop or Netbook then the Lenovo X100e comes highly recommended. What makes this Laptop special is that Lenovo have found the right balance of features for the £400 asking price (including vat). Being a ThinkPad it's better built than Netbooks, and because it's aimed at businesses, comes with Windows 7 Professional rather than the usual Windows 7 Starter or Home Premium editions. This makes it suitable for both home and business use, since Windows 7 Professional contains all the features of Windows 7 Home Premium. While most laptops of this size settle for a 1024 x 600 screen, Lenovo has opted for 1366 x768, and backs this up with a dedicated ATI Radeon HD 3200 graphics card. The only obvious omission is that of an HDMI output, which is a real shame as it removes the possibility of connecting it to a large screen TV for watching say the BBC iPlayer or using it as a media centre using software such as XBMC.

Lenovo X100e Review - PC Pro
Lenovo X100e Review - RegHardware
Lenovo X100e Review - YouTube Videos
]]> Thu, 15 Apr 2010 08:00:00 GMT http://www.deepsense.com/rssfeed.php?feed=Latest%20News&articleid=27 James Britton http://www.deepsense.com/news.php?articleid=27 Due to the growing popularity of smartphones, and their integration with desktop computers and email, more and more of our clients are seeking our advice on mobile phone upgrades. With the recent release of Android 2.1 and the imminent availability of three new Android Phones from HTC (HTC Legend, HTC Desire & Google Nexus One), the decision is far from easy. Luckily, TechRadar, AnandTech, and The Register are all here to help out!

HTC Legend Reviews - TechRadar
HTC Desire Reviews - TechRadar, The Register
Google Nexus One Reviews - TechRadar, AnandTech
HTC Legend vs HTC Desire vs Google Nexus One - TechRadar

Which one is right for you will probably come down to your preference between form and function. The Legend has the undeniable edge in the style department, while the Desire has all the features.
]]> Thu, 01 Apr 2010 08:00:00 GMT http://www.deepsense.com/rssfeed.php?feed=Latest%20News&articleid=26 James Britton http://www.deepsense.com/news.php?articleid=26 For about five years we've been using Ecotricity to supply our electricity. We not only wanted our energy to come from renewable sources, but we also wanted it to be clean too. For this reason, we opted for Ecotricity's 100% wind power tariff (New Energy Plus). While this does cost a little more, it means we're doing the best we can to go green. We haven't done this so we can show off our green credentials though; we've done it because it's the right and responsible thing to do.

Now Ecotricity has turned it's attention to Green Gas. While Gas will never be as environmentally friendly as Electricity, there is still a lot of room for improvement. By making gas from renewable resources and injecting it into the national gas grid, Ecotricity are doing the best they can to make Gas Green. What's more, just like they turn electricity bills into Windmills, they're now turning gas bills into Gasmills. That's why all our gas bills, from now on, will come from Ecotricity.
]]> Mon, 01 Mar 2010 09:00:00 GMT http://www.deepsense.com/rssfeed.php?feed=Latest%20News&articleid=30 James Britton http://www.deepsense.com/news.php?articleid=30 BT is making heavy cuts to its Local Business network, following a year and a half of plummeting sales. This is hardly surprising considering just how competitive the Small Business IT sector is. With little or no profit margin, and shareholders to keep happy, there's little wonder they were struggling. This is no place for big business. It never has been, and probably never will be. So if your a Small Business, and thinking about 'playing it safe' with a big name company like BT, may we suggest you contact us instead?
]]> Mon, 01 Feb 2010 09:00:00 GMT http://www.deepsense.com/rssfeed.php?feed=Latest%20News&articleid=32 James Britton http://www.deepsense.com/news.php?articleid=32 DeepSense celebrates it's 10th birthday today having started business on the 1st January 2000 (near enough anyway!) During this time we have spent almost as much time keeping up with development as it has directly supporting it's clients. We never forgot however who we're ultimately working for. Most of our clients are small business's (1-100 computers) with small budget's, so all our research & development in this time has revolved around finding, testing and implementing the right solutions for them...

Rather than follow the more obvious and predictable 'Microsoft Small Business Server' route, DeepSense have been busy locating and testing the 'best of the rest'. Business's with 10 or less computers for example would be better off using the much cheaper Windows Server Foundation. Both free and Open Source, MailCleaner can be used to stop Spam & Viruses before they even get to a users computer. Comodo AntiVirus, unlike AVG, is free for commercial use, and provides an addition layer of protection. SmarterMail provides an excellent alternative to Microsoft Exchange, is free for 10 or less users, and very reasonably priced if you need more. Being totally Web Based (but hosted locally), it is also extremely easy to maintain and use. For Backup we use a combination of SyncBackPro for file copying, Finddupe for Data Deduplication, and FOG for Computer Cloning. Spiceworks takes care of all the network monitoring. Last, but by no means least, VMware Server is used to Virtualize MailCleaner, FOG, SmarterMail & Spiceworks into individual Virtual Appliances, simplifying the whole system, reducing hardware costs, and (with the addition of a second server) providing a High Availability option. The best part though is the price... all of these solutions (excluding SyncBackPro and SmarterMail) are completely FREE!

It's not only software we've been trialling, but hardware solutions too. Many of the solutions we implement in today's servers, would simply have been too expensive for small business's ten years ago. Virtualization has enabled us to take what would have been multiple physical servers and reduce them to just one. The increasing capacity of Hard Disks has enabled us to move from the 3.5" form factor to the more compact and energy efficient 2.5" form factor Hard Disks and SSDs. It took a while, but we have finally found a RAID solution worthy of the DeepSense seal of approval... meet the Stardom MR2020-2S-S2 (see below). With disk speeds and capacities now way ahead of what is required for most Small Business's, the advantages of RAID 5 over RAID 1 are now largely moot, so this provides a perfect solution. With hardware costs plummeting too, we are now able to install two of these units on all our servers, creating a physical separation between the Operating System and that all important Data. There are many other fantastic pieces of hardware we could show you, but we don't want to give too much away to our competitors!

The following associated files are also available for download:

Stardom MR2020-2S-S2 (pdf)

]]> Fri, 01 Jan 2010 09:00:00 GMT http://www.deepsense.com/rssfeed.php?feed=Latest%20News&articleid=22 James Britton http://www.deepsense.com/news.php?articleid=22