Today at VMworld® 2014, VMware, NVIDIA and Google announced a collaborative effort to deliver high-performance virtual desktops and workstation-class graphics to Google Chromebooks.

REDMOND, Wash. — Aug. 25, 2014 — Royal Caribbean Cruises International is providing its 40,000 crew members with Windows 8.1 tablets. Crew members of Royal Caribbean’s newest ship, Quantum of the Seas, will be the first to receive the 8-inch Windows-based tablets built by HEXA for the cruise line. The tablets will feature services such as Bing, Skype, Office 365 and OneDrive. Rollout will begin in October and is expected to be completed by the end of December with every shipboard employee in the Royal Caribbean fleet receiving a tablet.

Richard D. Fain, chairman and CEO of Royal Caribbean Cruises, made the announcement Monday in Papenburg, Germany, at a technology reveal of the Quantum of the Seas, a new ship reimagined with technology to take the vacation experience to a whole new level. Fain said, “The Royal Caribbean men and women who provide such great vacations are the real heroes of our fleet, and these gifts demonstrate our appreciation in a tangible way. This technology isn’t only about giving our guests a better vacation — it’s about giving our crew and their families a closer connection than we’ve ever been able to.”

The Windows tablets will enable crew members to keep in closer contact with family members and friends while away from home. With a personal tablet, crew members will be able to keep family members up to date by talking face-to-face via Skype, sharing photos on OneDrive and getting things done with Office 365. With Windows 8.1, the device provides a modern, touch-friendly experience that will easily accommodate the active and mobile lifestyle of crew members.

“Royal Caribbean is using technology to transform experiences for guests and crew members, and we’re thrilled to partner with them on their journey. Microsoft cloud and mobile technologies are going to help Royal Caribbean crew members who represent so many countries around the world stay in touch with their family and friends,” said Jane Boulware, vice president of U.S. Windows Devices. “With a tablet in hand, a father can attend a parent-teacher conference, a mother can review her son’s book report and friends can check each other’s Facebook posts.”

The Quantum of the Seas will include Microsoft technology onboard as well. Guests aboard the Quantum will be able to take advantage of Xbox One consoles on board to play games with friends around the world or enjoy entertainment at sea — all available for the first time through Xbox Live and via the ship’s unprecedented connectivity. The new ship also will leverage a mobile point-of-sale system that is powered by sleek Dell Venue 8 Pro tablets featuring the VeriFone payment sleeve, which includes card swipe, bar code reader and RFID reader.

Read more about the Royal Caribbean news on the Windows for Business Blog. More information about how organizations are turning to Microsoft technology is available on the Microsoft Customer Spotlight newsroom.

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services, devices and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://www.microsoft.com/news. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/news/contactpr.mspx.

I am happy to announce the new major release of Database .NET 12.6, an innovative, powerful and intuitive multiple database management tool, With it you can Browse objects, Design tables, Edit rows, Export data and Run queries with a consistent interface.

Free, All-In-One, Portable, Standalone (No Installation) and Multlanguage.

Major New features from version 11.1 to 12.6:

• Compatible with the latest versions (8.x~9.4) of PostgreSQL.
• Updated to Npgsql.dll 2.2.0
• Support for json/jsonb/hstore/ghstore/pg_lsn/smallserial/tsquery/tsvector/txid_snapshot data types of PostgreSQL
• Support for all object comments (Table/Column/Index/Trigger/View/MView/Function/Sequence) of PostgreSQL
• Added Exporting and Importing Binary Data
• Added Automatic reconnection
• Added Advanced Edit Options
• Added SQL File Version Control
• Added Vertical Browsing Mode
• Added Results to Text
• Added AutoFilter
• Added Browsing Column Data
• Added Select the entire column
• Added Drag and drop to reorder tabs
• Added Automatic brace completion
• Added New Data Import and Export
• Added Excluded Schemas
• Added Execute scripts when connected
• Added Decrease Indent and Increase Indent
• Added Open last query tabs on startup
• Added New Query Button
• Added Using quoted identifiers for database object names
• Added Table and View List
• Added Support for subfolders
• Added Generate Table Data (INSERTs) to new query window
• Added GUID Generator: Automatically generate a new GUID object
• And more...

The new version is immediately available for download.

21 August 2014: 2ndQuadrant is proud to announce the release of version 1.3.3 of Barman, Backup and Recovery Manager for PostgreSQL.

This major release improves robustness of both backup procedures and their monitoring, by introducing:

• the so-called "smelly backup" control, allowing DBAs to detect possible problems in scheduling of periodical backups, by receiving complaints by "barman check" when the latest available backup for a server is older than a specified timeframe
• management of retry attempts for base backup copy (for both "barman backup" and "barman recover" commands), making the operation more resilient to temporary issues such as network connection drops

Performance issues have been fixed in relation to remote recovery over existing directories (incremental recovery), by invoking checksum control only when strictly necessary.

Usability has been enhanced through better exception handling, output and logging messages. PostgreSQL 8.3 is also now supported.

The following major bugs have been fixed:

• Copies "recovery.conf" during remote "barman recover" (#43)
• Correctly detect pre/post archive hook scripts (#41)

Minor bugs have also been fixed.

Many thanks for funding towards the development of this release go to Agile Business Group (www.agilebg.com), Jobrapido (www.jobrapido.com), Navionics (www.navionics.com), and Subito.it (www.subito.it).

For a complete list of changes, see the "Release Notes" section below.

Links

• Website: http://www.pgbarman.org/
• Download: http://sourceforge.net/projects/pgbarman/files/
• Documentation: http://www.pgbarman.org/documentation/
• Support: http://www.pgbarman.org/support/
• pgespresso extension: https://github.com/2ndquadrant-it/pgespresso

Release notes

• Added "last_backup_max_age", a new global/server option that allows administrators to set the max age of the last backup in a catalogue, making it easier to detect any issues with periodical backup execution
• Improved robustness of "barman backup" by introducing two global/server options: "basebackup_retry_times" and "basebackup_retry_sleep". These options allow an administrator to specify, respectively, the number of attempts for a copy operation after a failure, and the number of seconds of wait before retrying
• Improved the recovery process via rsync on an existing directory (incremental recovery), by splitting the previous rsync call into several ones - invoking checksum control only when necessary
• Added support for PostgreSQL 8.3
• Minor changes:
  • Support for comma separated list values configuration options
  • Improved backup durability by calling fsync() on backup and WAL files during "barman backup" and "barman cron"
  • Improved Nagios output for "barman check --nagios"
  • Display compression ratio for WALs in "barman show-backup"
  • Correctly handled keyboard interruption (CTRL-C) while performing barman backup
  • Improved error messages of failures regarding the stop of a backup
  • Wider coverage of unit tests
• Bug fixes:
  • Copies "recovery.conf" on the remote server during "barman recover" (#43)
  • Correctly detect pre/post archive hook scripts (#41)

Download

• Release Notes: https://sourceforge.net/projects/pgbarman/files/1.3.3/
• Sources: http://sourceforge.net/projects/pgbarman/files/1.3.3/barman-1.3.3.tar.gz/download
• RPMs for RHEL/CentOS 5: http://sourceforge.net/projects/pgbarman/files/1.3.3/barman-1.3.3-1.rhel5.noarch.rpm/download (dependencies: https://sourceforge.net/projects/pgbarman/files/rhel5-deps/)
• RPMs for RHEL/CentOS 6: http://sourceforge.net/projects/pgbarman/files/1.3.3/barman-1.3.3-1.rhel6.noarch.rpm/download (dependencies: https://sourceforge.net/projects/pgbarman/files/rhel6-deps/)
• PyPI: http://pypi.python.org/pypi/barman/1.3.3
• pgespresso on PostgreSQL Extension framework (PGXN): http://pgxn.org/dist/pgespresso/
• pgespresso RPM/Debian packages: https://sourceforge.net/projects/pgbarman/files/pgespresso/
• Online documentation: http://www.pgbarman.org/documentation
• PDF documentation: http://sourceforge.net/projects/pgbarman/files/1.3.3/barman-tutorial.en.pdf/download

About Barman

Barman (Backup and Recovery Manager) is an open source administration tool for disaster recovery of PostgreSQL servers written in Python. It allows your organisation to perform remote backups of multiple servers in business critical environments and help DBAs during the recovery phase. Barman’s most requested features include backup catalogues, retention policies, remote backup and recovery, archiving and compression of WAL files and backups. Barman is distributed under GNU GPL 3.

REDMOND, Wash. — Aug. 21 , 201 4 — Microsoft Corp. and TracFone Wireless on Thursday announced a collaboration that will bring the benefits of smartphone technology and services to underserved and high-risk populations through a new mobile health management solution offered through providers and insurers. This approach expands on Microsoft’s commitment to healthcare and TracFone’s telecommunications expertise as the largest Lifeline provider and prepaid wireless leader. Microsoft and TracFone will work with Health Choice Network (HCN), a Miami-based company that manages and connects a network of community health centers with more than 760,000 patients in 17 states, to conduct a pilot project where HCN will provide smartphones to diabetes patients to help them better manage their care.

Building on the success of TracFone’s short message service, text and phone programs, the new solution will be offered on a Windows Phone and feature Microsoft’s familiar suite of services and solutions, such as Microsoft Office 365, Microsoft HealthVault, Microsoft Dynamics CRM and a variety of smartphone applications. It will combine enterprise-grade security and privacy features to allow security-enhanced, HIPAA-enabled email and messaging communications to patients regarding their health and regimens. In addition, it will provide appointment reminders with calendar functionality and remote device management that is standard with a Windows Phone.

“Putting existing technologies to use for today’s patients will help improve healthcare, coordination and outcomes, as well as better manage costs,” said Lee Stevens, director of Health Information Exchange Policy and Interoperability, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. “Combining the power of a smartphone with a personal health record platform that brings disparate data together in a secure environment is an important step toward the goal of providing better patient engagement and more mobile healthcare in the U.S.”

Windows Phone already has built-in enterprise-grade safety and security features, as well as the ability to offer security-enhanced, HIPAA-enabled communications through Office 365. These features help patients, health providers and insurers retain control over important personal health information.

“With over 500,000 subscribers through SafeLink Health Solutions, we have seen firsthand the benefits of technology and the association between great health and a better quality of life,” said F.J. Pollak, president and CEO, TracFone. “We are excited to begin this program with Microsoft and HCN by bringing this innovative solution to market and helping our customers achieve their healthcare goals.”

Patients participating in the HCN pilot will receive a Windows Phone with TracFone’s prepaid services that will help them improve their engagement and manage their disease. The pilot’s goal is to demonstrate how access to mobile technology can help improve patient compliance, education and ultimately disease-related outcomes. HCN will develop a customer application to help participants provide consent, deliver and receive reminders, ensure treatment plan understanding, and aid in disease self-tracking for blood sugar levels and other vital health information. Patients will also have access to a variety of apps, including several that are specific to diabetes care, and other mobile devices connected to HealthVault to ensure the personal health records are pulling information from any devices they regularly use to help monitor important health information.

Because the solution will also be running on the Windows Phone 8.1 operating system, the mobile health solution will benefit from emerging Microsoft technologies such as Cortana personal assistant, which can help set reminders based on time, location, individual habits and preferences. For example, Cortana can remind patients to fill a prescription the next time it senses that they are near the pharmacy, or it can remind them to talk to a doctor about a specific concern the next time a doctor’s call or email is received.

“For several years, our patients with chronic health conditions like diabetes have benefited from access to their personal health record in HealthVault,” said Kevin Kearns, president and CEO, HCN. “We are excited to include a mobile smartphone to extend the platform for patient engagement and enhance our ability to provide, connect and utilize the tools to drive better outcomes. This is particularly timely as we focus on the tremendous growth in the Medicaid and individual market, whose enrollees traditionally are at higher risk for chronic disease and benefit most from patient engagement.”

“This solution brings together the strength of Microsoft's comprehensive platform and productivity tools in an evolving mobile-first, cloud-first world,” said Michael Robinson, vice president, U.S. Health and Life Sciences, Microsoft. “Combined with TracFone’s strong presence in the Lifeline mobile marketplace, we have a unique opportunity to provide our joint insurer, provider and Medicaid agency customers with the platform and tools to enhance patient engagement and meet the requirements necessary to succeed in today’s healthcare marketplace.”

More information is available at http://www.microsoft.com/healthplans, http://www.microsoft.com/hhs, this Mobile Health Management Solution data sheet and the Microsoft in Health Newsroom.

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services, devices and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://www.microsoft.com/news. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/news/contactpr.mspx.