Internet - Page 36 of 69

Server bugs at Apple: Big Sur recovery fails, App Store in Mojave broken

Users of macOS 11 alias Big Sur once again report problems restoring their computer. Were there with macOS 11. 0 recovery difficulties over a longer period of time on M1 Macs, for which Apple provided a whole list of workarounds, This time, Intel machines are specifically affected. A recovery can be useful if you have problems with your macOS installation.

This time it’s Intel Macs Like the blog Mr. Macintosh was the first to report, the so-called Internet Recovery is now on strike with Intel Macs. The latest version of macOS can be obtained via the network and installed immediately, as long as the machine can establish an Internet connection from recovery mode – via WLAN or Ethernet.

Instead of offering the latest operating system version macOS 10. 1 alias Big Sur for download, only macOS has been released for a few days 10. 15 aka Catalina if you look at the internet – Want to initiate recovery on Intel Macs. Why this is happening is not yet clear – Mr. Macintosh speculates that this is a server-side problem. According to information in the MacAdmins forum, Apple has even unofficially communicated this to the outside world and announced that it is “working” on the problem. However, a deadline for a fix was not given. As mentioned, M1-Macs are not affected by the error because the recovery process takes place in a different way here.

App- Store error under Mojave Another server-side problem affects the Mac App Store. MacOS users 10. 14 aka Mojave can no longer use this permanently. When trying to update an application, the message appears – sometimes for weeks – that the system cannot “complete the purchase”. Below is a simple “canceled” (canceled). Developer Jeff Johnson was able to prove that the server “osxapps.itunes.apple.com”, which is necessary for the updates, simply disconnects – why is unclear.

Johnson speculates that Apple is definitely on the error his side and no – unlikely – update for Mojave is necessary. Especially annoying for developers: customers who cannot update their apps due to the bug contact the developer – and not Apple, although the Concentrate is responsible for the current problem. (bsc)

Windows 7 still has a 20 percent market share

Windows 7 continues to be used extensively, although it is becoming more unsafe for consumers every day. According to Statcounter, Windows 7 came into use in December 18 percent of all Windows desktops and laptops. With NetApplication, which also takes other operating systems such as MacOS and Linux into account in its comparison, Windows 7 even comes up 20 percent .

Microsoft finally discontinued Windows 7 almost exactly a year ago and practically gave the operating system, which was very popular up to that point, the coup de grace because you as the end user no longer receives updates. This also applies to security updates, because Microsoft has support on 14. January 2020.

With Windows 10 Microsoft finally had an updated version of the operating system in the summer 2015 brought onto the market, which – at least at the beginning – did not appeal to everyone. It was different with Windows 7. When this operating system 2009 appeared, it was already found to be stable in its first version and was accordingly in demand.

This seems not to have changed for a large number of users. The proportion of Windows 7 users is only shrinking slowly. A look at the market shares of the Windows versions of the statistic service StatCounter shows that Windows 7 was even able to gain more than one percentage point in the last two months. At the beginning of the year 2020 the market share was almost 25 percent, so some of the users are now too Windows 10 or alternative operating systems changed. Netmarketshare measured around 18 percent for Windows 7 in December, after around 26 percent in January.

Statcounter also publishes data for individual regions and countries. In Germany and Austria, Windows 7 can now only be found on around eight percent of Windows computers. 86 – 87 percent use Windows 10. The rest still use Windows 8 (.1), Vista or XP.

ChromeOS thrives in the US About seen all operating systems runs on 78 percent of the German desktops and laptops active on the Internet a Windows version. Just under 20 percent use MacOS X, according to Statcounter, and another 2.2 percent use Linux. In Austria, Windows is two percentage points more common. Worldwide the situation is similar, with Windows with 61 percent far ahead of MacOSX with 17 Percent.

Processors run differently in the USA. Microsoft has to be content there with 61 percent market share on desktops and laptops. This is not only due to the 31 percent for MacOS X, but also the 5.5 percent that convinced Google’s ChromeOS

There are updates for Windows 7, but they cost End users no longer receive updates for Windows 7 , but Microsoft offers companies a support extension for Windows 7 up to the year 2023. This “Extended Security Updates Program” (ESU) is possible for Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise and Ultimate. Microsoft no longer supports Windows 7 Home even for a lot of money.

In the meantime, the prices for the ESU program have doubled, as you can find out from the provider Software-Express, for example. With such an ESU license, Windows 7 users can at least be provided with updates until January 2023 – according to the current status. However, this is primarily for large customers and their volume licenses are interesting, less for small and medium-sized companies.

(fds)

Habeck for digital tax: online trading is a business of the century

The retail trade is dense and online trade is booming: The Corona crisis shows the urgency of a digital tax from the point of view of Greens boss Robert Habeck. “The local shops are closing to protect against pandemics, inner cities are threatened with extinction,” Habeck told the German press agency. “The big online retailers, on the other hand, are doing the business of the century.” But they paid much less tax than the “bookstore around the corner”.

They used infrastructure such as broadband internet and roads, but hardly participated in the financing. “Amazon, Google and Co. really have to contribute to the financing of the infrastructure of the public structures”, demanded Habeck therefore.

Accusation against the federal government The Federal Government and, in particular, Finance Minister and SPD candidate for Chancellor Olaf Scholz accused the Green leader of not having acted consistently. “The best would of course be a global taxation of digital companies, the second best a European one,” he said. “But if even that doesn’t work, then you have to go ahead together with the partners who want to.” Some countries in the EU have already done so, but Germany did not go along with it.

The CDU / CSU parliamentary group recently came up with the idea of a “parcel delivery” for online retailers who are to finance an “inner city fund” after the Corona shutdown. There was an objection from the retail trade.

(mho)

Missing Link: Sovereign online – how states shape digital self-determination

Already in the first two weeks of the new year you can attend two conferences on the topic of “Digital Sovereignty”, one in Hong Kong and one in Brussels – both of course virtually. East and West do not understand the term to be the same, but also in Europe or in German politics the ideas of how one should be digitally sovereign vary. In the first Missing Link of the year we explore how politics argues and what technology can make possible.

What is missing: In the fast-paced world of technology there is often the time to rearrange the many news and backgrounds. At the weekend we want to take it, follow the side paths away from the current, try out other perspectives and make nuances audible.

Digital self-determination For almost two years the Swiss network “Digital Self-Determination” has been working on the idea of trustworthy data rooms. A specific project, the Data Hub of the Federal Office of Energy, was presented by Swiss representatives at the Internet Governance Forum in November. A central data platform should produce, distribute and consume energy more efficiently. Citizens could control their ecological footprint themselves, said Matthias Galus from the BfE. Another project is the Swiss Mobility Platform, an initiative of the Federal Office of Transport, which first brought all mobility providers around the table.

People consciously speak of digital self-determination instead of digital sovereignty, says Thomas Schneider from the Federal Office of Communication, which is jointly responsible for setting up the network. Of course, digital sovereignty also plays a role and the consideration of how the state can still maintain control in view of the power of the large platforms and technology providers, says Schneider. But it is easy to forget in these debates that the sovereign are the citizens.

State sovereignty in cyberspace The idea of asserting state – or national – sovereignty in cyberspace has made China’s autocratic governance ins Game brought. China’s head of state Xi Jinping underlined the claim to “cyber sovereignty” for his country at the 2nd World Conference on the Information Society of the United Nations 2015. Prior to this, Chinese delegations had made it clear at the UN’s first internet conference that other countries should please keep their hands off “their cyberspace”. The US sovereignty over central network resources such as names and numbers is incidentally not compatible with this either digital sovereignty, at least in the form China claimed. But since 2015 Germany’s national IT summit has also revolved around the topic. 2020 digital sovereignty was part of the German Council Presidency’s agenda. For years, French President Emmanuel Macron has insisted on regaining state sovereignty in the “Californian” network.

“The Chinese are of course rubbing their hands in the face of today’s discussion about digital sovereignty,” he regrets retired international law expert Wolfgang Kleinwächter, who followed the rise of the term live, so to speak. For years, he also fought internationally for digital self-determination that focuses on the people, says Kleinwächter. “But as it is in politics, you can’t get rid of the concept of ‘sovereignty’.”

How the CSU wants to make Germany more digital

According to its own statements, the CSU wants to make Germany more digital and has an agenda for 2021 formulated. The decision paper contains, among other things, demands for rapid network expansion, a fully digital identity card in the smartphone and a reduction in internet bureaucracy. The party also calls for a “minimum taxation” from US Internet companies such as Google or Amazon.

The 17 Point-comprehensive submission, which the CSU state group wants to resolve on January 6th and 7th at its retreat in Berlin, contains proposals that To make Germany a “pioneer of digitization”, as it says in it. The paper is available to the German Press Agency. First the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung” reported about it.

Google and Amazon tax According to the will the CSU is supposed to have a “Europe-wide regulation for a minimum taxation” of large digital corporations like Amazon or Google. The US corporations have been criticized for years for their business models. “We want to tax the Internet giants,” says the draft resolution. If Google and Facebook made money with personalized advertising and data from Germany, then they would have to “give something back to our community from this profit”. The time is ripe for a “Google and Amazon tax”, they say. The paper does not contain a specific number.

In addition, the party calls for “a spaceport for Germany and Europe”. Up to 2028 would be up to 8500 small satellites launch into space to collect data on earth observation and environmental and climate research. They all needed a porter and a launch site. Germany should provide this spaceport. “We want to set up and operate a mobile launch platform in the North Sea together with industry,” says the draft resolution.

ID card in the app According to the will of the CSU, digitization in Germany is to be promoted at different levels. The newly founded mobile radio infrastructure company (MIG) is supposed to help, by no later than 2024 all white spots in the mobile network expansion “with stationary or mobile masts to eliminate”. Until 2025 the party wants according to the resolution proposal 15 provide billions of euros for gigabit networks. The goal is “a nationwide 5G network”.

If the CSU has its way, the identity card should in future only be available digitally, on the smartphone. The ID card has had electronic functions for around ten years. In order to use it, you previously needed a normal ID card in addition to a smartphone.

“We want the online ID card to be even easier to use in the future and the ID card to be displayed directly can be saved on your own smartphone, “says the CSU template. Administrative procedures should be digitized as completely as possible. Frequently used services should be as easy as ordering in an online shop. This should then also apply to other official documents such as the driver’s license.

Cookies as a burden Surfing the Internet should also become less bureaucratic. To this end, the CSU wants to abolish the general obligation to consent to so-called cookies. Cookies store data on the user’s hard drive when surfing the Internet and are also used to present consumers with individual advertising.

In its paper, the CSU demands that users stipulate by law “that users can use generally agree to cookies via a setting in your browser “. From the point of view of the CSU, the obligation to be asked for consent to cookies every time you visit a new website should be dropped. She is a “burden for fast surfing”.

School subjects “Programming” and “Digital Economics” The CSU in the Bundestag is also calling for educational reforms to make schools and pupils more fit for the digital world. “The subjects of programming and digital economy must be available throughout Germany,” says the draft resolution for the CSU regional group meeting on January 6th and 7th. In addition, every subject must also be able to be taught digitally.

A nationwide education platform should enable video conferences and digital learning management, it says. “The federal platform is an open offer to the federal states, which can be networked with federal infrastructures and is available for all educational areas.”

Röttgen: “System failure” of educational federalism A national education summit by the federal and state governments for digitization is necessary. “It doesn’t make sense for each country to develop its own server and cloud solution. It is right and necessary that the federal government support this,” says the paper. “But it is also true that a lot of things arrive too slowly or too little. We therefore want future federal funding to be linked to clear deadlines for implementation.”

The CDU presidency candidate Norbert Röttgen stated “a crisis in educational federalism that had become too clear in the pandemic”. The federal education system is not even able to spend the five billion euros from the federal budget on digitizing schools, he criticized in the newspapers of the Funke media group. “I don’t want to take away any competencies from the federal states, but this system failure is unacceptable. As a result, German schools are far from being able to give online lessons in all aspects.”

VR glasses and consoles for daycare centers The CSU does not want to start promoting digital education in schools . “We want to introduce children to the correct use of digital media as early as possible,” it says – already in daycare. To this end, the CSU wants to campaign for a funding program for daycare centers with a volume of one billion euros. “The aim is to fund the acquisition of cameras for the production of stop-motion pictures, tablets and apps, VR glasses and consoles that combine analog gaming and digital learning.”

(hob)

Trends 2021, group watching, virtual machines under Linux | uplink # 36.0

The weekly c’t podcast c’t uplink is available …

Welcome to the year 2021! In the first episode of the new year we talk in c’t uplink about technology trends that will be important in the coming months. Christian Wölbert explains how tools for video conferencing and collaborative work could be improved so that colleagues in the home office can move closer together virtually. Maybe webcams will finally be available again at normal prices. It gets exciting 2021 in space (satellite internet), on the streets (IT in the car) and in warehouses (AI helps Robots gripping).

Because the cinemas are closed, Nico Jurran has opted for c’t “social viewing” functions for Watched streaming services. With Disney +, Amazon Prime and (via “Teleparty” browser plug-in) also with Netflix, you can now watch films and series from a distance without sitting in the same room. It’s fun, but there are also pitfalls: What if the film is interrupted every ten minutes because someone goes into the kitchen and presses the stop button? At Amazon, where up to 14 people can watch together, only the host can therefore influence the playback.

Finally, a Linux topic: Keywan Tonekaboni shows how easy it is to set up virtual machines under Linux. This is not only exciting for c’t editors, who have to constantly test new operating system versions: You can use it to build a clean development environment, try out beta functions for the desktop environment without blasting your desktop – and take a ride just quickly start up a Windows, if you need one or the other Windows program.

With: Christian Wölbert, Nico Jurran, Keywan Tonekaboni, Achim Barczok

The c’t 02 / 154 is available at the kiosk, in the browser and in the c’t app for iOS and Android.

Article about the broadcast:

Which technology trends are in store for us, c’t 2 / 2021, S. 14 “Social Viewing” : Joint video viewing from a distance, c’t 2 / 2021, S. 106 (chargeable) Desktop virtualization under Linux simple and reliable use, c’t 2 / 2021, S. 154 (chargeable) You can find all previous episodes of our podcast at www.ct.de/uplink.

(acb)

heise + | Technology trends 2021: What to expect

Technology trends 2021: What to expect Home office remains New chance for VR Security chips from the IT giants Ultra broadband radio flourishes Internet for white people Patches: Satellite Internet How robots learn to grip Cryptocurrency is becoming more environmentally friendly A 3D model of the whole world Car makers sell extras online When it comes to grasping, are People still superior to machines. Homo sapiens can easily pick up a wide variety of objects without crushing or dropping them. But the emphasis is on “still”: There is not much left until robots, for example, clear the shelves in Amazon’s warehouses. And the people who have been doing that so far? They may then take on more varied activities – but may also have to tremble for their jobs.

Gripping robots are an example of how technology will change our world in the next few years. We will focus on such trends in this article. Among other things, we explain how Google and Amazon use machine learning and spatial vision to train robots to become efficient grippers.

American tech giants are driving the rest of the world in other areas as well. Google, Apple and soon Microsoft use security chips to control which software is running on PCs and smartphones. On the one hand, this ensures more security, but on the other hand endangers the freedom of choice of users and ultimately also the digital sovereignty of Europe.

Access to all contents of heise + exclusive tests, advice & background: independent , critically founded c’t, iX, Technology Review, Mac & i, Make, c’t read photography directly in the browser register once – read on all devices – can be canceled monthly first month free, then monthly 9 , 95 € Weekly newsletter with personal reading recommendations from the editor-in-chief Start FREE month Start FREE month now heise + already subscribed?

Amazon takes over podcast network Wondery

Amazon is reacting to the growing interest in podcasts and is taking over one of the largest independent networks for such content with the US company Wondery. The Internet group, which has only been offering podcasts via its streaming service Amazon Music since September 2020, is now much closer to its most important competitor, Spotify. The Swedes recently secured numerous rights to well-known podcasts.

Amazon does not comment on the purchase price in a statement. According to the Wall Street Journal, it is said to be more than 300 million US dollars – by the summer 2019 the value will have 100 Millions located. Since then, Wondery has been able to expand its sales. For the year 2020, the company that was founded only 2016, whose shareholders include Disney, expects sales of 40 million US dollars. Three quarters of this comes from the advertising and licensing business, the rest from partnerships with other podcast providers such as Audible and our own premium subscription. Its users can play like podcasts without advertisements.

This is likely to remain the case in the future. Because as Amazon reports, nothing should change for previous Wondery users. They also want to keep working with their current partners – so well-known podcasts such as “Dr. Death” or “Dirty John” can still be accessed via Apple Music and Spotify. It is not yet known when the content will also be available via Amazon Music. The reason for this is probably the fact that negotiations have not yet been fully concluded, according to the company.

(pbe)

40 SATA SSDs – Does the SATA SSD still exist?

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Reviews from your fellow speakers – PiJuice, HomePod Mini, Edifier G2000 and more

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Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti & RTX 3070 – 9 mid-range cars on the test bench

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Cyberpunk 2077 website promised free DLC in early 2021 — but don’t bet on ‘soon’

In my opinion, Cyberpunk 2077 isn’t quite the disaster some have suggested. The game is fun. The bugs are fun! The bugs that really, really weren’t fun have been patched. Refunds were made widely available, and despite that refund option, the game sold 13 million copies in just two weeks.

But publisher CD Projekt still has a broken reputation to fix and an investor lawsuit to fight, so I wouldn’t put too much stock in the headline you might have read today: that we’re all getting free DLC for the game in early 2021.

It’s possible! And it’s totally what this official website promises. But that promise may be out of date.

As Engadget points out, the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine shows that this promise may have been live on the internet the same day the game launched — before the outcry began, and definitely before CD Projekt held an emergency conference call on December 15th to discuss how the company would react.

On that call (PDF transcript), CD Projekt president and co-CEO Adam Kiciński told investors that it was “too early to judge” when the company might be able to release DLC.

Specifically, he was asked: “How do you feel about your ability to release a couple of DLCs next year, and, obviously, multiplayer in 2022?” (CD Projekt had previously said that multiplayer would miss 2021.)

The full answer: “To be honest, it’s too early to judge. At the moment please let us handle the situation, and please let us make some more assessments – that’s still ahead of us; we don’t know yet, and we’re now focused on improving Cyberpunk. We’ll discuss this early next year.”

Currently, we’re expecting two major patches for the game in January and February respectively, like the company promised on December 13th in its apology post:

Beyond that, some free DLC would of course be nice. Personally, I just want NPCs that know how to drive.

Samsung Electronics wants to pull down Galaxy S21 publication

LetsGoDigital has been requested to take a publication about Caviar’s S21 Ultra offline. This is our statement of why we do not want to comply with this.

The day before yesterday, LetsGoDigital reported on a series of special Limited Edition products from the Russian Caviar, including a Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra Limited Edition. It is a very exclusive and luxury gold phone, of which only one copy will be made. The device has a price tag of no less than $ 77,230. Yesterday, LetsGoDigital received an official letter from Caviar’s CEO, kindly asking us to remove our reporting and accompanying Galaxy S21 Ultra images from our website, until Samsung releases an official press release for its new S-series devices on January 14, 2021.

The letter states that Caviar, at the request of Samsung Electronics, has taken its product page regarding the Galaxy S21 Limited Edition offline. “To prevent further damage,” we are requested to do the same.

After internal consultation, LetsGoDigital has decided not to comply with this. We rely on the freedom of the press. The information came to us in a legitimate way (via a submitted press release).

In addition, the provided product information can already be found all over the internet – even on the official Samsung Community website our full publication including accompanying product images is listed, published by a brand ambassador of Samsung India. Taking our editorial contribution offline would therefore make very little difference, in our opinion.

Update: The publication on the Samsung Community website has been taken offline as a result of our statement, here you can see the Google Cache.

Samsung’s working method with NDA contract no longer tenable

For more than a decade, Samsung Korea has been using the method of providing a selection of influential journalists and major retail chains with product information long before the official launch, with the aim of creating maximum impact during the introduction of the new smartphone models.

Of course, there are high risks associated with this method. This has been proven, after all, every year all information about the new flagship devices from Samsung is published online, far before the official market introduction.

Everything is already known about the Samsung Galaxy S21 series, from the official product photos, to the official wallpapers, the video trailers, the phone cases and even a full hands-on video with the Galaxy S21 Plus is already available online.

Meanwhile, regional PR and marketing agencies from Samsung are mandated to have journalists sign an NDA (non-disclosure agreement) contract to ensure journalists do not leak sensitive information before the embargo expires. High penalty clauses are often linked to this nondisclosure agreement, in order to prevent the agreement from being breached. However, there is nothing more to leak about the Galaxy S21.

If Samsung Electronics really thinks it is so important that all product information remains secret, perhaps they should start thinking about pursuing a completely different policy regarding the provision of information to third parties. Because whoever plays with fire runs the risk of burning his fingers.

Ilse is a Dutch journalist and joined LetsGoDigital more than 15 years ago. She is highly educated and speaks four languages. Ilse is a true tech-girl and loves to write about the future of consumer electronics. She has a special interest for smartphones, digital cameras, gaming and VR.

Google’s Wing warns new drone laws ‘may have unintended consequences’ for privacy

This past week, the US government made the single biggest, most impactful set of changes to drone law we’ve yet seen — ruling that almost every drone in US airspace will need to broadcast their locations, as well as the location of their pilots, in order to “address safety, national security, and law enforcement concerns regarding the further integration of these aircraft into the airspace of the United States”.

Google (technically, Alphabet) isn’t too happy about those new rules, as it turns out. The company’s drone delivery subsidiary Wing wrote a somewhat fearmongering post (via Reuters) titled “Broadcast-Only Remote Identification of Drones May Have Unintended Consequences for American Consumers,” which argues that the FAA’s decision to have drones broadcast their location might let observers track your movements, figuring out where you go, where you live, and where and when you receive packages, among other examples.

“American communities would not accept this type of surveillance of their deliveries or taxi trips on the road. They should not accept it in the sky,” Wing argues.

With that kind of language, you might think Wing is arguing that drones shouldn’t broadcast their location, yes? Amusingly, no: the Alphabet subsidiary just wishes they’d send it through the internet instead of broadcasting it locally. I think my former CNET colleague Ian Sherr’s tweet is apt:

I am shocked — shocked — that a company being investigated for antitrust concerns over abusing its power on the internet would recommend the FAA ditch its newest radio-frequency ID program for internet-based tracking. https://t.co/d6VNMPapth

— Ian Sherr (@iansherr) December 31, 2020

Internet-based tracking is exactly what the FAA had originally intended to do when it first proposed the Remote ID rules back in December 2019, by the way — before it received a laundry list of reasons from commenters why internet-based tracking might be problematic and decided to abandon it. Here are just a few of the ones mentioned:

The cost of adding a cellular modem to a drone to begin with
The cost of paying for a monthly cellular data plan just to fly a drone
The lack of reliable cellular coverage across the entirety of the US
The cost of paying a third-party data broker to track and store that data
The possibility of that third-party data broker getting breached
The possibility of that data broker or network getting DDoS’d, grounding drones in the US

If you want to read the whole argument for yourself, the FAA spends 15 pages laying out and contemplating all the objections to internet-based Remote ID in its full rule (PDF) starting at page 60.

Personally, I think it’s pretty ridiculous that the FAA felt it had to choose between “everyone has to broadcast their location to everyone within earshot” and “everyone has to pay gobs of money to private industry and trust some data broker with their location,” but the reasons why we aren’t going with internet-based tracking make some sense to me.

Most proponents of Remote ID technology, including Wing, like to explain that it’s merely a “license plate” for the skies, perhaps nothing more intrusive than you’d already have on your car. Here’s Wing on that:

This allows a drone to be identified as it flies over without necessarily sharing that drone’s complete flight path or flight history, and that information, which can be more sensitive, is not displayed to the public and only available to law enforcement if they have proper credentials and a reason to need that information.

But the thing about license plates is, traditionally, you have to be within eyeshot to see them. You’d have to be physically following a car to track it. That’s not necessarily true of a broadcasting transmitter, and it’s potentially far less true of a internet-based solution like the one Wing seems to wish the FAA had offered instead. Naturally, it depends on who owns the internet-based solution and how much you trust them and their security.

Either way, it’s going to be a while before we find out how secure or vulnerable, how broad or narrow these Remote ID broadcasts are truly going to be. That’s because the FAA’s final rule doesn’t actually mandate what kind of broadcasting tech drones will be required to use: companies have the next year and half to figure that out, and they have to submit it to the FAA for approval. The FAA is also clear that broadcast Remote ID is just a first step, an “initial framework,” suggesting that internet-based Remote ID might still be an option in the future.

Review Qnap TVS 672N: fast, flexible and scalable cloud storage in-house

RESUME The Qnap TVS – 672 N is a NAS aimed at the true audio enthusiast. With the enormous amount of storage capacity, lovers of films and series will not complain. Support for Roon, Linn Audio and the possibility for virtualization are big pluses. The scalability of the hardware ensures that you are ready for years to come. The Qnap TVS – 743 N is (almost) a must have for the digital audio enthusiast.

PLUS POINTS Hardware Scalability Future proof Storage capacity Roon Virtualization MINUSES Price can deter You still need to buy hard drives With the exponential growth of streaming services, we would almost forget that not too long ago we provided our own streaming or still do. The NAS is an extremely suitable system for this. NAS systems have gone through many developments and are now able to accomplish a lot more. We’re going to enter the Qnap TVS 672 N and at the same time wondering if owning a NAS is still interesting.

Qnap TVS 672 N: Large amount of local self-managed storage

Netflix, Disney +, Amazon, Videoland, Tidal, Spotify, Deezer and Qobuz. Just a quick selection from the enormous range of streaming services. But many audio enthusiasts have already built up a huge library of music. And many film lovers also have a collection with films and series. Of course, it would be weird to pay a streaming service money to watch movies or listen to music you already own. So why not start your own streaming service at home on your own computer network?

We have received a heavyweight from Qnap: the TVS – 672 N NAS server. NAS stands for Network Attached Storage, or in plain English, storage capacity on the network. Perhaps an overkill for one person, a solution for another. We are curious what the Qnap TVS – 743 N us in the streaming era can offer.

Qnap TVS 672 N: Scalable Hardware for User (s)

Technology has an expiration date . You know from a smartphone that a faster and better model will be on the market in a year. A NAS server should be more aging-free. The Qnap TVS – 672 N therefore has a lot of functionality on board, which you can scale. We have the test model with 4 GB DDR4 RAM (RAM stands for Random Access Memory, that is working memory, not storage memory). The processor on board is a desktop processor and supports up to 32 GB RAM. So if the initial amount of RAM is not enough, you can just expand.

This also applies to the storage capacity. It is also easy to expand. Our test model TVS 743 N has six hard drive bays. These can easily be put in at the front. In addition, the device also has 2x m.2 NVMe ssd storage slots (Gen 3 x2.2 GB / s). This makes SSD caching possible, which can increase the overall speed considerably. There is also a USB connection on the front for easy and fast file transfer and a display for reading information.

The party really starts at the back. The first thing that strikes us are the two expansion options with Pcie. It is therefore possible to expand with, for example, a (small) video card. Or the Qm2 card for an extra SSD, if necessary. We also see three ethernet connections type RJ 45. These have different speeds. 5G / 2.5G / 1G network ports make it possible to work with large files over the network. There is also 1x a USB 3.2 Gen 1 port, 2x a Type C USB 3.2 Gen 2 port and 2x Type A USB 3.2 Gen 2 port. Because the Qnap TVS – 743 N equipped with a desktop I3 8100 T 3.1 GHz processor, you have access to Intel graphics. At the back we also find an HDMI connection that supports 4K. To make it complete also a 3.5 millimeter audio input and output.

On the Qnap TVS – 672 N runs Qnap’s own software. The Qnap operating system runs from 5 GB flash memory and that is nice and fast.

This is really just the hardware that we can see on the outside just as quickly. This gives you as a user, but also as a small company, an enormous amount of functionality. And we haven’t even looked at the software yet. It does indicate that this NAS is focused on the future.

Qnap TVS 672 N: Roon Ready

Connecting and installing is almost as easy as connecting a Sonos Five or Bluesound to the network. Qnap has paid attention to this in the right way to make it as easy as possible for the user (s). We set a password and end up in the Qnap environment of the NAS server. The first thing to do is add storage. We set a raid volume. This ensures that we significantly reduce the risk of data loss. Preference is given to large discs in sets of two. The support for a large amount of storage is of course available. Drives up to 18 TB are supported should it be needed now or in the future. Multiply that by a factor of six and we can get rid of quite a bit of music and movies, even with raid volumes configured.

There’s actually little you can’t do with the Qnap TVS – 672 N can do. You can set up the Nas for the office or for entertainment. And the latter is exactly what has our attention. Qnap has its own piece of software for music and movies. That works fine and for the average music and video enthusiast this is more than enough. Butâ ?? ¦â ?? ¦ there is something that we as audio enthusiasts attach a lot of value to. Roon! One app to rule them all! Roon does not need any further introduction (If you do, read our article about the Roon Labs software). But if you still want to read more about it, read all about how Qnap how Roon works enabled on the NAS. It can be downloaded and installed as an app. There is a small catch. To get Roon working properly, Roon has a few requirements. For example, Roon would run best from a separate SSD of at least 300 GB and 4 GB RAM to keep it running smoothly. The SSD can be both internal and external. 6 TB of storage is also not an unnecessary luxury. So if you want to do a lot on the Qnap TVS – 672 N, you can always upgrade the amount of RAM. Consider, for example, a mail and / or Ldap server, together with Roon and also Plex. Because Roon, as we know, is a demanding piece of software. Still, it’s nice to know that the Qnap TVS – 672 N is prepared for it.

However, the possibilities don’t stop there. We choose to install Roon on an external Samsung T7 SSD. The Samsung T7 SSD uses USB 3.2 Gen 2 and can therefore use speeds of until 1000 Get Mb / s. Plex is slightly less demanding and can be installed without Diva behavior.

Qnap also offers the possibility to run virtual systems. For this Qnap uses the software Container station. This gives you the option to run a Linux virtual machine or use Docker. Why can that be useful (and we think mainly in audio and video)? Because it gives you the option to set up a virtual machine that is purely focused on audio. Suppose you don’t have Roon but Linn. Qnap also provides this. But if you prefer to work with a different system, you can set up a virtual machine that serves as an audio streamer or database. Many people love to interact with a Raspberry Pi and try things out. On the Qnap you just create a virtual â ???? Raspberry Piâ ???? and you start working with it. Maybe you have a security camera around your house and you want the images for a few more days can look back. So there are a lot of possibilities and functionality that the Qnap TVS – 672 N us can offer.

Qnap TVS 672 N: work in your own cloud Today you cannot open the newspaper or newspaper app or there is a message about a data breach. Another company that has lost data or data that has ended up on the street. Working in â ???? the Cloudâ ???? is of course great and also offers many outcomes, but â ???? The Cloudâ ???? In short, is still someone else’s computer. And the use of someone else’s computer is usually not unlimited, nor is it free. Why not just your own cloud? That is not a bad idea at all in this special period, in which we all work more and more in different places from a distance.

This actually happened organically for us. We had the Qnap TVS – 672 N fully equipped for entertainment. But slowly we started to use more functionality. We started working on the Qnap with text files and photos that we want to be able to share. More and more the Qnap started to become a digital partner in our daily use. With the Boxsafe app you can link the suite from Google or that of Microsoft Office 400.

But if there are more information is put on the Qnap, another aspect becomes important. Especially if the server can also be accessed from the internet. We are referring to information security. This is a subject to which complete books and training courses are devoted. Telling it in one paragraph how this should and works is simply not possible. Nevertheless, we would like to give a few tips. Make sure you have good passwords, but preferably a passphrase. Create separate users, other than Admin and do not give those users the admin rights. This separates the powers / rights. If you want to use third party software, make sure you can validate the origin of the software. It should preferably be a reliable source and maker. It’s safer to use Qnap’s app center itself, but in some cases it’s no different.

Qnap TVS 672 N: Final Verdict

The Qnap TVS – 672 N is a fairly heavyweight. With a price of 1. 599 euro is the Qnap TVS – 672 N not suitable for everyone. The price of one or more hard drives is in addition to that, but the user can start with one or two drives and expand later if necessary. But for the digital audio and video enthusiast, the Qnap TVS 672 N one solution and offers more than enough possibilities to provide storage. The Qnap is also highly scalable and you will always be able to upgrade in the coming years. Think of more RAM, an M.2 SSD or even a video card. And as an audio enthusiast, you don’t have to purchase a separate Roon server, you just install it on the Qnap. An Intel Nuc that functions as a server can easily cost around 365 a 599 euro (without storage or memory), but can expire when using a Qnap NAS.

Our initial question “Is it interesting to own a NAS?” we can answer with “yes”. Qnap also has smaller models and also more extensive models. Should the Qnap TVS – 743 If you are a heavy overkill or even fall short, then there is certainly a Qnap model that suits your personal needs.

Qnap TVS 672 N: c inclusion

The Qnap TVS – 672 N is a NAS aimed at the true audio enthusiast. With the enormous amount of storage capacity, lovers of films and series will not complain. Support for Roon, Linn Audio and the possibility for virtualization are big pluses. The scalability of the hardware ensures that you are ready for years to come. The Qnap TVS – 672 N is (almost) a must have for the digital audio enthusiast.

Hifi rating: five stars

Price 1. 599 euro