Synology today announced the arrival of their newest 4-bay NAS, the DiskStation DS413. The DS413 utilizes a Freescale processor and 1GB of RAM with the promise not to consume more than 36W under full load. In addition to supporting up to 16TB through the internal drive bays, the DS413 also sports a couple USB 3.0 ports, a USB 2.0 port and an eSATA port. I might recommend holding onto at least the USB 2.0 port for a printer. Synology doesn't call their DiskStations NAS servers for nothing. Out of the box the DS413 offers centralized desktop backups and has an integrated print server, mail server, and web server along with more than a dozen other optional packages to extend the device's server functionality. The DiskStation 413 looks like it could be a versatile and powerful option for a home server, though at $530 it is definitely a bit pricey compared to the more consumer-focused DS413j that the company announced a couple of weeks ago.

Synology Inc. today launched DiskStation DS413, a 4-bay NAS server that incorporates the latest technologies to minimize power consumption. It is well-suited for small and medium-sized businesses to centralize data backups and synchronize files across different platforms with minimum time and effort.

TechPowerUp

Lian Li has built a reputation for quality and design with their aluminum cases over the years and the company has consistently been one of the biggest supporters of the Mini-ITX format. The Lian Li PC-Q16 is one of their cube-style Mini-ITX cases. To help trim a bit off the case's girth, the PC-Q16 forgoes an ODD slot of any sort, but still manages to leave room for a 3.5" HDD and three 2.5" HDDs. The Q16 is definitely intended to be a looker with its brushed alumimnum and clean front face, Some folks will probably be dissappointed that there is no option for adding a flash reader and the lack of internal Blu-Ray options, but there are USB 3.0 ports to help make up for it. The PC-Q16 is definitely a tighter squeeze internally than some of the other Mini-ITX cases grabbing headlines over the last few months, but it looks like there might be a fair trade of function for form in this particualr case.

Companies have been making computers and cases that will blend in with other home theatre items such as a reciever or DVD player. Lian Li is no exception and have put out quite a few great looking HTPC cases for MATX and ITX sized motherboards. They were kind enough to send the PC-Q16 case for us to review.

Funky Kit

I am going to go out on a limb here and admit that I am a sucker for a cute, little PC. There's just something about small form factor PCs that has always caught my attention. There was a time when Shuttle was the belle of the SFF ball, but these days the field is quite a bit more crowded, and one of the companies that consistently turns heads is ZOTAC with their ZBOX lineup of mini-PCs. The ZBOX Nano AD12 was just announced last month to replace the AD11 as ZOTAC's AMD representative for their next to smallest version of the ZBOX. The 2GB of RAM and 320 GB hard drive that set the Plus apart from the standard ZBOX doesn't really do much for me, but the diminutive PC itself seems to have a great deal to offer.

Overall the device feels quite sturdy in its casing, and flipping the unit over reveals an interesting aspect about it’s underside. The four raised legs are actually screws, which you can twist open to remove the bottom plate and expose the memory slot and hard drive if you want to do a quick hardware upgrade. The system bundles with 2GB of RAM and a 320GB 5400RPM HDD, and you can upgrade the RAM up to 8GB.

Tbreak

Even before Google Fiber launched, the word started to leak that Google would be looking to offer both blazing fast Internet speeds and some sort of TV service. Sure enough, when Google Fiber finally started its launch process this summer, Google announced that they would be offering an IPTV subscription service on top of the Internet service offerings, and while an interesting move, the intial channel lineup had some prominent omissions. Evidently Google has been working behind the scenes to build out the fledgling service as they made two seperate announcements this week about new additions to their channel lineup. Earlier this week came word that Google TV would be receiving the full ABC/Disney/ESPN trifecta combo, along with some specialty networks such as Ovation and TBN.

Here are all the additional new channels: ABC Family, ABC News Now, Disney Channel, Disney Junior, Disney XD, ESPN, ESPN Buzzer Beater, ESPN Classic, ESPN Deportes, ESPN Goal Line, ESPN2, ESPNews, ESPNU, Longhorn Network, Ovation, SOAPnet, TBN, TBN Enlace, Velocity.

TechCrunch

Not long after, Google announced the addition of the Turner family of networks, including the Cartoon Network and CNN. There may still be some notable omissions from the Google lineup that might be enough to be a deal-breaker for some folks, but it is becoming a more compelling alternative to the traditional subscription TV providers.

Just days after taking in a number of major Disney channels, the company has announced that Turner stations are now included as well. The agreement brings notable entries to the lineup, such as Cartoon Network, CNN, TBS, and TNT. 

The Verge

The big iOS news of the week may have been Apple's iPhone 5 announcement and the opening of the preorder floodgates, but some big names in the streaming media business have been sneaking around releasing updates to their apps. The Hulu Plus, MAX GO, and HBO GO iOS apps have all received updates to offer support for closed captions. That this feature is only just coming to these mobile apps surprises me, even leaving aside the obvious issue of accessibility for the hearing-impaired. For one thing, these companies already deal heavily in closed captioned content, Hulu on their website, and Cinemax and HBO through their cable channels, so the need for support in their apps should not have been a surprise. On top of that, watching streaming media on a mobile device seems far more likely to put one in a noisy situation where one would desire captions to supplement the audio. Hopefully the other mobile platforms will be seeing similar updates soon.

In a move that should please the hard of hearing and anyone trying to watch a video quietly sans-headphones, the Hulu Plus, HBO Go and Max Go apps for iOS devices have all recently been updated with support for closed captions. 

Engadget

Hulu wasn't devoting all of their attention to their iOS app this week. The Hulu Plus iOS update comes with more than just closed captioning support, but it is not nearly as radical an update as the Playstation 3 got his week. The Hulu Plus app for the Playstation 3 received a significant overhaul that fundamentally changes the browsing interface, slims down and simplifies the playback controls, and offers improvements to search to make accessing results easier. The greater emphasis on artwork certainly helps to make the new interface pretty, as well.

We’ve implemented a tray-style format that allows you to scroll through recommendations based on your viewing history, or check out popular shows and movies, the top 100 clips on Hulu Plus, movie trailers and more. We’ve also included a “Shows You Watch” feature that highlights the content you regularly enjoy, and lets you jump straight to the latest episode.

Playstation Blog

Ceton released the Ceton Companion apps for iOS and Android just yesterday. Given the level of anticipation in the WMC enthusiast community for these apps, I would have thought the fine folks at Ceton had earned themselves some time off to celebrate, but evidently there is just a bit too much dedication flowing in the veins of their programmers for that. Ceton has already released some updates for their Ceton Companion Services PC software bringing it to version 12.9.6.1218 and our own Michael Whelter has taken to the comments to encourage users to keep checking as there are evidently more on the way. Ceton has also released the Windows Phone version of the Ceton Companion app. Ceton Companion is available from the Windows Phone Marketplace at the same $4.99 price point as the iOS and Android apps. We look forward to seeing what tomorrow might bring.

Fixes:

• Recorded Movies show up in Gallery
• Recorded Movies show more metadata
• Remote on extenders is full remote, working at 95% (only buttons that don't work are 30 second skip ahead/8 second skip back, but FF & rewind working)
• UAC issues when launching configuration
• Remote shares fix (user name/password fix)

Next build will have:

• Local movie metadata fix
• 30 Second skip/8Second back on Extenders remote

 Ceton Forum on TGB.tv