Introducing the ASUS K Series – for Timeless, Trustworthy Computing

Notebooks Designed to Provide Multimedia Performance and Computing Versatility

Sydney, Australia, 7 September, 2009 – Designed to provide a trustworthy computing experience to users while on the move, the ASUS K Series notebooks boast the multimedia muscle to provide cinematic audio and visual enjoyment through a high quality LED backlit panel, SRS® Premium Sound™ and Altec Lansing speakers. Users can also enjoy longer computing or entertainment hours with the ASUS Super Hybrid Engine for unplugged freedom, while a clever ASUS IceCool design ensures the temperature at the palm rest area is kept to a minimum, even after long computing hours.

High Definition Multimedia Entertainment On-the-go

The ASUS K Series sports Altec Lansing® speakers with SRS® Premium Sound™ for high definition audio reproduction, as well as a backlit LED panel of up to 17.3” with a 16:9 golden aspect ratio, low power consumption, high contrast rate and high colour saturation.

The K50IN is equipped with the NVIDIA® GeForce® G102M, which uses 512MB of dedicated graphics memory to accelerate 1080p high definition video playback, photo and video editing, video transcoding and casual gaming. The GeForce® G102M uses 30 per cent, or 8 watts, less power when running graphically extensive applications compared to other dedicated notebook graphics processors, resulting in longer battery life per charge. Additionally, ASUS will be the first to launch the AMD/ATI 4 Series, which can be found in the K50AB (ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD4570).

Enjoy Hours of Entertainment with Extended Battery Life

The ASUS K Series is equipped with the ASUS Super Hybrid Engine (SHE), which features the Power4 Gear Hybrid application for efficient energy conservation. Power4 Gear Hybrid facilitates the deployment and usage of power according to the users’ preferences in relation to the specific tasks that they need to perform. By intelligently optimising both system performance and power efficiency, users can enjoy extended computing hours while out and about without plugging in.

Comfortable Computing Experience with ASUS IceCool Design

Designed to provide users with a comfortable mobile computing experience, the ASUS K Series features the IceCool design. Cleverly designed and positioned vents keep the palm rest cooler than the average human body temperature by 25 per cent, delivering effective heat dissipation even after long hours of use.

The ASUS K Series notebooks are available at major retailers and computer resellers.

Specifications:

*Subject to system specifications and prevailing usage.

Specifications are subject to change without prior notice. Please visit www.asus.com.au for more information.

About ASUS

ASUS is a leading company in the new digital era. With a global staff of more than ten thousand and a world-class R&D design team, the company’s revenue for 2008 was 8.1 billion U.S. dollars. ASUS ranks among the top 10 IT companies in BusinessWeek’s “InfoTech 100”, and has been on the listing for 11 consecutive years.

Dash PR selected to manage LASER public relations

Sydney, Australia, September 7, 2009 – LASER Corporation, a leading IT and consumer electronics accessories company has appointed Dash PR to handle its public relations business.

An established Australian company with a global reach, LASER is recognised for its vast variety of value alternative products across an array of categories. LASER merchandise ranges from conventional to contemporary including LASER PC and AV accessories, Precision gaming accessories and Navig8r GPS devices.

LASER has engaged Dash PR to help form crucial media relationships, develop company awareness and craft creative strategies, as well as progressing standard PR tactics. The campaign will focus on company profiling, product releases and reviews, along with features and expert industry commentary.

Chris Lau, Managing Director at LASER, said, “The coming months are high activity periods for LASER, particularly as we are about to launch an exciting new product category in time for Christmas. LASER identified a need for PR support and Dash PR was recommended by an associate. Dash PR displayed a flexible and friendly attitude and after a few discussions we were convinced that Dash PR was the suitable outfit for the job.”

Dash PR has a demonstrated expertise in IT and consumer technology working alongside major vendors and implementing successful PR programs. Christine Kardashian, Director of Dash PR is delighted to have LASER on board and is looking forward to a fulfilling business relationship.

For an interview with Christine Kardashian, Director of Dash Public Relations or Chris Lau, Managing Director at LASER Corporation, please contact Christine on 02 8084 0705 or 0416 005 703, or via email at chris@dashpr.com.au.

About Dash Public Relations
Dash PR provides business to business and business to consumer consulting and public relations, media relations, investor and analyst relations, internal communications, issues management and crisis communications, as well as media training, event management, writing services and integrated PR and advertising campaign management. Dash PR is a member of the Registered Consultancies Group (RCG) of the Public Relations Institute of Australia. For more information, visit www.dashpr.com.au.

About LASER Corporation
LASER Corporation is an IT and consumer electronics accessories company established in Australia over 20 years ago. A leading challenger brand, LASER products are the value brand of choice and can be found in a range of retail mass merchants and the dealer and IT market. Furthermore and core to its business, LASER offers end-to-end OEM solutions with LASER Private Label. LASER Corporation’s head office is based in North Ryde, Australia, with offices in New Zealand, China and Hong Kong. For more information, visit www.laserco.com.au.

Guest lecture by Professor Fulvio Melia, University of Arizona, USA 

For more than four decades Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity remained largely a curiosity for scientists; however accurate it seemed, Einstein’s mathematical code was one of the most difficult to crack in all of science. That is, until a twenty-nine-year-old New Zealander, Roy Kerr, solved the great riddle in 1963.

Fulvio Melia gives an eyewitness account of the events leading up to Kerr’s great discovery. What are black holes? What place do they have in the Universe? And how did Kerr make the ultimate breakthrough? Sometimes dramatic, often exhilarating, but always in touch with the human element Cracking the Einstein Code is a great showcase of how important science gets done.

Following the presentation, the Melbourne Planetarium will be showing its award winning planetarium show Black Holes: Journey into the Unknown, narrated by Geoffrey Rush. There will also be the opportunity to stargaze through telescopes (weather permitting).

“2009 is a very exciting one for the Melbourne Planetarium – it is our 10^th anniversary and the International Year of Astronomy,” said astronomer Dr Tanya Hill.  “We are delighted to be able to celebrate these milestones with a lecture by such a world renowned expert such as Professor Melia.”

Date and Time:          Friday 11th September, commencing at 6:30pm

Venue:                        Melbourne Planetarium, Scienceworks

2 Booker St, Spotswood

Cost:                           $15 per person; MV members and concessions: $12.50 per person

Bookings:                  Please call (03) 9392 4819 between 9am – 4:30pm, Monday to Friday

Professor Fulvio Melia

Fulvio Melia is Professor of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Arizona. In a career that has seen him publish over 230 research papers and several books, Melia has made important contributions in High Energy Astronomy and the physics of supermassive black holes. He is especially known for his expertise regarding the supermassive black hole located at the centre of our Milky Way Galaxy. Melia is a well-respected and popular publicist of astronomy and science in general, delivering many engaging public lectures. His books have won several awards of distinction, including recognition as an Outstanding Academic Book by the American Library Association, and being selected in Astronomy Magazine’s collection of astronomy books of the year. Born in Italy, Melia completed his undergraduate studies at Melbourne University. He still considers Melbourne his home town and is a keen Geelong supporter.

Scienceworks, 2 Booker St, Spotswood. (Melway 56, B1). Open daily 10.00am – 4.30pm. Admission: Adults $8, Children and Concession FREE. For further details ph 03 9392 4800 or visit museumvictoria.com.au/scienceworks

Assassin’s Creed® II is the follow-up to the title that became the fastest-selling new IP in video game history. The highly anticipated title features a new hero, Ezio Auditore da Firenze, a young Italian noble, and a new era, the Renaissance. Assassin’s Creed II retains the core game play experience that made the first opus a resounding success and features new experiences that will surprise and challenge players.

Assassin’s Creed II is an epic story of family, vengeance and conspiracy set in the pristine, yet brutal, backdrop of a Renaissance Italy. Ezio befriends Leonardo da Vinci, takes on Florence’s most powerful families and ventures throughout the canals of Venice where he learns to become a master assassin!

To view: 

http://videos.uk.ubi.com/index.php?video=jt8zpkrr

DEBUT TRAILER

FEATURES TRAILER

The voice of Mario, Charles Martinet, is coming to Australia! Charles will be making three in-store appearances, one in Melbourne and two in Sydney, so come along to meet Charles and for a chance to win great Nintendo prizes!

Charles has been the voice of the lovable plumber Mario for nearly 20 years. He also provides the voice of several other Nintendo characters such as Luigi, Wario, Waluigi, Baby Mario and Baby Luigi.
Nintendo is running competitions for fans to win an exclusive meet and greet with Charles prior to his in-store appearances. So make sure you enter here, for your chance to win:

http://www.nintendo.com.au/index.php?action=competition&form_name=show&competitionId=100

At each store appearance, the first 50 people in line to meet Charles will receive a Mario gift bag! Dress up as your favourite Nintendo character for any of the in-store appearances for your chance to win a Nintendo prize pack (Wii and six Wii games for EB Games Swanston Street and Myer Sydney City, and a Nintendo DS and four Nintendo DS games for Harvey Norman Auburn).
Charles will be appearing at the following stores:

EB Games – The Nintendo Experience Store 67 Swanston Street
Melbourne, Victoria
Wednesday 9 September
11:30am

Myer Sydney City
Level 6
436 George St
Sydney, New South Wales
Thursday 10 September
1:00pm
Harvey Norman Auburn
103-123 Parramatta Road
Auburn NSW
Saturday 12 September
11:00am

All stores will have special offers on the range of Mario games on Wii and Nintendo DS whilst Charles is in-store, so don’t miss out!

For further information on the range of Mario games visit: http://gamesites.nintendo.com.au/mario-unforgettable-fun/

A.I. Overhaul Makes Empire An Even More Realistic Experience

Friday 4th September 2009 – SEGA Europe Ltd. today announced “Update 1.4” for the critically acclaimed Empire: Total War will be available late September. The update includes an overhaul of the Artificial Intelligence, implemented both on the campaign map and in the real time battles. In addition to this, improvements have been made to sieges and naval battles, which have been rebalanced for an especially absorbing experience.

For a full list of features in Update 1.4, please visit www.totalwar.com.

“This update will please all Empire: Total War players as we’ve continuously listened to the feedback received via our forums”, says Mike Simpson, Creative Director at The Creative Assembly and father of the Total War Series. ”The framework has been laid down for all the exciting content that will come to the series in the future, and that’s thanks to all the players of Empire: Total War”
To show their continued support for Empire: Total War, The Creative Assembly announces that this patch will pave the way for forthcoming DLC, including the first Expansion Pack which will be unveiled soon.

Empire: Total War is set in the 18th century, a turbulent era that was the most requested by Total War’s loyal fan base, and a period alive with global conflict, revolutionary fervour and technological advances. With themes such as the Industrial Revolution, America’s struggle for independence, the race to control Eastern trade routes and the globalisation of war on land and sea, Empire: Total War is the richest and most dynamic PC strategy game of all time. Empire: Total War is available in stores now exclusively for PC.

For more information about the game, please visit www.totalwar.com. For assets, please visit www.sega-press.com.

Update 1.4 features list

The focus for the update has been AI, both campaign and battle along with improvements to sieges and the naval rebalancing. A lot of work has been put into the campaign and diplomacy AI, focusing on how it wages war, makes alliances and peace as well as use of naval invasions. Battle side improvements have been made to most areas of the AI with the focus on the siege AI which has had major changes made to it. Sieges have also had a lot of work done on them with a lot of bugs fixed, improvements made to pathfinding and how guns and troops on walls work.

Below is a list of some of the fixes that will be in 1.4:

– Fix for auto unlimbering causing the attack order to terminate prematurely resulting in an inability to stop the unit from firing.
– Fix for troops on fort walls not using fort gun range when judging when to fire on enemy troops.
– Fix for fort guns using wrong targeting formula.
– Fixes to fort pathfinding and use of ropes.
– Multiplayer soft lock fixes.
– Fix crash in quotes table.
– Improved AI diplomacy.
– Cumulative updates to improve AI invasion behaviour.
– Added tooltips for alliance button in diplomacy.
– Bug fixes and improvements to AI counter offers.
– Improvements to AI diplomatic valuation of military access and alliances.
– Fix for wind sounds not working in naval battles
– Fixed ship wakes not always working.
– Fixed disembarking subsets of armies and agents from navies.
– Fixed potential crash disembarking agents from navies.
– Fixed armies not being booted out of regions when losing military access gained by joining an ally in war.
– Improved AI diplomacy valuation of technologies.
– Fix for bug where general’s unit for an upper class rebellion was coming from the region owning faction rather than the faction rebelling, even if a suitable unit was available – eg, Cherokee owning a region that rebels to American Rebels, the general’s unit was a Native American chief.
– Fixed reinforcements from unreachable positions.
– Fixed bug preventing disembarking.
– Balance of power fix for attack of opportunity.
– Fixed bug that was causing issues with embarking an army containing multiple characters.
– Minor tweak to stop some ship sails endlessly play furling sound.
– Fixed path blocked bug.
– Diplomacy counter-offer improvements.
– Fix for fast forward not working as intended on some PCs. Will always speed up if camera is still, if camera moves fast forward will be as fast as possible on each PC.

Targus has collaborated with award-winning Australian inventor Don Morgan to develop a new laptop case capable of offering maximum protection in the most extreme conditions – the schoolyard. Don Morgan, whose ‘Cone-head’ shock-absorbing liner for motorcycle and bicycle helmets won the Grand Final of ABC TV’s The New Inventors programme in 2007, consulted with Targus on the development of the T.A.N.C.™ (Targus Armoured Notebook Case) for students, which is available to order now.

Considered an expert in devising methods to prevent against impact sources, Don Morgan analysed Targus’ current products and testing system, with a focus on the company’s Education offering. Whilst Don Morgan credits Targus as offering the most superior laptop case on the market and being “Quantum leaps ahead of their main competitors”, he consulted with Targus on developments that would enable the company to maintain its market edge.

Taking into account the tendency for students to roughly handle their bags, Don Morgan’s key recommendations for the new education case, designed to fit inside schoolbags, included improvements to the protective shell and shock absorbing liner. By absorbing shocks, bumps and drops the T.A.N.C. case doesn’t just prevent damage, it minimises the need for laptop repair – and ensures learning isn’t interrupted. Parents can also be confident that their financial investment has been safeguarded.

Don Morgan collaborated with Targus to develop a revolutionary new system (patent pending) of padded layering to enhance the protective shell. T.A.N.C. features heavy-duty fittings and zippers, in addition to D-rings which can be personalised with tags or key-charms to stand out from the crowd. Other options such as handles, shoulder straps and choice of colours are available on minimum order quantities.

Targus undertook rigorous independent testing of the case through accessUTS Pty Ltd, wholly owned by University of Technology, Sydney. The testing examined a range of force and pressure scenarios. Results showed that the laptop case can be dropped from a height of 1.2 metres, such as from a desktop or a seat on a bus or train, and not result in damage to the laptop inside. Test results also showed that a laptop would not be damaged should the case be compressed by other personal items in schoolbags or leant on by a weight of up to 50kg. The case is capable of taking a fully distributed load of 300kg without damaging the laptop inside.

T.A.N.C. is a registered design with Patent Pending. Cases are made to order according to laptop specifications. To obtain a quote or place an order, contact your laptop vendor.

For further information about the T.A.N.C. case by Targus, please call the Targus customer service free call line 1800 641 645.