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This comprehensive multimedia playback suite comes with full 3D capabilities but suffers from some small oversights.

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CyberLink Media Suite 10 Ultra is the latest flagship version of CyberLink's all-in-one multimedia editing, playback, and file-conversion suite. The components consist of the biggest names in the company's rather impressive portfolio: PowerDVD 12, a software multimedia player; PowerDirector 10, a video editing and production application; MediaShow 6, a photo organizer, editor, and social media interface; PowerBackup 2.6 for safeguarding your important files; and MediaEspresso 6.5 for transcoding video, photos, and audio. The suite ($130 for new users and a $70 upgrade for previous users, prices as of June 21, 2012) also includes PowerProducer 5.5 for outputting video to disc, as well as a competent wave editor and several modules for handling mundane optical-disc chores.

Media Suite 10's new central launch application is far slicker than those of previous versions. The look is reminiscent of Microsoft's Metro interface, which suggests that CyberLink will be all over Windows 8. You can access Media Suite 10's modules via a list of the tasks they perform, or by their names if you prefer. In general, the suite's modules are easy to use, though not so easy to learn. CyberLink loves tiny icons, and curious interface choices appear throughout; however, compared with its two main competitors in the suite game--Nero and Roxio--Media Suite 10 is a breeze to navigate.

Although Media Suite 10 has many new features, the most salient is its suitewide support for 3D video and photos. If youve been keeping track of the component programs, though, that probably isnt news to you; PowerDVD 12, for instance, acquired 3D capabilities a while ago.

We've reviewed PowerDVD 12 and PowerDirector 10 individually, so be sure to see those reviews for a more detailed look. In short, PowerDVD 12 plays back every major type of video and video disc, up to and including 3D Blu-ray, and it has a ton of advanced playback enhancements. It's also a competent photo and music organizer. PowerDirector 10 is an excellent consumer-level video editor with multiple video tracks, effects, automatic formatting, full hardware-acceleration support, and lots of editing tools. PowerProducer 5.5, the companion program to PowerDirector, serves to burn PowerDirector 10's output to disc. Both programs fully support AVCHD, Blu-ray, and 3D.

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CyberLink Media Suite 10 Ultra Review: Efficient Design, Complete Multimedia Editing

70 megawatts dropped through load control

TORONTO, June 22, 2012 /CNW/ - Electricity loads in Toronto were steadily climbing on Tuesday, until Toronto Hydro activated approximately 67,000 residential air conditioner control switches, and industrial/commercial buildings participating in the "DR 3" program began to curtail electricity consumption. At 2:00 PM on Tuesday, June 19th, the city's electricity usage peaked at 4,602 megawatts (MW). At that point, as directed by the IESO, Toronto Hydro triggered its peaksaver and DR3 programs, dropping the peak by more than 70 MW through the remainder of the afternoon. Toronto Hydro estimates that at least 50 MW of the drop was related to the "cycling" of residential air conditioners in neighbourhoods across Toronto.

The 70 MW total is the equivalent of taking approximately 21,000 homes off the grid, or the cities of Kenora and Orillia combined. One megawatt is equal to one million watts.

Currently, there are about 67,000 customers who have signed on for peaksaver. These 'peaksavers' generally don't notice and often forget that they're part of this city-wide effort to curtail usage in high demand times. It works remotely - Toronto Hydro sends a signal to the switch installed adjacent to a central air conditioner, slowing down the cycle. Because the fan continues to run, most don't notice a difference in temperature inside the home. But the results speak for themselves.

Businesses stepped up too. The DR3 (DEMAND RESPONSE CONTRACTUAL DR3) program is a "saveONenergy program" designed to offset electricity usage or shed electricity load when needed. Generally, customers signed up for the program help by turning off lights or motors, shifting production to other periods, ordrawing electricity supply from an onsite generator.

Toronto Hydro is still encouraging customers to conserve where they can, especially during peak times (11 am to 5pm).

FACTS

About Toronto Hydro The principal business of the Corporation and its subsidiaries is the distribution of electricity by Toronto Hydro-Electric System Limited. Toronto Hydro-Electric System owns and operates an electricity distribution system, which delivers electricity to approximately 709,000 customers located in the City of Toronto. It is the largest municipal electricity distribution company in Canada and distributes approximately 18% of the electricity consumed in the Province of Ontario.

The information in these materials is based on information currently available to Toronto Hydro Corporation and its affiliates (together hereinafter referred to as "Toronto Hydro"), and is provided for information purposes only.

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Electricity peak demand control program results in significant load reduction in Toronto

The social network's settlement terms -- for a class-action law suit over using people's profile photos and other info in ads -- includes more control for users, Reuters reports.

If a judge approves Facebook's settlement of a class-action lawsuit regarding "sponsored stories," the social network will give users more control over the advertising tool, which features users' profile photos and other information in ads for businesses and products the users have "Liked."

Reuters reported today that the settlement agreement includes giving users the ability to determine what, if any, user information can be featured in ads, and adding new language to Facebook's guidelines informing users of sponsored ads, according to court documents filed Wednesday. TechCrunch reported that user opt-outs will apparently apply on a story-by-story basis and that users can't opt out of all sponsored stories in one fell swoop. Facebook agreed to keep the changes in place for at least two years.

While an economist hired by the suit's plaintiffs said the value of the changes is about $103 million for Facebook members, the company will pay just about $20 million to take care of attorney fees and pay organizations that are devoted to educating people about using social networking safely.

The case's plaintiffs -- who aimed to represent more than 100 million potential class members -- claimed the social network violated users' right to privacy by publicizing their "Likes" in advertisements without asking them or compensating them.

This may put a kink in Facebook's advertising plans, as sponsored stories was a potential answer to Facebook's money-making woes. Facebook officials said in court documents that the value of a sponsored story ad was at least twice and up to three times that of a standard ad.

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Facebook to give users more control over controversial ads

SYDNEY (AP) The Australian arm of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. said Wednesday it is making a $2 billion bid to take full control of pay TV company Consolidated Media Holdings. The company also announced a reorganization of its Australian newspaper business.

The News Ltd. takeover offer would give Murdoch's global media empire control of a large slice of Australia's pay television industry.

The move was supported by James Packer, whose Consolidated Press Holdings owns half of Consolidated Media.

News has offered $3.50 Australian dollars for each Consolidated Media share, valuing the company at AU$1.97 billion ($2 billion). The deal would give News a 50 percent stake in pay TV operator Foxtel and full ownership of Fox Sports in Australia.

The offer remains subject to approval from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and the Foreign Investment Review Board.

The News Corp. board must also approve the deal.

News Ltd., which owns 70 percent of Australia's newspapers, also announced a major restructure to centralize its Australian operations and reduce duplication.

News chief executive Ken Williams told staff that there would be redundancies, but he did not say how many.

The announcement came two days after Fairfax Media Ltd., Australia's No. 2 newspaper publisher, said it would cut 1,900 jobs over three years and erect pay walls for the websites of two of its flagship newspapers.

The organization would be reduced from 19 operating divisions to five, including three covering the Australian east coast where News Ltd. earns 80 percent of its revenue.

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News Corp. unit makes $2B bid for Australia pay TV

SANTA ANA, Calif. and ISMANING, Germany, June 20, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Identive Group, Inc. (INVE) (INV.F), a provider of products and services for the identification, security and RFID industries, today announced that its PACT 1241 physical access control terminal has been approved for the Identity, Credential and Access Management (ICAM) Certified Products List (CPL) of CertiPath, a leading independent provider of identity assurance services. This certification signifies to federal, state and local government agencies that Identive's PACT 1241 reader has undergone rigorous testing for compliance with the recommendations of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) as laid out in NIST SP 800-116. The reader was tested in a number of authentication modes and demonstrated its ability to correctly and faithfully work with government-issued Personal Identity Verification (PIV) and PIV-I credentials, using both the contact and contactless interfaces of these cards.

"To comply with federal mandates, agencies at the national, state and local level are deploying PIV and PIV-I credentials for physical access authentication, extending their current use for secure network logon and cyber access. Approval for the CertiPath CPL identifies the PACT 1241 as a trusted product for use with these highly secure credentials, and in particular to support the management of both network and physical access with a single set of electronic credentials, or PKI at the door," said John Menzel, vice president Access Control ID Solutions for Identive.

CertiPath's CPL includes end-to-end system configurations that meet Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS)-201 requirements, thus providing OEMs and facility owners with peace of mind knowing their systems meet the detailed security requirements of federal standards. CertiPath's process included assessment of Identive's physical access reader in more than 160 test cases within a full physical access control system. The PACT 1241 reader is certified to operate with any U.S. General Services Administration (GSA)-approved authentication module as part of a complete Card Authentication Key (CAK) authentication system.

Monitor Dynamics, a provider of Unified Security Management Solutions to the US federal government, unifies Identive's PACT 1241 reader into its Award-Winning Trusted FICAM Platform for FIPS 201 PACS compliance to support all authentication modes up to and including two-factor PIV-I authentication -- enabling the delivery of PKI at the reader for validation across the Federal Bridge. The combined solution recently won the Platinum Award for Best Government Access Control System from Security Products Magazine test labs and GovSec Government Security Conference Judges. "Unifying Identive's PACT readers into the Trusted FICAM Platform allows us to offer all government organizations an accelerated path to compliance with a turn-key FIPS-201 approved CAK authentication system, capable of reading PIV and PIV-I credentials out of the box. This proven combination is currently operating at numerous DoD installations across the United States and is scheduled for additional new implementations throughout the year," said Troy Paddock, president of Monitor Dynamics.

About Identive

Identive Group, Inc. (INVE) (INV.F) is focused on building the world's signature company in Secure ID. The company's products, software, systems and services address the markets for identity management, physical and logical access control, cashless payment, NFC solutions and a host of RFID-enabled applications for customers in the government, enterprise, consumer, education and healthcare sectors. Identive's mission is to build a lasting business of scale and technology based on a combination of strong technology-driven organic growth and disciplined acquisitive expansion. The company delivers up-to-date information on its activity as well as industry trends through its industry-leading social media initiatives and educational resource, AskIdentive.com. For additional information, please visit http://www.identive-group.com or follow on Twitter at @IdentiveGroup.

The Identive Group, Inc. logo is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=8072

Note: All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

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Identive's Physical Access Control Terminal Achieves CertiPath ICAM Certification