Paul Lester

Lacie continues to bolster the media streaming market and has recently introduced another model into its LaCinema range which, like most of its predecessors, was inspired by designer Neil Poulton. As such the new Mini HD sports a familiar sleek, piano-black design with front and rear USB ports to connect media for local playback, HDMI 1.3, RCA and optical audio along with 100Mbps Ethernet for connecting to a wired network. Read More

Most Gizmag readers should be aware of the importance of backing up data, and this is probably because at one time or another countless hours of work have been lost due to hard drive failure or any other of a number of disaster scenarios. Taking the hassle out of backing up would therefore seem a good idea, and Clickfree is back at this year’s CES with some follow-ups to its 2009 Transformer. Read More

Wireless media streaming seems to be one hot topic at CES this year, and Slingbox has had another feather added to its cap via DISH Networks. The broadcast-anywhere solution first surfaced in 2005 and has since been superceded with a PRO-HD model and mobile versions for the iPhone. It now seems to be working on integration with set-top boxes and other devices, and a recent partnership with DISH has resulted in its new TV Everywhere service. Read More

Media streamers are rapidly gathering momentum as digital media collections grow, and it should come as no surprise to hear that the technology involved in streaming a collection of files to a TV is being built into more and more screens as standard. The Western Digital WDTV Live demonstrates how it’s possible to fit everything you need into an extremely small box, and such developments have encouraged VIZIO, the number one LCD HDTV company in America, to go one step further by adding lossless 1080p wireless HD support to its new screens. Read More

There’s been a definite buzz around eBooks and eBook readers in recent times, and despite Asus challenging the price point last year we’re yet to see what we’d guess to be an affordable enough solution to break the mass-market. There are some pretty tidy devices on the shelves though, with Amazon’s Kindle proving popular enough to ‘go global’ last October, a move that has now been repeated with the spacious Kindle DX. Read More

There are few technologies more hotly anticipated in the TV/display market than OLED, but sadly we’re still a way off replacing our 50” plasmas with these wafer-thin low-power alternatives. Affordability is the main issue, and so far Sony has been one of few to have an early crack at the market with its US$2500 11” XEL-1. Read More

Internet tablets have never really taken off in a big way, and despite high-profile companies like Nokia getting involved with portable offerings like the N900, the jury is still out on whether there’s sufficient demand for a more dedicated device. There are few better placed companies than Apple to make a final ruling on such technology though, and we’ve already seen blueprints and patents filed for such a device. If the project does go ahead, the latest word from MacRumours suggests that any such device will be labeled the "iSlate". Read More

We’ve seen some weird and wacky PC designs in our time, but few are as surreal as the Minitopz range from US firm Artopz Technology. The fusion of art and computing is entirely a subjective one, so we won’t cast too many opinions on the actual design, but what is intriguing here is that the Minitopz range has chosen the humble desk lamp as the subject of its hybrid. Read More

If you’re more than partial to an evening of World of Warcraft or Call or Duty, best keep track of how many hours you’re wiling away in front of the screen. Gaming addiction is a peculiarly modern phenomena suggested by some as being just as serious as alcohol, drugs and gambling, and there are examples of gamers making themselves seriously ill, or in some rare cases, dying through malnutrition or dehydration. Following the opening of Britain’s first computer rehab clinic, Paul Lester takes a closer look at the issues surrounding gaming addiction to see if things are really as serious as they seem and if dedicated treatment is necessary. Read More