Paul Ridden

At first glance, even second glance, Bletchley Park could easily be just another beautiful British building deserving of some loving care and attention. But for many years its walls guarded one of the best kept secrets of the 20th Century. During the Second World War it was the top secret home to the cryptanalysts, mathematicians and military personnel later credited with shortening the war by at least two years and saving millions of lives by breaking the secret ciphers used in Nazi communications. Seventy years after war was declared on Germany, Gizmag's Paul Ridden takes a closer look at what went on at HMS Pembroke V, the people who worked there and talks to some of the those now dedicated to ensuring that its legacy lives on.  Read More

Spica is the brightest star in the constellation of Virgo and also the inspiration for this visual loudspeaker lamp system where sound vibrations force illuminated liquid within a transparent tube to dance to the music and makes the spectrum analyzer on my hi-fi appear somewhat dull by comparison.  Read More

First shown at the CEATEC trade show in October, Kohjinsha's dual screen laptop/netbook is now on sale in Japan. The combination of an ATI Radeon HD3200 graphics processor and an AMD Athlon Neo MV-40 1.6 GHz chip gives the DZ the power to offer independent or combined dual screen action. The first full dual screen laptop to the marketplace also benefits from a 160Gb SATA HDD, an integrated TV card and a multi-touch, gesture sensitive touch pad.  Read More

The principle of harnessing osmosis has the potential to produce enormous amounts of energy anywhere that salt water and fresh water meet. We looked at some of the approaches to turning this theory into reality earlier this year, including Statkraft's plans to build a prototype power plant. The company's plans are now coming to fruition with Her Royal Highness Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway officially opening the world's first osmotic power plant prototype on November 24.  Read More

Opera's powerful content sharing technology, Unite, has now been fully integrated into its desktop browser with the release of Opera 10.10. Opera lovers can also enjoy visual tabs to view thumbnails of pages in open tabs, a page-loading turbo boost, web navigation with mouse gestures and a customizable speed dial interface.  Read More

Combining jet fighter technology with Formula 1 grade parts and German build quality, the GRACE street legal electric two-wheeler will start to be shipped in limited numbers next year. As well as offering a couple of city travel options, GRACE is also available in an off-road version too. The company has even manufactured a demonstration-only racy model capable of speeds up to 70kmh (44mph).  Read More

The makers of the award-winning Zeppelin ipod dock will shortly release some true hi-fi quality computer speakers which break away from reliance on the output capabilities of a system soundcard and connect via high speed USB instead. Boasting a frequency range of -6dB at 57Hz and 22kHz, outputting audio at 4 times 18W and incorporating music studio technology, the fully active MM-1 system could be just what audiophile deskbound digital music junkies have been waiting for.  Read More

Epson has developed a high definition color LCD panel for use in professional camcorder viewfinders that's only 0.52 inches diagonally, offers 1.56 megapixels resolution and uses a filter to prevent color breakup that often occurs when recording fast-moving objects or panning.  Read More

Innovative Converged Devices (ICD) has unveiled its new Vega 15 inch touchscreen tablet, an Android-powered communication and media device that features wireless 802.11b/g, Bluetooth and 3G connectivity, a Tegra combined application and graphics processor from NVIDIA, an ambient light sensor and accelerometer.  Read More