Personal Computing

An iPhone has various input features that a standard desktop keyboard doesn’t, such as a reconfigurable touchscreen display. A full-sized keyboard, however, is much easier to type on than an iPhone. Perhaps it only makes sense, therefore, that Korea’s Omnio Technologies decided to combine the strengths of the two devices, in the form of its WOW-Keys keyboard with built-in iPhone dock. Read More

If, like me, you've often wondered what would happen if you took a diamond drill to a glass vase and then fed in some audio - the answer we've been looking for takes the shape of the Glass Speakers from Whamodyne. A set of Logitech S120 computer speakers have been stripped apart, the components forced into a pair of glass vases, each of which have then been mounted at a slight tilt on a hand-made birch plywood base. They're not as powerful or as slick as the precious-looking GLA-55 touch-sensitive speakers from Harman Kardon, but they are about a tenth of the price. Read More

While touch displays have become standard on mobile devices, touch displays for desktop PCs - ushered in by HP on its first TouchSmart back in 2007 - haven't really set the world on fire. So what do touchscreens bring to the desktop environment? HP had continued to build on its its TouchSmart line, so we decided to see if its latest offering, the TouchSmart 610-1030a, provides a compelling reason to ditch the traditional keyboard and mouse - at least for some users. Read More

The Chrome OS avalanche looks to be gaining momentum, with modular computer manufacturer Xi3 announcing a desktop computer addition to the mobile solutions announced by Samsung and Acer earlier in the month. Set to be a new flavor of the company's soon-to-be-generally-available, CES 2011 Innovations Award-winning modular computer range, the cube-like, low power ChromiumPC will be available with single- or dual-core processors and will benefit from a host of new input/output (I/O) modules currently being developed by the Xi3 Corporation and its partners. Read More

Many of us breathed a sigh of relief when the uncomfortable lesson in bland that was the digital age of beige came to an end, but even some of the latest styling can be somewhat disappointing. The growing popularity of Steampunk design is evidence that many crave a return to the classic looks of yesteryear but enthusiasts wanting their technology to take on a vintage look are, for the most part, left with little option but to modify the kit themselves. Those with no time to spare or no skills to speak of, though, are left to look on with envious admiration. Kirk DuQuette has not only created a whole bunch of stunning computer peripherals and mobile device docks that hark back to the Victorian age of steam but, without much of the valve, cog and gauge overkill, he has also made some of them available for purchase. Read More

The inclusion of a new all-in-one desktop computer in Lenovo's Live Quarterly Update has prompted the company to come clean about the first of its new Edge family. With up to quad-core Intel Core i7 configurations available and at just 3.18-inches thick including the frame stand at the rear (or 2.5-inches thin if you care not to consider such trifles), the ThinkCentre Edge 91z is a might more powerful and a good deal slimmer than an iMac or, perhaps more relevantly, the company's own ThinkCentre M70z. Lenovo's "Do Machine" has been earmarked for small businesses and users looking to save some table-top space, and will be available in a number of configurations. Read More

There are good passwords and bad passwords, but none of them are totally secure. Researchers at the American University of Beirut, Lebanon, are working on strengthening an approach to password security that's not just about what you type, but how you type it. Read More

Russian-based design studio Art. Lebedev of Optimus keyboard fame has turned its hand to data storage with the disposable, recyclable "Flashkus" USB stick concept. Read More

NASA, the double-helix model, Elvis ... there's a long list of things that emerged during the 1950s which still resonate strongly in 2011, but none more so than the humble silicon transistor. Transistors are the bricks with which the shiny house of modern consumer electronics has been built, but for more than 50 years these bricks have been limited to two dimensions. Now there's a third. Intel has announced that it is putting its revolutionary Tri-Gate 3-D transistor into mass production. The first 22nm microprocessor (codenamed Ivy Bridge) to use the transistors will be rolled-out later this year, delivering huge gains in performance and efficiency compared with chips that use current 2-D planar transistors and helping keep pace with Moore's Law. Read More