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Personal Computing
Apple takes inspiration from MacBook Pro for updated MacBook
By Darren Quick
01:10 October 21, 2009 PDT
Apple’s new MacBook update finds the notebook borrowing a few things from its bigger brother. Like the MacBook Pro, the new MacBook features a unibody enclosure, albeit polycarbonate instead of aluminum, an LED-backlit display, a glass multi-touch trackpad, and a built-in battery designed to deliver up to seven hours of battery life. Read More
Apple introduces world’s first multi-touch wireless ‘Magic Mouse’
By Darren Quick
23:58 October 20, 2009 PDT
The Apple rumor-mill’s speculation of a replacement for the Mighty Mouse has been borne out today, with Apple introducing the world’s first wireless multi-touch “Magic Mouse”. As with all Apple designs, the new mouse is a lesson in minimalist design with no buttons, scroll wheels or “nipples” on display. Instead, the entire top of the aluminum-based mouse is a seamless hard acrylic multi-touch surface that lets users navigate using the finger gestures made popular on other Apple devices, such as the iPod touch, iPhone and Macbook trackpads. Read More
Samsung STORY Station external drives cut standby power consumption to less than 1W
By Darren Quick
00:25 October 20, 2009 PDT
Samsung’s STORY Station drives will be the first 3.5-inch external hard drives to boast a standby power consumption of less than 1W. The typical standby power consumption of external hard drives is around 2.5W, so lowering that figure to 0.09W constitutes a reduction of more than 95 percent. The reduced standby power level easily meets requirements for the forthcoming European Union’s EuP (Energy Using Products) Directive for Standby Regulation, which is effective from January 2010. Read More
Acer announces Aspire One AOD250 netbook with Android and Windows XP dual-boot option
By Mick Webb
22:41 October 19, 2009 PDT
Acer has delivered on its promise to develop a netbook incorporating the Android operating system with the release of the updated Aspire One AOD250. Featuring a dual-boot option, the model operates with both Android and Windows XP. Read More
Acer delivers its first touchscreen notebook and updates the Timeline series
07:39 October 18, 2009 PDT
Up until now, touchscreen laptops have been one of two things — either low-resolution and lacking the horsepower to perform heavy tasks, or just too expensive. With the upcoming Aspire 5738PG, a multi-touch screen notebook sporting Windows 7 and some respectable specs priced at less than US$800, Acer is looking to bring a quality touchscreen experience within the budget of a wider range of users. On the same day, the PC giant also announced an update to its Timeline series with the addition of a 11.6-inch notebook and the transition to Intel dual-core processors on all existing models. Read More
Toshiba joins the multi-touch party with new Satellite laptops
By Mick Webb
03:32 October 16, 2009 PDT
Toshiba has announced its latest line of laptops, with two of the new Satellite models representing the company's first foray into multi-touch notebooks. While all models in the new range will ship with Windows 7 Home Premium, only the M505 and U505 Touch models will offer the touch-screen capabilities available via the new operating system. Read More
CyberLink TrueTheater Enhancer gives YouTube videos a spit and polish
By Darren Quick
01:10 October 16, 2009 PDT
I’ve always considered YouTube an example of “two steps forward, one step back.” Although it has provided a seemingly endless supply of video to keep us entertained, if not informed, it does so with often low quality video at a time when television services around the world have shifted to digital broadcasts offering improved high definition (HD) picture and sound. CyberLink is looking to bridge the divide with its TrueTheater Enhancer software that is designed to give YouTube content a spit and polish. Read More
HP releases TouchSmart PCs and 42-inch HD digital touch display
By Jeff Salton
19:20 October 14, 2009 PDT
HP has burst forth and launched a range of multi-touch computing products comprising three new TouchSmart PCs and a fully-functional interactive 42-inch HD digital signage display, the HP LD4200. The company has also upgraded its multi-touch notebook range with new touch features. Read More
10/GUI the human computer interface of the future for people with more than two fingers
By Darren Quick
03:43 October 14, 2009 PDT
Those old enough to remember the command line interfaces of yesteryear are only too aware of what a godsend the Graphical User Interfaces (GUI) of today are. However, the human computer interface (HCI) developed in the 1970s at Xerox PARC, combining a desktop metaphor GUI and mouse controller, has remained largely unchanged ever since. Now R. Clayton Miller proposes the next step in the evolution of HCI's with his 10/GUI concept that harnesses the power of multi-touch by removing the touch surface from the screen. Read More
Gateway introduce One ZX Series all-in-one PCs with multi-touch
By Mick Webb
21:13 October 13, 2009 PDT
With the official release of Windows 7 just around the corner, Gateway has introduced a new line of all-in-one desktop PC’s that take advantage of the multi–touch capabilities of the highly anticipated operating system. The competitively priced One ZX Series combines stylish design with impressive features aimed at both the serious and more casual user. Read More
Belkin’s Easy Transfer Cable for Windows 7 makes upgrading smoother
05:11 October 10, 2009 PDT
Upgrading to a new operating system is a notorious mess — you need to find all of your data and user settings (often spending hours doing so), burn them to a DVD or other support and then copy them all to the new OS. Belkin's "Easy Transfer Cable" for Windows 7, a USB 2.0 cable with accompanying software aims to make the whole process much easier by guiding you through the transfer process, automatically finding your data and settings and streamlining the transition from XP or Vista to the upcoming Windows 7. Read More
Mouse 2.0: Microsoft's multi-touch mouse prototypes
05:01 October 10, 2009 PDT
It's been over forty years since the first computer mouse saw the light of day, and the fact that its basic design hasn't changed all that much is a testament to the original. But that doesn't mean there's no room for improvement. A group of researchers at Microsoft has come up with five new experimental designs that tie traditional mouse functionality to increasingly popular multi-touch technology on a single device. Read More
Kingston releases MobileLite Flash card reader, reloaded
03:24 October 10, 2009 PDT
Kingston recently released MobileLiteG2, the second generation of its portable Flash card reader. The 18.9g plug-and-play unit shows up as two separate devices on your system to make it easier to transfer data between Flash memory cards using only one USB port. Read More
Getac's resistive-type multi-touch technology works with or without gloves
By Darren Quick
02:34 October 9, 2009 PDT
Anyone who has tried to use a multi-touch touchscreen with anything other than their bare skin will know that it’s just not possible, no matter how hard you press. That’s because the capacitance technology used for the bulk of multi-touch devices doesn’t detect pressure, but measures the changes in electrical resistance caused by contact with a conductor – in this case, the human body. That might be annoying in cold climates, but is an even bigger problem in situations that require the wearing of protective gloves. Getac’s line of rugged Tablet PCs will be the first commercially-available rugged computers to solve this problem by offering a multi-touch screen that works with or without gloves. Read More
Pioneer BDR-205 12x Blu-ray disc writer the fastest so far
By Jeff Salton
18:59 October 5, 2009 PDT
The Pioneer Electronics BDR-205 Blu-ray Disc Computer Writer is the industry’s first and fastest model to feature up to 12x write speed for single and dual-layer Blu-ray discs, up from previous speeds of 8x. Pioneer says that when the unit is utilized with a properly configured PC, the drive’s Low Vibration Mechanism Design improves overall writing accuracy, especially for consumers and business people who need to preserve ever-increasing amounts of critical data, making it an ideal choice for authoring providers and system builders. Read More
Belkin's Conserve Surge helps reduce power consumption
By Jude Garvey
00:18 October 1, 2009 PDT
We first looked at Belkin’s Conserve Surge protector early last year. The company has just released a new version that includes a clever automatic timer to control power usage. The surge protector has eight outlets – two keep PCs and critical devices permanently on, while the other six outlets are automatically turned off after 11 hours. This allows you to power down non-essential office equipment at night and on weekends, saving valuable energy and money. Read More
Dell's Latitude Z: world’s first laptop with wireless docking and inductive charging
By Jeff Salton
00:55 September 30, 2009 PDT
Dell's latest addition to its Latitude series of laptops, the Latitude Z, has a number of ‘firsts’ the company is hoping will convince consumers to choose it over a plethora of other brands and models. Dell says its Latitude Z is the world's first 16-inch laptop that is less than an inch thick and also the first laptop with wireless docking and inductive charging (wireless power - no more cords to trip over or lose). The inclusion of Dell’s EdgeTouch allows users to operate commonly used applications and media controls through a touch interface on the screen’s bezel, while Dell’s Latitude ON technology delivers instant, interactive access to email, the Web, contacts, attachments and calendars. Read More
Microsoft patent multi touch screen keyboard
By Mick Webb
20:49 September 29, 2009 PDT
Up until now, touch screen keyboards have been problematic in that the user has had to look at the screen to navigate the location of the keys. That could all be set to change with news that Microsoft has filed a most interesting patent for a touch screen keyboard that uses multi touch capabilities to incorporate the user’s own hands as a physical point of reference. Read More
Cyber 'ants' patrol PC networks against computer worms and other threats
00:46 September 29, 2009 PDT
In looking for highly efficient ways to solve complex problems, we've often seen researchers mimic the solutions found by nature over billions of years: smart fabrics inspired by pine cones, spectrum analyzers modeled after the human ear and powerful search-and-optimization genetic and evolutionary algorithms, to name just a few. The latest piece of news comes from Wake Forest University, where the group dynamics of ant colonies have inspired security software to fight computer worms and other threats. Read More
Intel predicts optical future for consumer gadgets with 10Gb/s Light Peak interface
By Paul Lester
06:44 September 28, 2009 PDT
Though it may not make it into everyone’s ‘top ten’ list of most desirable technological developments, replacing the spaghetti-junction of wires that typically gathers behind a desk or workspace would undoubtedly be a welcome advance. Wireless peripherals are helping the situation somewhat and wireless power will be a massive boon once perfected but, in the meantime, we’re looking to technologies like optical cables to handle high-volume data transfer. Intel’s recent research in this area should be of particular interest, since it’s designed to replace or augment connections used in consumer-based electronics, such as USB2.0, HDMI, Firewire, DVI and the like. Read More
Up to six screens from one AMD Eyefinity graphics card
By Paul Ridden
04:39 September 28, 2009 PDT
Forget high definition, AMD claims its ATI Eyefinity multi-screen technology has up to 12 times 1080p resolution, breaking into almost true eye-definition video quality. It's able to power up to six monitors from one card, is Windows 7 ready and positively champing at the bit to unleash the power of Direct X 11. Users can look forward to a much improved immersion gaming experience, or to taking advantage of one huge desktop workspace for better multi-task management, or to being able to keep an eye on breaking Internet news while also playing a game or watching a DVD. Read More
Wacom's new Bamboo gets you multi-touching for under $100
01:56 September 27, 2009 PDT
Since multi-touch technology was popularized with the introduction of Apple's iPhone, many companies have come to realize its great potential in terms of improving the user experience. Wacom's second generation Bamboo input devices add multi-touch support to its standard pressure sensitive pen providing users with a cheap, cross-platform solution to experience both multi-touch and ultra precise pointer control on their personal computers with a single tablet. Read More
Intel Core i7 Mobile Processor - fastest ever laptop chips
By Jeff Salton
20:34 September 24, 2009 PDT
Intel says processing power that was reserved for desktop computing can now be conducted on laptops equipped with its new Intel Core i7 Mobile Processor and Intel Core i7 Mobile Processor Extreme Edition. Using its award-winning and super-fast Nehalem microarchitecture, along with the new Intel PM55 Express Chipset, gamers, photographers, digital music mixers, movie-makers, etc, will no longer have to be anchored to a desktop computer to access the processing power they need. Read More
Five new Alienware PCs invade the gaming market with aggressive looks and specs
17:40 September 24, 2009 PDT
Demanding PC gamers could soon see their wildest dreams come true with the five new Alienware gaming rigs — a laptop and four desktop PCs — recently presented by Dell. From overclocked, liquid-cooled Intel Core i7 processors to the latest-generation NVIDIA GeForce graphics, these machines combine the very best of the industry for blazing fast performance and an unprecedented gaming experience. Read More
Intel unveils world's first working 22nm chips
04:06 September 24, 2009 PDT
During the keynote address at the Intel Developer Forum recently held in San Francisco, Intel CEO Paul Otellini displayed a silicon wafer containing the world's first working chips featuring 22nm transistor technology, which include both densely packed SRAM memory and logic circuits to be used in future Intel microprocessors. Read More
Freedom Glen
- November 25, 2009 @ 02:47 UTC
