Personal Computing

Since I enviously eyed my very first Sony All-in-One computer in the early 1990s, the space-saving desktop form factor has found its way into most manufacturer's product ranges. With its latest VAIO L Series addition, Sony brings 3D visuals to the party, along with a touch-enabled bezel for shortcut activation and feature control. It's powered by a second generation Core i7 processor supported by DDR3 memory and is given a generous helping of fast hard disk storage. Read More

With automobiles, we’re currently at a point in history where some of the advantages of electric vehicles are becoming apparent, yet the internal combustion engine still has its merits – as a result, a lot of people are buying gas/electric hybrids. Well, the LaCie CloudBox sort of represents the same thing, except for data storage. It’s a hard drive, which people trust and are used to, yet it automatically backs everything up to the cloud, which seems to be the direction in which things are heading. Just think of it as a Prius for your computer. Read More

After focusing exclusively on laptops since 2001, Toshiba has launched its first desktop PC for the U.S. market in 10 years. Already on sale in Japan since last summer as the Dynabook Qosmio DX, the company’s first all-in-one PC for the U.S. market will be known as the DX1215 when it goes on sale next month. Designed as an all-purpose entertainment hub, the unit features a 21.5-inch 1920 x 1080 resolution touchscreen display, HDMI in port, and premium speakers that can be used even when the PC is off thanks to Toshiba’s Sleep & Music mode. Read More

Using one's feet works quite well while driving, so why not use them to control computers, too? That's what Berkley-based company Keith McMillen Instruments wondered, and ended up designing SoftStep KeyWorx, a foot-operated computer interface device. It's Mac and PC compatible, and offers 10 touch-sensitive buttons and a navigation pad, along with up to 100 macros that allow for customized commands and shortcuts. Read More

We tend to quickly forget about technology that's no longer shiny and state-of-the-art, which is part of the reason that piles of discarded electronics are becoming larger and larger. Polish sculptor Marek Tomasik, however, thought of a way of bringing them back to life ... sort of. He created an enormous and disturbing rectangular, walk-in sculpture made of several thousand discarded computer parts. The piece, entitled "Sometimes You Have To Be Open," is in the form of a room measuring 5m x 4m x 4.5m (16' x 14' x 15'), based around a wooden structure. Read More

Microsoft’s about-face in relation to the “modification of its products” – specifically its Kinect sensor – is complete with the company releasing the official Kinect for Windows SDK beta. When the motion controller was initially released and hackers set about creating open source drivers for the device, Microsoft responded saying it didn’t condone such actions. But it has since changed its tune, even going so far as to invite a group of developers to its Redmond campus for a live 24-hour coding marathon to build concept applications using the SDK. Read More

While Google is still by far the most dominant search engine on the Web, it can't afford to rest on its laurels with Microsoft constantly adding new features to its Bing search engine. At Google's 'Inside Search' event, the company has announced several new features designed to ensure it stays on top of the lucrative search engine game. Users will now be able to search using images, enter search terms by voice and have the top search results pre-rendered so they appear instantly. Read More

Over the years, Creative has expanded its business into media players, headphones and webcams but is perhaps best regarded for its Sound Blaster computer audio products. The X-Fi audio processing chip was added to its PCI cards in 2005 and now the company has announced the new Sound Core3D multi-core sound and voice processor. The low-power, high performance chip will come in a HD audio configuration for computer products and an embedded format for consumer electronics. Read More

The keynote address from Steve Jobs at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference today has revealed 250 new features for the next version of its operating system - OS X Lion. Highlights include multi-touch gesturing, system-wide support for full-screen apps, a new way of viewing everything on your Mac called Mission Control, an overhauled Mail app, a new Launchpad home for apps and the inclusion of the Mac App Store directly in the OS. Read More