Computers

Having been responsible for the daily tape backup routines in various office locations in a previous working life, I can tell you it's a royal pain in the behind. The PopDrive system from DHK Storage puts a couple of 2.5-inch form factor HDDs in a RAID configuration so that if one fails, it can be replaced without fear of data loss. The lightweight, pocket-sized unit's drives can be swapped out without the need for tools, and physical connection to a computer system is made possible via 3Gb/s eSATA or USB 2.0. Read More

Looks like Panasonic has got some serious competition in the rugged tablet arena in the shape of the Motion CL900 from Austin's Motion Computing. The new tough kid on the block has been shock-proofed, is dust and moisture sealed, and benefits from a Gorilla Glass multi-touch display and Vertak bonding. Upon release it will be powered by Intel's next generation Atom processor, have durable solid state storage and Wireless-N connectivity. Let the battle commence... Read More

Thanks to smartphones, most of us these days are familiar with the idea of a sliding mechanism underneath a display screen revealing a physical keyboard. So why has it taken so long for someone to take this idea and use it for a tablet computer? Thankfully, both ASUS and Samsung have now introduced this feature to their new tablets, albeit in slightly different forms. The Samsung PC7 series tablet runs on an Atom processor, benefits from solid state storage and has Windows 7 as its operating system. Its high definition, touchscreen display should also be capable of comfortably handling indoor and outdoor use thanks to its 340-nit brightness. Read More

Can’t decide between a laptop and a tablet? According to the folks at Lenovo, you soon won’t have to. On the eve of CES 2011 at a press event in Las Vegas, company reps were on hand to present the updated and ready-for-sale IdeaPad U1 Hybrid, which combines a Windows-running laptop with an Android 2.2-running LePad tablet. In laptop mode, the LePad serves as the screen for the laptop. If you want to do some tablet computing, however, you just pull the LePad off and use it on its own. We reported on a previous incarnation of the system a year ago, but this time we got the chance to see it up close and personal. Read More

IBM has announced its fifth annual Next Five in Five – a list of five technologies that the company believes “have the potential to change the way people work, live and play over the next five years.” While there are no flying cars or robot servants on the list, there are holographic friends, air-powered batteries, personal environmental sensors, customized commutes and building-heating computers. Read More

Having full-blown computers linked to a central server delivering applications to office workers is so last century. More and more businesses are choosing to deploy thin-client or virtual desktop solutions, where much of the storage and processing needs are met at the data center. Advantages often include low power draw at the user end, low maintenance, and minimal desktop footprint. Chip PC's Plug PC cross-platform thin client or virtual desktop computer solution offers maximum load power consumption of just 3W, is about the same size as a pack of cards, and benefits from a processor architecture that provides the equivalent of 1.8GHz x86 processing power. Read More

Seagate's eco-friendly Barracuda LP HDD has now got a brand new name and some new features, too. The Barracuda Green hard drives benefit from cool and quiet operation, and some technology that is said to deliver best-in-class performance while allowing for seamless integration into a system without the need for additional performance utilities. The low power storage solutions are also reported to be the industry's highest-performance eco-friendly 3.5-inch desktop drives. Read More

Using flexible organic semiconductors, researchers at Queen Mary, University of London and the University of Fribourg have made a discovery that could lead to the simultaneous storing and processing of data on the same computer chip, bringing a dramatic improvement in power efficiency and reduced weight of electronic devices. Read More

Have you ever logged onto a shared computer and wished that you had access to your own desktop, your own programs and your own files? That's precisely what's being offered by the partnering of Super Talent's Express RAM Cache drive and Ceedo's virtual Windows desktop. Plugging into the drive of a host Windows PC and launching the application is said to provide SSD-like performance for launched programs and files. As all user settings and files are saved to the flash drive, there's no trace left on the machine used. Read More