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Want to put your laptop intro service for the good of environmental observation? The Quake Catcher Network in California is an effort by researchers to use the accelerometers built into most modern laptops to help keep track of seismic...
POSTED Thursday, April 24, 2008
It’s hump day! And so begins the third day of my off-grid blogging in observance of Earth Week here at DVICE. Translation: no wall sockets or municipal juice for me until Saturday. Due to rain yesterday, I had to...
POSTED Wednesday, April 23, 2008
With this being Earth Week and all, Dell decided to get in on all the eco-fun with its smallest PC yet. This one’s wrapped up in a renewable bamboo case that looks stylish, rounded, and smooth. Its innards are...
POSTED Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Welcome to my first dispatch! Earth Week is off and running here at DVICE, and just like I promised, I'm going off the grid for five days. Yep, all week long I'll be getting my power from green sources...
POSTED Monday, April 21, 2008
Tired of paying $3,000 for a portable upper leg warmer/sun tanner commonly known as a laptop? So are we. But since the new MacBook Pro’s are allegedly right around the corner our laptop fetish isn't likely to end anytime soon,...
POSTED Friday, April 11, 2008
The Siafu (curiously named after terrifying army ants) is a concept laptop by designer Jonathan Lucas of Long Beach, California that would give people with impaired vision the tactile input they need to fully use a computer — from writing...
POSTED Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Here’s a design concept that old-school artists who wear berets and paint with palettes will like. The gorgeous Palette-Digital Artist is an entry into the Microsoft NextGen PC Design Competition for 2008. It's a handheld touchscreen PC, and looky...
POSTED Thursday, March 27, 2008
Looking to record your favorite HD shows to a digital video recorder (HD DVR)? You’re not alone. As of December, 2007, 20% of U.S. households had a DVR, up from 12% at the beginning of the year. Your choices...
POSTED Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Sure, we're all about the futuristic designs around these parts, but the Cup PC concept take futuristic design to a completely new level. This idea takes the average PC and tries to make it as simple as drinking a...
POSTED Tuesday, March 25, 2008
This ZPC all-in-one computer is basically a laptop without a screen. It's a keyboard with all of the guts of the computer inside of it, including a 3.4GHz Pentium 4, 2GB of RAM, a 75GB HDD and a DVD drive....
POSTED Monday, March 24, 2008
What looks like an old school Univac computer but fits in the palm of your hand like a Sony PSP? It's the coolest new UMPC (Ultra-Mobile PC) to hit the market called the Wibrain. Sporting a 1024 x 600 resolution...
POSTED Friday, March 21, 2008
The Macbook Air, with its optional SSD drive, has brought flash hard drives into the mainstream, with the energy-efficient and fast HDD replacements looking more and more attractive as prices come down. That's not to say they're down all that...
POSTED Tuesday, March 18, 2008
The Toughbook has been around for a while wooing many corporate and military users but failing to make a significant blip on the radar for most mainstream consumers. But the latest iteration of the Toughbook, the Panasonic Toughbook UMPC, could...
POSTED Thursday, March 13, 2008
Our jaws dropped at LucidTouch, a great see-through touchscreen idea Microsoft showed us last October. Now the company’s photoshopped up a really pretty simulated tablet PC using the technology that lets you see your hands on the other side...
POSTED Wednesday, March 12, 2008
The DNA personal computer is one of those concepts that, like the almighty Voltron, becomes more powerful the more pieces of it you connect together. It starts out as a bare-bones computer-in-a-cube, with a low-powered processor and graphics card for...
POSTED Wednesday, March 12, 2008
How do you distract a bunch of reporters at a tech-heavy media event? Give them a big interactive display to play with. Reminiscent of the interface from the movie Minority Report, this media wall at CeBIT 2008 works a lot...
POSTED Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Real computer nerds who want to put together a monster of a gaming PC build their own computers. They know that doing it themselves saves all sorts of money and lets them get exactly what they want. Lazier, richer people...
POSTED Monday, March 10, 2008
The GeCube Genie PC is a relatively unremarkable UMPC for the most part, with a tiny 7-inch screen, 2Gb of flash memory storage, and a Linux-based operating system, but it does have one little trick up its sleeve that differentiates...
POSTED Thursday, March 6, 2008
Dressed in a casual (and surprisingly male) fashion, world-class stand-up comedian Eddie Izzard has been crackin' wise at the Union Square Theater in New York City about everything from the origins of mankind to hunting bees with flamethrowers. And, of...
POSTED Wednesday, March 5, 2008
The Backpacker's Diary is meant to allow travelers an easy way to log and share their experiences, and takes the idea of a notebook-inspired personal computer to the next level. Portable just like a laptop, the Diary's functions change depending...
POSTED Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Why is it gaming PCs always have to be the craziest-looking machines to ever be sold at Best Buy? Who decided that people who enjoyed PC games also wanted a gigantic computer that looks like it was stolen off...
POSTED Tuesday, March 4, 2008
There’s a quiet revolution happening right under your fingertips. Breaking free of the bonds of wires and short-range wireless Wi-Fi networks are EV-DO (Evolution Data Only) modems, letting you use your laptop virtually anywhere there’s cell phone service. The...
POSTED Monday, March 3, 2008
Lenovo had been developing its new tiny but powerful ThinkPad, the X300, for a year and a half when Steve Jobs announced that its MacBook air could fit into an inter-office envelope. What a letdown! Though Lenovo's ultra-portable with...
POSTED Sunday, March 2, 2008
Someday, when curved organic LEDs (OLED) are cheap enough, an arc-shaped iMac will actually be possible (to give you an idea, a 11-inch non-curved OLED screen costs $2500 today). Until then, we’ll have to settle for iView, a design...
POSTED Friday, February 29, 2008
Apple unveiled updates to its line of high-end Macbook Pro laptops this morning, upgrading the chipset to Intel's new Penryn line as well as adding the multitouch trackpad that was first unveiled with the Macbook Air. In addition, there were...
POSTED Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Take one part MacBook Air, one part Microsoft Surface and some 3D "z-axis" interaction and you have the Zen PC concept. The Zen PC is being labeled a sandbox PC. The unique nature of the tablet-like PC allows for...
POSTED Friday, February 22, 2008
When Apple rolled out the MacBook Air with its solid-state disk (SSD) inside, it felt like a new era in laptop computing had begun. Are solid-state state drives poised to replace those spinning hard disks we've become accustomed to...
POSTED Thursday, February 14, 2008
The Macbook Air might be the most buzzed about slim laptop around, but that's not to say it's the only one out there or even the best. Sure, it's the thinnest, but at the expense of an optical drive and...
POSTED Wednesday, February 13, 2008
While I can certainly appreciate the out-of-the-box thinking that went into designing this coffee mug/computer hybrid, I think a bit more practical thinking would have helped it. I mean, come on, could you imagine this thing ever getting made? First...
POSTED Saturday, February 9, 2008
What would it take to get you to sacrifice your car stereo? How about a full computer that fits snugly into the vacant indash spot left by your stereo? The Navisurfer is just that, and it has an attractive 7-inch...
POSTED Friday, February 8, 2008
We've gotten some intimate one-on-one time with Dell's top-of-the-line XPS series of towers before, which is why we get a little excited seeing a spy shot of the next in the line of gaming PCs. Say hello, my friends, to...
POSTED Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Master craftsman and PC case builder Jeffrey Stephenson just rolled out his latest design called Pico Bayard, a combination mini PC and digital photo frame that mimics the art deco design of classic French Bayard clocks. The gorgeous design...
POSTED Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Many of our day-to-day necessities rely on processing chips: cell phones, MP3 players, computers, calculators and so on, and many of these devices use already efficient chips that require one volt of energy. Texas Instruments just isn't satisfied, it...
POSTED Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Technology is pretty hard on our hands, and only getting more so: typing on a keyboard, twisting your fingers around a video game controller, thumbing your cell phone. With all that strain on your digits, you may be wondering...
POSTED Wednesday, February 6, 2008
You've gotta love it when people take standard-issue products, call them "luxury," and jack up the price by a factor of three. That's exactly what happened with the Eazo Luxury PC, a powerful computer that would be great if it...
POSTED Tuesday, February 5, 2008
This touchless human/machine user interface by Norway's Elliptic Labs is a surefire way to avoid grubby touchscreens as it allows the user to manipulate objects on the screen by simply waving their hands like a wizard. The technology uses...
POSTED Monday, February 4, 2008
You've seen the MacBook Air — are you ready for the MacBook Earth, Water and Fire? We weren't either, but then we got our hands on these images of a new generation of notebooks. Ever wanted your computer to...
POSTED Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Sony teamed up with the Nichia Corportation, a Japanese manufacturer and supplier, and the happy result is a smaller Blu-Ray laser. Measuring in at 3 millimeters, the new laser is cheaper for Sony to manufacture, and anything from laptops using...
POSTED Monday, January 28, 2008
The MacBook Air may be one of the thinnest laptops ever made, but Apple had to make some sacrifices to shed all that poundage. Did the company go too far? Some reviewers on the Web think so. Of course,...
POSTED Thursday, January 24, 2008
Put that credit card down for a second before dropping those big bucks on a super thin and very gimpy MacBook Air. Even after getting our thoughts on it and seeing some reasons you should buy one, it's time...
POSTED Friday, January 18, 2008
The hype is over, the news has broken, and the backlash is in full swing. We're talking about the MacBook Air of course — the big gust of wind coming out of Cupertino this week. It's one of the...
POSTED Thursday, January 17, 2008
People grow up dreaming about becoming musicians, but chip musicians? Gareth Morris sure did, adapting some 1980s Atari hardware (an 1040ST keyboard) to make "chiptunes," music created using just the raw sounds of the original equipment. Vanessa recently rocked out with from Morris and his modded PC to see what it was like to be an Atari DJ. Groovy.
POSTED Thursday, January 17, 2008
Gotta love Apple: Only the reclusive Cupertino company could command such a massive amount of attention for such underwhelming announcements. Oooo, HD movies on iTunes, only two months after Vudu started doing it. Then there's Apple TV Part 2,...
POSTED Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Sir Steve of Cupertino just dropped some bombs at Macworld, the biggest of which being the announcement of a new MacBook Air ultraportable laptop. The thinnest laptop in the world, it measures a mere 0.16 inches thick at the...
POSTED Tuesday, January 15, 2008
I often look at my lamp with a frown on my face wishing it did just a little more. Sure, it brings me light when the sun's gone, but that's it. If only it also had the functionality of...
POSTED Monday, January 7, 2008
Asus has just announced a new laptop that comes with, amongst other things, a whopping 1TB of storage. Yes, TB. That stands for Terabytes, otherwise known as 1,000 Gigabytes. It's huge. It's enough space to hold as many full movies,...
POSTED Thursday, January 3, 2008
The rumor mills are churning at full speed in anticipation of MacWorld, which is coming up in just a couple of weeks. So what should we expect? Well, according to some "experts" who have dug around talking to Apple's suppliers,...
POSTED Friday, December 28, 2007
Two years ago laser-etched laptops were all over the Internet, mainly because of the famous tarsier and Magritte Powerbooks. But since then people have been busily etching all kinds of things into their laptop lids, from the Mona Lisa to...
POSTED Friday, December 28, 2007
Are you tired of waiting for Apple to release a MacBook tablet for you to fawn over? Sure, there have been rumors about them for months now, but there's nothing coming out of Cupertino currently that looks anything like the...
POSTED Wednesday, December 26, 2007
This wallet has a lot more going on than your wallet, no matter how many credit cards, receipts, and pictures of your family you have stuffed inside. The Emtrace PS100 is a 5mm-thick digital photo frame that can fit in...
POSTED Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Like Charlie Brown, I am one heck of a old grinch around the holidays. Eggnog, yule tides, and all of those traditions are nothing but a bunch of hoo-ha to me. The one shining moment is the holidays is...
POSTED Monday, December 24, 2007
Here's a computer mod that's not exactly built for the long haul: an entire PC stuffed inside a pizza box. Delicious! Placed lovingly inside the box where a large pizza used to sit (from Little Ceasers? Really? Gross.) are all...
POSTED Thursday, December 20, 2007
Nicholas Negroponte's One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) program has been around for a few years now, but it is only in the last couple of months that real, live OLPC laptops have been shipping, not just to third world...
POSTED Sunday, December 16, 2007
The Portable PC Theater probably won't replace your PC, even if you do use it as a media center. It will come in handy, though, if you want a computer that you can tote around and take to show...
POSTED Friday, December 14, 2007
Lets face it, some hand motions are just more natural than others, and operating a standard mouse isn't one of them. With the SafeType mouse you can hold your hand in a natural position, a grip with the thumb...
POSTED Thursday, December 13, 2007
Next time you fly, you may have more options than just reading a book or passing out. American Airlines, joining others such as Virgin and JetBlue, are teaming up with carrier Aircell to offer passengers free Wi-Fi on Boeing...
POSTED Friday, December 7, 2007
MacWorld is coming up in about a month — you know, the place where they announced the iPhone last year — so you know the rumor mills are about to start churning at full force. This year's rumor? Ultraportable Apple...
POSTED Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Once you get seriously into playing World of Warcraft, it seems like that's all you use your computer for. Sure, you can surf the web and check email on it, but if you're a real WoW addict, you barely have...
POSTED Tuesday, December 4, 2007
The story began last year with you, some Star Wars flash drives, and a universe. Now the Star Wars flash-drive saga continues with Series 2, made by mimobot. The new members of the mimobot family are Luke Skywalker, Princess...
POSTED Monday, December 3, 2007
Yesterday TiVo announced that a software company called Nero will create a platform to "bring TiVo features to the personal computer." TiVo realizes that a lot of people out there have tuners for their computers. and is hoping to...
POSTED Thursday, November 29, 2007
Small, cheap laptops are all the rage these days, as it seems everyone wants a wee computer that's low on power but high on value to take with them on trips. Now there's another one with a super-low pricetag. The...
POSTED Thursday, November 29, 2007
This Aleutia E1 computer is "the ultimate off grid computer." What's that mean? Well, it means you can use it away from the infrastructure you're used to relying on, what with most computers needing things like power outlets to function...
POSTED Wednesday, November 28, 2007
What's the quickest way to ruin a beautiful 1904 Chickering Upright Grand Piano? That's an easy one, demolish stick a computer in it. That's what Ebay user compianos did. This 1904 Chickering includes a ridiculously powerful (and debatably real)...
POSTED Monday, November 26, 2007
What happens when you combine visualizations such as the ones you can get while your music plays on iTunes or through your Xbox 360 and a guitar? You get a guitar that stoned college students will stare at for...
POSTED Monday, November 26, 2007
This Black Hawk XR5 notebook isn't messing around. It's Quad-Core, meaning it's as high-powered as any desktop computer out there, and it sports a large, 17-inch screen. It also has two 512MB GeForce Go 8800GTX graphics cards, making this...
POSTED Monday, November 19, 2007
Dust and smudges seem to be attracted to laptop screens. Just touch your laptop screen once, and there'll be a fingerprint on it until you can get your lazy self down to the store to buy some fancy LCD...
POSTED Friday, November 16, 2007
Alienware, known for its high-end video game-centric machines, is offering up a teaser of two of its yet-to-be-seen laptop designs: the Area-51 m15x and the Area-51 m17x. Reportedly 15- and 17-inch systems, the two new machines will sport entirely...
POSTED Friday, November 16, 2007
Your computer is boring. It's just a plain old grey box, it's got no personality. You have a personality, don't you? Well then, why not use a computer that reflects or, dare I say, enhances your already-present uniqueness? This...
POSTED Wednesday, November 14, 2007
With the ASUS Ecobook, the computer manufacturer is trying for a laptop that is as friendly to the environment as it looks — ASUS is shooting for the sum of the Ecobook's parts to be 50% recyclable. To reflect...
POSTED Monday, November 12, 2007
There is no need to spend thousands on a high tech treadmill when you can simply attach your laptop to your already existing (and outdated) treadmill. The Netrunner is a docking system that allows for laptops of all types and...
POSTED Saturday, November 10, 2007
The Sony VAIO FZ "Graphic Splash Eco Edition" laptops come with nature-themed outer shells, but that environmental motif isn't just case-deep. Sony is teaming up with the 1% For The Planet fund, so 1% of the net Eco Edition...
POSTED Friday, November 9, 2007
According to Taiwanese computer maker ASUS, Apple is in the process of designing a new tablet computer and they've hired ASUS to do the manufacturing. Apple hasn't confirmed the story, obviously, but ASUS has been hired by them to...
POSTED Tuesday, November 6, 2007
The NVX3000PC — or the "Anyware" mobile PC, as parent company Audiovox is calling it — is a portable computer launching under the Jensen brand that isn't quite a handheld GPS, nor a full laptop. Instead, the Anyware incorporates...
POSTED Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Having trouble finding room for all those unwieldy AC adapters that seem to proliferate like amorous bunnies? While you might like the excellent Power Squid ($11.95), a more-conventional yet precise approach is this Tributaries T10 Power Strip. It aims...
POSTED Friday, October 26, 2007
NEC has a new supercomputer it's touting as the world's fastest. The SX-9 is capable of processing a peak 839 teraFLOPS, and a peak vector performance of 102.4 gigaFLOPS per individual core. Well hey, that's a lot of FLOPS....
POSTED Friday, October 26, 2007
Information Dell posted on the Federal Communications Commission website has opened the curtains to reveal the Dell XPS One A2010, the company's upcoming computer-in-a-monitor. Details are liable to change, but from the looks of it the XPS One A2010...
POSTED Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Well, almost. Hitachi is developing hard drives that combine an older technology called Giant Magnetoresistance (GMR), with new more densely packed data regions, which they say will allow for a 4 TB (4000 GB) drive within the next three...
POSTED Friday, October 19, 2007
A federal jury delivered a landmark verdict in a copyright-infringement case between the RIAA and defendant Jammie Thomas, a 30-year-old mother of two from Minnesota. The RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) is the trade group that represents the...
POSTED Thursday, October 18, 2007
Fish gotta swim. Birds gotta fly. Hard-disk drives gotta crash. Even executives of companies who make hard-disk drives admit they have a life of between three and five years. They're mechanical. They wear out. Any hard drive still chugging...
POSTED Thursday, October 11, 2007
PC hard disks have gotten more and more capacity over the years, but they still involve storing and accessing data on rapidly spinning disks, so there's a limit to how fast they can actually work. Flash memory has no...
POSTED Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Suissa, a computer company that makes specialty computers that don't look like your average grey tower, has just unveiled its gorgeous Enlighten PC. This sexy woodcentric sculpture dedicated to computing won't run cheap — $16,000, to be exact —...
POSTED Thursday, October 4, 2007
Like to play PC games? Like to play PC games when you're on the road? Like to play PC games on the road on a glossy, brightly colored laptop that screams, "Steal me"? Then you're the exact customer HP...
POSTED Thursday, September 27, 2007
This morning Gateway went after the iMac crowd by unveiling an all-in-one PC called… er, the One. OK, the name isn't that slick, but machine itself might be. After all, the screen is a decent size (19 inches), and...
POSTED Thursday, September 27, 2007
Announcements about an upgrade to a line of laptops usually consists of minor performance tweaks: a faster processor, larger hard drive, and/or a thinner and lighter body. Sony's VAIO G-Series is no exception, with options for faster Core 2...
POSTED Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Sony's looking to get their hands on the thrifty laptop market, unleashing a new line of cheaper Vaio NRs that deliver some respectable specs without breaking the bank. The $750 laptops sport 15.4-inch screens, Core 2 Duos (on "select...
POSTED Tuesday, September 25, 2007
The ambitious "$100 laptop" One Laptop Per Child program is finally coming to fruition after nearly 2 years of talk, with a boosted price ($188) and a completed product. While most of these little computers are being sold to...
POSTED Monday, September 24, 2007
If you've ever used a laptop as its name suggests, you know that the heat produced can be uncomfortable for your… uh, lower extremities. Embraco, with the help of Intel is trying to solve that heating problem with the...
POSTED Saturday, September 22, 2007
Forget the pulse-pounding feeling you get from steampunk computers — here's one of the most alluring laptop concepts we've seen in a long time. If designer Eno Setiawan had his way, the Sony Vaio notebook would look sleek and...
POSTED Wednesday, September 19, 2007
PC security is always a cause for concern, but sometimes — check that — pretty much all the time juggling a slew of different software suites can be a pain. This is where the Yoggie Pico Personal steps in....
POSTED Thursday, September 13, 2007
Gaming PCs are some of the most stylish computers around. Since gamers tend to be a group that's willing to pay a premium for their hardware, manufacturers know that it's what's both inside and outside that counts. This lovely...
POSTED Thursday, September 6, 2007
Fulfilling your James Bond fetish just got a little easier courtesy the IOCELL mDrive waterproof USB device. Sporting a sexy black aluminum exterior accented by a hint of crimson, the mDrive is super thin at just 1.6 x 0.6...
POSTED Tuesday, September 4, 2007
Here's a bachelor pad's dream: a coffee table that doubles as a gaming rig. The high-gloss top of the Surface Tension table adds a taste of arcade chic to a living room, housing a monitor beneath the glass tabletop...
POSTED Friday, August 31, 2007
Sure, Apple's new iMacs are slick and all, but they aren't the only, or best, game in town when it comes to all-in-one computers. Sony's new Vaio LT19U does almost everything the iMac does, as well as a few...
POSTED Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Some golfers want to go green with solar-powered golf carts, but this Golf Launchpad lets you hit the greens without even leaving your house. The $450 input device works with either the PC or Sony's PlayStation 2 and has...
POSTED Monday, August 20, 2007
These days, laptops come in three flavors: ultra-thin, average all around, and ultra-powerful. Hitting either extreme, whether you're looking for maximum portability or performance, will typically hit your wallet pretty hard as well. Electronics purveyor Asus is looking to...
POSTED Friday, August 17, 2007
Gaming PCs are notoriously expensive, sacrificing reasonable prices for the most top-of-the-line components available. Laptops have never really been good as gaming PCs due to their lack of expandability and the high price of their components to begin with....
POSTED Friday, August 17, 2007
Having a powerful computer is all nice and dandy, but if you want your PC to last, you have to keep that sucker cooled. Using fans to pump up airflow inside a computer case is the standard method, though water...
POSTED Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Fujitsu's new LifeBook T2010 is a lightweight notebook that wants to be more than just a notebook. Just look at that contortionist screen! It can flip itself around and fold back on the keyboard, turning the light notebook into...
POSTED Tuesday, August 14, 2007
The days of recharging your laptop may be numbered if Samsung's fuel-cell notebook catches on. The Direct Methanol Fuel Cell laptop supposedly carries enough fuel in that chamber beneath the monitor to keep it running for a month. If...
POSTED Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Apple just announced new versions of its all-in-one iMac computer. Featuring a new design with brushed aluminum and glass, it's certainly a slicker upgrade to the older models. Like the MacBooks, the new iMacs have an iSight camera built...
POSTED Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Now you'll have no excuse for shirking your work, even if you're out in the middle of nowhere. This Earthtech Solar Laptop Charger's 150-watt portable power system keeps you going whether you like it or not, harnessing the sun's...
POSTED Monday, July 30, 2007
Toshiba has just unveiled a new set of ultra-portable laptops that they claim are the lightest and thinnest in the world. And at a scarily-light 1.73 pounds on the R500-S5003, I think they might just be right. Slimming things down...
POSTED Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Laptops are becoming more and more popular, what with them becoming just as powerful as desktop models while staying in a portable and space-saving form factor. The main problem that people switching from desktops to laptops face at this...
POSTED Tuesday, July 24, 2007
What makes a laptop a laptop? Is it the portability? Or is it just the foldable form factor? If you answered the form factor, then the new Samsung Desknote G25 is a laptop. If not, well, then it's just a...
POSTED Wednesday, July 18, 2007
You pay a monthly fee for your cell phone, cable, and for Internet access, but what about for your computer? Zonbu has created a neat little Linux-running desktop computer that it claims is so energy efficient that it'll save...
POSTED Monday, July 16, 2007
I'm a Windows user who loves skinny laptops. My Lenovo-IBM ThinkPad X60 is the Apple of my eye and only willpower keeps me from adding the teeniest Vaio and maybe one of those cheap Asuteks just for the hell...
POSTED Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Casting against type, Dell just added a slim laptop to its XPS line of PCs, generally known for its power and heft. The anorexically thin XPS M1330 has some serious cutting-edge equipment onboard, including a 120-GB hard disk, connectivity...
POSTED Tuesday, June 26, 2007
You think your ultraportable laptop is small? It's gigantic compared to the new Linux PC created in France. It's crammed into a USB key, measuring a mere 1.40-inches by 3.3-inches. At that size, it's not going to be loading up...
POSTED Monday, June 25, 2007
When it comes to high-end gaming PCs, the sky's the limit to how crazy manufacturers will go to create the ultimate fragging machine. A new entry in the field is looking to establish a secure stop at the top...
POSTED Saturday, June 23, 2007
The Compenion is a sleek concept laptop designed by Felix Schmidberger. It certainly looks like the kind of portable PC we might be carrying around in 2015, made more futuristic by its OLED touchscreen, which serves as both monitor...
POSTED Thursday, June 14, 2007
This slick tablet design by Intel is dubbed Montevallo, and what makes it unique is how it turns from a mere tablet into both a laptop and TV with just a couple of innovative docks. Stick it on top...
POSTED Tuesday, June 12, 2007
If you're in the market for a new ultraportable laptop, Sony's new Vaio TZ11 might be just what you're looking for. The wee lappie features an 11.1-inch screen and weighs a mere 2.6 pounds. Inside, however, it doesn't skimp,...
POSTED Thursday, June 7, 2007
Forget about all those whacked-out computers covered in diamonds, flames, and car manufacturer logos that tell the world how much money you have to spend. Instead, impress the design-school girl sitting next to you by whipping out a wooden...
POSTED Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Apple's MacBook Pros got an upgrade today, getting a bump to Intel's Santa Rosa chipset. The faster Core 2 Duo processors are coupled with LED-backlit LCD screens, more memory, 802.11n Wi-Fi cards, and better Nvidia 8600M GT graphics. They...
POSTED Tuesday, June 5, 2007
Now this — this is a sexy laptop. A mere 0.7 inches thick, it's nearly as thin as a Motorola RAZR phone yet still manages to pack in an impressive set of features. Inside the 2.25-pound body are all...
POSTED Monday, May 28, 2007
On Thursday, Dell announced that it will begin selling two of its low-end PCs at Wal-Mart beginning June 10. Some greeted this development as an important one because Dell doesn't traditionally sell its computers through retail outlets, and this...
POSTED Sunday, May 27, 2007
When Microsoft asks for innovative design, coolness like this flying saucer-looking Windows home server comes out of the woodwork. This one is a prototype commissioned by Microsoft, and as you can see by the inset in the picture above,...
POSTED Friday, May 25, 2007
Going on a trip often presents a dilemma for the road warrior. Do I need to lug my 6-pound laptop, or can I get by with my BlackBerry? While wireless handheld devices have become ever more powerful, they still...
POSTED Friday, May 25, 2007
Fujitsu claims that this is the world's smallest and lightest laptop, and I, for one, am not going to argue with them. Featuring a wee 5.6-inch screen, it's more like a giant PDA than a laptop. The screen swivels...
POSTED Thursday, May 17, 2007
If you bought an Apple MacBook this month, as I did, then you probably won't be happy to hear that as of this morning, Apple upgraded its entire MacBook line. The two white MacBooks and one black MacBook on...
POSTED Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Smartphone not enough for you? Laptop too bulky? Has Samsung got the gadget for you: The Q1 Ultra is the company's second-generation Ultra-Mobile PC — those pint-size Windows machines that look like big portable media players. The Q1 Ultra...
POSTED Tuesday, May 8, 2007
HP is joining up with LG and Samsung on the neutral ground of dual-format players. While many companies still seem to think that consumers are dumb enough to pick sides at this point in the asinine format war, the...
POSTED Monday, May 7, 2007
How big does a laptop have to be before it's just a computer that can fold up? After all, if it's too heavy and bulky to carry around and, well, use on your lap, then it's just a desktop...
POSTED Monday, May 7, 2007
Looking a lot like a workstation from the starship Enterprise, the Poetic Technologies Aura is what I'd consider a truly überdesktop environment. The Aura has quite a list of features: seven-way adjustable chair, space for up to four monitors, programmed...
POSTED Thursday, May 3, 2007
Headphones that simulate 5.1-channel sound have been around for a while, but I haven't seen too many that are said to render 7.1-channel sound, but that's just what Tritton's AXPC cans claim to do. It appears to have the...
POSTED Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Hey tough guy. You aren't impressing the ladies with your muscle shirt and Steven Segal poster. Today's women like a sensitive, refined man, not some oafish brute who spends too much time at the gym and wears musk scented...
POSTED Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Think you have a way-cool PC gaming rig with which to fully experience the blood and glory of a first-person shooter? Your opinion may change after you lay your eyes on Smooth Creations' Diablo PC. Don't expect this bad...
POSTED Thursday, April 19, 2007
Intel has unveiled a new concept portable PC called the Metro Notebook that could kick the UMPC to the curb. Ideally designed for the ladies (but I think the fellas are going to like it too), this notebook computer...
POSTED Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Samsung recently showed off three completely crazy concept PC designs, computers that have about a zero percent chance of ever hitting store shelves but show off the fact that Samsung has some creative designers on their payroll. First off...
POSTED Monday, April 16, 2007
Sometimes, a product comes along that just blows your mind, leaving you completely speechless. A product that really is so ridiculous, so over-the-top, and so mildly upsetting that words cannot do it justice. The Compubeaver is one such product....
POSTED Friday, April 13, 2007
Back in junior high, my school forced the kids to gather every textbook for all five morning classes before the day started, so you'd have to lug something like 500 pounds of books from class to class, leading to...
POSTED Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Okay, the first thing I have to do in talking about the Qosimo G40 laptop is give props to Toshiba in picking what is perhaps the best possible screenshot for showing off the new silver color scheme of the...
POSTED Friday, April 6, 2007
Just because I'm a PC fan doesn't mean I have to be stuck with an ugly beige box. No, Apple fans, you aren't the only people out there who have the option of getting a cool-looking computer. Just take...
POSTED Thursday, April 5, 2007
It's been a long time coming, but Apple has finally released its 8-core MacPro workstation. At the heart of this super system are two 3.0-GHz quad-core Intel Xeon processors that should run circles around other systems out there. The...
POSTED Wednesday, April 4, 2007
Attention, morons! Do you have an extra $1,000,000 kicking around? Would you like to spend it on something that is clearly not worth anywhere near $1,000,000? Well then, I have the perfect product for you. It's the first million-dollar...
POSTED Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Could this be the first Ultra-Mobile PC (UMPC) that gets the balance of portability and power right? While past UMPCs have been far from impressive, the HTC Advantage looks like a pretty sweet little device. It's got a generous,...
POSTED Monday, March 26, 2007
As PCs get faster and faster, it means their insides have to run hotter and hotter. Liquid-based cooling is a great idea for desktops, but what about that gaming notebook that you've customized to overclock? To prevent it from...
POSTED Thursday, March 22, 2007
If you really just can't deal with conforming with society's expectations, need to always think outside the box, and are always proving to everyone what an individual you are, you need a computer that represents you. And I'm not...
POSTED Friday, March 16, 2007
If this keyboard looks pretty bulky to you, your eyes aren't deceiving you. It's huge. But there's a perfectly good explanation for that, and it isn't some half-baked design concept. No, this keyboard happens to hold within its guts an...
POSTED Friday, March 16, 2007
While the rest of us were lusting after bigger and more powerful (and unfortunately, noisier) PCs, right under our noses is the less resource-hungry and open source Linux operating system, able to run on the tiniest, quietest and most...
POSTED Tuesday, March 13, 2007
For a long time, the notion of a "gaming laptop" was a contradiction in terms. After all, everyone knew that notebooks had to compromise on features and performance to achieve maximum portability, right? And even with advances in chips...
POSTED Wednesday, March 7, 2007
Most computers suck up a lot of electricity without putting it to good use. Do you really need all the bells and whistles that your gaming rig has to offer to check your e-mail? I don't think so. And...
POSTED Wednesday, March 7, 2007
Microsoft's Next PC Design competition is in full swing, bringing us all sorts of wacky, out-of-the-box PC concepts. One of the strangest and our favorites is the Pussy Cat PC concept. Yeah, it looks like a cat. It also...
POSTED Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Those black MacBooks are pretty sexy, but not everybody wants to spend that kind of money for an Apple computer. Generally speaking, PC laptops are cheaper but somehow less desirable than their Mac counterparts, what with PC laptops generally...
POSTED Thursday, February 22, 2007
Sometimes you have to take it with you, and that's when the Sahara i400 by TabletKiosk makes its move. Unlike a laptop or even a standard PC, a tablet PC isn't meant for traditional PC applications like Web surfing,...
POSTED Saturday, February 10, 2007
Oh, but how computers can get overheated so easily. What is an overclock jockey to do? One solution might exist in the ChillTec Thermo Electric Cooler (TEC). This CPU-chilling unit from Ultra has a look quite like no other...
POSTED Thursday, February 8, 2007
Does the idea of having a full-blown PC in your car — letting you watch ripped movies as you zoom down the freeway — excite you? Short of sticking a PC tower in your trunk, options are somewhat limited....
POSTED Wednesday, January 31, 2007
HP has a new touchscreen computer in the works called the TouchSmart IQ770. Designed to sit in your kitchen or another common space and act as kind of a central hub for your family, it's a unique type of PC...
POSTED Saturday, January 27, 2007
Windows Vista's SideShow is starting to gain lots of traction, and buzz is building about its ability to drive an extra display of various sizes. Heck, we even saw one little SideShow screen nestled inside a handbag the other...
POSTED Thursday, January 25, 2007
While everyone's been waiting for Apple to get around to adding Blu-ray players to their computers, MCE Technologies went ahead and did it themselves. Now you can add a Blu-ray burner to your already-expensive Mac Pro for another $700. Oh...
POSTED Thursday, January 25, 2007
Remember those Ultra-Mobile PCs that had the gadget world all abuzz a while back? Anyone? Okay, they were those reasonably sexy handheld PCs that were sort of in between a portable media player and a laptop. The most notable...
POSTED Wednesday, January 10, 2007
What this computer doesn't have is part of the news! The new Malata PC-68001 Personal Computer lacks a hard-disk drive, nor does it have a CD-ROM. What it will have is an affordable price: around $300 when it arrives...
POSTED Monday, January 8, 2007
We've seen terabyte hard drives before, but they've typically been restricted to posh high-end music servers that your rich uncle Darrell has in his second living room. Hitachi's 1-TB drive, announced yesterday and sure to be touted mightily at...
POSTED Friday, January 5, 2007
This slick little computer might look like a mix between the Mac Cube and the Mac Mini, but it's actually, believe it or not, a PC. Yep, and not only is there a tiny, sleek PC out there, but...
POSTED Wednesday, January 3, 2007
The more we surround ourselves with technology, the more we want our surroundings to look tech-free. At least some of us. When it comes to the art of disguising technology as something more rustic, the PC is one of...
POSTED Thursday, December 21, 2006
If you either take your computer out into the field to do your work or are an enormous klutz, the Toughbook line of Panasonic lappies is right up your alley. The most badass of this notably badass line just...
POSTED Thursday, December 21, 2006
LG, probably best known these days for popularizing chocolate as a gadget category, is extending some of those design chops to laptops. This slick concept notebook, called the "E-Book," uses an OLED screen for the monitor, so on top...
POSTED Monday, December 11, 2006
The best thing about following gadgets and technology as closely as I do is getting surprised by simple innovations. There are so many products out there, so many "upgrades" and "breakthroughs" that are anything but, that it's refreshing to...
POSTED Thursday, December 7, 2006
You know what's lame about those sexy all-white Apple-influenced keyboards? They sure do get dirty really easy, especially when you're constantly wolfing down Doritos in front of them. I'm talking to you, Reinhold. Yeah, you can always wipe clean...
POSTED Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Dell recently set the bar a little bit higher for top-of-the-line machines — the rigs for people who don't care how much their computer costs as long as it's better than everyone else's. Loaded up with Intel Core 2...
POSTED Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Even the most tech unsavvy know about Apple and can recognize their laptops, but what makes this year's MacBooks stand out above past laptops from the computer maker? First and foremost, it's the chips. Apple put Intel chips in...
POSTED Thursday, November 23, 2006
Night minutes. Weekend minutes. Data minutes. Mobile-to-mobile minutes. Roaming charges. Rounding off to the next minute. Service charges, usage charges, government fees, taxes. C'mon Verizcingusprintmobile — aren't there more ways to squeeze blood money out of my cell-phone usage?...
POSTED Tuesday, November 14, 2006
We know you're pressed for time, so we'll make this quick: Lite-On's LH-20A1P is the fastest DVD writer in the world. Feed it a 16X write-once DVD-R or DVD+R and the drive will burn all 4.7 GB of data...
POSTED Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Have a lot of trouble fitting your meaty mitts over the dinky mouse that came with your computer? Me either. But hey, I'm sure some people have that problem, and for them is this "JUST ONE" mouse from Kokuyo...
POSTED Tuesday, November 14, 2006
What happens when you spend enough on a computer to make a down payment on an SUV? Dell sends you a gigantic 70-pound box full of game-playing goodness, that's what. Today Dell starts selling their new, top-of-the-line Intel Quad...
POSTED Tuesday, November 14, 2006
It's no secret that we love HDTV around here, but we get all sad and lonely when we're on the road since our hotel rooms' standard-def tube sets could never give us the kind of HD love we get...
POSTED Friday, November 10, 2006
In case you missed it, Yahoo's been offering a Skype-like service — making phone calls over the Net for just pennies — for a little while now, called Yahoo Messenger. So it was pretty much inevitable that companies were...
POSTED Thursday, November 9, 2006
NEC and Takara have unveiled the TYPE-N01 notebook, a computer designed to look like it came from some underground military base or something. How edgy! It comes with scary-looking additions like a self-destruct button and fingerprint scanner and has...
POSTED Thursday, November 9, 2006
Apple has finally gotten around to slapping Intel Core 2 Duos into all of its laptops, rounding out the line with Core 2 Duo MacBooks. The Cupertino co. loaded the high-end chips into its MacBook Pros a couple weeks...
POSTED Wednesday, November 8, 2006
Playing music on a PC is like using a Swiss army knife to carve a steak. Nonetheless, millions do it, so the need for decent multimedia speakers is as real as that pain in your wrist. Logitech steps up...
POSTED Tuesday, November 7, 2006
Think your cute little MacBook is a small computer? Please. That thing is a regular behemoth compared to Samsung's new SPH-P9000, a super-slim foldable laptop that looks like a fancy PDA. Featuring Windows XP, a 1GHz processor, 30GB of...
POSTED Tuesday, November 7, 2006
"Bling," as I understand it, is a slang term for flashy jewelry with diamonds and other such valuables on it. I don't know for sure, as I'm not "from the streets" or "down" with the "kids." Perhaps if I...
POSTED Friday, November 3, 2006
If you work on a laptop, generally your posture ain't all that good. After all, a laptop sitting on a desk has a screen that you need to look down into, which makes hunching over easy to fall into....
POSTED Thursday, November 2, 2006
You know that feeling of trying to hold something like a fork or a pencil and suddenly getting stricken with a horrible, sharp pain in your wrists? That's because you keep your hand tensed up on a mouse all...
POSTED Thursday, November 2, 2006
It's a stark dilemma — you want an iMac, but don't want to switch to an Apple. There are PCs that are just as hot, of course, but often you'll be paying as much if not more for your trouble....
POSTED Wednesday, November 1, 2006
Music Studio's Stripy Speakers certainly meet the basic requirement of being a gadget in 2006: looking modern and stylish. No matter what their sound quality is (and if the site hawking them is to be believed, the 9 watts...
POSTED Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Known for its killer gaming PCs, Alienware is taking its line of Media Center machines to the next level. As is the norm with Media Center PCs, the DHS A Series model is made to look just like a...
POSTED Wednesday, October 25, 2006
It seems like someone with ADD designed this mouse, as it's got a random set of features that seems like it could only be dreamed up by someone who can't stay focused on one thing for too long. Firstly,...
POSTED Wednesday, October 25, 2006
It took them long enough, but Apple has finally gotten around to putting Intel Core 2 Duo processors in their MacBook Pros. Upgrading both the 15-inch and 17-inch models, you can now get what you've been able to get...
POSTED Tuesday, October 24, 2006
We're long past the deadline for building the HAL 9000 computer from 2001: A Space Odyssey (1992 in the movie, '97 if you prefer the book), and a computer that can actually have a conversation with you is still a...
POSTED Monday, October 23, 2006
The Upravlator, shown here with an optional stand, is a neat-o (if somewhat over-the-top) "keyboard" for graphic designers, video producers, photo editors, and the like. The 10.8-inch, 800 x 600-pixel LCD screen, is divided evenly into 12 clear buttons....
POSTED Monday, October 23, 2006
If you've always dreamt of being a rock 'n' roll drummer and want to finally fulfill your dreams in the most half-assed and lame way possible, pick up this drum set mousepad. Yes, drum set mousepad. When you aren't...
POSTED Monday, October 23, 2006
Whoever you are, whatever kind of computer you use, someday your hard drive is going to fail. Yep, all your photos, videos, music — all of it — will be toast in a blink of an eye. You already know...
POSTED Thursday, October 19, 2006
It seems D-Link got tired of waiting for IEEE to get its act together and finalize the new Wi-Fi standard, 802.11n, and has released a slew of products based on the not-yet-final draft version. The N standard, of course,...
POSTED Thursday, October 19, 2006
This here is no fancy iPod rip-off, nor is it a portable HAL 9000 computer. No, this is a mouse. New from Samsung, that ring around the middle button is actually a new horizontal scroll wheel. Designed for laptops...
POSTED Wednesday, October 18, 2006
You know what they say about guys who drive Ferraris: they're clearly trying to compensate for something. So what would they say about Acer's Ferrari line of laptops? Maybe that the user has a speedy and powerful PC housed...
POSTED Tuesday, October 17, 2006
This might look like a sculpture or a prop out of a David Cronenberg movie, but it's actually a fully functioning steampunk laptop with all the fixings. Lovingly crafted by someone with a lot of time on their hands...
POSTED Friday, October 13, 2006
Attention nerds! Do you like Star Wars? Do you like electronic gadgets? Do you like electronic gadgets in the shape of popular Star Wars characters? You're so predictable. Mimoco plans to get rich off your little obsession, releasing a limited...
POSTED Thursday, October 12, 2006
You've gotta love it when an electronics manufacturer has the gall to charge an arm and a leg for a version of a product that actually has less features than what generally comes standard. Take this keyboard for instance....
POSTED Thursday, October 12, 2006
Big ol' LCD monitors are a beautiful addition to your computer setup, and there's nothing sweeter than replacing some giant clunker of a CRT monitor with something that takes up a fraction of the space. Unfortunately, big LCDs tend...
POSTED Thursday, October 12, 2006
You gotta love thumb drives, those diminutive devices that let us carry significant amounts of data around without needing to deal with burning CDs or any other type of write-once media. They have pretty decent capacities too, with sizes...
POSTED Wednesday, October 11, 2006
This here USB hub rotates to let you plug your gadget of choice into it from any angle. It takes the brilliant Hungarian engineering that brought us the Rubik's Cube and combines it with the American love of freedom...
POSTED Monday, October 9, 2006
If you like computer gear that not only looks really nerdy, but has a really nerdy name as well, check out this Heäd$h0t mouse. Designed for the most 1337 n00b killin' illiterates around, the Heäd$h0t has a LED arch...
POSTED Friday, October 6, 2006
Everybody knows that compressed music like MP3 doesn't sound as good as a CD, and everybody seems totally fine with making that sacrifice if it means they can carry 80 zillion songs with them in a gadget the size of...
POSTED Tuesday, October 3, 2006
With the state of air travel the way it is today, leaving the laptop behind almost seems like a good idea. If you do, a new air mouse can still make sure your most important PowerPoint tool still makes the...
POSTED Monday, October 2, 2006
All together now — that's pretty much the philosophy behind this phone/mouse hybrid from Sysgration. When it's not helping you rifle through Excel spreadsheets, the peripheral unfolds into a Skype handset, letting you chat all you want to other Skype...
POSTED Monday, October 2, 2006
Laptop batteries are the new cigarettes, it seems, as they're in the news as being a public health risk more than anything else these days. Toshiba has joined the pigpile on Sony, recalling 830,000 of the beleaguered electronic giant's...
POSTED Saturday, September 30, 2006
First Dell bought boutique gaming PC maker Alienware, and now HP has gone and snapped up gaming rig builder Voodoo. It looks like both of the giant PC companies see a big market in the super-expensive gaming PC market,...
POSTED Friday, September 29, 2006
Tablets are a good way to draw on a computer screen, but getting used to writing using a plastic pen on a plastic surface takes some time. This uPlus Pen digitizes your handwriting while actually writing on paper, making...
POSTED Friday, September 29, 2006
The secondary screen on the outside of may cell phones is really handy, allowing you to see who's calling, take pictures, or see the time without opening up your phone. Laptops are getting into the game as well, with...
POSTED Thursday, September 28, 2006
Wi-Fi is cool (and comes in mighty handy whenever we want to liveblog), but it can't do much for you when there aren't any hotspots around. With Sony's Vaio VGN-TXN10, all you'd have to do is switch over to...
POSTED Tuesday, September 26, 2006
If germs and the fear of germs are your excuse to why you never leave the darkened cave of your parents' basement, this mouse may not get you out into the sun, but it may make your darkened days a...
POSTED Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Got some extra cash sitting around? Need a new keyboard? You're in luck. This stainless steel keyboard comes with an integrated trackball and will lower the balance in your checking account by a solid $1,200. If you're wondering what...
POSTED Friday, September 22, 2006
One thing that a lot of people seem to forget about HDTV is that it comes in pretty damn well over the airwaves. You don't necessarily need cable to get a nice HD signal — at least for the...
POSTED Wednesday, September 20, 2006
If you like the look of Apple's iMacs, but don't really like Apple, Sony has a surprise for you. The new Vaio LA-Series Media Center looks suspiciously like the iMac, with the all-in-one design and built-in webcam, but is...
POSTED Monday, September 18, 2006
Each week Adam Frucci takes a closer look at the latest gadget buzz in his column, Shift. Image by Matt Krueger This week I invited Peter Pachal, my esteemed editor, to join me in a healthy debate on this whole...
POSTED Thursday, September 14, 2006
It's long been established that liquids and PCs don't play well together, but the newest exception to that rule is controlled cooling. At this week's CEDIA Expo in Denver, CoolIT Systems, maker of the USB beverage chiller, unveiled its...
POSTED Thursday, September 14, 2006
Just call it the Apple effect: As if in tribute to the Cupertino giant, Sony today released new Vaio notebook computers with colors that look suspiciously MacBook-y. Models in the Vaio N Series come in white, back, and brown...
POSTED Wednesday, September 13, 2006
The drive to sick an i