Best computer news

While Beijing Olympics was over, Lenovo - gold sponsor of the multi-sport event - still has a boatload of commemorative gadgets left over. Among those are of course all the different Olympics USB thumbdrives and now a quintet of wired USB mice that are named after each of the Fuwa mascots: Beibei, Jingjing, Huanhuan, Yingying and NiNi. The mouse asymmetrical design reportedly took six months to complete, after no less than two hundred modifications. The 1000 dpi optical mice are elevated, providing sufficient palm support for prolonged use. Last but not least, the Fuwas are also UV painted for protection against scratches. Still want it? Each Fuwa mascot mouse retails for 138 RMB ($20), and they are apparently available in China (and Hong Kong) only as far as we can tell. Close-up pics after the jump.
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While Beijing Olympics was over, Lenovo - gold sponsor of the multi-sport event - still has a boatload of commemorative gadgets left over. Among those are of course all the different Olympics USB thumbdrives and now a quintet of wired USB mice that are named after each of the Fuwa mascots: Beibei, Jingjing, Huanhuan, Yingying and NiNi. The mouse asymmetrical design reportedly took six months to complete, after no less than two hundred modifications. The 1000 dpi optical mice are elevated, providing sufficient palm support for prolonged use. Last but not least, the Fuwas are also UV painted for protection against scratches. Still want it? Each Fuwa mascot mouse retails for 138 RMB ($20), and they are apparently available in China (and Hong Kong) only as far as we can tell. Close-up pics after the jump.
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For a long time the missing link with digital photography was the ability to print images in any room of the home and carry a printer with you on the go. The latest line of photo printers from many manufacturers are very portable and allow you to print the images you take digitally virtually anywhere. The latest portable photo printers from Canon and are called the Selphy ES3 and ES30.

The pair of printers share many of the same features like a 15 format memory card reader, PictBridge compatibility, and integrated ink/paper cartridges and LCD preview screens. The ES3 has a 3.5-inch LCD and the ES30 has a 3-inch LCD. The ES3 also has 1GB of internal storage for saving photos to the printer. Both printers have on-board clip art, with the ES3 offering many more choices than the cheaper ES30. The Selphy ES3 will retail for $199.99 and the ES30 will go for $149.99. Interestingly, the shape of the new Selphy printers is very similar to the HP A826.
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For a long time the missing link with digital photography was the ability to print images in any room of the home and carry a printer with you on the go. The latest line of photo printers from many manufacturers are very portable and allow you to print the images you take digitally virtually anywhere. The latest portable photo printers from Canon and are called the Selphy ES3 and ES30.

The pair of printers share many of the same features like a 15 format memory card reader, PictBridge compatibility, and integrated ink/paper cartridges and LCD preview screens. The ES3 has a 3.5-inch LCD and the ES30 has a 3-inch LCD. The ES3 also has 1GB of internal storage for saving photos to the printer. Both printers have on-board clip art, with the ES3 offering many more choices than the cheaper ES30. The Selphy ES3 will retail for $199.99 and the ES30 will go for $149.99. Interestingly, the shape of the new Selphy printers is very similar to the HP A826.
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Every time we turn around there seems to be some new Star Wars themed gear for computers. Most of the stuff is rather goofy if you ask me - like the Star Wars Mimobots. Despite the goofy factor, the latest Star Wars USB gadget is sort of cool. The gadget is called the Star Wars Desktop USB Lightsabre Lamp.

The little lightsabre charges via your USB port and when turned on it works as one really cool desklamp any geek would be proud to own. The device stand keeps the lightsabre lamp upright in all its phallic glory. A bronze button on the hilt turns the light on and it can be removed from the dock and used as a toy. The device measures 22 x 6 cm. For some reason a pair of these lamps remind me of chopsticks. We’re frankly surprised there aren’t lightsabre chopsticks yet. You can get your own geektastic lightsabre lamp for about $47.
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1.8″ hard drive capacity hasn’t quite caught up with that of 2.5″, but at least Samsung has broken through the 100GB barrier with the its SpinPoint N2. Besides begging Apple to buy a million of these for future iPod classic and MacBook Air, Sammy is also pushing the drive in Chinese market. It doesn’t appear there’s an official name for the 120GB USB drive in a glossy black enclosure with the size of a credit card.

What we do know it’s incredible power saver with impressive performance. The 4200-rpm USB drive only draws less than 1.4W and needs just 300mA from a 500mA USB port. Its power consumption is only one-fourth that of a 2.5″ drive. Disk benchmark shows the 4,200-rpm read speed is rated at 27MB/s and write at 23MB/s, which are on par with high-end flash drives. Affordability is a question, not just for the Chinese. The 40GB version retails for 1099 RMB ($161); 60GB for 1299 RMB ($191); and 80GB for 1599 RMB ($235). The 120GB model should go for about 1999 RMB ($293… ouch). In comparison, a 320GB USB 2.5″ drive now drops below $120, but it will obviously never fit in your wallet.
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KVM switches traditionally take multiple USB and DVI/VGA cables and connect them to the PCs which you can control from a single set of keyword, video monitor and mouse (hence the acronym KVM). Therefore, for every additional PC sharing on the KVM, there are two additional cables (USB & video). IOGear’s new USB Laptop KVM Switch however goes with a different approach in that the same USB cable is used to carry video data as well, saving you from lugging a VGA cable around. It does seem like it’s more of a software-driven product, like PCAnywhere, except the IOGear runs over a USB connection and displays the controlled PC’s desktop in a temporary window on a laptop. Resolution scaling is available if needed for fitting the PC’s desktop on a notebook’s screen.

In addition to soft-KVM, the IOGear will double as a data cable allowing you to transfer files between two computers. A new drive letter will appear on your laptop for convenient drag an drops. The controlling notebook will also have direct access to the integrated USB port on the IOGear for printer, external hard drive or speaker connectivity. IOGear USB Laptop KVM Switch stretches a total of nine feet. For $130, it isn’t cheap when the cable isn’t yet cross-platform supported.
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Here comes another practical WUSB application (and “native” peripheral) that follows Kensington Wireless USB Dock Station. The IOGear Wireless USB to VGA Kit is touted as an alternate in-room display adapter that can stream HD (720p) within a 30-foot range wirelessly. You could say this is another niche multimedia product for connecting your PC (XP 32-bit, Vista 32-/64-bit) to a projector or a LCD TV. However, when you come across wiring obstacles such as marble and fireplaces, cutting this cord is something that maybe worth $229.95 (MSRP) - street price will dive near Christmas.

The IOGear WUSB to VGA Kit is among the first to be certified by USB-IF, which guarantees the VGA dongle will work with future PCs (or maybe Macs) with native WUSB host. There’s one caveat though: the IOGear (likely powered by DisplayLink) doesn’t support HDCP so while you can playback any 720p ripped movies or movie trailers, Blu-ray playback is out of the question.
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Dream Cheeky once again brings us yet another questionably useful USB gadget. The USB Webmail Notifier reportedly works in the background to inform you of new emails by illuminating in blue, red or green. It even tells you the capacity of unread emails by audible alerts. Supposedly, a soft red illumination means an incoming email arrived in Gmail, but you can associate each of the three colors with a different email client.

The bundled software will work with Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook Express and any POP3 programs. One thing to keep in mind is that Dream Cheeky does the email authentication for you so you may want to make sure your password isn’t sent out as clear text or it would be a huge security risk. We do wonder how the USB Webmail Notifier handles a sudden influx of emails.
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Weird USB drives are popular among users and companies looking to hand out memorable trinkets to employees and customers. Some of the most memorable flash drives we have seen in a while would have to be the new line of Star Wars Mimobot drives. Those wanting a flash drive that looks like a person, but is perhaps a little less geeky than the Mimobot, can get their own USB People drive.

The USB People flash drive is exactly what it sounds like - a USB flash drive that has movable arms and legs. The drives look sort of like the Lego people that come with some Lego kits to me. To get to the USB connector of the drive you pull off the head. The drives come in a few models including a doctor, Vet, policeman, secretary, jogger, construction worker, footballer, rugby player, businessman, and more. You can also create your own custom USB People drive. Storage capacities range from 64MB to 8GB. Pricing is unknown at this time.
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