Best computer news

Saitek showed off a new flight simulation product during E3 at an event outside of the actual E3 show. The product consists of three LCD screens that can show realistic flight information from games like Flight Simulator X with the included software. The screens can be configured to show different instruments.

In the image here we see the screens configured to show the artificial horizon, heading, and what looks to be an air speed indicator. Saitek says they are bringing the LCDs to market this fall at a price of only $99. I would assume that means the setup you see in the photo would run $300. Flight simulation fans are probably drooling right now. This things will go very well with the other gear Saitek already has for flight simulation like their X52 Pro flight stick and the Pro Flight Rudder Pedals.
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Yesterday Logitech launched their new Cordless Desktop Wave. I had the chance to get my hands on the kit and test it out over at I4U News. Personally, I didn’t find the keyboard to be any more comfortable than a plain keyboard. Typing feel was good with quiet keys offering good tactile feedback.

The Wave keyboard is intended for Vista and features numerous short cut keys for Vista gadgets and features. The keyboard can also be used with other Windows versions as well. The lacking point in the desktop set for me was the mouse, which had poorly placed side buttons prone to get clicked inadvertently. Wireless mouse range was good and accuracy was decent, but the mouse could use more sensitivity for my tastes. The Wave desktop offers a good alternative to ergonomic keyboards from Microsoft.
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Razer has introduced a new 3G version of the ever popular Razer Diamondback gaming mouse. The new version uses the same 3G infrared sensor that Razer used in the Deathadder. In addition to the new sensor the Diamondback has a new rubberized non-slip finish and is available with red, green or blue lighting.

The 3G sensor has a 1800 dpi resolution and on-the-fly sensitivity adjustment. The sensor uses the familiar always on mode so the mouse is always ready to go when you are. The sensor can read 6400 frames per second, up to 60 inches per second and 15g of acceleration. The price of the Razer Diamondback 3G is $59.99 and will be available August 1. Personally, I still prefer higher sensitivity mice myself, I feel slow if my mouse isn’t at least 2000 dpi.
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• Hybrid cars are all the rage right now and the question on lots of minds is if they really save that much fuel. BusinessWeek is reporting that the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory released a study showing that hybrids have so far saved 230 million gallons or 5.5 million barrels of fuel.
• The Register is reporting that Denis Kvasov, the former owner of AllofMP3.com has been charged with violating intellectual property laws in a Moscow court. He now faces a three year jail sentence and a 15 million rouble fine in damages to EMI, Warner, and Universal.
• Tiny soaps and toiletries are the fare of grandma’s house and hotels for most of us, but if you have a sick desire to mess with pals that come over to your home check this soap out. 7gadgets found soap shaped like dentures. From the looks of the shot, dentures with a slight overbite. Weird soap for sure.
• Cruchgear has a shot of the flat out ugliest shoes I have ever seen. These things look like a cross between normal water shoes and socks with a pocket for each of your toes. I’m sorry, but if you wear these things to the beach you need a swift kick in the balls.
• OhGizmo! has perhaps the coolest vehicle in the history of vehicles, a life size functioning Warthog straight from Halo. Man I want one of these, I can see the bumper sticker now for the van we currently have “My other car is a Warthog”.

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The aptly named IronKey flash drive has been designed from ground up to protect your data with the best security commercially available, or so they say. Inside the flash drive is a hardware accelerated engine that always encrypts the data in AES CBC mode before being written to the drive. Encryption keys are generated and stored in the IronKey Cryptochip, and are never going to be stored on the PC which is often the place where traces of security leaks can be found.

The company also emphasizes no malware can disable the security feature as the IronKey employs two-factor authentication which requires the key in addition to your password to access the content. If someone attempts a brute-force attack, the IronKey will “self-destruct” (at least metaphorically) by eliminating any chances of data recovery by overwriting data to it in the hardware level. This sort of security measure is similar to Kingston Data Traveler Secure.

On the software side, the IronKey bundles a copy of secured Tor-based FireFox and Password Manager; it starts at $79 for 1GB, $109 for 2GB, and $149 for 4GB.
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The Clarion DriveEye is a new gadget that attaches to the windshield of your car and records accidents to help protect you from lawsuits. The camera automatically senses emergency braking and starts recording video during and after an accident. A G-force sensor detects hard braking and starts the recording automatically.

Fifteen seconds of footage from before the accident are saved in the cameras buffer and additional five seconds is saved from after the crash. The camera itself is enclosed in a magnesium case to help it survive the accidents it records. You can also trigger manual recording to catch some footage of the hottie crossing the street in front of you if you want. Video footage is recorded to a 128MB CF memory card. Pricing is about $412, or 49,800 Yen.
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Recently JVC announced their new HD Everio GZ-HD3 camcorder. The new camcorder is smaller than the other HD camcorders from JVC and is said to have a 60GB HDD and the ability to record to SDHC cards as well. That effectively means unlimited recording, so long as more SDHC cards are available.

The cam records in 1440 x 1080 in MPEG-2 TS, so it’s not a full blown HD camcorder. Currently there are no hard specs available on the camcorder such as retail price or availability. You can tell from the images that the camcorder will have a 200x digital zoom, but available optical zoom us unknown. This type of hybrid camcorder makes it very easy to transfer video to and from your computer via USB or SDHC card readers.
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Digital picture frames are a great way to show off the digital images you take without having to print them off. If you have ever wished that you could make displaying your digital photos even easier than you can with a digital picture frame, designer Jin Woo Han has a fantastic concept you will love.

This concept is called the Samsung SS 700 and is a digital camera that has a large LCD display on the back. The idea is that you snap your digital pics like always and then to display them you simply fold the picture frame stand out and use the cameras display screen to show off your snaps. The camera itself is the standard point-and-shoot fare. There is no word on exactly how large the screen is, but from the looks in the photos I’m betting it’s in the 3.5” to 4” range. It’s certianly a better way to display your photos than those keychain frames.
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Among six of the new Certified Wireless USB products are Lenovo ThinkPad T61/T61p and Dell Inspiron 1720 notebook, both of which offer WiQuest-powered WUSB option in their BTO models. Dell hasn’t updated the BTO page yet so we skip it for now. As for Lenovo, not all T61s allow the WUSB as one particular model with built-in mobile broadband already occupies mini-PCI interface for EDVO. Should you select WUSB, this option may delay shipment up to a month. Most interesting of all is that Lenovo doesn’t charge extra for the “ThinkPad Wireless USB Adapter” whereas there’s still a $29 option fee for Bluetooth. Whether or not this is another pricing mistake or a freebie as part of WUSB promotional effort remains to be seen. Perhaps you can order one and let us know.
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Cardbus external hard drives aren’t anything new. Granted, they boost plenty of speed, topping at 1056Mbps, but the interface itself is slowly phased out by faster ExpressCard. So, Japanese Aska decides to throw in a USB 2.0 interface to their CardBus storage as a fallback option when someday notebooks become totally CardBus-less.

Its dual-interfaced hard drive comes in 20GB and 40GB 1.8″ whose CardBus adapter is nifty concealed like a numpad on a clamshell handset; the mini USB port is on the other end of the body. Getting your hands on this novelty will cost you $231 USD for 40GB and $122 USD for 20GB. At these prices, either their nation’s inflation is going through the floor or Aska is really trying to rip us off.
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