Best computer news

It would seem that the nearly extinct trackball is making a comeback and for some good reasons. Trackballs are very precise, very easy to use, and require very little space to do so. Unfortunately in the past, designers have sought to make sure that they were gargantuan beasts. Designers have finally realized a new area of potential for these guys and are designing them to be used in tight spaces, perfect for someone on the go.

Last week it was the new Kensington variant we told you about, and this week we have one from Genius, the Traveler 350. It is great for people on the go as it features a retractable USB cable and has a tiny footprint so you can use it when you are very limited on space. It even comes with a little pouch for you to carry it in and a jig for you to set it up for the best ergonomic position.
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Mobo manufacturer Asus must have thought that 2007 was the year for them to branch out all over the place. Following their release of their Dolby USB sound card, this time around they are entering the webcam market and bringing some promising products to the table with the AF-200 and MF-200 webcams.

These two webcams appear to be identical except that one features auto focus and the other is manual. I’ll let you guess which is which. Perhaps one of the most interesting things about these cams is that that are able to recognize business cards with the packaged software and by placing them the built-in card holder. Combine this with the capability to take 8MP still images, 2MP video and a stand that seems like it will let you mount it anywhere on anything, and you have a camera that will be great for the home user and businessperson on the go.
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Sometimes you need to send a message but it is one of those things that you simply just don’t want to say. This is usually the time where I fire off an e-mail or a text message, but Digital Cowboy seems to have something different in mind with the Lampex. They seem to think that waving your arms around like a crazed serial killer is a better idea. The Lampex works by first connecting the device to your PC and setting the message you wish for it to display. After that, you simply turn it on and wave it around in the air.

Through some magic (or maybe electronic engineering, some consider them the same these days), as you wave the wand it changes the LED’s to display the appropriate characters and your message appears. I’d like to see someone attach one of these to a big bird and make it fly over New York displaying, “The end is near!” or something. Come up with your catchy phrases and scare the heck out of someone in the park. Maybe police will adopt these so they can send you a message while they beat you into submission. I can think of a lot of uses for this, but it just doesn’t seem practical to use as intended. If you don’t want to use your arms to send the message, why not use your bike and attach the Lex to it instead?
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• Digital Trends reports that the iPhone has managed to capture a larger market share than all Windows Mobile devices combined. With 27% of all smartphones being iPhones, only the Blackberry has a larger userbase.
• IGN has given the Dymo DiscPainter a spin and they seem to like it. It may not be as fast as your Sharpie, but it certainly makes your disks look better and those printable CDs/DVDs are cheaper than the Lightscribe variants.
• 3dGameMan brings us a video review of the Lachesis mouse and Lycosa keyboard, both from Razer. They are both sleek and black, and the keyboard is backlit.
• Krunker says the FCC has leaked some stuff on the upcoming Sony Mylo 2 Communicator device. It appears be very similar to the original, but features a camera, 802.11g support, and a few other nifty things.
• Finally, Geekologie reports that the Koreans are at it again. In what appears to be a nuclear test gone awry, some South Korean scientists have managed to make some cats glow under UV light. They even have a video for your pleasure. I like the author’s idea, and would gladly nominate him for his Nobel Prize If I could.

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Let’s face it, when it comes to connecting your mobile devices to your television, you are left with few options. You might have to use some special cable, transfer to a DVD, or if you are lucky enough might even be able to utilize a card reader built into your TV. Even high definition camcorders usually lack the HDMI output unless it is of the high end variety, which most users simply can’t afford. Luckily these days it doesn’t seem to be necessity that is the mother of all inventions, but convenience.

We’ve already got the technologies available to make the connections of your mobile devices to your TV, but it just simply isn’t convenient. But it looks like the USB Implementers Forum might just be working on making things a heck of a lot easier for you. Supposedly they are working on version of USB that will allow you to transfer your high def content (wrapped in HDCP) via compression that should complement HDMI. USB seems to be everywhere these days, with some form or another, except for your television. Your guess is as good as mine as to why this seems to be lacking from even the most modern TV’s, but if it can deliver as promised and overcome the solutions that are already in place you might just see it featured on TV’s before the end of next year.
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People using DisplayLink USB video to power their secondary display may still be a small crowd, yet the technology is showing potential in hassle-free multiple monitor setup – enabling up to 6 displays on a Windows machine through a single USB cable. Today, DisplayLink follows up with the release of the Virtual Graphics Card (VGC) software to add the much needed Vista Aero 3D support in addition to improving video playback on Windows XP. Version 4.3 driver supports Vista’s Aero 3D “Glass effect” in USB video’s extend and mirror mode. For video playback in Vista, WMP11, WinDVD 8, PowerDVD 7 and RealPlay 11 should work.

Regardless, DisplayLink recommends all 32-bit Windows 2000/XP SP2/Vista users to install this driver for their Samsung 940UX USB monitor, Kensington sd200v video dock, IOGear USB video card, and etc.
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Maybe you are in the market for a new external hard drive but aren’t sure what to get. Depending on what you need, you might want to check out what Buffalo Technology has to offer. They have quite a complete array of external options that should be able to fit whatever you are looking for, whether it be from 4TB of RAID-5 to 80GB of ultra slim.

What really caught our eye was the Drivestation Turbo USB (2×500). The Turbo USB drives are said to have a max speed of 40MB/s, and that is quite impressive considering that is the full effective rate of USB 2.0. The drive unfortunately doesn’t come with any Firewire or eSATA support, which you would think would be a no brainer with a pair of speedy 7,200 RPM SATA drives on the inside. The folks at Buffalo Tech were nice enough to bundle Memeo AutoBackup software and their free SecureLockWare AES encryption software. Perhaps even more peculiar than excluding the Firewire or eSATA from the drive is that it appears to have the ability to even connect to their higher end NAS units, the Terrastation and Linkstation, thus instantly increasing your storage capacity.
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That’s right. The consumer is finally starting to win. It seems that the format war with a different weekly winner isn’t ever going to end, so manufacturers are starting produce dual format players to ensure that you are going to win. We’ve seen a handful of dual format standalone players popping up here and there, but this seems to be the first external dual format HD DVD/Blu-ray player we have seen to date.

The external drive by Addonics, dubbed the Zebra, seems to have you covered with everything except for Blu-ray burning capabilities. It will still burn your DVD’s and CD’s, but unfortunately you can only read the high def counterparts. The drive comes in two different models, one with eSATA and the other with an eSATA/USB combo. Expect the drive to set you back $409 and $429 respectively, but at least it is available immediately. At least they are nice enough to bundle the Cyberlink High-Def Suite so you can enjoy the drive at no additional cost.
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iriver America has kept quiet for quite some time since their release of the Clix 2 from a year ago, but in their home country, the Korean company has been busy rolling out new players. And it would seem none of those will make it to the Stateside anytime soon. So, what’s so special about this PMP? iriver calls it W7, and unsurprisingly, the W7 somewhat reminds of iPod touch. Both players share a very minimalist front profile, button placement and a touchscreen. W7′s joystick however gives you complete control of the player, and its stylus can be used to jotting down notes.

The iriver W7 seems a little large for its screen size though. It has a 3″ with top res of 480 x 272 compared to 3.5″ 480 x 320 found on the iPod. Last not but not least are CSD viewer, Flash Lite English dictionary, all of which are apparently popular features among Koreans.
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Just in time for next month’s CES, Kanguru has released a USB Duplicator for PRs who plans to hand out thousands of promotional flash drives infested with company’s press materials. The USB Duplicator comes with two sizes: 1 Master to 9 Targets and 1 Master to 24 Targets. This means the high-end model can copy up to 24 drives at a time. Features include: Copy, Compare, Verify, and Format.

The duplication process starts automatically as soon as you insert the master device and the target devices. Whenever it is done with one of the target drives, you can swap it with a new one. I suppose you can do this, because the copy machine can’t handle all 24 transfers simultaneously. The press release contains no pricing nor availability, unfortunately.
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