Best computer news

Samsung’s YP-K5 is generally a well-received MP3 player, thanks to its ‘top notch’ hardware and ‘better-than-expected’ built-in speakers. Though, you have to live with its bulky size, limited speakers’ use and its lack of video playback capability.

Samsung comes up with YP-S5 this time around; the refreshed DAP is basically a slimmed-down version of the K5 with some new tricks. While the S5 retains the slide-out 1500mW stereo speakers, its thickness is now 14.95mm, 17% thinner than its predecessor. Samsung also puts back TFT LCD to improve readability under sunlight, and adds MPEG-4 video player. The most notable addition is Bluetooth A2DP support, allowing S5 to double as a wireless speakerphone or speakers for compatible devices, such as cellphones. Unfortunately, Samsung doesn’t a larger capacity version other than 4GB for the new dual-use DAP.
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For some, the modern digital camera is simply too much for them to handle. Either there are too many options, buttons, settings, etc. No matter how you look at it, it just isn’t simple enough and some miss the days where all you did was push a button and you had your picture. As soon as the digital camera came along these days disappeared and many have yearned to be able to just press a single button again and be done with it.

This is exactly what the concept EasyDica camera from Yanko seeks to do. There are no options to choose from, settings to change, or even an LCD. It simply has a viewfinder, a single button to take your pictures, and is super compact. Judging from the looks of things and the limited information available, it appears to recharge via the USB port that is built into it.
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Home and small office security is really starting to hit the consumer market pretty hard. If you are looking to do it yourself then the USB EasyCap 4 Channel DVR from Brando might be just perfect for you. It will allow up to 4 cameras to record at a time and con be configured to suit your needs.

Recording is handled via MPEG-4 compression and frame rate is adjustable between 1 to 30 FPS per channel. Alarms can be triggered by sensor, motion, video loss, and HDD space, remote surveillance can be controlled through a web browser, and it can even be configured to for your PC to reboot and prevent a deadlock. The EasyCap will even let you do multi-channel playback, sort by date, time, and recording events, and manipulate still frames. To top it all off, it is only going to set you back about $40.
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With all of the gadgets that we carry around with us every day, we are bound to forget to recharge at least one of them from time to time. Unfortunately it always seems that this is at a moment this device is needed most. It seems that PowerStick seeks to alleviate this from happening in the future and while it is similar to the Moxia USBCell, it is more versatile in that it can power a wider variety of devices.

The PowerStick will recharge in a little over 90 minutes via USB and then utilizing one of the provided adapters it can be used to recharge a large number of devices including cell phones, PDA’s, iPod’s, and many more. It holds 750mAh of power which might not be anything spectacular but should definitely be more than enough to get you out of a crunch. As it is about the size of your average flash drive it shouldn’t be too much of a hassle to carry, but the $70 price tag might be a little hard for some to justify.
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We’re not sure if trackball mice are less common because people don’t like them as much as the original, or - despite their supposed superiority (we hear they’re more ergonomic) - they’ve been outcompeted by better marketing, like the mouse equivalent of Betamax. However, they do have one application where they’d be far superior to the wrist-moving original: in the portable mouse market, where desk space tends to be at a premium, and even portable traditional mice like the MS Mobile Memory Mouse 8000 and the Logitech VX Nano Notebook Mouse are at a disadvantage. That’s the idea behind the Samsung M30/Duplus Mouse, a pocket-size trackballer with a wireless USB connection system, a laser pointer, and remote controller capabilities. Currently available only in Korea, the M30 makes converting to the ways of the trackball sound like a worthy sacrifice.
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• It appears as though Blu-Ray is finally starting to pull ahead in the next-gen DVD format war, at least in Japan. Japan Today reports that in the last 3 months, 90% of the hi-def players sold were Blu-Ray, and that excludes sales including the PS3.
• Whether intentional or not, the new Samsung Silencio vacuum takes on a somewhat similar appearance to Halo’s Master Chief. You have to either play Halo too much or have an uncanny ability to notice similarities to put these two together. By the way that Crave talks about it, we’d say that they do the former.
• In an interview by CNN, it would seem that Osama bin Laden’s Son wants him to change his ways. Omar and his wife are preparing to launch a movement for peace. Hopefully he will be even somewhat successful.
• BMW wasn’t planning on releasing the M3 convertible until March, but after all of the things that went on at the Detroit Auto Show they decided to release it a bit early. Autoblog has a little bit more information a ton of high-res pictures for your drooling pleasure.
• It would appear that the economic problems of the U.S. are really beginning to have an effect on the global economy. CNN reports that stock markets around the world dropped between 4.5% and 11% on Monday and that Bush’s efforts to kick-start the U.S. economy might be a little too late to help.

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When carrying your data becomes a necessity, and using web-based methods like server storage just aren’t an option, you have two choices: flash drives, or portable hard drives, each with a number of possible security options, from password-protected encryptions to biometrics. Although solid-state drives are increasing in capacity and declining in price at a rate that will soon revolutionize the storage industry, if you’ve got a lot of data to tote, you’re going to need a portable hard drive. With today’s concerns about hackers and data thieves running rampant like characters out of a William Gibson story (not to mention government regulations like Sarbanes-Oxley), there’s a good chance you’ll need some sort of protection on that drive, so your company doesn’t end up on the evening news as the latest victim of a data theft scandal. Today we’ll be looking at Apricorn’s Aegis Bio, a line of portable hard drives that attempts to meet all of these considerations. Let’s see how it fares.
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Unless the carrier deliberately disable the function, most of HSDPA handsets can double as a USB modem, but not vice versa. The Toshiba Portege G450 is truly one of a kind. While its primary task is to connect your notebook or UMPC to a HSDPA network through its mini USB port, the G450 is also a handy cellphone, as indicated by the awkwardly shaped keypad and a 96×36 pxiel OLED display on its back.

Toshiba is able to reduce the size of the phone modem hybrid by offloading the earpiece and mouthpiece to a separate headset. We reckon you won’t be able to hear the Tri-band GSM phone ringing without the plug-in. Its built-in battery (not sure if it is USB rechargeable) can last 300 hours standy-by and 180 minutes talk time. An unlocked Portege G450 USB will run you for 199 Euro, and will come in white, black and red.
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For DisplayLink, the big news at MacWorld was the announcement of their Mac-compartible Virtual Graphics Card (VGC) software. A beta version of the VGC was on display at the company’s booth on the show floor. Basically, existing DisplayLink-powered USB monitors, notebook docks and video cards will soon be able to extend display on up to four displays for Mac mini, MacBook and iMac users. Except for Mac mini that is limited to one DVI, the other Macs already have its own screen and already provide an additional video output. It’s really for people who need a third or a fourth monitor that DisplayLink matters. Then again, if DisplayLink makes a WUSB video card, then there will be unseen opportunities and applications.
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Miniature hard drives used to be the future for consumer electronics when flash memory was still outrageously prohibitive. It didn’t took long for NAND to catch in both capacity and pricing. Other than HDD-based iPods, Hi-def camcorders are where you will find miniature HDDs. During this year CES, Samsung and Toshiba respectively announced their 1.3″ and 1.8″ power-efficient drives, the largest of which top at a whopping 120GB - a capacity which may be offered by Apple in the future in its MacBook Air.

LaCie has picked up Samsung 30GB and 40GB for its USB KeyMax. With a metal chassis, the credit card-sized drive comes with an integrated USB cable that you can pull out and tuck back in. This drive rotates at 3600 rpm and can hit 15MB/s. The Toshiba, on the other hand, offers something bigger at 60GB, 80GB and 120GB. These drives spin at 4200 rpm, and despite of the higher rotation speed, will definitely work as USB bus-powered no matter how cheap your USB port is.
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