Best computer news

Displaylink has kept their promise on delivering the Mac-version of the USB video driver exactly two hours after midnight on the due date. (It’s actually a pleasant surprise that beta driver would be posted on time as scheduled.) The release allows you to connect up to four Displaylink-powerd video products (eg. Samsung 19″ 940UX, IOGear External Video Card) over USB, which may not be exciting for most of us, but probably the only way for Mac mini owners to get a second display running. For now, the driver doesn’t give you 2D acceleration nor any form of 3D (specifically OpoenGL) acceleration so you will encounter problems with Keynote presentations and iPhoto slideshows.

We actually just had a chance to test the beta driver, and surprisingly, both performance and stability were decent, to say the least. Displaylink did whine about not having enough support from Apple since MacOS X is a closed system unlike Vista. Keep in mind though this driver is still in beta which is traditionally prone to crashes and sluggishness. DisplayLink even keeps a long list of issues that need to be addressed in the online release note.
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HP isn’t exactly a main player in the rather small USB webcam add-on market, most of which belongs to Logitech by now. Integrated webcams on monitors are mostly fine except when you need need pan and tilt, external ones are far better choice. Since most HP LCD monitors also don’t come with a built-in camera, this 3-megapixel model just introduced by the said company might sell like hotcakes. Who knows.

This ‘bizarre-looking’ Elite webcam from HP boasts some very nice and thoughtful features, including a native 3-megapixel sensor which goes beyond HD; autofocus; privacy cover; and UVC for driverless install; and 320-degree pan angle. You can expect 30fps at VGA, but only 8 to 9fps at 1280×960. Then again, most ordinary persons don’t need more than 800×600 for video conferencing, and at this res, the webcam can handle at 20fps. There’s an effective focal range from 4 inches to infinity and an integrated stereo mic. Included with the Elite are ArcSoft VideoImpression, Magic-i and PhotoSmart Essential software. The low FPS concern aside, the HP Elite Autofocus webcam goes nicely with the new breed of glossy black HP LCDs.

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Everyone is crazy about touch screen these days. Now it appears even Kodak has jumped into the bandwagon with its latest photo frame with multi-touch border. Its trio of 16:9 Digital Picture Frames, ranging from 7″ ($119.95) to 8″ ($179.95) and 10″ ($229.95), features touch-sensitive borders with back lighting that allows you to flick through photos and to edit them with your fingertip. This design does away most of the buttons. In addition to JPEG, Kodak’s frames can do most video types (MPEG-1 to 4) and MP3s as well.

The larger two of the three frames boast 128MB internal memory, but that isn’t as practical as the unit’s two memory card slots. And you may also have figured out a port specifically for USB flash drives. The frame also isn’t limited to tabletop display since with the new white cord, you can mount it on a wall without too many people noticing the dangling cable.
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Buffalo finally has the guts to announce its first external optical disk drive outside of Japan. Aimed squarely at hardcore HD DVD fans who are still mourning for the total loss of their beloved format, Buffalo’s MediaStation (BRHC-6316U2) Blu-ray & HD DVD combo USB burner serves both backward and forward compatibility. What’s so special about this is that the drive burns Blu-ray at 6x and also HD DVD at 3x. Since HD DVD-Rs could be going to for less than $5 a stack, this maybe a reason to pick this one over Blu-ray discs for one-time archival purpose. The 6x BD-R write speed is also as fast as you can expect from Blu-ray for now except Buffalo needs to tell us about the BD-RE performance as well.

The combo won’t come cheap at 284 pounds or $568 USD, at least you get Turbo USB, SecureLock Ware and Nero 8 authoring software.
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Largely it’s due to the majority of reference board designs; ports on a USB hub usually face in the same redirection. There’s nothing wrong if we don’t have oversized thumbdrives and USB TV dongles. Should you have a problem with getting less ports than what your hub offers due to port blocking, this Star Hub II might be what you need. It’s a 4-port, twisting, turning USB hub whose port - each with different color - can rotate 180 degrees to your liking. The hub goes for $12, just like the Runner Hub.
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As much as we like Steve Jobs’ glorified PDA, Apple iPod touch’s prohibitive pricing is a real turn off. We are hoping some price cut, and looks like an inadvertent leak over at Apple’s Dutch iTunes store has given us some hope. The story has that there was an ads that shows the iPod touch starting at only 199 euro representing a 80 euro difference from the official price of 8GB unit which as of this writing remains at 279 euro. We are keeping our fingers crossed, because after the infamous January update, iPod touch has become much more attractive with the additions of new functions, specifically the Mail & Google Map.
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Without a doubt, flash drives are the largest security risk that most organizations and users have faced since the introduction writeable CDs. They can be used on virtually any PC, are small enough to go undetected by anyone, and now are large enough to carry more than four times what you can fit on a DVD. Couple this with a clumsy employee and you have a recipe to make the evening CNN blurb of how 60,000 people facing identity theft.

Security is the only way to prevent your information being accessed by someone else on your flash drive, whether it be personal data or business related. We’ve seen some forms of this with these flash drives, but even those can be circumvented with enough effort. The only way to ensure that your data is safe is to implement hardware encryption with password protection AND tamper-resistance. That’s exactly what the guys over at IronKey have done, and they’ve taken it to the next level by placing a drive that meets military standards and placed it in the hands of everyday consumers. Read on as we put the IronKey 1GB flash drive through the tests and analyze its security features.
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For those of you that are a fan of force feedback then this should be right up your alley. Apparently someone didn’t think that games realistic enough and that you should feel some sort of negative feedback from taking damage. Dubbed the Trakonya Mutator, this little device attaches to your wrist and emits a small shock when you take some damage.

Right now the game only works with the Unreal Tournament series but there are plans to make it work with the Half-Life engine as well. I’m not so keen on being shocked but I would definitely like to see this with maybe some sort of rumble device to indicate where you are taking damage, which could translate into direction and thus increase your instinctive reaction times. Give me about 5 or 6 of these coupled with the OCZ Neural Impulse Actuator and I’d be one happy gamer!
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While we were digging for some information earlier, we came across some information that we felt everyone should be aware of. Apparently the Corsair Flash Padlock isn’t very secure at all. Tweakblogs (warning: Dutch) has a quick guide of how to hack the Padlock. Unfortunately is so simple that all you need to do is solder in a single resistor and the drive will be permanently unlocked. Yes, this means that your PIN no longer protects you and that anyone with a few bucks and a soldering iron can get your data off of it.

Please keep in mind that while this means that the drive isn’t that secure, it is still better than nothing. This drive is simply meant to stop the masses from grabbing the drive and being able to plug it in and use it. The average guy next door isn’t going to know to solder on a resistor, let alone where, but it is something to take note of.

Always remember two very important facts about technology. 1) If it can be hacked, it will be hacked… and even if it can’t be hacked today, someone will be able to eventually. 2) Encryption is a MUST to protect your data whether it is hardware or software encryption. While hardware is generally better than software, software encryption is going to be much stronger than any password or PIN you can create.
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If you’ve ever tried to do some video conferencing while on the go then you know that it can be a royal pain if you don’t have a webcam built into your laptop. It always seems that you can never get the webcam in the right position to show yourself and when you finally do, it is in an unstable position. That is, unless you stick it to your screen.

The USB Mini Webcam with Sucker will let you do just that. The suction cup will let you place it on just about any smooth surface and the flexible arm will let you put it in the position that best suits your needs. It even has a focusing feature by turning the lens on the end. Something strikes us as unsafe by sticking this to the LCD on your $2k laptop as it might be quite difficult to remove and cause some damage. We’d suggest splurging for the Logitech’s Carl Zeiss lens-equipped QuickCam Pro instead.
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