Best computer news

Desktop space for most people is in scarcity. Trying to find some room to put a pair of speakers (even the slim and thin Logitech Z5) maybe easier said than done. Since our keyboards are always within fingers reach, Verbatim sees our primary input devices as a perfect place to put some speakers.

The Verbatim’s aptly Speaker Keyboard integrates a pair of stereo speakers into its top tilted edge, and USB connection powers everything from the dual speakers to back-lighting and keyboard. Its built-in USB audio chipset overrides the system sound, and while the Speaker Keyboard has a microphone jack, there isn’t a headphone hole. The keyboard’s host of media controls support Mac and Windows out of the box. Too bad Verbatim didn’t specify the output rating for the speakers, because some of us are skeptical how much power the speakers can boost with the keyboard and backlit all operating simultaneously. The Verbatim hybrid is yours for $75.
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Looks like the Logitech G13 is the first of many gaming peripherals to come in early 2009. While Logitech is no stranger to pro-gaming input devices, the G13 is the company’s first attempt at PC-centric gameboard. The G13 gamepad featuring a naturally contoured design is touted as a hybrid gaming pad that supplements the G15 full-sized keyboard and G9 laser mouse.

The sheer number of buttons on the G13 is quite overwhelming for amateur gamers, but RTS and WoW fanboys may find this to be accurate. In total, it has 25 programmable buttons and an analog stick, allowing 87 ways for you to control the game. G13’s macros on-the-fly during the gaming sessions without having to pause your game is now a must. If that’s not quite enough, the gameboard has the same GamePanel LCD as the G15’s to show chat messages, leaderboards, etc. Its backlit keys are handy during low-light conditions (ie. LAN parties and late night gaming at home). The only caveat is that the G13 isn’t lefty-friendly. Expect the USB gameboard to ship in $79.99.
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The green trend has always been finding new ways to harness renewable energy. The Shiro SQ-S Solar Media Player has also jumped onto the green bandwagon with its solar panel dominating its back as an alternate power source to good old USB. Though, even under direct sun, the Shiro still needs a full 6 hours to completely recharge the PMP’s internal battery; USB cuts recharging time to 4 hours, in comparison. This isn’t bad knowing you won’t be leaving more carbon footprint during camping.

The Shiro Solar PMP actually passes as a decent MP3 player with wide range of audio support for WMA, WAV, M4A, FLAC, APE, and OGG, and its FM tuner may make for an emergency radio since the player is technically self-sufficient in power. Its 1.8″ 128×160 CSTN 65k color screen however looks like it comes from some leftover supplies back in the early 2000s. But seriously, if Shiro has to make this PMP commerically available, why not try to materialize this Bonsai Solar Tree instead.
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Trying to plug in a Cruzer Enterprise flash drive into a Mac will only mount its public partition, and there’s nothing more you can do afterwards to get through the 256-bit AES encryption. You couldn’t unlock your encrypted data even if you have the correct password due to the fact that the flash drive’s CruzerPro utility is written for Windows only. Now, you can grab a free firmware update from Sandisk website to gain Mac support for your Cruzer Enterprise.

Re-writing the firmware is necessary, because the public partition that stores the CruzerPro utility is read-only for good reason. An additional benefit after the upgrade is that the Cruzer Enterprise will become cross-platform friendly, allowing access to protected files on either Mac or PC. Enterprise with the Mac firmware is presumably centrally manageable (e.g. remote termination, password changes, etc.) if the admin installs a copy of Sandisk’s CMC. Alternatively, Ironkey is another HW-encrypted flash drive that is also Mac friendly.
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One of the early players to the party, Cables Unlimited’s Wireless USB Adapter Set promises the elusive cable-less connection of your USB devices. Based on Wisair Certified Wireless USB chipset and drivers, the Windows XP and Vista only two dongle adapter set is one of the most cost-effective ways to reduce USB cable clutter. But how well does it work? And is the performance and range good enough to shed those USB cables forever? Read on to find out.
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With the advances of processor, graphics and memory technologies pushing their way from the desktop to the notebook and computer user demands on the rise, it seems inevitable that the notebook cooler market is set to heat up. Today we’ll look at Antec’s latest USB-powered notebook cooler and discover if it can adopt some of the sleek looks of today’s notebooks and still deliver efficient near-silent cooling to make it worth your purchase.
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For multi-monitor fans, workaholics, and Bill Gates, two screens may already look cramped with all apps they are running – three is the magic number for these folks. Bill actually has a three screen setup with a list of e-mails on the left monitor, the specific email opened in the center, and a browser on the right-hand LCD. However, if you are just beginning to look into multi-monitor setup, Witech Multi-i Two-channel USB external video card from Korea has you covered.

Think of Witech Multi-i as two IOGear USB 2.0 Video Card squeezed in a single package. The Witech basically has two D-sub connectors for hooking up to two monitors; its on-board dual USB ports are designed to daisy-chain two more of these video adapters. Maximum resolution you get from each video connection is 1400×1050 (interestingly, 1366×768 and 1280×768 are also supported). The Witech Multi-i will require an AC adapter to give the unit juice for all the extra load. Since it is essentially powered by Displaylink core, you can expect Mac compatibility out of the box.
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It’s not easy to sell one billion of anything let alone a $50 mouse. Logitech today brags it has shipped billionth mouse after in the market for over 20 years. The first mouse from the Switzerland-based Logitech was the P4 (pictured above), which began mass production in 1985 at the company’s birthplace. Logitech reached the 100 millionth mouse mark in 1996, and subsequently, topped 500 millionth 7 years later. The company is now selling at a rate of 376,000 mice per day and 7.8 million every month.

Looking back all these years, we’ve seen several major revolutions: first upgrading serial to USB; adding a wheel for more control over scrolling; moving completely to optical and recently laser sensor from mechanical ball for increasing pointing accuracy; and last but not least, expanding from a single-function pointing device that detects merely two-dimensional motion to a multi-purpose 3D gesture-based controller. Thanks to Logitech (mostly), mouse now becomes an essential part of the lives for mobile workers, hardcore gamers, and even couch potatoes.
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For most of us, the last thing we would lose is our wallet. (Well, at least we try to keep it safe in our pocket.) This is naturally one place where we would try to put our flash drives, but but in reality, very few of these tiny storage devices will fit inside a wallet due to their size and/or fragility. LaCie’s latest CurrenKey however is designed from ground up to be a wallet-friendly flash drive, and its die-cast metal body allows it to go along well with other real currencies like our loonies, quarters and pennies in the coin compartment in your wallet.

LaCie CurrenKey – a wordplay by the 5.5 designers – has a nifty rotation system that easily reveals and hides the USB connector with a twist of the coin’s edge. It comes in two colors: bronze for the 4GB and silver for the 8GB. Keep in mind that there’s risk of actually mistaking these for a real coin. Perhaps that’s why LaCie engaved a USB topology symbol and its company logo on one side and the capacity on the other.
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What do you get when you combine a flagship industrial design with three action-packed interfaces and an oh-so-beautiful 1.5 terabytes of magnetic mayhem? A pirate’s wet dream The Seagate FreeAgent XTreme, that’s what! With multiple-revision automated backups and a name too good for the initial ‘E’, will you need to ask your geek if you are healthy enough to handle the XTreme? We’ve managed to pull it together and get our hands on one, so press on for our in-depth review to find out.
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