Best computer news

Long gone are the days of the overhead projector and smudging transparencies, unfortunately this isn’t always true. This is the future, where’s our rocket car and our holographic projector. The technology is here to do a lot of things, but our surroundings and budget may require us to come up with more creative solutions than technological. Optelec brings an odd collection of functions together in a neat package. Designed as a screen camera for magnifying and projecting your computer activities for the masses or for your magnifying your work space.

This OneNote has an articulating arm that can swing, tilt and rotate to focus on your subject and magnify it up to 40 times. Powered by USB with plug and play software, the auto-focus camera can display images onto your PC or optionally to a VGA display. The software system can keep track of focus settings as you shift between subjects at different distances. The camera software also allows for more advanced color control and image manipulations for just the right look in any light. No word on price but dealers in your area should be carrying this soon.

While never having owned a waterproof digital camera, it never occurred to me wonder how in the heck I’d be able to use a camera underwater. Hammacher Schlemmer has answered the question I wasn’t smart enough to ask with a new Swimming Mask with an integrated digital camera. The mask’s eyepieces are glass with engraved cross-hairs for lining up your shots. It’s no slouch at nearly 5 Mega-pixels, the camera can take produce images at 2560 x 1920. Up to 26 images can be stored on its built in 16MB memory. There’s also a microSD slot for expansion.

Not without limitations this one-of-a-kind can only be used in water up to a depth of 15 feet. That should be plenty for snorkeling or baby’s first swimming lesson. In addition to still photos the maskamera can also record videos. Get your Jacques Cousteau on and then head back to your PC or Mac and use the USB connection to download photos and videos. Hammacher also includes picture editing software to boot. (Seriously, who doesn’t already have their own photo editing favorite?)

IOGear stuck its toes in the water a few months back with its single port Share Station and finding the waters ‘just right’ decided to jump in with both feet. The 4 Port Share Station improves on the former model and adds 3 more ports and a few more features to the mix. Both Share Stations allow for USB sharing over Ethernet. Plug in up to USB devices into the Share Station and plug in an RJ-45 Ethernet cable from your network into its auto-sensing 10/100Base-T port and you are ready to go.

Most printers are detected and identified automatically with its built in print server functionality. Not just for printers, the USB hub will connect hard drives, flash drives, web cameras and USB speaker systems. On top of all the peripheral options, the Share Station is perfectly comfortable being plugged into a wireless network as well. Some caution is added for high bandwidth applications that might be susceptible to latency common to wireless applications. Few USB drivers or applications are written with the expectation of the rugged terrain of wireless networking. With options like these continuing to pop up, WUSB standards may have a very hard time getting a foothold with all of its promised functionality available in devices like these.
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Music, movies, bluetooth, oh my! The Samsung YP-P3 may not have too many bullet points over its P2 predecessor, but as we reveal in the review, just looking at the specs can be deceiving. Read on to see how this Haptic-enabled touchscreen PMP holds its own against discerning audiophiles, movie lovers, and those pesky iPod Touch fanboys.
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On the eve of the release of Windows 7 the much heralded successor to the infamous Windows Vista, one interesting question has been raised. In August, Intel, who needs no introduction, announced a change to the USB 2.0 specification. This change accompanies similar proposals by other groups trying to stem the wanton electricity wasting by computer systems. PCIe video devices as well as Ethernet connections both are having their hardware controls extended to allow software developers the ability to lower their power consumption. Primarily this would entail trimming power needs while the device is not in active use. This seems an ideal fit for USB connected peripherals which can have a much higher ‘idle’ time per day than any other connection type. Why then would Microsoft snub their nose at incorporating the change?

The top functions being introduced into the specification are Link Power Management (LPM) and Per-Port Change Events. LPM provides handles for host controllers to use Suspend and Resume functions to USB devices. Per Port Change Events will reduce the impact of polling events. Currently, Microsoft’s Active State Power Management lowers power sent to each individual serial connection, this update would let the devices manage their own power usage and merely report their capabilities to the host. All these will require new EHCI controllers, meaning Intel has to ship a new generation of USB 2.0 chipsets to support these energy saving features. But since the same features will come with USB 3.0 anyway, let’s hope MS and Intel are just busy getting the next gen. USB working on Windows 7 at the very least.

A new breed of gaming headsets that made debut earlier this year is limited to surround sound virtualization. Tritton AX PC Pro on the other hand is a pair of true surround sound USB cans with 8 drivers (four in each cup) to optimize for 5.1 gaming audio. So, this is actually suitable for gaming as well as movies on Linux and Mac in addition to Windows.

Comparatively, the AX PC Pro appears to have the same plush ear pads found on Logitech G35. The controls on the Tritton are however located on the in-line remote whereas the G35′s buttons are on both earcups. The AX PC Pro’s microphone can be detached and put away while the G35′s can only be folded up. Perhaps the most notable omission is the rumble feedback feature that goes hand-in-hand with the subwoofer channel on the original lower end AXPC. For $89.99, the AX PC Pro seems like the more affordable option for LAN partying than rest of the pack.

Well if you’ve got money to burn but don’t like paying early termination fees get ready to be happy. AT&T has announced that starting this week you can purchase iPhone 3G from them without the previously mandated 2 year commitment. This single product has been a huge boon to both Apple and AT&T both of which are still riding its wake through the current rough financial currents. This single handset brought over more than 1 million new customers all by itself.

The iPhone 3G, still exclusively available through AT&T will continue to be sold LOCKED to their network. This lock is completely impenetrable and secure *cough*. But even if the lock weren’t completely 100% bullet proof they’ve altered another contract line item as well, the price. The no-commitment iPhones will double from their original 2 year contract price up to $599 and $699 for the 8GB and 16GB models respectively. This new price and contract should be available in their retail outlets Thursday March 26th. If everyone who didn’t already have an iPhone would go ahead and slap their money down for one we should be out of the economic slump in no time.
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Elgato released a USB accelerator dongle that promises to offload video conversion CPU load when converter to the very popular H.264 video format. This format is now widely used in iPod / iPhones, PMPs, cameras, camcorders, Apple TV and media centers. The Turbo.264 HD Encoder/Accelerator will take almost any format of video and using on-board hardware rapidly convert it to H.264. Their comparison is 60 minutes for a 15 minute file conversion reduced down to 20 minutes using the Turbo.264 HD. AVCHD Video, QuickTime, AVI, DV, WMV, MPEG-1, MPEG-2 Program/Transport Stream, MPEG-4, MP4, M4V, H.263, H.264 AVC, Xvid and VOB are natively supported as well as many more they didn’t take the time to list.

There are 10 generic H.264 conversion profiles to start with. They range from YouTube to 1080p High definition as well as just about every flavor of iPod (at least the ones with video). Previous entrants into this market were able half as hearty as Elgato Turbo.264 HD. The software included with this dedicated encoder also has rudimentary video editing features for trimming or making adjustments to the video prior to conversion. And it will automatically detect many of the AVCHD enabled camcorders that are coming out now. Making it possibly a ZERO-step process to drag and convert camcorder video files for varied consumption. Available now at their online store for $149.95.
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Identity and data theft is on the rise. While the average user rarely worries when he loses a personal or company flash drive, how much can you or your company really afford to lose its trade secrets or your very own bank account details? This is where data encryption steps in and while some prefer software applications to handle this task, software encryption can be broken easily compared to encryption that is hardware based. Lenovo is well-known in the corporate world for secure, well-built business notebooks and this time we’ll be looking if they can deliver a portable secure drive featuring hardware encryption with a business flavor to both home and corporate users.
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The very useful smartpen technology has found a new use at the hands of creators Hanwha. Not to be confused with smartpens that are dot readers like the the LiveScribe Pulse, this other breed employs sonar. The device consists of 2 small microphones and an ultrasound emitting pen along with an infrared range finder to gauge exist relative location from the sensor. The sensor records all the pen’s locations and software converts the data into images of exactly what you wrote. It also has the extra capability of acting as a drawing tablet, without the tablet. Hanwha, decided the tablet could be the monitor and a brilliant idea was borne.

It’s small, has low power needs and doesn’t require special paper. It’s only a matter of time before it get incorporated into devices like PDA’s and Laptops and this is the first step. This model can both be used as a touchscreen/tablet as well as a digital note-taker/smartpen. With any luck we’ll see a more viable and inexpensive version of the portable virtual keyboard using this technique. This one retails for around $100 but is currently only available in Japan and does not currently have Apple support.
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