Best computer news

Whether you have an iPhone, iPod nano, shuffle or touch, you may find Apple cannot get anymore stingy with their accessories. The fruit company has long taken out the dock from the all the iProducts which have been shipping with just a USB cable and a dock adapter. On the bright side, this is an opportunity for third party manufacturers to come up with creative iPhone/iPod dock and to make a living.

The “Works for iPhone” Dexim Premium MHub Dock Station – similar to the Griffin Simplifi – can de-clutter your desktop with its 3-in-1 design which combines a iPhone/iPod dock, SDHC card reader on the side and a 3-port USB hub on the back. The station in an aluminum chassis also bundles with a variety of phone charging cable for mini-and micro-USB handsets. Its one-size-fits-all adjustable bracket seem to best Apple’s own dock adapter, and Dexim ships with four electrical plugs for customers from all over the world. You can get all of the above for $74.99 (Apple tax included).
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Another great one for your travel bag, this Digistor USB Blu-Ray burner from Sunland International is right-sized for travel. The Blu-Ray Burner is a slot loading type and is powered by a single USB or double USB connection. The Drive really requires more juice than a single USB connection can supply but they have come up with a couple of nifty solutions to get around those needs. The best way would be to use the included double USB connector.

Here’s the really unusual part, if you don’t have 2 available USB ports you can get by on a single USB connection with the help of the built in Lithium Polymer battery. While the drive is not in use the battery trickle charges off of the USB connection. As soon as the drive needs juice the battery kicks in. The battery is good for about 3 hours worth of use on a full charge. Unfortunately this flexible system looks to set you back 6 large (there are some cheaper options). If you want to buy an AC adapter to help speed charging there’s one available for another $15. So if you’ve got $599 and are yearning to take your BD collection on the road with you this is for you.
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AMtek’s USB docking station has to be the most feature packed docking station ever. Packed into a tiny package that would actually fit under most netbooks and bring them into a comfortable viewing height on your desk. There’s both VGA and DVI connections for USB video output. USB audio output along with a microphone input rounds out the multimedia package. There’s a drive bay that will hold an optical drive or a hard drive of the SATA variety. Just considering those features it’s a nice netbook companion to combat the small screen, storage and volume that plagues netbooks as a matter of course.

There’s still more to be had with this heavy hitter. An whopping 6 USB ports adorn the back but sadly none on the front which is an odd omission. There’s also the true necessity of an RJ-45 network adapter available for connectivity. Blasts from the past serial ports and parallel ports are available as well if you happen to be stuck with some old peripherals that need them. There’s no word on price or availability yet but with any luck it will make it out of Taiwan shortly.
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Intel just kicks off its multi-year global campaign with the goal of conveying a message that how far the computing industry has advanced with the chip gaint’s technologies. The first ad that appears on YouTube focuses on the co-inventor of Universal Serial Bus (USB), Ajay V. Bhatt, who holds several patents on the most broadly adopted external bus standard.

The ad begins with him going for a cup of coffee. An adoring fan show his appreciation with his home-made Ajay tee shirt, and several others surround him trying to get an autograph from the Intel Fellow and Chief Client Architect. The campaign agency for some reason found an professional actor to personify the star engineer. Perhaps Bhatt is just a very down to earth guy who doesn’t really want real fans (like us) to recognize him in the public. Ad video after the jump.
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Flash drives have reached the capacity that most people will find enough for a full data backup. A problem is that those of us who lack the will to organize files will find it extremely difficult to backup everything to an external drive in a timely manner since they don’t keep things together. Well, ClickFree Traveler is the answer to this. It doesn’t require any kind of software installation.

As soon as you plug in the credit card-sized flash card into a PC, it automatically finds documents, video, photos, tax returns, favorites, or any of the 400 file types on your system, and then copies them onto the ClickFree Traveler. Next time you hook it to the same PC, it will begin incremental backup, and only grabs the modified files as well as new ones. Also unique to the ClickTree Traveler is Apple compatibility so you will be able to restore PC files on a Mac. The company however never mentioned data encryption since that is of paramount importance.
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Who doesn’t love puppies? If you love them so much, then these puppy USB speakers must be for you. Touted as “Wonderful Speakers” by Japan Trust Technology, this pair of USB-powered speakers hide the drivers underneath the dog’s belly. The sound will supposedly bounce back from the desktop so it won’t sound muffled.

For your information, the left speaker is a cavalier king charles spaniel while the right one is a dalmatian puppy. Also unexpected is the guitar-lookalike USB sound card that doubles as a volume control. It’s not the first time a pair of speakers is mistaken for decorations; here’s a pair of photo frames that actually hides speakers on their back. For all rest of us, there are plenty of options to choose from.
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PC gaming has had a bit of a mixed history with initial gaming input starting at game pads, moving to keyboards, then to mice, then back to game pads and finally back to both keyboard and mouse combination. Today I explore Logitech’s answer to all of our gaming dilemmas with a dedicated gameboard that can tie all these inputs together into one neat, gamer focused package and hopefully enable you to score beyond your normal ability. Read on for the full Logitech G13 gameboard review.
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No this isn’t a transmission from Orson to Mork but this tiny reader of tiny flash cards has just touched down from outer space. Dry off your drinking finger because you are going to need it to work this ultra tiny card reader. You really can’t get any smaller than this. At 17mm long there’s just barely enough of the EagleTec reader sticking out of the USB slot to get a hold of it. An ideal netbook companion this drive can extend your limited HDD or SSD storage space without needing to be unplugged when transported. Toss this in a tiny bag with the rest of your
nano peripherals. It’s plug-n-play and PC and Mac friendly.

MicroSD cards have become the de facto standard for cell phones, GPS and MP3 players and are actually starting to show up in digital cameras so it looks like it might be time to switch out your gigantic SD/MMC card collection for the peewee microSD form factor. MicroSDHC capacity currently tops out for the reader at 32GB. Brando offers it with 8 and 16 GB microSDHC flash cards as well as unloaded for $31, $67 and a mere $13 respectively. It’s a great deal if you can manage not to lose it. No warranty is provided if you accidentally absorb it through the pores of your skin.
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The WeraMouse doesn’t exactly qualify as wearable but it’s definitely a step in that direction. the two new product offerings consist of a handheld trackball and a touchpad. Both of the devices are intended to be operated while being held coffee mug style and operated with your thumb. There are 2 standard mouse buttons on the top of the device which look like they might be a serious stretch to press with one hand. Fortunately there’s a trigger button as well. The rechargeable battery is good for 28 hours of use and charges by USB connection. The setup is wireless and should reach out to about 25 feet.

The concept has actually been around for awhile and very similar designs of the trackball version predate USB. The touchpad version, which isn’t for sale yet, is pretty novel and might be able suitable as a multi-role device. The trackball is almost too small to be used on a desktop. This is a bit more pedestrian than the Logitech MX Air but air considerably less expensive. Still a little on the high side at $99 the trackball is available now and hopefully the touchpad will follow soon.
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Apple’s 3rd generation 4GB iPod shuffle once again breaks new ground, this time by eliminating its trademark circular control ring and shrinking its physical size to unbelievable proportions. Truly a sight to behold, and now with double the capacity, Apple’s entry-level iPod packs its slim feature set into an even slimmer aluminum body. With the headlining new multi-lingual VoiceOver feature, is it enough to make you part with your cash? Read on and find out.
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