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An IT journalist's desk - part II
EMIL'S DESK:
Click on the pic to enlarge it
1- 'The Village People' birthday card, what are my colleagues trying to tell me?
2- Three year-old noise cancelling headphones held together with sellotape
4- Supreme commander for lunch time entertainment
5- BT Videophone (been waiting almost three months for BT account to use it)
6- Work supplied P4 3GHz XP machine, but with a left over Nvidia card slotted in it
7- Reminder that in news stories "the orgasm comes first"
8- Tritium wireless IP cam that is very difficult to use (review coming soon)
9- Vista Ultimate test machine pimped up with quad core processor, Blu-ray drive and 900W PSU
10- Useless Hercules webcam that won't work in MSN or Skype
12- Good old fashioned calculator
13- One of the many Cherry wireless keyboards left by them yesterday
14- Two mice on one mousepad, which actually works very well
15- Britain's most famous journalist, according to some PRs
16- Hauppauge TV tuner that needs proper aerial connection to work
17- Business cards for contact with outside world
18- Trust Bluetooth tablet that DOESN'T have Vista drivers
19- Document on defamation for journalists
20- Old bananas and pear, second choice to chocolates sent in from Wacom today
CES 07: Philips launches Ambx sensory gaming kit
In December we were given a demo of Philips new gaming technology, Ambx and told it would launch at CES.
Philips showed off a whole range of up and coming technologies or products today, from its latest Ambilight LCD TVs to a Stremium Wireless Music System and a Wireless HDMI. And of course Ambx.
The idea is sensory gaming and it uses lights, fans and a wrist rumbler to “transform the entire gaming experience” said Philips. A wall washer beams up to 16 million different colours behind the computer screen combined with two light fans, two satellite speakers with integrated lights a sub woofer and a wrist rumbler.
Only a handful of games support the system at the moment, including Toca 3 and the soon-to-be-released Supreme Commander. The lights respond to what’s happening in the game – so for instance if there’s fast action and flashing lights on your computer screen, this will be recreated in your room’s walls.
The fans are designed to provide a similar experience, simulating wind, a collision, or a drop in temperature – as it happens in the game. The wrist rumbler vibrates depending on the action.
Philips’ amBX PC Gaming Peripherals range will launch as four kits: a $199 starter kit which contains a directional wall washer light, controller unit and satellite lights; a $299 Pro-Gamer Kit which includes a directional wall washer light, a controller unit, satellite 2.1 speaker lights and subwoofer; a $99 Extension Kit featuring a set of desk fans and wrist rumbler.
To get the complete kit, you’ll need to shell out $399.
CES 07: Asus launches external notebook grahics
Asus is launching an external graphics card unit for gamers that want the convenience of a laptop.
The XG Station launches with an Nvidia 7900GS graphics card within its chassis and has 5.1 virtual surround sound. It connects via a PCI Express card and gamers can overclock the graphics card while playing. Asus claims with the 7900GS, it is nine times faster than when using a laptop with Intel 945GM integrated graphics.
It comes out early Q2 and costs $300. The card can be upgraded and Asus plans to bring out a version without card, giving buyers the choice of which card they use (no news on the price in this configuration though). It’s not locked to Nvidia either, so ATI fans can also get their fill.
Marketing manager David Ray said: “The whole concept is to make it upgradeable….so that a year later you can still have the best card.”
It attracted a lot of interest at CES Unveiled, where it got an airing, but Asus missed a trick by not loading a game in the laptop it was attached too – so we haven’t seen it in action yet. We’ll swing by its stand in the coming days and if it’s with game, video a demo of it working.
Check out the new Otterbox at check-in
The laptop carry case on the left is the new Otterbox 7030. It looks to be solidly build and is designed to protect against crushing and dropping. It's also waterproof and dustproof.
There are shock absorbing bumpers inside along with other protective features. It is heavy though, weighing over 3kg, so it's not ideal for carrying around a large laptop in.
Rugged Peak, the case's manufacturer, in another case of cashing in on London's recent terror threat, thinks people should use it as a means of protecting your laptops in the luggage hold of aeroplanes.
While this is a good idea, we can't help thinking that the case looks tough and futuristic enough to house some sort of sophisticated weaponary. It might raise a few eyebrows at check-in!
British Motor Show: Concept car gallery
Here at PCW we love technology, relish the future, and...ah, what the hell..as if we needed any excuse to post some pics of the funky concept cars on parade at the British Motor Show...enjoy!
The Motor Show runs from 20th-30th July.
Aston Martin
Mazda
New 'velcro' Zalman Fatal1ty case due this summer
This odd little concept is a new way for securing a hard disk in a computer. The drive sits on rollers, so that it can be quickly and easily slid in and out of a case, and is then secured in place using velcro.
We've not seen this before, but it's being used in the new Zalman Fatal1ty case that comes out this summer.
Aimed at gamers, the case is made of thick aluminum, and uses five fans (complete with red LED's) for cooling.
You can get it through Quiet PC, and owner Glen Garrett admitted the noise it makes doesn't fit with his ethos of selling products that make computers quieter.
We spoke to him at the Computer Trade Show in Birmingham, where we spent the day chatting to various components manufacturers and distributors.
Other Zalman products included a low-cost cooler, aimed at the enthusiast on a tight budget, which comes out next month.
Costing about £20-£25 (the final pricing is yet to be set), the CNPS8000 uses heat pipes as well as a fan to cool PCs.
PC case designs get livelier
The exterior design of both PCs and notebooks has become far more innovative in recent years, partly as a result of the convergence of computing and consumer electronics.
Apple chic has undoubtedly had an effect on PC design though it has never been the case that Macs had a monopoly on computing elegance, as a glance through PCW show reports of the past few years can demonstrate.
But the migration of powerful low-drain processors from notebooks to desktops has enabled the design of slimmer, quieter PCs (and Macs) because they require less cooling. The FIC models, pictured top left in a choice of pastel colours, are typical of one format being pushed at Cebit this year.
Similar models, the size of a large book, were on show from several companies including ECS (above right, in a choice of postures).
Shuttle showed a new mini x100 design styled like a hi-fi unit; Gigabyte also had a couple of living room models, as well as the concept design (above left), in which a PC system box could be stacked like hi-fi units on top of similarly styled peripheral boxes.
Some of the new designs were clearly aimed at women. Like the pink Asus notebook with its matching case (right).
Of course this would limit the choice of clothes, but a company called Ego computers, showed this notebook (left) with a choice of different covers. That is a plastic woman, by the way, not a real one.
A polar opposite in terms of target market is this Gigabyte gaming machine, which actually has a radiator cap for the water cooling like a car.
And if you think that is bizarre, take a look at this pimped model, which brings a new meaning to the term ‘home PC’.
BenchPress: The fastet AGP graphics card ever
BenchPress lets you know about the latest products to leave the Labs test benches.
This week so far:
The fastest AGP card we’ve ever seen, the eVGA e-GeForce 7800GS CO Superclock, plus:
ASUS Extreme AX1900XTX
Gigabyte GV-RX19T512VB-RH - An ATI X1900XT just in case you couldn’t tell!
ATI X1900 All in Wonder
Western Digital Raptor X – latest edition to the Raptor clan.
To compare how thee product stack up to their competitors, you can see our graphics card and hard disk tests.
Coming soon.........
Sapphire X1600 Pro AGP
ATI All in Wonder 2006
Seagate Momentus 5400.3
Zalman looks to prove water and electricity can mix
Zalman is hoping to develop and release a water cooled power supply later this year, along with expanding other aspects of its water cooled range.
At CES it showed other several planned products that are now either working prototypes or close to be shipped, and you can read the full story here.
Otherwise, you can see photos of them in this blog.
Reserator ZM-RF1 Fan Fit
CNPS8000 Quiet VGA Cooler
HPTC HD160
Western Digital updates the Raptor
Western Digital is bringing out a second version of its latest 150GB Raptor drive next month, the company said today at CES in Las Vegas.
Raptors may not have the biggest capacities on the market but they have the fastest spin speeds - 10,000 RPM compared to the more typical 7,200. Combined with its 16MB cache, this gives the drive very fast seek times.
A solid top version is already on the market, and today the company showed off a clear top version, so that you can see the platters spinning. It's aimed at hard core enthusiasts with see-through cases, and the company is working with case manufacturers to see more hit the market.
Even so, it's going to be of limited appeal - few people will care that they can see the platters spin, but it will attract a very niche market.
