Posts in PC & Peripherals
A US$24,000 mouse
Juniper Foo | Jan 26, 2007
World's most expensive mouse? This insanely blinged-out rodent comes from Swiss company Pat Says Now, procurer of weird and wondrous mice, which is offering a diamond-studded affair on its site at an ice-cool sticker of US$24,000. Just in case you doubt the Diamond Flower's authenticity, it's rubber stamped with a certificate swearing to the veracity of all 59 diamonds on an 18k-carat white gold casing. Your choice of black or white trim. So does anyone care whether it's optical or not? Right, stupid question.
See bigger image | diamonds up close | other range
Price: US$24,180
Availability: At Pat Says Now
Device: Mouse
Specs: Three-year warranty, three-button wheel, via USB or PS/2, PC or Mac system, 800dpi resolution
MoGo Dapter
Juniper Foo | Jan 24, 2007
Who can forget the wafer-thin, ExpressCard-compatible MoGo Mouse? Now there's a Bluetooth adapter to accompany it for good measure. The MoGo Dapter may be puny, but it's a heavyweight pretender to the title of world's smallest Bluetooth adapter. When plugged into a USB port, it extends just a wee fingernail out instead of a finger length. How's that for micro convenience? Eenie, meenie, minie, MoGo...
Via Ubergizmo
Price: US$49.99
Availability: Due out Q2 of this year, more at Newton Peripherals
Device: Bluetooth adapter
Specs: Bluetooth 2.0, supports up to seven devices, 1cm in length, 3Mbps transfer rate, 30ft range, 2dbi antenna, 39g
Is Vista tone deaf?
Darius Chang | Jan 23, 2007
According to a report by the Creative ALchemy Project, the upcoming Windows Vista lacks support for surround sound or EAX audio on many PC games.
The reason bring that Microsoft has removed the hardware abstraction layer (HAL)--which is responsible for allowing software to interact directly with the audio device--in Vista. Applications like movie playback using DirectSound3D will be unable to produce surround sound or use advanced hardware audio features. In its place, Vista will be using a new audio protocol, OpenAL, which is present only in applications written specifically for the next-generation DirectX 10 hardware.
So where does this leave us? If you really must watch DVDs immersed in soundtracks, you might have to shell out for Dolby-enabled versions of playback applications. For gamers who swear by the current crop of Direct X 9 titles, they will have to purchase Creative's high-end X-Fi sound card, which uses Creative's proprietary ALchemy software to speak in OpenAL code.
Finger Drum Mousepad
Juniper Foo | Jan 23, 2007
This begs for a semi-autobiographical title: My Life as a Finger Drum Mousepad. Proving that nothing is sacred in the third-party arena, this one attempts to drum up interest in the ubiquitous mousepad by doubling it as an electronic drumpad. Probably for when the occasional urge strikes you to get sync(opat)ed with yon concrete jungle life. All that's missing are cannibal cooking pots. Surprisingly, this packs a number of creative options, with up to eight percussion sounds you can generate with some finger tapping, and the ability to record up to 30 more of your own rhythms. There're even separate volume and tempo controls to twiddle with. But unless you've a serious case of twitchy fingers or plan to annoy your cubicle mates considerably, stick to mouse clicks which could be less hazardous to your person.
Get up close
Price: US$39.95
Availability: At Hammacher Schlemmer
Device: Mousepad
Specs: Requires four AAA batteries, 9 x 8 x 2.5 inches, 0.5lb
AMD launches logo: Better by Design
Darius Chang | Jan 10, 2007
AMD engineers are taking a break as the marketing department goes into overdrive, with a skew of new logos coming out in conjunction with upcoming Windows Vista systems.
Better by design. That is AMD's latest moniker to describe PCs based on its processors and optimized for the Vista platform. For systems to merit this badge, they must contain a Turion dual-core chip and an ATI or Nvidia graphics card. Notebooks have an additional requirement in the form of an Airgo, Atheros or Broadcom wireless radio. Better by Design systems should be rolling out in the coming months.
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