Pretty + expensive = pretty expensive keyboards

Bored with your stock keyboard? Looking for an input device which screams "I am special... and also pretty rich"? Well then, Geekstuff4u has the goods for you.

Forget functional (you can barely see the labels on the keys) and think pretty... as in pretty expensive. Ranging from US$154.80 (S$213.65) for the patterned version to the ostentatious US$214.21 (S$295.64) gold-tinted keyboard (shown above), these are not peripherals you expect to see in your office cubicle. Heck, these are not even full-sized models and lack the numeric pad. But if your motto is style over function, you'll be glad to know that Geekstuff4U ships internationally.

Kare-Kusa | Waza-Kura | Nishi-Ki | Usa-Gi | Zip-Ang (gold)

Via Akihabara News

Kids earn online points for real-world chores

For parents, enticing kids to do their chores is often about making deals--a trade of sorts, like taking out the trash for extra time watching TV.

For George Zachary and his 10-year-old stepdaughter, that real-world exchange happens online through a site called Handipoints, a digital chore-list manager for parents and their kids. The Web site lets parents set a list of tasks for their children--like washing the dishes or filling the dog's bowl--and kids can rack up points for completing the list. With enough points, children can cash them in for digital gear in the site's virtual world, or for tangible goods with a few dollars from mom and dad.

"She earned points to get some Disney DVDs and books called The Warriors about an underground legion of cats," said Zachary, who as a venture capitalist knows about deal-making. "The site is her start page."
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easySafe gets doubly secure

Information security, or lack of, may have been actor Edison Chen's downfall when his bedroom antics hit the Internet circuit. But for companies dealing in data security tools, it's been one satisfying ride (pun intended) since it's, ahem, exposed a vulnerable issue that strikes fear into the hearts--and in Edison's case, the lower extremities--of PC users.

In the worst case scenario, failure to secure your personal or critical information on your computer can result in serious fallout not only for yourself, but involved parties, as we've witnessed in a very public way. While companies know it's plain good business to safeguard their sensitive data, the Average Joe is less primed against data theft or loss. So easySafe has been, as its name implies, attempting to make it easy and safe for the home user. Its computer data security USB key has been upgraded with drivers to allow the user the option to duplicate file security onto a second key, since this sells in a dual set, or pass the other key to a trusted party.
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Intel processor roadmap: From small to big

Much attention was given to the small and nifty Atom processors at the Shanghai Intel Developer Forum, but those who believe in the power of conventional PC systems will still have something to look forward to.

Of the four technologies covered--Tukila, Dunnington, Nehalem and Larrabee--it's the latter two which will interest the consumer market. Meant more for enterprises, Tukila is a quad-core chip with 30MB cache and QuickPath technology, while Dunnington is a six-core chip built for multiprocessor systems.

Nehalem is an upgrade from the current Penryn processor and uses the same 45nm technology. The key difference is that the memory controller will be integrated on the processor itself (a technology already in use by AMD). This cuts down the time it takes for data transmission between the memory and CPU significantly.

Larrabee is an upcoming graphics processor which aims to blur the line between video-specific tasks and normal computing jobs. By adding features which allow the GPU to take on duties currently served by the CPU, the next-generation platform is set to take on what Intel terms as a "visual-computing architecture".

Via CNET News.com

After 38 years, a new type of memory to hit market

It's been a long haul for phase change memory, but the goal is in sight.

Numonyx, the memory joint venture between STMicroelectronics and Intel, is already shipping samples of phase change memory (PCM) chips to customers and will start shipping PCM chips commercially later this year, CEO Brian Harrison said at a press conference Monday.

"We expect to bring it to market this year and generate some revenue," Harrison said. "It is one to two years before it becomes widely commercially available."

Hearing a CEO talk about existing samples and near-term commercial shipments is a big deal for PCM. The technology has been stuck in the proverbial "a few years away" phase for a long time.

"It could be cheaper than flash within a couple of years," analyst Richard Doherty in said in 2001, predicting the technology might hit the market in 2003.

"We are making good progress," Stefan Lai, one of Intel's flash memory scientists, said in 2002.

Gordon Moore, co-founder of Intel and the man for whom Moore's Law was named, had an article in the September 28, 1970 issue of Electronics predicting that Ovonics Unified Memory, another name for the same type of memory, could hit the market by the end of that decade. (The same issue of Electronics also included this article: "The Big Gamble in Home Video Recorders.")
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