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Time to Banish CAPS LOCK

Our keyboards need that tweak and a few others

(Newser) - The computer keyboard may be an essential tool of daily life, but everybody is driven nuts by at least one aspect of it, writes Matthew J.X. Malady at Slate . He offers some suggested tweaks: More »

Slime Mold Is Smarter Than You Think

It can solve mazes, might be used in future biocomputers

(Newser) - It may not look like much, but slime mold is capable of human-like "thought" beyond the reach of the most sophisticated computers. The organism can arrange its cells in order to find the quickest route through a maze, a Japanese scientist has found. "Humans are not the only... More »

Superman's Memory Crystals Inch Closer to Reality

Hard drives could soon be made from glass

(Newser) - The “memory crystals” Superman used to hear messages left by his parents are no longer just science fiction. Researchers in Britain have found a way to store computer data on glass by reorganizing its atoms. A laser creates miniscule dots, known as voxels, in silica glass. Light passing through... More »

IBM Designer: PCs Headed 'Way of the Typewriter'

Devices giving way to 'new ideas about computing': Mark Dean

(Newser) - PCs are losing their place at the forefront of personal computing, says a designer of the first IBM PC. To commemorate the 30th anniversary of that computer, the 5150, Mark Dean writes in a blog post that PCs are “going the way of the vacuum tube, typewriter, vinyl records,... More »

Internet Changes How We Remember

We're relying more on search engines now

(Newser) - Why remember something if you can Google it? Researchers exploring that question have concluded that computers and search engines are changing the way human memory works, reports the San Jose Mercury News . Essentially, people in the experiments were less likely to remember a piece of trivia if they knew they... More »

Internet Takes a Big Step to Its Future Tomorrow

Giants will test longer Internet Protocol address system

(Newser) - Scientific American posing a jarring question as headline today: "Will the Internet Stop on June 8?" And the answer is: Er, no. But the Internet will start to grow up a little. Tomorrow is World IPv6 Day, when Google, Facebook, YouTube, and other giants will conduct a 24-hour... More »

How Much Is Your Computer Really Worth?

Economists try to put a value on PCs in America

(Newser) - You can scope out the price tag of a Mac or PC at any given electronics hawker, but how much are computers really worth to us? Economists at the Federal Reserve Bank in Atlanta actually tried tackling that question, and they came up with $500 billion—or, on average about... More »

Booming iPad Stunts PC Shipments

Personal computer shipments not growing as anticipated

(Newser) - Is the era of personal computers really ending ? New figures seem to support the idea: Shipments of PCs slowed last quarter, thanks mostly to, yes, the iPad. Total worldwide shipments increased 2.7%, says one report released yesterday; another puts the growth at 3.1%. Both numbers are slower... More »

Days Are Numbered for Laptops, PCs

Op-ed: The 'age of mobile computing' is upon us

(Newser) - A survey of the Consumer Electronics Show and a host of other technological and cultural factors all point to one inescapable conclusion: "The era of the personal computer is drawing to a close," write Mike Malone and Tom Hayes in the Wall Street Journal . Laptops and desktops aren't... More »

Hey, Border Guards: Stay Out of Our Computers

There must be a reason for these invasive searches, seizures, writes the NYT

(Newser) - Right now, border agents can search your computer without a warrant or probable cause—and it's long past time for that to change, asserts the New York Times in an editorial. Borders need to be protected, but there's "a big difference between government agents scanning items for explosives ... and... More »

Ode to Web 1.0: Sites We Miss

Esquire : Sites that were before their time

(Newser) - Everything old is new again, especially on the Web. Some of today's tech darlings owe a lot to websites of years past. Here are some of Esquire's 15 favorite, and mostly kaput, Web 1.0 pioneers:
  1. Dodgeball (2000) "A location-based social network for mobile devices, and the Internet's gift
... More »

Got 37 Bucks? Have a Laptop

The 7-inch eBay netbook really does cost under $40

(Newser) - Wired checks into reports of a $37 Ebay laptop and finds it to be surprisingly legit. The 7-inch netbook runs on Windows CE and has 2GB storage. "What's the catch (apart from the extraordinarily underpowered internals)?" asks Charlie Sorrel. "There appears to be none. These are factory... More »

Fearless Predictions That Were Utterly Wrong

Also, that iPhone is never going anywhere

(Newser) - Remember the one about the guy who said the Internet will fail ? Ha, ha, ha. Well, while we're waiting 15 years later for that daring prediction to come true, Asylum runs through a few other notables that fell flat:
  • 'Portable computers:' "The portable computer is a dream
... More »

Inventor of Personal Computer Dead at 68

H. Edward Roberts had a young employee named Bill Gates

(Newser) - H. Edward Roberts, the man who invented the MITS Altair in 1975, generally considered by computer historians to be the first personal computer, died Thursday in Macon, Georgia. While he was not well known outside the computer industry, one of his employees, Bill Gates, came to define, and some say,... More »

Here's Hoping Apple Tablet Is Like a Car

Computers should be as easy to use as vehicles, appliances

(Newser) - Computers can do amazing things, but as anyone with a technophobic parent knows, they’re still way too complicated. That’s why Farhad Manjoo is hoping Apple’s new tablet will be “the first fully powered PC that is as simple to use as a kitchen appliance.” Sure,... More »

FTC Hits Intel With Antitrust Lawsuit

Chip maker accused of using threats, rewards to shut out competitors

(AP) - The Federal Trade Commission sued Intel today, looking to block tactics it says the world's biggest chip maker has used to snuff out competition. The FTC said Intel, which makes the microprocessors that run personal computers, has used both rewards and threats to discourage computer makers from buying competitors' chips... More »

Microsoft Office 2010: Worthy, But Not Worth It

Why buy what you can get for free?

(Newser) - The latest edition of the Fantastic Four of productivity—Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook—is worthy but not actually worth buying, writes Farhad Manjoo for Slate . Out next year but now available in a beta edition, Microsoft Office 2010 offers some definite improvements: It lets you preview how text or... More »

Wal-Mart Will Push TVs, Laptops on Black Friday

Discount circular leaks ahead of schedule

(Newser) - Details of Wal-Mart's Black Friday deals—normally kept under wraps until Thanksgiving week—have been obtained by CNNMoney and partially confirmed by the retailer. The day after Thanksgiving will see deep discounts on high-def TVs, laptops, and Blu-ray players. Some specifics:
  • Sanyo 50-inch plasma TVs will be available for $598.
... More »

Security Expert: Time for Internet Passports

(Newser) - The Internet has a big problem, argues one of the big names in online security—anonymity. With that weapon, cybercriminals will always have the advantage. And the best solution is to introduce "Internet passports," Russia's Eugene Kaspersky tells ZDNet in an interview. All countries would have to play... More »

Computers Will Stop Getting Faster —in 75 Years

(Newser) - Even Moore's Law has its limit. That's the much-cited dictum from Intel co-founder Gordon Moore that computer speed doubles every two years with ever-smaller and more powerful transistors. Two physicists crunched some numbers and found that the theory—which has held true for 40 years now—must eventually reach a... More »

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