Hardware posts

Apple has a host of patents to its name, and rifling through them can offer some fascinating insights into the potential future of technology and the possibilities that are open to the company as it executes its vision for the future convergence culture. We’ve taken a look at some of the most recently published Apple patents and chosen six of the most exciting to tell you all about. 1. iSpecs: an advanced head-mounted display system for the iPhone or iPod This system (above) may even host its own video camera or be able to communicate with the camera that’s already inside the iPod touch or iPhone….

Fresh in from the historical inevitability department comes news of a failed Adobe Flash demo — and an all-new video clip showing what the proprietary multimedia standard can do on an Android phone. Last week’s FlashCamp Seattle saw Flash Platform evangelist Ryan Stewart demo Flash Player 10.1 on a Nexus One phone during his opening keynote. It didn’t go well, wrote blogger, Jeff Croft. Here’s what happened: On his Mac, Ryan pulled up a site called Eco Zoo. It is, seemingly, a pretty intense example of Flash development — full of 3D rendering, rich interactions, and cute little characters….

Cool UK gadget retailer, Firebox, has begun selling the SmartSwipe, a handy USB device which reads, encrypts and transmits your personal credit card data directly to the online payment page. Now, there’s a lot of insecurity about these days. We’re told hackers and crackers and spammers and other enemies of the people are all working hard to undermine our security and get their hands on our credit card details. SmartSwipe should help beat them at their game. Shoppers just need to swipe their card and click ‘confirm’ usung the onscreen purchase wizard. Your banking details are then encrypted,…

Forget preconceived ideas that the techi world’s digital destiny is run by the boys, for the boys – it looks like the girls are driving the digital home, with women downloading twice as much mobile content as men. Surprised? Perhaps, but these are the fresh findings found by US mobile ents firm, Myxer (a peddler of ringtones, wallpapers and video clips). Myxer claims its female users downloaded twice as much content in April as its male users. Women accounted for 67% of its content downloads for the month: 4.5 million in total. Men downloaded just 2.2 million items during the month. Myxer admits…

The first fruit of HP’s acquisition of Palm will be a Web OS-enabled tablet device due out in the second half of 2010. Codenamed “Hurricane”, the HP tablet which is presumably the same device running Windows 7 that was recently scrapped will be the first product of HP and Palm’s union, which is due to be finalized at the end of July. HP has strong plans for Web OS, including building upon the base created by Jon Rubinstein’s team and emphasizing developer tools, and clearly wants to get a product out before Apple’s iPad seals up the market. It is unknown at this point whether the device will run Flash,…

If you ever wonder why some people do inexplicable things, don’t ask Jeffrey Stephenson. He’s won’t explain a damn thing. But, nevertheless, he shouldn’t have to. His work is jaw-dropping enough on its own. Jeff builds PCs based on classic radios. Now, I don’t know much about classic radios, or about Art Deco in general, but I do know that these are some truly sexy units, and Jeff has taken great pains to pay proper tribute to the devices upon which these are based. Seriously, these are all computers. Yes, even the microphone. Stephenson’s full portfolio is here. I don’t know if these are for sale,…

We’re really liking TomTom’s new daft idea: the Darth Vader navigation pack for TomTom! Narrated (as you can see in the video) by the man who provided the voice for Darth Vader, TomTom’s kit gives you the directions you need, all made a little more interesting by his iconic heavy breathing and slightly threatening tone. Better yet, the voice commands are inspired by lines from the original films, Vader may tell you, “Bear left, to the Dark Side,” for example. You also get Star Wars wallpaper, music and sound-effects from the films including the sound of light sabres and TIE fighters along…

You need a computer you can take anywhere, a laptop designed for life on the site or the road. You need it to be shock-resistant, but you want it to have power. For you, good news, with Panasonic today updating some of the models in its Toughbook laptop range. The Toughbook CF-52 now runs on the Intel Core i5 (up to 2.53GHz) processor and includes 2GB RAM and up to a 250GB shock-mounted hard drive. It also has a bevy of wireless connectivity options. We like that this machine’s been drop and spill-tested and features a magnesium alloy case (with a weird-looking but sturdy carry handle). There’s even…

If you’re one of those new million iPad owners then you need to know about Dropbox for iPad. This free app is the missing link if you want to use your iPad for some light business. It works with the online Dropbox service, which offers you 2.2GB of free online storage. That storage syncs with your Mac or PC’s Home directory – where all your data sits – so you get access to all your most important files from wherever you happen to be. Dropbox on the iPad/iPhone/iPod touch lets you access those files. Better, if you have the right app it lets you open and work on those files. You can open a PowerPoint presentation…

Microsoft may recently have scrapped its plans for the Microsoft Courier device, but that doesn’t mean the company is out of the tablet computing game, company chairman, Bill Gates, told FOX. Microsoft chairman Gates and billionaire investor (and friend of Gates) Warren Buffet were in conversation about the economy, technology, Apple and more. Gates observes his company doesn’t intend to cede the tablet computing market without a fight, despite the cancellation of Courier, “Microsoft has a lot of different tablet projects that we’re pursuing,” he said. “We think that work with…