pc

Gamercize has been peddling and pedaling exercise machines for some time now, mostly making fitness gear designed to work with game consoles as well as the occasional digital cycle for kids. But this week it's releasing a product aimed squarely at the cubicle set.

The U.K. company has come up with a "GZ PC-Sport and Power Stepper" combination that can fit under the desk so worker bees can continue their duties uninterrupted while burning off calories without leaving their seats. And here's the kicker: It can be hooked up to the computer by USB so … Read more

If you are accident-prone and like choices, perhaps the new Panasonic 7 Series Toughbook is for you.

Panasonic will introduce three versions of the new business-rugged notebook Monday evening. The ultraportable W7, tablet T7, and slim Y7 notebook. All come loaded with an Intel Core 2 Duo processor and weigh between 3 and 3.7 pounds. (The 14-inch notebook is the heaviest of the three, if you can call 3.7 pounds "heavy.") They also come equipped with Bluetooth 2.0, and built-in Wi-Fi and mobile broadband from AT&T, Sprint, or Verizon. The notebook and ultraportable … Read more

Once upon a time there were no iPods, iPhones, Xboxes, Blackberrys, or Tivos. Really, I'm not kidding. There were PCs, though. And they were really expensive. But we didn't have anything else to spend our money on, so that was OK. We paid $2,000 for our PCs and liked it.

Back in those days, there were three microprocessor companies--Intel, AMD, and a little Texas (it's an oxymoron, I know) company named Cyrix. If you don't recognize the name, that's because Intel had such a lock on PC makers back then that Cyrix's processors were sold primarily through the third-party reseller channel.

It's a popular misconception that Cyrix "cloned" Intel's processors. Cyrix's processors were actually all original designs. In fact, Cyrix's manufacturing partners--initially Texas Instruments, later IBM and ST Microelectronics--licensed Cyrix's designs for their own branded processors. … Read more

I recently mentioned my plan to get the new Eee PC laptop from Asus in spite of a price hike just before the product was introduced. The Eee PC is basically a low-cost subnotebook intended for developing markets, like the One Laptop Per Child project's XO, which I've also written about here--but unlike the OLPC, the Eee PC will be regularly available in commercial channels.

Well, earlier this week, I found the gizmo for sale over on Newegg.com and placed my order. A mere $458.45 later, including California sales tax and two-day shipping, it was … Read more

The $399 Asus Eee PC, the surprising popular Linux-based ultraportable laptop, will have a desktop cousin next year, according to a report in DigiTimes. The 7-inch laptop, which sports a 4GB solid-state hard drive and weighs only 2 pounds, scored high marks with us for its simple user interface, low price, and decent performance.

Reviewers and the mainstream press both lavished the recently released laptop with coverage, and Asus claims worldwide shipments have already reached 100,000 units.

No price or spec details on the proposed desktop are available, but the "Eee" in the system's name stands … Read more

Marvell has released chips for PC and notebook power bricks that can will substantially cut down the amount of electricity required to run these machines.

The chips, a type of power factor correction (PFC) controller based around a digital signal processor, effectively determine the amount of power an application will need and optimize accordingly. The chips also try to keep peak current at the lowest level.

The chips, which will be included in power supplies, are made to comply with new Energy Star requirements that require that 80 percent or more of the power pumped into PCs actually gets used … Read more

There is a lots of talk these days about computers in cars, but it mostly refers to the technology in the vehicle's drivetrain, GPS navigation device, or active safety systems. When are we going to see a real computer in the car, you ask: one that can browse the Web, edit Word docs, and perform all the functions of a desktop. Jensen has an answer to that question with the NVX3000PC, on show at SEMA 2007. The portable device has a 7-inch touch-screen display and comes with a Windows Vista operating system, a 30GB internal hard drive, an integrated … Read more

The mini-laptop from Taiwanese computermaker Asus made its official U.S. debut Thursday.

In an outdoor courtyard of the Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto, Calif., the computer's intended audience--schoolkids--were in ample attendance. Like most animated Disney films today, the Eee PC is on the surface intended for children, but has plenty to keep the attention of adults too.

The Eee PC is similar in idea to the XO from the One Laptop Per Child initiative and Intel's Classmate PC. But unlike the former two, the primary audience for the Eee is not children in developing nations. Instead, … Read more

On Thursday, WalMart begins selling the Everex Green gPC TC2502, a $198, low-power, Linux-based PC designed primarily for running Web 2.0 applications.

When users first fire up their gPC, they'll get a Mac-like desktop with a series of program icons "docked" across the bottom. The icons are bookmarks to popular and useful Web 2.0 services from Google and other vendors. There are icons for Google Docs, Gmail, Google Maps, and YouTube, for example, as well as Meebo, Facebook, and Wikipedia. Sprinkled into the lineup are some non-Web-based apps, like Skype and Gimp, but the novice … Read more