Computing

7 reasons to get excited about CNET at CES 2013

What happens when 90 editors, writers, photographers, and producers from CNET relocate all our operations to Las Vegas to cover the biggest U.S. tech trade show of the year? The most comprehensive coverage of 2013 CES, that's what.

If you live and breathe tech and you'll be at the show in Las Vegas next week, you'll want to park yourself at the CNET booth in the South Hall to watch the action. Our live stage show will include celebrities, live Always On torture tests, product demos galore, panels, interviews of top tech execs, and the best … Read more

Leap Motion motion control tech to be bundled with Asus PCs

Leap Motion, which created an innovative gesture control technology that measures users' movements to an accuracy of a hundredth of a millimeter, has struck a deal to bundle its Leap device and app store with a series of Asus computers.

According to Michael Buckwald, CEO of the San Francisco startup, the Asus deal -- under which the computer giant will package the Leap device with high-end laptops and premium all-in-one PCs, and pre-install the Leap app store on those computers -- is just the first partnership of its kind. Similar deals with other computer makers, or even smartphone manufacturers, are … Read more

Tobii Rex: Control a Windows 8 PC with your eyes

Whatever you may feel about Windows 8, it's sparked a number of interesting hybrid designs. Now you can count the Tobii Rex, an eye-controlled interface for Windows 8, as another innovation that works with Microsoft's latest operating system.

First seen at last year's CES, the Rex is an eye-tracking peripheral that works with Tobii's proprietary Gaze interface to navigate around a Windows 8 computer. The stick-like device attaches to the base of your computer screen and connects via a USB port. … Read more

Leap Motion giving 10,000 developers free Leaps

Leap Motion, which created an innovative gesture control technology that measures users' movements to an accuracy of a hundredth of a millimeter, is expanding its developer program and releasing a new software development kit.

According to Michael Buckwald, CEO of the San Francisco startup, Leap Motion is giving 10,000 developers free Leap units over the next two weeks in a bid to dramatically increase the number of potential applications being designed to work with the new technology.

All told, 40,000 people have applied to be part of Leap Motion's developer program, in part because the number of … Read more

Credit card-size cooler from GE is slim, silent

General Electric has developed an ultraslim cooling solution that could be used in laptops and tablets in the near future.

The cooler uses what GE calls dual piezoelectric cooling jets (DCJ for short). Unlike fan-based versions, which utilize spinning blades, the DCJ implementation is akin to mini bellows that suck in cool air and push out warm air. … Read more

Quantum computing goes mainstream? New VC fund debuts

Quantum computing tends to sounds like something out of a science fiction novel or at least The Big Bang Theory. But a new venture capital fund, launching today, is trying to take it mainstream.

The Quantum Wave Fund, which will set up shop in Boston, plans to invest solely in early stage, private companies working on breakthroughs in quantum technology. It won't be providing funding for early research but instead will seek out companies who already have viable and promising products related to quantum computing.

"Too many people take quantum computing as hypothetical," Serguei Kouzmine, managing partner … Read more

IBM pushes silicon photonics with on-chip optics

IBM has advanced the technology of silicon photonics, fabricating a microchip that has built-in components to send and receive data over optical links.

Researchers have built optical data links into chips before, but IBM's move is notable because it uses conventional chipmaking equipment geared for chips with 90-nanometer features. Today's chips use metal wires to exchange data, but optical links offer the potential of higher transfer speeds over longer distances.

The chip can include several optical components including wavelength division multiplexers that let the chip send and receive signals with multiple frequencies of light, an approach that lets … Read more

For the Internet of things, a cheap but slow network

PARIS -- Wi-Fi's range is too short, 3G and 4G are too expensive, and both use too much power. A French start-up called Sigfox, says it's licked these network problems -- at least for the idea called the Internet of things.

The Internet of things involves networking countless devices such as cars, toys, heart rate monitors, and traffic lights. These devices may not necessarily need the network capacity of a smartphone used to watch videos, but they need to connect from all over and they need to run on a small battery.

Sigfox's network, using a technology … Read more

What inspires EC's Neelie Kroes? Angry Birds

PARIS -- It began with a meeting this week between two Finns from Angry Birds maker Rovio Mobile and Neelie Kroes, the vice president of the European Commission's digital agenda. It ended with a jumble of politicians trying to learn what they could do to make Europe more economically vital in the digital age.

"Please skip the next appointment. I need more time with these guys," Kroes told her staff, then called vice ministers and other officials into the meeting. "In three hours we had a list to do for ourselves, and also for getting inspiration. … Read more