Smartfish Engage keyboard adjusts itself to prevent carpal tunnel

Shane McGlaun | Peripherals | Jan 4, 2011 12:00 PM CST

CES 2011, Las Vegas - Anyone that types a lot knows that too much typing can lead to repetitive stress injuries for some folks like carpal tunnel if you are prone to that sort of condition or have it already an ergonomic keyboard can help you to get rid of that pain. Smartfish is showing off a new keyboard at CES 2011 that is a first for ergonomic offerings called the Smartfish Engage Keyboard.

The Engage has a cool automated adjustment function that adjusts the keyboard subtly over time to keep the users hands from being in the same position for too long. This helps to reduce pain associated with carpal tunnel and other injuries and helps to prevent the injuries from happening. The keyboard has a standard split QWERTY ergonomic design.

Each hand gets its own keyboard section and the halves of the keyboard feature distance adjustment for comfort and the keyboard can be tilted up and down for angle. The keyboard is on display at CES and will sell for $149.99. You can get one right now directly from Smartfish.

Continue reading: Smartfish Engage keyboard adjusts itself to prevent carpal tunnel (full post)

Milli HD breaks cover at CES 2011

Shane McGlaun | Mobile Devices | Jan 4, 2011 11:02 AM CST

CES 2011, Las Vegas - MiLi has been creating some really cool power devices for all sorts of gadgets like external battery packs that will keep your favorite gadgets all charged up and ready to use. The company is on hand at CES 2011 in Las Vegas and is unveiling a new docking station that will work with any dockable Apple device from the iPad to the iPhone and can shoot content out to your TV.

The device is called the MiLi HD and it is a charging dock with HDMI output for your big screen that supports up to 1080i resolution. The device also has an integrated speaker and a mini USB connection. The dock will charge your device while it streams the content to your TV. Using the dock you can stream anything your iPad plays to your TV like Hulu Plus and Netflix. The device will sell for $99.99.

"No longer does your mobile entertainment have to be just mobile," says MiLi Power's Executive VP, Robert Grossman. "MiLi HD provides the most reliable option to connect your mobile device to your home entertainment systems. 2011 marks a rebirth of MiLi Power, with a new management team and a slew of new innovative products to hit the market, it's sure to be an exciting year!"

Continue reading: Milli HD breaks cover at CES 2011 (full post)

Lenovo announces Thinkpad Edge E220 and E240 laptops

Don Lynn | Laptops | Jan 3, 2011 11:49 PM CST

CES 2011, Las Vegas - Lenovo's adding quite a few new laptops to their line just in time for CES, and the three that are first off the line are the ThinkPad Edge E220 and E420 as well as the ThinkPad X120e.

The ThinkPad Edge series give you premium design options like a matte finish with metal accents and an infinity screen. The 12.5" E220 and 14" e420 feature the choice of Intel Core i3, i5 and i7 processors, optional mobile broadband and 4G/WiMAX in addition to regular WiFi, and the Lenovo Enhanced Experience 2.0 for Windows 7 to speed up boot time by 30 percent on select models with Rapid Drive technology. Models will start at $899 for the E220 and $749 for the E420 and will be available starting in April.

The 11.6" ThinkPad X120e is the ultraportable addition to the ThinkPad lineup and 1" think and starting at under 3lb in weight. This is the first commercial laptop to feature an AMD Fusion E-Series Accelerated Processing Unit (APU). The X120e prices will be starting at less than $400 and will be available in February. Check out more info and some demo videos at the Source Link.

Continue reading: Lenovo announces Thinkpad Edge E220 and E240 laptops (full post)

Nintendo 3DS gets leaked images and video

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Jan 3, 2011 10:37 PM CST

Leaked video and pictures of Nintendo's upcoming 3DS have arrived. The media shows that Nintendo have tweaked the final hardware by flattening the Start, Home and Select buttons so that they are flush with the device.

Other than those changes, it is relatively unchanged from the DS. The above leaked video shows it includes a 1,300 mAh battery (compared to the DSi XL's 1,050 mAh battery, the DSi's 840 mAh, the DS Lite's 1,000 mAh, and the DS's 850mAh). The video also shows the differences in size between the 3DS, DSi and DS Lite.

A new feature that the 3DS includes is Virtual Console that allows a user to download Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance games, a Tag Mod which lets 3DS owners locate nearby handsets to connect to and exchange data with, a Mii Studio that can automatically create Mii avatars from real photos and also Augmented Reality Games that come preloaded on the system.

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BitFenix finally coming to the US!

Shane McGlaun | Cases, Cooling & PSU | Jan 3, 2011 2:06 PM CST

We have talked about some of the cool BitFenix compute cases before here at Tweak. The company has some of the coolest cases that I have seen in a long time. I am particularly fond of the cool Colossus case with the green lights and black housing. That is a sweet case for my next computer. The big problem for geeks in the US has been that the cases weren't offered here.

All that will soon change. BitFenix has announced that staring at 11am on January 10, 2011 it will start taking pre-orders for an "extremely limited" number of computer cases through its new US online store. It's not clear, if the whole line will be offered in small numbers or if only one case will be offered. I would assume that after the initial batch is sold out the company would be trying to get more of the cases available for computer fans in the US.

"After receiving emails almost daily inquiring about BitFenix in the US, we are excited to finally say that both Colossus and Survivor will be available for pre-order," says David Jarlestedt, BitFenix Product Manager. "By bringing BitFenix products to North American shores, users in the US will finally be able to experience what BitFenix users in Europe and Asia have been raving about."

Continue reading: BitFenix finally coming to the US! (full post)

Swann Security unveils new SportsCam waterproof camcorder

Shane McGlaun | Cameras, Printers & Scanners | Jan 3, 2011 1:00 PM CST

CES 2011, Las Vegas - Anyone that is into sports and has tried to film themselves performing their favorite extreme sport knows that taking a normal camcorder on a skiing trip or to a skate park with you is asking for the death of a normal gadget. If you are a swimmer or diver, a normal camera isn't an option at all. Swann Security has all sorts of cameras in its line up and most of them are aimed at home and office security.

The company has announced that it will be showing off a new consumer camera at CES 2011 that is called the SportsCam Waterproof Mini Video Camera. The camera records in relatively low 640 x 480 resolution and comes in a watertight housing. That housing will keep water out down to 65-feet deep and it is also shock proof to prevent the camera for breaking if you drop it or crash. The camera can be mounted to just about anything with several included mounting options.

Those mount options include several Velcro straps, a double clipper, pouch, and several different clips for various mounts. The camera stores video to microSD cards and a single 16GB microSD card is good for five hours of video and the internal rechargeable battery is good for 2.5 hours of recording. The camera will ship in February for $99.

Continue reading: Swann Security unveils new SportsCam waterproof camcorder (full post)

Lexar unveils 128GB and 64GB SDXC cards

Shane McGlaun | Storage | Jan 3, 2011 12:06 PM CST

Lexar has been making storage cards for cameras and other devices for a long time now. The company has announced a new storage card for SDXC compatible cameras and camcorders that has the highest amount of storage in the industry. The new card is the industry's first 128GB offering. The card also comes in a 64GB SDXC version as well.

Both the 128GB and the 64GB versions of the memory card are speed Class 10 offerings with 133x performance. That means that the cards offer a minimum of 20MB/s data speed. That should make them fast enough for HD video recording and for fast burst shooting. The pro-level cards are aimed at the professional photographer.

As you can imagine, cards with this capacity are far from cheap. When these cards land in Q1 2011 they will be priced at nearly $700 for the 128GB unit and nearly $400 for the 64GB offering. Both will come with software to help you recover deleted images.

Continue reading: Lexar unveils 128GB and 64GB SDXC cards (full post)

ICY Dock MB973SP-B slips into your gaming case for more storage

Shane McGlaun | Storage | Jan 3, 2011 11:02 AM CST

CES 2011, Las Vegas - Each time I build myself a new computer I end up with one 5.25-inch drive in the thing for my software discs and having to lay some of my HDDs around inside the case when I run out of 3.5-incn bays. I don't use all of those drives all the time, but I like to have them in case I need any of my old data. If you have a bunch of 5.25-inch bays vacant and you want more storage space the new Icy Dock MB973SP-B may be just what you need.

The device is a three bay dock that uses any 3.5-inch SATA HDDs and allows you to slip them in and out to use all those extra drives. The dock has a power switch of its own so you can power it down when not needed to save power for your machine. The HDDs just slide into the enclosure and need no trays. The device keeps the drives cool with an 80mm fan that uses smart cooling tech.

The enclosure has a fan controller to sense the temp of the drives and turn the fan on when needed. Other features include an eSATA port and USB 2.0 port on the front. The device can be connected to your mainboard RAID controller for RAID 5 and will support RAID 1 for two drives and a third drive for other needs.

Continue reading: ICY Dock MB973SP-B slips into your gaming case for more storage (full post)

G.Skill launches new Intel Sandy Bridge RAM

Shane McGlaun | RAM | Jan 3, 2011 10:04 AM CST

CES 2011, Las Vegas - G.Skill has announced that it will be showing off new RAM at CES 2011 that is specifically for the new Intel Sandy Bridge CPU platforms. The RAM is optimized for H67 and P67 platforms and is called RipjawsX. The new line has a number of products in it with the fastest being a 4GB kit running at 2,300MHz.

The 2,300MHz kit has latencies of CL7-10-10-27 and is made up of dual 2GB DIMMS with red heat sinks. The RAM will also be offered in other kits ranging from 4GB to 16GB with speeds of 1333MHz up to the 2300MHz kit I just mentioned.

Some of the RAM has heat sinks with fans and the heat sinks come in red, blue, or black depending on the kit. The RAM will ship with a lifetime warranty and the top of the line 2300MHz kit has data bandwidth of 25K MB/s bandwidth. Pricing and availability are unannounced, but we should hear more when CES kicks off.

Continue reading: G.Skill launches new Intel Sandy Bridge RAM (full post)

AMD to have fisticuffs with Intel, bringing sexy back in the form of AMD FX!

Anthony Garreffa | CPUs, Chipsets & SoCs | Dec 31, 2010 9:04 PM CST

It seems like so long ago that AMD had the popular high end FX range. But, it was put to the side with the Phenom and Phenom II series processors as it just couldn't compete in higher end market segments, also because AMD did not want to dilute the FX identifier.

Enter "Black Edition" which was the model with the unlocked BClk multipliers. But now AMD are bringing FX back with the new Bulldozer architecture, which gives the processor a much higher degree of inter-core integration, sharing of common components, higher instructions per clock-cycle and Advanced Vector Extensions (AVX).

AMD's Bulldozer "Zambezi" desktop chips are supposedly going to come in form of two ultra high-end SKUs: the 8-core AMD Vision Black FX and performance segment AMD Vision Ultimate FX.

Continue reading: AMD to have fisticuffs with Intel, bringing sexy back in the form of AMD FX! (full post)