Hardware

Western Digital subsidiary HGST has found a novel way of packing more storage capacity into a standard 3.5-inch hard disc drive: filling it with helium instead of air. The 6-TB Ultrastar He6 HDD is the highest-capacity drive in the world, according to the company. HGST has achieved this by packing s...

Motorola's making a big splash with the launch of Project Ara, an ambitious, open source hardware initiative that allows consumers to customize their entire phone, down to the specific components and display. Ara's approach centers around an endoskeleton, or "endo," that is the core frame holding th...

CROWDFUNDING SPOTLIGHT

The IF Convertible: 3 Devices, 1 Data Plan

Back in 2011, in the dark, pre-tablet days of the netbook, Motorola introduced a phone and laptop combo called the "Atrix." The then-powerful 4G, dual-core AT&T phone slotted into a unique receptacle on the back of the optional laptop's clamshell hinge -- a bit like a game cartridge slides into ...

Microsoft on Thursday began rolling out Windows 8.1 worldwide. This latest update to its flagship OS has improved multitasking, improved search, a redesigned Windows Store, and new and updated apps. The Start button, which users have been clamoring for since Windows 8 was released, has been restored...

You know all those free programs that typically come on PCs and mobile devices whether you want them or not? Common examples include paid antivirus programs within the PC environment and phone company add-ons like music stores within Android. Often called "bloatware," they are usually manufacturer- ...

CROWDFUNDING SPOTLIGHT

castAR Makes the World Your 3D Playground

Do you remember the scene in an early Star Wars movie where R2-D2 and Chewbacca played a holographically generated, Jedi 3D board game while killing time in their light freighter? Full-color, three-dimensional game pieces were projected onto the board. Chewbacca wasn't a particularly good loser, and...

The Android gaming market is becoming increasingly crowded, but on Thursday Sunflex announced a fresh contender: the Unu, a combination console, tablet and home entertainment device that will arrive at retail next month. The Unu offers the promise of bringing virtually any game from Google Play to t...

Manuals from Lenovo that were leaked onto the Internet indicate that the company is working on a laptop running Android. Not only were two manuals for the IdeaPad A10 discovered this week on the Web -- one dated July and the other dated August -- but Lenovo has reportedly since confirmed the upcomin...

CROWDFUNDING SPOTLIGHT

Multipath Router: Everybody Gets to Stream!

The Multipath Router -- a project seeking crowdfunding on Indiegogo -- could change the way we connect to the Internet. Remember when Internet service was delivered to the home and workplace through copper voice phone lines terminating in a squeaking analog modem? Speeds using that clunky old system...

Google and HP on Tuesday unveiled the latest addition to the Chromebook family: the HP Chromebook 11. Like its earlier counterparts, this Chromebook weighs next to nothing -- roughly 2 pounds -- and runs Google's Linux-based Chrome OS operating system. This new one, however -- priced at $279 -- come...

Russia's Pirate Party wrote a letter to NASA offering to host the agency's website, which is currently out of commission because of the government shutdown. The Pirate Party -- a minority political movement in many European countries predicated on privacy and transparency -- informed NASA that it co...

Intel on Thursday announced Galileo, a microcontroller development board made jointly with open source hardware company Arduino for the education and maker markets. Based on Intel's recently announced Quark system on a chip, the Galileo board will be available by the end of November for less than $6...

Dell on Wednesday released new tablets and updates to its XPS line of laptops for geeks, less than three weeks after founder Michael Dell won a long and bitter battle to take the company private again. The company launched two Windows 8.1 tablets and two Android tablets under the revived "Venue" nam...

Both BlackBerry and Microsoft have been in far stronger positions with regard to personal technology. At one time, Microsoft was contending for leadership in smartphones against Palm and BlackBerry, and BlackBerry took leadership only to lose it to Apple and then Samsung. Microsoft put tablets on th...

HP on Thursday announced the first computer with integrated 3D motion-control technology from Leap Motion: the HP Envy 17 Leap Motion Special Edition. Priced starting at $1,050, the 17.3-inch device will be available for preorder in the United States starting Oct. 16. It's "designed for people who a...

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