You probably already have a paper shredder at the office for disposing of confidential documents, but since those often choke on something as small as a forgotten paperclip, you need something with a little more oomph if you hope to do the same with discarded hard drives. Like the IDEAL 0101 HDP from Duplo, which promises to pierce an unneeded old drive with up to 3 tons of force. PC Pro recently had one dropped off for testing, and they were kind enough to shoot a short video of the slow, agonizing carnage.
I wouldn’t go as far as to say the drive is left completely unreadable, I’m sure there are some data recovery facilities who could probably still pull a file or two off of it. But for the average office the damage it does is adequately fatal. I particularly like the ominous green light that comes on, the terrible cracking sounds and the fact that the now deceased drive is unceremoniously dropped into a bin below, like Sweeney Todd’s victims. At almost $3,300(£1,995) it’s not the cheapest way to destroy a drive, but at the least there’s some perverse satisfaction to watching it do its thing.
Instead of dropping $1,000+ on a dedicated oscilloscope, a new app/hardware combo from a company called Oscium promises to provide the same functionality via your iPod Touch/iPhone/iPad for just $297.99. Not exactly dirt cheap, but the solution appears to be far more affordable and flexible than a standalone unit.
In addition to the company’s free iMSO app, which you can download and try out for free before buying, the iMSO-104 basically consists of a breakout cable that attaches to your idevice’s dock connector and allows you to attach various leads and probes for doing whatever one uses an oscilloscope for. The first batch of iMSO-104s has already sold out apparently, so if you want one you’d better order soon to get in on the second batch which will ship on May 20 now.
The more functionality you can cram into a piece of technology, the more appealing it seems to be to the masses. And if you’re still using a tower PC, or even a small barebones box, here’s a pretty easy way to squeeze some more storage into it. Japan-based Century has created this optical disc drive, presumably DVD, that sits in your standard 5.25-inch bay. But by using slimmer hardware they’re able to save enough room to accomodate a couple of 2.5 inch SATA hard drives underneath it as well. The drive looks like it also provides easy pull-out access to the hard drives for swapping them as needed, and will set you back ~$54(¥4,580) minus the cost of the HDDs.
If you’re worried you might have to stick Logitec’s new LAN-WH450N/GR wireless router outside or near a window to catch a breeze and keep it powered, don’t be. What looks like blades on a wind turbine is actually its tri-tenna design which supposedly lets this IEEE802.11 n/a/g/b router achieve speeds of up to 450Mbps (theoretical value) when using compatible devices. It’s also got gigabit ethernet on board if you prefer to go the more reliable wired route, all the standard wireless security methods you’d expect to find on a wifi router these days and will be available mid-April for ~$230 (¥19,000).
When I stop and think about it, between laptop touchpads, touchscreen phones and tablets and my Wacom tablet, I very rarely use a mouse these days. And if a company called Celluon has anything to say about it, the mouse as we know it may soon be extinct. Using similar technology to those projected laser keyboards, the evoMouse sits on your desk just above where you’d normally be pushing a mouse around, and instead tracks the movements of your fingers. Those movements are then translated into cursor movements on screen, allowing you to use just your fingers for everything from scrolling to dragging files to even accessing context menus.
The evoMouse itself is barely larger than an actual mouse, seemingly making it ideal for traveling, and you can connect it to your computer via USB or via Bluetooth if you’d prefer to keep things wireless. It’s even compatible with styluses if you’d like to use it as a portable drawing tablet, or want to take advantage of the evoMouse’s handwriting recognition technology. Pricing and availability are still TBA.
Possibly inspired by Pentax’s Nanoblock-friendly NB1000 digital camera, a Taiwan-based PC tower case manufacturer called Coobeeo has created the HELLO-Q which features a front face plate covered in building-block studs. From the look of the product shots I can’t tell if the case is unofficially LEGO-friendly, but I’m sure it works just fine with one of the local brands of building-block knockoffs available there. And while the ability to spell out messages or use the bricks to hold pens is cute, I’d like to see someone construct a RAID enclosure or something that really takes advantage of how this case can be customized.
If you find a wireless mouse stuffed full of rechargeable batteries to be a bit heavy, or extra buttons too confusing, and are right-handed, you might want to check out Microsoft’s new Express Mouse. At $19.99 it’s the cheapest mouse you can buy that includes the company’s BlueTrack Technology for more accurate tracking, but it forgoes wireless functionality in lieu of an offset USB cable which makes it look like using the mouse on the left side of a computer might be a touch more difficult for south paws.
It’s of course got a scroll wheel and left and right mouse buttons, though the overall design seems to be inspired by Apple’s Magic Mouse, which is the one area where you don’t want to copy Apple’s design choices. Available starting in April in your choice of Flint Grey or Hibiscus Red, with four other colors joining the party in June including Turf Green, Dahlia Pink, Ultramarine and Coast Blue.
The upcoming Marvel vs. Capcom 3 is just about to hit the market after years of waiting. If the good ole fight sticks are just too much for you, PDP has created a more recognizable game pad for the Xbox360. There is likely going to be a PS3 version also if the 360 version goes over well. This is a Marvel Edition Versus Fighting Pad. It has a lot of busy Marvel artwork on it, but if you’re a fan it won’t really matter right?
The buttons and the thumb switch operate using actual micro switch actuators, just like a real arcade cabinet. You can pre-order this for $40, and it will be in on February 14th. Any nerd you love will love you more if this is their Valentines Day gift. Especially since they could put it to use the next day.
You can easily use Apple’s Magic Trackpad with Windows while running it under Boot Camp on Mac hardware, or by extracting the necessary Window’s drivers Apple has created for your non-Apple hardware, but this alternative from Thanko looks to be a little easier and Windows-specific. You just have to be willing to give up some of the ‘magic’ of Apple’s trackpad.
And by that I mean the slick aluminum housing and scratch-resistant glass surface, convenient wireless Bluetooth connectivity and possibly 3 and 4 finger gestures, given the Thanko website only shows theirs being used with 2 digits. But on the other hand it’s yet another device to keep your USB ports filled, can be switched between multi-touch gesture and standard trackpad modes, and is available for just ~$36(¥2,980) compared to the Magic Trackpad’s $69 price tag.
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