1

Asus launches mainboards for those who fear EMI

Also help save the world

OK, SO WE might be a little bit sarcastic here, but we can’t quite figure this one out. Asus has announced no less than six new motherboards, based on very basic chipsets, that are not only meant to have the lowest electromagnetic emissions in the industry, but they also feature “advanced protective shields”, “anti-surge features” and reduced “system-wide power consumption by up to 80.23 [percent]”.
Read more

Apple’s iPad is here

Six different models

APPLE HAS JUST announced its latest addition, the iPad. We’re not sold on the name, but one of the big news items here is that Apple might be forced to change the name, as iPad was a registered trademark of Fujitsu Japan and there’s also a company called Magtek that sells a product called the IPAD. But that’s for another day; let’s take a closer look at what’s on offer.
Read more

Lockheed launches IronClad

No it’s not a boat it’s to do with computers, silly

LOCKHEED MARTIN MIGHT not be a company that most of us associate with computers, but as the company is heavily involved with the US military, it has come up with a secure computing solution called the IronClad in co-operation with IronKey. At first glance it might just look like any other USB key, although in a fancy brushed aluminium casing, but one shouldn’t judge a book by its cover.
Read more

2

The mystery of the rusty chokes

New boards come with rusty choke bonus

SOME OF YOU might not be old enough to remember the farce about a decade ago about blown capacitors on motherboards. It was a huge issue and came down to the matter of poor choice of components as the motherboard makers tried to save some cost. Although we’re not the first to unearth this, it now appears that a certain manufacturer has ended up with at least some board models that come with pre-rusted chokes.
Update: Asrock responds
Update2: More information in part 2
Read more

China saves the desktop PC, for now

If you believe ‘industry insiders’ and the NYT

EVERY COUPLE OF years the death of the desktop PC is announced and we’re told that notebooks are set to replace the humble desktop as not only are they getting faster but they look so much better, use less power and of course they’re much more desirable than a desktop PC. However, the New York Times Bits blog talked to a few technology companies at CES about the desktop PC and according to them, it’ll still be around, for now.
Read more