Samsung just released a concept video of their new “Flexible Display Technology” that though it isn’t expected to be out until 2012 (which is actually pretty soon…) is very impressive and may become the new standard for mobile devices according to many different articles I’ve read over the last few months.

Even though Samsung has not officially released this technology it is very impressive and the possible uses are endless. If you have a spare moment check out the video released by them that is designed to portray the devices possibilities. This device being flexible is very durable. Those of you that always drop devices, such as phones, tablets, etc. don’t need to worry about dropping one of these. One of the cool possibilities this device will offer is augmented reality which allows the user to basically see an image in 3D off of the tablet itself.

Pretty interesting technology that could also have benefits in many different fields when it comes to training with the use of augmented reality. Surgeons could learn about various surgeries via the augmented reality and would be able to see what should happen in a surgery without actually having to be present in a surgery.

If you want to read more click here or check out the video from Samsung below!

The debate is on! Will Solid State Drives become cheaper than the current mechanical hard drives? Depending on who you talk to that answer is yes, but not initially. Due to the large amount of damage done in Thailand in recent months Mechanical Hard Drive prices have be slowly and steadily rising in price due to availability. Thailand manufactures roughly 70% of the world’s hard drives and because of the damage there many of the supplies have been cut off.

Micron, a major manufacturer of Solid State Hard Drives that they are actually seeing an increase in SSD demand from what they can only assume is due to the flooding in Thailand. Micron’s Kevin Kilbuck says that he feels their SSD fill the void nicely. 

SSD’s are still considerably more expensive than the normal mechanical Hard Drives are but with prices on the rise for Mechanical Hard Drives it’s anyone’s guess how much longer that will last. If Mechanical Hard Drive prices continue to increase more buyers may decide to spend a little bit extra money to get a SSD and have a faster performing hard drive.

If you’re interested in reading more click here.

Those of you that have not yet heard, an Ultrabook is similar to a netbook in that it is a small portable computer and that’s about it. Ultrabooks are known to be very light weight and offer very similar features to a laptop with a fraction of the weight. They are the ultimate in portable computing.

Until recently Ultrabooks used primarily sold state hard drives (SSD) which made them very expensive. Acer just released an Ultrabook that gives its users the best of both worlds, SSD speed, but a cheaper price point only associated with cheaper and slower mechanical hard drives. 

Many people are wondering if the idea of these hybrid drives will catch on. Most experts agree that it would be in Ultrabook makers best interests to go in this direction as it offers a small amount of hard disk space for the operating system to function off of which increases speed but also offers a lot of storages space economically due to the mechanical drive portion.

If you’re interested in reading more on this topic, click here.

In the past there have been numerous cases on privacy and what the government/court system considers over stepping ones bounds when doing an investigation. Currently there is a case in Colorado Springs in which Ramona Fricosu is accused of a mortgage scam. Law enforcement found a laptop in her home while doing a search which has encrypted data on it. Since the law enforcement agents at the labs working the case are having trouble cracking the encryption key on the laptop they are offering Romona a deal to just give them the key so they can see the data on the laptop. Obviously at this point Ramona along with here attorney has refused this request.  So the question arises, just how far is too far when investigating someone? What constitutes a breach of ones right to the Fifth Amendment? 

Ramona’s attorney makes a very good point that, yes, the Fifth Amendment protects a person from divulging such information. So, will the courts rule in favor of the prosecution and force Ramona to give this information out? No one knows for sure at this point. One thing is for sure, this is just one more base to cover in an ever changing society of technology. 

Above is a picture of Attorney Phil Dubois, Ramona’s attorney, whom specializes in Criminal Defense and Internet Law.

If you’re interested in reading more about this case and how it could affect your rights click here.

IBM is once again doing something pretty amazing. Their engineers are currently working on a new type of memory that is supposedly one hundred times fast than flash memory. The remarkable thing about this ram though is not just its speed, but, it’s really cheap to produce. Even at the early stages IBM is saying that this type of memory can easily be integrated into everything from corporate mainframes all the way on down to you mobile phone. As amazing as it sounds to be able to have that much power in the palm of your hand it is still going to be a little ways off.

In order to get the benefit of RAM that is that fast other hardware is going to need to be further developed to handle the speed which IBM apparently does not see as a problem because they are anticipating having this technology available within the next 5 years! If you are curious and would like to read more, including the press release by IBM click here.

There are some new forms of storage on the market. These have been around for several years now so I guess they're not that new...but at this size/speed and avaiablility to consumers, they are completely new! At around $4,500 for a 1 TB PCI-Express card this may not really be in most consumers price range but devices like this are slowly coming down in price and may in the future actually be the types of storage you see in PC’s. 

Most computers use a common mechanical hard drive that has several metal plates that data is written to and 1TB drives like this are becoming common place in consumer PC’s these drives currently run about $70 for a replacement when purchased online but in years past were much more expensive. 

The advantages of the PCI Express card when used for storage have to do with its read/write speed. Most hard drives found commonly in computers today have a 3MB Cache which is used during the read/write process. These cards not only give true 1.4GB/s read/write speed but offer a much larger cache (512MB) which allows the card to process data much quicker than that of today’s hard drives. If you’re interested in reading more about hard drives and the way that they function click here. If you just want to drool over the “new” Sold State Drive (PCI-Express hard drive) click here…

Battery life on a laptop is such an important factor when it comes to mobile computing since without it, well, you don’t have a functioning computer. Ever consider how much battery power the various programs you run consume? 

Well, Microsoft just came out with their newest web browser in the last few weeks and they decided to put it to the test against other browsers. According to Microsoft in a test against the 4 other most popular browsers, Internet Explorer 9 has come out on top in the power saving race. During the tests that Microsoft put in place, they ran each browser on the same laptop running the same various websites on each of them to determine exactly how long the battery would last. Websites ranged anywhere from basic pages with no animations to web pages that were graphic intensive and would actually push the computer to consume more power.

At the completion of the test the browsers in order from best to worst in regards to power consumption on your computer were: Internet Explorer 9, Firefox 4, Safari 5, Opera 11, followed by Google’s Chrome 10. So if power saving is what you’re looking for go with Internet Explorer 9, if not…I think I’m still going to stick with Google Chrome.

Looking to buy a new computer but want something that’s portable? Well the choice used to be as simple as just going out to your local retailer and picking up a new laptop. Now a days however you have another choice, a netbook. Whether you choose to get a laptop or netbook is entirely up to preference (and what you’ll need it for of course) but to choose the best fitting product for your needs its best to get some background knowledge first.

Laptops are generally much more powerful. By this I mean they usually have better processors, more ram capacity, and a bigger hard drive, not to mention the fact that the keyboards are a normal size whereas netbooks have a significantly smaller keyboard.

If you’re looking to purchase a new “portable computer” then you need to determine what you’re going to be using it for. A netbook would work fine for word processing, browsing the internet, and checking emails. A laptop can be used for all of the above as well as gaming and more hardware intensive tasks. Need to burn a DVD or CD? Don’t look into a netbook; most netbooks do not come with disk drives…

All things considered it is completely up to you to decide what will suit your needs best just make sure to look into the details farther than just the price point.

Netbook specialist Acer is apparently pleased with the idea that it was the first to introduce a netbook that lets users run either Windows 7 or Android. The company announced yesterday that it will continue this strategy and use the dual-boot feature on all upcoming dual-core netbooks.

Regardless of whether or not Windows Phone 7 becomes a huge success among the average Joes, Microsoft has already written the next step in its playbook, trying to woo the nearly impenetrable enterprise market. With its social media integration and the ability to connect to Xbox Live, it is being geared toward everyday consumers more than any Microsoft mobile platform before it.

According to Eedoo CEO Jack Luo, the Ebox is expected to feature an integrated controller-free platform similar to Kinect, along with 30 pre-installed games when it launches in Q1 2011.

Hackers have managed to crack an Intel-developed encryption code that is currently used by a number of industry heavyweights to secure HD video content and devices. In order for someone to use this information to unlock anything that would have to implement it into silicon-make a computer chip.

Retail giant Best Buy is offering the T-Mobile G2 Smartphone powered by Froyo (Android OS 2.2) and even better it will have full access to the blazing speed of the 4G mobile network.  The phone's price is set at a surprisingly low $199.99 and will start shipping phones to pre-ordered customers by the end of October.  Powered by the Google platform, G2 will have the abilities and functionality of a full blown smartphone with access to all your favorite apps via the marketplace, send/receive email, photos, navigation, GPS, access to YouTube and online media streaming, all on the blazing 4G network. 

Yes you are reading correctly, Commodore is making a new computer system with very modern hardware, but decided to keep the old looks. This new system is going to be an exact replica of the classic Commodore C64. Except this time it is going to have 4GB of DDR3 memory, a 1TB hard drive, an HDMI port, Intel Atom 525 CPU and Nvidia Ion2 graphics. The “Commodore PC64” is set to ship out this holiday season, no pricing details have been released at this time.

    Intel Corporation, known for their world leading silicon innovations and processor technologies, has yet again set what should be a pretty significant milestone for the new generation of "netbooks."  The mobile processor Intel Atom is now a dual core CPU!  They are available with several OEMs, including Lenovo, LG, MIS, Toshiba, and Acer, and Asus.  With the newly added horsepower, users' can now enjoy a fuller, and faster computer experience without sparing performance on the compact systems.  Quad core next?!

Samsung has just introduced a portable Blu-Ray player capable of rendering 1080p HD video and very smooth 3D playback. This $500 DVD player features a 10.1-inch screen, integrated Wi-fi, and 2 HDMI outputs. Perfect for the traveling person or for the kids.

Recuva is a file recovery tool that allows you to recover deleted files from hard drives, flash drives, MP3 players, and much more. What is even better is they have a full install version and a portable version. This program is free to download and works on most Windows Operating Systems.

If you’re already an owner or potential future owner of one of Apple’s popular products like the iPhone, iTouch, or newly released iPad then pay attention!  From experience, I know how frustrating it was before when you downloaded an app and it turned out to be a totally dud, especially when you’re purchasing them. 

Well now Apple is launching a “buy before you try” campaign which allows you to download the app and use it BEFORE you buy it.  With some limitations on apps, and less functionality between the “preview” app and the full version, this should be a great addition for Apples marketplace. 

Research in Motion (RIM) is getting ready to launch codename “BlackPad” this November.  RIM which is most popularly known for their line of smartphones, the Blackberry, will be squaring off with Apple’s IPad.   The tablet style devices have seemed to be really booming in the electronics world this summer, so be on the lookout for what should be a great addition to the market! { http://www.tgdaily.com/mobility-features/50889 }

Whether you want to launch an application when your computer goes idle or you just simply want to mute your speakers that way when you leave the office your email notifications do not annoy your fellow coworkers, System Silencer can help. System Silencer has a set of stock toggles such as turning off your monitor, muting your sound, and locking your workstation, all of which can be activated by your computer sitting idle for a specified number of minutes. This is a really nice program and works on most Windows based Operating Systems. 

Do you need a quick reference for those beep codes coming from your motherboard. Give Beep Codes Viewer a try. Beep Codes Viewer is a small, portable, and free application designed to give you a quick reference guide to look up what Beep Codes mean, with different codes by motherboard manufacturer, and see what the problem is. This little program will save you a lot of time.

If you are suffering from a slow startup on your Windows based machine then I would give StartUpLite a try.  Malwarebytes has created a safe, easy, and efficient way to eliminate those unnecessary applications that automatically start when you turn on your computer. The program allows you to disable or remove unnecessary startup entries from your computer which in return will dramatically help shorten the startup time of your computer.

StartUpLite is a free application that works on most Windows based machines and can be found at http://www.malwarebytes.org/startuplite.php.

Thanks to a quadruple-layer Blu-ray disc, 128GB of data can now be stored on a single disc, which is about 27x more than your standard DVD!  Thanks to the new Blu-ray standard "BDXL" which allows for the quadruple layer disc, but also has pushed the limits on their triple layer discs, which can now exceed up over 100GB of a single disc.  As of right now, you won't find any BDXL compliant players on the market for home users, this standard has really been developed, and will be used for professional applications such as media imaging and archiving.  As more data intensive 3D animations become more popular, we will eventually see the BDXL standard move towards the home market, but that is still a ways down the road.

Eric Kintz, VP of Logitech, spoke on a lineup of webcams for the ultimate experience for video calls with "crystal-clear" stereo audio.  The HD Pro C910 records with a two mic system, and allows you to record a video in full HD 1080p.  Feeling like pictures?  The HD Pro snaps them with an impressive 10-megapixel camera designed for clarity and high resolution shots.  Good news is the HD Pro C910 is fairly priced at $99.  These are the perfect addition for those who use the popular VOIP services slike Skype to video chat with your friends and family.  Logitech will also be releasing three other models starting at $40 for the C270 (3 megapixel - 720p video calling - 1080p video recording), the C310 or $50 (5 megapixel camera - 720p video calling - 1080p video recording), and the C510 for $60 (Portable HD video calling and recording - 1080p). (www.logitech.com)