computer

This may be the best news all year in the flawed world of gadget fashion: Gold could be facing a serious challenge as the luxury look of choice. And the pretender to the throne may not be a precious metal at all.

Witness this brewing battle in custom Macs. Only a few months ago, an outfit called Chromac offered some fetching photos of an iMac with a mirrored patina worthy of the company's name. But now there's a rival service from Computer Choppers, which showed off its Midas touch with the MacBook around the same time but has … Read more

D-Wave Systems has received $17 million to see if it's possible to compute complex equations by studying the behavior of molecules.

International Investment and Underwriting of Dublin led the round, which was the third round of funding for the Vancouver-based company. Draper Fisher Jurvetson (which always seems to be involved in wacky sorts of companies), GrowthWorks Capital, BDC Venture Capital, Harris & Harris Group, and British Columbia Investment Management also participated. Previously, the company raised more than $30 million.

Quantum computers, which researchers have experimented with for years but which haven't yet existed outside of the laboratory, are … Read more

Some cynics out there might have thought the drum cases from Spotswood Custom Computers were just silly novelty items. Au contraire: Not only have they been popular, but there's a new model that's bigger and--depending on one's point of view--better than ever.

The L-24 is part of the company's "water-cooling" line, measuring 24 inches in diameter and 18 inches deep. That's big enough to house 12 fans, "three triple-fan water-cooling radiators, extra-long graphics cards, a 1600W (or larger) power supply, two 5.25-inch CD/DVD drives and 15 3.5-inch hard drives,&… Read more

I had two conversations today that set me to pondering the future of open source. One was during a panel I moderated on "cloud-based computing" at the Webguild Web 2.0 Conference. The second was over lunch with an old friend.

First, what happens to the open-source development community if the world moves to cloud-based computing? Open source has been a server or PC-based phenomenon. Why did Linus Torvalds develop for an x86 architecture? Because that's what he had. He didn't have a massive server farm to work with. Neither do you.

Think about it. What software could you or I write in a world where there are only a few "computers" (five, according to Yahoo), computers to which you and I don't have access? I suppose developers will increasingly be able to write code for others' "clouds," but will this be the same?… Read more

The ruby-studded TV proved it, and now some PCs are following suit: The Era of Bling clearly is not the sole province of iPhones, iPods, and other portable gadgets.

Japan's Tokyo's Zeus Computer has crafted a line of luxury desktops that bring a new definition to "over the top." On the menu are the "Jupiter" model made of pure platinum and the "Mars" molded in solid gold, according to Tokyo-based Pink Tentacle, at the respective prices of 80 million and 60 million yen--or $760,000 and $570,000. The specs (as if … Read more

Can going back to direct current--favored by Thomas Edison--make data centers more modern and energy-efficient?

Start-up Validus on Monday is scheduled to announce the availability of a DC-based electricity distribution system tailored specifically for data centers.

The company, which raised $10 million in venture funding last December, has an initial Fortune 50 company customer that's looking to reduce energy consumption at its corporate data center, according to CEO Rudy Kraus.

The idea of using direct current, rather than alternating current, to reduce power consumption has been around for a long time. The telecom industry relies primarily on DC power … Read more

Online shoppers will soon be able to tell at a glance if computers offer "green" features. Desktop and laptop PCs, as well as monitors, sold online are set to display the EPEAT logo starting early this year.

The label is the closest the electronics industry has come to adopting a third-party, green seal of approval for computers.

EPEAT's bronze, silver, and gold ratings mark electronics offering energy efficiency and sustainable product designs. Equipment that's easily dismantled, made from recycled plastics or using low-toxic ingredients get high marks.

The nonprofit Green Electronics Council runs the EPEAT system … Read more

On Thursday, Japanese authorities announced the arrest of a college student and two associates who are alleged to have written and distributed a Trojan horse via a popular peer-to-per network.

Because Japan currently lacks computer crime laws, the three (whose names were withheld) were instead arrested on copyright violations. Between October and November of 2007, the author of a Trojan known as Harada used images of a popular anime character to entice users of the Winny P2P network to download the malware.

Computers infected with one strain of Harada displayed a message saying, "You're already dead. Come here. … Read more

There's a lesson to be learned from my recent attempt at replacing the hard disk on an old laptop computer.

The computer in question had originally shipped in 2001 with Windows ME, but was now running Windows XP. I suspect the RAM had also been upgraded over time, it now had 512MB. Obviously the owner wanted the machine to last as long as possible. They weren't even deterred by the fact that the lettering had worn off some of the keys on the keyboard.

In line with this, I suggested that the hard disk be replaced, not because … Read more