Crave

Mac customers report high satisfaction scores in ChangeWave's latest survey.

(Credit: Apple)

Apple may be in for some short-term pain when it comes to the Mac, but it can take comfort in the fact that recent buyers seem very satisfied with their purchases.

ChangeWave released another one of its surveys Wednesday, which chart the likelihood of respondents to buy a personal computer over the next 90 days from one manufacturer as opposed to another. As we pointed out earlier this week, Apple appears to have finally run into the economic storm that is hurting the tech industry, although the more interesting number was the various customer satisfaction ratings assembled by ChangeWave.

Apple customers over the past 90 days reported by far the highest level of satisfaction in ChangeWave's survey, with 81 percent of Apple customers saying they were "highly satisfied." Asus customers were the second-most satisfied group, with 67 percent reporting they were highly satisfied with their purchase, while 61 percent of Acer customers fell into that category. Lenovo was last, with only 50 percent reporting such levels of satisfaction.

The current generation of compunerds is totally screwed. We (yes, I'm one of you) spend at least eight hours surfing the Internet on a daily basis, weekends included! Those YouTube videos aren't going to watch themselves, right?

That's why ergonomics is so important. We need specific keyboards and mice to angle our wrists properly and alleviate all that unnecessary stress--I can't think of a bigger weekend downer than the dreaded "mouse arm."

Thanks to the brilliant minds at Brando Workshop, we now have another ergonomic tool at our disposal. The White Bread Wrist Rest is designed to fit neatly under your hand, elevating your wrist just enough to prevent carpal tunnel syndrome later in life.*

They're sold in individual slices for $6, but you can save $2 by purchasing two. Each one measures about 4.4 inches long, 5.5 inches wide, and a little over half an inch thick. You might not think that half an inch makes a huge difference, and you're probably right. In either case, Brando's got you covered! According to its Web site, the Bread Wrist Rest is also "good for decoration." Can somebody say...twofer?!

*Absolutely not guaranteed

The IR2BTci got the highest rating in our roundup, but it's probably overkill for most users.

The Sony PlayStation 3 is a game console first, but its Blu-ray playback also makes it one of the most popular home theater devices on the market. The only problem is that because the PS3 lacks an IR receptor, its difficult to integrate with home theaters centered around a IR-based universal remote, like a Harmony. For those who have become accustomed to controlling their gear using simple buttons that say "Watch TV" or "Watch a Blu-ray disc," it's a real pain that the PS3 requires using Sony's Blu-ray DVD remote or the game controller.

To deal with this issue, several essentially homemade devices have shown up on the market and we've done a roundup of the top three, plus a low cost alternative that's easier on your wallet. The main takeaway is that all the converters we tested performed essentially equally well, with only some minor differences in how user-configurable and upgradeable they are. And if you're willing to turn the console on and off manually, you might as well save yourself about $60 and go with the Nyko Blu-Wave.

Read CNET's roundup of IR-to-Bluetooth converter boxes.

You might balk at the $130 price tag, but this time more actually means better. The Logitech Cordless Desktop Wave Pro combo puts two of our favorite products together in one package: the Logitech Cordless Desktop Wave Keyboard and the Logitech MX 1100 Cordless laser mouse.

Both products received very high marks from their respective editors, and the MX1100 mouse even managed to win an Editors' Choice award. This time around, we're sticking to our guns and rewarding this winning combo as well.

One of the most significant hardware changes in the bundle that we don't speak much of in the review is the mouse's rechargeable battery. In our separate review of the MX1100, we weren't very happy to see that it used alkaline batteries for juice. We cut it some slack since it meant one less power adapter to throw into our mountain of cords, but Logitech really came through this time and includes a rechargeable battery with the system.

Logitech advertises two months of power per charge, and although we don't have the time or the resources to perform a drain test, we used the device for a full week and kept it on 24 hours a day and barely saw the drain indicator move. In our opinion, that's worth the bimonthly mouse charging.

Cell phones may or may not mess with our brains, but now our brains can mess with them.

NeuroSky, a San Jose, Calif.-based company that focuses on developing brain-controlled interfaces, recently created a prototype of a system that reads brain waves and uses them to control mobile phone applications. Basically, the brain dictates the action of the device without the help of the middleman: the fingers.

This is how it works: software algorithms deduce from your brain waves what you intend to do and pass on the appropriate commands to the cell phone. During the demo of the prototype, NeuroSky exhibited a game in which users moved a video game character to an intended place on the cell phone's screen. The more the person concentrated, the faster the character would move.

Right now the system still requires multiple parts, but the company, is working on making a single integrated chip that can perform all the functions.

This is a first step toward a silent world where we don't really need to talk anymore. Just think and you are understood. Now that's scary.

(Via Fashionfunky)

Click for pics and detailed info on Blue Wave.

When Samsung launched the P2 late last year, it was already a pretty cool device. It impressed me with a super slick interface (albeit touch screen), plentiful features (including stereo Bluetooth-streaming ability), and some of the sweetest sound to hit my ears in the history of MP3 players. Who knew then that the P2 was only three-quarters baked? Actually, it wasn't too tough to figure that out--the inclusion of a built-in mic with absolutely no usability was a dead giveaway.

Fast forward 10 months later, and Samsung finally has a complete P2 on its hands. The company issued update after update in the form of multiple Blue Wave firmware releases, and the tide has finally stopped coming in, giving me a chance to sit down with the player and test it with all features up and running. Samsung will also be relaunching the player as the P2+--with all the firmware fully loaded--starting September 14. Attractive new pricing will accompany the player as well: $149 and $179 for the 4GB and 8GB models, respectively.

Included after the jump is a comprehensive list of all the updates provided throughout the Blue Wave firmware releases. For more detailed information on several of the new features and my experience with them, check out our slide show. There was simply too much information to include in the already lengthy review, although it is worth noting that the feature additions and price drops garnered the Samsung P2 a score raise, from 7.7 to 8.0.

• Support for AAC audio
• Bluetooth cell-phone connectivity
• Bluetooth file-transfer capability
• FM radio recording
• Voice recording
• Support for Starz Play video downloads
• Two new games: Alggagi and Omok2
• New GUI themes (for a total of 12, see above)
• A-B-looping functionality
• Playlist-specific DSNe-assignment ability
• Increased audio-playback speed-control
• Video-playback speed-control
• Calculator
• Full-screen album art and info
• Password protection
• Navigate by album art
• Separate, customizable video-display settings
• Advanced touch sensitivity (such as recognizing the twisting motion)
• Subway maps

(Credit: Paradoxy Products)

Inventor Daniel Young says the pieces on his New Wave Chess & Checkers board are so immovable, the games can be played in a hurricane. We're assuming a checkmate won't be the first thing on your mind as the winds hit, but we nonetheless like the idea of a game board with that kind of holding power.

Young, a designer for Paradoxy Products, discovered that by cutting slits into the fluting of corrugated board he could harness the material's ability to hold and release inserted flat objects like chess or checkers pieces.

"Slitting transforms ordinary corrugated board into a highly economical medium for gameplay and displays," the New York-based designer says. "Flat, die-cut plastic pieces can be held in an upright position on a board, producing a three-dimensional effect extremely inexpensively."

(Credit: Paradoxy Products)

Looks like the 9-inch square board would travel well. Or, as Young suggests, it could lend itself to "extreme" chess or checkers in which players could "Frisbee" the one-ounce board across the room to each other or maybe play on a roller coaster.

Young notes that New Wave Chess & Checkers would be perfect for playing games in space or on Mars (once we build up an ozone layer there, of course).

"I plan to donate some sets to NASA," he says.

The New Wave Chess & Checkers set retails for $12 online at Paradoxy Products' Web site and comes with a carrying case and pouches for the pieces.

There are a growing number of designs being floated to make electricity from the sea. But the Seadog Pump may get the prize for the simplest.

Wave- or tidal-power devices use underwater turbines or buoys to convert the motion of the ocean's water into electricity.

A source of electricity? Click on the image to see installation of the Seadog Pump in the Gulf of Mexico last year.

(Credit: Independent Natural Resources)

The Seadog Pump from Independent Natural Resources in Minnesota just focuses on pumping water.

A floating station uses wave motion to drive a piston that pumps water through an exhaust pipe. That water is collected and then passed through standard turbines to make electricity when needed, returning the water to its source.

A schematic of how the Seadog Pump works to pump water, which is stored and then passed through a turbine to make electricity.

(Credit: Independent Natural Resources)

The company last week said that Texas A&M University at Galveston's Marine Engineering Technology Department had evaluated a demonstration machine in the Gulf of Mexico. The university found that the Seadog Pump was able to convert 22 percent of ocean wave energy into usable energy.

Independent Natural Resources is looking to test the system for generating power for electrical utilities or for desalination. Water treatment and pumping are very energy-intensive.

The company says the simplicity of design will make it cheaper to scale up.

It uses readily available parts and no electronics, making it more durable in salt water.

"We are planning our first commercial demonstration facility by year-end 2008 or first-quarter 2009, and have already applied for permitting through the required regulatory agencies," said Doug Sandberg, a company vice president.

Independent Natural Resources plans to have an 18-pump field in the Gulf of Mexico used to desalinate seawater.

Ocean power is, for the most part, experimental technology. One company called Marine Current Technologies is expecting to commission a 1.2-megawatt installation in Ireland in the coming months.

There are a number of other tests taking place. But there's a great deal of potential: experts estimate that wave and tidal power could generate gigawatts of electricity within 10 years, enough to power millions of U.S. homes.