pc

If there are lessons to be learned about the need for big companies to create platform-agnostic services, the BBC's iPlayer project may be one of the most shining examples.

Since the launch of the iPlayer, the BBC has been under fire not only from its viewers, but also members of the British Parliament. Parliament members have come down on the broadcasting corporation for its lack of support for open standards, and soaring costs in the development of the Windows-only software whose cost is estimated to be close to ?6 million pounds (nearly $11 million dollars).

We've blogged about … Read more

Interior designers have been doing their best to meld home media equipment and the fireplace, but to date most of the results have ranged from the awkward to the absurd--unless it happens to be in the back seat of a Hummer, of course.

But Germany's Vok may have changed all that, for it has had the audacity of combining an LCD TV, DVD player, PC, and Bose sound system directly above the hearth. Trendir says the entire apparatus--which can be made to order in oak, birch, or rosewood--comes in four sizes ranging from $23,800 to $31,500, … Read more

If the speakers that came with your PC suck, as many do, then you should consider upgrading them. The ones we're talking about today cost about as much as a cheap PC, but they consider themselves something of an audiophile solution to the crappy PC speaker problem.

The Eclipse TD307PAII--or the 307s as we'll refer to them from now on--may have a questionable product name but they sure as hell don't have a questionable appearance. The slick egg-shaped cabinet is built in such a way as to eliminate any "coloring" of the music they reproduce, … Read more

If you've lusted after the mysterious "Q" uber-box but choked on the $10,000 price tag, you're in luck: Lumenlab, which makes the all-in-one HDTV-PC, has come up with another model that verges on the affordable.

The "Q42" has just come out of beta, according to the company, and is available for $3,850. The specs aren't quite as ridiculously over-the-top as its "Qmax" predecessor, but it's definitely no slouch either: The Q42 comes with an Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 processor, 2GB of memory, a 1TB hard drive, and … Read more

Let's start with a disclaimer. Five-year forecasts are nearly always wrong and I have no reason to think Gartner's will be any different. Things tend to happen much faster or much slower than people initially forecast.

That said, if Gartner is even close to on point, there are plenty of trends that could be worrisome for Microsoft. First and foremost is the research firm's prediction that Apple will double its U.S. and western Europe market share by 2011.

Also of concern to folks in Redmond should be some of Gartner's other predictions. One is that … Read more

This is really just amateur hour compared with the platinum, gold, and diamonds of Zeus Computer, but these desktops aren't exactly something you'll find at Office Depot either. And frankly, we think they look a lot better than their bejeweled counterparts.

The luxury PCs from China-based Eazo feature magnesium alloy cases finished in Chinese lacquer, making them worthy of display in a museum cabinet with mother-of-pearl inlays. At what qualifies for the "low end"--$45,500--the X70 model comes with a "3GHz Q9550 Core 2 Quad processor, two Nvidia 8800GTX graphics cards, 4GB of … Read more

Asus launched the first Windows version of its popular Eee PC in Japan on Thursday, according to a report in The Register.

Called the Eee PC 4G-X, it will come pre-loaded with Windows XP Home Edition. It has the same specs as the original 4G model with Linux introduced last fall: 4GB of storage, Intel Celeron processor, 512MB of RAM, 802.11 b/g Wi-Fi, and more.

The Japanese launch is good news for potential U.S. buyers of the computer, a cross between an oversized Internet tablet and a notebook, because it means the U.S. version is coming … Read more

Back in October a North Carolina start-up called Lumenlab caused a bit of a stir when photos of its "Q" were making the rounds, depicting an awfully fetching uber-machine that boasted a 42-inch 1080p HDTV and a fully integrated PC with a terabyte of storage. But little else was known about the mystery box.

Now the company has posted some actual specs--including the price: $10,000. So what does ten grand get you? All of the above, plus 4GB of memory, an overclocked Intel Quad Core Qx9650 processor, and an overclocked XLR8 GeForce 8800 Ultra graphics card with &… Read more