screens

Some people (not us, of course) might think that this is the best invention since the "StealthSwitch." That ingenius device, as you'll recall, has a foot-operated switch that instantly hides whatever is on your screen when your boss happens to walk by at the most inopportune times.

The "Phantom Mouse" improves that concept by doing the same thing with a red emergency button that sits directly above the scroll wheel, according to Newlaunches. That way you won't have to frantically stomp around under your desk looking for a switch.

It's being marketed in … Read more

Here at CNET Car Tech, we make our living fiddling around with evaluating in-car displays designed to show everything from GPS navigation maps to DVD video to rear-view camera input. Fortunately for us, a report out today from Research and Markets on the production of in-car TVs in China suggests we'll have plenty of work for a long time to come. Citing "overseas demand and an expanding domestic market", the report suggests that exports of in-car TVs are set to increase by 20 percent in the coming months. According to the report, growth is expected in all … Read more

Here's a new twist in the ultramobile computer concept.

The Redfly Mobile Companion from Celio is a mini notebook-size device that effectively serves as a hand- and eye-friendly shell for Windows Mobile smartphones. It has a larger, relatively standard keyboard so you don't have to thumb type and an LCD screen measuring 8 inches in diameter. Connect the Redfly to the smartphone and the data going to and from the phone shows up on the larger screen instead.

You can also type e-mails or surf the Web while talking at the same time, explains CEO Kirt Bailey. Thus, … Read more

With all his computer experience, Power Downloader gets a lot of calls and e-mails from friends and family who want advice with computer issues. Always happy to oblige, Power tries to find the easiest way to explain how to use various types of software and computer functions, but sometimes words alone are inadequate for complex computer tasks.

To make his explanations a little easier, Power Downloader found a program to make simple screencasts. Screen2Exe lets Power make little demo movies so his friends can see exactly what he's talking about. Screen2Exe leads him through a step-by-step process to record … Read more

It's rare to see a 22-inch LCD for less than $200, so I'm quite excited to find the Acer AL2216WBD on sale for just $179.99 (after a $50 mail-in rebate). This is a new unit, not a refurb, and it has a stellar pedigree.

For starters, check out some of the specs: a 700:1 contrast ratio, 5 milliseconds refresh time (ideal for games and movies), and DVI and VGA inputs. Better still, the AL2216WBD earned a five-star rating from more than 200 TigerDirect customers and a 7.1/10 from CNET. (Readers gave it an even … Read more

From the moment I played with the iPhone and Microsoft's Surface tabletop computing technology, I have been waiting for pinch-zooming and other motions to make their way into mainstream PCs.

The wait is essentially over.

Although it's the MacBook Air that's been getting all the ink for adding such gestures, Synaptics announced at the Consumer Electronics show last week a version of its touchpad for Windows notebooks that will also support a range of gestures, including methods for continuous scrolling, zooming in and out, and trackball-like movement.

And that's just the start.

"There will be … Read more

If LCDs are eventually surpassed by paper-thin OLED technology as some predict, they may still have a life in the timepiece business. The German-designed "MF" wristwatch features twin LCDs--one for hours and minutes, the other to display scrolling seconds. Why? Who knows, but at least we can actually read both screens, which is a lot more than we can say of other models that have only one.

One of the companies showing off their wares at today's Macworld Expo was Glance, a service that's been around since 2002 but only recently started edging into the Mac scene starting at last year's Expo. Glance serves up screen-sharing tools for consumers and private companies. Its claim to fame is its 100-at-a-time screen sharing service, which can be used for large conference sessions or digital seminars.

Today the company is launching its remote-control feature for Macs, which, like some other screen-sharing services including Yugma and WebEx, allows a participant to get control of another user's mouse … Read more

A lot of computer gear these days seems to be following the Hummer/SUV trend of the auto industry from the early '90s: the bigger and tougher the better. We've seen, for example, military-grade laptops, keyboards, and even nuke-proof USB drives. So why should LCDs be left out?

Specialty equipment maker Stealth Computer plans to fill that void with the "TuffTouch," a 17-inch touch-screen monitor encased in aluminum alloy for "harsh environment applications," according to the company. The 1,280x1,024 monitor can also be ordered with a built-in "Little PC"--and it'… Read more