zen

If your job involves writing or editing, you probably need a word processor to get it done. Microsoft Word can cost hundreds, so a free alternative is nice. Zen Writer is a stylish program that will save you cash, but you'll sacrifice most of the features you need in productivity software.

True to its name, Zen Writer gives you an open, peaceful place for organizing thoughts. The customizable music and backgrounds produce a calming effect. You can add a typewriter sound effect to your keystrokes and it even saves your work automatically. It's a fun environment for brainstorming, … Read more

I had a desktop Zen garden once, then the cat stepped on it and sent granules of sand flying everywhere. I'd be willing to take a chance on a new inside Zen garden, but only if it's a Zen Table.

The Zen Table is a Kickstarter project that successfully reached its funding goal earlier this month. It's a glass-top table filled with tiny silicone beads so that the whole creation has the appearance of an enclosed Zen garden.

Zen garden coffee tables have been done before, but not quite like this one. Beneath that sea of silicone is a system of electronics and robotics that carves images into the sand. Load up an SD card with bitmaps, and let the machine do the rest.… Read more

LAS VEGAS--The show floor at the Consumer Electronics Show is astonishingly crowded.

Walking around, you're bombarded from all sides by booming speakers, action-packed videos playing on screens of all sizes, and people eagerly hoping you'll allow them to give you a demo of whatever product they're representing.

The walkways are packed with people. And at times I find myself experiencing pedestrian rage when the person in front of me stops dead in their tracks to read a text message on their phone. And judging from the looks of frustration on many of the people around me, I … Read more

LAS VEGAS--I'd love to elaborate. But I really have no idea either.

So here it is, your CES Moment of Zen.

LAS VEGAS--When you're cranking away, heads down at work for hours on end, it's easy to forget to take a break. Fortunately, sometimes technology takes care of that for you. Here you have it, a technology-forced CES Moment of Zen. Lucky us!

Editor's note: We had originally said we'd post just one CES Moment of Zen per day. But we keep getting so many great photos coming in from all our photographers and writers that we're just going to publish them as we have them.

LAS VEGAS--It's officially Day 1 of the Consumer Electronics Show. Of course, the real work has been going on for a few days already.

We were at the keyboard so long for yesterday's parade of press conferences and ensuing live blogs that most of us stopped counting after we'd worked for 15 hours straight. And this morning, we got out of bed, strapped on our boots, and headed back out to start all over again. We're not exactly calling for our mommies--yet. But we were pretty close this morning.

So when Qualcomm brought out a familiar face at its keynote, … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Today being Press Day, or Day Zero as we refer to it, we fully expected it to be a whirlwind of press conferences and big announcements. In that, we weren't disappointed. What we didn't expect was all the awkward hugging.

All day we expected the following photo to win our CES Moment of Zen honors by a landslide. Dish, as you may or may not have heard, brought a baby kangaroo on stage for its press conference. The kangaroo's name was Joey (clever!) and the product tie-in was its extremely impressive new DVR, the Hopper. I mean, who can beat a baby kangaroo, right?

But truth be told, the kangaroo encounter left us feeling a little empty inside. Joey didn't look thrilled to be there. And as it turns out, baby kangaroos are a little creepy-looking. So we hoped something else would come along. Then we saw this. … Read more

LAS VEGAS--In case you didn't know, the Consumer Electronics Show is crazy. Like you-want-to-move-to-a-cave-in-Montana-and-become-a-hermit-when-it's-all-over crazy.

Since our entire staff is going to be running around like headless chickens nonstop for the next five days, I thought I'd take at least one brief moment each day to pause and feature something beautiful or interesting or just completely bizarre.

On this, the eve of Press Day (or what we've taken to calling Day Zero), the sun is down. We have one live blog behind us (only 21 more to go!). Most of our writers are either at the … Read more

2012 promises to be a watershed year for laptops. Really thin will be in and internal optical drives out, while some designs venture into hybrid territory.

Apple: Apple is expected to incorporate the MacBook Air design theme into more models, including a 15-incher sans optical drive. And since Apple popularized the really-thin aesthetic with the January 2008 introduction of the MacBook Air, it shouldn't come as a surprise that the company will continue to be a trendsetter.

Trendsetting may include a rumored 2,880-by-1,800-pixel display. That would be a remarkable feat as workstation-class 15-inch Windows laptops, such as … Read more