Apple thought they had outdone themselves by building magnets into the iPad 2 and the 3^rd generation iPad that could attach to a thin and flexible protective Smart Cover case with numerous screen propping abilities that sold for a cool thirty-nine bucks.

For all of the technophiles out there who have waited from the shadowed corners of their cubicles for a slim and sexy case to outduel Apple and the co-worker that had to make your iPad 2 look like a dinosaur with their 3^rd gen standing up in a Smart Cover to play an episode of Mad Men on the screen, Logitech has given you the artillery to fire back!

The Ultrathin Keyboard Cover not only brings a sturdy and slim case to the iPad’s magnets, but combines another tool: making it a cover and keyboard hybrid device.

The Ultrathin Keyboard Cover snaps sleekly to the iPad, shutting off or turning on the tablet as you cover and uncover the screen.

When in use, the iPad slides into a magnetic groove like butter at an optimum viewing angle in either the portrait or landscape position.

You might want to throw out that two-year-old laptop, or at the least smirk contently as your gadget wielding co-workers’ jaws collectively hit the floor while you type easily and adeptly on the MacBook-like Keyboard.

Logitech has long been a pioneer and champion in computer accessories and for less than a hundred bucks the Ultrathin Keyboard Cover can protect your iPad while putting it in another gear for typing.

The Cotton Candy is, simply put, the world’s smallest computer, measuring 3 inches in length. While it might not be made of sugar, it is totally sweet (had to do it). The tiny computer comes equipped with dual-core ARM Cortex A9 CPU, ARM Mali-400MP GPU, WiFi b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1 and a micro-SD slot. On opposing ends is a USB and an HDMI-out for all types of uses and a mini-USB to attach any peripheries.

This little doodad allows users to plug into displays that support USB mass harddrive and connect to personal cloud services. So instead of lugging around a big laptop to your next business trip, you can ultimately have this thumb drive along with a mouse, keyboard and electrical source and plug into an HDMI TV and presto, computer with access to your personal files, games, apps, etc. You can also plug into any standard computer monitor or computer.

The company introduced this tiny computer in November 2011, however the actual unveiling at MWC this year showed a much sleeker design and various colors for the cap-ends. The Cotton Candy does not have any pre-installed OS, so users will have to go online to register and download either Ubuntu or Android 4.0.

Pre-orders are available for the Cotton Candy at the going price of $199 and is expected to ship March 2012. For those that want something similar but easier on the pocket, there’s also the Raspberry Pi which will be on sale on February 29, 2012 for $35. It is pretty much the same concept, just not as pretty.

The new interactive desk allows users to consume information and manipulate objects across a 40 inch surface that is still substantial enough to support a keyboard and mouse. Is it practical? Probably not. Is there a geek alive who wouldn’t want one? Nope!

Compared to the $8,900 Microsoft Surface, the $1,299 the EXOdesk is looking relatively cheap – the future might even someday be affordable for the 99%!

No one is sure what the guys at ExoPC have planned but, I think it is safe to say that we all hope it involves more than just rss feeds, twitter, and a piano application. As the video below says, stay tuned for more in 2012.

Mac fans can now rejoice, as BitTorrent has launched three new Apple-based applications in uTorrent, BitTorrent Mainline, and uTorrent iPad, and they actually work (insert sarcastic laugh here). There is little left to defend sticking with the PC side of things now that BitTorrent has jumped lines.

Consumers are currently confessing to the stability of the new Mac-ish BitTorrent file slinging programs. Due to the growing number of Mac users in a PC-material world, BitTorrent has gotten into the nitty-gritty of their software and given Mac users the necessaries:

BitTorrent for Macs now can pre-schedule start, limit and stop activity for downloads at regular intervals throughout the week with the Scheduler function.

The uTorrent and BitTorrent Mainline Apps are now mobile! And that includes not just the previously overlooked iPhones of the vast electronics world, but the Android phones as well. Torrents can be viewed, monitored, and downloaded through the mobile controls very easily, as these Apps are akin to their desktop versions.

And then there is the sexy, sleek, and powerful iPad. Well BitTorrent did not forget her either, because the specifically designed uTorrent iPad App has been optimized for the tablet that no one can keep their hands off of. The new web interface is refined for touchscreen massaging, and it is intuitive and fast!

The word “Cloud” keeps popping up everywhere in the computing world, and out of it, and it is not in reference to the weather, people!

As a rumored disc-drive-less MacBook Pro (Techland) from Apple has just surfaced, I felt it about time to sort out the infamous “Cloud” that Apple, Google, and Amazon seem to be forcing upon us, the consumer.

The “Cloud” is actually not that hard to wrap your head around; simply put, it is a virtual hard drive for data on the Internet.

What does that mean? Well, using the “Amazon Cloud Drive” as an example, users can upload any files (for example: documents, pictures, mp3 music, e-books, and videos) from the computer hard drive to the “Cloud” virtual drive online.

Amazon gives their users 5GB of space for free (more space starts at twenty bucks a year for 20GB and goes up to a thousand bucks for 1TB per year).

The benefits of a “Cloud” drive are that users can access their files anywhere, from almost any smart device, and the consumer’s own hard drive, on their Mac at home, can be wiped clean to gain more space. As a backup, the “Cloud” can also ensure that a fried hard drive or exploded CD-drive will not be the demise of precious files.

The “Cloud” is part of a growing trend in eliminating moving parts from consumer computing technology. Hard drives (which are mechanized, folks, if you did not know) are being replaced with solid-state memory (think of SD camera cards, but bigger), and with the MacBook Air, and possibly their next MacBook Pro models, Apple is leaving out disc drives altogether.

If there are no discs, then there is only streaming (like the easily rented movie source Netflix) and downloading, which Apple just used to exclusively provide their newest operating system, OSX Lion. There is nothing to break, scratch, or lose.

The downside to “Cloud” is rarely discussed, but should be obvious:  users have to be online to use it. If the Internet goes down–and it does do that, does it not–then one is left stranded without their sacred Word documents, or their even more holy iTunes library.

And then there are the security threats. Even with a Mac, it is hard enough to keep hackers out of one’s personal computer. But do you really want to depend on Amazon’s “Cloud” (for example) to protect all of your most coveted and life-long work and files on the Web? Large companies, like Sony, get hacked all the time, and it is not yet safe to trust these with your life savings, so to speak.

As a backup, “Cloud” serves a great purpose (if you can trust the “Cloud” people with your passwords), but as the only way to keep your vitals I think the “Cloud” could blot out the sun and ruin the potential day with calamity.

For starters, Mac OSX Lion is fast! There have been numerous Leopards and other more quick-footed operating system titles from Apple, but the actual animal, Lion, is surely the fastest to date.

The most painful aspect, that is apparent immediately, is possibly Apple’s best new innovation:  everything on the Mac now scrolls with two fingers, either going up and down or left to right, on a Mac Trackpad or Magic Mouse; but the scrolling feature is, at least out of the digital box, the reverse of what it was before.

That’s right, folks. If you slide your fingers down, like I have been doing on my 2008 MacBook Pro for three years now, the screen no longer goes down but rather does the reverse and goes up toward the top of whatever page or document that is being worked with. There currently is no option for reversing this, but it is probably easy to get used to, after a painful day or two drudges on.

I want to say this now to retain a certain consumer-level objectivity:  I updated all of my Mac software yesterday, before the big OSX install, as recommended, and I purchased the remarkably cheap Lion on Day One, this morning, for less than thirty bucks at the Mac App Store. I do not have a preview Beta copy, or any blogger-special copy, of the OSX software. In other words, I bought it and have played with it just like anyone else.

Continuing with the hairy Lion evaluation, all of the touch controls are updated and most are different, by default. The Mac OS now acts as though users have incorporated their iPhone and iPad usage, as the pinching and clicking to zoom in on things and the page scrolling (with two fingers going left or right) is nearly identical to the portable computing devices’ touchscreen operation.

My patience wears thin as I write this, because I keep trying to scroll the wrong way and the simple four finger swipe that used to bring up every open App is gone.

But there are newer–and I suspect even I will admit–better controls added. For starters, the new Launchpad (yes, it is named after a Disney character) and Mission Control bring in programs as though they are all Apps. That means that anyone with a smart phone or e-reader, who has dealt with the buying and opening of Apps will have a more user-friendly experience computing on their everyday machines.

Launchpad finally makes all of the Mac’s Apps visible on gorgeously displayed pages, like the iPhone’s, so that users no longer have to sift through their hard drives to find a program not readily available on their dash. Three fingers, plus the thumb pinching or unpinching, opens and closes this device (it is easier to do than describe).

Mission Control replaces the empty space that would hold up all of a user’s Apps at once, for choosing one to go to, and this is also easily communicated with a four finger swipe (like you used to do), but only swiping upward (why this is, I do not know).

Overall, the new Mac OSX Lion takes a lot of getting used to, but it is sleek, sexy, and gorgeous at every speedy turn and curve. The controls are a rusty nail in the bum, while they are learned, but the System Preferences Trackpad section shows videos on each way to swipe, and there are options to turn these bloody things on and off (for instance, I had to turn back on the ability to click in the lower right to perform a secondary (right) click).

The download did take me a half an hour, via my wireless N router, and then the actual OSX installation took about another half an hour. This could have been better, in my humble opinion, and it could have been far worse.

Update, download, and ride the roaring lightning!

Do I pick up the sleek and sexy MacBook Pro in the Apple Store with an Apple Care plan (that extends the warranty from one year to three), or do I go to my local Best Buy (which can often be closer in proximity, because they rival McDonald’s in sheer numbers now that Circuit City has died) to grab an iMac with a four year Protection Plan?

Use my experience to your benefit…

E., a family friend of mine, bought a new iMac with a gleaming Magic Mouse at Best Buy along with the $279.99 Protection Plan, which was supposed to be comparable to the Apple Store’s offerings.  The difference is that the Best Buy Plan pits the consumer against the Geek Squad, and they have no desire to know or learn anything about Macs in many cases.

When E. brought the Magic Mouse in, because it ate up batteries as if they were Swiss cheese (gone in a week), the Geek refused to take it back.  He cited that it was wireless and needed to be manually turned off after every use (and why would Apple make such a painful product?).  An argument ensued:  the Geek had no idea what he was talking about.

At a later date, an Apple employee (who knew what they were doing) in Best Buy would explain to E. that there was a bunch of defective Magic Mice when they first came out.  Why would an ignorant Geek deliberately hassle a once happy customer when they could have just provided a new mouse?

As an Apple fan I myself purchased the newest MacBook Pro version at the Apple Store and picked up the Apple Care plan for another $349.95.  My student discount (which Best Buy provides also) took off a significant portion of about $115.

I was ready to have my flickering display replaced a couple of years later.  In order to ensure the problem would be fixed, the Smithtown Apple Store, home of the Genius Bar and Mac genius, ordered and installed a new motherboard, video processor and screen, for nothing, in three days!

Created by Datamancer, this laptop is a HP ZT1000. The original case has been replaced with an hand-crafted wooden case and turns on by turning the antique clock-winding key. The outside of the laptop features an intricate display of clockwork gears, claw feet and engraved brass accents, giving it the appearance of an old Victorian music box.

When opened, the interior is just as detailed as the outside. The keyboard and mouse are made from antique copper and feature leather wrist rests. The little details like the delicate chains that seem to connect the top of the laptop to the bottom and custom wireless card/writing plume makes it that much more authentic. The pen itself can double as a stylus for use on a touch pad like a Wacom Tablet. Besides this, the computer retains all the normal features of the ZT1000, it just looks cooler. The DVD tray looks like a secret compartment and the plugs are hidden away enough to not detract from the overall steampunk look.

The laptop has been featured on Wired, Newsweek, the Wall Street Journal and The Boston Globe. While this particular piece is not for sale, it looks like the creator plans on making Netbook versions of this work of art. How much it will cost remains a mystery, but we imagine it will probably cost a pretty penny. You can watch the video on how the computer turns on with the wind up key below.

Via: Datamancer

Get ready to compute like never before with the brand spanking new furiously fast fire-wire dwarfing input/output Thunderbolt!  The newest MacBook Pro laptops from Apple will debut the device that is sure to revolutionize computer technology.

Apple has teamed with Intel to take universal Input/Outputs, like USB 2.0, to the next hierarchy of tech awesomeness.  For anyone looking to wow a spouse or family member with a gift, there can be no second to the new king of portable laptops:  the MacBook Pro.

Each of the new MacBook Pros harnesses an innovative Thunderbolt port that provides for high definition video (in HDMI, VGA, DVI, Displayport) and data transfer that is up to twenty times quicker than the USB 2.0 that is currently the standard Input/Output in desktop and laptop computers.

Where USB 2.0 transfers data at a begrudgingly slow 480 Mbits and the much more adept FireWire 800 is at a much more eye-pleasing 800 Mbits, the new Thunderbolt uploads and downloads at an ass kicking names taking 10 Gbs per second (fast enough to copy the data found on a CD in under a second).  USB has started to trickle out USB 3.0 capable hard drives to form a new standard of data/port, but here is the kicker folks, the USB 3.0 delivers an already outdated and overwhelmed 5 Gbps (half of the Thunderbolt’s lightning speed).

Film makers, from the Coen brothers (who used Macs and their Final Cut Pro programs to cut the movie True Grit), to amateurs trying to form the next independent film classic (like Reservoir Dogs), the Thunderbolt makes a portable MacBook Pro into a full on professionally capable semblance to form silver screen flicks.  Apple writes:  “With Thunderbolt technology, peripheral manufacturers finally have what they need to take high-performance devices from workstations and top-of-the-line desktops to portable computers”  (Apple.com).

Give me the Thunderbolt power!

Volvo says that its nifty web-connected rear-entertainment system includes Windows XP, Wi-Fi access and a 500GB hard drive. That means you can surf the web, download applications and even just enjoy video — all from a digital touchscreen in the backseat.

We’re guessing this might lead to less backseat driving and fewer pitstops. Or, you just might become the favorite in your carpool crew.

However, the fun doesn’t stop once you hit the driveway. The RSEi-500 allows users to connect the car to a home computer, allowing video, audio and other content to be transferred pretty easily. That way, you can stock up for the next day’s drive.

Volvo was just at the Chicago Auto Show, showing off the RSEi-500 inside a 2010 Volvo XC70. The RSEi-500 is scheduled to launch in various Volvo models this June.

[Photo via Motortrend]