hardware

If you were one of the millions following along today (hopefully on CNET's Live Blog) as Apple released its latest iteration of the iPad and have now decided you must buy it, be sure to add AppleCare+ to your order (pricing has not yet been made available).

First, everyone should know what sort of coverage is offered with every new iPad purchase. For included coverage, Apple shows that it truly believes in its products. Your new iPad will get one year of hardware coverage against manufacturer defects and malfunctions. That means, if your hard drive dies, some of your … Read more

The newly-minted Chrome 18 beta expands the scope of hardware acceleration in the browser to older computers, but it's still not available to all. Meanwhile, Chrome 19 dev goes bleeding edge with JavaScript.

Released today, Google Chrome 18 beta for Windows, Mac, and Chrome Frame improves 2D Canvas support and introduces a software rasterizer. The new features are not yet available on Chrome 18 beta for Linux.

Basically, this means that games and animations based in the HTML5 Canvas tag ought to run faster and appear smoother. Google noted in its blog post announcing the changes that this was … Read more

System information utilities are freeware favorites around here, with multiple PCs to monitor. Hardware Freak is a new one to us, but it's a lot like the others, extracting and displaying a lot of useful information about your computer and software in a centralized, easy-to-use interface. Also like the others, it's portable freeware, which makes it a useful addition to your USB drive's portable toolkit.

While system info tools tend to display the same data, that's what they're supposed to do. Where they differ greatly is in layout and look, and Hardware Freak's Main … Read more

SAN FRANCISCO--The Macworld expo isn't what it once was, but you wouldn't know it from the excitement of both vendors and Mac faithful attending this year's show.

The show started today at Moscone Center West here, and though Macworld no longer attracts the big crowds and big-name vendors it once did, I saw plenty of enthusiastic vendors and showgoers checking out the latest wares for Mac and other Apple products.… Read more

Microsoft has issued a set of guidelines for hardware certification on Windows 8 tablets--a policy it applies to all new operating systems.

While there aren't a lot of surprises (see charts below), Microsoft does specifically address a "convertible" design, which is expected to become popular on both Intel- and ARM-based devices.

Convertible: "A convertible form factor is defined as a standalone device that combines the PC, display and rechargeable power source with a mechanically attached keyboard and pointing device in a single chassis. A convertible can be transformed into a tablet where the attached input devices … Read more

Having the Airport connection on your Mac suddenly stop working can be a frustrating experience. While such drop-outs can usually be attributed to an improper Wi-Fi configuration or an incompatibility with a router, sometimes it can happen if there are faults in the Wi-Fi hardware itself.

Generally software configuration problems result in dropped connections, the Wi-Fi services constantly attempting to join other networks, or having connection timeouts when you select a network to join. In the case of a hardware fault, while in some instances you might have trouble maintaining a Wi-Fi signal, you might also see the Wi-Fi connection … Read more

The outlook for IT spending this year isn't quite as rosy as Gartner previously predicted.

Spending on IT products and services is expected to reach $3.8 trillion in 2012, a 3.7 percent rise from last year when spending totaled $3.7 trillion and had climbed by 6.9 percent from 2010.

Released today, the new forecast is a dip from Gartner's prior projection of 4.6 percent growth for this year. The market researcher now believes that all major tech sectors will witness slower gains in spending for 2012.

Spending on telecom equipment will see the … Read more

Regardless of the condition of your OS installation, if your system's hardware is not working properly then you will undoubtedly see undesired behavior that can stem from slowdowns and hangs to full system crashes and data corruption.

Because of the importance of having working hardware, Apple includes a hardware test routine on all of its new Mac systems, some of which are on the boot drive of your Mac, an others that are on the included OS X installation DVDs that came with older systems.

If you experience problems with your system crashing, hanging, or overheating with no change … Read more

A Chinese manufacturing company is producing replacement back panels for your iPhone 4 or 4S that include a thin light strip and a transparent Apple logo that will make your iPhone's logo glow, similar to Apple notebook computers.

K.O Gadget claims the hardware hack can be done in 5 minutes, at home, using the $42 kit it supplies.

Editors' note: At the time of writing, the regular site was downed by heavy traffic; a substitute purchase link was posted on the company's Facebook page.

A hardware hack done in 5 minutes seems a little unreal, but the … Read more