control

LOK-IT USB Storage Device Control successfully minimizes the chance of confidential data breach by locking out USB drives. The application quietly runs in the background and will disable any USB storage device when attached to your computer unless the device is on the application's white list.

Though the download checks in at about 2MB, setting it up may take a while. Upon startup, the program prompts you to make an account and sign in, but you don't have to if you're just looking to use the app on a local computer. LOK-IT USB Storage Device Control works … Read more

The idea of controlling an iPhone or iPad with a gesture may not be too farfetched. According to 9to5Mac, Apple is said to have included a head movement feature in its latest iOS 7 beta version.

With a simple quick jerk of the head to the left or right, users could be able to get to the home page, select apps, or control the device's volume.

The feature is apparently an accessibility option, which means it would have to be turned on by the user. Typically accessibility options are for people with disabilities who are hearing, vision, or physically … Read more

Leap Motion will open its developer portal this week, allowing anyone interested in designing tools for its 3D gesture control system to get an advanced look at how to work with the technology.

The startup is also opening up its beta to more than 10,000 early-access developers who have been waiting for the opportunity to build applications for the system.

On July 22, Leap Motion will ship its first product, a thumb-drive-sized device that plugs into a USB port on either Macs or Windows PCs, giving users a way to control their computer by making hand gestures. The technology … Read more

With game controller support headed to iOS 7 in just a few months, the lineup of third-party hardware is already starting to take shape.

The latest: the Flipside, an iPhone case that can expand out to add buttons and controls for games. It's also got solar cells that can recharge the case itself.

If this looks and sounds familiar, it's because the same product was pitched on Kickstarter in December though was halted before it could be completed. Nonetheless it raised a little more than $8,000 of its $135,000 funding goal. Things are different this time, … Read more

Logitech is hitting the back button on its plans to sell its Harmony remotes division, buoyed by renewed consumer interest in the line of universal remote controls.

In January, the electronics company announced its intention to unload the division, after recording a "disappointing" third quarter for 2012. Logitech said at the time that the product category didn't fit in with the company's new strategic focus on mobile computing, specifically tablets and smartphones.

But the Newark, Calif.-based company announced late Wednesday that it had decided that retaining ownership of the division was in the best interests … Read more

Editors' note: This is an abridged version of "49 iPhone games that would rock with a controller." You can read that entire list right here.

The iPhone game controllers are coming.

Where before there was a trickle of game controllers, which didn't have Apple's blessing, that's all changing with iOS 7 later this year -- and the situation is encouraging developers to support game controller hardware.

That's been done before, of course, but not with Apple backing those efforts. Companies like Ion Audio and its iCade have brought hardware add-ons, though they required developers … Read more

Apple's opening up iOS 7 like nothing before it, allowing and even encouraging the use of game controller hardware that will finally bring physical buttons to iPhones, iPods, and iPads.

This has been done before, of course, but not with Apple backing those efforts. Companies like Ion Audio and its iCade have brought hardware add-ons, though they required developers to tweak their games in order make those things work. This new option from Apple also requires that, but aims for a standardized set of controls that developers can plug into their software, and that come baked into Apple's … Read more

Apple quietly announced upcoming support for game controller accessories at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference last week, though missing was any sort of hardware from Apple or third parties.

Shortly thereafter, Logitech and PowerA confirmed to CNET that they would, in fact, be releasing iOS game controllers, though neither tipped its hand as to what those controllers would look like.

Game site Kotaku now posts a blurry shot of what it says is Logitech's effort -- a gamepad with four action buttons, a D-pad, and a slot with a Lightning port for an iPhone 5 or fifth-generation iPod Touch. … Read more