A hardware firewall in a typical broadband router employs a technique called packet filtering, which examines the header of a packet to determine its source and destination addresses. This information is compared to a set of predefined and/or user-created rules that determine whether the packet is to be forwarded or dropped. A more advanced technique called Stateful Packet Inspection (SPI), looks at additional characteristics such as a packet’s actual origin (i.e. did it come from the Internet or from the local network) and whether incoming traffic is a response to existing outgoing connections, like a request for a Web page. Most hardware residential firewalls have an Achilles’ heel in that they typically treat any kind of traffic traveling from the local network out to the Internet as safe, which can sometimes be a problem.

Consider this scenario: What would happen if you received an e-mail message or visited a website that contained a concealed program? Let’s say this program was designed to install itself on your machine and then surreptitiously communicate with someone via the Internet — a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack zombie or a keystroke logger, for example? Trust me; this is by no means an unlikely scenario.

To most broadband hardware firewalls, the traffic generated by such programs would appear legitimate since it originated inside your network and would most likely be let through. This malevolent traffic might be blocked if the hardware firewall was configured to block outgoing traffic on the specific Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) port(s) that the program was using, but given that there are over 65,000 possible ports and there’s no way to know which ports a program of this nature might use, the odds of the right ones being blocked are slim.

Moreover, blocking too many ports would almost certainly adversely affect your ability to use some programs (many games, for instance). Also, some broadband router firewalls don’t even provide the ability to restrict outgoing traffic, only incoming traffic.

Advantages of Software Firewalls:

Now consider what a software firewall might do in the aforementioned scenario. When you first set up a software firewall, you can specify which applications are allowed to communicate over the Internet from that PC. Programs that aren’t explicitly allowed to do so are either blocked or else the user is prompted for confirmation before the traffic is allowed to pass. Therefore, it would likely intercept this kind of traffic before it left your computer.

Another potential scenario where a software firewall would be useful is in the case of an e-mail worm with its own e-mail sever, like the recent “SoBig” worm. Its built-in mail server could attempt to send mail on the valid Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) port (25), which would probably pass through the router because of its trusted origin.

On the other hand, a software firewall could be configured to only allow Microsoft Outlook to use port 25 (assuming Outlook is your e-mail client). Any attempt by another application to use the port would be dropped, or blocked pending user confirmation. For that matter, the application’s attempt to use any port would be blocked if the firewall was configured that way.

By comparison, a hardware firewall that had the ability to filter outgoing traffic might allow you to block most kinds of traffic from a particular PC, but it wouldn’t be able to flag you and alert you to repeated attempts to infiltrate your computer.

One obvious downside to software firewalls is that they can only protect the machine they’re installed on, so if you have multiple computers (which many small offices do), you need to buy, install, and configure a software firewall separately on each machine. This can get expensive and can be difficult to manage if you have a lot of computers.

But the fact of the matter is that software firewalls generally offer the best measure of protection against certain types of situations like Trojan programs or e-mail worms. Speaking of which, a firewall isn’t the only protection method available to you. Whether you end up using a software firewall or a hardware firewall, you should always supplement it with anti-virus software.

A good anti-virus package is just as important as a firewall, and I would seriously suggest that you invest in a good one (I’m partial to both Norton and McAfee myself). However, keeping your virus definitions updated is far more important than which program you use. I cannot stress the importance of this enough. Making sure your definitions are current is absolutely critical to maintaining your protection. Many Anti-virus programs today can be configured to automatically update themselves, so you have no excuse for not maintaining them.

The bottom line is that with any home-office broadband connection, a hardware firewall should be considered a bare minimum, and supplementing it with a software firewall on one or more computers (and don’t forget anti-virus software) is almost always a good idea.

In 2003, the Wi-Fi Alliance released a security standard called Wi-Fi Protected Access. Although the first version (WPA), which uses TKIP/RC4 encryption, has gotten beaten up a bit, is not totally cracked, and can still be very secure.

The second version (WPA2), released in mid-2004, does provide complete security, however, because it fully implements the IEEE 802.11i security standard with CCMP/AES encryption.

In this article, we’ll discover the two very different modes of Wi-Fi Protected Access. We’ll see how and why you’d want to move from the easy-to-use Personal mode to the Enterprise mode.

Two Modes of WPA/WPA2: Personal (PSK) versus Enterprise

Both versions of Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA/WPA2) can be implemented in either of two modes:

* Personal or Pre-Shared Key (PSK) Mode: This mode is appropriate for most home networks—but not business networks. You define an encryption passphrase on the wireless router and any other access points (APs). Then the passphrase must be entered by users when connecting to the Wi-Fi network.

Though this mode seems very easy to implement, it actually makes properly securing a business network nearly impossible. Unlike with the Enterprise mode, wireless access can’t be individually or centrally managed. One passphrase applies to all users. If the global passphrase should need to be changed, it must be manually changed on all the APs and computers. This would be a big headache when you need to change it; for instance, when an employee leaves the company or when any computers are stolen or compromised.

Unlike with the Enterprise mode, the encryption passphrase is stored on the computers. Therefore, anyone on the computer—whether it be employees or thieves—can connect to the network and also recover the encryption passphrase.
* Enterprise (EAP/RADIUS) Mode: This mode provides the security needed for wireless networks in business environments. Though more complicated to set up, it offers individualized and centralized control over access to your Wi-Fi network. Users are assigned login credentials they must present when connecting to the network, which can be modified or revoked by administrators at anytime.

Users never deal with the actual encryption keys. They are securely created and assigned per user session in the background after a user presents their login credentials. This prevents people from recovering the network key from computers.

Why water?

Liquid cooling is by nature a much more effective cooling method, as the heat capacity of water is over 4,000 times that of air. Also, once the heat is transferred to the water, it can be handled more efficiently. In IBM/ETH’s model, the server-heated water could even go on to provide heat for the local community.

But why HOT water?

Chilled water has been used to cool mainframes, and it certainly does the job, but there’s a catch – chilling that water requires a lot of electricity. The Swiss process uses water that’s at 60-70C (140-158F), which is still cool enough to keep the servers’ chips below their “red line” of 85C.

How it works

Computers and many other electrical devices dissipate heat using something called a heat sink. Heat sinks look like a row of closley-spaced upright rectangular metal blades, and they work by dramatically increasing the device’s surface area – not unlike an elephant uses its giant ears to increase its own cooling surface area. IBM/ETH’s process uses what they call a microfluidic heat sink. It contains a network of tiny channels which the water is pumped through, absorbing heat from the metal along the way.

A working model

To demonstrate their technology, IBM and ETH are creating a supercomputer called Aquasar, which should be completed this year. Aquasar will be housed on the ETH campus, and will provide heat to its buildings. It will operate as a closed system, so the same water will cool the servers, release their heat into the buildings, then return to the computer to cool it again. It is anticipated that the new system will cut the campus’ computer-cooling carbon footprint by over 85%, and save up to 30 tons of CO2 per year.

Verizon Wireless is currently testing a CDMA version of the iPhone 4G and Verizon confirms they are making network changes to bring the iphone to their network. The new iPhone 4g is going to be loaded with awesome new features like video chat, multi-tasking and extreme downloading. (List of possible features below). Just when you think there is nothing else to come up with, more and more and more technology comes out. And it is on the rise, and not just at Apple, Inc!

Woo hoo! This iPhone 4g could also have dual core processors and higher and powerful graphic chips that can deliver higher video resolutions and better “still” images when taking pictures.

There are a few networks working on building a 4G network. T-mobile would be a likely carrier since they are GSM already. Sprint has a 4G network already… AT&T and Verizon Wireless are in the beginning stages. There are talks of Verizon Wireless getting iPhone sometime in 2010 since the exclusive contract with AT&T expires, but it could be renewed until 2012.

Whether or not it will be 4G will be up to them!… can they build in time? Regardless, there is much anticipation on how many people will leave AT&T for Verizon Wireless because of AT&T’s lagging on app restrictions like Slingplayer and Google Voice and Skype (on #g network, not Wi-Fi).

AT&T’s restrictions have caused the percentage of people that are JailBreaking their iPhones to rise since Jail Breaking usually comes with Cydia which is the app store for jail broken phones. Most of the applications, ringtones, and even iphone themes!…are free with Cydia. Winterboard is part of the download, and it very easily add’s the changes to your phone so you dont have to figure how to do it on your own…it is VERY automated.

The Palm Pre on Sprint (Sprint now offering a 4G network) has made an attempt at being competitive with iPhone and Blackberry…but it’s not looking good. Maybe their recent Android phone will help.

iPhone 4G looks promising in terms of being sleek, packed with new hardware and multi-tasking software. Very exciting.

A few features of iPhone 4G:

• A new, sleeker body design.
• OLED screen.
• Multi-Tasking. (use multiple functions at once without going in and out of apps)
• iChat camera (on the front so you can have video chat!!!)
• 32G (basic) and 64G of memory. Your sure to never run out.
• Removable Battery.
• Hi Definition Camera.
• Hi Definition Camcorder.
• Hi Definition audio.
• Messaging light.
• True GPS built in.

Despite their similarities, the two technologies are very different in the way they deliver the image to the viewer.

Plasma technology consists of hundreds of thousands of individual pixel cells, which allow electric pulses (stemming from electrodes) to excite rare natural gases-usually xenon and neon-causing them to glow and produce light. This light illuminates the proper balance of red, green, or blue phosphors contained in each cell to display the proper color sequence from the light. Each pixel cell is essentially an individual microscopic florescent light bulb, receiving instruction from software contained on the rear electrostatic silicon board. Look very closely at a plasma TV and you can actually see the individual pixel cell coloration of red, green, and blue bars. You can also see the black ribs which separate each.

Whether spread across a flat-panel screen or placed in the heart of a projector, all LCD displays come from the same technological background. A matrix of thin-film transistors (TFTs) supplies voltage to liquid-crystal-filled cells sandwiched between two sheets of glass. When hit with an electrical charge, the crystals untwist to an exact degree to filter white light generated by a lamp behind the screen (for flat-panel TVs) or one projecting through a small LCD chip (for projection TVs). LCD monitors reproduce colors through a process of subtraction: They block out particular color wavelengths from the spectrum of white light until they’re left with just the right color. And, it’s the intensity of light permitted to pass through this liquid-crystal matrix that enables LCD televisions to display images chock-full of colors-or gradations of them.

LED TVs are a new form of LCD Television. The panel on an LED TV is still an LCD TV panel and operates the with the same twisting crystals matrix. The backlight is the difference – changing from flourescent to LED (light emitting diode) based backlighting.

CONTRAST / BLACK LEVELS

Plasma technology has certainly achieved quite high contrast ratios, a measure of the blackest black compared to the whitest white. Many plasma display manufacturers boast a contrast ratio of 3,000,000:1 these days though our tests using a standardized ANSI checkerboard pattern have not proven these numbers out. Plasma displays achieve such impressive black levels by using internal algorithms to block the power to particular pixels in order to render a pixel “dark” or black. While this can limit a plasma television’s gray scaling, it does produce exceptionally black blacks – depending on the manufactured plasma display element (i.e. glass). A plasma TV uses maximum power when it is producing full white. As a result, some 2nd tier manufactured brands of plasma TVs have an audible buzz or whining sound when displaying white or very light images.

LCD (liquid crystal diode) displays, by contrast, utilize electric charges to twist and untwist liquid crystals, which causes them to block light and, hence, emit blacks. The higher the voltage passing through the liquid crystals in a given pixel, the more fully those crystals untwist and effectively block light – all of which makes these pixels darker. As opposed to plasma, LCD TVs use the most power when displaying a very dark or black image. This is a difficult process, and despite recent improvements in LCD black levels, only the best LCD televisions have managed to come close to plasma technology in contrast ratio. The one continual drawback here for LCD is off axis viewing, when black levels consistently drop. We have noted some improvement from LCD manufacturers lately in off axis viewing contrast.

ADVANTAGE: Closer than a year ago, but still Plasma. LCD TV manufacturers have made great improvements in black levels and in many cases have nearly managed to match the contrast ratio of plasma TVs. However, Plasma displays still maintain a clear advantage in this category due to fading blacks when viewing LCDs from off axis. For scenes with a lot of dark and light images shown simultaneously – as with content originating from DVDs, video games, and NTSC TV signals – plasmas still consistently outperform LCD TVs.

COLOR ACCURACY

In plasma displays, each pixel contains red, green, and blue elements, which work in conjunction to create 16.77 million colors. Insofar as each pixel contains all the elements needed to produce every color in the spectrum, color information was more accurately reproduced with plasma technology than it was with other display technologies. The chromaticity coordinates were more accurate on most plasma displays. Though the color saturation resulting from the pixel design of plasma displays is remarkable, LCD technology has nearly caught plasma in gray scaling color accuracy. Plasma continues to exhibit more richness in color information and more natural coloration. Today, SMPTE color coordinates in top plasma displays still normally outperform those in LCDs, which tend toward oversaturation.

LCD TVs reproduce colors by manipulating light waves and subtracting colors from white light. This is an inherently difficult template for maintaining color accuracy and vibrancy – though most LCD TVs manage quite well. While color information benefits from the higher-than-average number of pixels per square inch found in LCD televisions (especially when compared to plasmas), LCDs are simply not as impressive as plasmas with similar pixel counts. LCDs however, produce a typically brighter picture. Greens sometimes look oversaturated and reds can run a bit warm, but in a room with lots of ambient light coming in from windows, an LCD TV would be my choice.

ADVANTAGE: Preference to plasma but depends upon room light, manufacturer and model. Plasma TV color richness and naturalness will prevail in rooms with lower to normal lighting. LCD TVs perform better in very brightly lit rooms due to their inherent anti glare technology and brightness.

VIEWING ANGLES

Plasma manufacturers have made much of their near perfect 180 degree viewing angles, which is about as good as horizontal and vertical viewing angles get. This owes to the fact that each pixel produces its own light, rather than light being spread across the screen from one central source. Hence, each pixel is more readily visible because its brightness is consistent with every other pixel on the screen. One consistent area of superiority of plasma viewing angles is demonstrated when viewing dark material content, especially DVDs. A Plasma display holds the black levels from off axis, while LCD TVs lose black level intensity/contrast more as the angle off axis increases. This usually occurs after around 45 degrees off center.

LCD TV manufacturers have done much to improve their displays’ viewing angles. The substrate material on newer-generation LCD models by Sharp and Sony has helped to expand those units’ viewing angles, though they still have some ground to cover before catching plasma. Expect the best LCD HDTVs to have around 120 degree viewing angles.

ADVANTAGE: Plasma

FAST-MOVING VIDEO PLAYBACK

Plasma technology gets the easy nod here because of their excellent performance with fast-moving images and high contrast levels. It’s an inherent quality of the technology. There are still some 2nd tier plasma manufacturers whose plasma TVs display some phosphor lag, a drag time in scenes changing from bright to dark.

While the “response time” of LCD TVs has markedly improved in the last couple of years, they still suffer from a slight “trailer” effect, where the individual pixels are just slightly out of step with the image on the screen. During fast moving scenes, the most discerning eyes can detect this slight motion response lag. Motion lag may also be detected on LCD TVs when the camera pans from side to side sometimes appearing to stutter or jerk. This applies to both flourescent backlit LCDs and LED backed LCDs.

LCD TV manufaacturers have worked hard to overcome the motion lag issue. Last years models saw the introduction of 120Hz refresh rate (up from 60). This year many models were introduced with 240Hz refresh rate. This refresh rate has drastically improved the response time. However, it also introduces unwanted video information by sharpening the picture background information and taking out necessary blur. This may seem like a positive, but with 90% of your viewing material, it is not. Depending upon the manufacturer, we advise turning off the 120Hz or 240Hz feature with all but live sports programming.

ADVANTAGE: Plasma

HIGH ALTITUDE

There is a reason LCD flat panels are the preferred visual display units for use on airplanes: LCD TVs aren’t affected by increases or decreases in air pressure. Their performance is consistent regardless of the altitude at which they’re utilized.

This is not the case for a plasma. The display element in plasma TVs is actually a glass substrate envelope with rare natural gases compressed therein. So, at high altitudes (6,500 feet and above), an air-pressure differential emerges, which causes plasma displays to emit a buzzing sound due to the lower air pressure. This noise can sound rather like the humming of an old neon sign. NEC has been effective in producing several plasma models that are rated to 9,500 feet.

ADVANTAGE: LCD, at 6,500 feet and higher.

LONGEVITY

LCD television manufacturers claim that their displays last, on average, 60,000. In fact, an LCD TV will last as long as its backlight does. Since this is nothing more than light passing through a prismatic substrate, there is little to wear out in an LCD TV except the backlighting. However, one nasty little known fact about LCD technology is that as the flourescent backlight ages it can change colors slightly (think of florescent bulbs in office lighting). When this occurs the white balance of the entire LCD TV will be thrown for a loop and the user will need to re-calibrate the TV. Some of the early purchasers of larger LCD screens will be learning this tidbit in a couple of years. From our research, flourescent bulb backlighting in LCDs cannot be replaced cost effectively. LED backlit LCDs provide a longer lasting stability, with little to no degradation in white balance over time.

Plasma TVs, on the other hand, utilize slight electric currents to excite a combination of noble gases (i.e., argon, neon, xenon), which glow red, blue, and/or green. This is an essentially active phenomenon, so the phosphoric elements in plasma displays fade over time. Many manufacturers state a new half life of 60,000 hours. While I am skeptical of this spec, I do believe strides have been made to nearly even the playing field with LCD. At half life, the phosphors in a plasma screen will glow half as brightly as they did when the set was new. There is no way to replace these gases; the TV simply continues to grow dimmer with use.

ADVANTAGE: Even Some manufacturers of both plasma and LCD state up to 100,000 hours now. At 4 hours per day that’s 68 years of use. Where do they get these specs??

PRODUCTION SIZE AND COST

All television measurements are stated in inches and are for diagonal measurement of the screen from corner to corner – not including framing.

Both plasma and LCD TVs are becoming more readily available in larger sizes though plasma still leads the size battle by a great margin. Pioneer and LG produce 61″ plasma sizes while Panasonic has a readily available 65″ model. Though it is not being imported into the U.S. yet, Samsung has produced a gigantic plasma of 100 inches. Panasonic has recently come out with the largest plasma – at 103 inches – selling for a mere $80,000.  Though such mammoth monitors are expensive, they exhibit none of the “kinks” one might expect with such large displays. In other words, even the largest plasma displays are reliable. Large plasma displays will consume power – try 675 watts for a 65 “display compared to around 330 watts for a 42″ plasma.

ADVANTAGE: Plasma, though the playing field is leveling. Even though production costs and retail prices have come down for both technologies, plasma still has the edge as far as production cost and capacity go.

POWER CONSUMPTION

Because LCDs use florescent backlighting to produce images, they require substantially less power to operate than plasmas do. LCD TVs consume about half the power that plasma TVs consume. The reason: Plasmas use a lot of electricity to light each and every pixel you see on a screen – even the dark ones. Though plasma manufacturers have improved voltage consumption requirements a plasma TV will consume around a third more power for the same size display.

ADVANTAGE: LCD

Unlike the arch-backed gaming mice from companies like Microsoft and Logitech, Apple’s Magic Mouse takes a decidedly slim approach to hand support. It’s short. The stubby aluminum base of the mouse arches up like a Pringle on either side to meet a smooth, glass-like top plate, which depresses on the finger end to deliver a click. Since nobody wants a metal slab griding away on their desk all day, Apple has given the bottom two black plastic rails to slip and slide around on. The plate between them serves as the battery door, which can be removed to replace the AA batteries. Apple ships it with two AA alkalines, but I can’t help but think that two rechargeables and a USB cable to trickle charge them would do a lot to further Apple’s green image, considering they’re only supposed to last four months (that’s a lot of alkaline disposables over a several-year lifetime). Two small cutouts in the door also make room for Apple’s laser-based tracking engine, and a tiny nub to toggle the mouse on and off. A green LED no bigger than a pinhead flashes to let you know it’s in pairing mode, and glows steadily to indicate that it has mated up with a Mac. Almost needless to say for an Apple device, the whole thing feels top notch in build quality.

The multi-touch gestures available for the lid correspond closely with the ones you might already be used to from a multi-touch enabled MacBook: drag one finger around on the surface without clicking to scroll in any direction, hold down control and drag to zoom in, or use two-fingered swipes to the right or left to navigate forward and back.

Setup and Installation

Like most Apple products, the Magic Mouse comes packaged in a Spartan and slightly pretentious plastic shell that’s really no bigger than it is, along with an instruction manual, limited warranty, and certificate of Bluetooth compliance. Despite the clean appearances, the sticky cellophane tape holding the Magic Mouse into its packaging actually left a nice archipelago of sticky adhesive on the bottom. Come on, Apple. That’s Packaging 101.

As a mature Bluetooth product, the basics of connecting the Magic Mouse are quite simple. Put it into pairing mode with a flick of the bottom switch, open the Bluetooth control panel in OS X, and click connect. However, you’ll only get basic mouse functions before installing Apple’s Wireless Mouse Software Update 1.0, which unlocks the full capabilities of the mouse. Apple’s pint-sized instruction booklet mentions this briefly, but it could have been spelled out more clearly, and I can definitely picture novice uses fretting over why it doesn’t do everything it’s supposed to prior to rereading the instructions word for word.

Usage and Testing

You don’t so much rest your hand on the Magic Mouse as you palm it, letting your thumb, ring and pinky fingers hook around the base while your pointer and middle finger hover up top for clicking. The amount of hand contact with the desk provides an excellent sense of traction, but the swoopy sides of the mouse just don’t provide very much to grab on to – it feels more like I’m pushing it around within the confines of my hand rather than really gripping onto it. The edges around the translucent top plate also feel just as sharp as they look.

Taking the first couple sweeps around the screen with Apple’s new Mighty Mouse feels quite intuitive. The scrolling requires no forethought at all: just start dragging your finger around and the computer smoothly scrolls. Besides the ease of use, I especially loved the programmed momentum (similar to what you might find on the iPod Touch or iPhone) which allows a scroll to drift to a stop after you lift your finger, rather than grinding to a halt the second you lift a finger. The zoom works just as well: hold the control button on the keyboard and the screen zooms in and out, silky smooth.

The two-fingered swiping to move back and forth on the Magic Mouse is actually quite a nice improvement I find.  The motion of moving two fingers sideways across the surface invokes a gesture evocative of Spock’s Vulcan salute to be honest. It will definitely take some getting used to – rather than to resort to the traditional methods of “back” and “forward” buttons.

One thing I will definitely criticize is the lack of other multi-touch gestures on the mouse that were missed from the MacBook trackpad – like pulling up Expose.  This is a feature that I personally use very often, and I’m not entirely sure why Apple decided to do away with this!  I guess I will have to get used to using my “F3″ button?

Pros:

• Gorgeous design
• Innovative two-finger swiping (for “back” and “forward”)
• Reasonably priced
• Intuitive one-fingered scrolling
• Top notch build quality

Cons:

• A little uncomfortable to hold
• No buttons on the sides to pull up Expose
• Install directions could be clearer
• No rechargeable batteries
• Packing tape left debris

There are several methods that these manufacturers use to create 3D images on an LCD television; some are more expensive than others, and some are more feasible than others. This article will discuss the three primary methods of 3-D home theater technology that will be used in upcoming years.

Lenticular viewing: This technology has been pioneered by Philips, and is available as of today. TV sets that use this technology can be watched without those funny glasses that audiences used in theaters. These televisions use a lens that can send different images to each eye. That is, your left eye will see a completely different image from your right eye, which will emulate your two eyes’ use of stereopsis (the process by which your eyes discern depth). The one weakness of lenticular viewing, however, is that a viewer must sit in a very specific spot in front of the TV. This means that only a couple people would be able to comfortably watch the TV at once due to its small viewing angle.

Passive glass systems: Hyundai is developing this type of LCD monitor which will allow both 2D and 3D images to be viewed. To watch the 3-D images, viewers will need to wear the traditional glasses in order to watch three dinemsional media. This technology is nothing new: the TV has two overlapping images and the glasses have polarized lenses. Each lens is polarized so that it can see only one of the two overlapping images. This technology is very feasible and 40 to 50 inch LCD TVs with this technology are currently available for purchase.

Active glass systems: This system is very similar to the passive glass system, except rather than the TV doing all work, the glasses do. The glasses synchronize with the refresh rate of the TV, then they alternate the polarization of each lens, making the wearers of the glasses see 3-D images. With this technology, people could be watching a 2-D movie comfortably, then at will switch the movie into 3-D. This type of monitor is being developed by Samsung and Mitsubishi, but the downside is that the glasses could be very expensive. Some predict the glasses to be upwards of $100.

At Microsoft’s opening keynote for the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the tech world braced itself for Ballmer unveiling a novel slate form-factor computing device from HP, something to rival the yet unannounced Apple tablet.

Earlier on Wednesday, speculation was revving up for the Microsoft announcement, as it was thought Ballmer would introduce the dual-screen Courier tablet which we got a taste for late last year, after a Gizmodo leak.

However, it turned out that Microsoft didn’t manage to beat Apple to the punch and release a breathtaking tablet. What Ballmer unveiled was “something that’s almost as portable as a phone and that’s as powerful as a PC running Windows 7.”

The HP tablet is a basically a color e-reader running Amazon Kindle software, with few other details besides a sub-$500 price point and an estimated arrival on the market by mid-2010. So disappointing was the release that Microsoft and HP’s shares fell yesterday according to BusinessWeek.

Microsoft’s CEO also briefly showed off two other similar products, one from Archos (which was running a movie, hence focused on multimedia) and a larger-screen slate from Pegatron, for reading newspapers and magazines.

Overall, the three slate devices presented by Ballmer are basically just regular Windows 7 PCs, but in a smaller form factor and lacking a keyboard. Despite an attractive design, there is nothing particularly special about them.

The over-hyped, yet disappointing slate computers presentation from Microsoft leaves way for Apple to surprise the world in late January, as analysts expect a better offering from the Cupertino company. That’s unless hype gets the better of them as well.

USB continues to be the answer to conncectivity for PC, Consumer Electronics, and Mobile architectures, It is a fast, bidirectional, low-cost, dynamically attachable interface that is consistent with the requirements of the PC platforms of today and tomorrow.

SuperSpeed USB brings significant performance enhancements to the ubiquitous USB standard, while remaining compatible with the billions of USB enabled devices currently deployed in the market. SuperSpeed USB will deliver 10x the data transfer rate of Hi-Speed USB, as well as improved power efficiency.

Notes:

* SuperSpeed USB has a 5 Gbps signaling rate offering 10x performance increase over Hi-Speed USB.
* SuperSpeed USB is a Sync-N-Go technology that minimizes user wait-time.
* SuperSpeed USB will provide Optimized Power Efficiency.No device polling and lower active and idle power requirements.
* SuperSpeed USB is backwards compatible with USB 2.0. Devices interoperate with USB 2.0 platforms. Hosts support USB 2.0 legacy devices.