Asus’ SBW-06C1S-U is a slim external Blu-ray writer that’s almost small enough to fit into a coat pocket. It’s powered entirely from the USB bus, with no need for an external mains adaptor. It weighs only 380g, so could be a good choice of portable backup drive. A Y-cable plugs into two USB 2.0 ports [...]

General: – Added game event calls for onslaughts to explain to players that they need to fight their way to the safe room. Modders can make use of this by pointing an info_game_event_proxy entity to “explain_onslaught” – All maps received minor tweaks and bug fixes, the significant changes are listed. Crash Course 1 – The [...]

By Bill Rigby SEATTLE (Reuters) – Microsoft Corp is starting the new year much as it did the one just ended – grappling with weak computer sales tearing a hole in its core Windows business, while it gropes its way slowly into the faster-growing mobile phone and tablet markets. Shares of the world’s largest software [...]

This BR-X816U2 is the older and significantly cheaper sibling of the BR3D-12U3, but identical in appearance. It also requires an external power supply, and is similarly quiet during operation. Unlike its brother it lacks support for USB 3.0, however, and is limited to eight-speed writing. We had some interesting results when we plugged this drive [...]

Amid complaints with regard to the quality of the low-cost ‘Aakash’ tablet PC, the government on Monday said it is hopeful of bringing out an upgraded version of the device, ‘Aakash-II’, by April this year. “In order to cater to the huge demand, we need several manufacturers to manufacture Aakash. We are enhancing the specifications [...]

(Jennifer Brown/The Star-Ledger)Stephanie Goodson is fighting with Best Buy’s Geek Squad over a computer repair gone wrong. Goodson brought her machine to the Geek Squad for data recovery. It wasn’t able to recover the data, but when she returned to pick up the computer, it wouldn’t boot up. Suddenly, the motherboard was dead and needed [...]

Like us on Facebook “The floods in Thailand have been causing disruptions to the production of hard disk drives since October 2011, and this has started to negatively affect the PC supply chain (and IT hardware in general). This was a headwind in the December quarter and is expected to be a more serious concern [...]

By Jonny Evans In relationships they say you can divide people into one of three roles: leader, follower and co-pilot. When it comes to the ultra-notebook market, there’s only one clear Master in the global supply chain, Apple [AAPL], and it’s preparing to boldly go further with its next-generation MacBook Air. Get over it Sure, [...]

SFGate January 16, 2012 04:00 AM Copyright SFGate. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Monday, January 16, 2012

A NUMBER of big-name retailers and pub chains will reveal how they held up over the crucial trading period this week. Shoppers are expected to have inflicted more pain on PC World and Currys owner Dixons Retail, which reports tomorrow, after they cut back on expensive electrical items over Christmas. The British Retail Consortium recently [...]