Microsoft debuts new multitouch mouse for Windows 7

Today at the 2011 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas Microsoft unveiled the Touch Mouse, a new multitouch mouse designed for Windows 7.

Born from the Mouse 2.0 project conducted by Microsoft Research and the Applied Sciences Group, the Touch Mouse allows user to click, flick, scroll and swipe.

“The new Touch Mouse is a great way for customers to interact naturally with their Windows 7-based PC,” said Mark Relph, senior director of the Windows Developer and Ecosystem Team at Microsoft. “We worked closely with the Microsoft Hardware team to help develop the multitouch gestures that make Windows 7 easier, simpler and more fun to use. After just a few minutes with this mouse you’ll see why.”

Touch Mouse lets users use one, two or three fingers to amplify the Windows 7 operating system by creating simple shortcuts to the tasks people want to do most.

With one finger user can manage individual documents or pages by flicking to scroll, as well as pan and tilt. One thumb lets users move back and forward through a Web browser.

Two fingers is designed to manage windows, maximize, minimize, snap and restore them. Finally, three fingers lets users navigate the entire desktop.

The Touch Mouse is equipped with BlueTrack Technology, letting consumers track on virtually any surface, and the tiny Nano transceiver is so small it never needs to come out of the USB port.

Touch Mouse will be available in June 2011 for the estimated retail price of $79.95 (U.S.). It will be available for presale starting this week at the online Microsoft Store, Amazon.com and BestBuy.com. Microsoft backs this mouse with a worldwide three-year limited hardware warranty.

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Intel finally debuts Sandy Bridge core processors, Intel Insider

Intel's CES 2011 press conference brought the long-awaited launch of Sandy Bridge processors, Intel Insider for HD movies on PCs, and some interesting toys on the way.

Intel held its press conference Wednesday morning and announced the worst kept secret of this year’s CES. Intel’s second generation Sandy Bridge processors were introduced and definitely seem like they will live up to the hype. In addition to the incredibly powerful processors, president and CEO Paul Otellini claimed that over the next two years, Intel will continue to develop its focus on Smart TVs (Otellini mentioned the company will keep working with Google to introduce set top boxsets and integrated Blu-ray players), netbooks, tablets, auto technology and connectivity. And we’re set to see devices running Sandy Bridge processors on the market. Intel assured us a variety of machines – from PCs to tablets – will use the technology, and that is has been developed with Windows 7 (and Windows 8) processes in mind.

As promised, Sandy Bridge processors are faster, stronger, and better than anything Intel has launched before. Its capabilities are focused on heightening the visual experience, quicker transcoding abilities, and seamless streaming. VP Mooly Eden led most of the press conference, and demonstrated various PCs and notebooks running a Sandy Bridge processor in comparison with the last two generation units. Working with photo editors and HD video transcoders, the new models worked at least two to three times faster than the other models. Even less powerful notebooks, when equipped with the upgraded technology, were easily able to outdo previous Intel Core processors.

We also saw Intel introduce Intel Insider, the speculated digital content service in which consumers using a machine with a Sandy Bridge processor would have the ability to stream newly released HD movies. President of Warner Brothers Kevin Tsujihara explained that in the past, production studios (namely, his) hesitated to offer HD content to the PC for fear that it would not be an optimal visual experience. Now with Intel’s new technology, his and other producers will be partnering with the company to offer this service. He also claimed that Sandy Bridge processors will “raise the bar for us” and that in the future, this partnership will grow to include 3D content. Other companies partnering with Intel Insider include Best Buy CinemaNow, Dreamworks, Fox, WB, and Roxio. And the demo didn’t disappoint: a short clip from the film Inception proved the 1080p HD playback is responsive and streams without any lag or visual disappointments to a TV set.

Intel also let us in on one ongoing project. The company is investing in image metrics, and working to develop a real-time gesture recognition program in which you can create an avatar immediately and use to insert your own likeness into games. Mooly insisted this will be focused on “fun, social networking, and games.”

So what didn’t today’s press conference cover? Smartphones and servers – Otellini insisted that all phone talk is delegated for the Mobile World Meeting in Barcelona next month.

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Sony debuts 3D Vaio laptops

Earlier today Sony debuted the next generation of Sony Vaios F Series Multimedia laptops, and besides the upgrades you might expect, the new computers will now feature 3D displays.

Sony loves its 3D. In fact, it loves it passionately, so much so that you can probably expect that anything containing a visual display that has a Sony logo will also feature a 3D component of some kind. In many ways that is an interesting feature. For a laptop, it is an impressive sight.

Today at CES Sony officially unveiled its newest lineup of products, and to nobody’s surprise, the most used phrase was by far “3D”. Everything will soon have it, but to see a laptop capable of supporting full HD resolution blu-ray playback is one thing. To have it support that level of graphics with 3D as well is something to behold.

The newest series of Vaios should be making their way to the stores in the next few months, and despite a few drawbacks, including the necessity to use active shutter 3D glasses, and a price tag that lands it around $1700, the first time you relax on an airplane to a 3D blu-ray movie while your neighbor covets thy entertainment, you will know what Sony was thinking.

The new laptops will also feature a 2nd generation Intel i7 processor, an HD display with an LED backlit display, an Nvidia GeForce GT 540M with 1GB dedicated VRAM card, and a built in blu-ray player. The system will also convert 2D HD footage, including DVD and blu-rays into 3D in real time. Look for it later this year.

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