Intel Corporation Senior Vice President Tom Kilroy officially introduced the next wave of Ultrabook systems during a keynote address at Computex Taipei 2012. Making a bold statement around the importance of touch technology, Kilroy also announced that Intel has signed agreements with several leading touch panel manufacturers to ensure adequate capacity to meet the expected demand for touch-enabled Ultrabook experiences over the next several years.

He also highlighted the company's efforts to deliver user-centric experiences across a range of mobile devices from the Ultrabook to smartphones and tablets, pointing to momentum across all three.

The universe of smart connected devices, including PCs, media tablets, and smartphones, saw shipments of more than 916 million units and revenues surpassing $489 billion dollars in 2011, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC). These numbers reflect the combined total from IDC's Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker, Mobile Phone Tracker, and Media Tablet Tracker.

"Whether it's consumers looking for a phone that can tap into several robust 'app' ecosystems, businesses looking at deploying tablet devices into their environments, or educational institutions working to update their school's computer labs, smart, connected, compute-capable devices are playing an increasingly important role in nearly every individual's life," said Bob O'Donnell, vice president, Clients and Displays at IDC.

German gaming peripherals manufacturer, ROCCAT Studios, has introduced a groundbreaking technology called the ROCCAT Power-Grid that - for the first time in the history of PC gaming - lets players control their games and computer with their smartphone. And, in what is surely music to the ears of many players, the Power-Grid is completely free to get started.

Gaming evolved

"Some gaming companies claim PC gaming is sick and needs help," says René Korte, ROCCAT Founder and CEO. "We at ROCCAT have never thought that. We know PC gaming is alive and well. It just needs to keep evolving. Power-Grid represents that natural evolution. Why? Because it makes possible the dream of millions of gamers: to stay fully absorbed in the game no matter what happens in the real world. It works with every PC, makes expensive touch-display gaming devices obsolete, and is completely free to get started. Is PC gaming sick? Hardly. Is it dead? Of course not. It's evolving and getting a hell of a lot better."