Shogun Bros. understand gamers need a reliable, accurate and simple operated fragging device, this is the reason to develop the Ballista MK-1 for all they needs in their battlefield. We use all top design, materials and components to create best mouse for them.

Following the success of their v175w ice cream flash drives PNY Technologies, Inc. ("PNY") is considered a leading designer, manufacturer and a worldwide leader in DRAM Memory and Flash Memory products, introduced a new USB flash drive, the v270w. The innovative flash drive comes in an egg shaped design that gives a light-hearted and fun vibe whilst offering fast and convenient transfer of files on the go.

The HP v270w is covered in a distinctive multicolored rubber material offering water and shock resistance that protects and prevents any data loss from accidental drops or external collisions. The egg shaped cover is embossed in wavy design which provides better grip and easy disconnection. The bright use of white and sunshine yellow exudes a playful and radiant appearance.

Japanese company Elecom unveiled a new line of gaming mice featuring cross-axis sensitivity settings, giving you the ability to tune the sensitivity of the mouse by tuning the X and Y axes independently. The sensitivity setting is then displayed back to the user by LEDs on the mouse, next to button 1. The M-H1ULBK and M-H2DLBK launched today have the same exact design, except that the M-H2DLBK is capable of both wireless and wired opteration. The M-H1ULBK is wired.

The M-H1ULBK features a 5310 dpi optical sensor (can be tuned between 90 dpi and 5310 dpi), with 1000 Hz polling rate. It has a 1.8 m braided USB cable. The M-H2DLBK, on the other hand, packs a 5600 dpi sensor, which can be tuned between 100 and 5600 dpi. It offers a polling rate of 500 Hz when functioning wireless, and 1000 Hz when wired. Both measure W77.6 x D124.5 x H41.8 mm, the M-H1ULBK weighs 155 g (including cable), while the M-H2DLBK weighs 137 g when wireless, and 187 g when wired. Both mice feature 7 buttons, with on the fly dpi settings. Slated for May launch, the M-H2DLBK will be priced at 15,435 JPY (US $200), and the M-H1ULBK at 9,870 JPY ($128).

ViewSonic Corp., a leading global provider of computing, consumer electronics and communications solutions, will showcase innovative new products during Pepcom Digital Experience, held during CES 2012. These new offerings include a 7" Android 4.0 tablet and innovative displays that leverage the company's 25-year heritage in the industry and focus on the future of workplace computing.

iTwin Inc., the company that created iTwin, the world's first 'limitless' secure USB device for remote file access, today announced its new iTwin Multi functionality. This free iTwin upgrade enables users to share files stored on a computer with multiple people at the same time.

With iTwin Multi, multiple users and workgroups can simply and safely connect multiple iTwins to the same computer to remotely access, edit and share files, without the headaches associated with email, VPN, or remote access software. For example, using iTwin Multi, field sales reps can remotely download or upload the latest confidential client contracts and proposals. Similarly, small businesses such as CPA firms can securely share large accounting files and other sensitive data with multiple clients.

The new and delicate C118 USB Disk of Team Group Inc. owns a special eye-catching style to target the fashionable young people. Team C118 features non-toxic silicone and environmental friendly materials, integrating great fun and practical style for you to love yourself and the Earth at the same time.

As 3C products move towards more the young and fashionable trend, the R&D team not only dedicates to make high-efficiency items but developed diversified outlooks and material applications based on different locations and consumer groups. Meanwhile, the company fully understands the importance of environmental protection. To provide a healthier place for the next generation, it presents the whole new Team C118, compatible with USB 2.0 interface, at the very beginning of 2012.

After the success of Ozone Gaming mouse Radon, in 3k and 5k versions, the gamers peripheral company is back a year later to present Radon Opto. A professional-level gaming mouse, with the same quality of his predecessors, while retaining the advantages in terms of ergonomics and customization, but with the precision that optical technology provides to this kind of devices.

Radon Opto has a powerful Avago 3090 optical sensor with up to 3500 dpi resolution, more than enough to achieve extreme accuracy. These levels of resolution combined with the internal capability of optical technology to recognize the work surface with a high level of detail, offer an excellent response especially in FPS (First Person Shooter).

Verbatim, the global leader in data storage technology including portable hard drives, USB flash drives, CDs, Blu-ray discs and memory cards, announces its new Store 'n' Go Micro USB Drive Plus, a rugged portable solution perfect for storing music, videos, school projects or photos that conveniently clips onto key chains, binders, notebooks and more.

"The new Micro USB Drive Plus is an eye-popping way of carrying files while on the go," said Mark Rogers, Verbatim Product Manager, Flash Memory Products. "Whether you are a student, businessman, photographer or road warrior, Verbatim's Micro USB Drive Plus is the perfect USB for you - just clip it on your key ring and carry your files with you."

VIA Labs, Inc., a leading supplier of USB 3.0 integrated chip controllers, today announced its proprietary USB2Expressway Dedicated Bandwidth Technology for USB 3.0 Hubs which dramatically improves USB 2.0 performance when multiple devices are utilized. USB 3.0 Hubs featuring the technology eliminate USB 2.0 bandwidth limitations by providing full, dedicated bandwidth per port, allowing multiple USB 2.0 devices to be connected and operated at their maximum capabilities.

USB 2.0 provides 30-40MB/s of actual throughput, and this is shared across all connected devices. When multiple devices such as external hard drives, flash drives, and webcams are connected, they share available bandwidth which results in severely degraded performance. Compared to USB 2.0, USB 3.0 offers 10x more bandwidth and allows transfers as fast as 300-400MB/s. VIA Labs USB2 Expressway Dedicated Bandwidth Technology allows USB 2.0 devices to utilize USB 3.0 bandwidth, eliminating bandwidth bottlenecks and freeing each connected device to reach its maximum performance potential.

BryteWerks LLC announces the launch of a product line poised to establish a new category of intelligent, hybrid media centers based on an advanced high-definition digital projector platform. The BryteWerks Model One line of Intel Core CPU-based digital projectors merge state-of-the-industry computer, digital, and optical technologies with superior connectivity capabilities and innovative industrial design into a cost-effective and intuitive multimedia control and exhibition powerhouse.

Designed for either consumer or professional applications, the BryteWerks Model One line delivers exhibition-quality 16:10 widescreen 1920x1200 resolution (within 5% of professional 2K cinema systems), through a LCD Native WUXGA panel. The projectors also feature an ultra-high brightness of 6,000 - 11,000 lumens, a 1000:1 True Contrast Ratio, and a 1:1 throw of 1 foot to 50 feet, making them the very best, all-purpose digital projectors in their class. Internally, the BryteWerks Model One projectors feature (depending upon model configuration), a fully-integrated Intel Core i3 to i7 HTPC CPU, a full featured, slot-loaded Blu-ray player, up to 2 terabytes of internal storage, including a 500 gigabyte Solid State Drive, unequaled connectivity options, and a custom version of XBMC, an open source media organization and playback application, making the Model One a revolutionary and unsurpassed media center.

Having already released a 15.6-inch display (the e1649Fwu) that gets both signal and power via USB, AOC is upping the ante this year and at CES 2012 it will showcase a bigger USB monitor. Named e2251Fwu, the display in question is just 10.6 mm thin and features a 22-inch Full HD (1920 x 1080) panel, an LED backlight, a 5 ms response time, a dynamic contrast ratio of 20,000,000:1, a maximum brightness of 250 cd/m2, a removable stand, and, of course, USB connectivity.

The e2251Fwu will ship in February and will cost $199.

Plantronics unveiled its latest headset for professional gamers, the GameCom 780. The headset is probably scheduled to be launched at CES, but a presentation related to it was leaked to the web. The GameCom 780 is a large-sized over-the-ear headset with a rounded quadrilateral shape instead of round, the optimally fit the contours of the ears. While it's 2-channel, it features virtual 7.1-channel surround.

It connects to the PC over USB, and packs a native logic that processes Dolby Headphone and Dolby Pro Logic IIx technologies. Each of the two cans features a 40 mm driver. The cans are suspended on hinges and can swivel to fold the headset up for transportation. The head band is thickly cushioned. The noise-cancelling microphone is suspended by a hinged-armature. The headset has a braided 2 m long USB cable.

VIA Technologies, Inc, a leading innovator of power efficient x86 processor platforms, today announced the VIA VB7009 embedded Mini-ITX board. Measuring only 17cm x 17cm, the VIA VB7009 Mini-ITX is an extremely flexible embedded board with top class functionality and performance for POS and kiosks.

The VIA VB7009 is a cost effective solution offering a broad range of power efficient VIA CPU choices, including the dual core VIA NanoTM X2 processor, providing superior flexibility to match customers' embedded computing needs. Paired with the VIA VX900 unified all-in-one media system processor, the VIA VB7009 Mini-ITX embedded board delivers a highly optimized platform that boasts stunning HD video performance of the most demanding video formats at resolutions of up to 1080p.

Team Group Inc. has overcome the economic stagnation to make another success through slow and steady strategies. iSuppli, the leading research institution, released the latest market statistics of Q2 2011, indicating that the firm ranks no.8 in Flash category in the top 3 Taiwan manufacturers; ranks no. 7 in USB category, moving one place up from the previous quarter; and maintains position as the 12th largest DRAM manufacturer.

According to the President of Team Group, Danny Hsia says that "Team Group Inc. has dedicated itself to Taiwan as well as overseas markets for a long time, and the branding operation has matured. A survey of iSuppli showed our excellent performance, while winning the 10th Deloitte Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific award is also recognition of Team's potential and competitiveness."

Inherited from its original fashion essence, the combination of exquisite metallic casing, silk-shine exterior, and perfect circular arc brings out its unique modernistic look, SP/Silicon Power hereby launches 3 brand new colors of LuxMini 720 - Peach, Deep Blue and Bronze to represent consumers' individualities through the language of design.

LuxMini 720 is easy to carry and can be used as a decorative accessory suited to the consumers' own lifestyle such as attaching it to a key chain or a necklace It is available in storage capacities from 4 GB to 32 GB to meet different user demands. LuxMini 720 allows instant plug and play and is also compliant with the RoHS requirement conforming with the trend of environmental awareness.

Internationally renowned mainboard and graphic card manufacturer MSI announces today two new exclusive products: MultiConnect Panel and Voice Genie.

With support for Wi-Fi 802.11n and Bluetooth 3.0 wireless transfer, MSI's MultiConnect Panel provides an OC Genie button for MSI mainboard users to instantly increase system performance with a simple push of a button! The MSI-exclusive Super Charger on the MultiConnect Panel also allows users to quickly charge their smart-phones, tablet PCs, wireless keyboards, and wireless mice via any MSI X79 mainboard.

MSI's groundbreaking Voice Genie is the world's first voice control technology with system startup support without the need for keyboard or mouse operation! Aside from turning on and off the system, users can even enable and disable OC Genie, open a web browser, wake up the system, and set the system to sleep mode all via voice command! Full compatibility with all MSI X79 Series mainboards helps bring added value to the MSI computing experience with MultiConnect Panel and Voice Genie.

PNY Technologies, Inc. ("PNY") is considered a leading designer, manufacturer and a worldwide leader in DRAM Memory and Flash Memory products, today announced the new Brick Attaché USB Flash drive. This drive sports a unique, playful and fun building block design of children's toys, steering away from the traditional serious designs associated with USB flash drives.

PNY's new Brick Attaché drive is made of strong non-slip polymer material with a dotted embossed texture. The dark blue body has a wedge-shaped notch at the end far from the white cap, while the cap has a similar shaped protrusion, which fits snugly in this notch. This prevents the cap from getting lost. Additionally, if you have more than one such drives, you can connect them one after another forming a train or any such imaginary object according to your creativity.

Welcome to the TechPowerUp 2011 PC technology Christmas special. We hope that you will enjoy reading it while tucking into your turkey, Christmas presents and a little too much wine... In this article, we go through the technology of 2011 that has had the most significance, the most impact and was generally the most talked about. It's not necessarily the best tech of 2011 which is the most significant though, since lemons can be just as significant as the ground-breakers in how they fail to deliver - and the backlash that goes with it.

January: Intel Sandy Bridge i5 & i7

Released on January 9th, the new Intel Core i5 & i7 processors were based on Intel's second generation Core architecture built on a 32 nm production process (HEXUS review). They included an IGP (Integrated Graphics Processor) physically on the same piece of silicon along with HyperThreading. These new dual and quad core processors soundly beat all previous generations of Intel processors in terms of processing performance, heat, power use, features and left AMD in the dust. Therefore, Intel badly needed some competition from AMD and unless you have been living under a rock, you will know how that turned out in October with the launch of Bulldozer. Sandy Bridge was a sound win and is generally considered to be the only architecture worth considering at this point. The i5-2500K is currently at the sweet spot of price/performance. It comes at a stock speed of 3.3 GHz, but typically overclocks to an amazing 4.5 - 5 GHz with a decent air cooler and without too much difficulty in getting there. Models in the budget i3 range were released at various times later. See this Wikipedia article for details.

Japanese company Sanwa Supply announced a new pocket USB 2.0 hub, the USB-HMU403. The hub can be used to expand the number of USB ports to four, and also charge your gadgets, as it supports higher-than spec power delivery. The hub features a retractable standard USB 2.0 connector that plugs into to the host, and also a micro-USB connector that can plug into compatible gadgets (such as Android-driven tablets and smartphones), and expand their USB connectivity, or charge them. Measuring 70 x 43.5 x 9.6 mm (WxDxH), and weighing 26 grams, the hub is available in black and white color options. It is priced at 1,764 JPY (US $22).

Japanese company Elecom unveiled its latest M-TG01DL series designer wireless mice. Available in color options of black, silver, and cherry-red, these right hand-oriented wireless mice use dark-field microscopic optical sensors that let you use it even on transparent glass surfaces with nothing underneath them (such as glass tables). The sensor itself has a resolution of 1200 dpi, which is just fine for most non-gaming tasks.

The mice have five buttons apart from the scroll-wheel. The main unit communicates with a USB micro-receiver over 2.4 GHz radio band, and is powered by a single AAA-size battery which can provide up to 106 days of continuous uptime before needing a replacement. The mouse measures 51.0 x 77.0 x 32 mm (WxDxH), weighing 55 grams (without its battery). The M-TG01DL series will be available in the Japanese market in mid-January, its pricing is not known.

Buffalo Japan has this week announced a new addition to its MiniStation family, an all-white external drive codenamed HD-PCT1TU2-BWJ which offers 1 TB worth of storage space, and features a USB 2.0 interface, a glossy finish, and a power saving mode that can cut consumption by up to 20%.

Buffalo's drive measures 77 x 17 x 114 mm, it weights 210 grams, it comes with a one-year warranty, and is set to become available early next month (Japan gets it first, other markets will probably have to wait a bit longer). Its recommended price tag is 16,800 yen which is about US $215.

Japanese company I-O Data launched its latest TB-PW series of secure USB flash drives, that feature native 128-bit AES data encryption. The drives use USB 2.0 interface, and comes in capacities of 4 GB and 8 GB; and color options of black and blue. The drives stick to the "slider" form-factor, leaving you with no cap to lose. They are slated for availability in early 2012. I-O Data did not give out pricing information.

Here's a good gifting idea for the geek in your family (other than you) or your friends-circle, a new wireless keyboard-mouse combo made it to online stores, that's fabricated almost completely of bamboo wood. Practically every part otherwise made of ABS plastic uses bamboo. The keyboard has a warm wooden feel to it; its frame, and all its keys are made of bamboo. The keys have their symbols/functions etched into them, instead of being printed or embossed upon them. It has a standard 108-key US-QWERTY layout, which also includes a few shortcut keys. Underneath is a common membrane switching mechanism. The keyboard connects to a USB micro receiver over 2.4 GHz wireless band.

The mouse, too, is fabricated almost entirely of bamboo. This includes its top side, its two main buttons, and its underside. The scroll-wheel is made of rubber. The mouse uses a common optical sensor that's fit for everyday tasks. Like the keyboard, the mouse talks to the receiver over 2.4 GHz wireless. The keyboard weighs 1020 g, with the mouse 69 g. The keyboard measures about 465 x 160 x 25 mm, and the mouse 57 x 94 x 35 mm. The combo is priced at US $89.

Sharkoon presents another series of cases: Available in three color editions, the Sharkoon T28 offers a lot of space especially for hard drive installation, thankfully due to the removable hard drive cage, and also perfect for extra-long graphic cards.

Externally the Sharkoon T28 offers a black body and a rectilinear mesh front design. Power and Reset buttons are elegantly chromed. In regards to the front connectors, Audio In/Out stands ready between three USB2.0 ports and a USB3.0 interface. An acrylic window on the left side panel gives an insight into the interior of the colored mainboard tray. Choose from three color editions: Red, green, and for the first time after numerous customer suggestions, blue. Also, the operating and hard drive LEDs illuminate in the edition color as well as the three pre-installed 120 mm fans. Two fans rotate in the front, the third in the back. All possess a 4-pin power supply and a 3-pin mainboard connector.

Windows 8 implements a radical new user interface called Metro for desktop PC's, which has so far received a mixed reception. However, there's many other changes under the hood and one of those is how password security is handled, which we look at here. It's a fact of life, that in today's modern world, we have to remember a plethora of passwords and PIN's, which can be daunting. This leads to security issues as users end up writing down passwords and/or create very insecure ones which can be easily guessed. Windows 8 aims to uphold strong password security, while at the same time, easing the burden on the user. Also, passwords can be obtained in various ways by miscreants, such as phishing, keylogging, guessing, and cracking. Windows addresses each of these problems in three main ways: