HardwareScoop.com

Do you have trouble remembering to turn off your PC at the end of the day?

No such worries with the Fit-PC 2.0. Using a maximum of just 9 Watts, this tiny computer has a smaller carbon footprint than a low energy bulb.

Its manufacturers claim that the Windows XP/Linux box uses 90 per cent less energy than a standard desktop PC.

As small as a CD, but with no optical drive

Unsurprisingly, there’s a low-power Intel Atom 1.1 or 1.6GHz processor at the heart of the aluminium-clad 1.5×10.1×2.7cm Fit-PC 2.0 - that’s smaller than three stacked CD cases. It ships with 1GB RAM.

The Fit-PC 2.0 can run either Windows XP or Linux - and should easily be able to handle Windows 7 when it launches in October. It comes with an Ethernet link and six USB 2.0 ports, but you’ll have to supply your own monitor, mouse and keyboard.

The Fit-PC 2.0 costs from £245 for a discless, 1.1GHZ version, up to £400 for a Windows XP box with 1.6GHZ chip, 160GB hard drive and 802.11g Wi-Fi. More info at www.fit-pc.co.uk.

Mozilla today announced that its Firefox web browser has now been downloaded over one billion times.

It served its first 10-digit download around four hours ago, and Firefox continues to be downloaded around 20 times a second.

The latest version of the popular open-source browser, Firefox 3.5, was released at the end of June.

A third of surfers prefer Firefox

Firefox was first released back in 2004 and, according to StatCounter, currently has a 30 per cent market share worldwide and a 28 per cent share in the UK.

Mozilla has a website about the billionth download all ready to go at www.onebillionplusyou.com, although the barrier-breaking record seems to have caught them by surprise - there’s nothing but a holding image up at the moment.

Internet Explorer still accounts for about 60 per cent of the browsers being used, with Chrome, Safari and AOL fighting over the remaining 10 per cent.

Mozilla has already released details and screenshots of Firefox 4.0, with some snazzy new 3D buttons and translucent effects.

There’s a real buzz in the evil genius community over the latest gadget dreamed up by brain researchers at the Max-Planck Institute for Neurobiology in Munich.

Scientists there have built the world’s flight simulator for flies, as part of their quest to create a new breed of intelligent flying robots.

Professor Alexander Borst and his minions have designed a wraparound display that presents diverse patterns, movements and sensory stimuli to blow flies.

Mind-reading insects

The insect is held in place by a halter, so that electrodes can register the reactions of its brain cells, allowing the boffins to observe and analyse what happens in a fly’s brain when (it thinks) it’s flying.

Researchers have long known that flies see and react much faster than humans, despite having a brain the size of a pin-head. For human eyes, anything more than 25 discrete images per second will merge into a continuous movement. However, a blow fly can perceive 100 images per second and interpret them quickly enough to steer its movement precisely.

Initial results suggest that flies process images from their immobile, compound eyes in a completely different way from humans. Movements in space produce ‘optical flux fields’ that are analysed by tiny 60-cell clusters of specialised neurons.

The German scientists hope to apply their findings by developing small, flying robots whose position and movement in flight will be controlled by a computerised system for visual analysis inspired by the fly’s brain.

Their long-range aim is to enable the creation of intelligent machines that can interact with people directly, effectively, and safely. Or perhaps to create massive swarms of remote-controlled flies to pick the pockets of law-abiding citizens - you have been warned!

Microsoft has announced that the three version family pack of Windows 7 will not be available in the UK for the moment because we have Windows 7 E.

According to the corporation, it’s “because the Family Pack is designed as an upgrade SKU, and upgrade SKUs of Windows 7 E will not be available in the UK until at least 2010.”

So there we have it, no upgrade version of Windows 7 until at least 2010.

However, Microsoft says it is “currently working on the best solutions for its UK consumers, and will be in touch if there are any further announcements on this topic.”

The corporation has also announced its pricing structure that enables consumers to upgrade from one version of Windows 7 to another without having to reinstall.

Called Windows Anytime Upgrade (WAU), somebody buying, say a netbook with Windows 7 Starter Edition, will be able to get hold of the much better Home Premium version for just £70.

Microsoft says that while most customers will buy the edition of Windows 7 “that best suits them,” WAU enables “customers to readily add more features to Windows 7 while keeping their programs, files and settings intact.”

There are two ways that users can get a WAU. Customers can buy a retail package either or directly from a Microsoft online store; Windows will walk the customer through the rest of the upgrade step-by-step.

The Starter to Home Premium cost will be seen as reasonable, the Home Premium to Ultimate, however, is more of a significant leap.

UK Pricing is as follows:

Windows 7 Starter to Windows 7 Home Premium £69.99
Windows 7 Starter to Windows 7 Professional £119.99
Windows 7 Starter to Windows 7 Ultimate £139.99
Windows 7 Home Premium to Windows 7 Professional £119.99
Windows 7 Home Premium to Windows 7 Ultimate £124.99
Windows 7 Professional to Windows 7 Ultimate £84.99

Acer has released an upgraded version of its Acer Predator gaming PC in Japan. The new Predator ASG7710-A41 is powered by Intel’s 3.06GHz Core i7-950 processor with a 6GB of DDR3 memory (and support up to 12GB of RAM), twin NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250 1GB video cards for extreme graphics, Acer’s G15 gaming keyboard and [...]

Acer has released an upgraded version of its Acer Predator gaming PC in Japan. The new Predator ASG7710-A41 is powered by Intel’s 3.06GHz Core i7-950 processor with a 6GB of DDR3 memory (and support up to 12GB of RAM), twin NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250 1GB video cards for extreme graphics, Acer’s G15 gaming keyboard and [...]

Apple will release a fix for the iPhone to stop the latest text message hack from infecting iPhones.

Available this Saturday from iTunes, O2 has said the patch will stop the threat highlighted by security expert Charlie Miller.

“We will be communicating to customers both through the website and proactively,” the spokesperson for O2 said to the BBC.

“We always recommend our customers update their iPhone with the latest software and this is no different.”

Android in trouble too

The same problem, which can infect the phone via a series of invisible text messages, can also infect phones running Windows Mobile and Android operating systems.

Google has apparently already begun measures to address the problem, although Microsoft has yet to comment.

The flaw was highlighted at the recent Black Hat conference in the US, which Miller says was important to flag up in order to make sure companies took action against it.

Apple will release a fix for the iPhone to stop the latest text message hack from infecting iPhones.

Available this Saturday from iTunes, O2 has said the patch will stop the threat highlighted by security expert Charlie Miller.

“We will be communicating to customers both through the website and proactively,” the spokesperson for O2 said to the BBC.

“We always recommend our customers update their iPhone with the latest software and this is no different.”

Android in trouble too

The same problem, which can infect the phone via a series of invisible text messages, can also infect phones running Windows Mobile and Android operating systems.

Google has apparently already begun measures to address the problem, although Microsoft has yet to comment.

The flaw was highlighted at the recent Black Hat conference in the US, which Miller says was important to flag up in order to make sure companies took action against it.

A new pico projector has emerged from a company called AAXA Technologies, offering the highest resolution for a device its size.

While pico projectors haven’t exactly taken over the market at the moment, the technology is improving quickly, and the price falling too.

The new P2 projector (following on from the P1, bizarrely) has a resolution of 800 x 600, which is the highest available from a pico projector today.

Big picture

It can throw images up to 80 inches in size, and has a 35-lumens output (which isn’t bright enough for general movie watching, but more than enough for day to day presenting and other little things like that.

It supports up to 1280×720 video input, has a remote control, stereo speakers, MP4 player, 1GB of onboard memory and a microSD slot for expanding what you carry around with you to show off to people.

It does, sadly, have a 35 minute battery life, but users can buy an add on to improve this to three hours from AAXA.

It’s not the most expensive in the world either at $349 (£210), and will be available from 15 August.

A new pico projector has emerged from a company called AAXA Technologies, offering the highest resolution for a device its size.

While pico projectors haven’t exactly taken over the market at the moment, the technology is improving quickly, and the price falling too.

The new P2 projector (following on from the P1, bizarrely) has a resolution of 800 x 600, which is the highest available from a pico projector today.

Big picture

It can throw images up to 80 inches in size, and has a 35-lumens output (which isn’t bright enough for general movie watching, but more than enough for day to day presenting and other little things like that.

It supports up to 1280×720 video input, has a remote control, stereo speakers, MP4 player, 1GB of onboard memory and a microSD slot for expanding what you carry around with you to show off to people.

It does, sadly, have a 35 minute battery life, but users can buy an add on to improve this to three hours from AAXA.

It’s not the most expensive in the world either at $349 (£210), and will be available from 15 August.