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Latest Components Opinion

04 September 2013
Opinion: How to effectively fill your Mac's display when screen sharing

Reader Earl Andrews is interested in getting the full picture--at least when screen sharing with his Mac mini. He writes:
08 August 2013
Opinion: Kingston's MobileLite Wireless streams multimedia and charges mobile devices, too

Small, light, and versatile, Kingston's $70 MobileLite serves as a Wi-Fi multimedia streamer and as a reserve power source for your other mobile devices, such as your smartphone or tablet. The MobileLite has no storage of its own, but it provides a USB 2.0 port and an SDHC memory card slot so you can attach your own.
06 August 2013
Opinion: Crossbar's RRAM could disrupt flash memory market

Flash memory runs the world right now. It's a $60 billion market at the heart of virtually all electronics. Thanks to Crossbar's resistive RAM technology, though, Flash may soon be a fading memory (pun intended).
22 July 2013
Opinion: Could Haswell laptops replace ARM tablets?

The latest generation of Intel laptops should offer vastly improved battery life, and that in turn may infuse the traditional Windows laptop with a new lease of life. Could Haswell laptops replace ARM tablets?
11 July 2013
Opinion: How to make good use of an old hard drive

Carol Hart has an extra hard drive hanging around. She asked me what she can do with it.
10 July 2013
Opinion: Stretchable, flexible 3D-printed liquid metal wires could be the key to custom circuit boards

Researchers at the North Carolina State University are onto a 3D printing process that lets you create objects with drops of liquid metal. Nope, these aren't hot, molten balls of metal; instead, the researchers created a liquid metal alloy that simply clumps together like drops of oil even at room temperature.
09 July 2013
Opinion: MIT, Vienna university develop 'optical transistors'

The future of optical computing has gotten brighter, as separate announcements by MIT and an Austrian university each claim breakthroughs in "optical transistors".
02 July 2013
Opinion: Remains of the Day: Marriage of inconvenience

Apple and Samsung are still together after all these years; Back to School season is nearly upon us; and Kanye West now has a mouse for each hand. The remainders for Monday, July 1, 2013 are hardest on the kids.
24 June 2013
Opinion: How to safely remove a USB drive even when Windows says it isn't safe to do so

Windows doesn't always allow you to safely remove a flash drive or external hard drive. Klaatu asked the Answer Line forum for advice.
21 June 2013
Opinion: Haswell laptops that can last all day

With its fourth-generation Core processor, codenamed Haswell, Intel has finally turned its back on the megahertz wars it once held with AMD, IBM and Motorola, instead welcoming reduced power consumption and longer battery life. And for laptops that can mean only one thing: tablets had better watch their backs.
20 June 2013
Opinion: Add an external drive to your WMP or iTunes music collection

Kat Korsmo asked how to play music off an external hard in Windows Media Player library. (My answer covers iTunes, as well.)
19 June 2013
Opinion: Five surefire ways to maximize your laptop's battery life

You adore your laptop. It lets you get down to business wherever you happen to be--airport lounge, coffee shop, your home office. It's the key to your competitive edge.
13 June 2013
Opinion: How to securely wipe sensitive files--or your entire hard drive

Rommel asked the Utilities forum for advice on cleaning files off a hard drive so that they can never be restored.
24 May 2013
Opinion: How fast is USB 3.0 really?

As a Mac user, I've never been a big fan of USB for storage. Keyboards, mice, sure. But a hard drive connected via USB has always been slow compared to those using Apple's FireWire, FireWire 800, and (most recently) Thunderbolt interfaces. And booting from a USB drive on the Mac was a no-no for a long time.
Opinion: With an SSD, backups are more important than ever

Welcome to the dawn of the SSD age. Solid-state drives now offer great performance at affordable prices, which is why more and more users are choosing them in new PCs and adding them to older ones.
22 May 2013
Opinion: Cut custom circuit boards with the Othermill

3D printing is all the rage these days, because it's an additive process that lets you basically fabricate any random knick knacks on your mind. But who says making has to be a strictly 3D printing only affair?
16 May 2013
Opinion: Three simple ways to get a speedy PC

There are three ways to get a faster PC or laptop: buy a new one, upgrade the hardware, or upgrade the software. We can show you how to do them all.
11 May 2013
Opinion: Carbon nanotubes could be the future of transistor technology

Though chip transistors have traditionally been made with silicon, a team from USC has developed carbon nanotubes that could replace silicon and allow for faster transistors.
02 May 2013
Opinion: Keep your laptop battery healthy: Use it sparingly

Sibi Marcos asked about removing a laptop's battery to increase it's life.
30 April 2013
Opinion: CRT magnet art looks eerie; don't try it on your home TV

Where you one of those kids who liked to wave a magnet against your old CRT display to watch the rainbow of colors bending to your will? You certainly weren't the only one, and a German artist wants to help you relive those memories, albeit on a grander scale.