If you've ever wished you could tweak that handheld gadget of yours just a bit, or even a lot, to make it better meet your needs, Bug Labs has a gadget you might want to check out. Well, it's less of a "gadget" and more a gestalt of gadget-like objects. OK, you may be wondering just what the heck that even means, but when you see how the Bug platform works, you'll understand.

See, the idea is that you have a base gadget--similar to a mini-motherboard. Like a mobo, you plug other components into it and then use software that makes those components do what you want. The Bug Base allows other modules to attach onto it. You then add your own (or other folks') Java apps to make those modules do what you need them to do. The Bug has been compared to Lego for gadgets and really does give a new meaning to the phrase "plug and play."

But what modules are available and what modules are on their way?

---

In today's world of on-demand-everything, you can't always be at your desk when you want to do things that you normally need to do in your day. With UMPCs, as the joke says, you can take it with you. This is only true when the "it" you're referring to is the computing power of your office computer. Asus, a company that has shown it can produce a pretty mean laptop ("mean" in a good way), is heading into the UMPC world with the R50a, a handheld device it claims is a full-powered PC.

After wowing the world with their very mobile Eee PC, they're living up to the "U" in UMPC by providing an Ultra Mobile PC that is truly feature-rich. The R50a is 6.2-inches long, is a full-powered computer, has a 5.6-inch touchscreen, and will run Windows Vista or Linux. Thusly, it's a little bit like folding up your office computer and sticking it in your pocket--well, almost.

It's not quite pocket-size, but according to their press release from CeBIT 2008, there are quite a bit more features to be impressed with on this little guy.

---

This week I’ve been talking about Ambient Corporation’s neckband that is capable of interpreting nerve signals sent from the brain to the vocal cords. As discussed in yesterday’s entry into this series ‘Things to Come’, the device’s practical applications can possibly change they way we learn new information.

---

Interested in taking the smallest High-Def camcorder with you on your next vacation? Not only are you in luck, you're the exact target audience for Sony's newest camcorder in their (seemingly) centuries-old "Handycam" line: the HDR-TG1.

If you're like most gadget aficionados, you are no longer satisfied with the picture-quality of your two or three year-old, standard-def Mini-DV video camera. It's probably been time to upgrade for a while and while there have been a host of HD cams that have come out over the past couple of years, most of them recorded on that old-fashioned Mini-DV tape. Using magnetic tape is positively last-century--it's all about writing directly to data, these days, and while many camcorders have that covered, Sony claims theirs is the smallest to do it while spitting out a High-Def picture.

---

Welcome to Part II in this weeks feature ‘Things to Come.’ Yesterday I talked about a device that could provide a voice for the voiceless: the nerve-signal interpreting neckband developed by Ambient Corporation. At the end of the article I was relating the potential applications of the device, hinting that it reached beyond helping those with ALS. And while I’m not trying to downplay the significant achievement in this application alone, the devices marketable applications might leave you wanting, what with a device that can read nerve signals as words.

---

Ever wonder why computers keep improving and improving, even though most people tend to do just a handful of basic things with their PCs? Well, intentionally or not, the Classmate PC began to tackle this issue and it's unofficial sequel, the 2go PC, carries on the, albeit, short tradition of sticking with what works for the user, as opposed to improving the hardware endlessly, like most other PC companies do. It's a bit like that old George Carlin routine about getting a bigger house.

When you get a bigger house, you get more stuff to fill it with. There was nothing wrong with the stuff you had, but now you've got more space. So, you get more stuff! The same thing generally applies to computers. Your average machine has a 2GHz processor? Couldn't you do everything you needed on the 1GHz processor? Sure. But now you can do MORE. But what if you don't want to do more?

How could that be? Read on...

---

In a three part series this week I’ll be looking at a device that seems stripped from the pages of a sci-fi novel. Today’s installment introduces this cutting-edge gadget which not only has the potential to revolutionize communication, but to alter the very way we think.

---

Today’s news witnesses several previous reports resurfacing with fresh info:

Windows 7 Sooner than you think

Torrent Wars escalate

And...Rick Astely?

---

If you're like most computer-based gearheads, it's more than a little likely that you have an extra hard drive or two just laying around taking up space and collecting dust. You might even be contemplating building a low-end homemade rig just to serve as a new home for those still functioning but probably smaller-capacitied (not really a word) drives. Or, perhaps you recently upgraded from a tower PC to a laptop and have yet to transfer all that data off of your old machine. Which ever is your issue, computer accessory company, Brando, has the perfect device to add to your computer setup: it's a dock for your old SATA hard disk drives.

Think of the dock you stick your iPod in to charge its battery or transfer media. Essentially, the Brando HDD dock is exactly like that, only bigger, for obvious reasons. It can take your full-size 3.5 inch internal hard drive or even your laptop-size 2.5 inch drive and connect it to any computer with a USB port on it. Pick up one of these and you've just put all of your old SATA drives back to work.

---

Cubans to go Cellular

The Tunes and the Taxman

Wii while on the Road

Cubans get Celled:

---