Belkin's Washable Mouse and Mouse Trap

A Posting on Crave today report of a washable mouse "Now that fellow Craver Rich Demuro has shown that we can dry our hands properly at long last, it's time to revisit an idea whose time may finally have come: washable computer equipment.

Most of the submergible peripherals we've seen to date are keyboards, but now there's a mouse to go with them. Belkin's cleverly named "Washable Mouse" can take extended bubble baths because of a unique design that places uses a "scroll pad" instead of the usual wheel, according to Gizmodo.

This comes as good news to those of us in the OCD community who don't trust fancy titanium dioxide finishes that supposedly ward off bacteria. For our money, nothing beats good old soap and water. Well, that and maybe a Lego dishwasher."

USB hub opens letters, wakes you up

Never again will you have to suffer the pitiable indignation of owning a USB hub which only has one lowly "hubbing" function. Enter the Shenzhen Sunstars USB hub, letter opener, and alarm clock. Yeah, I know you have actual hands for doing things like opening letters, and a phone or watch for alarms, but are either of those things self-powered with four USB 2.0 ports? Thought not.

Google to Microsoft: more changes to Vista, please

A posting on Engadget is reporting "Just when you thought the bickering over Vista's search capabilities were finished, along comes Google to fuel the nearly extinguished flame. Apparently, Microsoft's actual filing that spelled out its intentions to alter the search functionality within Vista wasn't as clear cut as previously understood, and now Google is out for even more blood. Google's chief legal officer, David Drummond, called the remedies "a step in the right direction," but also declared that the changes "should be improved further to give consumers greater access to alternate desktop-search providers." Essentially, it seems like Google will be barking up Redmond's proverbial tree until Microsoft allows users to disable Vista's built-in search (or better yet, choose Google) entirely. Oh, the drama."

Google Stares Down Microsoft And Wins

TechCrunch is reporting "Microsoft has agreed to make changes to Vista in response to a complaint by Google alleging that Vista’s inbuilt search functionality competed unfairly with Google Desktop Search.

According to a NY Times report, Google’s complaint was made confidentially in line with rules established as part of a previous settlement over anti-competitive behaviour by Microsoft. The settlement between state prosecutors, the Justice Department and Microsoft will avert the prospect of litigation over the matter.

The changes Microsoft will make to Vista have not yet been made public.

It’s an interesting case. Microsoft has a long history of anti-competitive behaviour however in recent years the company has been a far better corporate citizen, in large part due to the terms imposed on it by previous settlements. On the surface it seems a little strange that Microsoft could be in this position; Vista’s search capabilities really do nothing more than deliver decent search functionality out of the box for Windows. Search functionality has been available in some form or another in ever version of Windows since Windows 95, the difference being that previously those search capabilities have been substandard compared to offerings from Google and Yahoo with their own respective desktop search programs. Whatever the actual details of the case may be (and we may never know) it’s a win for Google. For Microsoft, questions remain: is this simply a case of Microsoft waiting to fight another day, or is the company now seriously spooked by both the threat of anti-competitive litigation and Google? It’s certainly very un-Microsoft like to simply settle without a fight."

How a Nano can keep your pants on

Crave is reporting "Before you trash that busted gadget, ask yourself this: How would it look strapped to my waist? Don't laugh--it could be the next fashion trend.

Little did we know that a broken Mac mouse was only the beginning when a graphic artist turned it into a belt buckle. Now, the concept has progressed to a working iPod Nano in the form of the "Tunebuckle," a clear case that can be worn without compromising access to the device's controls, Shiny Shiny says. Once again, our distinct lack of fashion sense has been proven beyond doubt. (Twice in one morning, in fact.)

Aesthetics notwithstanding, we think this accoutrement merits praise for one simple reason: It's not called the "iBuckle.""

Software Support is a service I'm running to help you with using software like Microsoft Office and Windows. I will also help you decide what software is right for you and help you with the downloading, installing, getting started and using the program you choose. All for €0.40 (£0.275) a minute.

To do this I am using Skype prime and you will need Skype (download it here for free) to call me.

Software Support

Need help with using software or deciding what software is best for you, call me.

Call now

0.40 EUR / min

More info on my site

BBC iPlayer

I've got on the beta testing list for the BBC iPlayer, on-demand BBC TV from the past 7 days. The only problem I have with it is the lack of convent but BBC say more will be added as we go though the testing, The time a takes for shows to be available I'm still waiting to get Doctor Who from yesterday, but the main problem I have is the tight DRM on it.

You can download a show that was shown in the past 7 days and keep it for up to 30 days but as soon as you watch it you only have up to 7 days to watch it again. the DRM also stops you using a media extender, such as the Xbox 360, to get the content on the big screen.

Apart from that it's a great idea from the BBC and a good program.