design

Microsoft has unveiled its new Sculpt Comfort Keyboard and Sculpt Mobile Keyboard, both of which feature unique ergonomically curved designs. Both keyboards also improve on previous models in several ways, and are designed specifically to be ... compatible with the software giant's new Windows 8 operating system (OS), due out in late October, 2012. Good News: "Pinky Reach" Prevented The Sculpt Comfort Keyboard is an improvement on Microsoft's old Wireless Comfort Desktop 5000. The company has added a number of Windows 8 hotkeys to the design, and has made the space bar wider and split ... (view more)

Microsoft is reportedly scrambling to come up with a replacement name for its new user interface in Windows 8. According to reports, the Redmond, Washington-based company has decided to completely drop the name 'Metro' after a threat of legal action ... arose over possible trademark violations. Microsoft has reportedly told its staff they should not use the term in any applications or documents. Microsoft has been calling its new interface 'Metro' for some time. In the past it was meant to describe an overall design style, including both a typeface and a system incorporating very large icons. ... (view more)

Sir Jonathan Ive, who is Apple's senior vice president of Industrial Design and a man Steve Jobs once described as his "spiritual partner," has been made a Knight Commander of the British Empire. Ive, who was born in London, England, has worked at ... Apple, based in Cupertino, California, for nearly twenty years. In 1996, he was promoted to lead Apple's design team. There he played a key role in the development of the iMac, the iPod and the iPhone. According to many observers, Ive can be credited with helping Apple to establish its current reputation as the source of some of the tech industry's ... (view more)

Leaving electrical appliances plugged in to power outlets, but unattended, has long been an energy-drain issue for some individuals. High electricity costs, coupled with countless instances of accidental electrical fires, have now given rise to a ... new socket design that unplugs devices without any prompting. Electrical Socket Ejects Devices After Ten Idle Minutes Called the "PumPing Tap", the spring-loaded electrical socket detects current flowing through it and releases the plug when an electrical device is left idle. The new outlet is primarily intended to conserve energy, and is a great ... (view more)

In computing, the term "chipset" is commonly used to refer to a set of specialized chips on a computer's motherboard (or "main board"), and even expansion cards. North and South Bridges of a Mainboard Based on Intel Pentium-class microprocessors, ... the term chipset often refers to a specific pair of chips on the motherboard: the northbridge and the southbridge. The northbridge links the CPU (Central Processing Unit) to very high-speed devices, especially main memory and graphics controllers, and the southbridge connects to lower-speed peripheral buses (such as PCI or ISA). In many modern ... (view more)

Microsoft looks set to severely restrict the range of phone designs compatible with the forthcoming Windows Phone 7 series. Right now, it appears there will be just three basic styles of handset with the new system. A recent podcast featured two ... members of Microsoft's Australian division discussing plans to restrict manufacturers to three different chassis, the basic physical design of the phone. Three Windows Phone 7 Chassis Classes The first design will be for touchscreen phones and includes some very specific requirements: a 800x480 pixel screen, an accelerometer, a 5 megapixel radio, a 1 ... (view more)