The future of PC design

Since it was first shrunk from a room-sized machine to the familiar desktop-sized box, little has changed when it comes to the CPU component of a PC. Sure, there have been enthusiasts who literally think out of the box and have created amazing designs to hold the essential computer components, but the average consumer has had to be content with a boring rectangle chassis.

Microsoft's NextGen PC Design competition recently harnessed the collective creative juices of PC designers to rethink how a PC chassis will look like in the future. The competition is now closed, though a winner has yet to be announced. You can check out the finalists here.

Frankly, some of these creations are way too wacky to be practical. Some of them would look unbelievably gorgeous in the living room, but we seriously doubt any of them will hit mass production anytime in the future. Another consideration is the difficulty in upgrading as some chassis look impossibly small or cramped. So what do you think? Will we see some of these designs hit mainstream, or will boxy CPUs stick around forever?

Charge the PC on the patio with a solar table

A fair amount of attention has been paid to the idea of solar-powered laptops as a perennial source of energy on the go, but there's no reason that the concept shouldn't be applied to desktops too as the greening of homes continues worldwide. Canada's Intelligent Forms Design addresses this need and--much to our liking--does so from the patio at the same time.

Its weatherproof SOlo Lounge Table (not a typo) not only charges the computer with built-in solar panels, according to Boing Boing, but it can also keep you updated on its status through Bluetooth signals sent indoors. The charging will continue even if the table is partly shaded, albeit in a diminished capacity, because other parts of the solar array will keep working.

None of this comes cheap, of course--US$14,000, to be exact. But if you plan on expanding your solar ensemble, there's a natural matching lounge chair in the Power Cube 600.

Via Crave CNET

Just be careful not to hit the wrong keys

Look closely--well, not too closely. That's not one of those rollup keyboards stuck to the lap of this guy's pants. It's actually sewn into the fabric, creating what designer Erik De Nijs calls the Beauty and the Geek jeans, according to GeekAlerts.

Not only that, but this conceptual garment also includes speakers built into the knees, a pocket for mouse storage in the back, and a joystick controller behind the zipper (don't ask). The only thing that's missing is a nocturnal version that glows in the dark.

(Thanks to fellow Craver Natali Del Conte)

Via Crave CNET

Sony's new high-end PC speaker

Pity the desktop music lover. While loudspeakers for full stereo systems get more outrageous by the day, the PC is often humored with novelty items of dubious aural or aesthetic value.

Sony seems to be trying to address those issues at least on the European market with its SRSZX1, which it describes as a "unique high-end 2.0 speaker" for PCs that matches the performance of larger systems. The compact unit yields 40 watts of sound and includes noise-reduction technology while making something of a fashion statement at the same time, encased in "aluminum extrusion molding."

If that's not enough, Sony touts something called "Turbo Shift" technology that "changes low frequency bass range previously inaudible by human ears to a range that can be heard for increased bass." So now you and your dog can enjoy music together as never before. We have no idea what any of this means, but it's got to be better than other desktop alternatives.

Via CNET Crave

1 billion Seagate hard drives and counting...

Storage maker Seagate has certainly come a long way in the hard drive business, from its 5MB ST506 hard drive in 1979 to its latest 1TB Barracuda drive which was introduced last year. Just today, the company also announced that it is the first hard drive manufacturer to ship 1 billion hard drives.

If you cannot visualize 1 billion hard drives, picture this. You can circle the globe 13.7 times with the 1 billion drives placed end-to-end, according to Seagate. Admittedly, the 1 billion drives are not all Seagate-branded. It also includes the ones manufactured by Conner, which merged with Seagate in 1996, as well as those from Maxtor which was acquired in December 2005.

What's noteworthy, however, are some of the other statistics behind the 1 billion drives. For example, the first 5MB drive, the Seagate ST506, weighs a hefty 5lb and cost US$1,500 a pop. A 3.5-inch 1TB drive today, which is 200,000x more in terms of capacity, retails at only a fraction of that cost. More interestingly, it took Seagate 17 years to ship 100 million drives, but it took the company only 12 years to make the other 900 million units.

What's scary is Seagate expects to hit its 2 billionth hard drive milestone within the next five years, based on current increases in production capacity and demand. Honestly, this looks like a very possible scenario, considering the GBs of data we are guzzling daily with no signs of slowing down anytime soon.

At the press event today, Seagate also did a little crystal ball gazing, predicting that higher broadband penetration and rapid growth in digital content will see market demand for hard drive storage increase by almost 80 percent by 2012. The company has, however, played down the impact of Solid State Drives (SSDs) on traditional disk-based hard drives in the coming years, believing instead that hybrid drives will be the high-value proposition for most users. The company will still be involved in the SSD business though, with its first product expected later this year.

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