Computers and Hardware

Life became stranger than fiction when federal authorities arrested the notorious hacker Ross Ulbricht [aka 'Dread Pirate Roberts'] for crimes mirroring the fictional character of Walter White in the award-winning TV drama, "Breaking Bad." Drug trafficking, money-laundering and cold-blooded murder transformed a mild-mannered physics student into an underworld kingpin, just as it had for a chemistry teacher in that five-season AMC thriller.

While the styling of Gigabyte's latest tiny PC is a bit gaudy, the hardware packed inside isn't. A quad-core AMD CPU and discrete Radeon graphics are just a taste of what's hiding inside the wallet-sized case.

Normally permanently bolted into low-cost PCs, it looks like these energy-efficient CPUs will be available for purchase separate from motherboards in a few months. If the reported specs are correct, they look like decent options for cheap, capable DIY home theatre PC builds.

What's that buzz . . . tell me what's happening? While the Internet of Thing's clarion call has awakened the early adopters, many of us still have it on snooze alarm. We may have seen bits and pieces of it, like those that have popped up as apps on our mobile devices. Perhaps we've recently purchased a Smart TV -- or have recently been intrigued by Nest's Thermostat [after Google plopped down a hefty $3.2 billion to acquire it].

So remember how I said writers might soon be replaced by machines? Apparently, it's already happening. A PhD student at MIT has created an artificial intelligence capable of analyzing the work of famous poets and creating new works which could have been written by said poets.

Over the last ten years, Google's foray into the smartphone market has established its Android phones as a viable competitor to Apple's iPhones. However, in the years to come, mobile revenues will be more or less chump change in comparison to the returns Google will be able to derive from robots and artificial intelligence.

On CES 2014 Samsung presented some new, innovative and bold products, therefore getting under the spotlight on the fair. A true novelty is related to three printers the South Korean company presented: Origami has the external "packaging" made out of cardboard; Clip is built with plastic but without any screws; Mate has interchangeable and colorful panels which can be chosen to fit one's taste.

Hey there, folks! How would you feel about having your own personal robot arm? Inspired by the industrial-strength ABB PalletPack robot arm, the uArm adds a factory-esque feel to your office desktop, perfect for the motion-impaired (or the especially lazy).

Panasonic's new Toughpad 4K UT-MA6 packs an awful lot of power under the hood, and does so without compromising durability. Think of it as a heavily bumped-up Microsoft Surface 2. Pun intended.

Today at Steam Developer Days, Valve reportedly unleashed a 'holodeck-level' virtual reality demo on attendees. The bad news is that this demo won't be made available to the general public. Instead, Valve will be providing the tech to Oculus, with whom the studio collaborate on future VR hardware.