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It doesn’t matter if you’re a believer in all the tablet hype or not, those sexy slates are having a serious impact in the way US consumers use their computers.

32 percent of desktop owners with tablets said they used their computers less, while 30 percent of tablet-toting laptop owners said the same, according to a recent Nielsen report, which was based on an April consumer survey.

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Computer Spy Vulnerabilities

A Wyoming couple is suing a national rent-to-own company, claiming that their activity on their rented laptop was being remotely monitored through an attached webcam.

The lawsuit begs the question: Just how safe are we in the privacy of our own homes?

Crystal and Brian Byrd leased their computer from an Aaron`s franchise in Casper, WY. The couple said the store secretly taped them with the computer`s webcam while they were at home.

NBC North Dakota News stopped by the Aaron`s store in Bismarck to find out if, and how, something like this could happen. Employees wouldn`t talk on camera but a source told us that the Bismarck store does indeed install a program on its leased computers, allowing higher level employees to access webcams and personal information.

Jerod Hawk owns Amega Computer Store in Bismarck. He said people don`t understand just how vulnerable they are. "People don`t realize that being connected to the internet not only taps you into everybody you want to know and talk to, it taps you into everybody you don`t want to know and talk to, too," said Hawk.

Hawk said computers don`t even have to be turned on to be hacked. "If anybody has ever worried about closing their curtains or making sure their blinds are closed at night because a person can see through their window, having a computer touching the internet, plugged into the internet, I don`t care if internet explorer is open or not, if your computer is hooked-up through wireless or through cable, you are susceptible," said Hawk.

The North Dakota Attorney General`s office wouldn`t comment on the Wyoming case, but they said privacy is a very complicated legal area, and attorneys general across the country warn consumers to be extra vigilant. "When we use our computers, we want to be sure that we have anti-virus software, anti-virus spyware software, and that we have those automatic updates," said Parrell Grossman, Director of the Attorney General`s Consumer Protection and Antitrust Division.

Atlanta-based Aaron`s, Inc. issued a statement which said it believes none of its company-operated stores throughout the country has used the computer program which allows leased computers to be accessed from remote locations. Aaron`s, Inc. also pointed out in the statement that the Byrd`s are suing an independently owned and operated Aaron`s franchisee in Wyoming.

http://www.kfyrtv.com/News_Stories.asp?news=48687

Computer’s flexible future?

By Elliot Ferguson The Whig-Standard

Posted 1 day ago

A new "paper computer" developed by a Queen's University researcher could revolutionize the way people use their electronic devices.

Described as a flexible cellphone, the computer consists of a small, flexible display mounted on a flexible, printed circuit with detectors that sense and interpret the way the computer bends

"This is not an evolution of the iPhone; this is a revolution of the computer," said Roel Vertegaal, director of the university's Human Media Lab and the creator of the flexible computer.

"This is a new category of computer," said Vertegaal, who has worked on the project since 2004. "What is revolutionary about it is that it has that flexibility, which means that it is very tangible."

Vertegaal's computer can do everything current smartphones can do, with the added advantage of being extremely thin, lightweight and flexible.

Bending the corner of the computer, a user can turn to a new page, or access a program.

"Initially, we thought, well, bending is cool because it hasn't been done before,"Vertegaal said, "but then when we started using it, it turns out to be quite efficient. It's quite a good way of navigating a computer."

Bending the computer is as easy as pushing a button and is much more efficient than how current touch screens operate.

The smartphone market will likely be the first to incorporate the flexible computer technology, Vertegaal said, because the displays are still small.

He said that within about 10 years, the flexible technology could make existing smartphone design obsolete.

Flexible computers make it possible to place computer screens in virtually any object.

Vertegaal described the flexible computer as the third major development in the way people interact with computers.

The first was the cathode ray tube, which made possible the development of the computer mouse, the track ball and the light pen, which are all ways people still interact with computers.

Liquid crystal displays (LCD) changed the way people see things on the computer screen and led to the invention of tablets, such as the iPad, the PlayBook and smartphones that use touch screens.

The new bendable computer adds a new dimension to using the devices.

"Every revolution has caused a major change in the way we interact with computers," Vertegaal said.

"It's the first time computer interfaces will be non-flat. We've been living in flatland. When you think about it, there are no tools that we use that are flat.

"Even paper is not flat because you can fold it," he said.

The bendable computer uses a flexible form of E Ink, similar to the ink used on the Kindle e-reader and favoured because it most resembles ink used on real paper.

"It's extremely exciting. It's really pushing the envelope forward," said Audrey Girouard, a post doctoral fellow at the Human Media Lab and one of the people who worked on the flexible computer project.

"Introducing bend into a computer is new. Nobody has done that. There's nothing that relates in current products," she said.

How cutting edge the project is was illustrated by people in a test group who were asked to try the bendable computer.

"They were reluctant to bend the display.

"You don't want to do something that might break it, and if you were to bend your iPhone, it would break," she said.

"It's not something you would naturally do with electronics."

The flexible computer is to be unveiled at next week's Association of Computing Machinery's Computer Human Interaction conference in Vancouver.

Wednesday's announcement of the breakthrough has already created a buzz on the Internet and in tech circles.

A video uploaded to YouTube demonstrating how the paper computer works has had more than 100,000 views since it was posted Tuesday.

http://www.thewhig.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3111213