Michael Brown

Logitech's Alert cameras can be viewed from any Internet-connected PC or smartphone.Logitech is expanding its lineup of Alert high-definition security cameras with an indoor model equipped with night-vision capabilities. The company already offers an outdoor model equipped with this feature.

The Alert line utilizes the HomePlug AV networking standard, so that power and data run over common electrical cables. But if the user needs to install the cameras in a location without a nearby AC outlet, Logitech also offers SKUs that use Power over Ethernet (PoE). With these models, all the user needs to do is run CAT5 cable to each camera and install an inline power injector at the router. Logitech’s announcement didn’t mention a PoE configuration for the new indoor night-vision model, but we’ve asked them about it and will update this story when we get the information.

Merchants who sign up for VeriFone's SAIL service will get a free credit card reader. Startups like Square and PhoneSwipe spotted a lucrative opportunity to empower the smallest of merchants to accept credit card payments, and they've made the most of it. If you have a product or service to sell, all you need to get paid by credit card is a smartphone or tablet, a tiny card swiper, and an account with one of these vendors.

Tomorrow, those companies will gain a significant competitor when VeriFone launches SAIL, a mobile payment-processing platform for small and medium-size businesses.

If your business has kept pace with changes in wireless networking, you've deployed dual-band routers and client adapters that can stream encrypted data over the airwaves at speeds greater than 100 megabits per second at relatively close range.

But no good deed goes unpunished. New hardware based on the nearly finished 802.11ac standard is about to debut, and it will make your existing wireless infrastructure feel as though it's mired in molasses.

Your PC doesn’t immediately launch into Windows when you first turn it on; first it must run a more rudimentary bit of code called the BIOS (Basic Input/Output System). The BIOS code is stored on a chip on your motherboard, so it’s more precisely described as firmware. The BIOS works by identifying all of your computer’s components and letting Windows know how to work with them.

Motherboard manufacturers periodically release new BIOS versions to fix bugs, increase performance, or to support new hardware (think USB 3.0 or an SSD). Updating your BIOS to a new version could increase its performance and capabilities—but if the update is done incorrectly, it could brick your PC. Here’s how to do it safely.

You probably don’t interact with your PC’s BIOS (Basic Input/Output Operating System) much, but it occupies a unique and highly privileged position in your computer’s architecture.

Since the BIOS loads before the operating system--and before you enter your user credentials--malware surreptitiously introduced into the BIOS could activate itself long before any anti-malware software has an opportunity to detect it. A sophisticated and malicious program operating at such a low level could take control of your PC without providing a clue that it was there.

So, your business has grown large enough that you need your first server. Congratulations! Acquiring a server is a big decision, so some trepidation is understandable. This guide will explain the basic principles of the technology, help you decide which class of server will best fit your needs, and give you some ballpark pricing, so you don’t overspend or acquire a product that’s insufficient for your needs.

I’ll also explore the chief alternative to running your own server--relying on the cloud--and provide a primer on one of today’s hottest server trends: virtualization. You’ll find this guide useful even if you ultimately decide to hire an IT consultant to analyze your requirements and make a purchase recommendation.

No one should be surprised that the big action in the CPU market this year will be in the mobile and low-power processor segments. Rapid growth in the power-saving all-in-one and small-form-factor desktop PC markets, continued strong demand for portable computers, and new usage models (digital photo and video editing, casual gaming, watching high-definition movies and so on) will all ignite demand for powerful new processors that consume less energy than previous generations did.

What's more, a new category of small portable computer is springing up between smartphones and netbooks: the smartbook. Smartbooks are designed to maintain 3G connections to the Internet and deliver a full day's use on a single battery charge, like smartphones, but they're also designed to run productivity applications (usually via the cloud) and feature much larger screens and keyboards, like netbooks. And while Intel Corp. pretty much owns the netbook market with its Atom processor, it could face a strong challenge on the smartbook front from ARM Holdings PLC with its extremely low-power Cortex-A8 and Cortex-A9 processors and their successors.

Artwork: Chip TaylorIn many households today, broadband Internet connections are used not only for e-mail and Web browsing, but also to stream music and video, play online games and/or perhaps make voice calls using a VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) service.

You may have several PCs on your home network, as well as some combination of a gaming console like the Xbox 360, an iPhone or other handheld device, and perhaps a streaming music player such as the Squeezebox or a streaming video player such as the Roku. While some of these devices may have a wired connection to your router, most tap in wirelessly.

The attraction of a home server, such as Windows Home Server, is obvious for any household with several computers. But even if you have just one PC, the technology offers significant benefits -- such as automatic backups that will let you survive a catastrophic hard drive failure without losing any of your precious data.

Microsoft's Windows Home Server is built using the same code base as the company's robust Windows Server 2003, but it's been streamlined (and somewhat limited) for consumer use. In addition to automatically backing up every Windows XP and Vista computer on your network, WHS can monitor the health of all the Vista PCs on its network. If the server is equipped with two or more drives, it will automatically duplicate all its files to provide data redundancy in case one drive ever fails.

The introduction of the MP3 player enabled people to play their music anywhere, but it has had an unfortunate side effect: Folks have sacrificed the awesome audio quality that the compact disc delivered in exchange for ever tinier music players, simpler room-to-room streaming, and the flexibility to buy songs instead of entire albums. So while the convenience of digital media just keeps getting better, the sound quality itself has suffered.

It doesn't have to be that way. You can get sublime audio quality from compressed music files--files that you can store on a central server and listen to in any room in your house, and transfer to an MP3 player for enjoying just about anywhere.