But as this week's Cleverbot video showed, if you let a computer program talk to itself, there's probably not a human alive who would buy it.
There's often a jump in computer sales between the summer and the fall, especially with a new OS on the way, but we wouldn't count on a return to the halcyon days.
The unit comes with a docking station for connecting to your computer, but there's also a standard USB port on the bottom of the unit in addition to the docking connector, so presumably you don't need to lug the dock around with you to transfer files on the go.
While the business leaders seemed focused on computer hackers, Interpol's Kendall said there is a "real danger" of terrorists and hostile nations using computer networks to wage international warfare.
Japan's All Nippon Airways, meanwhile, said it cancelled a domestic flight to Tokyo on Wednesday after a computer wrongly indicated there was a problem with the Boeing 787's brakes.
"There's actually a term for this in the computer world called 'Honeypots', " he said.
When I spoke to Mr Upton this morning, he confirmed that this was pretty accurate - "there's a strong bias towards adults who are computer literate" - but said that was changing a bit.
Unfortunately for anyone considering this as an alternative to a kitchen computer, there's no full-fledged web browser, calendar apps, or the like, but it will at least give you weather updates, and could well be further improved by some of the promised firmware updates.
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Once the wi-fi is set up, there's no need to connect the device to a computer to update, the wi-fi connectivity allows for automatic audio content updates.
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Whether you call them hackers, crackers, or computervredebreuk (Dutch for "disturbers of the peace of a computer"), there's no doubt that as long as computing systems exist, people will be looking for -- and finding -- ways to break into them.
With the Zik, which can connect to your smartphone or computer wirelessly via Bluetooth (there's a wired option, too), you simply swipe up or down on the surface of the earcup to make your music louder or softer, respectively.
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"There's no computer that's going to spit out a terrorist name, " he said, arguing that the most effective counterterrorism tool is citizens coming forward to police with concerns about individuals.
If you're an Android user with a pressing need to transfer files from your phone to your computer (and vice versa), there's a good chance you've heard of AirDroid.
If you have checked that your computer's sound settings are correct, there may be a problem with Flash.
As any tech company can tell you, there is a major shortage of engineers in the U.S., particularly computer programmers.
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Then there's encryption software to seal off your hard drive in case your computer goes for a walk.
In case you're wondering, there's still no wireless connectivity to be found, meaning tethering to your computer is a must for loading and off-loading digital content.
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There's nothing wrong with the slider concept, but I doubt many people would use a computer this thick and heavy as a tablet for very long.
So, when a note pops open on a person's computer screen from Henry Paulson at Goldman Sachs, there is no doubting the fact that the investment bank's chief executive is on the other end waiting for a reply.
And he's stopped for a while in a motel room and he's just sitting there watching TV and using his little laptop computer and trying to come to grips with his situation, and he's pretty depressed.
Right there in the dock is a sight that in another era would have given Apple Computer's (nasdaq: AAPL - news - people ) fiercest defenders fits of panic: a Windows "Start" button available on a Mac.
It comes in two parts: there's an adjustable cradle that fixes the device to your head, and the computer itself is in a metal bar that curls around the side of your head.
And then there's high-tech, which we consider to be computer-related, sort of somebody hacking into a computer.
An entire trading floor crammed into a suitcase-size computer: That's the future of exchanges, and Nasdaq was there first, having been all-electronic--floorless, that is--since its inception in 1971.
Tsarnaev led authorities to look there, the source said, and others who may have knowledge of the computer's whereabouts or may have played a role in disposing it also provided leads that prompted the search.
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