Logitech unveiled 3 new peripherals to work with Windows 8

WorldWide Tech & Science. Francisco De Jes�s.

Logitech unveiled 3 new peripherals to work with Windows 8.

Logitech today unveiled three new products designed to leverage the Windows 8 touch interface.

The lineup consists of a touchpad and two mice -- the Touchpad T650, the Touch Mouse T620, and the Zone Touch Mouse T400. All three peripherals use a tiny 2.4GHz USB wireless transmitter which can support up to six devices.

According to Mike Culver, Logitech's vice president of brand development for consumer computing platforms, the new devices "replicate the touch-screen experience that you�ve grown accustomed to on smartphones and tablets" and give users "quick, easy and dynamic access to the core elements of the new interface".

All three devices will be available later this month.

Touchpad T650

The Touchpad T650 is a rechargeable, wireless 2.4GHz touchpad that replaces the need for a touchscreen on your existing desktop or notebook PC. The glass surface allows the user to explore and operate the Windows 8 operating system with 13 unique gestures -- and there's even a gesture for accessing the Start screen.

The only time the Touchpad T650 isn't wire-free is when it is recharging, which it does via a USB cable. A single charge can last up to a month, so you're not going to be seeing that cable often.

Price: $79.99.

Touch Mouse T620

The Touch Mouse T620 is a smooth, pebble-shaped wire-free peripheral with an active surface that supports six Windows gestures for fast navigation through the operating system. It supports swipes, scrolls, taps, and clicks, all without a single physical button.

Another interesting feature of the Touch Mouse T620 is that you can customize the weight of the peripheral by choosing to kit it out with one or two AA batteries. A single battery offers a lighter mouse that lasts for three months, while two cells give the Touch Mouse T620 a solid feel, and lasts for up to six months.

The Touch Mouse T620 can also act like a standard mouse, and uses Logitech's advanced optical tracking to ensure pin-point precision.

Price: $69.99.

Zone Touch Mouse T400

The Zone Touch Mouse T400 is a more traditional looking wireless mouse, supporting three Windows 8 touch actions that are carried out on a dedicated glass "touch zone".

The Zone Touch Mouse T400 offers an incredible 18 months of battery life before the batteries need replacing -- which means you might be replacing your PC before you have to replace the AAs.

Price: $49.99.

ZDNet.

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Video calling in your living room

Close-up: a new generation of young adults who are comfortable on camera is likely to boost video calling

Couch-to-couch video calls are being introduced by Cisco and Logitech as the telepresence systems of the corporate world become affordable for mainstream consumers.

The two rivals in business videoconferencing will not be alone in introducing family video calling to the living room this autumn.

Skype�s calling service is already available on several models of high-definition TVs sold by Panasonic and Samsung.

In November, video calling will be offered by Microsoft with the launch of its Kinect motion controller for the Xbox 360 games console. The device features a camera and an array of microphones.

While Cisco and Logitech may indirectly boost their enterprise business, Microsoft�s service will help it compete with online video chat available on Sony�s PlayStation 3.

As well as affordability � the Kinect and Skype basic cameras cost $150 � video calling from the sofa is being enabled by the growing number of TVs with internet connectivity � 28m sets with built-in internet should ship this year, according to the iSuppli research firm.

�I think we�re at the front end of a videoconferencing wave and the only thing holding it back is interoperability standards at the moment,� says Rob Enderle, analyst at the Enderle Group.

With such standards lacking, users can only call other users who have the same software � Skype users cannot videocall users of Logitech�s Vid system or Kinect users, for example.

An industry body was set up this year to help standardise video-calling protocols, but little progress is expected before 2011.

Logitech has been developing its system for nearly two years and it will be integrated with Google TV � an internet TV service it is launching with partners on Wednesday.

Eric Kintz, general manager of Logitech�s video business unit, says users testing the service no longer refer to it as video calling and have moved away from the concept of phone calls of fixed duration.

�We�re seeing changes in behaviour: the early adopters switch on the video when they wake up and turn it off when they go to bed, they keep it open as a window on their lives and another person�s life, such as a close relative or someone in a long-distance relationship.�

Rob Enderle says video conferencing has been around for decades in the business world, but has never taken off for behavioural reasons � people didn�t like to see themselves on camera.

�We now have a new generation of young adults who are comfortable on camera and if people use it at home, it�s much more likely they�ll want to use it at work, so it�s a way to open up the market for Cisco and Logitech.�

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