Apple just announced the newest iPad, which will be called the iPad, and not the iPad 3 or iPad HD or iPad: Eddie Bauer Edition or with any other modifier. The big hits: it's got a better screen ("better" in this case meaning Apple has stolen all the pixels in the world and crammed them into the new iPad), a faster processor, an optional 4G LTE chip, and some software updates.

Since Windows 7, Microsoft's been busily honing the interface for Windows tablets, which uses a bold bunch of squares and rectangles in flat neon colors and has been christened "Metro." Windows 8--undoubtedly the biggest change to the operating system in a few generations--finally brings Metro to the desktop. So how does it work with a keyboard and mouse?

Apple just announced the next version of Mac OS X, the operating system that runs on all Mac computers. It'll be called Mountain Lion, it'll come out this summer for an unspecified price, and it'll be chock full of the same apps you use on your iPhone and iPad. It's one more stop on the way to Apple's Ultimate Plan for Gadget Dominance (not an official title.): the convergence of Mac OS and iOS, which began in earnest with the current version, Lion.

In the data age, pretty much nobody stores sensitive information under physical lock and key. Whether it's in Dropbox, Megaupload, a hard drive or an SD card, our confidential records are stored in ones and zeroes protected by encryption software.

"Ultrabook" is a word you may have heard used to describe a thin, powerful laptop. You've probably also seen a MacBook Air - the genre's archetype. But if you haven't heard the term this year, get ready for some major exposure: ultrabooks are the way PC laptops will be marketed to us in 2012. But are they something new? Or simply a laptop, refined?

Water and personal electronics are probably the two most essential elements in this modern life, yet the two don't get along very well at all. Drop your Blackberry in the drink - or even simply spill your coffee on it - and often enough that's the end of your device. A California-based company called Liquipel feels your pain, and has devised a clever nanotech solution to the water-meets-brand-new-iPhone problem via a thin, clear coating that causes water to wick right off the guts of your gadgets.