WLMouse has officially revealed its Beast X2 wireless gaming mouse, which was designed in collaboration with notable League of Legends Invictus e-sports team member, TheShy. The new Beast X2 will come in a number of different sizes and four color variations, ranging from 41 g to 48 g, depending on the size of the mouse. Judging by the weight figures cited in the teaser, it does not seem as though the Beast X2 will have the same side design variations that were present in the first generation, instead only offering solid side walls with a perforated top. The Beast X2 series will only officially launch on October 8, and pricing has not yet been announced, but WLMouse has shared a list of internal upgrades and specs to expect from the update.

As you'd likely expect from a flagship magnesium gaming mouse, the Beast X2 will have an updated PixArt PAW 3955 HS sensor, which is WLMouse's customized version of the PAW 3955, paired with a Nordic 54LM20 MCU. The main clicks will be Omron optical switches—so no analogue input tech here—and it will use a Raesha optical encoder, which should be more precise and durable than a regular mechanical encoder. It will be capable of 8 kHz polling over both the wired and wireless connections, and it will have the same Razer Viper V4 Pro-like profile as the Beast X first-gen.

Xbox made waves not too long ago with the hyper-customizable Adaptive Controller that features remappable physical buttons, 19 3.5 mm jacks for additional accessories, and switchable profiles for different games and use cases. With its latest patent, Sony looks to at least be considering going in a different direction with its adaptive controller design. A new patent, spotted by Insider Gaming, details a controller design with virtually no physical inputs, where players can configure their own layouts—no more arguments about offset vs in-line thumb sticks—and the layouts could potentially adapt to the user's needs.

The prospective controller's main objective would be to replace physical buttons with touch surfaces and optical sensors, which would be able to sense when the player interacts with the controller, but also when the player's hand, thumb, or finger approaches the controller. The controller would use user-defined profiles dictating the layout of the face buttons, D-Pad, and even virtual analog sticks—there is even mention of automatic user identity detection to access those profiles. Sony also explains that you could combine multiple control schemes on the same side of the controller and even adjust the size of each of the button groups to better suit different hand sizes, shapes, and levels of dexterity. Owing to the touch-sensitive control surfaces, the controller would also be able to recognize gestures like swipes, pinches, and slides. It's unclear whether this controller design will make it into a future PlayStation controller design, although given many gamers' aversion to non-tactile inputs in video games, interest is likely to be low aside from the obvious accessibility benefits.

Kingston Digital, Inc., the Flash memory affiliate of Kingston Technology Company, Inc., a world leader in memory products and technology solutions, today announced the release of the newest addition to its encrypted lineup, IronKey Vault Privacy 80 External SSD (VP80ES). This marks Kingston's first innovative OS-independent external SSD with touch-screen and hardware-encryption for data protection. Using Kingston IronKey VP80ES is as innate as unlocking a smartphone and simple drag & drop file transfers. Featuring an intuitive color touch-screen and FIPS 197 certified with XTS-AES 256-bit encryption, VP80ES is designed to protect data while also being user-friendly. The drive is ideal to safeguard against Brute Force attacks and BadUSB with digitally-signed firmware for users from small-to-medium businesses (SMB) to content creators. Its military-grade security measures make it greatly superior over using the internet and Cloud services for securing important company information, documents, or high-res images and videos.

Along with its ease of use and hardware encryption, VP80ES offers additional features for data protection, like Multi-Password (Admin/User) Option with PIN/Passphrase modes and Configurable Password Rules. With Admin option, choose between numeric PIN or Passphrase modes, set Configurable Password Rules, or enable extended security options like maximum number of shared password attempts, minimum password length of 6-64 characters, alphanumeric password rules, auto-timeout to lock drive, randomize touch-screen layout and Secure-Erase to ensure maximum protection of your important files. The Admin password can be used to restore data and access should the User password be forgotten. For additional peace of mind, VP80ES' Brute Force attack protection crypto-erases the drive if the Admin and User passwords are entered incorrectly 15 times in a row by default.

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., a global leader in digital media and digital convergence technologies, today debuted two new additions to its lineup of premium monitors, putting professional-grade picture quality within reach for professional and consumer audiences alike. The innovative Series 7 SC770 Touch Monitor comes optimized for Windows 8, while the Series 7 SC750 features a slim, ergonomic design and premium picture quality. These CES Innovation Award-winning monitors will be on display at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Samsung's booth, #12004 in Central Hall, from January 8-11, 2013.Images courtesy of Samsung Tomorrow.

Today, Planar Systems, Inc., a global leader in digital display technology, announced of the introduction of the Planar Helium family of multi-touch desktop monitors designed to bring the touch experience alive when paired with a Microsoft Windows 8 device such as an Ultrabook, tablet or desktop PC.

The Planar Helium family debuts with a 27-inch model (model PCT2785), capturing the Microsoft Windows 8 touch experience without costing thousands of dollars for an all-in-one solution. To use touch-enabled features, customers simply plug the monitor directly into their Ultrabook, tablet or desktop PC. The monitor includes a sleek, easily-adjustable, and ergonomically-friendly Helium Stand for a comfortable and controlled user experience. It also comes with a built-in webcam for video communication such as Skype, Microsoft Lync, and other webcam-based collaboration or video conferencing tools.

Albatron Technology has announced its new Optical Touch Monitor (OTM), on course with a new era of Multi Touch Panel monitors. At NVISION '08, multi-touch panels were lauded by Jen-Hsun Huang in his keynote speech as being one of the most exciting emerging technologies. Multi-Touch was demonstrated last year by Bill Gates using beta versions of Windows 7. And who could forget Tom Cruise dragging, wiping, and tapping away in Spielberg's Sci-Fi classic, Minority Report. Introduced as a development version at the most recent Computex, the Albatron OTM has since been fine-tuned with improved technology to bolster performance and prepare it for the consumer market.