Hardware Bible

It's what you kick when it won't behave. It's the big, bulky box that makes too much noise and takes up too much space—except if you have a notebook computer. It's the thing that gets in the way, the thing you pay too much for. It's all the things th...

The obvious function of the case is mechanical—you can see it and touch it as a distinct object. And it steals part of your desktop, floor, or lap when you put it to work. It has a definite size—always too small when you want to add one more thing bu...

A case can be confining. It can keep just about everything from escaping, including the heat that electronic circuits produce as a by-product of performing their normal functions. Some of the electricity in any circuit (except one made from supercond...

Besides heat, all electrical circuits radiate something else—electromagnetic fields. Every flow of electrical energy sets up an electromagnetic field that radiates away. Radio and television stations push kilowatts of energy through their antennae so...