As PC users, we're so used to hearing sirens warn that the sky is falling we barely notice the noise anymore. Part of the reason for that is because even when things are bad, they're still pretty good. That's again the case today as market research firm Gartner lowers its PC shipments forecast for 2011, but a closer examination of the numbers shows there's reason to remain confident in the state of PCs.

Here's the deal, you shouldn't ever look at a laser beam head on, especially one built by Wicked Lasers. It's all fun and games until someone goes blind, and that's exactly what will happen if you try and stare directly at the 1W laser dot in the company's new Spyder 3 Krypton. Wicked Lasers says the device is under review by the Guinness World records as the world's brightest handheld laser in the world, and considering it can be seen from space, we have a feeling it will be a short review.

The bean counters at Ovum, a data monitoring firm located in Australia, crunched a bunch of numbers and determined that the IT services industry is in pretty bad shape, which is putting it nicely. According to Ovum, the value of new contract signings fell to its lowest point in eight years during the second quarter of 2011.