Tuesday, March 17, 2009
How to backup and restore your netbook's storage Source
How to backup and restore your netbook's storage
Source
Mon, Mar 16th, 2009
Hands-on Having a small-capacity solid-state drive in your netbook may be limitation but it has one advantage: it's easy to back up. We don't mean copying a few files over to a safe place, but duplicating the entire drive, operating system and all, ready to drop it all back on if the worst comes to the worst.
PCs often come with recovery disks that you can use to place a fresh copy of the OS and pre-loaded apps back onto a freshly formatted drive. With some free, open source tools, you make one of your own, for your netbook. It'll work whether you use Linux or Windows XP, and whether your machine has a hard disk or a solid-state drive.
How to backup and restore your netbook's storage We use PING - which stands for Partition Image Not Ghost, a reference to Norton Ghost, a commercial disk duplication app - but it requires an external CD drive to boot from. So we've also included details of a second tool, which you can install on a USB Flash drive....
Source
Mon, Mar 16th, 2009
Hands-on Having a small-capacity solid-state drive in your netbook may be limitation but it has one advantage: it's easy to back up. We don't mean copying a few files over to a safe place, but duplicating the entire drive, operating system and all, ready to drop it all back on if the worst comes to the worst.
PCs often come with recovery disks that you can use to place a fresh copy of the OS and pre-loaded apps back onto a freshly formatted drive. With some free, open source tools, you make one of your own, for your netbook. It'll work whether you use Linux or Windows XP, and whether your machine has a hard disk or a solid-state drive.
How to backup and restore your netbook's storage We use PING - which stands for Partition Image Not Ghost, a reference to Norton Ghost, a commercial disk duplication app - but it requires an external CD drive to boot from. So we've also included details of a second tool, which you can install on a USB Flash drive....
Monday, March 16, 2009
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Subsidies follow AT&T into netbook market
Subsidies follow AT&T into netbook market
http://arstechnica.com/telecom/news/2009/03/subsidies-follow-att-into-netbook-market.ars
AT&T plans to expand its netbook subsidies to makers beyond Acer and Dell, eating hundreds in upfront costs in exchange for two years of high monthly 3G cellular data fees.
By Glenn Fleishman | Last updated March 3, 2009 9:25 PM CT
Subsidies follow AT&T into netbook market
AT&T plans to expand an existing subsidy program that pairs a netbook with a cellular data modem and two-year contract. With fees of $60 for unmetered service and a maximum of 5 GB of data usage each month, AT&T has plenty to give to push a new market.
Netbooks are designed with minimal functionality and low-powered processors. But connectivity is the heart that beats inside this massively growing segment of portable sales. Research firms expect sales to rise from 7 percent of portables in 2008 to 12 percent in 2009, or about 35 million units.
By pairing a subsidy, a contract, and ubiquitous high-speed data access, AT&T may have found a niche in the middle of an otherwise moribund business and consumer market. Telecoms often spend hundreds of dollars in marketing to acquire new customers for voice and data services that produce a few thousand dollars in revenue over two years.
AT&T already subsidizes certain Acer and Dell netbooks to get the price down to $99, with rebates of $250 to $350.
Investor's Business Daily reports that AT&T is working on deals with other netbook makers, and would be happy to extend subsidies far outside phones to any gadget that could sport a cellular modem, such as cameras or gaming systems.
Interestingly, Clearwire and Sprint Nextel have long extolled the notion of WiMax, a competing data network standard so far rolled out in just two US cities, as allowing an ecosystem of devices to have always-on high-speed access with a bundled data plan to avoid high per-device charges. That hasn't materialized yet.
http://arstechnica.com/telecom/news/2009/03/subsidies-follow-att-into-netbook-market.ars
AT&T plans to expand its netbook subsidies to makers beyond Acer and Dell, eating hundreds in upfront costs in exchange for two years of high monthly 3G cellular data fees.
By Glenn Fleishman | Last updated March 3, 2009 9:25 PM CT
Subsidies follow AT&T into netbook market
AT&T plans to expand an existing subsidy program that pairs a netbook with a cellular data modem and two-year contract. With fees of $60 for unmetered service and a maximum of 5 GB of data usage each month, AT&T has plenty to give to push a new market.
Netbooks are designed with minimal functionality and low-powered processors. But connectivity is the heart that beats inside this massively growing segment of portable sales. Research firms expect sales to rise from 7 percent of portables in 2008 to 12 percent in 2009, or about 35 million units.
By pairing a subsidy, a contract, and ubiquitous high-speed data access, AT&T may have found a niche in the middle of an otherwise moribund business and consumer market. Telecoms often spend hundreds of dollars in marketing to acquire new customers for voice and data services that produce a few thousand dollars in revenue over two years.
AT&T already subsidizes certain Acer and Dell netbooks to get the price down to $99, with rebates of $250 to $350.
Investor's Business Daily reports that AT&T is working on deals with other netbook makers, and would be happy to extend subsidies far outside phones to any gadget that could sport a cellular modem, such as cameras or gaming systems.
Interestingly, Clearwire and Sprint Nextel have long extolled the notion of WiMax, a competing data network standard so far rolled out in just two US cities, as allowing an ecosystem of devices to have always-on high-speed access with a bundled data plan to avoid high per-device charges. That hasn't materialized yet.
Eee PC T91 touchscreen netbook - first look
Eee PC T91 touchscreen netbook - first look
Philip Barker - 26 February 2009 - 5:43pm
Following a visit from Asus earlier today, we got the opportunity to get an exclusive look at some of its upcoming products – including the first touchscreen Eee PC Netbook – the Eee PC T91.
This tiny device is little larger than the first-generation Eee PC 701 – with an 8.9-inch screen, but you’ll now find a swivelling touchscreen panel that allows use as a Tablet PC.
The screen is one of the T91’s best features. It has the same 1024 x 600 pixel resolution as most of the other netbooks we’ve seen, but colours are brilliantly vivid, bringing photographs and movies to life. Images are also clear and sharp – which is unusual on a touchscreen panel. The glossy finish will frustrate some, however, proving reflective in brighter conditions.
The first T91 models to hit the shelves will feature Windows XP, with following products featuring Windows 7. Asus was also keen to stress that the T91 will ship with the company’s own eTouchSuite software, offering a user-friendly environment more suited to touchscreen use.
The sample we saw was a pre-production unit, and it’s too early to judge on build quality. However, there’s plenty of space for keys of a reasonable size, and we found usability to be reasonable.
Components such as the Intel Atom processor and 1024MB of memory are standard netbook fare, although more unusual options include a GPS chip for satellite navigation and a TV tuner.
On sale towards the end of April, prices start at around £420 (inc. VAT).
Philip Barker - 26 February 2009 - 5:43pm
Following a visit from Asus earlier today, we got the opportunity to get an exclusive look at some of its upcoming products – including the first touchscreen Eee PC Netbook – the Eee PC T91.
This tiny device is little larger than the first-generation Eee PC 701 – with an 8.9-inch screen, but you’ll now find a swivelling touchscreen panel that allows use as a Tablet PC.
The screen is one of the T91’s best features. It has the same 1024 x 600 pixel resolution as most of the other netbooks we’ve seen, but colours are brilliantly vivid, bringing photographs and movies to life. Images are also clear and sharp – which is unusual on a touchscreen panel. The glossy finish will frustrate some, however, proving reflective in brighter conditions.
The first T91 models to hit the shelves will feature Windows XP, with following products featuring Windows 7. Asus was also keen to stress that the T91 will ship with the company’s own eTouchSuite software, offering a user-friendly environment more suited to touchscreen use.
The sample we saw was a pre-production unit, and it’s too early to judge on build quality. However, there’s plenty of space for keys of a reasonable size, and we found usability to be reasonable.
Components such as the Intel Atom processor and 1024MB of memory are standard netbook fare, although more unusual options include a GPS chip for satellite navigation and a TV tuner.
On sale towards the end of April, prices start at around £420 (inc. VAT).
Android sales to outstrip iPhone by '12?
March 9, 2009 9:08 AM PDT
Android sales to outstrip iPhone by '12?
by Natasha Lomas digg_url = 'http://digg.com/gadgets/Android_Sales_to_Outstrip_iPhone_by_2012';
The iPhone's lead over smartphone upstart Android may be short-lived, according to an industry watcher's predictions.
Android smartphone sales will outstrip iPhone sales by 2012, market researcher Informa Telecoms & Media has predicted in a new report.
Last month, Telefonica Europe said that sales of the iPhone topped 1 million in the U.K. Although T-Mobile UK--the exclusive carrier of the first Android device, the G1--wouldn't say exactly how many of the devices had been sold, it did say the handset now accounts for 20 percent of its contract sales.
Photos: Hands-on with the HTC Magic Android phone
View the full gallery
Web behemoth Google released the first beta developers kit for its Android open OS platform in August, with the first handset--the G1 smartphone--launching the following month. A second handset, the Magic, is expected to arrive next month.
Apple's iPhone has a slightly longer heritage--with the first device arriving in the U.S. in June 2007. However, the iPhone 3G hit stores last July, giving it only a few months' head start on its Google rival.
Both Android and OS X are eating into the market share of the best-selling smartphone OS maker, Symbian. Last year, just under half of smartphones sold were based on Symbian--a drop of 16 percentage points from the year before when it had 65 percent market share. BlackBerry OS, Linux, and Windows Mobile are also gaining popularity and eating some of Symbian's share, according to Informa.
However, London-based Informa believes Symbian's switch to open source will help the Symbian Foundation maintain its leadership over Android, Linux, and Microsoft over the next few years.
Nearly 162 million smartphones were sold last year, surpassing laptop sales for the first time, according to Informa. The market researcher forecasts that smartphone penetration will reach 13.5 percent of new handsets sold this year and that the figure will reach 38 percent by 2013.
Informa also suggests smartphone sales will be immune to the global economic downturn, maintaining a prediction of "robust growth" of 35.3 percent year over year.
Total handset sales, by contrast, won't be as resilient and are set to fall 10.1 per cent year over year, Informa predicts.
Natasha Lomas of Silicon.com reported from London.
Android sales to outstrip iPhone by '12?
by Natasha Lomas digg_url = 'http://digg.com/gadgets/Android_Sales_to_Outstrip_iPhone_by_2012';
The iPhone's lead over smartphone upstart Android may be short-lived, according to an industry watcher's predictions.
Android smartphone sales will outstrip iPhone sales by 2012, market researcher Informa Telecoms & Media has predicted in a new report.
Last month, Telefonica Europe said that sales of the iPhone topped 1 million in the U.K. Although T-Mobile UK--the exclusive carrier of the first Android device, the G1--wouldn't say exactly how many of the devices had been sold, it did say the handset now accounts for 20 percent of its contract sales.
Photos: Hands-on with the HTC Magic Android phone
View the full gallery
Web behemoth Google released the first beta developers kit for its Android open OS platform in August, with the first handset--the G1 smartphone--launching the following month. A second handset, the Magic, is expected to arrive next month.
Apple's iPhone has a slightly longer heritage--with the first device arriving in the U.S. in June 2007. However, the iPhone 3G hit stores last July, giving it only a few months' head start on its Google rival.
Both Android and OS X are eating into the market share of the best-selling smartphone OS maker, Symbian. Last year, just under half of smartphones sold were based on Symbian--a drop of 16 percentage points from the year before when it had 65 percent market share. BlackBerry OS, Linux, and Windows Mobile are also gaining popularity and eating some of Symbian's share, according to Informa.
However, London-based Informa believes Symbian's switch to open source will help the Symbian Foundation maintain its leadership over Android, Linux, and Microsoft over the next few years.
Nearly 162 million smartphones were sold last year, surpassing laptop sales for the first time, according to Informa. The market researcher forecasts that smartphone penetration will reach 13.5 percent of new handsets sold this year and that the figure will reach 38 percent by 2013.
Informa also suggests smartphone sales will be immune to the global economic downturn, maintaining a prediction of "robust growth" of 35.3 percent year over year.
Total handset sales, by contrast, won't be as resilient and are set to fall 10.1 per cent year over year, Informa predicts.
Natasha Lomas of Silicon.com reported from London.
Touch Screen
Video: New startup beats Apple to the punch with touchscreen netbook
http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/hiner/?p=1247
Rumors have swirled this week about Apple creating a touchscreen netbook, but a startup called AlwaysInnovating has recently unveiled a product called the Touch Book that will get the jump on the Mac.
CNET News has a video of AlwaysInnovating CEO Gregoire Gentil giving a demo of the Touch Book. I was impressed at how versatile the machine is. It twists and folds like a standard Tablet PC, but the screen also separates from the keyboard so that you can use just the flatscreen as a touch interface. Plus, it has a magnetic lid so that you can stick it to a metal surface like a refrigerator.
In an Apple-like move, AlwaysInnovating has created the product with hardware/software integration. The Touch Book, which will cost $399, uses a customized version of Linux with a user interface designed to optimize the touch interface. Unfortunately, the UI is not shown in the video.
The Touch Book is also built on an ARM processor, which will make battery life great but could compromise performance.
http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/hiner/?p=1247
Rumors have swirled this week about Apple creating a touchscreen netbook, but a startup called AlwaysInnovating has recently unveiled a product called the Touch Book that will get the jump on the Mac.
CNET News has a video of AlwaysInnovating CEO Gregoire Gentil giving a demo of the Touch Book. I was impressed at how versatile the machine is. It twists and folds like a standard Tablet PC, but the screen also separates from the keyboard so that you can use just the flatscreen as a touch interface. Plus, it has a magnetic lid so that you can stick it to a metal surface like a refrigerator.
In an Apple-like move, AlwaysInnovating has created the product with hardware/software integration. The Touch Book, which will cost $399, uses a customized version of Linux with a user interface designed to optimize the touch interface. Unfortunately, the UI is not shown in the video.
The Touch Book is also built on an ARM processor, which will make battery life great but could compromise performance.
IDC Report on Netbooks
IDC Report on Netbooks
March 13, 2009
IDC - Press Release
dotted lines
Mini-Notebooks Make Explosive Entry into EMEA PC Market in 2008, and Momentum Will Continue in 2009, Says IDC
16 Feb 2009
LONDON, February 16, 2009 — Following a major surge in the back-to-school season, mini-notebook momentum continued unabated in the final quarter of the year. Thanks to robust consumer demand in Western Europe in the run up to Christmas, overall EMEA mini-notebook shipments reached 3.6 million units, in line with expectations, representing 20% of total portable sales and 30% of consumer portables in EMEA in 4Q08.
For the full year 2008, mini-notebook shipments in EMEA reached close to 7 million units. Positioned as a secondary device for Internet-centric use and representing the first affordable ultraportables in the retail channel, mini-notebooks drove strong consumer momentum and resulted in a major sales boom in 2H08.
”As expected, mini-notebooks were one of the most sought-after items in the Christmas season, particularly in Western Europe, which represented over 80% of volumes,” said Eszter Morvay, research manager at IDC’s EMEA personal computing group. ”Driven by strong vendor and channel push, consumers benefited from the plethora of new models appearing on the shelves from October onwards, and the explosion in the product offering stimulated fierce competition for shelf space. Following in the footsteps of Asus, there are currently more than 50 vendors, from international players to local assemblers, with a mini-notebook offering across EMEA, which is clearly contributing to the ongoing buoyancy.”
The telco channel has also been playing a pivotal role in the development of the EMEA mini-notebook market. While telco operators have been looking at the notebook market for some time to drive new revenue sources, mini-notebooks offer a better fit in terms of value proposition — small and attractive products at lower price, therefore lower subsidy costs. Telco operators also offered additional exposure, which acted as a major accelerator of mini-notebook demand.
Vendor Highlights
Acer has made a strong push in the EMEA mini-notebook market since the Aspire One was launched in June. Although its primary focus is the retail channel, the vendor has also been working on building its presence in the telco channel, partnering with the likes of Phone House, T-Mobile, TIM, and TMN. In addition to the successful Aspire One series, Acer also launched the Packard Bell Dot in October 2008. However, focusing solely on the 8.9in. segment, the vendor is facing increasing competitive pressure from the growing success of 10in. mini-notebooks.
Asus maintained a key position in EMEA, boasting the largest and most complete product portfolio, and continued to play a pivotal role in the market from a branding standpoint. In 4Q08, Asus continued to enjoy strong demand for the Eee PC family and benefit from a large and expanding number of telco partnerships across EMEA, with SFR in France and TIM in Italy being the largest from a volume perspective.
Hewlett-Packard took third place in the EMEA mini-notebook market, helped by the launch of its first consumer mini-notebook, the Compaq Mini 700, in December. The commercial-focused HP2133 saw gradual uptake, due to the higher price and lack of retail presence, but it benefited from several telco deals across the region, including Bouygues, Cosmote, Elisa, and Mobistar.
Samsung was a newcomer to the mini-notebook market in 4Q08, launching the NC10 in October 2008. The product received excellent reviews and enjoyed rapid uptake across EMEA. In addition to strong retail demand, Samsung also benefited from several telco deals, including Phones 4u, T-Mobile, and Vodafone.
Dell introduced the Inspiron Mini in September 2008, launching it across most EMEA countries throughout 4Q08. The vendor continued to work with its key retail partners DSGi, Carrefour, and Tesco, while also benefiting from its EMEA-wide partnership with Vodafone.
Top 5 Vendors: EMEA Mini-Notebook Shipments, 4Q08
Vendor Units (000) % Market Share
1. Acer 1,095 30.3%
2. Asus 1,011 28.0%
3. HP 253 7.0%
4. Samsung 232 6.4%
5. Dell 156 4.3%
Others 864 23.9%
Total 3,610 100%
Source: IDC EMEA Quarterly PC Tracker, Final Results, 4Q08
Market Outlook
IDC expects sustained buoyancy in the EMEA mini-notebook market in the coming quarters, and robust double-digit growth in 2009. Strong vendor push will undoubtedly remain one of the key market drivers. Most vendors are working on expanding their product portfolios with increased distinction between entry-level, mainstream, and even higher-end models. Mini-notebooks will also continue to evolve both from a technology and design standpoint. The shift towards 10in. will continue and is expected to dominate the market in 2009, and we will see the first convertible models with touchscreens appear later this year.
Market dynamics will remain driven by consumer demand, but improving specifications, larger screens, and integrated 3G will make mini-notebooks more appealing to businesses as well. The education sector will be another growth opportunity in the long term. There are already several projects running in the U.K. and Russia, for example, and demand is expected to rise in an effort to promote one-to-one computing across the region.
IT and telco convergence will gain further momentum in 2009. Most vendors have already set up partnerships with key pan-European operators, and will continue to expand this year, targeting second- and third-tier operators in each country. The market will also see a shift from USB to integrated 3G, supported by the plethora of new models coming out with this functionality.
IDC believes the mini-notebook market will be a key growth opportunity in EMEA in 2009 amid the ongoing global economic recession, and will contribute to the sustained expansion of the EMEA portable PC market. However, mini-notebooks will continue to shake the industry from both a go-to-market and a pricing perspective. Mini-notebooks have proven that miniaturization does not have to cost a fortune, and will force vendors to rethink their ultraportable offerings and pricing. New initiatives from AMD, Intel, and Microsoft will also help the industry to reinvent ultraportables in a more affordable packaging.
The mini-notebook market is analyzed as part of IDC’s EMEA Quarterly PC Tracker program and a special report is also available. For more information on IDC’s EMEA Quarterly PC Tracker or other IDC personal computing research services, please contact Associate Vice President Karine Paoli (tel.: +44 [0] 20 8987 7218, email: kpaoli@idc.com). Alternatively, contact your local IDC office or visit www.idc.com.
March 13, 2009
IDC - Press Release
dotted lines
Mini-Notebooks Make Explosive Entry into EMEA PC Market in 2008, and Momentum Will Continue in 2009, Says IDC
16 Feb 2009
LONDON, February 16, 2009 — Following a major surge in the back-to-school season, mini-notebook momentum continued unabated in the final quarter of the year. Thanks to robust consumer demand in Western Europe in the run up to Christmas, overall EMEA mini-notebook shipments reached 3.6 million units, in line with expectations, representing 20% of total portable sales and 30% of consumer portables in EMEA in 4Q08.
For the full year 2008, mini-notebook shipments in EMEA reached close to 7 million units. Positioned as a secondary device for Internet-centric use and representing the first affordable ultraportables in the retail channel, mini-notebooks drove strong consumer momentum and resulted in a major sales boom in 2H08.
”As expected, mini-notebooks were one of the most sought-after items in the Christmas season, particularly in Western Europe, which represented over 80% of volumes,” said Eszter Morvay, research manager at IDC’s EMEA personal computing group. ”Driven by strong vendor and channel push, consumers benefited from the plethora of new models appearing on the shelves from October onwards, and the explosion in the product offering stimulated fierce competition for shelf space. Following in the footsteps of Asus, there are currently more than 50 vendors, from international players to local assemblers, with a mini-notebook offering across EMEA, which is clearly contributing to the ongoing buoyancy.”
The telco channel has also been playing a pivotal role in the development of the EMEA mini-notebook market. While telco operators have been looking at the notebook market for some time to drive new revenue sources, mini-notebooks offer a better fit in terms of value proposition — small and attractive products at lower price, therefore lower subsidy costs. Telco operators also offered additional exposure, which acted as a major accelerator of mini-notebook demand.
Vendor Highlights
Acer has made a strong push in the EMEA mini-notebook market since the Aspire One was launched in June. Although its primary focus is the retail channel, the vendor has also been working on building its presence in the telco channel, partnering with the likes of Phone House, T-Mobile, TIM, and TMN. In addition to the successful Aspire One series, Acer also launched the Packard Bell Dot in October 2008. However, focusing solely on the 8.9in. segment, the vendor is facing increasing competitive pressure from the growing success of 10in. mini-notebooks.
Asus maintained a key position in EMEA, boasting the largest and most complete product portfolio, and continued to play a pivotal role in the market from a branding standpoint. In 4Q08, Asus continued to enjoy strong demand for the Eee PC family and benefit from a large and expanding number of telco partnerships across EMEA, with SFR in France and TIM in Italy being the largest from a volume perspective.
Hewlett-Packard took third place in the EMEA mini-notebook market, helped by the launch of its first consumer mini-notebook, the Compaq Mini 700, in December. The commercial-focused HP2133 saw gradual uptake, due to the higher price and lack of retail presence, but it benefited from several telco deals across the region, including Bouygues, Cosmote, Elisa, and Mobistar.
Samsung was a newcomer to the mini-notebook market in 4Q08, launching the NC10 in October 2008. The product received excellent reviews and enjoyed rapid uptake across EMEA. In addition to strong retail demand, Samsung also benefited from several telco deals, including Phones 4u, T-Mobile, and Vodafone.
Dell introduced the Inspiron Mini in September 2008, launching it across most EMEA countries throughout 4Q08. The vendor continued to work with its key retail partners DSGi, Carrefour, and Tesco, while also benefiting from its EMEA-wide partnership with Vodafone.
Top 5 Vendors: EMEA Mini-Notebook Shipments, 4Q08
Vendor Units (000) % Market Share
1. Acer 1,095 30.3%
2. Asus 1,011 28.0%
3. HP 253 7.0%
4. Samsung 232 6.4%
5. Dell 156 4.3%
Others 864 23.9%
Total 3,610 100%
Source: IDC EMEA Quarterly PC Tracker, Final Results, 4Q08
Market Outlook
IDC expects sustained buoyancy in the EMEA mini-notebook market in the coming quarters, and robust double-digit growth in 2009. Strong vendor push will undoubtedly remain one of the key market drivers. Most vendors are working on expanding their product portfolios with increased distinction between entry-level, mainstream, and even higher-end models. Mini-notebooks will also continue to evolve both from a technology and design standpoint. The shift towards 10in. will continue and is expected to dominate the market in 2009, and we will see the first convertible models with touchscreens appear later this year.
Market dynamics will remain driven by consumer demand, but improving specifications, larger screens, and integrated 3G will make mini-notebooks more appealing to businesses as well. The education sector will be another growth opportunity in the long term. There are already several projects running in the U.K. and Russia, for example, and demand is expected to rise in an effort to promote one-to-one computing across the region.
IT and telco convergence will gain further momentum in 2009. Most vendors have already set up partnerships with key pan-European operators, and will continue to expand this year, targeting second- and third-tier operators in each country. The market will also see a shift from USB to integrated 3G, supported by the plethora of new models coming out with this functionality.
IDC believes the mini-notebook market will be a key growth opportunity in EMEA in 2009 amid the ongoing global economic recession, and will contribute to the sustained expansion of the EMEA portable PC market. However, mini-notebooks will continue to shake the industry from both a go-to-market and a pricing perspective. Mini-notebooks have proven that miniaturization does not have to cost a fortune, and will force vendors to rethink their ultraportable offerings and pricing. New initiatives from AMD, Intel, and Microsoft will also help the industry to reinvent ultraportables in a more affordable packaging.
The mini-notebook market is analyzed as part of IDC’s EMEA Quarterly PC Tracker program and a special report is also available. For more information on IDC’s EMEA Quarterly PC Tracker or other IDC personal computing research services, please contact Associate Vice President Karine Paoli (tel.: +44 [0] 20 8987 7218, email: kpaoli@idc.com). Alternatively, contact your local IDC office or visit www.idc.com.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Google boss backs subsidized Linuxbooks
Google boss backs subsidized Linuxbooks
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/03/04/schmidt_on_netbooks/
By Cade Metz in San Francisco • Get more from this author
Google CEO Eric Schmidt has hinted that his company - or at least its partners - will one day subsidize the purchase of extra-low-cost Linux netbooks in an effort to promote the use of its myriad cloud online services.
"What's particularly interesting about netbooks is the price point," Google's Willy Wonka told a room full of financial types this afternoon at the Morgan Stanley Technology Conference in downtown San Francisco. "Eventually, it will make sense for operators and so forth to subsidize the use of netbooks so they can make services revenue and advertising revenue on the consumption. That's another new model that's coming."
Schmidt called netbooks the "next generation" of the low-cost machines produced by Nicholas Negroponte's One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) initiative. "Products today are not completely done. Things are missing. It's perfectly possible that operating systems that are Linux-based will become a significant player in that space, whereas they have historically not been a significant player in the PC space."
In other words, Schmidt believes the US is going back to the future. The subsidized-PC model famously failed in the late 90s and early aughts, with outfits like PeoplePC and emachines. In the UK, mobile operators are already offering free laptops with wireless contracts.
If Google taps into this plan, you'd have to assume that Googlicious netbooks will be sold by someone other than Google. As the company has shown with its open-source Android mobile stack, Google prefers to keep the direct-sales biz at arm's length.
Developers have often said that Android is already well-suited to netbooks as well as mobile handheld devices. And rumor has it that motherboard-maker ASUS is already hard at work on an Android-based netbook, set for release at the end of this year or early 2010.
Such devices could rule the world, Schmidt said, because cloud online apps are the future. "Cloud computing is one of those changes that are going to happen - regardless of whether or not companies in the ecosystem want it to," he said. "IT systems today are so slow in the way that they evolve...We now have an opportunity to build a whole new generation of applications that cycle much faster."
Just as predictably, Schmidt began his Morgan Stanley Q&A by insisting that Google's search monopoly could vanish at any moment. He pointed to a recent snafu where Google's search engine blocked access to the entire internet.
"We had a bug recently where we put a malware statement out for users, and in that time, Yahoo! searches gained very, very quickly," he said. "It looks like people will move very quickly from one search engine to another, for any number of reasons. We've looked at this very carefully."
But even a cursory examination would show that Google's February snafu knocked out its search engine for less an hour - and that it promptly reclaimed over 60 per cent of the market.
In Google's mind, Google is not a monopoly - but Microsoft certainly is. When asked whether he was at all concerned about a possible search tie-up between Yahoo! and Microsoft, Schmidt said "The problem has to do with Microsoft's ability to use its Windows monopoly to restrict a user's fair choice...Anything that Microsoft would do that would eliminate user choice with respect to the way search engines and internet browsers are distributed - for which it was previously found guilty - would be of concern."
But at one point during his chat - which was broadcast live over the net, but was not open to reporters - Schmidt's typically extreme Google arrogance subsided. At least a tad. In recent months, Google has all but called itself Meltdown-proof. But today he hedged those claims.
"I don't need to talk to this audience about the state of the global economy. The situation is pretty dire," he said. "During this time, what's happening is that people are using the internet more. But it obviously will affect the online advertising markets as well - simply because our systems are so tightly tuned that if customers are buying less it will eventually be reflected in [cost per advertising click]...
"We are not immune - 'we' Google and 'we' the online-advertising industry. But we may be better positioned than other advertisers."
Google's ad system isn't as "tightly tuned" as Schmidt would indicate. And in the fourth quarter, the company pumped its revenues a cool 18 per cent. But perhaps he's hinting that Q1 isn't going quite as well as the company might like.
After conversations with countless "CEOs and customers," Schmidt predicts that the global recession won't subside until 2010. But when it does, he says, Americans will still be Americans. "What we have to do in our country in solve the credit problem. We have to get the job situation at least stable. And we have to do something about the housing crisis," he said. "All of those things are being worked on now. When those things are done, it's a reasonable bet that Americans will go back to what they do best, which is spend money."
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/03/04/schmidt_on_netbooks/
By Cade Metz in San Francisco • Get more from this author
Google CEO Eric Schmidt has hinted that his company - or at least its partners - will one day subsidize the purchase of extra-low-cost Linux netbooks in an effort to promote the use of its myriad cloud online services.
"What's particularly interesting about netbooks is the price point," Google's Willy Wonka told a room full of financial types this afternoon at the Morgan Stanley Technology Conference in downtown San Francisco. "Eventually, it will make sense for operators and so forth to subsidize the use of netbooks so they can make services revenue and advertising revenue on the consumption. That's another new model that's coming."
Schmidt called netbooks the "next generation" of the low-cost machines produced by Nicholas Negroponte's One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) initiative. "Products today are not completely done. Things are missing. It's perfectly possible that operating systems that are Linux-based will become a significant player in that space, whereas they have historically not been a significant player in the PC space."
In other words, Schmidt believes the US is going back to the future. The subsidized-PC model famously failed in the late 90s and early aughts, with outfits like PeoplePC and emachines. In the UK, mobile operators are already offering free laptops with wireless contracts.
If Google taps into this plan, you'd have to assume that Googlicious netbooks will be sold by someone other than Google. As the company has shown with its open-source Android mobile stack, Google prefers to keep the direct-sales biz at arm's length.
Developers have often said that Android is already well-suited to netbooks as well as mobile handheld devices. And rumor has it that motherboard-maker ASUS is already hard at work on an Android-based netbook, set for release at the end of this year or early 2010.
Such devices could rule the world, Schmidt said, because cloud online apps are the future. "Cloud computing is one of those changes that are going to happen - regardless of whether or not companies in the ecosystem want it to," he said. "IT systems today are so slow in the way that they evolve...We now have an opportunity to build a whole new generation of applications that cycle much faster."
Just as predictably, Schmidt began his Morgan Stanley Q&A by insisting that Google's search monopoly could vanish at any moment. He pointed to a recent snafu where Google's search engine blocked access to the entire internet.
"We had a bug recently where we put a malware statement out for users, and in that time, Yahoo! searches gained very, very quickly," he said. "It looks like people will move very quickly from one search engine to another, for any number of reasons. We've looked at this very carefully."
But even a cursory examination would show that Google's February snafu knocked out its search engine for less an hour - and that it promptly reclaimed over 60 per cent of the market.
In Google's mind, Google is not a monopoly - but Microsoft certainly is. When asked whether he was at all concerned about a possible search tie-up between Yahoo! and Microsoft, Schmidt said "The problem has to do with Microsoft's ability to use its Windows monopoly to restrict a user's fair choice...Anything that Microsoft would do that would eliminate user choice with respect to the way search engines and internet browsers are distributed - for which it was previously found guilty - would be of concern."
But at one point during his chat - which was broadcast live over the net, but was not open to reporters - Schmidt's typically extreme Google arrogance subsided. At least a tad. In recent months, Google has all but called itself Meltdown-proof. But today he hedged those claims.
"I don't need to talk to this audience about the state of the global economy. The situation is pretty dire," he said. "During this time, what's happening is that people are using the internet more. But it obviously will affect the online advertising markets as well - simply because our systems are so tightly tuned that if customers are buying less it will eventually be reflected in [cost per advertising click]...
"We are not immune - 'we' Google and 'we' the online-advertising industry. But we may be better positioned than other advertisers."
Google's ad system isn't as "tightly tuned" as Schmidt would indicate. And in the fourth quarter, the company pumped its revenues a cool 18 per cent. But perhaps he's hinting that Q1 isn't going quite as well as the company might like.
After conversations with countless "CEOs and customers," Schmidt predicts that the global recession won't subside until 2010. But when it does, he says, Americans will still be Americans. "What we have to do in our country in solve the credit problem. We have to get the job situation at least stable. And we have to do something about the housing crisis," he said. "All of those things are being worked on now. When those things are done, it's a reasonable bet that Americans will go back to what they do best, which is spend money."
Whither Windows? OLPC 2 likely to use ARM, not x86
Whither Windows? OLPC 2 likely to use ARM, not x86
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2009/03/olpc-project-to-adopt-arm-processors.ars
OLPC founder Nicholas Negroponte has revealed that the project could switch to ARM processors for its next-gen XO laptop. This move is odd in light of the organization's increasingly Microsoft-centric software strategy, but Negroponte says he is hopeful that Microsoft will port Windows XP to ARM.
By Ryan Paul | Last updated March 13, 2009 9:37 AM CT
Whither Windows? OLPC 2 likely to use ARM, not x86
The One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project, which seeks to produce low-cost laptops for education, revealed on Thursday that it might drop the aging AMD Geode processor it has been using and replace it with ARM chips in its next-generation mobile computing device.
OLPC, which emerged from the MIT media lab and was founded by Nicholas Negroponte, has been plagued by an endless stream of technical problems and logistical blunders. The cost of the hardware, which was originally targeted at an ambitious $100, has climbed by 88 percent. The software platform strategy has totally disintegrated, leading to significant friction within the organization. Key figures have left in frustration and have vocally criticized Negroponte for taking actions that conflict with OLPC's stated goals.
In January, OLPC downsized half of its staff and largely discontinued its involvement in the development of the Sugar software framework—an education-oriented software environment built with open source technologies that is designed to run on the Linux operating system. Negroponte says that the cuts were needed because the organization's large corporate sponsors are closing their wallets in the current economic climate. In addition, the second Give 1 Get 1 program, a major source of funding for the project, fell flat and generated only a fraction of the revenue that was produced by the problematic first attempt.
OLPC could simply not afford to continue without major cuts and a serious change in strategy. Negroponte attempted to reorganize the group and shifted the focus away from large-scale distribution. The new approach is to produce hardware designs that can be manufactured and brought to market by commercial partners. This approach is similar to the one that Intel has pursued with its Classmate PC, which has already shipped to students in greater number than the OLPC XO laptop.
OLPC says that they intend to use ARM processors for their next-generation hardware because the ARM chips will use less power and could potentially deliver better performance than the aging AMD Geode that runs the current OLPC model. This seems like a reasonable move in principle, but it makes little sense when viewed in the context of the organization's software strategy—though it's hard to tell what the software strategy is even supposed to be anymore.
When OLPC began building closer ties with Microsoft and publicly criticizing Linux in press interviews, concerns were expressed by OLPC members that Negroponte might be preparing to abandon Sugar. He vigorously denied it and claimed that OLPC was planning to significantly increase its commitment to Sugar. Only months later, he reversed this position when he ended OLPC's involvement in Sugar development and turned it over to the community. Ongoing Sugar development is handled by Sugar Labs, which is run by former OLPC president Walter Bender.
The problem with moving to ARM is that Windows XP, which OLPC has increasingly been warming up to, won't run on it at all. Even the existing, Fedora-based Sugar platform would probably require some tweaking. Fedora's ARM port is promising, but still somewhat experimental. I suspect that the Fedora ARM port is mature enough that it could be adapted to meet OLPC's needs within a reasonable timeframe (an alternate approach would be to make Sugar and OLPC's software customizations work well on Canonical's officially supported ARM port of Ubuntu), but that would still require at least some software engineering. It's unclear if Sugar Labs is in a position to handle that kind of development at this stage.
Negroponte seems convinced that a Windows port for ARM would be advantageous to the project. Microsoft might have an incentive to port XP to ARM in order to prevent Linux from gaining ground on the inevitable commercial ARM-based netbooks, but it seems more likely that Microsoft would rather invest in moving forward with Windows Mobile for that market. Microsoft seems to have a clearly defined roadmap for Windows Mobile 6.5 and 7, but Negroponte isn't crazy about the idea of using Windows Mobile for his device.
"Like many, we are urging Microsoft to make Windows—not Windows Mobile—available on the Arm. This is a complex question for them," Negroponte told IDG.
Some pundits are speculating that Google's Linux-based Android platform could potentially be an option for an ARM-based OLPC device. Although Android could probably be made to run on the hardware, it really doesn't seem like a feasible choice. As Google's engineers have pointed out, Android uses the Linux kernel but is fundamentally not a Linux platform.
The Android stack doesn't support Xorg and is not capable of running conventional desktop Linux software. It's absolutely not equipped to accommodate Sugar (which is built with Python and GTK+) and there is no conceivable glide path for making such a port.
The hardware plans—a device with a dual-touchscreen interface and an extremely low-power ARM chip—are intriguing. I think that a device of that nature could have a lot of practical value if it's designed well. However, the general lack of direction at OLPC, the lack of staffing, the lack of resources, and the lack of a successful track record don't really bode well. The fact that Negroponte is publicly begging Microsoft for a Windows ARM port also adds to my skepticism.
The entire effort appears to have been in a steady downward spiral during the past year, and the potential for recovery looks slim. The latest revelation—an unplanned architecture change without any clearly articulated software strategy—seems to further erode the odds of success.
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2009/03/olpc-project-to-adopt-arm-processors.ars
OLPC founder Nicholas Negroponte has revealed that the project could switch to ARM processors for its next-gen XO laptop. This move is odd in light of the organization's increasingly Microsoft-centric software strategy, but Negroponte says he is hopeful that Microsoft will port Windows XP to ARM.
By Ryan Paul | Last updated March 13, 2009 9:37 AM CT
Whither Windows? OLPC 2 likely to use ARM, not x86
The One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project, which seeks to produce low-cost laptops for education, revealed on Thursday that it might drop the aging AMD Geode processor it has been using and replace it with ARM chips in its next-generation mobile computing device.
OLPC, which emerged from the MIT media lab and was founded by Nicholas Negroponte, has been plagued by an endless stream of technical problems and logistical blunders. The cost of the hardware, which was originally targeted at an ambitious $100, has climbed by 88 percent. The software platform strategy has totally disintegrated, leading to significant friction within the organization. Key figures have left in frustration and have vocally criticized Negroponte for taking actions that conflict with OLPC's stated goals.
In January, OLPC downsized half of its staff and largely discontinued its involvement in the development of the Sugar software framework—an education-oriented software environment built with open source technologies that is designed to run on the Linux operating system. Negroponte says that the cuts were needed because the organization's large corporate sponsors are closing their wallets in the current economic climate. In addition, the second Give 1 Get 1 program, a major source of funding for the project, fell flat and generated only a fraction of the revenue that was produced by the problematic first attempt.
OLPC could simply not afford to continue without major cuts and a serious change in strategy. Negroponte attempted to reorganize the group and shifted the focus away from large-scale distribution. The new approach is to produce hardware designs that can be manufactured and brought to market by commercial partners. This approach is similar to the one that Intel has pursued with its Classmate PC, which has already shipped to students in greater number than the OLPC XO laptop.
OLPC says that they intend to use ARM processors for their next-generation hardware because the ARM chips will use less power and could potentially deliver better performance than the aging AMD Geode that runs the current OLPC model. This seems like a reasonable move in principle, but it makes little sense when viewed in the context of the organization's software strategy—though it's hard to tell what the software strategy is even supposed to be anymore.
When OLPC began building closer ties with Microsoft and publicly criticizing Linux in press interviews, concerns were expressed by OLPC members that Negroponte might be preparing to abandon Sugar. He vigorously denied it and claimed that OLPC was planning to significantly increase its commitment to Sugar. Only months later, he reversed this position when he ended OLPC's involvement in Sugar development and turned it over to the community. Ongoing Sugar development is handled by Sugar Labs, which is run by former OLPC president Walter Bender.
The problem with moving to ARM is that Windows XP, which OLPC has increasingly been warming up to, won't run on it at all. Even the existing, Fedora-based Sugar platform would probably require some tweaking. Fedora's ARM port is promising, but still somewhat experimental. I suspect that the Fedora ARM port is mature enough that it could be adapted to meet OLPC's needs within a reasonable timeframe (an alternate approach would be to make Sugar and OLPC's software customizations work well on Canonical's officially supported ARM port of Ubuntu), but that would still require at least some software engineering. It's unclear if Sugar Labs is in a position to handle that kind of development at this stage.
Negroponte seems convinced that a Windows port for ARM would be advantageous to the project. Microsoft might have an incentive to port XP to ARM in order to prevent Linux from gaining ground on the inevitable commercial ARM-based netbooks, but it seems more likely that Microsoft would rather invest in moving forward with Windows Mobile for that market. Microsoft seems to have a clearly defined roadmap for Windows Mobile 6.5 and 7, but Negroponte isn't crazy about the idea of using Windows Mobile for his device.
"Like many, we are urging Microsoft to make Windows—not Windows Mobile—available on the Arm. This is a complex question for them," Negroponte told IDG.
Some pundits are speculating that Google's Linux-based Android platform could potentially be an option for an ARM-based OLPC device. Although Android could probably be made to run on the hardware, it really doesn't seem like a feasible choice. As Google's engineers have pointed out, Android uses the Linux kernel but is fundamentally not a Linux platform.
The Android stack doesn't support Xorg and is not capable of running conventional desktop Linux software. It's absolutely not equipped to accommodate Sugar (which is built with Python and GTK+) and there is no conceivable glide path for making such a port.
The hardware plans—a device with a dual-touchscreen interface and an extremely low-power ARM chip—are intriguing. I think that a device of that nature could have a lot of practical value if it's designed well. However, the general lack of direction at OLPC, the lack of staffing, the lack of resources, and the lack of a successful track record don't really bode well. The fact that Negroponte is publicly begging Microsoft for a Windows ARM port also adds to my skepticism.
The entire effort appears to have been in a steady downward spiral during the past year, and the potential for recovery looks slim. The latest revelation—an unplanned architecture change without any clearly articulated software strategy—seems to further erode the odds of success.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
By-pass Internet Security! - Video
This is illustrative example on how a culture of deception bypasses company and school Internet protocols. Illustrative of an example of bypassing controls.
more about "By-pass Internet Security! - Video", posted with vodpod
Asus EEE PC 900 Vista Vs XP Vs Linux - Boot & Shutdown Test
YouTube online test of three operationg systems
more about "Asus EEE PC 900 Vista Vs XP Vs Linux ...", posted with vodpod
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
The netBook, new targets for hackers?
Translated from French to English
Source
Les netbooks , nouvelles cibles pour les pirates informatiques? http://bit.ly/EIIEz
The netBook, new targets for hackers?
Reuters | 03.03.2009 | 12:33
By Kelvin Soh
TAIPEI (Reuters) - If the flood of netBook has helped millions of people to acquire a computer, the savings on the safety of these mini-PC at low price make them ideal prey for hackers.
Since their introduction in the market for less than two years by the Taiwanese Asustek, almost all the major PC manufacturers, including Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Acer and Lenovo, have followed suit.
In the view of analysts, all the ingredients together to make the perfect target netBook viruses and hackers, they are simple, low power and their users often neophytes.
"Internet is full of dangers, whatever computer you use," said Saturday Yen, head of marketing for the antivirus software company Symantec.
"But keeping in mind that the NETBOOK is primarily used for surfing the Internet, the dangers are multiplied, especially if the computer is not protected by antivirus software."
Especially with a price that can call down to $ 300, these ultra-portable computers do not usually s'encombrent standards such as firewalls or other security software ships pre-installed on computers.
"Frankly, the security on the netBook is not it," said Pranab Sarmah, an analyst at the Daiwa Research Institute.
"The positioning of NETBOOK is that manufacturers will make every effort to continue to offer attractive prices for consumers, which means keeping costs down."
Many users netBook are newcomers on the internet and can not be fully informed about taking precautions to protect themselves. In addition, more sophisticated users may be tempted to shut down security programs to overcome the low power of the computer.
Sales growth at risk?
NetBook sales could more than double in 2009 and reach 21 million units, according to forecasts of firm IDC, which provides a modest growth of 4% of total PC sales to 305 million units.
Some scholars suggest that the inability of netBook to provide effective protection could hinder the growth of the segment, by discouraging customers accustomed to working with sensitive data. Business customers now represents more than half of total sales of computers.
"Most companies will continue to opt for portable computers capable of hosting traditional security software performance," said Eric Ashdown, director of security and risk at Accenture.
NETBOOK but is primarily intended for a casual user who does not store sensitive information on your computer, use that could provide him with better security, "said Ashdown. "Most attacks are aimed at computers with data, to data that have an economic value," said Ashdown.
"If I were a hacker, I'm not sure I'm interested in netBook. What I could find? Family photos".
Source
Les netbooks , nouvelles cibles pour les pirates informatiques? http://bit.ly/EIIEz
The netBook, new targets for hackers?
Reuters | 03.03.2009 | 12:33
By Kelvin Soh
TAIPEI (Reuters) - If the flood of netBook has helped millions of people to acquire a computer, the savings on the safety of these mini-PC at low price make them ideal prey for hackers.
Since their introduction in the market for less than two years by the Taiwanese Asustek, almost all the major PC manufacturers, including Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Acer and Lenovo, have followed suit.
In the view of analysts, all the ingredients together to make the perfect target netBook viruses and hackers, they are simple, low power and their users often neophytes.
"Internet is full of dangers, whatever computer you use," said Saturday Yen, head of marketing for the antivirus software company Symantec.
"But keeping in mind that the NETBOOK is primarily used for surfing the Internet, the dangers are multiplied, especially if the computer is not protected by antivirus software."
Especially with a price that can call down to $ 300, these ultra-portable computers do not usually s'encombrent standards such as firewalls or other security software ships pre-installed on computers.
"Frankly, the security on the netBook is not it," said Pranab Sarmah, an analyst at the Daiwa Research Institute.
"The positioning of NETBOOK is that manufacturers will make every effort to continue to offer attractive prices for consumers, which means keeping costs down."
Many users netBook are newcomers on the internet and can not be fully informed about taking precautions to protect themselves. In addition, more sophisticated users may be tempted to shut down security programs to overcome the low power of the computer.
Sales growth at risk?
NetBook sales could more than double in 2009 and reach 21 million units, according to forecasts of firm IDC, which provides a modest growth of 4% of total PC sales to 305 million units.
Some scholars suggest that the inability of netBook to provide effective protection could hinder the growth of the segment, by discouraging customers accustomed to working with sensitive data. Business customers now represents more than half of total sales of computers.
"Most companies will continue to opt for portable computers capable of hosting traditional security software performance," said Eric Ashdown, director of security and risk at Accenture.
NETBOOK but is primarily intended for a casual user who does not store sensitive information on your computer, use that could provide him with better security, "said Ashdown. "Most attacks are aimed at computers with data, to data that have an economic value," said Ashdown.
"If I were a hacker, I'm not sure I'm interested in netBook. What I could find? Family photos".
Netbook tactile
Netbook tactile d'Apple? - Excite France http://bit.ly/Zyp7j
Translation: French » English
The rumor seems to be confirmed: Apple will finally launch into the adventure of tactile netBook.
This is the Taiwanese manufacturer WINTEK that sowed doubt in the minds by announcing the Commercial Times that it is currently working on touch screens that provide for a future product of the Apple-branded yet kept secret. According the same source, Quanta Computer would deal with the realization of the mysterious device, expected for the third quarter of 2009.
The mark to the form of apple does not hide his interest in the flowering of these small laptops called the NETBOOK now, but Steve Jobs has made no official announcement about this. Beating the NETBOOK, Apple holds perhaps a nice technological innovation?
Translation: French » English
The rumor seems to be confirmed: Apple will finally launch into the adventure of tactile netBook.
This is the Taiwanese manufacturer WINTEK that sowed doubt in the minds by announcing the Commercial Times that it is currently working on touch screens that provide for a future product of the Apple-branded yet kept secret. According the same source, Quanta Computer would deal with the realization of the mysterious device, expected for the third quarter of 2009.
The mark to the form of apple does not hide his interest in the flowering of these small laptops called the NETBOOK now, but Steve Jobs has made no official announcement about this. Beating the NETBOOK, Apple holds perhaps a nice technological innovation?
Monday, March 9, 2009
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Google CEO hints Google/Linux netbooks may be coming
Google CEO hints Google/Linux netbooks may be coming
People have been speculating about Google getting into the desktop business ever since Good OS, an Ubuntu-based Linux built around online Google applications showed up in 2007. Then, the rumor-mill really got churning when it was shown that Google mobile operating system, Android, would work just fine as a desktop operating system. Just because something can be done, though, doesn't mean a company actually going to do it though. On March 3rd, though, Google CEO Eric Schmidt said, "What's particularly interesting about netbooks is the price point. Eventually, it will make sense for operators and so forth to subsidize the use of netbooks so they can make services revenue and advertising revenue on the consumption. That's another new model that's coming."
Making money from online advertising. Hmm... Now what company, with a name that starts with 'G' and ends with 'e,' do we know that's the absolute tip-top at making money from online advertising? Could it be Google!? I think so.
The idea of selling netbooks cheaply with a service contract is already being tried. Dell and AT&T offered a Dell Mini 9 for $99 with an AT&T Data Connect contract. I have no doubt you'll see similar mobile phone like discount netbook pricing from other PC companies and telecoms soon. Look for these offers to start showing up everywhere later this year or early next year, as high-speed WiMAX networking starts to come into its own.
It makes perfect business sense for Google to jump into this business. Netbooks continue to be the one bright spot in computer sales and Google already has a Linux that will work on them. Google, of course, also has many online applications that work perfectly on a netbook. Making it even more attractive, Google is making it possible to use their applications, such as GMail, without a Internet connection.
Now take all this, combine it with putting data and applications on the cloud and Google's online advertising savvy, and I see a business model that, even in this grim economy, can't help but make money.
We've gone from pure speculation, to speculation based on facts, and now Google's CEO is talking about how much sense this kind of idea makes. I hereby predict that we'll see the first netbooks with an official Google Linux desktop on them by the second half of this year. It will happen that quickly because Google won't want to give Microsoft a chance to regroup with Windows 7 from its Vista disaster.
In 2010, the big desktop operating system battle will be between Apple, on the high-end, Google and the other Linuxes on the netbook and other low-priced systems, and Windows getting squeezed in the middle. If I were a betting man, I'd put good money on it.
People have been speculating about Google getting into the desktop business ever since Good OS, an Ubuntu-based Linux built around online Google applications showed up in 2007. Then, the rumor-mill really got churning when it was shown that Google mobile operating system, Android, would work just fine as a desktop operating system. Just because something can be done, though, doesn't mean a company actually going to do it though. On March 3rd, though, Google CEO Eric Schmidt said, "What's particularly interesting about netbooks is the price point. Eventually, it will make sense for operators and so forth to subsidize the use of netbooks so they can make services revenue and advertising revenue on the consumption. That's another new model that's coming."
Making money from online advertising. Hmm... Now what company, with a name that starts with 'G' and ends with 'e,' do we know that's the absolute tip-top at making money from online advertising? Could it be Google!? I think so.
The idea of selling netbooks cheaply with a service contract is already being tried. Dell and AT&T offered a Dell Mini 9 for $99 with an AT&T Data Connect contract. I have no doubt you'll see similar mobile phone like discount netbook pricing from other PC companies and telecoms soon. Look for these offers to start showing up everywhere later this year or early next year, as high-speed WiMAX networking starts to come into its own.
It makes perfect business sense for Google to jump into this business. Netbooks continue to be the one bright spot in computer sales and Google already has a Linux that will work on them. Google, of course, also has many online applications that work perfectly on a netbook. Making it even more attractive, Google is making it possible to use their applications, such as GMail, without a Internet connection.
Now take all this, combine it with putting data and applications on the cloud and Google's online advertising savvy, and I see a business model that, even in this grim economy, can't help but make money.
We've gone from pure speculation, to speculation based on facts, and now Google's CEO is talking about how much sense this kind of idea makes. I hereby predict that we'll see the first netbooks with an official Google Linux desktop on them by the second half of this year. It will happen that quickly because Google won't want to give Microsoft a chance to regroup with Windows 7 from its Vista disaster.
In 2010, the big desktop operating system battle will be between Apple, on the high-end, Google and the other Linuxes on the netbook and other low-priced systems, and Windows getting squeezed in the middle. If I were a betting man, I'd put good money on it.
Eight Netbooks Compared
http://sharepointineducation.com/?p=587
8 Netbooks for Education to consider
March 8, 2009 by Mike Herrity · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Netbooks
As we are on the topic of netbooks at the moment I thought I would share some quick research I did this week. I have been looking at a suitable product for our students to use in mobile classrooms around the site. If you remember I set out a list of basic specs at the beginning of the year which I thought were essential for a netbook before we consider a significant purchase. These were a minimum 10 inch screen, 1GB ram and a good sized solid state drive. With these three basic criteria the SSD is the only area which will take more time to become standard and is taking longer than I imagined to become mainstream. Clearly processing and graphics are key development factors but it is not yet possible to put some specific requirements on this area, only to note that things will and need to improve.
With all this in mind I have identified 8 netbooks to show you today if you are in a similar position and looking at a significant purchase for your school. This is not a review but more a list to identify from and a means to keep up with current prices which I will show in $ and also £ where possible. I am using Amazon to show the price as my initial benchmark price of $650 came from Amazon in August when the Asus 1000H was launched. The only major machine I am missing in the 10 inch category that I know about is the Dell Mini 10.
8 Comparable Netbooks to consider for use in education
Acer Aspire One AOD150-1165 10.1-Inch Netbook - $349.99
ARCHOS 10 10.2-Inch Netbook - $349.99
ASUS Eee PC 1000HA 10-Inch Netbook $349.99 (£314)
HP Mini 1035NR 10.2-Inch Netbook $399.99
Lenovo Ideapad S10 10.2-Inch Netbook $349.99
m
MSI Wind U120-024US 10-Inch Netbook £329.99
Samsung NC10 10.2-inch Netbook $435 (£352)
Sylvania GNET31201XS 10-Inch Magni Elite Slate G-Netbook $349.99
The first observation is that the machines are almost all identically priced at $349.99. MSI Wind might be the company driving price down at the moment with HP and especially Samsung perhaps trying to differentiate themselves on build quality. The machines have almost all the same specifications with the exception of Archos having a 3 cell battery and HP only a 60GB hard drive compared to 160GB in all the other devices. Also interesting to note that on Amazon UK only 2 of the 8 machines are available for sale!
It will be interesting to see how far (if at all) price falls in the next year and what improvement in specification we will see. Two major changes are already evident in the market with Asus bring out a 1000HE containing the Intel Atom N280 processor and Samsung moving up to 12 inch screens with the NC20. This move is also interesting as Samsung have switched to VIA for their processor instead of Intel. I will run an update of this post in 3 months and we can see what the market looks like then
8 Netbooks for Education to consider
March 8, 2009 by Mike Herrity · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Netbooks
As we are on the topic of netbooks at the moment I thought I would share some quick research I did this week. I have been looking at a suitable product for our students to use in mobile classrooms around the site. If you remember I set out a list of basic specs at the beginning of the year which I thought were essential for a netbook before we consider a significant purchase. These were a minimum 10 inch screen, 1GB ram and a good sized solid state drive. With these three basic criteria the SSD is the only area which will take more time to become standard and is taking longer than I imagined to become mainstream. Clearly processing and graphics are key development factors but it is not yet possible to put some specific requirements on this area, only to note that things will and need to improve.
With all this in mind I have identified 8 netbooks to show you today if you are in a similar position and looking at a significant purchase for your school. This is not a review but more a list to identify from and a means to keep up with current prices which I will show in $ and also £ where possible. I am using Amazon to show the price as my initial benchmark price of $650 came from Amazon in August when the Asus 1000H was launched. The only major machine I am missing in the 10 inch category that I know about is the Dell Mini 10.
8 Comparable Netbooks to consider for use in education
Acer Aspire One AOD150-1165 10.1-Inch Netbook - $349.99
ARCHOS 10 10.2-Inch Netbook - $349.99
ASUS Eee PC 1000HA 10-Inch Netbook $349.99 (£314)
HP Mini 1035NR 10.2-Inch Netbook $399.99
Lenovo Ideapad S10 10.2-Inch Netbook $349.99
m
MSI Wind U120-024US 10-Inch Netbook £329.99
Samsung NC10 10.2-inch Netbook $435 (£352)
Sylvania GNET31201XS 10-Inch Magni Elite Slate G-Netbook $349.99
The first observation is that the machines are almost all identically priced at $349.99. MSI Wind might be the company driving price down at the moment with HP and especially Samsung perhaps trying to differentiate themselves on build quality. The machines have almost all the same specifications with the exception of Archos having a 3 cell battery and HP only a 60GB hard drive compared to 160GB in all the other devices. Also interesting to note that on Amazon UK only 2 of the 8 machines are available for sale!
It will be interesting to see how far (if at all) price falls in the next year and what improvement in specification we will see. Two major changes are already evident in the market with Asus bring out a 1000HE containing the Intel Atom N280 processor and Samsung moving up to 12 inch screens with the NC20. This move is also interesting as Samsung have switched to VIA for their processor instead of Intel. I will run an update of this post in 3 months and we can see what the market looks like then
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/03/07/eric-schmidt-tells-charlie-rose-google-is-unlikely-to-buy-twitter-and-wants-to-turn-phones-into-tvs/
t must be Google Week on Charlie Rose. Thursday, Rose interviewed product chief Marissa Mayer, and last night he had an hour-long conversation with CEO Eric Schmidt (embedded here, with a full transcript below). The wide-ranging interview touches upon everything from Google’s origins and how it fell upon its advertising business model by accident to how search and other technologies will change society over the next twenty years.
Asked if Google wants to buy Twitter, Schmdit responded: “We’re unlikely to buy anything in the short term partly because I think prices are still high.”
And echoing Mayer’s earlier enthusiasm for all things mobile, Schmidt painted a picture of Android-powered devices turning into TVs (and disrupting the current TV model):
It’s worth noting, by the way, that if you imagine the power of these mobile devices over a five or 10 year period, they must be possible to do almost everything that we do today with other means . . . . It should be possible to watch television and watch your show routinely on these devices, in very high quality. The technology is just getting there. And when that occurs, it’s a different experience because it’s a personal experience. When I turn on the television, it shows the same shows that I saw yesterday and I watch them and it doesn’t know that I watched them yesterday. What a foolish television. Why is it not smarter?
Below is the full transcript, with sections bolded for emphasis (I particularly love the story about how Bill Joy uses search to find new investment opportunities)
t must be Google Week on Charlie Rose. Thursday, Rose interviewed product chief Marissa Mayer, and last night he had an hour-long conversation with CEO Eric Schmidt (embedded here, with a full transcript below). The wide-ranging interview touches upon everything from Google’s origins and how it fell upon its advertising business model by accident to how search and other technologies will change society over the next twenty years.
Asked if Google wants to buy Twitter, Schmdit responded: “We’re unlikely to buy anything in the short term partly because I think prices are still high.”
And echoing Mayer’s earlier enthusiasm for all things mobile, Schmidt painted a picture of Android-powered devices turning into TVs (and disrupting the current TV model):
It’s worth noting, by the way, that if you imagine the power of these mobile devices over a five or 10 year period, they must be possible to do almost everything that we do today with other means . . . . It should be possible to watch television and watch your show routinely on these devices, in very high quality. The technology is just getting there. And when that occurs, it’s a different experience because it’s a personal experience. When I turn on the television, it shows the same shows that I saw yesterday and I watch them and it doesn’t know that I watched them yesterday. What a foolish television. Why is it not smarter?
Below is the full transcript, with sections bolded for emphasis (I particularly love the story about how Bill Joy uses search to find new investment opportunities)
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Monday March 2, 2009 1:56 PM CST - By: Michael Kwan
Click to ZoomAbout a year ago, we heard about the ambitions of creating the second-generation OLPC with dual touchscreen displays. The configuration got you to open the little laptop like a book, removing the physical keyboard altogether. It was certainly a novel concept, but it seems like the idea could be gaining some ground with Asus.
Over at CeBIT, Asus has revealed one of their latest creations: a new laptop that gets rid of the keyboard, opting instead for dual multitouch displays. This is almost exactly like the OLPC2, except it's from a major laptop manufacturer.
The Dual Panel laptop, as it's being called, allows for the use of a resizable virtual keyboard and touchpad, sort of like what you get on the iPhone only a lot bigger and with two screens. Holding the laptop horizontally, you could really use it like an e-book reader, flipping through the pages as if they were almost real.
Not surprisingly, there is no official confirmation from Asus that the company will actually pursue this design in a consumer product, but the concept is certainly an interesting one. Stay tuned, because netbooks just got a whole lot of new life.
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/reuters/090224/tecnology/ctech_us_microsoft
Microsoft says no new cost cuts, shares hit 11-year low
BOSTON (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp outlined plans to offset revenue declines as the PC market shifts to low-cost netbooks, but it failed to announce more cost cuts, sending its shares to an 11-year low.
Chief Executive Steve Ballmer told an analysts' meeting in New York on Tuesday that Microsoft will offer robust versions of its yet-to-be-released Windows 7 operating software for netbooks, as the company looks to boost revenue from these hot-selling, low-cost computers.
But Microsoft shares fell more than 3 percent after Ballmer quashed the hopes of some investors for accelerated cost cuts. Microsoft had announced plans to lay off 5,000 workers on January 22 as part of a plan to save $1.5 billion in annual costs.
"I don't think it makes sense for us to come back and say, 'Could we take out another $2 billion in costs?'" Ballmer said at the analysts' meeting.
Avian Securities Jeff Gaggin said investors were disappointed with Ballmer's decision to hold off on further cost cutting measures, and that he chose not to reassure them that the board will maintain the company's current dividend.
"There was a lot left to interpretation," Gaggin said.
Microsoft, which a month ago blamed netbooks for weaker-than-expected quarterly profits, said it is planning to ship a low-end version of Windows 7 for netbooks, and make it easy for users to upgrade to more expensive editions.
"We will have high market share on netbooks," Ballmer said as he painted a grim outlook for the economy.
"I often think of this as an economic reset. It's not a recession from which you recover," he added.
Ballmer also said he still wants to team up with Yahoo Inc to compete against Internet search giant Google Inc, though he is not interested in buying Yahoo.
He said he hopes to discuss a possible search partnership with Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz, and added that he expects Google to start competing with the Windows operating system by offering a version of its Android operating system for laptop computers.
Google launched Android last year as an operating system for smart phones.
NETBOOK TREND
Microsoft had partly blamed last quarter's profit shortfall on a shift in personal computer sales to netbooks from full-featured machines.
Analysts say the low pricing of netbook software is hurting Windows profits, and estimate that Microsoft only reaps about half the revenue from PC makers for each netbook sold, compared to what it earns on sales of more expensive laptops.
Still, Ballmer said he disagreed that growing netbook sales represent "downside" for his company.
Microsoft's goal is to boost its average revenue per netbook by persuading users to pay to upgrade low-end versions of the software to gain features included with more expensive ones in full-featured PCs.
The software maker will encourage that by limiting the functionality of low-end versions of the new Windows 7. As an example, Ballmer said Microsoft will restrict the number of programs that a user can run at once.
Netbook sales took off last year as the economy weakened, making their low pricing of $200 to $400 more attractive to consumers. Ballmer said he expects netbook sales to continue to grow as cash-strapped buyers avoid big-ticket, discretionary purchases.
"There is certainly going to be an economic effect on PC sales," he said. "We cannot control it. It will affect our revenue."
Most netbooks are now shipped with a stripped down copy of an older generation of Microsoft's operating system, Windows XP, because those machines don't have the computing resources needed to run Windows Vista, the latest version.
Cross Research analyst Richard Williams estimates that Microsoft gets about $35 for each netbook sold with Windows.
Analysts expect Windows 7 to be released before this year's holiday shopping season. Microsoft has declined to give a specific release date, only saying it will be out by January 2010.
Microsoft shares fell 33 cents to $16.88, after hitting an 11-year low of $16.36.
Microsoft says no new cost cuts, shares hit 11-year low
BOSTON (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp outlined plans to offset revenue declines as the PC market shifts to low-cost netbooks, but it failed to announce more cost cuts, sending its shares to an 11-year low.
Chief Executive Steve Ballmer told an analysts' meeting in New York on Tuesday that Microsoft will offer robust versions of its yet-to-be-released Windows 7 operating software for netbooks, as the company looks to boost revenue from these hot-selling, low-cost computers.
But Microsoft shares fell more than 3 percent after Ballmer quashed the hopes of some investors for accelerated cost cuts. Microsoft had announced plans to lay off 5,000 workers on January 22 as part of a plan to save $1.5 billion in annual costs.
"I don't think it makes sense for us to come back and say, 'Could we take out another $2 billion in costs?'" Ballmer said at the analysts' meeting.
Avian Securities Jeff Gaggin said investors were disappointed with Ballmer's decision to hold off on further cost cutting measures, and that he chose not to reassure them that the board will maintain the company's current dividend.
"There was a lot left to interpretation," Gaggin said.
Microsoft, which a month ago blamed netbooks for weaker-than-expected quarterly profits, said it is planning to ship a low-end version of Windows 7 for netbooks, and make it easy for users to upgrade to more expensive editions.
"We will have high market share on netbooks," Ballmer said as he painted a grim outlook for the economy.
"I often think of this as an economic reset. It's not a recession from which you recover," he added.
Ballmer also said he still wants to team up with Yahoo Inc to compete against Internet search giant Google Inc, though he is not interested in buying Yahoo.
He said he hopes to discuss a possible search partnership with Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz, and added that he expects Google to start competing with the Windows operating system by offering a version of its Android operating system for laptop computers.
Google launched Android last year as an operating system for smart phones.
NETBOOK TREND
Microsoft had partly blamed last quarter's profit shortfall on a shift in personal computer sales to netbooks from full-featured machines.
Analysts say the low pricing of netbook software is hurting Windows profits, and estimate that Microsoft only reaps about half the revenue from PC makers for each netbook sold, compared to what it earns on sales of more expensive laptops.
Still, Ballmer said he disagreed that growing netbook sales represent "downside" for his company.
Microsoft's goal is to boost its average revenue per netbook by persuading users to pay to upgrade low-end versions of the software to gain features included with more expensive ones in full-featured PCs.
The software maker will encourage that by limiting the functionality of low-end versions of the new Windows 7. As an example, Ballmer said Microsoft will restrict the number of programs that a user can run at once.
Netbook sales took off last year as the economy weakened, making their low pricing of $200 to $400 more attractive to consumers. Ballmer said he expects netbook sales to continue to grow as cash-strapped buyers avoid big-ticket, discretionary purchases.
"There is certainly going to be an economic effect on PC sales," he said. "We cannot control it. It will affect our revenue."
Most netbooks are now shipped with a stripped down copy of an older generation of Microsoft's operating system, Windows XP, because those machines don't have the computing resources needed to run Windows Vista, the latest version.
Cross Research analyst Richard Williams estimates that Microsoft gets about $35 for each netbook sold with Windows.
Analysts expect Windows 7 to be released before this year's holiday shopping season. Microsoft has declined to give a specific release date, only saying it will be out by January 2010.
Microsoft shares fell 33 cents to $16.88, after hitting an 11-year low of $16.36.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Monday, March 2, 2009
PC Technology Market
PC industry facing 'unprecedented' decline due to weak global economy
By Luann Lasalle, The Canadian Press
MONTREAL - The weak global economy is causing the worst decline ever in the personal computer industry, although demand for mini-notebooks will keep the market from "falling apart" in 2009, a new forecast says.
Market researcher Gartner Inc. said Monday that PC shipments will decline almost 12 per cent this year, with a total of 257 million to be shipped worldwide, the biggest drop in PC history.
"It's an unprecedented drop, much deeper than in 2001," Gartner research director George Shiffler said of the recession that hit the technology sector earlier this decade after the dot-com bubble burst.
He said mini-notebooks, also called netbooks that are smaller and less expensive than laptops, will prop up the PC market.
"They're big enough to keep the market from falling apart, but not big enough to keep it from going down," Shiffler said from San Jose, Calif.
Shipments worldwide of mini-notebooks are expected to total 21 million units in 2009, or about eight per cent of the total PC market, according to Gartner, an information technology research firm headquartered in Stamford, Conn.
Last year, 11.7 million mini-notebooks were shipped globally.
Netbooks are less powerful than current laptops and run between US$200 to US$500 and are designed for basic tasks like email and surfing the Internet.
Even still, even the most basic of today's personal computers have abilities that are far beyond what was available on the market when IBM Corp. brought out its original Personal Computer in 1981.
IBM's machine, the first to use an operating system from Microsoft, essentially thrust computers for individual users into the business world and, in the process, broadened the appeal for computing beyond the hobby and education markets pioneered by Apple, Commodore and Tandy-Radio Shack.
The PC is now considered a necessary tool for businesses and student, and a source of entertainment for many others, but many markets have long ago become saturated.
The current drop in demand for PCs will come from both emerging and mature markets worldwide, Shiffler said, adding that consumers and businesses will take longer to replace PCs in the economic downturn.
"We do think that going forward the fact that the global economy is continuing to deteriorate is going to depress demand," he said. "I don't see things really get kind of cooking, as it were, until the first half of next year."
Shiffler said the decline is causing a ripple effect on other companies that make PC hardware and software and is tough on computer chip makers and on makers of chip equipment.
Gartner's report follows thousands of job cuts announced by Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq:MSFT), Intel Corp. (Nasdaq:INTC) and other companies that depend on sales of PC hardware and software.
Dell Inc. (Nasdaq:DELL), the second-largest computer maker behind Hewlett -Packard Co. (NYSE:HPQ), has announced it plans to cut US$4 billion in annual costs by the end of its 2011 financial year, $1 billion more than previously planned. It said the rising popularity of netbooks pushed revenue from consumers down seven per cent.
Shiffler said the coming release of Microsoft's Windows 7 operating system, a successor to Vista, could help the computer industry rebound.
"Depending when Windows 7 gets released, we're probably talking the big effects showing up a year later which would put it toward the end of 2010."
Analyst Darin Stahl said the "mom and pop shops, the PC support folks, the geek squads of the world" will benefit from the PC industry's decline.
"The only winners in this space are going to be the second-hand, used computing market for both enterprise and consumers," said Stahl, lead analyst at Info-Tech Research Group in London, Ont.
"I think those guys or those businesses are going to see a bit of an uptick as people hold on to this equipment a little longer," Stahl said.
Stock analyst Nick Agostino said even incentives may not even get consumers to replace their computers sooner.
"To me, it boils down to necessity," said Agostino of Toronto-based Research Capital Corp.
"If the one that you have at home is still adequate, that's not necessarily wise spending in these economic times. On the other hand, if you've got zero PC or if that thing is beyond repair and is just busted and you need that PC, then the incentive is just the added bonus."
When the economy turns around, there will be a pent-up demand for PCs and suddenly people will begin buying them again, he said.
LIKE IT? LET OTHERS KNOW
By Luann Lasalle, The Canadian Press
MONTREAL - The weak global economy is causing the worst decline ever in the personal computer industry, although demand for mini-notebooks will keep the market from "falling apart" in 2009, a new forecast says.
Market researcher Gartner Inc. said Monday that PC shipments will decline almost 12 per cent this year, with a total of 257 million to be shipped worldwide, the biggest drop in PC history.
"It's an unprecedented drop, much deeper than in 2001," Gartner research director George Shiffler said of the recession that hit the technology sector earlier this decade after the dot-com bubble burst.
He said mini-notebooks, also called netbooks that are smaller and less expensive than laptops, will prop up the PC market.
"They're big enough to keep the market from falling apart, but not big enough to keep it from going down," Shiffler said from San Jose, Calif.
Shipments worldwide of mini-notebooks are expected to total 21 million units in 2009, or about eight per cent of the total PC market, according to Gartner, an information technology research firm headquartered in Stamford, Conn.
Last year, 11.7 million mini-notebooks were shipped globally.
Netbooks are less powerful than current laptops and run between US$200 to US$500 and are designed for basic tasks like email and surfing the Internet.
Even still, even the most basic of today's personal computers have abilities that are far beyond what was available on the market when IBM Corp. brought out its original Personal Computer in 1981.
IBM's machine, the first to use an operating system from Microsoft, essentially thrust computers for individual users into the business world and, in the process, broadened the appeal for computing beyond the hobby and education markets pioneered by Apple, Commodore and Tandy-Radio Shack.
The PC is now considered a necessary tool for businesses and student, and a source of entertainment for many others, but many markets have long ago become saturated.
The current drop in demand for PCs will come from both emerging and mature markets worldwide, Shiffler said, adding that consumers and businesses will take longer to replace PCs in the economic downturn.
"We do think that going forward the fact that the global economy is continuing to deteriorate is going to depress demand," he said. "I don't see things really get kind of cooking, as it were, until the first half of next year."
Shiffler said the decline is causing a ripple effect on other companies that make PC hardware and software and is tough on computer chip makers and on makers of chip equipment.
Gartner's report follows thousands of job cuts announced by Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq:MSFT), Intel Corp. (Nasdaq:INTC) and other companies that depend on sales of PC hardware and software.
Dell Inc. (Nasdaq:DELL), the second-largest computer maker behind Hewlett -Packard Co. (NYSE:HPQ), has announced it plans to cut US$4 billion in annual costs by the end of its 2011 financial year, $1 billion more than previously planned. It said the rising popularity of netbooks pushed revenue from consumers down seven per cent.
Shiffler said the coming release of Microsoft's Windows 7 operating system, a successor to Vista, could help the computer industry rebound.
"Depending when Windows 7 gets released, we're probably talking the big effects showing up a year later which would put it toward the end of 2010."
Analyst Darin Stahl said the "mom and pop shops, the PC support folks, the geek squads of the world" will benefit from the PC industry's decline.
"The only winners in this space are going to be the second-hand, used computing market for both enterprise and consumers," said Stahl, lead analyst at Info-Tech Research Group in London, Ont.
"I think those guys or those businesses are going to see a bit of an uptick as people hold on to this equipment a little longer," Stahl said.
Stock analyst Nick Agostino said even incentives may not even get consumers to replace their computers sooner.
"To me, it boils down to necessity," said Agostino of Toronto-based Research Capital Corp.
"If the one that you have at home is still adequate, that's not necessarily wise spending in these economic times. On the other hand, if you've got zero PC or if that thing is beyond repair and is just busted and you need that PC, then the incentive is just the added bonus."
When the economy turns around, there will be a pent-up demand for PCs and suddenly people will begin buying them again, he said.
LIKE IT? LET OTHERS KNOW
Linux Touch Screen
http://www.h-online.com/open/Touch-Book-Linux-based-touch-screen-device-announced--/news/112755
Touch Book: Linux based touch screen device announced
The Touch Book, with detachable screen
ZoomThe Touch Book, with detachable screen
Always Innovating have announced a new ARM based touch screen/tablet computer, which they plan to start shipping the US in May/June with a price starting at $299. The Touch Book will come with the Touch Book OS, based on the Angström Linux distribution. The company says the Touch Book is not limited to their OS and that it's possible to "install many operating systems on the device, including Google Android, Ubuntu, Angstrom, and Windows CE, though we would not recommend the latter."
The Touch Book motherboard is based on the Beagle Board and the schematics for it have been released under the GPL by Always Innovating. With an 8.9" diagonal 1024 by 600 resolution touch screen and an ability to play up to 720p video content, the Touch Book is being sold as a companion to, rather than a replacement for, a user's main machine.
The Touch Book sports a number of unique features in a small device. The keyboard is detachable, allowing the device to used as just a tablet, and the back of the tablet is magnetic, letting a user stick the device to a fridge or other metallic surface. The device weighs less than two pounds, but offers a ten to fifteen hour battery life. However, there is a catch; the two parts of the Touch Book, the tablet and the keyboard, have their own separate batteries. The tablet alone has 3 to 5 hours battery life, with the keyboard battery extending that to the ten to fifteen hours.
Another interesting design feature is the inclusion of internal USB ports. These allow readily available 3G dongles, memory sticks and other USB devices to be fitted within the unit, avoiding the problem of accidental disconnections. The quiet and cool design doesn't need a cooling fan due to its use of the low power OMAP3 ARM processor from Texas Instruments.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
