EMarketer predicts that the apparel and accessories category is expected to grow by 20 percent to $40.9 billion this year, up from $34.2 billion in 2011.

That beats the sale of books, music and videos, which have historically been considered the most dominant e-commerce categories — those are now expected to grow by only 18 percent to $20.4 billion this year.

The report published by the Internet market research firm today is the first time it has broken down its forecasts by category.

EMarketer attributed the gains in apparel to retailers’ improved methods for displaying products online that make purchasing clothes, in particular, less of a guessing game.

Some of the visual innovations are stunning.

For instance, Amazon.com’s MyHabit, a private sales clothing site, produces animated videos of models wearing the clothing for sale. The representations are so realistic, the fabric sways as the model struts and turns as if walking down a catwalk.

On the more whimsical side of innovations is eBay’s augmented reality app that allows users to “try on” a pair of sunglasses by layering them over a picture of their face.

But in addition to new display technology, there are also many more apparel sites for consumers to choose from. Over the last two years, the idea of private sales or flash sales — offering expensive, high-end fashion at steep discounts — has spread like wildfire.

Free shipping also plays a role since it removes some of the risk for consumers: If they don’t like a shirt or pair of pants, they don’t have to pay a fee for delivery back to the retailer.

Overall, the report is predicting another big year for e-commerce. It expects U.S. retail sales to grow 15.4 percent to $224.2 billion in 2012, which is higher than eMarketer’s previous forecast that called for e-commerce to grow 11.3 percent to $209.3 billion in 2012.

The biggest category in 2012 is expected to be computer and consumer electronics, which have a higher price point, and are expected to bring in a total of $48.6 billion.

Commodore USA, the Florida-based start-up company that has been producing replicas of the popular Commodore computers of the 1980s, has introduced a new Commodore Amiga Mini, a 7.5-inch by 3-inch computer with an Intel i7 quad-core processor. Unlike the much, much earlier Amiga models, this one features two Wi-Fi antennae and Bluetooth capabilities.

This is clearly a product for, shall we say, enthusiasts. As with the original Amiga, the new version doesn’t come with a keyboard or display screen. It runs a Linux OS, and ranges in price from $1,995 to $2,495 (see update below).

Commodore USA says it plans to serve up more nostalgia in aluminum housings. It will put out more Amiga models in the next month or so, timed around the anniversary of the release of the Commodore Amiga 1000 in April 1985.

In addition to the Amiga, the company has announced a new “supreme” C64x, with 4 gigabytes of memory, an Intel D27000 dual core processor and an Nvidia GeForce GT 520 graphics card for “enhanced gaming capability.” This one comes with a mechanical keyboard, WiFi and Bluetooth capablilities, and HDMI and USB ports, so there are some modern touches to this retro piece.

In 2010, Commodore USA put out a replica of the popular Commodore 64 computer due to “high demand” and lots of emails from C64 fans, Commodore USA CEO Barry Altman said at the time.

Update: A day after Commodore USA announced the new Amiga Mini, it lowered the price of the computer due to “overwhelming outpouring of customer comments, along with those posted on the major tech blogs”. The starting price point of the Amiga Mini is now $1495. At the high end, however, an Amiga with a 600 GB solid state drive and 16GB of memory will still cost $3000.

This is according to a new report from Rebtel, a Stockholm-based VoIP company and Skype competitor.

Of all the participants in Rebtel’s recent survey, 79 percent said they planned to celebrate Valentine’s Day in some way, with 56.8 percent indicating their significant other will be away from home today. A full 86.6 percent of those people said they planned to get in touch with their long-distance lover — which left us scratching our heads a bit about the remaining 13.4 percent who wouldn’t be getting in touch at all. But, hey, not everyone’s into hearts-and-flowers day.

When told they had to choose just one method for communicating with their S.O. away from home, here’s how respondents ranked them:

Mobile phone: 64.3 percent

VoIP calling: 15.4 percent

Landline call: 6.4 percent

Video chat: 4.6 percent

Email: 3.9 percent

SMS: 2.5 percent

Social networks: 1.8 percent

Instant Messenger: 1.1 percent

With lots of free or cheap VoIP calling options out there — Skype, Rebtel and Viber, to name a few — it’s somewhat surprising that VoIP service and video chats ranked so far below mobile phone calling, but many consumers might find it easier just to punch in a number, or simply might not be aware of some of the VoIP apps.

And it’s nice to see that face-to-face video chatting ranks somewhere above SMS text messaging, scribbling on a Facebook wall or sending an IM.

For those of you reading this with sinking stomachs — having just now realized that today is Valentine’s Day — there are a slew of last-minute applications to bail you out, or buy you some time while you search for real, live, analog gift ideas. Like Tom’s Love Letters, or Lovestagram, an Instagram plugin created by the girlfriend of the one of the founders of the popular photo app. You could also send a love-themed playlist from Spotify or Rdio.

There’s also a super-nerdy but fun Web application from Desmos that can draw personalized Valentines with an HTML5 graphing calculator. According to its creator, Eli Luberoff, anyone can choose a romantically-themed graph, add a caption, and then email or tweet it to their significant other. The premise: Math and love are the two universal languages — combined, who knows the power?

Lastly, you can always turn to 1-800-Flowers.com. Which, despite what its name suggests, doesn’t even require a smartphone. Have at it, dudes.

(Photo courtesy of Flickr/Gawen947)

It’s official: The white MacBook is now really, truly dead. Apple is said to have notified resellers that its white plastic 13-inch laptop will no longer be available to educational institutions. MacRumors first reported the news on Wednesday.

The white MacBook’s availability to the public actually ended last July, on the same day Apple introduced its new MacBook Air for just $999, but Apple had kept the distribution channel open for schools.

(Now, it seems, Apple would rather have those schools buy lots of iBooks-equipped iPads – or stripped-down MacBook Airs!)

As I sat here writing this, I realized that I have one of these relics lying unused on the desk next to me — or rather, next to my shinier, newer laptop.

First launched in 2006, the MacBook was, as AllThingsD’s Walt Mossberg put it, a “low-end portable computer aimed at average consumers” — and the best-selling Macintosh in history.

I bought a 2007 model of the white plastic MacBook in early 2008, and it was the first Apple computer I’d used since my elementary-school computer classes, in which we used (I’m fairly certain) the Apple II. It had a 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor! A glossy display! A built-in iSight camera! Six hours of battery life! Smooth, clean keys — and at five pounds it seemed so light (though hardly by today’s laptop standards).

But things change. And I eventually graduated to other laptops.

Oh, white MacBook: You couldn’t handle heavy video editing, and after a while, your battery wouldn’t hold a charge and your keys never, ever looked clean, no matter how hard we tried. But we did have some good times. Au revoir.

The Irvine, Calif., company, which ranks as one of the top sellers of televisions in the U.S., plans to show a line of thin laptop computers and all-in-one desktop PCs running Microsoft Corp.’s Windows software next week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

We are now posting the full videos from the recent AsiaD conference, which took place in Hong Kong in October.

Over the next week or so, we’re going to follow the schedule of the actual event. Up now: HTC Chairwoman Cher Wang.

When Cher Wang co-founded the Taiwan-based company in the late 1990s, it made notebook computers. Now, HTC is all about smartphones and tablets — two of the fastest-growing consumer electronic segments in the world — in a close relationship with Google’s Android unit.

But HTC has also been considering using its own mobile operating system, and faces challenges from a myriad of competitors.

Here’s Wang, in an onstage interview with Walt Mossberg, talking about all this and more:

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20111110/htc-chairwoman-cher-wang-talks-android-smartphones-and-more-the-full-asiad-interview-video/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20110905/netflix-officially-launches-in-latin-america/ http://allthingsd.com/20110905/netflix-officially-launches-in-latin-america/#comments Mon, 05 Sep 2011 21:35:33 +0000 Kara Swisher http://allthingsd.com/?p=116929 As has been expected, Netflix has officially launched its online video streaming service in Latin America. In a blog post today, the company said: “By September 12, people throughout the Americas will be able to instantly watch a broad selection of movies and TV shows streaming from Netflix on computers, game consoles like the WII and PS3, and Smart TVs.”

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110905/netflix-officially-launches-in-latin-america/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20110824/jobs-leave-a-legacy-of-changed-industries/ http://allthingsd.com/20110824/jobs-leave-a-legacy-of-changed-industries/#comments Thu, 25 Aug 2011 01:18:37 +0000 Walt Mossberg http://allthingsd.com/?p=113653

Steve Jobs’s resignation as chief executive officer of Apple is the end of an extraordinary era, not just for Apple, but for the global technology industry in general. Jobs is a historic business figure whose impact was deeply felt far beyond the company’s Cupertino, Calif., headquarters, and who was widely emulated at other companies.

And now, for the first time since 1997, he won’t be the company’s chief executive.

To be very clear, Jobs, while seriously ill, is very much alive. Extremely well-informed sources at Apple say he intends to remain involved in developing major future products and strategy and intends to be an active chairman of the board, even while new CEO Tim Cook runs the company day to day.

So, this is not an obituary. But his health is reported to be up and down, and even an active chairman isn’t the same as a CEO.

CEOs resign every day, so why is this departure so meaningful?

Most people are lucky if they can change the world in one important way, but Jobs, in multiple stages of his business career, changed global technology, media and lifestyles in multiple ways on multiple occasions.

He did it because he was willing to take big risks on new ideas, and not be satisfied with small innovations fed by market research. He also insisted on high quality and had the guts to leave out features others found essential and to kill technologies, like the floppy drive and the removable battery, he decided were no longer needed. And he has been a brilliant marketer, personally passionate about his products.

In his first act at Apple, the company he co-founded in 1976, he helped envision and catalyze the personal computer revolution. The Apple II computer he developed with Steve Wozniak wasn’t the only mass-market PC released in 1977, but it was the one that had the most enduring impact.

In 1984, he again upended computing by leading the development of the Macintosh, the first commercially successful computer to use a mouse and graphical user interface. It cemented the template for how every computer works today, even though Apple was handily bested in the PC sales wars by archrival Microsoft.

After being forced out of Apple in 1985, it’s well known that Jobs ran an unsuccessful computer firm called NeXT. But he also did a couple of game-changing things during that exile. First, NeXT developed an operating system that later morphed into the excellent Macintosh operating system, called OS X, and also the operating system that drives Apple’s mobile devices, called iOS.

In addition, he purchased Pixar, a small computer animation firm which he was able, over years, to turn into one of the world’s most successful movie studios and later sell to Disney for billions. It changed animation forever.

In his most recent act, he returned in 1997 to take over as CEO of Apple as part of that company’s purchase of NeXT. What he found was a diminished company which was reputedly only months from bankruptcy and saddled with mediocre products.

Fourteen years later, the company is a highly profitable behemoth, the most financially valuable and influential technology company in the world, whose every product is eagerly anticipated, snapped up quickly by consumers, and aped by competitors, even though they are often priced higher than rival devices.

While CEO of the revived Apple, he introduced the dominant digital music player, the iPod, and created the most successful digital media service, iTunes. He introduced the first super-smartphone, the iPhone, and the only truly successful tablet computer, the iPad, which is in the process of replacing the laptop, at least in part. And he built the world’s largest app store.

One almost forgets that he built a phenomenally successful chain of retail stores, too.

Apple’s devices and software services have dramatically changed the mobile phone industry, the music industry, the film and TV industries, the publishing industry and others.

Meanwhile, even while declaring that we are in the “post-PC era,” Jobs resuscitated his early baby, the Mac. While it may never become the world’s biggest selling computer, it is lusted after worldwide, and its sales have outgrown those of the overall PC industry for five years running. Plus, with models like the sleek, solid-state MacBook Air, he’s actually merging the tablet and the PC.

Now, rumors are rife that Apple is working on re-inventing another common device: the TV. The secretive company won’t say a word about that, but nobody should be surprised if it happens, just based on Jobs’s track record.

And that’s why the day Steve Jobs resigns as CEO of Apple isn’t like the day a typical CEO resigns.

Here is a video of me taken recently, talking about Jobs’s career:

Related posts

• Steve Jobs Resigns as CEO of Apple; Cook Takes Reins
• Steve Jobs’s Resignation Letter: “I Have Made Some of the Best Friends of My Life at Apple.”
• Apple Stock Falls After Jobs Announcement
• Steve Jobs Live on Stage in 2010 (Video)
• Tim Cook as Apple CEO: A Tested and Steady Hand
• Essay: Jobs’s Departure as CEO of Apple Is the End of an Extraordinary Era
• What Happens Next at Apple?
• Mossberg on Jobs (Video)
• Analysts Confident in Apple’s Prospects
• Apple Shares Bounce Back
• Tim Cook: Apple Will Continue to Make the Best Products in the World
• Does Tim Cook Need His Own Tim Cook?

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110824/jobs-leave-a-legacy-of-changed-industries/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20110824/typing-with-the-original-ipad/ http://allthingsd.com/20110824/typing-with-the-original-ipad/#comments Thu, 25 Aug 2011 00:59:49 +0000 Walt Mossberg http://allthingsd.com/?p=113719 Q:

I am looking for a simplified PC for my elderly relative, and was disappointed that you couldn’t recommend the Telekin PC for seniors. Are there any alternatives?

A:

I don’t know of any other entire, multi-function computers aimed at seniors. But there’s a new program that claims to turn a standard Windows PC into an easy-to-use machine for seniors. It’s called Seniorama Pointer 2011. It costs $97 for a five-year license and offers large-type, simplified interfaces for email, Web browsing, photos, games, and Skype video and audio calls.

I haven’t tested it, so I don’t know how well it works. But the website notes that the program has some limitations. For instance, its email program requires a new email address, and its photo program only handles pictures received via email.

Q:

I read your review of cases with built-in keyboards for the iPad 2. Are there similar products for the original iPad?

A:

Yes. I haven’t tested them, but if you search the Web or look in stores, you can find some.

For instance, the Zaggmate aluminum keyboard case for the original iPad, which is quite similar to the Logitech keyboard case for the iPad 2 that I tested, is still being sold at zagg.com and elsewhere for $100 or less.

An earlier iPad 1 model of the Kensington keyboard case I reviewed, called the KeyFolio (not the KeyFolio Pro,) can still be found at Kensington.com and elsewhere for $100 or less. And there are others.

Q:

We will soon be moving to a rural area where the only opportunities we have for decent Internet service will be cellular data or satellite.

Is there a device that can access the Internet via 3G cellular and wirelessly serve our two laptops simultaneously?

A:

Yes, there are a number of them. Perhaps the most common are small, dedicated mobile hot-spot gadgets sold by the major wireless carriers, such as the Novatel MiFi. These connect to the 3G or 4G cellular networks and then convert that Internet connection into a Wi-Fi signal that can be used by multiple laptops or other devices.

The devices are often inexpensive, but the monthly rates can be stiff, depending on how much data you use.

Another approach is to use a smartphone. Many of these, including the iPhone 4 and Android phones, can be turned into hot spots that act like the dedicated gadgets described above.

However, extra monthly fees apply for this functionality, and they can add up if you use a lot of data.

Write to Walt at mossberg@wsj.com.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110824/typing-with-the-original-ipad/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20110810/a-simple-pc-for-seniors-is-complicated-by-its-flaws/ http://allthingsd.com/20110810/a-simple-pc-for-seniors-is-complicated-by-its-flaws/#comments Thu, 11 Aug 2011 01:03:48 +0000 Walter S. Mossberg http://allthingsd.com/?p=108461 If you’re confused and frustrated by computers, or you serve as the tech-support person for somebody who is, you might be interested in a PC that’s designed to be much simpler than a typical Windows or Mac machine, yet can still perform popular tasks like Web surfing, emailing, photo viewing and video chatting.

I’ve been testing just such a computer, called the Telikin. It’s an all-in-one desktop, with a touch screen, that starts at $699 and comes from a small Philadelphia-area start-up called Venture 3 Systems. To create the Telikin, the company converts standard PCs from the Taiwanese manufacturer MSI by replacing Windows with the Linux operating system and then overlaying that with a greatly simplified user interface and apps of its own design. As simple as it is to use, the Telikin I tested had some flaws and glitches to frustrate most tech novices.

The interface is dominated by a row of big, blue buttons down the left side of the screen, with labels like Email, Photos, Calendar, Web and so forth. Large windows display content, and emails use a big, bold font for easy reading. The home page prominently displays news headlines and weather, and even a quote of the day. There is a built-in feature called Tech Buddy that allows a friend or relative to remotely take over the computer, with permission, to provide help.

After several days of testing the Telikin, I found the interface logical and the built-in apps worked pretty well, albeit sometimes on a very basic level. However, I can only give the Telikin a qualified thumbs up, because I kept running into bugs and limitations. Company officials acknowledged these problems and said they are fixing them. But if you buy a Telikin, you are betting that they will do so.

Telikin is an all-in-one desktop, with a touch screen, that lets users send and receive email, view photos, and conduct video chats via Skype, above, among other things.

The company says it originally designed the Telikin for seniors, but is finding that older boomers are interested as well. Personally, because I know seniors who are computer masters and middle-age people whose PCs befuddle them, I’d say such a machine might appeal to anyone of any age who needs or craves greater simplicity in a PC. It’s available directly from telikin.com, or from Fry’s, an electronics retailer whose stores are mainly in the West.

There are two models. The base unit, at $699, is white, has an 18.6-inch screen and a 320-gigabyte hard disk. The second model, at $999, is black, has a 20-inch screen and a 500-GB hard disk. Both have touch screens that can be operated by finger or with an included stylus. Both also can be controlled with a traditional wired mouse, which is included along with a wired keyboard. Each model has 2 GB of memory, multiple USB ports, a DVD drive and a memory-card reader.

The company offers an optional service that gives hand-holding support on basic questions, such as, “How do I set up a Facebook account?” and includes the ability to back up the computer to a remote server for $10 a month.

In my tests, I was able to send and receive email on one of my own accounts; conduct video chats via Skype; view shared photos on Facebook; surf the Web; make calendar appointments; and play simple built-in games, like solitaire and mahjong.

I could create and read word-processing documents in Microsoft Word format; and view, but not create or edit PDF files and PowerPoint presentations.

I found the company’s tech support people to be helpful and patient, and the machine comes with some useful, if very basic, instructional videos, although there’s no real manual provided. The Web browser is pre-loaded with a series of visual bookmarks for common sites, and you can save your own favorites.

But bugs and limitations seriously detract from the Telikin.

For instance, at first, my test unit frequently froze, requiring a reboot each time. The company remotely upgraded its software, and the freezing was almost, but not entirely, eliminated.

I was also unable to attach photos to outgoing emails. The company said this was a known, but intermittent, bug that will be fixed by the end of the month.

Another example: My Telikin test unit couldn’t complete an online backup because, according to a scary error message, a Web file had “vanished.” Again, the company said it knew of the problem and was fixing it.

My test unit also came with an odd little add-on microphone poking out from the bottom, even though it had a built-in mic at the top. The company said it added the extra microphone because it wasn’t satisfied with the quality of the internal one.

And then there are the limitations. The built-in email program lacks the common Reply All and Forward functions, and the browser has no Refresh function.

The company said it left these out because it feared they might confuse some seniors. Now, it is thinking of adding them. Also, the Telikin can’t view spreadsheets, though again, the company says it is working on adding that ability.

On some emails I sent from a Mac, but not from my Windows PCs, attachments or text didn’t come through. And the remote-control Tech Buddy feature is harder to set up on a Mac. The company conceded it did very little testing of the Telikin’s compatibility with Macs, so if you are a Mac user planning on buying a Telikin for a relative, you might have problems.

Bottom line: The Telikin is a good idea with a decent design that suffers from flawed execution. If you have a friend or relative who could benefit from such a computer, you might consider the Telikin, but you should think about waiting until the company fixes the flaws.

Email Walt at mossberg@wsj.com.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110810/a-simple-pc-for-seniors-is-complicated-by-its-flaws/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20110809/more-asiad-speakers-sony-google-microsoft-hollywood-huawei-and-hot-sv-start-ups/ http://allthingsd.com/20110809/more-asiad-speakers-sony-google-microsoft-hollywood-huawei-and-hot-sv-start-ups/#comments Wed, 10 Aug 2011 00:00:33 +0000 Kara Swisher http://allthingsd.com/?p=107055

After our grand tour of Asia last week — with stops in Korea and Japan — it seems like a perfect time to update the speaker list for our upcoming AsiaD conference in Hong Kong in October.

As Walt Mossberg and I said, we are trying to mix both U.S.-based speakers with a pan-Asian selection of speakers from across the region, and the new additions are just that.

For the international confab — this one will be held Oct. 19-21 — we’ve already announced a great lineup, including Alibaba’s Jack Ma; Google Android head Andy Rubin; Twitter inventor and product guru, as well as Square co-founder and CEO, Jack Dorsey; Nvidia founder and CEO Jen-Hsun Huang; and Asus Chairman Jonny Shih.

Now, to add to that terrific lineup:

Kazuo “Kaz” Hirai is widely considered the second in command at the consumer electronics giant Sony, in charge of its key computer entertainment division, as well as now serving as executive deputy president of the whole company. In that role, the dynamic exec is at the nexus of the Japanese company’s efforts around tablets, smartphones, gaming and more. As Sony struggles to reassert its dominance over the arena, Hirai will be a key player in that effort.

Bradley Horowitz — as head of product management for Google+, the search giant’s aggressive effort to break Facebook’s hammerlock on social networking — has a perfect perspective to talk about the fast-growing area and where it is going globally. With locally-based social companies springing up all over Asia, can Google establish one the whole world will use? It’s an important question and Horowitz’s job No. 1.

At Microsoft, Andy Lees is leading one of the software giant’s most important initiatives, as president of its Windows Phone division. His come-from-behind job includes mobile software and hardware, as well as its key partnership with Nokia. With Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android far in the lead, Lees will need to win in markets globally, especially in Asia.

Peter Chernin is one of Hollywood’s top players and execs. The former top News Corp. exec is now a movie producer — his first effort, “Rise of the Planet of the Apes,” is a big hit. But he’s also been increasingly active in media investing in Asia of late, and has a lot to say about the global nature of entertainment in the digital age.

John Roese heads the North American R&D team for Huawei, the Chinese telecom giant making everything from heavy-duty gear for networks to mobile phones and tablets. The former CTO of Nortel, he’s heading up global development of Huawei’s cloud services for both businesses and consumers. Roese will also talk about the phenomenon of a Chinese-owned company emerging on the world technology stage.

Even in the midst of an economic downturn, there is no denying that it has been a golden time for Silicon Valley start-ups, which have enjoyed unprecedented growth and funding in the Web 2.0 era. But as they seek to expand beyond the U.S., a critical move for them all, we’ve assembled a panel of entrepreneurs to discuss it, including:

Brian Chesky is the CEO and co-founder of Airbnb, the popular online vacation rental site that recently got a huge dose of funding and an equally large amount of controversy. How Airbnb can take the company to the next level, including across the world, while dealing with the kinds of challenges the small management team has to face, will be an interesting topic for discussion.

After stints as president of Asia Pacific and Latin America operations at Google and co-founder of the online personal finance company Yodlee, Sukhinder Singh Cassidy is trying her hand at a small start-up again. She’ll talk about how the recently funded Joyus, a new premium video commerce site trying to pioneer a new way to shop online, plans to expand globally.

Finally, longtime tech exec David Goldberg is now running one of tech’s most successful start-ups at SurveyMonkey, the dominant online survey company. With stints as founder of music site Launch Media, which was bought by Yahoo, and as an Entrepreneur in Residence with Benchmark Capital, he is the perfect person to explain what it’s like being an entrepreneur today in Silicon Valley.

We have even more speakers for AsiaD we’ll be announcing in the coming weeks, so get ready for what’s next.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110809/more-asiad-speakers-sony-google-microsoft-hollywood-huawei-and-hot-sv-start-ups/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20110713/mac-alternatives-to-quicken/ http://allthingsd.com/20110713/mac-alternatives-to-quicken/#comments Thu, 14 Jul 2011 00:58:28 +0000 Walt Mossberg http://allthingsd.com/?p=97901 Q:

I have just been notified that Quicken 2007 for the Mac won’t run on Apple’s new Lion operating system. I don’t wish to use the new Quicken Essentials for Mac program, which has fewer features. What are the alternatives?

A:

There are other full-featured finance programs for the Mac, whose makers say they will work with Lion and can import your data from Quicken. Two better-known ones are iBank and Moneydance. I haven’t reviewed either yet, so I can’t say how they measure up. Another option is to install Windows on your Mac, or buy a cheap Windows PC, and run Quicken for Windows. Intuit, the maker of Quicken, says on its support site that, while the Windows version can import most data from the Mac versions, it cannot import investment history. Intuit says: “You will need to either re-download your investment transactions or manually enter them.”

Q:

How do I put my computer to sleep?

A:

If it’s a Windows 7 PC, click on the “Start” button at the far left of the task bar. In the menu that pops up, click on the arrow icon to the right of the search box (it may be next to a button labeled “Shut Down.”) Select “Sleep” from the list that pops up.

If it’s a Mac, click on the Apple icon at the far left of the top menu bar and select “Sleep.”

Q:

How can I utilize my Slingbox for watching TV on an iPad?

A:

There’s an app for that, but it costs $30 and only works with two Slingbox models, the Slingbox SOLO and Slingbox PRO-HD. The company has a discounted upgrade program for people with older models. Information is at slingbox.com/go/iPad.

Email mossberg@wsj.com.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110713/mac-alternatives-to-quicken/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20110622/google-unveils-a-laptop-with-its-brain-in-the-cloud/ http://allthingsd.com/20110622/google-unveils-a-laptop-with-its-brain-in-the-cloud/#comments Thu, 23 Jun 2011 01:05:02 +0000 Walter S. Mossberg http://allthingsd.com/?p=89903 Would you buy a laptop that comes with only one major program—a Web browser—and doesn’t allow you to install widely used software such as Microsoft Office, Apple’s iTunes, Adobe Reader, or, in fact, any other locally installed program?

Are you ready for a laptop that has almost no storage space to hold your personal files, photos and videos, and is designed around the idea that you’ll keep all that precious personal stuff on remote servers?

How about a laptop that can do almost nothing unless it has an active Internet connection; for instance, one that wouldn’t let you read and write email, or check your calendar, offline? Would you buy that?

Google is hoping you will. This month it introduced a line of just such radical machines, in partnership with two laptop makers, Samsung and Acer. They are called Chromebooks, after Google’s Chrome Web browser, which is the gateway for everything they do. And they are meant to challenge the two dominant computer platforms, Microsoft’s Windows and Apple’s Mac OS X.

These laptops are “cloud” computers—essentially full-screen Web browsers designed to do everything via the Internet. Instead of using traditional programs, you will rely on “Web apps” accessed through the browser—email programs, word processors or photo editors, for example.

Series 5 Chromebook by Samsung, one of Google’s partners on the new laptop.

I’ve been testing one of the Chromebooks, the Samsung Series 5, a handsome, relatively light machine with a 12-inch screen. It costs $430 for a Wi-Fi version and $500 for a model that also includes a built-in modem for cellular Internet connectivity, which requires a monthly fee if you exceed the modest amount of free data Google gives you.

My verdict is that, while the Chromebook is a bold idea that may be a harbinger of the future of computing, it’s too limited and buggy today to be the main computer relied upon by mainstream users. I can’t recommend it over a standard laptop, except perhaps as a secondary machine for techies or early adopters.

The Chromebook does have some advantages over Windows and Mac laptops. But Google concedes these traditional laptops can run all the same Web apps as a Chromebook, in addition to running local programs, storing all your files and operating offline. Even tablets, like Apple’s iPad and competitors based on Google’s Android operating system can run hundreds of thousands of locally installed apps and Web apps as well. And they can run offline and store files locally. The Chromebook offers only about 5,000 Web apps today. Plus, tablets weigh less than half the 3.3 pounds of the Samsung Series 5, and are much slimmer, though they have smaller screens and lack the Chromebook’s physical keyboard.

As for price, there are numerous Windows laptops that cost the same or less. You can buy a Toshiba Satellite with a 15-inch screen, three gigabytes of memory, and a 320 gigabyte hard disk for $400. And it’s powered by one of Intel’s latest and most powerful processors, while the Samsung Chromebook uses the wimpy Intel Atom processor, primarily found on inexpensive netbooks.

But Google is a smart, forward-looking company and there’s a logic to the Chromebook, which it sees as the first laptop designed for the Internet era. And it does have some attractive advantages over PCs and Macs:

• Cloud computing is here to stay and many people already rely daily on Internet-based software, like Web mail programs or streaming video services. So a cloud-centric computer isn’t a crazy idea. To help find useful Web-based apps, the Chromebook has a Web app store, similar to the app stores on tablets and smartphones. (The same store is built into the Chrome browser on PCs and Macs.)
• The Chromebook starts up almost instantly—in 10 to 15 seconds in my tests—much more quickly than most Windows machines. This is partly because it’s really just a big Web browser. In my tests, Apple’s MacBook Air started just about as quickly, but it costs twice as much.
• The Chromebook claims very long battery life—a whopping 8.5 hours for the model I tested. I didn’t do a formal battery test, but I was able to go for several days of intermittent use without charging it.
• Because all your apps, settings and files are stored in the cloud, if you lose your Chromebook, or wish to use someone else’s Chromebook, you can just log into your Google account and all your stuff will appear on the new machine.
• Google automatically updates the operating system, so you don’t have to deal with manual updates.
• Google claims that, because every app runs in a tab in the browser, and those tabs are walled off from the rest of the system, the Chromebook is much more secure than other computers and doesn’t require security software. The system even checks to see if it has been tampered with every time it starts.
• As for the offline problem, Google provides a small amount of memory to which you can save some files. You can insert a flash memory card or USB flash drive containing files. Some of these files, like images and PDFs, can be viewed offline in the browser, but not edited.

And the machine contains crude built-in music and video players, and a simple note-taking function, which work offline. Google says a handful of Web apps today work offline as well, and it is planning this summer to bring the same offline functionality to its own Gmail, Google Docs and calendar apps.

Top left, you can log into someone else’s Chromebook and find all your stuff there; while the keyboard is nice, the touch pad was clumsy to use.

But there are problems. For instance, I found watching a live baseball game to be a jerky, halting experience. Google blames this on the weak processor it’s using. And Netflix doesn’t work at all. Google says it’s working on this.

Also, while the keyboard is nice, and even includes special keys for switching between Web pages and browser windows, I found the touch pad on the Samsung to be imprecise and clumsy to use.

The Chromebook also crashed on me four times, mostly because of a “memory leak” problem Google says it will fix.

Printing, which only works over Google’s “cloud print” service and can’t be done via a cable, worked only some of the time for me.

And common files don’t automatically open in Web apps, though Google says it is also working on that.

It’s important to note that when you use a Chromebook you are trusting Google with the privacy and security of your data, and the company has run into occasional issues on both counts.

The bottom line: The best and most numerous programs are still designed for Windows and the Mac, and we still live in a world without ubiquitous, speedy, low-cost, unlimited wireless connectivity. So typical laptop users are better off with computers designed for the current hybrid world, where both robust offline and online functions are needed.

Find all of Walt Mossberg’s columns and videos at the All Things Digital website, walt.allthingsd.com. Write to him at mossberg@wsj.com.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110622/google-unveils-a-laptop-with-its-brain-in-the-cloud/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20110427/tmobile-gslate-tablet-review/ http://allthingsd.com/20110427/tmobile-gslate-tablet-review/#comments Thu, 28 Apr 2011 01:02:00 +0000 Walter S. Mossberg http://ptech.allthingsd.com/?p=1878 For the many companies designing tablets based on Google’s Android operating system to compete with Apple’s dominant iPad, there are twin challenges. The obvious one is to convince consumers to buy something other than the iPad 2. The less obvious one is to differentiate their products from all the other slates based on Android.

Last week, a new Android contender arrived in the U.S. market that aims to be different in three major ways. It’s the G-Slate, built by Korean electronics giant LG and sold by T-Mobile.

The G-Slate uses Google’s standard Honeycomb software—the version of Android especially created for tablets—and is the first Honeycomb tablet in the U.S. to offer 4G cellular data speeds and 3-D video creation and viewing. It sports a screen size—8.9 inches—that falls between the 10-inch dimension of the iPad and the Motorola Xoom, and the 7-inch dimension used by the Samsung Galaxy Tab and the Research in Motion PlayBook.

I’ve been testing the G-Slate, and in my view, it performs pretty well overall—about as well as the first Honeycomb tablet, the Xoom. But it isn’t nearly as good a choice as the iPad 2.

Of its three big differentiators, the only clear winner is the 4G cellular capability, which is much speedier than cellular data on the iPad, or on any other Honeycomb tablet I know of. The 3-D feature, which requires the use of 1950s-style colored glasses, seems like a parlor trick to me. And the in-between size, while potentially attractive for one-handed use, is undercut by the fact that, somehow, despite being smaller, the G-Slate is actually a bit heavier than the iPad 2, and a third thicker.

Then there is the price. One reason for the iPad juggernaut is that the base, Wi-Fi-only, 16-gigabyte model costs just $499.

The G-Slate uses twin rear cameras to create 3-D video.

If you buy the G-Slate without a phone contract, it costs $750. The comparable iPad 2, with the same 32 gigabytes of memory offered by the G-Slate, both Wi-Fi and cellular connectivity, plus its bigger screen, is $729.

The least you can pay for the G-Slate is $530. But that price requires a two-year cellular data contract at a minimum of $30 a month, which boosts the total cost to $1,250. And that’s after a $100 mail-in rebate. The iPad 2 isn’t sold with a contract and doesn’t require a mail-in rebate.

Another drawback to the G-Slate, and to all other Honeycomb tablets so far, is a paucity of tablet-optimized third-party apps. There are so few that a Google spokeswoman declined to even quote me a figure. Apple claims 65,000 tablet apps.

This isn’t to say the G-Slate has no pluses. I continue to believe that Honeycomb removes many of the rough edges and extra steps that characterize the phone versions of Android. The Honeycomb browser, unlike the iPad’s, has tabs, like a PC browser.

Also, unlike the iPad, the G-Slate can handle Flash video, though not in every case I tried. It comes with a free hot-spot feature, which allows it to create a Wi-Fi signal that can power other devices, like laptops.

Its front and rear cameras are much better for still photos than the iPad’s. It has stereo speakers, which the iPad 2 lacks, and another feature missing on Apple’s tablet—a built-in port, called HDMI, for connection to high-definition TVs.

And then there is that 4G speed. In my tests, with Wi-Fi turned off, the G-Slate averaged 5.79 megabits per second for downloads and 1.28 mbps for uploads. By comparison, an iPad 2 with Verizon 3G built in managed only about a fourth, or less, of those speeds over its cellular network.

The G-Slate generally performed smoothly and speedily in my tests, and handled well every app I tested. Video was smooth and vivid, though audio seemed a bit tinny and soft, despite the stereo speakers.

However, this tablet did crash on me once in five days, requiring me to use the hidden reset button. Another time, the audio control got stuck at 7% while playing a video and no sound was audible.

I like the idea of the 8.9-inch screen, which made one-handed operation easier than on a 10-inch tablet. But the G-Slate was clumsy to use in portrait mode because it is long and skinny. It’s about 20% narrower than the iPad 2, but is actually a tiny bit longer, making for an odd shape.

The G-Slate, which uses the Honeycomb version of Google’s Android operating system, generally performed smoothly and speedily.

T-Mobile and LG listed different, and inaccurate, weight specifications for the device on their websites and press materials. But when I pointed this out, T-Mobile responded with what it said was the accurate weight: 1.37 pounds. The heaviest iPad 2 is 1.35 pounds.

In my tablet battery test, where I play videos continuously with the wireless features turned on and the screen brightness at about 75%, the G-Slate lasted 7 hours and 39 minutes. That’s much less than the 10 hours and 9 minutes the iPad 2 delivered in the same test. T-Mobile claims 9 hours of continuous “mixed use” of various functions. I couldn’t replicate this vague type of test, but found that in light, intermittent, mixed use, the G-Slate lasted a couple of days between charges, though its screen was off much of that time.

And what about the 3-D feature, which is enabled by twin cameras on the back?

Well, it worked for me. But I had to use an included pair of glasses with one red and one blue lens to see these videos, and they made me a bit queasy.

Emailing the videos to a standard computer didn’t preserve the 3-D effect, even with the glasses on. T-Mobile says a 3-D TV can display the 3-D videos, but I wasn’t able to test this. Because of the glasses and the sharing limitations, I feel that this 3-D feature is mostly a marketing tool.

Bottom line: The G-Slate isn’t as good a tablet as the iPad 2. I’d only recommend it for people who want the higher cellular speeds, or who prefer Android.

Watch a video of Walt Mossberg on T-Mobile’s new G-Slate at WSJ.com/PersonalTech. Find all of his columns and videos at the All Things Digital website, walt.allthingsd.com. Email mossberg@wsj.com.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110427/tmobile-gslate-tablet-review/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20110420/picking-out-a-laptop-in-the-brave-new-world-of-tablets/ http://allthingsd.com/20110420/picking-out-a-laptop-in-the-brave-new-world-of-tablets/#comments Thu, 21 Apr 2011 01:02:19 +0000 Walter S. Mossberg http://ptech.allthingsd.com/?p=1868 It is too soon to replace my twice-yearly laptop buyer’s guides with tablet buyer’s guides, but some days it feels like I should. Much of the energy that companies once poured into laptop designs and advances seems to have been drained off into a massive race to create tablet computers.

Still, while tablets are important, they don’t fully replace laptops, at least not yet. There remains huge value in the portable, clamshell-shaped computer with a physical keyboard, lots of ports, plenty of storage and more horsepower than tablets offer. So, here is my annual spring laptop buyers’ guide, a basic cheat sheet to the most important factors in the shopping process.

While I’ve focused on laptops, much of this advice also applies to desktop computers, a fading species. As always, these tips are for average consumers doing the most common tasks. This advice doesn’t apply to businesses or to hard-core gamers or serious media producers.

Timing

The first thing to consider is that you may want to wait to replace your laptop. Apple’s iPad, and the tablets coming in its wake, have put the computer industry in reset mode. If you own a tablet, you are likely to rely on your laptop less often, extending its useful life. And if you don’t, you’ll probably find over the next year or two that more interesting choices will appear as companies try to bring tablet qualities to laptops and laptop features to tablets.

Some early inklings: Apple’s MacBook Air and the Windows-based Samsung Series 9 start almost instantly, like tablets, and use chips for file storage, like tablets do, instead of hard disks. Also, Apple will soon roll out a new Macintosh operating system, called Lion, that displays programs as if they were tablet apps, and it already has an iPad-like app store for the Mac. Microsoft is working on a version of Windows, likely to appear next year, that fuses tablet and PC concepts. This software will run on some current computers, but new hardware, more tailored to these systems, will be coming.

As for tablets, some companies are working on designs that go beyond the iPad template to somehow integrate physical keyboards and traditional ports. This would certainly blur the lines and make for new, intriguing choices if you wait.

Tablets vs. Laptops

Laptop shoppers now need to consider if a tablet will suffice—especially if they are looking for a highly portable, secondary machine, as I noted in my last guide. The new iPad 2, which still starts at $499, has at least twice the horsepower of the original model, and now boasts 65,000 tablet-optimized apps. It is gradually morphing into a productivity platform—able, for instance, to edit videos. And it has now been joined by similarly powerful competitors running a new tablet version of Google’s Android operating system and by the $499 PlayBook, the first tablet from Research in Motion, which boasts speedy hardware and a new operating system. Hewlett-Packard’s new tablet, based on Palm technology, is coming soon.

Tablets tend to beat small, low-cost laptops in weight, start-up speed and battery life. And they are competitive for lots of common tasks, such as Web browsing, email, social networking, and viewing or playing documents, photos, videos and music.

But laptops still win for intensive work like creating long documents, or doing anything that requires precision and benefits from a physical keyboard. They also are more compatible with printers and external disks.

If you can’t wait, or don’t want a tablet, you’ll find relatively little has changed in laptop-land in the past six months or so. Here’s a rundown of what you should look for in a laptop.

Windows vs. Mac

As always, capable Windows 7 laptops cost less and offer much more variety than Mac laptops. The latter start at $999, while a few basic, full-size Windows machines can be had for $300 and the decently equipped Windows models are in the $500-to-$800 range. And Apple refuses to make tiny netbooks, leaving that dwindling category to the Windows guys. But Apple laptops combine sleekness, durability and strong battery life with well-regarded customer service. Macs can run Windows, at extra cost, if you need to use a program that is Windows-only, and they come with better built-in software. Finally, Mac users generally needn’t worry about malicious software, since it’s nearly all designed to run on Windows.

Memory

I recommend 4 gigabytes of memory, or RAM, on a new Windows computer, though a Mac will perform well on 2 gigabytes, unless you’re designing complex graphics. A new Windows machine should be labeled “64-bit” for best performance.

Processors

The newest, and most advertised, chips in consumer laptops are Intel’s i3, i5, and i7 Core models. But a PC with chips from rival AMD, which usually cost less, or older Intel dual-core chips, will do fine for most users.

Graphics

Pay attention to this, even if you aren’t big into video or games. Many computers offload nongraphics tasks to potent graphics chips for speedier operation.

In general, less-expensive machines have wimpier graphics hardware, and costlier ones have more-powerful graphics. Some have both and can switch between the two as needed.

Hard Disks

A 320 gigabyte hard disk should be the minimum on most PCs, though 250 gigabytes are fine for many average users. Solid-state disks, which lack moving parts and use flash memory, are costlier but faster and use less power. However, they usually have less capacity. As more data are stored online, huge amounts of local storage will be less crucial.

Ports

Many PCs now come with a port called HDMI, which makes linking to a high-definition TV easy. There is a new, much faster USB port, called USB 3.0, but so far, few peripheral devices can use it. And Apple has introduced yet another high-speed connector that has little practical use so far, called Thunderbolt.

Again, with the industry in flux and tablets on the rise, if you can wait to buy a laptop, do so. But if you must take the plunge, don’t buy more laptop than you need.

Find Walt Mossberg’s columns and videos at the All Things Digital website, walt.allthingsd.com. Email him at mossberg@wsj.com.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110420/picking-out-a-laptop-in-the-brave-new-world-of-tablets/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20110413/rim-blackberry-playbook-review/ http://allthingsd.com/20110413/rim-blackberry-playbook-review/#comments Thu, 14 Apr 2011 01:04:03 +0000 Walter S. Mossberg http://ptech.allthingsd.com/?p=1865 Now entering the tablet wars: the BlackBerry PlayBook, a contender from Research In Motion, maker of the iconic smartphone.

Unlike most tablets aiming to take on the iPad juggernaut, the PlayBook, which I’ve been testing for five days, doesn’t run on Google’s Android operating system, nor does it run on RIM’s own aging phone software. It uses a new tablet OS that is handsome and quick, and looks different from Apple’s and Google’s. I enjoyed the user interface.

But that isn’t the biggest distinction between the PlayBook and the other tablets. This first edition of the PlayBook has no built-in cellular data connection and lacks such basic built-in apps as an email program, a contacts program, a calendar, a memo pad and even RIM’s popular BlackBerry Messenger chat system.

To get these features with your $500 PlayBook, you must use it with a nearby BlackBerry phone connected to it wirelessly over a short-range Bluetooth connection. Once this link is made, these critical applications pop up on the PlayBook’s screen, via a system called Bridge.

But these are essentially ghosts of the same apps on the phone. In my tests, I could use them from the tablet, where they looked nicer, and they did synchronize with the phone. But when I broke the connection, the apps became grayed-out and the data they held disappeared. It is all stored on the phone.

This odd system, aimed at pleasing security-concerned corporate customers, doesn’t work with other smartphones. So, in my view, even though Bridge is a neat technical feat, it makes the PlayBook a companion to a BlackBerry phone rather than a fully independent device. That may be fine for dedicated BlackBerry owners, but it isn’t so great for people with other phones. PlayBook owners with other phones must do things such as email and calendar tasks on the tablet using Web-based apps like Google’s or Yahoo’s via the PlayBook’s browser. All other phones can do is provide the PlayBook an Internet connection using their hot-spot features.

The PlayBook, which goes on sale April 19, will match the prices of the Wi-Fi versions of the Apple iPad, starting at $499 for a base model with 16 gigabytes of storage—albeit with a screen that, at 7 inches, offers less than half the surface area of the iPad’s.

RIM says it is planning to add built-in cellular data, email, contacts, calendar and the other missing core features to the PlayBook this summer, via software updates. But until then, I can’t recommend the PlayBook over a fully standalone tablet, except possibly for folks whose BlackBerrys never leave their sides.

There are other reasons for my hesitation. For one, unlike the iPad, which can run almost all of the 350,000 iPhone apps, the PlayBook can’t run any of the 27,000 BlackBerry apps. It will launch with only about 3,000 apps designed for tablets, compared with 65,000 tablet-optimized iPad apps.

RIM also plans to release this summer special players or emulators that will allow the PlayBook to run BlackBerry apps and even Android apps. But the latter, while numerous, will be apps designed for the smartphone versions of Android, not the newer tablet version. It’s too early to say how these apps will perform via the special player.

I got the strong impression RIM is scrambling to get the product to market, and that it will be adding other features already offered on competing devices for months, through software patches.

For instance, although the PlayBook has very nice front and rear cameras, it comes without video-chatting software. That will be added soon after launch, RIM says. The same goes for a video store, even though the screen renders videos beautifully and a built-in connector outputs gorgeous high-definition video to a TV over a cable.

The built-in Photos app offers no functions for sharing pictures, another feature the company is considering adding later. There is no one-touch icon for airplane mode. You can’t yet add Web bookmarks to the home screen, though some ship with the device.

Battery life also fell short in my tests. With the screen brightness at about 75% and Wi-Fi on, I played a movie I had transferred from a computer over and over until the juice ran out. The PlayBook lasted a bit over five hours, well short of the company’s claim of eight to 10 hours for mixed use. In mixed use, and on a second test of watching video with Wi-Fi off, I did better, over six hours, but well short of the 10 hours on the iPad 2. Plus, I ran into a few bugs, including a scenario where the memory ran out prematurely. This persisted after a major software update that was supposed to fix it. RIM is now blaming the bug on a single app, which it says will be fixed by launch.

The PlayBook’s user interface takes a clean and attractive approach.

So is there anything good about the PlayBook? Actually, yes. I really liked the user interface of the new operating system, which is based on software RIM bought called QNX. It’s smooth and fast, and makes excellent use of multitouch gestures. An area at the bottom of the screen holds the icons, which are divided into sections like “All,” “Media,” “Games” and “Favorites.” When you have multiple apps open, large images of them appear at the top of the screen, and you can scroll though them. It’s a very clean, attractive approach.

The browser, while sometimes slow to load, is highly capable, even on sites designed for a regular computer, and does the best job with Flash video and Flash sites I have ever seen on a tablet—far better than on any Android device I’ve tested. I couldn’t find a Flash video the PlayBook couldn’t handle, and it even breezed through a site written entirely in Flash, which other Flash-capable mobile devices couldn’t. The iPad, of course, can’t use Flash at all.

The hardware is sturdy and the back has a nice rubberized feel. While the PlayBook is 14% thicker than the iPad 2, it’s about one-third lighter. This lower weight, combined with its smaller overall size, will appeal to people who find the Apple product too large.

The screen is beautiful, even though it has a lower resolution than the iPad’s. And the cameras are better than the iPad’s.

Still, unless you are constantly glued to a BlackBerry phone, or do all your email, contacts and calendar tasks via a browser, I recommend waiting on the PlayBook until more independently usable versions with the promised additions are available.

Find all of Walt Mossberg’s columns and videos at walt.allthingsd.com. Email him at mossberg@wsj.com.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110413/rim-blackberry-playbook-review/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20110406/samsungs-series-9-makes-a-statement/ http://allthingsd.com/20110406/samsungs-series-9-makes-a-statement/#comments Thu, 07 Apr 2011 01:02:43 +0000 Walter S. Mossberg http://ptech.allthingsd.com/?p=1856 I am writing these words on an extremely thin and stylish, but very light, laptop made of metal. Despite its slender body, it has a full-size screen and keyboard, good performance and claims strong battery life. Like a tablet, it uses solid-sate memory instead of a hard disk and wakes up almost instantly, ready to resume work when you open the lid, even if it has been idle for days.

You might assume I’m using one of Apple’s alluring MacBook Air machines, introduced in 2008 and revamped last October. But you’d be wrong. Instead, I’m using the first real Windows-based competitor to the Air. It’s the new Samsung Series 9, a gorgeous black machine with a super-bright, vivid 13-inch screen.

I’ve been testing the Series 9, and my verdict is that it is a solid, beautiful, speedy laptop that provides Windows users a good alternative to the MacBook Air. It bests the Air in some respects and trails it in others, but overall, I found the Series 9 satisfying to use.

Prospective buyers of the Series 9, however, should prepare to pay a lot—more than what even premium-priced Apple charges for the Air. And, based on my tests, I suspect they will see noticeably less battery life than Samsung claims, and significantly less than on the comparable MacBook Air.

Samsung officials consider the Series 9 a premium “halo product,” the kind of item a company produces when it wants to make a statement about the work it can turn out. Though Samsung is a giant company, it hasn’t been selling computers in the U.S. for long and it sees the Series 9 as a way of drawing attention to its brand in PCs.

The Samsung Series 9 laptop

In my experience with the Series 9, it did very well. I tested the consumer model, which runs Windows 7 Home Premium. It handled everything I threw at it with aplomb, and never crashed. I was able to simultaneously run Microsoft Word, Mozilla Firefox, Windows Live Mail, Adobe Reader, the TweetDeck Twitter reader and Apple’s iTunes with no problem. High-definition videos looked great.

The comparison with the MacBook Air, also a halo-type laptop, is inescapable. Unlike most Windows laptops, but like the Apple, the new Samsung has a large touch pad with no buttons—the entire pad is a button. Unlike most Windows laptops, but like Apple’s machines, it uses a sealed battery that isn’t designed to be replaced by the user. And, like the MacBook Air, it omits a built-in networking port, requiring you to plug in an adaptor to connect to a wired network. Neither machine includes a DVD drive.

The two laptops are about the same size and weight. The Samsung is a tad longer and narrower, and is two hundredths of a pound lighter. The Series 9 is a bit thinner by one measure. It’s 0.64 inch at its thickest point, versus 0.68 inch thick for the 13-inch MacBook Air at its thickest point. The more-severely tapered Apple is thinner at its thinnest point.

The price difference is larger. The consumer model of the Series 9, with the same base 128 gigabytes of solid-state storage as the entry-level 13-inch MacBook Air, costs $1,649, which is $350 more than the base Air. An 11-inch model of the Series 9 is due soon at $1,199, or $200 more than Apple’s base 11-inch Air.

One reason for the price gap is that the Series 9 has some newer or better components than the MacBook Air does. It is powered by Intel’s latest processor, while the Air uses the prior Intel chip. One of its two USB ports is a new version capable of higher transfer speeds. Its keyboard is backlit, unlike the latest Air’s. It has four gigabytes of memory versus two gigabytes on the Apple. It boasts a screen whose maximum brightness is a third higher than the Mac’s. And the screen is matte, not glossy, so it reflects light less.

But better specs don’t always translate into a better experience. For instance, in my tests, I found that the Mac was typically ready to work a couple of seconds faster than the Samsung and that, while the Samsung booted up and rebooted very quickly for a Windows PC, the Mac started and restarted in about half the time.

But the biggest difference, in my experience, was battery life. Both companies claim their competing laptops can get up to seven hours of use between charges. But my tests suggest that Samsung falls well short of that claim, while Apple meets or exceeds it.

In my longstanding battery test, I shut down all the power-saving features, turn up the screen all the way, leave on the Wi-Fi to collect email in the background and play an endlessly repeating loop of music until the computer runs out of juice. The Samsung Series 9 lasted just under four hours on that test, suggesting in normal use, with power-saving on, you’d likely get five hours or maybe 5.5 hours. By contrast, on the same test last fall, the 13-inch MacBook Air lasted over six hours—more than two hours longer. I estimated that, in normal use, you’d likely meet, or beat, Apple’s seven-hour claim.

Samsung explains the difference by noting that its screen is brighter, and takes more power to run. In fact, when turned up all the way, the Series 9 screen is brighter than the Air’s or any other laptop screen I can recall. But the Air’s screen, though the same size, has a much higher resolution, so you can see a lot more material without scrolling.

There were a couple of other things about the Series 9 that I found lacking. Instead of a slot for a standard SD camera card, it only has a slot for a smaller micro-SD card. There is no outside light to tell you the status of the battery.

But, all in all, this is a beautiful, capable laptop, as long you can live with its high price and mediocre battery life.

Find Walt Mossberg’s columns and videos at the All Things Digital website. Email mossberg@wsj.com.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110406/samsungs-series-9-makes-a-statement/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20110330/dont-rain-on-microsofts-ad-parade-except-its-raining-in-seattle-natch/ http://allthingsd.com/20110330/dont-rain-on-microsofts-ad-parade-except-its-raining-in-seattle-natch/#comments Wed, 30 Mar 2011 20:10:47 +0000 Kara Swisher http://kara.allthingsd.com/?p=42138

BoomTown scrambled the All Things Digital jet (aka, United Airlines, Seat 7A) late last night to get up to Microsoft’s big event for its online advertising clients today.

Called “Imagine 2011: Marketing Leadership Summit” and held at its Redmond, Wa. HQ, the two-day gathering is designed to wow peeps by trotting out a spate of strategery concepts those who buy advertising on Microsoft’s various digital offerings from its Bing search service to MSN to Xbox to Windows Phone 7.

Some program topics: “Elsewhere USA,” “Teens Hanging Out, Messing Around, and Geeking Out” and “Audience Buying Goes Real-Time: True or False?”

Presumably the goal of all this heavy-duty thinkery is to get these marketers to buy more ads from Microsoft by warning them about being left behind on the platform as the train chugs inevitably off to the digital future.

And just in case that doesn’t work, there will be a free concert tonight featuring the hipster band Train for the Imagine 2011 attendees at Microsoft Co-founder Paul Allen’s Experience Music Project venue to open those ad wallets.

Hey, Geek Mister: Stop sending all those digital marketing bucks to Google and Facebook and give them to us!

Before a panoply of various social, design and anthropology experts pontificated, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer kicked off the day with his patented loud and lovable Ed McMahon act, complete with the booming catchphrases.

Hey-Yo!

“You have to move forward or die!” (About the Web.)

“If you wanna get big, you have to think big!” (About the Windows 7 Phone smartphone deal with Nokia.)

I love the U.S. government, I don’t want to give it a hard time.” (About its crappy Web site, not the antitrust conviction thing.)

Ballmer outlined some key trends, which are not new to anyone paying attention over the last five years: Location; social; pervasive displays; ubiquitous connectivity; computers everywhere; cloud; data; and natural user interaction

He also joked about how there were 10 fake Steve Ballmers on Facebook, all using Steve Ballmer photos. Imagine that!

You’d think Microsoft’s badillion-dollar investment in the social networking site would get you a verified account!

Status: Monkey boy mad!

Actually, pissed off is more related to the fact that the person who conceived and organized the Imagine 2011 event was former global ad sales head Carolyn Everson.

But, she left the company in mid-February after only six months, for essentially the same job at Microsoft partner Facebook.

Since then Microsoft and Facebook have been wrangling over the talent raid, including Microsoft even considering legal action to block the move.

Nonetheless, the show must go on and it did in a pretty classy way.

But not without another road bump in today’s action–the news that Microsoft’s own marketing head, longtime company veteran Mich Mathews, was leaving the software giant later this year.

The departure had the halls buzzing about what happened and who will be taking over the big job with a $1 billion marketing budget.

Maybe some external CMO sitting right there in the audience or perhaps some internal Microsoft candidate such as Yusuf Mehdi or Capossela?

I suppose it’s time for some strategery stat!

Until it is all figured out, here is the music video for Train’s hit song, “Hey, Soul Sister”:

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110330/dont-rain-on-microsofts-ad-parade-except-its-raining-in-seattle-natch/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20110324/harmless-looking-usb-cable-could-be-used-as-attack-method-researchers-say/ http://allthingsd.com/20110324/harmless-looking-usb-cable-could-be-used-as-attack-method-researchers-say/#comments Thu, 24 Mar 2011 16:00:51 +0000 Ina Fried http://mobilized.allthingsd.com/?p=5503 An innocent-looking USB cable could actually be a tool for a hacker to take control of a mobile device, at least in theory.

That’s the essence of a new report from researchers at George Mason University.

George Mason professor Angelos Stavrou and some colleagues used an Android smartphone to launch a covert attack, but Stavrou said that any smartphone could be vulnerable when synchronizing to a computer or even just plugged into a charger. Once a cable is compromised, Stavrou said, it can attempt to act as an input device. Like a mouse or keyboard, it can then send signals to take control of a connected computer or phone.

The attack vector is especially pernicious because users aren’t even thinking they might be vulnerable.

“The typical user inherently trusts the connection when hooking up devices using a USB cable because they think they know what it is supposed to do, and they own the two connecting devices,” says Stavrou in a blog post. “Attacks through USB cables haven’t been seen before, so there are no defenses in place to prevent or even detect them.”

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110324/harmless-looking-usb-cable-could-be-used-as-attack-method-researchers-say/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20110323/verizons-thunderbolt-moves-like-lightning/ http://allthingsd.com/20110323/verizons-thunderbolt-moves-like-lightning/#comments Thu, 24 Mar 2011 01:19:14 +0000 Walter S. Mossberg http://ptech.allthingsd.com/?p=1831 Amid all the mergers and maneuvering of U.S. wireless carriers, they continue a steady rollout of faster cellular-data networks, dubbed “4G,” for fourth generation. While the companies all use that term for marketing, the actual technologies they’ve adopted to deliver 4G differ, and so does the performance.

Last week, Verizon Wireless, which is deploying a flavor of 4G called LTE, or Long Term Evolution, started selling its first phone compatible with this new, speedier network: the $250 ThunderBolt. Previously, its only LTE devices were data modems for laptops. Its other phones, including its much-touted Droids and iPhone, can only use slower 3G networks.

I have been trying out the ThunderBolt and I have found it to be a speed demon. Simply put, when used on Verizon’s LTE network—which isn’t yet available everywhere—the ThunderBolt delivered by far the fastest cellular data speeds I have ever experienced on a wireless phone. In my tests, it blew away not only common 3G phone speeds, but the 4G speeds offered by rival carriers. In fact, it was faster than many home land-line Internet connections.

In dozens of cellular-data tests I conducted in two metro areas—Washington and Orlando, FL—the ThunderBolt averaged 12.6 megabits per second when downloading data and 4.7 Mbps when uploading data. That is about eight times as fast as a Verizon 3G phone I tested in the same locations, and faster than many public Wi-Fi connections. Cellular-data speeds can differ due to factors such as location and time of day, so your experience with the ThunderBolt might vary. However, based on my tests, and assuming future Verizon LTE phones perform as well, I’d have to say Verizon is firmly ahead in the race for the fastest 4G network.

Of course, its competitors aren’t standing still. Sprint was first with 4G and continues to expand its network and add devices. T-Mobile, which agreed to be acquired by AT&T, has a rapidly growing 4G network, though it really is based on a souped-up version of 3G. AT&T has lagged behind, but it claims it will step up its 4G rollout this year.

Verizon’s ThunderBolt

I compared the ThunderBolt to recent phones running on each of the other carriers’ 4G networks, and none could touch the speeds of the Verizon device. In multiple tests in a spot in the D.C. suburbs where all the carriers offer 4G service, Sprint’s EVO Shift 4G and AT&T’s Inspire 4G had an average of just over 2 Mbps in download speed, and much less than 1 Mbps in upload speed. T-Mobile’s myTouch 4G did much better, logging 5.52 Mbps downstream and 1.77 Mbps upstream. But even that was less than half the speed of the ThunderBolt.

Sprint and AT&T attributed their poor performance in my tests to my location. But even Sprint’s maximum claims for average performance don’t match what my Verizon tests yielded. (AT&T doesn’t offer such claims.)

You pay a price: The ThunderBolt is 25 percent more up front than most rival smartphones, which tend to sell for $200. Its battery life, while much better than some other early 4G phones I’ve tested, isn’t as good as on some 3G phones. And, the ThunderBolt is a relatively heavy and bulky device.

Verizon hasn’t jacked up the monthly data fees, continuing to offer the same unlimited $30 monthly data plan for this 4G phone that it does for, say, its pokier 3G iPhone. It is also giving away—through May 15—one extra-cost feature: the ability to use the phone as a Wi-Fi hotspot to power laptops and other devices. This feature has cost $20 a month on 3G phones. Verizon wouldn’t say the cost for ThunderBolt.

The ThunderBolt is built by HTC of Taiwan, and runs on Google’s Android operating system. HTC concedes that, beyond LTE, this phone doesn’t offer any significant hardware or software features that can’t be found on some of the company’s other models. It has a 4.3-inch screen, front and rear cameras, 8 gigabytes of internal memory and a 32GB removable memory card.

Battery life has been a concern on some 4G phones. The HTC EVO, which was Sprint’s first 4G phone, drained its battery quickly while using the faster network. In my tests, the ThunderBolt’s battery lasted about seven hours in mixed, typical use on 4G, which is fair, but not great.

Voice calls on the ThunderBolt were generally good, and it didn’t drop any calls in my tests. That may be because Verizon is still routing its voice traffic through its older networks, which have been very reliable. The LTE network is for data only. This distinction is invisible to the user.

I also tested it as a Wi-Fi hotspot and got download speeds on my laptop of 7 to 10 Mbps and upload speeds of 2 to 3 Mbps. But the hotspot signal occasionally dropped out. I also saw repeated crashes of an Android app I couldn’t identify, though the phone kept working.

The Verizon 4G network currently is available in around 40 metro areas. If you don’t live in an area covered by Verizon LTE, the ThunderBolt will still work on the carrier’s 3G network. You can see if you’re covered by checking this Web page. Verizon is promising to extend LTE to another 140 markets this year. It has announced plans for several more LTE phones and LTE tablets and laptops.

Bottom line: If you live in a Verizon LTE city and you want the fastest possible cellular-data speeds in a phone, the ThunderBolt is the answer.

Come see Walt Mossberg at New York’s Carnegie Hall at the JapanNYC festival, in a conversation with Sony Chairman Howard Stringer about where consumer technology is headed and the fallout from the earthquake. Friday, April 1 at 6:30 p.m. For tickets, call (212) 247-7800 or go to carnegiehall.org. Find all Walt’s columns and videos at the All Things Digital website, walt.allthingsd.com. Email him at mossberg@wsj.com.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110323/verizons-thunderbolt-moves-like-lightning/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20110316/in-and-out-of-office-putting-ipads-to-work/ http://allthingsd.com/20110316/in-and-out-of-office-putting-ipads-to-work/#comments Thu, 17 Mar 2011 01:13:10 +0000 Walter S. Mossberg http://ptech.allthingsd.com/?p=1826 While it can perform many of the functions of a PC or Mac, Apple’s iPad— including the new iPad 2—lacks two of the most common and frequently used features of a traditional computer. It has no standard USB port for connecting a flash drive or external hard disk, so you can’t move files into and out of it from these devices. And it doesn’t have a systemwide, user-accessible file system like those on traditional computers.

These omissions have led many readers to ask me how you get files—especially Microsoft Office files and PDFs—into and out of iPads. They have bolstered the contention that the popular tablet is really just a “consumption device,” not a productivity tool.

So, here’s a brief primer on how to get such documents into and out of an iPad, and how to view, edit and create them on the tablet. This isn’t an in-depth product review, though I’ve tested every product and method I will mention here. It’s merely a quick, practical guide to how to work with documents on an iPad.

Three faces of creating iPad documents: From left, Keynote, Pages and Numbers apps running on an iPad 2

Before we start, let me mention some caveats. First, to get the most out of documents on the iPad, you have to download add-on apps. Second, while many of these apps can store and organize files, those file systems are silos within the apps. Third, these apps often lack full fidelity with Office on a PC or Mac, especially for complex documents. Fonts and layouts may be changed, and none of the apps I tested was able to display revision histories in Office documents.

Finally, unless you buy an add-on keyboard, typing on an iPad isn’t as easy for many people as on a regular computer. For instance, I wouldn’t want to type a 30-page legal brief on an iPad. But you can use an iPad with Office documents and PDFs.

Creating and Editing Files

Microsoft hasn’t built a version of Microsoft Office for the iPad. But several companies make office suites for the tablet that aim to emulate Office by allowing you to create and export Office-compatible documents, and to import and edit documents created in Office on PCs and Macs.

The three most notable of these are Quickoffice Connect, which costs $15; Documents To Go, which comes in two versions costing $10 and $17; and Apple’s Pages, Numbers and Keynote, which cost $10 each.

All of these apps are more limited than Office on a PC, but I have found they worked pretty well. All have their own internal file-storage system, and each can be connected to cloud-based services, or can open email attachments or receive wired file transfers from iTunes.

Wired File Transfers

When you plug an iPad into one of the recent versions of Apple’s iTunes program on your computer, and select the iPad icon in the left column, a section appears at the bottom of the Apps tab that is called File Sharing. This module lists all the apps on your iPad that can handle various kinds of documents, and shows you what files they contain. You can then add files from your computer to one of the listed apps, or save the files to your computer, using buttons labeled Add or “Save to….” Even veteran iTunes users may not know about this feature, because Apple hasn’t publicized it much, and you have to scroll down in iTunes to see it.

Viewing Email Attachments

Out of the box, the iPad allows you to view a wide variety of documents attached to emails. If somebody emails you a Microsoft Office file, a PDF file, or other common types of files, you get an icon in the email, and, if you tap and hold your finger on the icon, a pop-up menu appears that allows you to view it in full-screen mode, a function called Quick Look. Just this week, I used this method to review and catch an error in a Microsoft Word document I received from a colleague while riding in a New York taxi with an iPad.

If you have an app like Quickoffice installed that allows saving or organizing documents, or editing them, the email pop-up menu becomes even more useful. In addition to the Quick Look option, it gives you an “Open In…” option that lets you move the document to an app of your choice, where you can store it permanently, or even edit it, if the app allows for that. This “Open In…” option also appears in various apps other than email, so you can move documents from one app to another.

Wireless File Transfers

There are some iPad apps available that allow you to move documents wirelessly if your computer and iPad are on the same Wi-Fi network. One that I have used successfully is called Air Sharing and costs $2.99. It mounts your iPad on your computer as if it were an external drive, and allows you to drag files between your computer and iPad.

Cloud-Based File Transfers

If you back up your PC or Mac files to a cloud-based remote service, like SugarSync, Dropbox, or Apple’s own iDisk, many of these services provide iPad apps that allow you to fetch the files to your iPad, or, in some cases, upload files from your iPad to these services. These apps typically allow you only to view or perhaps store the files on the iPad, but some include the “Open in…” feature to let you move the file to another app where you can edit it.

Sophisticated File Viewers

Some apps for the iPad let you store large numbers of different types of files, view them and even annotate them. My favorite, GoodReader, is a $4.99 app that handles all the Microsoft Office file types, plus PDFs and more.

GoodReader even lets you type notes on, or draw on, PDFs, and then save and email the annotated version. It also allows you to organize files into folders and rename them. And it lets you retrieve files from cloud-based services, without having to switch to a separate app provided by those services. Among the cloud services it supports are Google Docs, Dropbox, SugarSync and iDisk.

Bottom Line

It’s perfectly fair to criticize Apple for leaving out a USB port and a shared file system. The company is reputed to be working on a cloud-based file sharing system that may alleviate these omissions. But, even today, you can work with common file types on an iPad, if you know how.

Watch a video with Walt Mossberg on transferring files to an iPad at WSJ.com/PersonalTech. Find all of his columns and videos at the All Things Digital website, walt.allthingsd.com.

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