10 posts and columns on disk

Apple Reaching for the Cloud With MacBook Air and N.C. Data Center

in News on October 23, 2010 at 3:30 am PT

Steve Jobs says the MacBook Air is the future of the MacBook and the future of the notebook as well. But if that’s to be the case, the machine–and Apple’s ecosystem–needs to evolve a bit more to appeal to that strata of user tethered to the high-capacity hard drives that the Air has summarily dispatched.

Sharing E-Books and a Clean Sweep

in Mossberg’s Mailbox on March 17, 2010 at 12:54 pm PT

Walt answers readers’ questions on e-readers that share books and restoring a computer to its original “virgin” status.

Windows 7 Upgrades and Screen Readability

in Mossberg’s Mailbox on October 21, 2009 at 2:42 pm PT

Walt answers readers’ questions about Windows 7 upgrades and enhancing screen readability.

Dear Tim: Here's a Tour of the It-Takes-a-Licking-but-Keeps-on-Ticking AOL Brand

in News on July 28, 2009 at 12:02 am PT

What’s next for AOL? Reviving the “You’ve Got Mail!” motto? Or: “The Future. Now Available.”–set to music from “The Jetsons”? What about: “So easy to use, no wonder it’s #1!” Or maybe, it should just use a nice loooooooong busy signal as its calling card again? Well, it could happen, now that new CEO Tim Armstrong has fallen prey to the siren call of the AOL brand name, after years of seeing the company wander in the anything-but-the-AOL wilderness. Thus, he’s decided to try to welcome the prodigal brand back home, even as he prepares to spin it off in November from Time Warner. Uh-oh.
youve-got-mailjpg

Navigating Microsoft Office

in Mossberg’s Mailbox on October 1, 2008 at 6:45 pm PT

Here are a few questions I’ve received recently from people like you, and my answers. I have edited and restated the questions a bit, for readability. In the new version of Microsoft Office, I cannot find a “favorites” capability in the Open dialog box. In my older version, when I began to open a document, [...]

Seagate, Dept. of Hard-Drive Health Services, Announce SSD Awareness Program

in News on April 15, 2008 at 3:09 am PT

Hard-drive maker Seagate Technology has finally settled on a strategy for competing with its solid-state drive rivals. It will enter the SSD market this year. And to prepare the market for its arrival, it’s suing an SSD pioneer for patent infringement. Yesterday, Seagate (STX) filed a lawsuit in federal court accusing STEC Inc. (STEC), an [...]

1,000 Songs in Your Pocket Fert and Grünberg Changed Everything

in News on October 9, 2007 at 10:31 am PT

Apple once said of its first iPod that “1,000 songs in your pocket changed everything.” And while that may be true, it wouldn’t have changed much without the pioneering work of Albert Fert and Peter Grünberg, who discovered GMR (giant magnetoresistance), a nanotechnology that makes it possible to read data that is densely packed onto [...]

Rumor: Apple Developing 'Atkins Approved' MacBook

in News on September 21, 2007 at 9:09 am PT

Apple gave us a “fat” Nano. Who’s to say it won’t give us that long-rumored “thin” MacBook as well? Macworld San Francisco is still quite a ways off, but the Mac rumor mill is gearing up already. 9to5Mac, which correctly predicted the recent iPod Nano redesign, says Apple may be prepping a new, slimmer line [...]

Rumor: Apple Developing ‘Atkins Approved’ MacBook

in News on September 21, 2007 at 9:09 am PT

Apple gave us a “fat” Nano. Who’s to say it won’t give us that long-rumored “thin” MacBook as well? Macworld San Francisco is still quite a ways off, but the Mac rumor mill is gearing up already. 9to5Mac, which correctly predicted the recent iPod Nano redesign, says Apple may be prepping a new, slimmer line [...]

Seagate: Reports of My Sale to the Chinese Have Been Greatly Exaggerated

in News on August 28, 2007 at 11:16 am PT

U.S. officials fretting over the potential national-security risks that might accompany the foreign acquisition of disk-drive maker Seagate Technology can rest easy. The company’s not for sale. Three days after the New York Times reported that an unnamed Chinese technology company was intent on acquiring Seagate, the hard-drive maker said that wasn’t really the case. [...]