AllThingsD » netbook

In Memoriam: Tech Products We Lost Too Soon

Lauren Goode — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 17:30:54 +0000

The year is nearing its end, and while 2012 is expected to be increasingly cloud-y, voice-controlled and filled with more mobile madness, this seems like an appropriate moment to look back and remember those that have gone to the tech-product graveyard in 2011.

The Flip Camera
San Jose, Calif. — The Cisco Flip, a beloved handheld video recorder, was killed on April 12, 2011. Its untimely death was a result of the realignment of Cisco’s consumer electronics business.

Born in May 2006 as the Pure Digital Point & Shoot, the pocket camera went through many evolutions in its lifetime, later becoming the Flip Ultra and spawning the Flip Mino and Flip MinoHD. It found a new home in 2009, when it was acquired by Cisco for $590 million. The Flip was known as the life of the party at birthday and wedding celebrations, and will be remembered for its simplistic design and pop-out USB arm. “People literally flipped for the Flip when it first came out,” a friend of its parents, Pure Digital, said. It is survived by a number of boiled-down point-and-shoots and countless smartphone cameras, as well as video-sharing apps with annoyingly cute names like “Viddy.”

Its distant cousin, the Kodak Zi8, also went missing from the Kodak store earlier this year.

Guitar Hero
Santa Monica, Calif. — For Guitar Hero, Feb. 9, 2011, was the day the music died. The videogame franchise was killed when Activision announced during its fourth-quarter earnings call that it was shuttering the business unit dedicated to Guitar Hero.

The popular game was born in 2005 to Red Octane and Harmonix, and was distributed by Activision. Later iterations of Guitar Hero, which were developed by Neversoft, had band-specific titles and also incorporated more instrumental props, so fans could play drums or sing as well as play guitar.

But Guitar Hero sales fell off, and the game was eventually overshadowed by its record-breaking Activision siblings, the Call of Duty and World of Warcraft series. Revenues of Guitar Hero fell from $1.7 billion in 2008 to about $300 million in 2010.

Guitar Hero will be remembered for its love of music, with Aerosmith, Metallica and Van Halen among its favorite artists, and for creating living-room rock arenas for millions of users.

Guitar Hero is survived by Rock Band, Rocksmith, Rock Revolution and likely many other console and mobile games starting with “Rock” that we’re not aware of or haven’t been invented yet.

HP TouchPad
Palo Alto, Calif. — That flame which doth burn brightest often burns out quickly, or something like that.

The HP TouchPad was effectively killed on Aug. 18, 2011, at the young age of just 49 (that’s days). Prior to its demise, the TouchPad was praised for its bright 9.7-inch display, Beats audio and mostly for the fact that it ran HP’s intuitive webOS mobile operating system, though the tablet ultimately saw disappointing sales during its short life.

Hewlett-Packard, its maker, said webOS devices had not gained enough traction in the marketplace with consumers, and couldn’t justify continuing to produce hardware like the TouchPad around it.

HP’s new CEO, Meg Whitman, said later on, “I think we’ve got to walk before we run here.” The TouchPad is survived by a newly open source webOS system and a cult of rabid fans, as evidenced by its post-mortem fire sales. It joins the Microsoft Kin phone in a special Afterlife for Tech Products Less Than 50 Days Old, while its operating system remains in a state of purgatory.

Dell Streak Tablets and Mini 10 Netbook
Round Rock, Texas — The streak was not a long one.

Dell’s Streak 5 tablet, which was originally demoed at D8 in 2010, disappeared from store shelves in mid-August of this year. Dell hardly had time to recover from the loss before its sibling, the Dell Streak 7, was also discontinued.

Shortly after the loss of the Streak tablet, tragedy again struck the Dell family, when Dell confirmed it would no longer make consumer netbooks, feeling the pressure of tablets as well as an emerging shift toward thin, light “ultrabooks” in the laptop category. The Dell Mini 10 was known for being small, as netbooks are, and for being that laptop you knew you could always fit on the seatback tray on an airplane.

Apple MobileMe
Cupertino, Calif. — June 6, 2011, was Steve Jobs’s last appearance at an Apple Worldwide Developers Conference. It was also the day MobileMe effectively went away, with Jobs saying the $99 dollar service wasn’t Apple’s “finest hour.”

MobileMe launched at WWDC in July of 2008, and was meant to sync calendars, emails, bookmarks and photo galleries. For individual accounts, it came with 20 gigabytes of online storage and 200GB of monthly data transfer.

While great in theory, our friend MobileMe was not without flaws. In fact, AllThingsD’s Walt Mossberg said, in his review of the service, that MobileMe was “far too flawed to be reliable.”

Apple’s Internet-based sync services since 2000 have evolved, but have never truly gone away: Like an actual ghost, we know they’re there, and we see glimpses of how they work, but they still elude many people. MobileMe, in its earliest form, was iTools, and later on, the subscription service .Mac. Even now, we’re not entirely sure whether MobileMe was killed or simply reincarnated as something new — in this case, iCloud.

Adobe Flash on Mobile
San Jose, Calif. — This is the way mobile Flash ends: Not with a bang, but a whimper.

On Nov. 9, Adobe said it would no longer be developing Flash, its platform for interactive and rich media content, for mobile devices.

Macromedia Flash was born in 1997, the spawn of FutureWave’s FutureSplash Animator. Macromedia was acquired by Adobe Systems in 2005, thus becoming Adobe Flash.
As smartphone and tablet wars heated up in recent years, Flash support became one of the features that iPad competitors — mainly Google Android devices — touted to set themselves apart from Apple’s mobile products.

The tech world has contemplated what this could all mean for the future of Flash. As AllThingsD’s Ina Fried wrote, Flash’s death on mobile was seen as a vindication for the late Steve Jobs, who took a controversial stand by not supporting Flash on Apple’s mobile products. Could Jobs once again have seen the future? Flash is not a completely dead standard yet, but with developers increasingly adopting HTML5 as the new standard for Web language, it’s unclear what exactly will become of Flash.

Google Buzz
Mountain View, Calif. — A standard housecleaning session turned fatal this past October when Google pulled the plug on its social networking effort. Google Buzz, the predecessor to Google+, aimed to create a social network through Gmail.

Social and gregarious by nature, Google Buzz was born in February of 2010. Its early life was filled with strife, as users struggled to grasp the real-time social interactions that were occurring within email chains, and real privacy concerns emerged.

Despite its short life span, the memory of Google Buzz surely remains, as the search giant eventually had to settle with the FTC over privacy violations and is now committed to 20 years of privacy audits.

Memories, indeed.

Google Buzz is survived by Google+, and follows Friendster and Myspace to the social graveyard, although technically those still exist.

Readers, what do you think was the greatest tech product loss in 2011?

Solid Keyboard Elevates This Tablet, Though Software Lags

Walter S. Mossberg — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 02:03:52 +0000

One of the biggest things that deters people from relying on tablets is the lack of a convenient physical keyboard. Now, Taiwan-based Asus is attacking this issue with a new Android-based tablet and accompanying keyboard dock, due on store shelves in the U.S. on Dec. 15.

[ See post to watch video ]

This 10-inch tablet, called the Eee Pad Transformer Prime, starts at $499, the same price as the market leader, Apple’s iPad 2. But it has twice the memory—32 gigabytes—at that price. The keyboard dock, with an additional battery and added ports, is an optional extra for $149.

The new Asus has another notable feature: It is the first tablet to use a new processor from chip maker Nvidia that has four cores, double what other recent tablets use.

Asus and Nvidia, which developed the product jointly, claim this processor, called the Tegra 3, offers more power when it’s needed, and the flexibility to sip less power when it’s not, for overall better performance and battery life. I expect this same chip to show up in other tablets in coming months.

I’ve been testing the Transformer Prime, and I found it to be the best standard Android tablet I’ve used. In my tests, the Prime had snappy performance, and decent battery life, though less than the iPad’s (more on that later). It is a tad lighter and thinner than the iPad 2 and has a sharp, pleasant screen.

The Transformer Prime tablet starts at $499. Keyboard dock is an extra $149.

Plus, when the tablet is coupled with the keyboard dock, by nestling it into a hinge, it becomes the screen of what is essentially an Android netbook. When docked, the tablet even folds down over the keyboard like a lid. I found typing on the keyboard to be easy and accurate.

However, as with all other tablets based on Google’s Android platform, its weak point is software. The tablet-oriented Honeycomb version of Android on the Prime isn’t as slick or smooth as the iPad’s operating system, though the Prime’s potent processor makes it more fluid than is typical on such Android devices. And Google’s Android Market offers only a small number of tablet-optimized apps, compared with 140,000 for the iPad.

The Transformer Prime

In addition, the Prime lacks access to a large, unified ecosystem of music, videos and books, unlike the Apple or Amazon’s Kindle Fire. It does offer Google’s new music store, and a movie-rental service. But, when I tried to rent two movies, neither would play.

The Prime will gain a fresh version of the Android operating system, called Ice Cream Sandwich, early next year, according to Asus. The company says early buyers of the Prime will be able to upgrade for free.

Fans of the iPad will point out that it, too, can work with optional physical keyboards. But Apple doesn’t make one that couples with the iPad 2 the way the Asus docking station mates with its tablet, and the extra battery in the Prime’s keyboard dock can supposedly add up to six hours of unplugged power, a claim I didn’t test. The Prime’s dock also has a USB port and a memory card slot.

The Prime is actually the third try by Asus to mate a tablet with a physical keyboard. An earlier, bulkier version of the Transformer wasn’t embraced by many consumers, and a thick tablet with a cramped slide-out keyboard, called the Slider, also hasn’t been a big hit. But Asus is hoping that the slimmer, lighter Prime and its dock will do the trick.

The Transformer Prime, when coupled with the keyboard dock, can fold down like a lid.

The stand-alone tablet is 0.33-inch thick and weighs 1.29 pounds. The dock adds 1.18 pounds and 0.4-inch of thickness. Together, they cost $648, just $49 more than the cheapest 32 GB iPad, but hundreds more than many standard 10-inch Windows netbooks.

The companies are stressing how the processor improves the graphics and speed of games on the tablet, and boast that the Prime can be used with gaming-console controllers. This is good news for tablet gamers, and, in my tests, some sample games the companies provided looked impressive. But I wasn’t blown away with their superiority over iPad games.

To me, the keyboard dock is the big story here. I found it to be a solid companion. Its keys were well spaced despite the unit’s small overall size, and the hinge that holds the tablet as a removable screen was sturdy. Special keys control Android functions such as Home, Back and Search. And there’s a roomy, responsive touch pad.

The screen was responsive and the speakers were good. In my tests, email, Web browsing, and streaming of music and videos worked well over good Wi-Fi connections. But the Prime lacks any cellular connectivity, meaning it is crippled when you’re out of Wi-Fi range. When I tested it at a hotel with slow Wi-Fi, the Prime was notably pokier at streaming the same YouTube video as an iPad 2 using Verizon’s 3G cellular network.

Gauging the battery life on this tablet is a bit complicated. I performed the same battery test I have used for every tablet since the original iPad appeared. In that test, I set the screen brightness to 75%, leave the wireless on and play locally stored videos back to back till the unit dies.

The Transformer Prime lasted just shy of seven hours, compared with slightly more than 10 hours for the iPad 2, a big difference. Still, that seven hours was better than many other full-size Android tablets have achieved in this test.

Asus and Nvidia build in three battery modes, and I tested only the one called Normal. Unfortunately, Nvidia now says that nomenclature is misleading, and that Normal is really meant for only high-performance tasks. So, early next year, when it switches to the next version of Android, it plans to rename Normal as “Performance,” to steer users to a less power-hungry mode called “Balanced.” I can’t say how the Prime’s battery will perform in that scenario with the new OS.

I still believe the iPad 2 is the best overall tablet available. However, if you’re looking for a model using Google’s Android interface and are yearning for a well-designed, easily integrated keyboard solution, or want to play more power-hungry games, the Transformer Prime is a good choice, as long as you can tolerate its software limitations.

Email Walt at mossberg@wsj.com.

Intel Launches $100 Million App Fund

Ina Fried — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 20:43:55 +0000

Intel Capital on Tuesday announced a new $100 million AppUp fund aimed at spurring development of programs that run on netbooks, ultrabooks and other consumer laptops. Among the fund’s first investments is a stake in Urban Airship, made as part of that company’s recently closed $15 million funding round.

Asus' Jonney Shih on Ultrabook, Android and the Future of PCs: The Full AsiaD Interview (Video)

Kara Swisher — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 20:30:13 +0000

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

Over the next two weeks, we’re going to follow the schedule of the actual event. Up now: Jonney Shih, chairman of Asus.

After winning in the short-lived netbook boomlet, Shih is trying to quickly pivot his company to the future, and he brought the Taiwanese-based company’s new slimtastic Ultrabook to prove it.

Shih also talked about the Google Android mobile operating system, new tablets and the future of PCs.

Here’s his onstage interview with Walt Mossberg:

[ See post to watch video ]

Jonney Shih: Highlights From AsiaD (Video)

John Paczkowski — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 06:00:24 +0000

With cloud computing becoming more ubiquitous, the boundaries between the tablet, the smartphone and the notebook are blurring. Today, Asus finds itself at the center of that transition. In an AsiaD interview with Walt Mossberg, company Chairman Jonney Shih talked about navigating this sea change and where a company like Asus is placing its bets — on tablets, notebooks or both. Video highlights of the session below:

[ See post to watch video ]

Jonney Shih Shows New Asus Tablet, Ultrabook at AsiaD

Ina Fried — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 01:06:41 +0000

Little known outside of Asia a few years ago, Asus burst onto the scene with its Eee PC, the product that ushered in the era of the netbook.

With netbooks losing popularity in favor of tablets, Asus has responded with the Eee Pad, its own line of tablets that includes a convertible model with an optional keyboard dock. Asus is just one of many players in the space, though, and doesn’t have that first-mover advantage.

Chairman Johnny Shih is joining Walt Mossberg onstage at AsiaD to talk tablets, laptops and more.

9:07 am: Jonney’s on stage with the company’s new Ultrabook. “As you can see, it is very thin,” Shih said. Walt notes it is a good response to the MacBook Air.

Even with such thinness, we didn’t compromise the performance, Shih said, noting it has an Intel core i7, a next-generation solid-state drive and USB 3.0

It weighs 1.2 kilograms, Shih said. Siri tells me that equals 2.65 pounds.

“Talk to me about laptops versus tablets, Walt says. “What’s going on in the industry?”

Shih talks about the role of ubiquitous cloud computing. That means different kinds of screens, all connected to information.

9:15 am: Where are you putting your bets, Walt asks. Tablets? PCs?

“We believe that we have to bet on both,” Shih said.

There are places for tablets, such as on the couch or in bed, but there are other times when a keyboard is needed. The company has models with plug-in keyboards and slide-out keyboards. But the boundaries between smartphones, laptops and notebooks are blurring, he said.

Netbooks are evolving, too, Shih said, and they, too, will be thinner and more cloud-connected.

9:21 am: “The laptop side also has to respond to this tablet trend,” Shih said.

Shih said Asus is trying other things to make its laptops stand out, such as Bang & Olufsen sound in its Ultrabook.

9:24 am: Moving to Android, Walt asks what is holding things back on the tablet side.

“We still think there is a great opportunity there,” Shih said. He still hopes to sell two million this year, with the Eee Pad Transformer.

“I still believe Android is improving very fast.”

9:26 am: Shih also teases that he has some “top secret” gear in his briefcase that he is going to show in a bit.

9:27 am: What about Ice Cream Sandwich? Will it be on tablets by the end of the year?

“Maybe earlier than that,” Shih said.

9:27 am: It’s briefcase time.

Shih pulls out what looks like a new tablet.

9:28 am: 8.3-milimeter thin 10-inch screen. It’s the next generation of the Transformer with its plug-in keyboard.

9:29 am: It will have Nvidia’s quad-core processor.

9:31 am: USB, mini-HDMI ports.

When will this come out?

Shih said folks will have to wait until the formal announcement on Nov. 9.

“Today is only for a sneak preview,” he said.

“I thought you were giving these away to everyone,” Walt quipped.

9:35 am: The Verge’s Joanna Stern asks about another device Asus has talked about — the Padfone, a combination phone and tablet.

The phone is already powerful enough to be a tablet, Shih notes, saying the only thing really missing is the display. That’s the idea behind the device, which Asus talked about at Computex.

“That’s the whole concept of the Padfone.”

We still have to go through the carriers and testing, Shih said. The timing is around the first quarter of next year and will run Ice Cream Sandwich. “That’s our current timing.”

Apple Leads Notebook Market (If You Consider the iPad a Notebook)

John Paczkowski — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 11:30:41 +0000

With the iPad, Apple is dominating the tablet market and — depending of what sort of device you consider it to be — the notebook market as well.

Among the top notebook vendors — Acer, ASUS, Dell, HP and Samsung — Apple ranked last in global market share in the second quarter of 2011, according to Deutsche Bank analyst Chris Whitmore.

But that’s without the iPad.

With it, Apple was the single largest notebook vendor during the period, with a 20 percent market share — greater than the 15 percent held by PC giant Hewlett-Packard.

An interesting exercise, regardless of how you view tablet computers. To some, the tablet is an entirely new category of device; to others — Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, for example — it’s just another PC. And the difference between the two is the difference between market leader and market laggard — though, as Whitmore observes, Apple could hardly be considered the latter.

“Within the computing market, we see significant opportunity for Apple to take meaningful share in the second half as the Microsoft / PC ecosystem is relatively stagnant, lacking meaningful new offerings,” Whitmore wrote in a note to clients. “On the other hand, Apple will be competing with an upgraded Mac OS, new MacBook Airs (and other forthcoming Macs) and a new iPad iOS. Within the Tablet market, the iPad remains the Gold Standard as competitors struggle for mindshare and traction (note HP’s price cuts on the TouchPad). Meanwhile, competing PC manufacturers have suggested Ultrabooks won’t ramp in material volumes until 2012 due to challenges driving price points meaningfully below Apple’s Air. As such, Apple appears particularly well positioned for more share gains heading into the back-to-school and holiday selling season.”

And So the AsiaD Speakers Begin: Google, Alibaba, Twitter, Asus, Nvidia and More to Come!

Kara Swisher — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 19:31:40 +0000

No rest for the weary D conference producers!

Which would be Walt Mossberg and me, since we are now hard at work — after a very successful ninth D: All Things Digital — on our newest event: AsiaD.

An international confab — this one will be held October 19 to 21 in Hong Kong — is a big deal for us and we’re making sure it is up to snuff for our audience there.

That begins with the speakers, which we will start announcing now and continue to as we add them onto the roster. As we have said before, we’re going for a lineup of both Asian and U.S. speakers, as well as demos from the region, with a focus on the critical emerging market.

That’s why with smartphones in ascendance globally, having Andy Rubin, who runs Google’s Android efforts, is a no-brainer. The longtime mobile exec is at the top of an aggressive push by the Silicon Valley Internet giant to dominate the important sector across the world.

Speaking of domination, we are asking Alibaba Group’s Jack Ma onstage to talk more about his efforts to make the company a powerhouse in China and elsewhere. His recent bare-knuckled fight with Yahoo over Alipay, as he has built a wide-ranging Internet giant, should make for an interesting interview.

Expect a deep dive into what makes the future Web work with Twitter and Square founder Jack Dorsey, who is someone breaking new ground as he tears down old digital paradigms. With Twitter, Dorsey redefined the real-time world and how the virtual one communicates; with Square, he is upending the payments arena, even as others try to upend him.

Nvidia is not only a pioneer of graphics chips, but now its processors are widely used in the latest mobile devices. That’s why its founder and CEO Jen-Hsun Huang has a lot to say about the future of the fastest-growing sector of computing, from smartphones to tablets and whatever’s next.

And Asus Chairman Jonney Shih has presided over the Taiwanese tech giant since the early 1990s. Most recently, the company pioneered the netbook market and is now plunging deeply into the tablet business, making Shih perfect to discuss these key issues in Asia and around the world.

As usual with D, there will be more big names to come — and you can find out more here.

Google Unveils a Laptop With Its Brain in the Cloud

Walter S. Mossberg — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 01:05:02 +0000

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?

[ See post to watch video ]

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.

Converting Cassettes to CDs

Walter S. Mossberg — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 01:02:25 +0000

Is there a way to convert cassette tapes to CDs through the computer?

Yes, there are a variety of hardware gadgets, that, with accompanying software, can plug into computers to convert the contents of cassettes to digital files, which can then be burned to CDs.

I can’t recommend any specific products, since I haven’t tested any. But you can find some by searching for “cassette to CD.”

Note that such conversions, like conversions of records, can be very time-consuming.

I will be on the road this summer and I don’t want a large laptop. I’m wondering what your opinion is on a tablet vs. netbook. My main purpose is to retrieve/send email, access the Internet and download important files. If I bought a tablet, it’d be an iPad.

Most of what you want to do is easy on the iPad. But downloading of files is a bit trickier.

The iPad makes it easy to view — and with extra apps, to edit — files received as email attachments. And it has some apps that allow file retrieval from the cloud.

But a straight download from a website usually doesn’t work well. So you might prefer a laptop. In that case, I recommend a full-sized, but thin, light laptop over the generally cramped netbooks.

I live in the U.S. and have a mother living on her own in Montreal. I would like to video chat with her on a daily basis. She is elderly and has some memory/dementia issues. I’d like it set up so I control the whole process from my end, leaving her to do little more than turn on a monitor. How can I do this?

By taking remote control of her computer. There are a number of simplified remote-control software programs that would allow this, and I have no reason to think they wouldn’t work across a national border.

Two I have tested are LogMeIn and CrossLoop.

But you would first have to install these on your mother’s computer and make sure her machine is turned on and connected to the Internet when you want to initiate a video-chat session.

You can find Mossberg’s Mailbox, and Walt’s other columns at the All Things Digital website, http://walt.allthingsd.com. Email mossberg@wsj.com

Deleting a Facebook Account

Walter S. Mossberg — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 01:19:03 +0000

How can I permanently delete my Facebook account?

Facebook doesn’t make it easy. The company tries to hang on to defecting users by promoting a halfway measure called “deactivating” an account, which merely hides you from the Facebook membership but keeps your information on the social network’s servers in case you wish to “reactivate” later. This process can be performed with a few clicks. Facebook says this is the default choice because “many users deactivate their accounts for temporary reasons” and then wish to restore them. But permanent, irreversible deletion of an account requires you to submit a request and wait for Facebook to act on it. The company deliberately delays acting on such requests “in case you change your mind,” according to the site. Details are at: http://on.fb.me/5NCCC0.

Our daughter will be entering a middle-school program next year which will allow her to do a lot of independent work with assignments completed in a word-processing program and turned in online. Can you recommend a durable, inexpensive, user-friendly first laptop or netbook?

I’d recommend either the 13″ MacBook or the 11″ MacBook Air, which are very durable, easy to master, speedy and highly unlikely to ever get infected with malicious software. Each costs $999. They come with the best built-in suite of software in the industry and a superb operating system, plus Apple’s support is highly rated. If they cost too much, there are similar-sized Windows alternatives for less, hovering around the $600-to-$700 range. Netbooks, of course, can be even cheaper, but there are fewer of them these days, and their reliability can be iffy.

You can find Mossberg’s Mailbox, and my other columns at the All Things Digital website, http://walt.allthingsd.com. Email mossberg@wsj.com.

Atrix 4G: Faux Laptop With a Phone For Brains

Walter S. Mossberg — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 22:37:55 +0000

Today’s best smartphones are really hand-held computers. They run a vast variety of applications, from productivity programs to games, that mimic what laptops do. Their biggest limitations for serious work, gaming, Web surfing and multimedia are their small screens, cramped keyboards and tinny speakers.

[ See post to watch video ]

So, what if you could use the brains and connectivity of such a hand-held computer to drive a laptop-size screen, keyboard and speakers, thus overcoming these limitations? Well, Motorola Mobility has devised a new phone and accessory that aim to do just that: to make the phone the only computer you need.

I’ve been testing this new phone, the Atrix 4G, an Android device that will cost $200 with a two-year contract and will run on AT&T’s network. It’s slated to be available by March 6. I’ve also been testing its unusual and clever accessory called the laptop dock, which looks like a large netbook, with an 11.6-inch screen, full keyboard, touch pad, and stereo speakers. This dock, the price of which depends on when you buy it, has no processor, no file storage and no connectivity of its own. It’s dormant until you plug the Atrix into a slot behind the screen.

When you dock the phone, the faux laptop comes alive. It duplicates the phone’s screen on its larger display and lets you use its connectivity and apps. It also contains a battery that charges the phone. The image of the phone’s screen, and any of its apps you run, can be actual size or blown up to use the dock’s larger screen.

With Motorola’s Atrix 4G smartphone, the laptop is the accessory. The phone shown docked to the laptop dock.

Full-Screen Firefox

Even more interestingly, the dock gives you access to a full, and full-screen, PC version of the Firefox Web browser. Firefox is tucked away inside the Atrix but is available only when the phone is plugged into the laptop dock or a second, smaller dock that’s meant to connect to a TV or desktop monitor. The smaller dock lacks a built-in keyboard, battery or screen.

The laptop dock costs $500, but AT&T will knock the price down to $300, after rebates, if you buy it at the same time you buy the phone. That brings the combined price of both devices to $500—the same as the separate price for the dock. The smaller dock, called the multimedia dock, costs $190.

In my tests, the Atrix and the laptop dock performed mostly as advertised. The phone had no trouble driving the larger screen or the full Firefox browser.

I was even able to insert a flash drive into one of the dock’s two USB ports and copy songs, photos, videos and documents into the phone’s internal memory using the keyboard and touch pad. I edited and wrote text in an app called Quickoffice on the phone using the laptop dock’s keyboard, and ran various other apps, including the popular game Angry Birds, on the larger screen.

The Firefox browser worked as normal, using either the phone’s cellular or Wi-Fi connections to access the Internet. And both the phone itself and Firefox can run Flash videos, which mostly played fine.

But the combination of the phone and dock wasn’t as fast, smooth or versatile as having a real laptop, even though to use them you’re essentially carrying around a light laptop (the dock weighs 2.4 pounds). Many apps on the phone aren’t as polished or powerful as typical PC apps, and I found them clumsier to use with the keyboard and touch pad, as opposed to the touch screen for which they were designed.

Installation Issue

Also, other than Firefox, you can’t install PC programs. You can use Web apps inside Firefox, such as Google Docs or the stripped-down Web versions of Microsoft’s Office apps. For email, you can either use the program based in the phone or any Web-based program via the Firefox browser, such as Gmail or Yahoo Mail. But you can’t, say, install iTunes, or PC-based games, or the full versions of Outlook or Microsoft Word.

And there is only a primitive file system, limited to the capacity of the phone, which is just 16 gigabytes, with an option to expand to 48 gigabytes.

The dock’s screen required a lot of scrolling when using Firefox, partly because the browser has a lot of menus and toolbars. To address this, Motorola lets you convert Web pages to versions with the Firefox controls stripped out, so you just see the content.

There’s another problem with the laptop dock. When you make or receive a voice call while the phone is docked, you must rely on the phone’s microphone and speakers, hidden behind the screen of the dock. As a result, calls sounded muffled on both ends, even though the phone automatically switches into speakerphone mode. Motorola says it is working on this issue.

Despite the drawbacks, some folks will surely be attracted to this innovative combination.

If you mostly do your computing tasks on a phone or a PC Web browser, storing files in the cloud and using phone or Web-based apps, Motorola has you covered. And the fact that the dock can charge the phone is a big plus.

Motorola’s Atrix 4G

The Phone Side

What about the phone itself?

Well, it’s one of the nicest smartphones I’ve tested. Its processor makes it fast, and it has a 4-inch, high-resolution screen—almost as high as the iPhone 4′s, though not quite as sharp to my eye. It runs an older version of Android, but Motorola is promising an upgrade.

The phone also has good battery life. It lasted a full day while I was testing it and Motorola claims up to nine hours of talk time. Photos and videos I took with the phone were sharp, and it has a front camera for video calls.

The Atrix also has two other notable features. First, it can take advantage of AT&T’s souped-up 3G network, which the carrier calls 4G because it can supposedly achieve 4G data speeds.

In my tests, in the D.C. and New York areas, the speed wasn’t especially impressive, averaging just a bit better than 3G speeds on other AT&T phones I’d tested.

There is also a fingerprint sensor built into the phone, which you can use instead of a pass code to secure the phone. It worked fine for me.

Overall, this is a very nice Android phone that can imitate a limited version of a laptop. That may be enough for some folks, but fall short for others.

Write to Walter S. Mossberg at walt.mossberg@wsj.com

Tablet Cannibalization on the Rise in 2011

John Paczkowski — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 15:15:48 +0000

Nearly 56 million tablets will be shipped in 2011–200 percent more than were shipped in 2010. That’s the latest forecast from NPD’s DisplaySearch, which expects that number to hit 172.4 million by 2014. That’s 35 percent of the overall mobile PC market, which also includes the notebooks and mini-notes whose sales NPD says the tablet is cannibalizing, particularly in mature markets where the percentage of households that already own PCs are highest.

Hardly a surprise given recent trends. Recall that retail notebooks in the United States have been charting decelerating growth for months now, driven largely by the iPad. Now with RIM’s PlayBook, Hewlett-Packard’s “PalmPad” and dozens of other tablets headed to market it’s only going to slow further.

PREVIOUSLY:

Forecast: 19 Million Notebooks Lost to Tablet Cannibalization (Meaning iPad) in 2011

IPad: Tonight We Feast on Laptop Flesh!

Apple: The iPad Isn’t Cannibalizing the Mac, But We Sure Hope It’s Cannibalizing the PC

IPad No Cannibal, Says Analyst

Apple’s iPad: Angel or Cannibal?

Verizon Wireless Touts 4G Network, Shows Off Devices

Ina Fried — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 21:03:21 +0000

Well, we didn’t learn much new about Verizon Wireless’s new network or devices at the Ivan Seidenberg keynote on Thursday, but he did say that the company would have a preview of its LTE device lineup at this afternoon’s press conference.

Here’s hoping there are a few surprises here beyond the previously announced Motorola Atrix and Xoom.

The event is set to kick off shortly and Mobilized will have live coverage here.

1:05 pm: Well, despite timely warnings to get in our seats beginning at 12:45, it’s now five minutes after and the techno is still pumping.

1:11 pm: Okay. Getting started. Loud music gets louder. Cue video.

Tony Melone and Marni Walden take the stage and CEO Daniel Mead (at least I think it is Mead) is doing an intro.

1:15 pm: Another video now playing with partners. Since HTC CEO Peter Chou is in there, I think it is probably safe to say their oft-rumored LTE smartphone will make an appearance.

1:16 pm: Samsung and Ericsson execs also in the video.

1:17 pm: Verizon exec now touting the advantages of its 4G network including its spectrum, which it says will give it the best in-building coverage.

Also talking about how it is sharing its spectrum with rural service providers.

1:18 pm: Mead: “We’re very pleased to be part of bringing broadband to rural America.”

1:21 pm: Mead hands off to CTO Tony Melone to talk 4G and LTE.

Melone says that the company knows there is a lot of skepticism of the company’s move to go straight to LTE but that the bet is paying off with more networks and running faster than planned.

“The customer feedback we are getting is everything we had hoped for and then some,” Melone says.

Melone talks about 4G LTE plans.

Thirty-six months from now we will have the nation covered with LTE, Melone says. Two-thirds of the population will be covered in 2012. This year alone, he says, Verizon will add 140 new markets, including places like Little Rock, Detroit and Sioux Falls.

1:26 pm: On to devices.

Ten devices coming by mid-year being shown on stage: Four smartphones, two tablets, two notebooks and two mobile hotspots.

1:33 pm: LG CEO shows off the LG Revolution, what appears to be a slimmish smartphone.

Next up, Skype’s CEO talks about a new partnership that will allow for Skype to be always on and integrated into the address book of all of Verizon’s LTE smartphones,

1:34 pm: He’s followed by HTC CEO Peter Chou, who introduces the HTC Thunderbolt.

Chou says he’s been personally testing and using the Thunderbolt, which features the new Skype video chatting along with HTC’s Sense user interface.

“Let me tell you, it’s blazing fast,” Chou says.

Other features include a built-in 4G hotspot and a 4.3-inch Super LCD screen.

1:37 pm: He thanks Qualcomm and Google engineers that worked together to create the device, so guessing this one isn’t using Nvidia’s Tegra chip.

Next up is Electronic Arts VP Travis Boatman. EA’s mobile games lineup ranges from Monopoly and Tetris to Need for Speed and the FIFA 11 soccer game.

The new mobile version of Rock Band for Verizon’s LTE network lets people form a band and remotely jam over the network.

Samsung executive goes onstage to show off three devices for the LTE network, One is a mobile hotspot, one is a smartphone and the other is a 4G version of the Galaxy Tab.

Phone packs 4.3-inch Super Amoled Plus display, which is said to boost colors and offer improved display. It’s got an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera with HD video and a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera for video chat.

The tablet has a 1.2GHz processor developed by Samsung, while the hotspots provide connections to up to five users at a time.

Most impressive is the fact that the Samsung executive pulled all three devices out of various pockets.

Marni Walden shows off the remaining devices–a Novatel MiFi hotpot that works with both 3G and 4G networks.

There is also a Compaq Netbook, an HP notebook, as well as the previously announced Motorola Xoom and Motorola Droid Bionic.

1:47 pm: On to Q&A (hoping laptop No. 2 holds out through the end of question time.)

First question has to do with LTE speeds, which often exceed the 5- to 12-megabit speeds promised. Mead says that the company’s goal is to meet the promised speed range once the network is fully loaded, something that is not the case today.

Next question is on battery life. Melone says the company believes it will be able to meet customer expectations in that regard.

The company says it won’t announce pricing or rate plans for the 4G products, beyond noting its current prices for 4G laptop cards and service.

As for simultaneous voice and data, Walden says the company intends that at least some of its 4G launch devices will support talking and accessing data at the same time.

“It could be on some devices and not all,” Walden says.

Walden also confirms all the phones it showed Thursday are running Android.

1:55 pm: Asked about net neutrality, Mead says that what the industry needs is “unfettered development.”

“We think the free market system works very well, and we don’t need a lot of heavy intervention.”

D: Dive Into Mobile: The Full Interview Video of AT&T's Glenn Lurie

Kara Swisher — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 16:05:40 +0000

As promised, All Things Digital will be publishing the full videos of the interviews we did at our D: Dive Into Mobile conference in San Francisco.

The first extension of the event, it produced some very newsy sessions. We’ll be posting them all.

Here’s the last of the onstage interviews–Glenn Lurie, the man who brought the Apple iPhone to AT&T (for better and worse).

As head of the emerging devices division, he forged its exclusive relationship with Apple, which has in the last few years meant a boon to AT&T’s bottom line. About 5.2 million new iPhones were activated on its network in its most recent quarter alone, but not without hurting AT&T’s reputation for wonky service, especially in key markets like New York and San Francisco.

But its exclusive arrangement in the U.S. with Apple is expected to end when Verizon Wireless is added as a carrier in late January.

Thus, Lurie is now focused on emerging and embedded devices–tablets, netbooks, laptops and embedded computing devices.

Here’s Lurie talking about all this and more in the video of the interview with Walt Mossberg:

[ See post to watch video ]

Next up: All the demos of D: Dive Into Mobile.

Forecast: 19 Million Notebooks Lost to Tablet Cannibalization (Meaning iPad) in 2011

John Paczkowski — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 11:30:33 +0000

If the tablet PC (which has so far been defined by the iPad) isn’t entirely the notebook cannibal it’s often seen as, it certainly has some cannibalistic tendencies. And those are growing stronger as devices like the iPad begin finding more traction among the production-oriented users that were expected to ignore them.

During its last earnings call, Apple noted that over 65 percent of the Fortune 100 have deployed or are piloting the iPad. With that in mind, some analysts have begun reasses the cannibalization rate of tablets on the notebook industry and the number that Goldman Sachs analyst Bill Shope has come up with is pretty interesting.

He figures tablet unit shipments will jump 54.7 million in 2011 with 35 percent PC unit cannibalization and to 79.2 million in 2012 with 33 percent cannibalization. Overall, he expects 19.1 million notebook units to be lost to tablets in 2011 and 26.1 million to be lost in 2012.

Those are some pretty aggressive numbers. And while Shope concedes they might be difficult to digest given the market’s perception of the tablet as a threat to netbooks only, he does have some recent data to back them up.

“We recognize that it is difficult to accurately predict the cannibalization rate of such a nascent market, but we believe early evidence supports our views,” Shope writes. “In fact, in Goldman Sachs’ recent IT spending survey (published on November 5, 2010), 51 percent of respondents said they expected some degree of notebook cannibalization from tablets. This is an important result because: (1) it’s a corporate survey, and tablets will likely have a more significant impact on the consumer market, and (2) netbooks represent an insignificant component of corporate PC purchases. We suspect December quarter retail data is likely to provide even more interesting tablet cannibalization data points.”

PREVIOUSLY:

IPad: Tonight We Feast on Laptop Flesh!

Apple: The iPad Isn’t Cannibalizing the Mac, But We Sure Hope It’s Cannibalizing the PC

IPad No Cannibal, Says Analyst

Apple’s iPad: Angel or Cannibal?

Gmail Founder Says Chrome OS Is DOA

Ina Fried — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 17:42:32 +0000

The founder of Gmail (and FriendFeed) is predicting a very short life for Google’s still-in-beta Chrome OS.

In posts on FriendFeed and Twitter, Paul Buchheit said on Tuesday that he thinks Google will axe the product next year, either fusing it with Android or killing it outright.

Chrome OS will meet that fate, Buchheit said on FriendFeed “because ChromeOS has no purpose that isn’t better served by Android (perhaps with a few mods to support a non-touch display).”

Buchheit is certainly not the first person to question Google’s dual-operating-system strategy. (Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer notably did so at last year’s D8 conference, although the soon-to-be exiting Ray Ozzie followed up that he actually sees Android as a bet for the present state of mobile while Chrome OS is a bet on a cloud-based future.)

“Yeah, I was thinking, ‘Is this too obvious to even state?’, but then I see people taking ChromeOS seriously, and Google is even shipping devices for some reason,” Buchheit wrote on FriendFeed.

Google originally hoped to have Chrome OS-based computers for sale this year, but has run into some delays. Last week, the company released a beta version of the software and distributed to testers an unbranded laptop running the operating system. However, it’s worth noting that in doing so, Google has hardly made the strongest hardware case for the operating system, using a relatively bulky netbook with a reliable, but hardly power-sipping Intel Atom processor.

The idea of merging the two operating systems has some merit. Doing so would pair a top-notch browser with an ecosystem that already has a lot of applications and developers.

For now, the operating systems are distinct, with Android running hundreds of thousands of applications and used largely on phones, along with a few tablets, such as Samsung’s Galaxy Tab. However, Google VP Andy Rubin confirmed after his appearance at last week’s D: Dive Into Mobile that the company is working on a new version of Android, known as Honeycomb, that is geared exclusively to tablets. (The full video of Rubin’s onstage appearance was posted on our site earlier today.)

Acer and a couple of other hardware makers have said they plan to do Chrome OS netbooks next year once the software is ready.

Growing Interest in BlackBerry PlayBook

John Paczkowski — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 14:42:53 +0000

Research in Motion’s BlackBerry PlayBook tablet is still a ways off from market, but its mindshare is beginning to grow following a recent and impressive live demonstration at Adobe’s MAX conference.

New data from ChangeWave shows a promising trend in PlayBook purchasing intentions. The research house surveyed 3,108 consumers with an eye toward determining tablet and netbook demand and found the PlayBook to be the second most popular choice among respondents planning to buy a tablet. Eight percent of respondents expressed interest in it. That’s significantly less than the 80 percent who professed interest in the iPad, which, predictably, claims a daunting lead, but it’s significantly greater then the three percent who claimed interest in Samsung’s Galaxy tablet and the two percent who said they’d like Hewlett-Packard’s forthcoming Slate.

Which, as RBC analyst Mike Abramsky notes, is promising. Extrapolating from that eight percent figure, he estimates that RIM may sell as many as six million PlayBooks in 2011 (calendar) to claim 13 percent of the market.

Microsoft Earnings Today (With Lots of Questions About Apple iPad's Impact on the PC)

Kara Swisher — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 12:37:04 +0000

Later today after the markets close, Microsoft will make its first-quarter earnings announcement, which a consensus of Wall Street analysts expect to show earnings of 55 cents a share on $15.8 billion in revenue.

That’s a big lift from the year before, of course, when earnings were 40 cents a share and revenues were lower.

Nonetheless, Wall Street has been downgrading Microsoft’s stock, mostly due to worries about the surging popularity of the Apple iPad, the introduction of even more upcoming tablets and the trend’s overall impact on PC and, especially, netbook sales that run the company’s software.

Along with a growing focus on cloud computing, many will be looking for any sign of weakness in Microsoft’s core Windows software business, due to the interest by both consumers and businesses in the tablet phenom.

Microsoft is also working on a tablet offering, which is not slated for arrival until next year, along with a plethora of other companies from Google to Hewlett-Packard to Research in Motion.

The question on the minds of many: Can Microsoft be more nimble with regard to tablets than it has been in the smartphone race?

Also of interest: Sales of its new Office 2010–which came out in the quarter–and news of the progress of its Bing search service, as well as any sign of what the software giant has to say about some recent key exec departures.

That includes Business Division President Stephen Elop heading to Nokia and Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie simply retiring.

Microsoft is certainly not the hot mess Yahoo has been, but it will be interesting to hear the kind of signals coming out of the company later today.

MacBook Air Has the Feel of an iPad in a Laptop

Walter S. Mossberg — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 02:11:38 +0000

Some of the nicest, if little discussed, benefits of using an Apple iPad tablet are that it starts instantly, resumes where you left off, and has a long enough battery life that you aren’t constantly fretting about running out of juice or looking for a place to plug it in. And it can do a lot of things for which people use laptops.

[ See post to watch video ]

What if somebody designed an actual laptop that worked this way—you know, a computer with a real keyboard and a larger screen that could run traditional computer software and store more files than an iPad? And what if it was almost as light and portable as an iPad? Well, somebody has, and that somebody is Apple itself.

The computer in question is the company’s new MacBook Air, which went on sale last week, starting at $999—a price that’s very low for an Apple laptop, though hardly a bargain for a Windows one. The new Air comes in two sizes. The base $999 model has an 11.6-inch screen (versus 9.7 inches for an iPad) and weighs 2.3 pounds (versus 1.5 pounds for an iPad). The larger—but still thin and light—model starts at $1,299, has a 13.3-inch screen, and weighs 2.9 pounds.

I’ve been testing both versions, but especially the 11.6-inch model, and I find that, despite a few drawbacks, they really do offer the different, more iPad-like experience Apple claims they do. Battery life is strong, and the wake up from sleep is almost instant, even after long periods of being unused.

Apple’s new MacBook Air laptop.

Like their predecessors in the Air family, these are gorgeous, very thin and light, but very sturdy aluminum computers. And, like their predecessors, or like iPads and smartphones, they rely on solid-state storage—flash chips—instead of a conventional hard disk to hold all your files. But Apple has dramatically reduced the physical size of the flash storage to make room for larger sealed-in batteries, so battery life is longer. It has also cut the price from the last version of the Air, a 13-inch model that cost $1,799 with a solid-state drive.

Also, the company has re-engineered the way these new Airs sleep, adding a long “standby” period of very low power consumption that Apple says lasts up to 30 days. This standby mode kicks in after about an hour of idle time, and replaces the traditional hibernation system, where your current activity is saved to a conventional hard disk just before the battery dies. With hibernation, getting back to where you were can be slow and somewhat uncertain. With the new “standby” mode, the process just takes a few seconds, only a bit longer than normal sleep.

These are just the first of a number of changes Apple plans in order to make its computers behave more like the iPad and iPhone, without losing their greater power and more traditional keyboards, touchpads and mice, and ability to run conventional programs.

For instance, Apple has said it will soon introduce an “app store” for the Mac, which would make it simpler to find and download programs for the computers, and notify users of updates. And it will also roll out, in its next Mac operating system, called Lion—due next summer—a system of apps icon screens, like those on iPhones and iPads, that you can flick through with the company’s multitouch touchpad gestures.

In my harsh battery tests, I found the two new Air models almost matched Apple’s battery claims, even with all power-saving features turned off, Wi-Fi kept on, the screen on maximum brightness and a continuous loop of music playing. The 11-inch model lasted four hours and 43 minutes, versus Apple’s claim of up to five hours. The 13-inch model lasted six hours and 13 minutes, versus Apple’s claim of up to seven hours.

This means that, in normal use, with power-saving features turned on, you’d be almost certain to meet, or possibly exceed, Apple’s claimed battery life. For comparison, I did the same battery test on a new Dell 11.6-inch model, the M101Z, which costs about $450, but is much thicker and heavier than the smaller Air, and uses a conventional hard disk. It got only two hours and 41 minutes of battery life, which means that in normal use you’d probably get three to four hours.

The MacBook Air 11-inch (left) and 13-inch models have long battery life, but storage capacity is limited.

The new models are designed to hardly ever require a traditional bootup or reboot. The idea is that you’d only reboot if you had a problem, or installed software that required a reboot, or if the machine had been idle and unplugged more than a month. But even booting is very fast.

In my tests, a cold boot took 17 seconds and a reboot, with several programs running, took 20 seconds. By contrast, the Dell I tested took more than three minutes to fully boot up and be fully ready for use.

Unlike on many netbooks, these two new Apples also have high screen resolutions so you can fit more material into their relatively small sizes. The 13-inch model has the same resolution as Apple’s 15-inch MacBook Pro and the 11-inch Air has greater resolution than the 13-inch MacBook Pro. Also, unlike on many netbooks, they feature full-size keyboards, though the 11-inch model has reduced-size function keys.

The new Airs aren’t meant to be the most robust machines. They use last-generation Intel processors and have only two gigabytes of memory in their base configurations, and their storage is well below typical hard-disk capacities.

For example, the 11-inch, $999 model has a paltry 64 gigabytes of storage; the 13-inch model starts at a still-weak 128 gigabytes of storage, and even the high-end version of the larger model, which costs $1,599, has just 256 gigabytes of storage. And neither the storage nor the memory can be expanded once you choose your initial specs.

I’d recommend buyers of the 11-inch model spend $200 more to double the storage to 128 gigabytes. And people doing a lot of video editing might want to double the memory on either model to four gigabytes, for an extra $100.

Also, as with the earlier Air models, these two lack a DVD drive and an Ethernet port. Apple sells an external drive for $79 and an Ethernet adapter for $29. If you add in all these extras, prices can climb quickly.

They also lack ports called HDMI ports, becoming common on Windows PCs, for easy connection to televisions, and their keyboards aren’t backlit. The two new models do, however, have two USB ports instead of the single USB port in the older Air.

I was surprised to find that even the base $999 model was powerful enough to easily run seven or eight programs at once, including Microsoft Office, iTunes and the Safari browser with more than 20 Web sites open. It also played high-definition video with no skipping or stuttering.

So, if you’re a light-duty user, you might be able to adopt one of the new Airs as your main laptop. If you’re a heavy-duty user, who needs lots of power and file storage, they’re likely to be secondary machines.

Overall, Apple has done a nice job in making these new MacBook Airs feel more like iPads and iPhones without sacrificing their ability to work like regular computers. But, as always with Apple, you’ll pay more than you will with Windows PCs.

Find all of Walt Mossberg’s columns and videos online, free, at the All Things Digital Web site, walt.allthingsd.com. Email mossberg@wsj.com.

Analyst: IPad a Want, Then a Need

John Paczkowski — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 15:52:47 +0000

If netbook sales are in decline, Apple’s (AAPL) iPad isn’t to blame–not yet, anyway.

According to a new survey from NPD, only 13 percent of iPad owners bought the device in lieu of a PC. For the other 87 percent, it was an incremental purchase, a luxury purchase.

Which to NPD analyst Stephen Baker means recent claims that the iPad is cannibalizing the PC market are overblown.

“Early adopters, like iPad owners, follow a traditional pattern of consumer behavior; they purchase products because they want them, not because they need them,” Baker explains. “However, as Apple increases iPad distribution and consumer interest peaks, the profile of an iPad owner is much more likely to mirror the overall tech population. When that does happen other tech products with similar usage profiles as the iPad, such as notebooks, netbooks, and e-readers will come under increased pressure from the iPad.”

Evidently that’s happening already. According to Baker, folks who purchased the iPad within a few months of its release were 44 percent more likely to watch YouTube videos, 50 percent more likely to watch movies, 60 percent more likely to watch TV shows, and 38 percent more likely to be reading e-books. And that type of usage behavior is, as Baker observes, “a dagger at the heart of the usage model for netbooks and secondary notebook computers.”

A personal observation: For me, the iPad started out as an incremental purchase, driven by early adopter mania. But now, having used the device for some time, I see it as a needful one. In other words, I wanted the iPad, but I didn’t realize I needed one until I had a chance to use it.

PREVIOUSLY:

IPad: Tonight We Feast on Laptop Flesh!

Forget Netbooks, iPad Cannibalizing Entire PC Industry
Apple: The iPad Isn’t Cannibalizing the Mac, But We Sure Hope It’s Cannibalizing the PC

Forget Netbooks, iPad Cannibalizing Entire PC Industry

John Paczkowski — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 10:00:56 +0000

Apple’s iPad may not be cannibalizing Mac sales, but it’s evidently having a deleterious effect on the PC market–and not just the netbook segment. According to UBS analyst Maynard Um, the iPad is having a negative impact on the entire PC industry.

“Sales of traditional notebooks appear to be feeling pressure from the iPad, causing a scramble by vendors to launch iPad-like tablets,” Um wrote in a note to clients. “We believe that a majority of this impact is occurring on the lower end of PC sales as the iPad is priced close enough to this range that it becomes attractive to consumers looking to make purchases within this segment. We are not sold that the iPad is purely cannibalizing PC sales, as the functionality of the iPad can not yet fully match the functionality of notebook PC’s. However, consumers who purchase iPads may be more willing to delay purchases and upgrades of existing PC’s.”

And with few, if any, real iPad rivals at market, this trend will continue well into 2011. While competition in the tablet market is increasing–and rapidly, too–viable threats to Apple (AAPL) will be few and far between, says Um. With that in mind, he expects iPad unit shipments for calendar 2011 to be 28 million, a number that Um says “could still be conservative.”

[Image credit: Gizmodo commenter modestmouse and RBC Capital Markets]

AMD's Bulldozer and Bobcat Ready to Roll

Voices — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 07:10:43 +0000

At the Hot Chips conference this evening, Advanced Micro Devices will unveil details of two new processor designs, Bulldozer and Bobcat, aimed at pushing some of Intel’s market share in AMD’s direction. Bulldozer will be used in multiple-core server and desktop chips due out next year, while Bobcat will be a low-power core aimed at netbooks, tablets and other portable devices–a market where it will compete with Intel’s Atom.

Staying Connected While Traveling

Walter S. Mossberg — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 00:40:13 +0000

We’re a retired couple who travel in and out of the U.S.A. and need to keep in touch with our e-mails and Schwab account on line. Please recommend a netbook or laptop for this that we can use all over the world. We’d prefer to spend under $500.

Since Wi-Fi works all over the world, and all netbooks and laptops today that I’ve seen have Wi-Fi, and your needs are modest, any sub-$500 laptop or any netbook would do. If you want to connect when you’re not near a Wi-Fi hotspot, look for one with a built-in data modem that supports the GSM standard which works world-wide and with AT&T (T) and T-Mobile in the United States. Make sure it covers all the various frequencies used overseas, not just those used in the U.S. Or, you could simply buy an external USB cellular data card that meets these criteria.

I just got my iPad and am wondering whether the more powerful iPad charger will work with my iPhone 3GS without damaging it, or whether the smaller charger that came with my iPhone will charge my iPad.

According to Apple, the smaller iPhone charger will work with the iPad, although charging will be slower. I have tried this, and it works. As for the reverse case, Apple says you can also use the larger iPad charger with the iPhone, without harm, though it won’t charge the phone any faster.

I have tried this, and it works. As for the reverse case, I have charged my own iPhone using the more powerful iPad charger with no apparent problems, but I don’t know if Apple officially approves of this.

I have a new Dell Inspiron with Windows 7. My photos are all over the place—I still haven’t figured out this file and library thing. Can you recommend a program to find, organize and eliminate duplicate photos. Some have been renamed and are in various folders.

I’d suggest you download the free Picasa desktop program for Windows, made by Google It will scour your computer for photos, allow you to organize them, and it includes an “experimental” features that hunts down duplicates so you can eliminate them.

You can find Mossberg’s Mailbox and my other columns, online for free at the new All Things Digital website, http://walt.allthingsd.com.

Write to Walter S. Mossberg at walt.mossberg@wsj.com

Phones Without Internet

Walter S. Mossberg — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 01:00:28 +0000

A possible Internet-free PDA substitute: Apple’s iPod Touch

I am a long time Palm PDA user. I want a more trim phone, with a larger screen, that will sync my personal data with my desktop.

I don’t need or want Internet access on my phone. Are there any options out there for me? It seems everything uses cloud storage.

Both the BlackBerry and the iPhone offer you the option of syncing your personal data over a cable to your PC or Mac, without sending the data wirelessly or over the Internet. Both phones do of course feature Internet access, such as email and browsing and apps, but you don’t have to use it, though you do have to pay for it.

A better option might be Apple’s iPod Touch, which has nearly all the features of the iPhone, including the cable-based synchronization option, but requires no monthly fee for the Internet access you don’t want to use. The Internet access is only over Wi-Fi.

I have an Asus Eee 1000HE netbook, with the Windows XP operating system. I would like to upgrade the operating system to the Windows 7 Starter Edition, which I understand is meant for netbooks and which I have on another netbook I own.

Can I do this? How? I don’t see Win 7 Starter offered for sale anywhere.

Microsoft isn’t selling the Windows 7 Starter Edition to U.S. consumers for self-installation. It is only being offered in the U.S. as a pre-installed feature of some netbooks. But, depending on the specs of your netbook, you might find that Windows 7 Home Premium would work.

Are there any limitations to the type of Windows programs that can run on a Mac using Apple’s Boot Camp software?

When a Mac is booted into Windows using Boot Camp, it becomes a 100% Windows computer. Unlike when you use a virtual machine utility like Parallels, with Boot Camp, the Mac operating system isn’t running at all.

Windows is in full control of the hardware, just as it would be on, say, a Dell or an Acer computer. Windows programs detect that they are running on just another Windows PC and behave accordingly. They don’t know it’s a Mac.

So, the main limitation I can imagine with Windows programs would be hardware limitations—whether the processor, memory, and graphics card in the Mac you’re using meets the software’s minimum requirements, and whether the hard disk space you’ve allotted for Windows is sufficient.

Those are the same questions that would apply on any other Windows PC. If the software requires a standard Windows USB keyboard or mouse instead of the ones Apple supplies, which are slightly different, you can buy these, plug them in, and they should work just as if you had plugged them into a standard PC.

You can find Mossberg’s Mailbox and my other columns, free, at the All Things Digital site, http://walt.allthingsd.com.

Write to Walter S. Mossberg at walt.mossberg@wsj.com