Microsoft, PC Industry Will Need Windows Upgrade Offer More Than Ever

With Windows 8 arriving as late as November, Microsoft is turning to its old standby — a guaranteed upgrade program.
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iPad Keeps Apple No. 1 in Mobile PC Sales

The mobile PC business is booming, and thanks to exploding iPad sales, Apple remains its undisputed leader.
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Lenovo Looks to Bridge Business and Consumer With New Ultra-Light and Ultrabook ThinkPads

Lenovo’s ThinkPad X1 carbon Ultrabook is definitely not your father’s ThinkPad.

News Byte

Paid Newspaper Aggregator Ongo Shuts Down

Ongo, a newspaper-backed startup that tried to sell digital subscriptions to a variety of publications, is shuttering after less than two years. The New York Times, the Washington Post and Gannett each put a reported $4 million into the company, but it never got traction with subscribers. Nieman Journalism Lab has a good exit interview with CEO Dan Haarmann, who blames Apple’s subscription policy, among other factors, for the company’s failure.

Time Inc. Shrinking Again

Not a good sign for the magazine business: A rough quarter for Time Inc., the world’s biggest magazine publisher.
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QOTD: New From Microsoft, the Windows 8 Refridgeroaster

Well, anything can be forced to converge. … You can converge a toaster and a refrigerator, but those things are probably not gonna be pleasing to the user.

Apple CEO Tim Cook, on Windows 8 tablet-laptop hybrids

News Byte

I’ll Take “PC Disruptors” for $500, Alex. (What Is “a Tablet”?)

More evidence pointing toward tablets disrupting the PC industry: According to a new Forrester Research survey of more than 5,000 U.S. adults, 35 percent of tablet owners say they use their laptops less frequently since getting a tablet, while 45 percent have no plans to buy an e-reader now that they own a tablet. The television set is faring better, however, with just 12 percent of those surveyed saying they use their TV less frequently since getting a tablet; likely because 85 percent of tablet owners cop to using their tablets while watching TV.

Intel Hopes Its New Tablet Will Go to the Head of the Class

The company introduces the Studybook, a rugged 7-inch tablet for the education market capable of running either Windows 7 or Android.
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News Byte

Office-for-iPad App CloudOn Adds Box, DropBox and More

CloudOn, a free application that has partnered with Microsoft to bring Office applications to the iPad, is rolling out a new version of its app that adds Box, DropBox and Adobe Reader. Users can now log in to their existing cloud-storage accounts and view and update files directly from CloudOn. The app first launched in January, and says it has seen close to a million downloads. A competing app, OnLive, also offers iPad users access to Microsoft Office, but has come under fire from Microsoft for allegedly violating licensing terms.

News Byte

20 Percent of Americans Say They’re Reading eBooks

One in five Americans say they’ve read an e-book in the last year, according to a new poll from the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project. Those numbers come from a late-January survey, they’re up sharply from a December 2011 survey. Pew says the jump coincides with a jump in e-reading devices: Ownership of dedicated e-reader devices like the Kindle and the Nook went from 10 percent in December to 19 percent in January, and ownership of tablets like iPads and Kindle Fires made the same leap.

Daddy, I Want an iPhone NOW!

Yes, Nokia Is Building a Tablet