NetBook

Motorola launches a netbook-powering Android smartphone, the Atrix which will run exclusively on Orange network.

A 1GHz dual-core handset the Atrix comes with 1GB of Ram and 16GB of on-board Flash storage.
The smartphone can power a netbook-like shell, available separately. The netbook, called Lapdock, 11.6in screen, keyboard and battery. The Atrix connects through a built-in dock, providing the unit's memory, storage and processing power. This offers access to a dedicated desktop-style UI, Firefox browser and QuickOffice suite.

Fresh stats from ABI Research revealed that in the third quarter of 2010 4.5 million tablets were shipped. The research agency’s Netbooks, MIDs, Media Tablets, and Mobile CE Market Data report shows that 93% of these tablets were Apple iPads.

Senior ABI Research practice director Jeff Orr notes that "Over time, Apple's first-to-market iPad advantage will inevitably erode to some extent."

Meantime the first half of 2010 was slow for netbooks, as relatively few new products were introduced.

Later this month Google is rumored to launch its first Chrome OS based netbook while vendors like Acer and HP are expected to announce their versions in December. The information leaked from Taiwanese electronics industry moles to the local news website DigiTimes.

Google's Chrome notebook is expected to be manufactured by Inventec with initial shipments to reach 60,000-70,000 units. The Google Chrome notebook will feature an ARM-based platform and will not be selling through retail channels.

According to the forecasts made by DisplaySearch the shipment of iPads during Q3 will have achieved 4.2 million while in the fourth quarter it will increase to 5 million. In total the number of iPads to be sold during 2010 will reach 13.2 million before almost doubling that total to 24.8m in 2011.
Meantime, its main rivals will not be too far behind. Vendors like Samsung, LG, Motorola, Toshiba, Asus and co will be closely following Apple. DisplaySearch reckons some 8.7m non-Apple netbooks and tablets will ship in Q3, rising to 11.2m in Q4.

Asus has announced its first netbook on dual-core Atom N550 processor. The Eee PC 1015PEM features Asus' curvy seashell design with said 1.5GHz CPU, 1GB of DDR 3, 160-320GB of hard drive storage, 802.11n Wi-Fi and other usual accessories.

The new netbook sports a pair of USB 3.0 ports and Bluetooth 3.0 for the next generation peripherals that are not yet accessible for a common public.

New figures from Gartner reveal that PC shipments in Western Europe increased by 19.6% in the second quarter as compared with the same period a year ago. Gartner reports that 15.6 million units were sold for the quarter, with the consumer market outshining the professional segment.

The consumer market was led by sales of notebooks and all-in-one PCs. Mini-notebooks or netbook sales grew less than 10 percent for the first time but still comprised 19 percent of mobile PC sales in Europe.

More and more users today report overheating of their portable devices like laptops, netbooks or computer tablets which in some cases result in absolute damage. It shows that like human beings technologies also need a proper care during summer days. As you may know chips installed into laptops turn off as soon as they reach 80 or 90 degrees C. While this protects the processor you may have other problems like spoiled or damaged hard drive which should be kept under temperature that does not exceed 40 degrees C.

Acer unveiled its latest netbook which combines Android and Windows XP operating systems in one pack. The netbook was announced at the Taipei Computer Applications Show.

The Acer Aspire One AOD255 netbook uses Android as a quick-booting operating system and then Windows as the main operating system. Acer software on the device, called Acer Configuration Manager for Android, controls which OS will boot.

 Another case ended with the victory of Securities and Exchange Commission. This time the SEC has accused one of the largest computer-making company Dell. It was announced that on Thursday several former executives of Dell, and its founder, Michael S. have agreed to pay more than $100 million in penalties.  

On Monday Toshiba announced a dual-screened mini notebook which can be used by customers as an ebook thus rivaling such popular devices as Apple iPad and Amazon Kindle.

Using a software keyboard customer can turn the device into conventional PC, and turning it 90 degrees customer can use the device an ebook reader.

The company plans to roll out the device for the sale in Japan in late August and some time later in Europe, the United States and other markets.

In an era of fast developing technologies when many people shift from home desktops to portable devices like laptops, netbooks, smartphones and tablets we still lack much of the functionality we can have with the usual PC, notes MaximumPC magazine. However, there appears still to be a good way out to enjoy using your home computer while being on the go. Today there are several dedicated applications that allow users to control their PC from another PC or mobile device.

According to Wednesday announcement, Canonical plans to gladden its customers with new version of the Ubuntu OS for tablet computers. This is a company’s move to extend its presence in the mobile space.  

The new research, conducted by consumer electronics site Retrevo amid over 1,000 Americans, has shown the iPad popularity has been growing enormously eliminating netbooks’ one.

As it became known from HP's executive, the company plans to launch iPad based on Palm's WebOS in its efforts to out-iPad.
Last month HP bought Palm for $1.2bn.

Monty Wong, VP of PCs at HP's Taiwan operation, stated in an interview WebOS will be used in smartphones and tablets, but not in netbooks. However, HP doesn't see the operating system making it into netbooks. Wong suggested that these machines are really small computers so require a computer OS.

For the laziest Asus laptops users who are also devoted to Amazon's Kindle book-reading app, the companies now offer some Asus models with the Kindle app pre-loaded. So, the user doesn’t need to download and install the PC version of Amazon's free Kindle app on his Netbook anymore.