pcs

Despite the volatile economy, the PC industry overall appears on the surface to be doing fine thanks to the influx of cheap, underpowered notebooks.

Overall, worldwide PC shipments rose to 80.6 million units during the third quarter this year, a 15 percent increase over the same quarter a year ago, according to a new quarterly report issued Tuesday by research firm Gartner. In the U.S. however, the picture is not so rosy.

Perhaps because of consumers' economic worries, a lot of sub-$500 computers sold in the third quarter. Whether it's a new worldwide Netbook market that'… Read more

Information Appliance Associates, the creator of the original Mac-to-BlackBerry sync solution (also known as PocketMac for BlackBerry), announced on Tuesday a beta release of the first tool to sync Linux user data to the BlackBerry. The tool is dubbed "PocketMac for BlackBerry Linux Edition."

This beta version is the result of more than 18 months of development and testing; it's now open to the public for more input before a final version is created. The beta period starts Tuesday and is limited to a set number of users; if you're interested, you'd better sign up now.… Read more

Tech site HardwareZone seems to have popped the cork before the party has even begun, as leaked information on the first premium Eee PC was splashed across its site before being pulled down. According to an Asus representative, the information was actually under embargo and the aforementioned Eee PC S101 was not supposed to see the light of day until later this week.

But what's done is done: various other sites have replicated the information and the cat cannot be put back in the bag. The Eee PC S101 is the cooler and slimmer version of the Eee PC … Read more

This product is so new, it doesn't even have a name. Yet.

During the announcement of the new ToughBook notebooks, Panasonic also took the opportunity to show off one of its upcoming Intel Atom-based tablets. This white unit is meant for use in the medical field. Aside from a touch-screen display, it has features like RFID and a fingerprint sensor built in. You probably won't see this ToughBook in stores anywhere but don't be surprised if you see a nurse keying in your particulars and medical history on something like this in the future.

The company will … Read more

The CherryPal PC is in a holding pattern. The $249, 10-ounce, 2-watt-drawing, cloud-computing PC we first spied in July is still at least a couple weeks away from materializing. The company tells TG Daily that problems with the graphics hardware has pushed back its ship date at least two weeks. This follows on the heels of the company delaying the original August release due to a software conflict with the system's solid-state storage.

The irony here is that hardware and software issues have delayed this tiny PC that has only the bare minimum of hardware and software. The CherryPal … Read more

This blog has been updated with comments from HP.

A rumor is circulating that Hewlett-Packard is closing the gaming PC outfit it bought just two years ago.

The report comes from a blog called Techgage, which cites an "insider close to the situation," who reports an e-mail announcing layoffs is circulating at the company, though the report doesn't include a specific number of jobs being cut. It also reports that Voodoo is returning parts to its supplier.

HP spokeswoman Marlene Somsak said it would be "incorrect" to say HP is shutting down Voodoo, but didn'… Read more

"I know I said I was going to the party dressed as a clown, but what do you think of this pin-striped suit?"

When you've worked in advertising for a long time--especially if you're on the creative side--you learn to steel yourself to expect anything. Otherwise, your doctors prescribe you far too many strangely-named concoctions, all of them ending in 'zepam'.

Which is why Microsoft's decision to regress its ad agency, Crispin, Porter and Bogusky, back to the mean, is merely another day at the Wishing Well.

It is, however, sadder than seeing Hillary Swank … Read more

As reporters, we tend to be wary whenever a company claims to be the first, the best, or the smallest of anything. But when we saw an image of CompuLab's Fit-PC Slim, we thought it could very well be the tiniest machine capable of running Windows XP yet.

The original Fit-PC 1.0 was already a minute machine, measuring about 4.7 inches x 4.5 inches x 1.6 inches and weighing about 1.1 pounds. The new model, however, makes the first version look bloated. Weighing less than a pound, the Fit-PC Slim takes up only about … Read more

The roughly two-month shopping period before school starts is typically fruitful for consumer electronics retailers. Not this year.

All categories combined showed minimal growth. Although notebook sales increased 10 percent over the same period the year before, desktops were down 3 percent. And products that have been guaranteed big sellers in past years continue to lose momentum: digital-camera sales were down 1 percent, printer sales were even, and MP3 player sales were up 7 percent.

This is especially concerning to electronics retailers, since the all-important holiday shopping season is approaching, a time when they typically can expect to play catch-up … Read more