There’s been a lot of talk about tablets such as the Apple iPad and Android tablets saving the news industry. Apple incorporated a Newsstand into iOS 5, which lets customers subscribe to digital magazines and newspapers and keep them organized. Zinio and other companies have created periodical stores for tablets. And a number of publications including the New York Times,…

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It seems like a week doesn’t go by without the launch of a new tablet device for surfing the web, viewing media, reading eBooks, and running apps. But most of the high profile tablets available cost $400 or more. You know what’s a lot cheaper? An eBook reader such as the latest NOOK, Kobo, or Kindle eReaders. They also have…

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Sure, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer seems pretty confident that we’ll start to see Windows 7 Slates from big name PC makers before the end of the year. But that doesn’t mean Microsoft doesn’t have anything to learn from the Apple iPad. In fact, the company is inviting iPad users to come to Microsoft’s Redmond campus to participate in a study….

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There are a lot of headlines going around today about how the iPad and thin and light laptops are putting the squeeze on netbook sales… and thus that they might be harbingers of doom for the netbooks. There’s just one problem. Those headlines are tied to a study from Retrovo, which suggests that a significant percentage of people who are…

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A netbook is a laptop. It’s just smaller, cheaper, and typically less powerful than most other laptops on the market. But those three things are enough to set netbooks apart from other notebooks in the minds of most consumers, and according to a survey from PriceGrabber.com, 55% of consumers think netbooks complements traditional laptops rather than replacing them. It’s not…

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SquareTrade provides warranties for computers. So the company’s in a pretty good position to know how frequently different types of machines break down. And the company recently put out a study with data showing that almost a third of all laptop owners “reported a failure to SquareTade” within the first 3 years of purchasing a notebook. That’s not the most…

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I know, I know. Technically, netbooks are just little notebooks. But the truth of the matter is that there are a number of things that most full sized notebooks can do that are tougher to do on a netbook. For one thing, most full sized laptops have optical disc drives for installing software, listening to CDs, or watching or burning…

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Google appears to be planning a netbook usability study, and the company is seeking recruits. CNet found a posting on Craigslist which points to a document netbook users can fill out to join the study. Participants need to be able to get to Google’s Mountain View or San Francisco offices, so if you’re reading this in New Zealand, you probably…

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Computer repair company RESCUECOM puts out regular reports on computer reliability. Basically, the company analyzes the number of service calls it gets about computers from a particular company with the number of units shipped by that computer maker. Using this method, RESCUECOM concluded that Apple computers were the most reliable in 2008. But for the first quarter of 2009, Asus…

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