Netbooks a temporary Band-aid on PC industry

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-US$500 computers sold in the third quarter. Whether it's a new worldwide Netbook market that's being created, or they're cannibalizing cheap laptops, isn't quite clear yet, according to Gartner PC analyst Mika Kitagawa.

Either way, PC sales in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa grew five times faster than in the US to reach 28.8 million units in the third quarter.
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The cure for "mouse arm": Gyroscopic mice

Do you suffer from hand and arm pain while mousing? Many factors can be blamed, from poor posture to a badly designed ergonomic environment. Unfortunately, simply adjusting one's seat or desk height doesn't always solve the problem (and sometimes you can't adjust either of these much at all).

I was a longtime sufferer of the condition I dubbed "mouse arm," which at one point got so bad that after a few hours, I would have to awkwardly mouse with my left hand for the rest of the day. About five years ago (long before I joined CNET), I discovered a company called Gyration and its line of gyroscopic mice.

The very latest version is the just-reviewed Gyration Air Mouse, a smaller US$99 travel version of the company's standard Gyration Go model. Like most other gyroscopic mice, the Gyration Air functions as a regular optical mouse when placed on a flat surface--but lift it up, and it switches into gyroscopic mode, letting users control the cursor by moving the mouse through the air.

Unfortunately, the new Gyration Air doesn't compare favorably with either the Go or another favorite, Logitech's sleek MX Air. The Air Mouse feels flimsy and insubstantial, and it literally rattles in your hand. The clacky mouse buttons feel loose, and worst of all, the optical tracking feels a tiny bit sluggish when used in the nongyroscopic mode.

A final note--newcomers to the gyroscope party should note that using one of these devices seems impossible at first, but after a short but intense 24-48 hour learning curve, it'll be second nature.

Via CNET Crave

More than just an average mobile USB hub

I know, it's a mobile USB hub. What's there to be excited about, right? IOGEAR's new 3-Port USB 2.0 Mobile Hub--the GUH276--is only worth mentioning because of its thoughtful design.

The hub only has three ports (hence the product name), but unlike others I've tried, these all face up and are widely spaced so no port has to go unused because of a bulky device. And instead of trying to jam a fourth USB port on top, IOGEAR attached a mini-USB cable to the device. The cable is capable of doing data transfers, say from a digital camera or camcorder to your computer as well as charging stuff like MP3 players, cell phones, or other mobile devices.

When you're done using it, the two cables securely wrap around the outside edge. Not bad for US$12.95.

Via CNET Crave

The Apple notebook guessing game

As with any Apple event, there's plenty of rumor and speculation to go around. The lead-up to the event in which "the spotlight turns to notebooks", according to the event invitation, has been no different.

The Mac maker has invited journalists down to its Cupertino headquarters to get a look at its new round of notebooks. But what exactly Apple CEO Steve Jobs will unveil is anyone's guess.

We have a few clues in the form of purported "spy shots", or leaked photos, of the redesigned notebooks that have made the rounds on blogs, but of course those should be regarded with skepticism. Still, the consensus is that we'll see a major redesign to the MacBook lineup which is more than 2 years old.

There could be some interesting interior changes too. Last weekend, a new round of rumors cropped up that Apple may be switching to Nvidia's graphics chipset, while maintaining Intel CPUs.

It's been rumored for months that the lower-end MacBook will take on aluminum casing, which would make sense since it's already used for the MacBook Pro, but we could also see a move to LED (light-emitting diode) backlighting as Apple has already has done with the MacBook Air.

Both new chipsets and new casing could increase the cost of building the MacBook and MacBook Pro. But on the other end of the spectrum, Apple might be showing off a lower-priced option, too.
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Limited-edition tokidoki-designed U2010

The Japanese-inspired lifestyle brand tokidoki, brain child of Italian artist Simone Legno, is coming to a UMPC near you. One hundred units of the limited-edition tokidoki-designed Fujitsu LifeBook U2010 (pictured above) will be available in Singapore, but be prepared to pay a premium for it.

For the privilege of owning the first tokidoki Fujitsu mini-notebook, you'll have to fork out a cool S$2,088 (US$1,397.31), S$400 (US$267.68) more than the normal LifeBook U2010. If this seems a little steep
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