Smartbooks, which Now Seem to Be Called Tablets

choi

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(1) Levono leads the charge of Smartbooks. But (a) and (b) refer to it as
IdeaPad U1 while (c), as Skylight. (a0 to (c) are reports in reverse
chronological order. There is no need to read them.

(a) Brad Stone and Nick Bilton, A Deluge of Devices for Reading and Surfing;
More Versatile E-Readers Are Coming, Many of Them From Start-Ups. New York
Times, Jan. 9, 2010.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/09/technology/personaltech/09reader.html?scp=1&sq=deluge%20gadget&st=Search
("Lenovo IdeaPad U1 Hybrid Notebook")

(b) Michelle Kessler and Edward C. Baig, Tablet PC mania hits; Dell, Lenovo,
HP Unveil Their Versions, but Some Are Pricey. USA Today, Jan. 8, 2010.
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2010-01-07-tablet-computers_N.htm?csp=hf
(Lenovo IdeaPad U1: tablet)

(c) Don Clark and Ben Charny, Ten for '10: New Gadgets for Home and Away;
Consumer Electronics Show Debuts Devices That Take the Internet More Places;
Shouts of Encouragement on the Treadmill. Wall Street Journal, Jan. 7, 2010.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703882804574642432929971324.html

Quote:

"Lenovo Skylight
What it is: laptop meets smart phone
Price: $499, though subsidized carrier pricing plans expected
Availability: April"

(2) Because the smartbooks are a brand-new category of device, everything
from hardware to chips to software are new and untested. Therefore, you as a
consumer must enter with eyes wide open. See, e.g,

Chris Nuttall, Smartbooks launch assault on PCs with 'rich web' devices.
Financial Times (FT), Jan. 4, 2010.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e311dde6-f999-11de-8085-00144feab49a.html?nclick_check=1

(3)
(a) What the above FT report intrigued me most is this paragraph:

"The chipmakers blame software problems - finding an alternative to Windows
has been problematic and they have also been waiting for Adobe to provide
adequate Flash support for ARM-based chips - needed to enable fast video
delivery.

Downloading video used to be painstakingly slow. But no more. I am unsure if
the advance is due to improvement in software or in optic fiber. The FT
report pointed to the new software as the culprit, at least at this late day.

(b) The following suggests as much.

Ronald Grover, Adam Satariano and Ari Levy, Honest, Hollywood, Neflix Is
Your Friend; That's Ted Sarandos' message in his bid to bring new films to
your PC or TV. But the studios aren't buying. BusinessWeek, Dec. 29, 2009.
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_02/b4162054151330.htm

Quote:

"Netflix has a powerful brand and slick streaming technology. * * * Still,
Netflix does not disclose how often its customers use the streaming service,
and analysts believe that it is tiny next to the DVD business.

"To turn the service into the real deal, Netflix will have to build a
compelling online library. Right now Watch Instantly features only 17,000
films and TV shows, compared with Netflix's 100,000 or so titles on DVD.

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