No wonder everybody's gunning for Netflix. The video-streaming service is more popular than many of us imagined. A new study by market research firm The NPD Group shows that Netflix's share of streamed or downloaded digital movies was a competition-crushing 61 percent between January and February 2011.
Hewlett-Packard CEO Leo Apotheker has made it clear: Starting next year, the company's WebOS mobile operating system will run on pretty much every laptop or desktop that HP ships. And that's good news for HP customers -- and end users in general -- who increasingly find themselves juggling more and more data across multiple computing devices.
With the arrival of Apple's iPad 2, it's time for some tough decisions.
As the tech world awaits the expected unveiling of Apple's next-generation iPad on Wednesday, a new report suggests the upcoming iPad 2 will be a minor upgrade. However, its future replacement -- let's call it the iPad 3 -- will be a super-duper slate that rocks the tablet world.
A refreshed lineup of MacBook Pro laptops may debut next week, according to a Friday report by AppleInsider. Citing the ever-chatty "people familiar with the matter," the Apple-oriented blog says that Cupertino is mulling whether to launch the updated notebooks before the end of February. If so, Apple is running out of time to issue party invites.
Google has launched version 9 of its Chrome browser, which features Chrome Instant search, a speed enhancer that loads Web pages as you type a URL. Other notable upgrades include WebGL support for hardware-accelerated 3D graphics, as well as access to Google's new Chrome Web Store.
The Android mobile operating system thoroughly dominates the U.S. consumer smartphone market, while Microsoft's new Windows Phone 7 OS is off to a slow start, according to a new survey by market researcher The NPD Group. And while Apple's share of the consumer market is falling, the iPhone will likely get a boost once Verizon Wireless starts offering the top-selling handset in February.
There's little doubt that Verizon Wireless has an instant hit on its hands with the Apple iPhone 4, which the U.S. carrier starts selling on February 10. But how many millions of iPhones will Verizon sell in 2011? According to one analyst, sales could approach a jaw-dropping 25 million.
Sometime in the not-to-distant future, smartphones may help humans bridge those pesky linguistic and cultural barriers that always seem to cause so much trouble. At least that's Google's goal with Translate for Android, a free app that can help travelers better communicate with the locals, and vice versa. A new version of Translate debuted Wednesday, one with several interface tweaks designed to improve usability.
The Japanese have proven their techie prowess over the decades.
Sony launched a duo of thin laptops at the Consumer Electronics Show on Wednesday that offer a more affordable alternative to Apple's MacBook Air. The new Vaio S and Y portables start at $900 and $550, respectively. And although they cost less than Apple's ultra-slim Airs, which start at $US1,000 (11-inch) and $1,300 (13-inch), they're a tad thicker and heavier too.
Rumor has it that Microsoft will launch a barebones version of Windows for TV set-top boxes at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
Which American city will receive Google's experimental fiber network? We'll have to wait a while longer to find out, it seems.
Chrome OS is grabbing headlines this week, as Google reveals more details about its cloud-based operating system for mobile devices. Netbooks running Chrome OS won't ship until mid-2011, however, which allows us plenty of time to speculate on potential shortcomings.
Nothing conjures up images of smoking jackets, pipe aroma, and silicone implants quite like Playboy - which, like every other print magazine, is struggling to stay relevant in the Internet era. Well, Hef and Co. have come up with a revenue booster just in time for the stocking-stuffer season: 56 years of Playboy on a 250GB hard drive.
