WiFi continues its eternal quest for faster, farther, more frugal and faithful operations with the introduction later this year of the new specification, 802.11 ac.  The “ac” jumps from the b/g/n designations by a speed factor of three with theoretical maximum speeds of 450 Mbs with one antenna, 900 mbs with two, and 1.3 Gbs with three.

Although actual speeds rarely reach these theoretical maxima, users will notice a significant increase in speed. 

The new specification will also travel farther, be much more power efficient and have less downtime.  Many of these advances are attributable to the new systems use of the 5GHz spectrum now available for WiFi and for a higher bandwidth of that frequency.  The older 2.4 GHz frequency is getting crowded and more unreliable, having to compete with microwave ovens, cordless phones and other uses of that spectrum.

The increased speed is needed for HD video streaming, and this higher speed  eliminates the need for buffering the data.  When employed, the 802.11 ac will begin operations on your TV, for example, immediately, and will not have to pause periodically to fill the buffer again.

The increase in distance will be gained by a process of beam forming, where the transmitter monitors which devices demand the most speed and then increase the bandwidth available for that use while cutting that of the devices not demanding the higher speed data.  Up to 8 antennas can be used to broadcast the signal.

Reports say that the new transmitters will be available later this year, with Apple leading the charge.  Receiver/transmitters will be installed on Apple equipment even before the final specifications are approved by the IEEE committee charged with the design parameters.  Software fixes will be able to change the characteristics of the installed radio to meet any changes that are done in the final round for approval and public dissemination.

2/3/2012:  7-Inch Android Tablet $99 from Sprint With Two-Year Contract

Sprint, beginning on Sunday, Feb. 5, will sell a 7-inch Android Tablet running version 2.3, for $99.  to get this price one must sign a two-year data services contract.  The contracts provides for 1 GB per month of 3G data for $20 a month, 3 GB for $35 and 5GB for $80.

The Optik tablet, manufactured by ZTE, a Chinese company, has fair to less than fair specs.  Screen resolution of 1280 X 800 is better than some.  It has a relatively slow Qualcomm Snapdragon dual-core processor that runs at 1.2GHz speed, 16 GB of storage memory, and a 5 Megapixel camera and another 2 MP for front facing pictures.  The Optik also has a mini SD card slot.  The weakest part of the design is in the WiFi radio.  It will run 802.11 b/g, which is one generation behind the three-times faster “n” specification that most everyone else is offering now.  And it will soon be two generations behind when the 802.11 ac begin appearing later this year.

The China-based ZTE is making its debut into North America.  It holds No. 5 spot in the global mobile phone market for the last quarter.  It almost caught #4 LG Electronics in the most recent quarter. 

Ultrabooks are Intel’s way of making itself relevant in the thin and light world of laptops.  In doing so they have set the limits on what can be called an Ultrabook. 

The list starts, of course, with an Intel CULV (ultra-low voltage) processors with integrated graphics, solid state drives for fast loading times, and a unibody chassis.  Because of their minimal size, the ability to have full-size ports (USB, HDMI, VGA, Ethernet, etc) is limited.

Qualifications also include a maximum thickness of .8 inches, 3.1 pounds of weight, battery life of from five to seven hours, and Core i5 or i7 processors.  SSD flash memory for storage is an option but not mandatory. The price is supposed to be in the $1000 range.

Thus far the vendors who have entries in this new market include Acer.  with four 13.3-inch model, Asus with two, an 11.6-incher and a 13.3-inchers, Samsung, Toshiba and HP also have models that fall within the narrow definition. 

Some vendors are planning on 14-inch and 15-inch screens, although it will be difficult to keep them within the weight limit with screens that large. 

The one HP entry that (almost) meets the strict limits is the Folio 13, pictured above.  Technically the Folio 13 comes in at 3.3lbs, so it is 0.2 pounds overweight.  The extra weight comes from the built in 4-cell battery which gives the Folio 13 a seven hour battery life.  To say within the weight limit, the Asus limits the battery to three cells, but it suffers about an hour or hour and a half shorter battery life, according to actual user tests done by Engadget.

The thickness of the Folio 13, at .71 inches, is near the top of the limits set by Intel.  But the thick sides allow for full-sized ports for Ethernet, USB 3.0 and 2.0, and HDMI out.  It also has a microphone/ headphone jack.  This the only Ultrabook I have seen with full-sized ports.

The most prominent complaint of the Folio 13 is its screen.  At 1366 X 768 it is on the low-end for a screen that size, and the lack of brightness of the display was noted by the reviewer at Engadget.

The keyboard is one of its stronger suits.  The keys have a full travel and don’t suffer the Chiclet syndrome so common on other brands.  Many Chiclet keys have such a short travel that they fail to register some strokes.  The Folio’s keyboard is also backlit, if you toggle it on.

The touch pad also gets good marks.

Pricing is set officially at $999, and that is the listed price on HP’s website.  This price is below most other 13.3-inch screen Ultrabooks with SSD drives and i5 processors.

On the technical side, the specs are listed below:

§ 6 cell Lithium Ion Battery

§ 13.3-inch HD Brightness LED-backlit Display (1366 X 768)

§ No internal DVD or CD Drive

§ HP Webcam with Integrated Digital Microphone

§ Intel 802.11b/g/n WLAN and Bluetooth with Wireless Display Support

§ Full-size backlit keyboard

§ Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

§ 2^nd generation Intel Core i5-2467M (1.6 GHz) Intel HD Graphics 3000

§ 4GB DDR3 System Memory (1 DIMM)

§ 128 GB SSD Flash Module

Other chip fabricators are also working on new versions of thin and light ultraportables.  AMD has said it is developing its own version of a processor they will call the Trinity chips.  Trinity will come in dual and quad-core configurations, and the starting price of their Ultrathin laptops would be in the $500 range.

AMD also says that the Trinity chips will draw around 17 watts of power, about the same as the upcoming Ivy Bridge microarchitecture from Intel.  Both of the new generation of chips are expected in summer or fall of this year.

Apple also has an entry into the field, its MacBook Air, although they do not call it an Ultrabook.  The Air is produced in both an 11.6 and 13.3-inch versions, and are priced from $1100 and up.

Sales of Ultrabooks have been slow thus far.  They are being priced at near to just over $1000, so this should not come as a surprise.  Prices are expected to fall this year, and there are already some promotions with a $100 to $200 price cuts.

Now that the bean counters have finished their tally sheets, it appears that Amazon actually sold 6 million of the $199 Kindle Fire in the fourth quarter.  This estimates comes from Stifel Nicolaus, an analyst, who put this in his recent note.  Earlier prediction of Kindle Fire Sales were in the area of 5-million units  for the period.

This is an impressive figure given that Amazon came from nowhere in the tablet market, and its sales didn’t start until mid-November.  Apple last week said it had sold 15.4 million iPad tablets in the last quarter, more than double the number it sold for the same period in 2010.

Some have estimated that the Fire accounts for up to 40% of Android sales during its first month and a half of its existence.

1/29/2012:  ARM Ultrportables on Windows 8

The ultraportable laptop category of PC is soon to get a major boost.  ARM chips, which began their life in America primarily as the brains of cell phones, has since graduated to tablet computers, running both iOS and Android designs.  But soon, beginning in February, ARM designed for laptops will be enabled to run Windows 8. 

An ARM based ultraportable will not be seen immediately on dealer shelves—I would look for that much later in the year.  But it is strongly rumored that Microsoft will release an ARM-based version of Windows 8 to developers in February.  This release is enabled by the fact that, again, according to reliable reports, Windows 8 has become stable on the new platform.

Some laptops and tablets running Widows 8/ARM designs were shown at the recent Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, but they were shown only behind glass walls, and nothing moved on the screens other than a fixed display sequence.  No hands were allowed to touch these devices—Win 8 was not yet stable enough to allow such liberties.  But, now, the project moves to the next stage where developers can begin testing the new OS on tablets and laptops of their own design.

The picture at right, taken at CES, shows Windows 8 running on an ARM designed device.

For those of us who use these types of machines, this is unambiguous good news.  ARM chips were originally designed to run by sipping only the slightest amount of juice—extended battery life was their reason for existing.  The only way this could be achieved was to reduce the instruction set that powered the functions of the chip.  Reduced Instruction Set Chips (RISC) were not new, but they found new life under the ARM design by being adapted for cell phones, smart phones, and, more lately, on tablets.  The iPad, iPhones, iPod and Android devices all use ARM designed chips.

What has given this design new life is the expansion of the RISC concept by introducing multiple cores in the central processing unit.  Apple’s iPad and iPhone ARM design use dual cores now.  And late last year quad-core designs were perfected, opening the larger tasks required by PCs to its domain.  Nvidia was the first fabricator to make a commercially available quad core design, and Asus was the first to market with its Tegra 3 ARM on the their Transformer Prime tablet.  Many other tablets will be seen in the coming months running Nvidia’s and other quad core ARM designs.

It is thought now that using an ARM design will reduce the price of a laptop by a couple of hundred dollars per unit.  Thee savings will be about the same whether the chip is fabricated by Texas Instruments, Qualcomm, Samsung, Nvidia, or Apple.  This means we could see fully functioning Windows 8 apps on ultraportables for $800 or less and even further as production costs are reduced by the economies of scale that invariably follow wider use.

Although there is no official announcement that Microsoft’s Office suite of apps will run under the ARM based version of Windows 8, unofficial reports say that all the Office apps run fine.  This development will be, I believe, one of the larger tech stories of 2012.  The practical implications are huge.

1/27/2012:  Moto Moves a Million

Motorola, in its quarterly statement released yesterday, assets that it shipped one million Android tablets during 2011.  The only tablet they sold during the year was the Xoom—their newer tablet, the XYBoard did not begin selling until 2012, although some could have been shipped in December.  The last quarter saw 200,000 units shipped, according to the report.

One million units is not great when compared with the 10.5 million Android tablets shipped during the year, but it may be enough to keep Motorola in the game.  Perhaps the XYBoard will sell better.

1/26/2012:  Android Tablets Close the Gap With iPad

At last there are real numbers that show the Android assault on the iPad is beginning to take effect. Although the data provided is of shipments—not sales to consumers—it can reasonably be assumed that the items shipped will eventually be sold. The shipments reported are for both the iPad and Android devices. The weakness in the data is that no distinction is made between shipments of 10-inch tablets and those of 7-inches. This is, in my view, an important distinction, since there is little basis for comparing a 7-inch screen with an iPad or 10.1-inch screen.

Regardless of the weaknesses of the data, it is all we have for now.  It is supplied by Strategy Analytics, a firm that advises Global 500 firms on technology issues. They specialize in tracking, analyzing and forecasting technology markets including consumer electronics and wireless devices.

According to their report, about 26.8 million tablets were shipping in the fourth quarter of 2011. Apple iOS devices accounted for 15.4 million units and Android about 10.5 million. Therefore, for the last quarter of 2011, the iPad had about 57 percent of the tablet market and Android at about 39 percent.

This is impressive when the same shipments are compared with the fourth quarter of 2010. In that year, as can be seen in the table below, Apple iOS shipments were 7.3 million units and Android 3.1 million. So, last year Apple’s share of the market was 69 percent and that of Android 29 percent.

For total units sales, Apple more than doubled its shipments and Android more tripled theirs.

This is good news for both Apple and the Android vendors. Android can compete with the iPad, but probably at lower prices overall, and the more capable Android 4.0 will probably help them compete with iOS.

Tablet Shipments Q4 10 vs Q4 11

It also convinces me that there is room for a Windows 8 tablet in the market. Windows 8 tablets are slated to debut later this year, probably in the third quarter, so the new OS will have only three or four months to work out the bugs before the 2012 Christmas selling season begins. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a slow start for Windows 8, because no matter how much in-house testing is done on a new OS, consumers always find ways to foul the best laid designs on engineers. Quick fixes are a fixture in this type of business, and wise buyers will be aware of early and unexpected problems. This may slow their initial adoption.

1/23/2012:  RIM Makes a Management Move

RIM has provided a press release that former co-CEOs Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie are passing the reigns to the company’s former co-COO Thorsten Heins.  Mr. worked with Siemens AG before joining RIM in 2007.

The announcement is not a surprise.  It is clear that Mr. Lazaridis and Mr. Balsille failed in their attempt to turn BlackBerry around.  Last year RIM owned about 35.8 percent of U.S. smartphone market. By November of 2011, that number had dropped almost in half to just 16.6 percent.  The stock value has faired even worse.  RIM is in deep trouble, and there are many within the industry who doubt that the latest move will be enough to turn things around.

1/21/2012:  eBook Borrowing Doubles

The demand for e-books at some major public libraries more than doubled in December and January compared to a year ago.  The Boston Public Library, the nation’s oldest, reports eBook borrowing more than tripled in December, compared to December 2010. For the first half of January, more than 700 people a day tried to borrow an e-book, or added their name to a long waiting list for some of the more popular titles.

At the New York Public Library, 2,907 e-books and materials were checked out on Dec. 26, 2011, nearly double the 1,523 checked out on the same date in 2010.  The New York Public Library carries over 20,000 eBook titles.

The increase in demand is closely tied to so many eBook readers as gifts during the Christmas season.  And this last season saw a record in eReading device sales.  It is estimated that the Kindle Fire sold over f.5 million units this last season.

Public libraries are stressed with the influx of orders.  First, they are restricted to lending of their electronic titles.  Different publishers limit the number of times an electronic title can be loaned, and some publishers do not have electronic editions.  There are some publishers who publish electronic editions but refuse to sell to libraries.  

Waiting lists for popular titles are long.

1/16/2012: Windows 8 for October?

A Microsoft executive, in an interview at CES, mentioned that it is generally three years between major upgrades to Windows, implying that October of this year is a likely time for the final release of Windows 8.  He was careful to note that this was not an official statement, but one of historical continuity, more or less.

This is important to Microsoft, of course, but it is important to the entire industry, because Windows 8 will feature a touch-screen orientation written from scratch for the first time.  Although Windows 7 was patched to add touch operations, it remained a mouse-centric OS, and the touch interface was a kludge and clumsy add-on.  Windows 8, it is hoped, will remedy these deficiencies.

But on an even larger scale, Windows 8 will also be written to run on ARM chips for the first time.  ARM is the family of Reduced Instruction Set Computers (RISC) that has taken over the cell and smartphone markets as well as tablets.  Apple uses a dual core ARM design for the iPad3, and iPhone.  Samsung, Toshiba, Motorola, Texas Instruments, Qualcomm, Acer, Asus and many others produce tablets or parts for tablets that use ARM architecture as the CPU on their devices.  Plus, the new generation of quad-core ARM chips brings its raw processing power up several notches to where it can now match the Intel designs in horsepower, at least ways important to tablet and general PC use

Of course none of the existing ARM-based tablets can run Windows.  Rather they operate on iOS, Android or QNX.  This means that owners of tablets of these devices will not be able to run any of the Windows’ Office Suite of productivity applications– Word for Windows, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.  And this limitation is the major stumbling block for making the tablet a computer capable of producing content rather than merely consuming it.

Microsoft apparently has its collective mind set on having a new generation of tablets using ARM designs but running Windows 8 as the operating system.  Owners of such a tablet could purchase an ARM-compatible Office Suite and thus not have to give up using their familiar productivity applications.

I would prefer to see Microsoft write a special version of the Office Suite for ARM chips using Android or iOS, but this probably won’t happen at first if ever.  Microsoft does sell operating systems as well as specific applications for productivity, so it seem reasonable to expect them to keep their legacy apps for their own customers. 

For now, and for the near future, iPad and Android tablet owners will have to be satisfied with working around the problem with Dropbox or other cloud solutions, but none of these solutions allow for easy creation or editing of Word, etc. documents.  However a new entry into the Office-Suite-for-iPad  category of cloud computing, Onlive Desktop, offers the most complete solution to this problem.  I will have a review of this new app in the next few days.

1/15/2012:  Sony Shows Ultraportable at CES

Sony is thinking ultrabook.  But, it doesn’t have one ready to sell yet.  It did show a preproduction model, however, but no one could put their hands on it.  From the view provided the ports can be seen: 2 USB ports including 1 USB 3.0 port. There’s also an HDMI port, VGA port, headphone jack, Ethernet jack, and a card reader which supports SD cards and Sony Memory Stick Pro Duo.

The thin laptop is also the same thickness front and back, abandoning the MacBook Air’s design of sloping to a near razor’s edge at the front.

Sony would not provide any pricing or availability information on their new ultra, so we can only surmise that it will come in a 3lbs or less, given its 13.3-inch screen.  Other specs will follow when they become available.

1/5/2012:  Acer has a New Iconia Tab

Acer is updating the 10.1-inch tablet with their new model, the Iconia Tab 200.  Their new entry into the crowded Android tablet market has graphics with a 1280 X 800 pixel screen and an NVIDIA Tegra 2 dual core processor that runs at 1 GHz.  These are fairly average numbers for tablets on the market today.

Acer insists the new model will be available in stores on January 15th, and, happily, its price will start at $329 at the low end with 8 GB memory.  The 16 GB model will sell at $349.

  This is good news for those looking an Android tablet.  The first wave of Android 10.1-inch tablets were priced at $499, and none sold well.  But, those prices have begun to fall.  It seems to me that a $300 entry price may have some chance of selling a significant number of units.

The Iconia 200 will not ship with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, but it will be up-graded from Honeycomb 3.2 to the newer Operating System in February. 

Lenovo Revamps Their ThinkPad Line with Thin and Light and a Hybrid Intel/ARM Model

Lenovo is redefining the ThinkPad line of notebooks, going with thinner, lighter models and instant-on features that are generally redefining notebooks in the new year.

A most interesting model is their X1 series of notebooks.  The X-series has always featured  ultra-small designs, and usually featured the most powerful ultras one could find.  Expense was never an objective for this line. 

The new X1 Hybrid is well within this tradition.  It features a fanless “Instant Media Mode” of operation that does not load Windows or rely on an Intel processor.  Rather Lenovo has put a Qualcomm dual-core processor on the motherboard that runs on a version of Android when the Intel processor is not running.

This feature allows many functions to be completed without using the more powerful Intel i5 or i7 capabilities.  Web surfing, video and picture viewing, check email or listen to music—all can be done using the Qualcomm ARM chip while the Intel chip is turned off.

Among the benefits of this configuration is that the battery life is doubled to 10-hours, and an instant awakening from an idle mode.  If more heavy duty work is required, Windows apps can be invoked by starting up the Intel engine.

The weight of the new X1 is 3.7-pounds chassis,  a 13-inch (1366 x 768) Gorilla Glass display. It’ll be offered with Core i3, i5 and i7 processors, a 3G radio and a slice battery that adds up to five more hours of battery life. It’ll be available sometime in the second quarter for $1,599 and up.

The dimensions are not published, but it will probably about the same thickness of last year’s model, so it cannot bear the new definition of Intel’s Ultrabook specifications, but it will be still be thin compared with the older line of Thinkpads.  It will also have the fabulous keyboard that is unique to Thinkpads.  The Android Marketplace will not be available to this version of Android.

There are many new Lenovo models announced that do qualify for the Intel definition of Ultrabooks, and they will be detailed in another post.

1/3/2012:  Asus to Debut New 7-inch Tablet at CES

Asus has released the picture at left of their new Eee Memo Pad, a 7-inch tablet that is run by a 1.2 GHz Snapdragon dual core processor and supports 16GB to 64GH of internal storage.  It will have a built in 3G and WiFi, with a screen resolution of 1,280 X 800. 

No word on pricing yet, but it will most likely be shown at the up-coming CES in Las Vegas on January 10th.  The new tablet is slated to be introduced in Asia before making it to America.

RIM puts BlackBerry Playbook on Sale

Research in motion has put its Blackberry Playbook on sale from its web site for $299.  The odd part of this story is that the price of the 16GB, 32GB and 64GB units all sell at the same price.  They are probably looking to sell out their existing inventory, so the larger memory units will probably go first. 

It makes me wonder if RIM will stay in the tablet business given their terrible experience with their first try.  But, they have a large installed base of business accounts that want tablets, so they may feel the heat to come out with a new, improved tablet to satisfy this critical part of their market.

1/1/2012:  Sony’s S Tablet Price is Cut $100

Happy New Year!  I look forward to an exciting 2012, with hundreds of new products slated for introduction over the next twelve months.  I also look forward to lower prices on many products that help readers in their quest for convenience in pursuing their hobby.

To start the new year off, Sony is reducing the price of their S Tablet by $100.  A brand new 16GB model of the S will now retail for $399, and the 32GB model will hereafter sell for $499.

Their Android S Tablet has generally had good reviews.  It is often the second choice to the iPad2, coming in ahead of the Galaxy Tab 10.1.  Some of the reviewers put it just behind the Galaxy.

The screen size of the S Tablet is an odd 9.4-inches, but its operation is similar to the 10.1-inches of most Android devices and the iPad2’s 9.7-inch screen.

With its ability to play PlayStation games, it was expected to sell well, but has not generated the revenue Sony anticipated.  There is a review of this model here at ereadersreview.net(Click here for review)

Ray Hendon

Ultraportables, which include the newest incarnation of thin and light laptops, the Ultrabook, are thought by some to be a threat to tablet computers.  The instant-on capability of Ultrabooks are believed to be especially attractive to those who have been buying tablets because of this feature. 

It appears likely to me that Ultrabooks and other thin and light laptops will do well in the market place, especially when their prices fall a few hundred dollars.  But whether they will dampen any of the enthusiasm for tablets is another matter.  Personally I think both form factors satisfy separate needs for different users.

One feature of the new Ultrabooks that will help resolve the question is whether they will serve their owners as competent eReaders.  Surely there are some prospective buyers who would prefer to own only one device rather than two—but only if the one could do the work of two.  Can an Ultrabook do both heavy duty computing and convenient eReading?  Can one design satisfy both these needs?

Certainly a dedicated eReader or a tablet have some advantages over a laptop, even a thin and light one.  Reading electronic books, for example is probably done best by a device that closely emulates the look and feel of a book.  The popularity of the Kindle and Nook are thought to owe much of their success to their similarity to printed books.

How essential is the look and feel,  though, to those who read a lot.   This article takes a look at the possibility of using these new, thin and light computers as an eReader.

To put this question to a practical test, I loaded the top three eReading applications to an 11.6” screen Asus UX21 to see how they worked.  The applications chosen to test are:

Amazon’s Kindle App for PCs, Macs, iPad, iPhone and Android devices

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• Barnes and Noble’s Nook Application for PC, Mac, iPad, iPhone  and Android devices
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• Sony’s Reader Application for PC, Mac and Android devices

  

To give you a taste of the difference, I have taken screen shots of random pages from eBooks on the three applications I mentioned.

Beginning with Amazon, a screen shot of George Eliot’s Daniel Deronda, is displayed in the two column format for laptop viewing. The screen shot is taken of the Kindle application for PCs.

Screen of Kindle Reader in Two Column Format

The Kindle app is widely praised for its versatility of layout options, underlining, comments, bookmarks and especially its syncing abilities.  This app also has go-to options that ease navigation, and dictionary lookup for a highlighted word.  All these features work on Ultrabooks. 

Amazon also has a user friendly policy of allowing you to direct any book in your library to be sent to any device on your registered list of devices. Amazon is indifferent as to which device or how many you use for any their electronic titles.  It treats them all the same and syncs them in an effortless way. The moment I registered my latest laptop, the Asus ZenBook UX21, all books in my library were immediately available for reading.

The strongest features of Amazon is, in my view, the ease of use of its website.  It is easy to find books, send them to the device of your choice, and generally navigate their vast site.

Equally strong is the selection of books, magazines and newspapers. They claim over a million titles, but that includes some categories such as “Singles” that represent a new class of literature that is generally shorter than a book but longer than an article. 

The worst feature of Amazon is that they insist on using a proprietary format for their eBook files.  It has an AZW extension and works only on Kindle software or hardware.  Although all the free sites I use give the option of downloading their books in the AZW format, in practice it is not terribly inconvenient.  Amazon also can read PDF files, and they will convert your Word for Windows documents to a format that allows you to put them in you Kindle library.

The other downside to Amazon is that they use DRM (digital rights management) on everything, so there is no cutting or pasting using anything in the AZW format. 

The Nook eReader software also provides a good reader experience. The screen shot below is from one of their pre-DRM works. Don’t be fooled by the small typeface. My screen capture utility shrunk it because the Nook takes up more of the horizontal space of the computer screen than the Kindle reader, so it has to cut the size down to fit within the pasted space. In practice, the Nook screen is as readable as any other.

Screen shot from the Nook Reader using the dual pane format

All the formatting and user options are available for the Nook reader–font size, margins, highlighting, lookup, go-to. And the B&N syncing feature is excellent between devices, and they offer their reader software app for a wide range of devices.

As far as eReading goes, it is hard to find much to prefer of B&N over Amazon or vice versa.  Both are excellent and have almost identical features.

The same is true for selection of books. B&N’s inventory is huge, and they have a good selection of free public domain books—as good as or better than Amazon’s.

Nook uses the ePub format, as does Sony, although both will read many other formats as well.  They do not read Amazon’s proprietary AZW file format, however.

Something of an oddity: The Nook reader treats all ePub software as DRM protected, so they do not allow cutting or pasting of non-DRM books.  Even on the iPad, whose own iReader app allows cutting and pasting of non-DRM protected material the  Nook does not.

Sony’s reader app provides a good reading experience. The screen shot below is from an ePub file of a non-DRM version of Sherlock Holmes.

Screen of Sony Reader’s Dual Column Layout

As with the Nook, the Sony Reader software uses more of the landscape screen to display its materiel than the Kindle app, so my clipping software has to reduce it to fit the pasting space. But Sony gives one plenty of formatting options and page control.

Sony lags both Amazon and B&N with book selection and syncing ability.  Their books are generally priced high; they have few free books, and their selection doesn’t match its two larger competitors.

Sony makes its reader software available to fewer devices—no iPad, no iPhone, no BlackBerry, for example.  They have syncing available to the three types of devices they support, but I have not tried it personally.

I like the Sony reader app for its ability to read almost any kind of document regardless of format, except, of course, Kindle documents. I will always have their app installed on my computers in case a particular book is not available in the Kindle format.  And they allow cut and paste options for non-protected books.

I find all three of the reader software about equally enjoyable to use. The differences in layout and options are not terribly important. I find I use the Kindle app more than the others because I find more books on their site I like, and I like to sync the books among all my devices. Still, I maintain active use of the Nook and the Sony Readers.

Summary:

First, the reality of the size and convenience of specialized eReaders and tablets makes it clear that they have the advantage. It is not possible for an ultrabook, weighing in at 2.9 pounds, to be as convenient to use as a 7-inch tablet or even the pound and a half iPad.

However, it is also inconvenient to carry two devices if one will do. So, there will be occasions when a thin and light laptop could be a suitable substitute for a dedicated eReader or tablet. 

At bottom, all of these tested apps work well on an Ultrabook. And they would work just as well with the software from other vendors such as Kobo or Blio. If your eReading preferences include comic books, magazines or children’s books, then you might like a specialty reader designed for the formats unique to these publications.

While all the eReading apps work well on an Ultrabook, it still may not be your preferred way of reading electronic texts.  But they are completely usable as a primary or secondary eReader. The choice of one over another is more dependent on which site you prefer to use because of its particular strengths than to the characteristics of their eReades.

From my experience, I have given away my Kindle reader. I simply do not want to carry another device with me in my travels. Now that I have a 7-inch tablet, the Samsung Galaxy Tab, I use it as my eReader of choice because of its lightness and ease of holding in one hand. I use the iPad for e-reading infrequently, but there are occasions when it comes in handy. Its weight, though, makes it a second choice, especially for long reading times. 

I rarely use a PC or my ultraportable for reading, but if I do it will be on the ultraportable.  Its lightness and instant-on feature does make it a better choice than the older, heavier laptops, but it is not as convenient to carry as a tablet.

An ultraportable may not be your favorite way of reading electronic texts, but it serves as a completely satisfying vehicle for reading if you want to carry only one device with you or if an occasion arises when it is all you have to use.

29 percent admitted owning at least a tablet or an eReader.  This is up from 19 percent last year.  The percentage of people who own a tablet jumped to 19 from 10 between mid-December and early January. E-book reader ownership also rose to 19 percent from 10 percent of U.S. adults.

Men and women were equally likely to own tablets, and the likelihood of tablet ownership was higher for people with higher household incomes, the report found. Those with higher levels of education were also more likely to own tablets than those who completed fewer years of school.

E-readers, meanwhile, were slightly more common among women.

The data from Pew Research is of a high quality.  Their samples on these questions runs form 2000 to 3000+, so the confidence in the sample results is much higher than from a typical political preference survey which usually run around 500 responders in the sample.

The two leaders in the equipment owned by the respondents is the iPad for tablets and Kindles for eReaders.  There are other brands, of course, but these two are the undisputed leaders in their respective categories.

The most surprising result is the similarity of eReaders and tablets, both being about half the total respondents.

My needs for a laptop computer, after years of trial and error, are precisely defined. I don’t like carrying bulky, heavy laptops, so light weight is my first consideration. I want it under four pounds, and, if possible, under three.

The Asus UX31, the big brother of the UX21  is pictured below.

Given lightness, it follows that the screen must be small, and over the years I have settled on an 11.6-inch screen as my optimal. I tried 14-inch screen years ago and it was too bulky and heavy. I tried a netbook with a 10-inch and it was too small to view a webpage comfortably. 13.3-is OK, but it adds weight, so the 11.6-incher is my choice. There are a few brands with a 12-inch screen, and I would like to try one, but there are no ultrabooks with that dimension, at least not yet.

Another top priority, although not entirely definitive is a Windows environment. All my writing is done with Microsoft’s Word for Windows. I have used it since the DOS days and have followed it up each iteration to Windows 7. I could go for an Apple-based OS, the MacBook Air, but I would have to factor in the extra cost of buying an Apple versions of Microsoft Office or at least Word for Mac. Using a MacBook Air would also introduce another inconvenience, that of moving files between its formatting and that of Windows on my desktop. Although this would not be a killer, it does put a barrier to an Apple or Unix environment.

Another consideration of lightness is the thickness, and here the ultrabook and other versions of thin and light have recently opened up the ultrathin design. It is appealing in looks, but for the most part it is good because it reduces the weight.

Quickness is also important. I have had an iPad for almost a year, and I have grown to like “instant on,” so SSD storage memory is a must. Some light and thin models of laptops have a hybrid approach with a small amount of SSD plus a spinning hard drive. This is not for me. Vast storage is not required for my uses of a portable computer. And adding a spinning drive increases weight and slows down data storage and retrieval, and shortened battery life.  Although SSD is expensive, it is getting less so, and I will pay the difference.

Long battery life is on the list of many laptop users, but it is a low priority for me. When I am at my desk, I use a desktop.  When I go to the coffee shop, I am there in order to change environments and do some serious work. But working more than two hours at a time is a rarity when I am there. So if my laptop lasts that long, that is enough. I’ll put it on the charger once I get home.

There are times, of course, when I am on the road, for example, when a longer battery life would be handy, but again, if one wants long battery life then a larger battery is required.  Larger batteries mean, of course, more weight. For me it is an easy tradeoff to carry a charger, although at times it is inconvenient. If I had the habit of using my laptop like I use my iPad, off and on all day, then I would want more charge-free time. But that is not how I generally use my laptop, so a three-cell battery does the job for my purpose.

From the criteria above it should be clear that I wanted a ultra-portable, variously defined as an ultrabook by Intel, Ultrathin by AMD, MacBook Air by Apple and just plain ultraportable by everyone else. So, getting closer to a decision I took the 3-hour drive to Houston so I could see the MacBook Air in person again, and see if my itch would demand a $1000 scratch.

My first stop was at the Apple Store in the Galleria Mall where I could have some time with the beautiful and talented MacBook Air. I had seen the new model before, but I wanted a fresher look. I got the look, and left without spending anything. My itch was not that demanding.

On the way out of the Galleria I ran into the Microsoft Store, so I decided to check it out, never having seen one before. Naturally I gravitated to the laptop section and an Asus UX21 and 31 were on display. Their display prices were $999 for the 11.6-inch UX21 and $1099 for the 13.3-inch UX31, but the salesman told me of their special offer of 25% off if the ticket price was at least $1000. That price would put the UX21, my preference, at $750 if I added a carrying case, so I was interested. But, I didn’t buy it that day.  I should have, though, because it would have saved me another trip to Houston the next day when I decided to buy it.

The UX 21 is shown immediately below.

It’s been about a month now, and I have had plenty of time to check out the Asus machine–I love it. It meets every objective I had in mind. It looks good, weighs less than 3 pounds, and has an 11.6-inch screen with a 1366 X 768 resolution. It boots from scratch in about 15 seconds, loads Word for Windows in less than 2 seconds and awakens from sleep mode in less than 2 seconds—it is fast, thanks to the Core i5 processor that powers it.

It also caters to one of my working quirks—I dislike using a touch pad for moussing, and the UX21 can be configured to turn off or to automatically disable the pad when a mouse is plugged into a USB port. On those occasions when I use the pad it works fine and has some pad options that are convenient—pinch to zoom, three finger scrolling and that sort of thing.

The function keys are well laid out, and Asus has adopted an intelligent attitude about making the delete/insert, print screen/sysrg, and pause/break keys usable without holding the function key down. A WiFi on/off function key is quite handy on F2 and an instant “sleep” function on F1.

I am impressed, too, by the Bang & Olufsen speaker system that hinges at the bottom of the screen. I have never heard a better internal speaker system on a laptop computer. But, I confess I haven’t heard that many, so there may be some other good ones available.

Included in the external ports is a mini-USB port that is used to attach an external monitor, and the adapter for this operation is included in the box as well as an Ethernet connecting adapter that fits into the USB 3.0 port. There is another full sized 2.0 USB on the right side with a mini HDMI out.

The one thing about it I do not like is the keyboard–a Chiclet design with a short travel. At first I missed making contact with certain keys when touch typing. The “a” key and “m” key were commonly missed at first. I have had to adjust my typing to the needs of the keys to be hit more or less in the center and with sufficient force to register. I confess I have been spoiled by using the Lenovo ThinkPad X120E keyboard. Lenovo inherited the fabulous ThinkPad keyboard from IBM when they bought the PC division some years ago, and in my mind there has never been a better keyboard for a portable computer. But, I don’t think that that type of keyboard is feasible on an ultrathin laptop. There isn’t enough depth for the travel required by that design.

The upside is that I have learned to adjust to the demands of this keyboard, but it did take some time and I still miss a key every now and then. I have kept it past the return time, and I plan on keeping it for four or five years—my usual horizon for a new computer.

There will be better models introduced later in the year. Apple is expected to up-grade the Air when Ivy Bridge processors are released by Intel, probably in the second quarter. The Windows laptops are expected to do the same.  Ivy Bridge will be a processor chip of 22 nanometers rather than the current 34 nanometers. So we should expect faster execution and longer battery life from the new models.

There are also expectations that prices will fall. Intel, which has big plans for Ultrabooks, has mentioned prices for the finished products at around $750 by the end of the year. And AMD is readying their thin and light processor for later this year, at prices lower than Intel charges. So there will be price pressures from more than one source.

If I hadn’t needed one now, I would probably have waited until summer, but I couldn’t. I have no problem with accepting what I bought will soon be displaced with something better. It has been that way since I began buying computers since the late 1980s, and I don’t expect it to change. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

There are workarounds, but none are very convenient.  I use Dropbox extensively, since I have more than one Windows machine, and it is possible with a companion app, DocsToGo,or QuickOffice to work with Word for Windows documents contained in the iPad’s  Dropbox app.  Is is convenient that Dropbox also works on the iPad , but it takes some doing to get the documents in its file system in a Word for Windows format when using it.  It can be done, but there are more steps to perform, and more steps slow you down, and still do not give you the formatting options available in Word.

Over the weekend, though, I picked up a new cloud application, OnLive Desktop, that allows me to use Word, Excel, Power Point and Paint on my iPad and have the files accessible to my other Windows computers.  Onlive Desktop is not like DocstoGo  or QuickOffice, where the iPad editing is done in a text window that is formatted for Docx use only when saved.  Onlive Desktop uses the actual Windows versions of Word, etc. to do the document creation and editing.  It’s all in the cloud; your documents are not stored on the iPad or your windows machine, but they are accessible from all your Windows and iOS devices.

The visual screen on the iPad is exactly what you see when viewing Word for Windows on your PC, and the commands and key-stroking are the same.  All the formatting options are there, too.  Even the Windows key short-cuts for selecting texts, cutting, moving to the clipboard and pasting are active.

One minor inconvenience, though, is that these commands are not usable when you leave the cloud environment and return to the iPads domain.  For example, it is not possible to copy an Office document to the clipboard and then paste it into an app on an iPad– no emailing or pasting into the iPad’s iWorks apps. 

However, if you use your PC to open or edit the document, the cut and paste works fine.  You can copy you Windows document from the cloud and paste it into a new Windows document or email screen on your PC.  You can also “save and send” the document from a PC but not from the iPad—that option is  “grayed out” on the iPad file menu.

The good news about Onlive Desktop is that it is free, at least for 2GB of cloud storage.  So you can download the app to your iPad at no cost.  The bad news is that it cannot be activated until you open an account on your PC.  Plus, once this step is taken, you can still not log on to your account with the iPad until you get permission from Onlive Desktop via email notification.  It took a day or so for all this to go through—it seems Onlive has a limited capacity to add new users so they tell you when it is your turn to get on board.

Once these preliminary steps are taken I have had no problem in logging on or off with any of my devices.  After using it for a day or two I find it was worth the effort because of the ease of use and seamless syncing between devices. 

As far as creating documents on the iPad, the relatively commodious iPad virtual keyboard does not work in the cloud, but a small one is made available by the cloud app when you need it.  But entering text on any virtual keyboard is too onerous to think about, so I tried my blue tooth  keyboard.  The good news is that it works fine with the cloud app.  Also the iPad keyboard that physically connects to the iPad—the one sold by Apple– also works with the cloud app, if you don’t mind turning your head sideways to read your text.  The Apple keyboard for iPad mounts only in a vertical, portrait, mode.  But the cloud app displays only in the landscape mode.  Forget using the Apple keyboard for the iPad—blue tooth is your only option.

One last note for those who may have an Android tablet: my heterogeneous environment does not stop with iPad and a Windows PC.  It also includes the Samsung Galaxy Tab (7-inch version) which runs under Android.  Although their Android app is not yet available for Onlive, it will be according to their Desktop site.  No time frame is provided, however.  Not that I would like to use such a small device for word processing, but I can envision a time when it would come in handy, especially with an external keyboard.

Overall, the new app is a welcome addition to my iPad.  I can now press it into a production mode if I have left my laptop behind.

A new category of laptop computer is beginning to appear on dealer shelves in the United States: the Ultrabook. This new category, only recently defined by Intel, is different than the older types of “ultra-portables” that in the past fit into a niche market of small screens that swiveled and that accepted screen input from pens. They were expensive and of limited functionality because of their dual nature and limited space.

Today’s new breed of ultras trace their heritage, as many innovations do, to Apple, and more specifically to their MacBook Air, an ultrathin laptop introduced several years ago. It was the original Air that was razor thin, featured hard disk storage consisting only of SSD memory rather than a spinning drive, and, consequentially ultra-fast boot times. But the original Air was severely underpowered, and its sales were anemic. It had to await a few other developments in processor design and battery management before taking off, as the new models have done.

This year, thanks to these new advancements, which include multi-core processors made on smaller dies and with better graphics handling, thin is in like never before. Everyone, it seems, is trying to get in on the action, and the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas will see many new models introduced. All major and many of the minor manufacturers that sell Intel/Windows machines in the United States are working on their own versions of this new innovation

Although as many as fifty new ultraportables are expected at CES, most will not be for sale until late in the first or second quarter of the year.

Below is a list provided by Intel of those devices that met their standard at the time of the

posting and that are available now.

I am writing this article on the Asus UX21 I bought only three weeks ago. The UX21 has an 11.6-inch screen, and its larger sibling, the UX31, has a 13.3-inch display. Both meet Intel’s strict definition of weight of less than 3.1 lbs, less than .8-inches thick, SSD drive, fast boot times and special BIOS that allow enhanced security and off-line processing.

There are few others that meet the standard set by Intel. Asus has the two I mentioned above, UX21 and UX 31. The smaller screen UX21 starts at $999 and add a hundred more for the larger 13.3-inch screen UX31. As can be seen from the table below, it costs about $200 to move from the i5 to the i7.

Note the weight, a critical feature for my use of a portable computer. Both models come in at under 3 pounds. Screen resolution is excellent. The smaller units features 1366 X 768 pixels. The 13.3-inch screen jumps to 1600 X 900.

I bought mine for $750 at the Microsoft Store in Houston’s Galeria. Microsoft was offering a 25% discount if the ticket was over $1000, so adding a carrying case to the ticket qualified my purchase for the discount.

Many observers of the industry expect prices to fall throughout the year, but that has yet to be seen since so few are on the market yet. A picture of the UX21 is shown above.

For a review of the UX21, Click Here.

Acer has also jumped into the market quickly. They now have the Acer Aspire S3 available. It comes only in a 13.3-inch version, and it is priced below $1000 if you settle for a spinning drive. Acer has a configuration that include a 360 or 500 GB hard drive along with a 20GB SSD. They also offer an SSD-only option, but the price is $1199.

Acer is taking a different tack with their Aspire S3.  To include a spinning drive in an ultraportable is a feat in itself, but it ads to weight and battery drain.

Lenovo has moved quickly into the arena by redesigning their consumer line into the ultrabook category. The U300 looks to be a excellent implementation of the ultrabook design.  The specs are listed below:

System Components

Processor 2nd generation Intel® Core™ i7-2677M Processor ( 1.80GHz 1333MHz 4MB )

Graphics: Intel Integrated HD Graphics 3000

Total memory: 4 GB PC3-8500 DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz

Display:13.3″ HD Glare with integrated camera 1366×768

Camera: Integrated 1.3MP Camera

Hard Drive: 256GB SSD

HP has shown pictures of their ultrabook entry, the Envy 14 Spectre.

The Spectre is a 14-inch screen, and is quite heavy at 3.8 lbs. The HD screen displays 1600×900 pixels and includes HDMI out, Ethernet, USB 3.0, and mini Displayport ports.

The glass on the back of the laptop is Gorilla Glass, which means it probably won’t break if you drop it. It includes a fat 128GB SSD drive for $1,400 and an optional 256GB upgrade. It runs a Core i5 or i7 processor and ships in February.

In a technical sense the Spectre does not qualify as an ulrabook because its weight is too close to 4 lbs—it runs a little over half a pound past the limit.

For a review of the HP Sceptre, Click Here

Dell also has a February launch date for their ultrabook entry, a 13-inch screen. The XPS 13 is shown below and right. 

The display is 1366 x 768 using Gorilla Glass display (which, similar to the HP Spectre, fits inside a chassis that’s an inch smaller).

The XPS 13 comes with a Core i5 CPU, Intel HD 3000 graphics, a 128 GB SSD, 4 GB of RAM, Bluetooth 3.0, Intel’s Smart Connect and Rapid Start technologies, USB 2.0, USB 3.0, a MiniDisplay port, and a battery life of eight hours.

The XPS 13 measures in at 18-mm at its thickest and 6-mm at its thinnest. The whole thing weighs in just shy of 3-lbs and is wrapped up in a sleek aluminum finish.

As far as pricing and availability are concerned, the XPS 13 is set for release at the end of next month and will start at $999. Upgrades to Core i7 and more storage space will push that up quite a bit, though.

It will be exciting to see the new ultras as they come out.  Beside thin and light, the outstanding feature is the almost instant on and awakening from sleep that characterize them.  If you are used to an iPad or Android tablet, anything than near instant is too slow.  The new breed of ultras addresses this old problem but still give the user plenty of processing power to go with the smallness.

The bottom line, however, is that the sales success has not been translated to B&N’s bottom line:  the large book chain has not found  a way to sell their fancy new devices at a profit.  Development costs are high, as are the costs of keeping the products up to date in a fast-paced technology industry. 

B&N is said to be looking at two options:  The first is to sell the brand to another firm that could afford to continue developing the Nooks and to promote them in American and international markets.  It is understood, apparently, that these products need further development and to be promoted more than they are now if they are to become profitable.

The second option would be to sell a large percentage of the products to another firm but keep  a minority interest.  This would allow B&N to reap some of the expected profits from the line as it reached critical mass.  And it would free them from the need to raise additional capital.

Lurking behind the issue is that B&N is not currently profitable.  Furthermore, if they sell or drop the line of eReaders, what they are left with is a dinosaur brick and mortar book chain that is steadily losing ground to the same digital markets that the Nook has helped define.

Some analysts feel the Nook is doomed and will eventually disappear.  The price pressure applied by Amazon is simply too much for each of their products, the e-Ink Reader that sells for $100, the Nook Color for $199 and the Nook Tablet for $249.  At these prices, there is no margin left for profit and not enough money coming in to continue their development efforts.

If there is to be a buyer it must obviously be one with deep pockets.  Microsoft and Google qualify as having deep pockets.  But do they have the compelling interest?  It is hard to see Microsoft blowing itself up even beyond their present size to take on such a different breed of cat.  It is not an area in which they have much of a proprietary interest.  They are not hardware manufactures at their core; neither are they book sellers, electronic or otherwise.

The case for Google is better.  They have an electronics bookstore, although it is not doing particularly well.  And they make the Android OS that runs many of the eReaders, both e-Ink and LCD types.  They would have better bargaining power with the publishers for the electronic titles they would sell.  Perhaps a partnership would be possible for them.

It also seems that Sony could be interested.  Their selection of electronic titles lags B&N and Amazon, so they would gain traction in an industry that is not in their wheelhouse.  They make eReader hardware now, so there would be some duplication in picking up the Nook line.  However, Sony could use the Color Nooks to enhance their offerings in the 7-inch segment of the tablet market.  Furthermore, Integrating these two sides of the Pacific might me more than Sony could do given their current state of struggle in the computer market.  This makes them a longshot, in my view.