Michelle Maisto

Acer, the world’s third-largest computer maker, has cut growth forecasts for its netbook PCs, after coming up short on analyst expectations for the first quarter of 2009, Reuters is reporting.Acer reported a net profit of $60.3 million for the first quarter, a fall of 31 percent from a year earlier, and cut 2009 netbook forecast […]

Verizon Wireless is negotiating to offer two new Apple devices, one of which could be available as soon as this summer, Business Week is reporting.The first is a smaller, less expensive version of the iPhone – perhaps the “junior iPhone” first described by Kaufman Brothers analyst Shaw Wu, on April 8.The second device is a […]

First Look at HPs Low-Cost ProBook Laptop Lineup by Michelle Maisto No Title The HP ProBook 4510 (below) and 4515, which both have 15.6-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit high-definition displays, as well as the ProBook 4410 and 4415, which have 14-inch displays, are available in Glossy Noir or Merlot—the first time HP has offered color for a […]

Jon Peddie Research is predicting positive times ahead for graphics chip makers, such as Advanced Micro Devices, Intel and Nvidia, based on estimated graphics shipments and supplier market share for the first quarter of 2009. The research firm reports that in the third and fourth quarters of 2008, GPU (graphics processing units) orders dried up […]

Hewlett-Packard announced its ProBook laptop series April 28, a new line of business notebooks that strive to combine good looks, low pricing and professional-minded features that will appeal to cost-conscious users. The ProBooks feature high-definition LED backlit display screens and a new keyboard layout that’s said to be more spacious, spill-proof, and have raised keys […]

Samsung announced that its I7500, a new smartphone running the Google Android operating system, will be available in Europe this June.Following the T-Mobile G1 phone, new devices-including netbooks, a home phone and a tablet PC-running the open operating system have been widely anticipated.Google CEO Eric Schmidt recently remarked, “It looks like Android is going to […]

Verizon Communications announced that, despite a difficult economy and tightening consumer purse strings, its saw continued revenue and earnings growth in the first quarter of 2009. On April 27, the company announced first quarter 2009 total operating revenues of $26.6 billion, a growth of 11.6 percent compared to the first quarter of 2008. Verizon has […]

Aberdeen Group has released a new report regarding the trend of employee-purchased devices being brought into the enterprise. While IT managers have long fought the practice, for reasons of security, Aberdeen shows how these devices can be a “lower-cost path” to broader mobility.In the report, “More Mobility-Less Budget: Enterprise Strategies in the Current Economic Downturn,” […]

Mobile handset shipments exceeded expectations for the first quarter of 2009, with Samsung, LG Electronics and BlackBerry maker Research In Motion leading the industry, according to an ABI Research report.In a pleasant surprise for an industry that appeared to have been battered by the U.S. recession, handset vendors shipped 258 million units worldwide by the […]

Apple appears to have recently cut a little more than 10 percent of its full-time retail employees, according to a filing recently made with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.As of Dec. 27, 2008, Apple had 15,600 “full-time equivalent employees,” but as of March 28 the number was down to 14,000 full-time retail store employees.Apples’ […]

The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) formally adopted the Bluetooth Core Specification Version 3.0 High Speed (HS) – or, Bluetooth 3.0 – during its All Hands Meeting in Tokyo on April 22. The long-awaited Bluetooth 3.0 hikes up transfer speeds from 3Mbps to 23Mbps, through the use of the 802.11 radio protocol. The connection is […]

Intel is looking to bolster the use of its Anti-Theft technology that is now part of its Centrino Pro mobile platform with a commissioned study on notebook security that finds a lost or stolen laptop can cost a business between $50,000 and $1 million in expenses.Based on the study of 138 lost laptop cases, the […]