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Laptop shipments top desktops for first time; Netbooks a factor

Global notebook shipments exceeded desktops on a quarterly basis for the first time ever, with Netbooks playing a decisive role, iSuppli said on Tuesday.

Notebook PC shipments rose almost 40 percent in the third quarter of 2008 over the same period in 2007, hitting 38.6 million units, said iSuppli, a market research firm based in El Segundo, Calif.

Netbooks may have been the deciding factor in pushing notebooks over the top.

"The big news from iSuppli's market share data for the third quarter was undoubtedly the performance of Taiwan's Acer," said Matthew Wilkins, principal analyst … Read more

Nvidia bids to dislodge Intel as rivalry gets ugly

Intel and Nvidia are entering into a new, nasty phase of competition. What's at stake? Only the future of the personal computer.

Although the Santa Clara, Calif., neighbors (located only a couple of miles from each other) have never really been on speaking terms, the rivalry is intensifying with the emergence of the Netbook--small, lightweight laptops priced below $500.

The competitive backdrop is still the same--Intel's longstanding (and very successful) vision of a CPU-centric universe versus Nvidia's creed that graphics processing matters more and more in a multimedia-intensive world.

The challenge for Nvidia is that as laptops … Read more

Nvidia targets Netbooks, Intel with 9400M chip

With Apple under its belt, Nvidia is taking aim at Netbooks.

On Wednesday, Nvidia is launching its GeForce 9400M "Ion" graphics chipset for Netbooks and small desktop designs. And the Santa Clara, Calif., company is hoping for another coup like the one it staged at Apple, where Nvidia bumped Intel silicon out of the Apple MacBook because of underperforming graphics.

The goal this time is to replace the Intel silicon that supports the Atom processor. Currently, Netbooks from companies such as Acer, Asus, Hewlett-Packard, and Dell use the Atom and accompanying Intel silicon called a chipset.

Nvidia has … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 871: Pirates on the paradigm ship

In today's show, horrible ship-related pun-crimes are perpetrated and we learn that in Russia, emoticons wink at you and try to charge you for them. Also, we bash a ton of gadgets, like the still-overpriced Sony PlayStation 3, the $99-with-contract Acer Aspire, and the Android phones running apps that turn on roaming and data use without your knowledge. Then we bring it on home with puppies. Listen now: Download today's podcast Episode 871

Chrome breaks outta beta http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10120965-2.html

Nintendo Wii outsells Xbox 360 more than two-to-one http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal_tech/peripherals/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=212500018&subSection=All+Stories… Read more

CNET News Daily Podcast: Watching E.T. in real time

CNET News' Daniel Terdiman has the latest on what's going on at the Allen Telescope Array, the world's first large-scale telescope meant for the full-time use of the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) project.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

Today's stories:

Andy Grove urges Intel to build car batteries

SETI's large-scale telescope scans the skies

RadioShack sells $99 Netbook with 2-year AT&T contract

Postal Service's 'Click-N-Ship' glitch resolved

Radio Shack to sell $99 Acer Netbook, but there's a catch

According to this leaked ad posted on Boy Genius Report, Radio Shack is poised to offer an Acer 8.9-inch Netbook for only $99 for people who sign up for a two-year mobile broadband contract through AT&T.

This type of subsidized Netbook is hardly surprising--in September, Dell CEO Michael Dell predicted we'd see them--but the fact that Radio Shack appears to be the first major retailer to bring it to the public is.

The tiny notebook features Intel's Atom processor, a 160GB internal hard drive, 1GB of RAM, Wi-Fi, and of course, built-in AT&… Read more

No. 1 in Netbooks? Not Asus but Acer

Asus created the Netbook category a little over a year ago when it introduced its first Eee PC. Acer jumped in this past summer with the Aspire One and has overtaken Asus for the top spot in the Netbook market. According to research firm DisplaySearch, Acer sold 2.15 million Netbooks in Q3 for a 38.3 percent share of the Netbook market. Asus moved 1.7 million units for 30.3 percent market share. Not only did Asus have a head start in this horse race, but it also has a much larger stable of Netbooks. It seemingly releases … Read more

Report: 10-inch Acer Aspire One on the way

Acer is readying a 10-inch version of its Aspire One Netbook, according to a report in DigiTimes. The publication attributed the news to Scott Lin, president of Acer Taiwan, and said to expect an official launch of the new Netbook in February or March of 2009.

Lin offered no further details about the 10-inch Aspire One, including whether (or when) it will make its way to the United States. We assume it will, and that when it does it'll have largely the same specs as the current model, adding perhaps some more RAM and (we hope) a larger battery. … Read more

When Blu-ray and laptops collide

If you're waiting for Blu-ray players to dip below the $99 mark before replacing your DVD player, let us offer an alternate solution: a Blu-ray-equipped laptop.

While Blu-ray drives first appeared on huge laptops with 18.4-inch screens that were capable of displaying 1080p video, we've now seen Blu-ray drives on laptops as small as the 11-inch Sony Vaio TT. With an HDMI port becoming an increasingly popular laptop feature, you're able to easily connect a laptop to an HDTV for HD movie playback. And with Blu-ray player prices dropping, you don't necessarily need to break … Read more