Translator
By N2H
December 29, 2008 We’ve just passed a significant point in the history of computing – the notebook has taken over from the desktop as the most popular computing platform, an inevitable milestone on the road to ubiquitous mobile computing and connectivity. Fuelled by the success of the emerging netbook http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psion_Netbook market, global notebook PC http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Laptop shipments rose almost 40 percent in the third quarter of 2008 compared to the same period of 2007 to reach 38.6 million units. Conversely, desktop PC shipments declined by 1.3 percent for the same period to 38.5 million units.
In taking over as the primary computing form factor, the notebook is probably just holding the baton for a few years before its constituent sub-set of netbooks dominates the market – just 500,000 netbooks were sold in 2007, over 10 million this year and IDC predicts 40 million units by 2012. The emergence of the cut down, lightweight, cloud computing netbook has been the big story of 2008. It has taken just 60 years to squeeze a computer which filled a room, into a usable form factor of less then 1 kilogram and a price less than a weekly wage. One wonders what the next decade holds in store for us.
Further reading @ www.gizmag.com
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This HowTo shows you how to read “Full view” Google books offline. (thanks to rlwc on the message forum for posting it)
Google has taken on the task of digitizing (scanning) all of the world’s books and making them available at their http://books.google.com website.
The AA1 is great for reading these books via a web browser (my preference is Firefox), and even better for reading them offline when you don’t have an available internet connection, or want to disable wireless to save your battery. The screen format lends itself to viewing a page, and the weight of the AA1 is comparable to a hard cover book. A subset of the books Google makes available are known as “Full view”, meaning you can read the entire book through the website, or even download a PDF of the book for offline reading. The latter is what we’re going to work on.
The XP version of the AA1 comes with Adobe Acrobat reader, version 9. This can be used to read any of the books you download as a PDF file, in a natural way. Start by bringing up your favorite web browser and open up the Google Books page: http://books.google.com. Type the name of a book you’re looking for (or an author’s name) in the search box, and click “Search Books”. I’m searching for the classic Edgar Rice Burroughs’ A Princess of Mars.
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RadioShack customers are to get the Aspire One for $99, buyers will have to sign-up for AT&T’s data contract worth $60 or more. Seems a fairly decent deal especially if your looking for the Internet on the move.
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The netbook category grew at a quarter-to-quarter rate of more than 160 percent in the third quarter, and Acer bypassed Asus as the top vendor, says a DisplaySearch study. Meanwhile, an ABI Research “Vendor Matrix” report finds Intel holding pole position among netbook processor vendors.
The hot market for netbooks, also known as “mini-notes,” is flying in the face of what looks to be a “dismal fourth quarter for the PC industry,” says DisplaySearch in its latest “Quarterly Notebook PC Shipment and Forecast Report.” The netbook market grew from less than one million units sold in 2007 to a projected 14 million units sold by the end of 2008. Although operating system (OS) share is not detailed in the DisplaySearch report, Linux may be shipping on about a quarter of all netbooks (see farther below for more details).
Most of the top-tier PC brands have now entered the market, putting pressure on early netbook entrants, says the research group. Asus, which “essentially created the market” in late 2007 with its Eee PC netbooks, fell from its dominant position to a close second place position at 30.3 percent share in the third quarter, says DisplaySearch. Acer, meanwhile, surged to a leading 35 percent share with its Acer Aspire One netbook (pictured at top), which sold 2.15 million units in the third quarter alone, according to the study.
Third-quarter market share percentages for the netbook category are said to be:
Acer – 38.3
Asus — 30.3
HP — 5.8
MSI — 5.7
Dell — 2.8
OLPC — 2.3
Medion — 2.3
Kohjinsha — 1.0
Intel — 1.0
Lenovo — 0.7
Toshiba — 0.5
All others — 9.1
Further reading @ www.linuxdevices.com
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Now for something completley different.
Lets put the Acer Aspire One on remote control wheels 
“This idea and had thought for several months, since it figured it would be a practical way to make a robot. And yes it was. Not what he had done so because it first wanted to do with my normal laptop (Vaio K-13) but was a bit complicated because the laptop weighs about 3.5 kg. it represented what a lot of weight to move it with Tamiya. Until they finally got the chance to have an Acer Aspire NETBOOK One, and by its size and weight was perfect for the project. ”
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Fancy a different desktop background for your Acer Aspire One? have a look here (thx C:\)
All are sized to the correct desktop resolution 1024×600
Few Samples of what you will find:
For more desktop backgrounds / wallpapers see our desktop customization forum
