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Hulu.com, a site that aims to be a legal, one-stop shop for streaming of TV shows and movies, is far better than the typical network or studio Web site. But the site’s offerings lack depth.
A tiny new computer called the Eee PC is better than competing products in certain respects, such as text entry and price. But it still has too many compromises to pry most travelers away from their larger laptops.
Dell’s new all-in-one PC, the XPS One, is a stylish Windows Vista machine that runs well and won’t cost a fortune. If it didn’t have the Dell logo on it, the XPS One might be mistaken for a product of the PC industry’s design leaders, Apple or Sony.
Apple’s new version of OS X, called Leopard, builds on Apple’s quality advantage over Windows, says Walt Mossberg. Leopard is better and faster than Vista, with a set of new features that make Macs even easier to use.
The iPod Touch is an elegant and capable music player, but this cousin of the iPhone is short on battery life and lacks some important software features, writes Walt Mossberg. (Video)
New laptops from Toshiba and Dell tackle the design challenge of being both small and powerful. Both machines are stylish and worked fine in the tests, but Walt finds flaws that might give a buyer pause.
Samsung’s radical new music phone, the UpStage, shows real creativity in cramming music player and phone into one slim gadget, but has too many downsides. (Video)
Microsoft will challenge Apple with the launch of a digital-music player called the Zune, complete with an online music store and software to go with it. (Video)
Sony is taking a whack at the elusive electronic book reader with a new $350 device. Walt says the sleek gadget is a good start, but warns of significant flaws that mark it as a work in progress.
Verizon’s new Chocolate cellphone is designed as a music player first and was crafted to look like an Apple iPod. But it’s burdened by a ham-handed user interface and other failings, Walt Mossberg says.
Apple’s Intel-powered computers can run both Windows and Mac OS X, but now there’s an even better approach. Parallels Desktop lets users run Mac and Windows programs simultaneously, giving them the best of both worlds.
In early battles for dominance of the PC market, Microsoft’s component-based platform crushed Apple’s end-to-end model. But in today’s post-PC era, where the focus is on music players, game consoles and cellphones, the end-to-end model is the early winner.
As well-designed as the iPod is, users are consistently frustrated by its inability to copy music to multiple computers or have multiple music libraries. Luckily, there are solutions to both problems.
Sprint did a good job designing the first mobile music store, writes Walt Mossberg. It’s a shame they spoiled this breakthrough service with stratospheric prices and overdone restrictions.
Edited by Walt and written by Katie Boehret, this is a guide to gadgets, web services and other consumer technologies.
Ethics Statement
Here is a statement of my ethics and coverage policies. It is more than most of you want to know, but, in the age of suspicion of the media, I am laying it all out.
