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.
The Sansa Rhapsody is a portable music player designed to work with RealNetworks’ Rhapsody music-subscription service. The preloaded music included with the player is hassle, and the device is inferior to the iPod Nano.
A new system gives you access to 2.5 million digital tunes — without even turning on your computer. But at $999, Walt Mossberg says it requires a roomy budget.
The fastest-growing computer-security problem isn’t a virus. It’s called “social engineering,” and it consists of tactics that fool users into giving up sensitive financial data. Here are a few tips to help you avoid these schemes. (Video)
Walt Mossberg found GreenBorder’s new product, which protects your computer by isolating the Web browser from the rest of the computer, to be a novel and very promising weapon against malicious software.
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.
Samsung’s Q1, an Ultra Mobile PC that’s smaller than the smallest mainstream laptop, goes on sale next week, but the machine is so deeply flawed in key respects that it amounts to little more than a toy for techies.
Walt’s annual spring buyer’s guide to desktop computers offers hardware guidelines for users who can’t wait till January for Microsoft Vista, but want to be able to upgrade later.
The world would be better off if the biggest computer companies started catering more to the non-IT part of the market, where most computers live, writes Walt Mossberg.
Garmin’s Nüvi 350 GPS receiver is being recast as a “personal travel assistant” to shed its geeky roots. The device has a music player, photo viewer and more, but its core function, GPS navigation, is still too crude for its $900 price tag, writes Walt Mossberg.
Edited by Walt and written by Katie Boehret, this is a guide to gadgets, web services and other consumer technologies.
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