Apple's New OSX Lion... response to Microsoft's Windows 7?

Apple released the details of their operating system upgrade, OSX Lion.  The concept behind Lion is meshing Snow Leopard with an iPad.  This seems like a good idea, but I'll reserve my judgment for when I actually use it.  Luckily, Apple's operating system upgrades are only $50, so I'll pick it up when it comes out.

Besides the features of Lion, I'm thinking that Apple is trying to one-up Microsoft.  (Yes, I know that Linux rocks, but in the mainstream, it's really OSX vs. Windows.)  Windows 7 is just plain good... I love it.  When it was Vista vs OSX, OSX won hands down.  If you didn't like OSX, you either went to Linux or just stuck it out with XP. 

Once Lion is formally released, we'll be able to accurately compare it with Windows 7.

Best Buy: iPad cutting into laptop sales

Has the iPad affected consumer demand for Netbooks and notebooks? According to comments by Best Buy's chief executive, Apple's popular tablet is chopping away at laptop sales.

Best Buy CEO Brian Dunn told The Wall Street Journal... that internal estimates showed the iPad had cannibalized sales from laptop PCs by as much as 50 percent.

Best Buy reported solid second-quarter earnings...thanks in part to strong iPad sales. But the company also said it lost market share for the quarter due to limited inventory for the iPad.

The retail chain started carrying Apple's tablet as the device went on sale in the U.S. in early April. But Best Buy quickly ran out of inventory since it stocked the iPad in only around half of its nationwide stores. The company announced this week that the tablet would be available on September 26 in all its retail outlets.

The comments by Dunn echo findings from other sources that notebook and Netbook demand is slowing because of the iPad.

A column in today's Fortune Magazine points to a new report from Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty saying that "tablet cannibalization," mostly by the iPad, is at least partially to blame for the downturn in notebook sales over the past eight or nine months. Huberty's latest report follows a similar one issued in May in which she forecast that tablets would prove to be a big threat to Netbooks.

Fortune quoted Huberty's conclusion that "we expect tablets to continue to pressure PCs as more vendors launch products (e.g., Dell Streak and Samsung Tab) and Apple expands its iPad distribution."

Other analysts have also been eyeing the impact on the laptop market from tablets. In early July, Barclays Capital issued a report saying that Wintel (Windows and Intel) laptops would take a hit because of the growth of the iPad and rival tablets. A June report from DisplaySearch found that the iPad was already grabbing market share from Netbooks and that momentum was shifting from Netbooks to tablets.

Demand for the iPad has prompted several analysts to up their sales forecasts for the device. In July, ABI Research said it expected Apple to ship around 11 million iPads by the end of the year, while iSuppli predicted that 12.9 million iPads would ship this year, a huge jump from its April forecast of 7.1 million units.

Of course, if the iPad is cannibalizing laptop sales, the news isn't exactly disappointing to Apple. Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook expressed his sentiment in July when the company announced third-quarter earnings.

"Our guts tell us that this market is very big," Cook said. "If it turns out that iPad cannibalizes PCs, that's fantastic for us because there is a lot of PCs to cannibalize."

(Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-20016818-37.html)

BlackBerry PlayBook: New Rival to iPad?

BlackBerry released a promotional video on their new PlayBook due early next year.  Samsung is also releasing the Galaxy Tab, which is also poised to be an Apple iPad competitor.

Here's a preview of the BlackBerry PlayBook.  What do you think about it?

Dropbox: Managing Your Files Everywhere You Go

Managing files between computers and mobile devices has just got a lot easier with the help from the folks at Dropbox. Dropbox is service which allows you to store your files on a cloud network (which means an Internet-based network, whereby shared resources, software, and information are provided to computers and other devices on demand)

The benefits of Dropbox includes automatic syncing when new files or changes are detected, automatic backup of your files, and the ability to restore previous versions of your files.Dropbox is available for Windows, OSX and Linux a free Dropbox application for iPhone, iPad, and Android, which lets you access your files anywhere you go. For Blackberry users a mobile-optimized version of the website is also available for owners of Blackberry phones and other Internet-capable mobile devices. 

Dropbox's pricing plans start with the Basic plan which is 2 GB of storage for free. A Pro 50 plan of 50 GB for 9.99/month and the Pro 100 of 100 GB for 19.99/month. Every time you refer a person to Dropbox, you get an extra 250MB added to your account for free with a maximum of 8GB.

For more information, visit Dropbox at http://www.dropbox.com/

E-Readers And How To Get Them Working For You

Trying to get an e-book to an iPad or any other device (Sony e-reader, Nook, Kindle) can be difficult, but with this is simple program Calibre e-book management, reading your books from your devices will be harmonious. 

What i like the most about Calibre is that it has a very simple interface that anyone can use, and it also can convert many of the popular formats such as PDF and EPUB with just a couple of clicks. It even searches a database that will help tag your files as well as find cover art and creates a separate file so that you can keep your original file and upload it to your device.

If you are using any iOS device (iPad, iPhone, iTouch), just open iTunes.  Go to file, select add file to library, sync to your device, and that's it. The best part is that Calibre is free and is available on Windows, OSX, and Linux.

Below is a quick guide tour from the creator of Calibre.  For more information, visit the homepage for Calibre: http://calibre-ebook.com/