Long Live the Laptop!

(Newser) - Dell's mystery product Adamo could be a super-slim laptop even lighter than the MacBook Air, but it's proving impossible to get solid information about it, Ashlee Vance writes in the New York Times . The firm has registered the trademark and set up a teaser site, but declines to comment on Adamo. A Dell exec appeared shocked when asked if a lighter-than-Air product was in the works. More »

(Newser) - There’s much to love about the new MacBook, writes David Pogue in the New York Times . The laptop is “a thing of beauty,” with a fabulous trackpad-cum-clicker, an easy way to switch out the battery or even hard drive and a smaller environmental footprint. But there’s also something to mourn: the loss of the FireWire jack. More »

(Newser) - One Laptop per Child got a bumpy start, with the “$100 laptop” soaring to $188, for-profit competitors snatching customers, and developing countries hesitating to buy. But the true test for the nonprofit comes now, as Peru prepares to send 486,500 computers to its poorest schoolchildren. The country faces daunting obstacles, but rural kids testing the laptops are enthusiastic, reports Technology Review . More »

(Newser) - Apple's profit surged 36% in its second quarter, beating analysts' estimates thanks to strong sales of laptops, Bloomberg reports. The company earned $1.05 billion, or $1.16 a share; analysts expected $1.06 a share. Revenue grew 43%, to $7.5 billion, despite the sluggish economy. The company sold 2.29 million Macs, with strong sales in particular of its new ultra-thin Air notebook. More »

(Newser) - Laptop computers are the key to a new earthquake-sensing project in California, the MIT Technology Review reports. Researchers are working to connect home and business computers in a network that could monitor activity and even provide early warning of big quakes. Motion detectors would report shaking to a central server, letting seismologists identify unusual movement concentrated in a particular area. More »

(Newser) - Cheap, small notebooks look like the next big thing. Dell today announced it was jumping into the burgeoning segment, which doesn’t quite have a name yet—some call them netbooks, others mini-notebooks, still others ultramobile PCs or UMPCs. Dell’s machine will start at $399, and sport a wee 8.9-inch screen, the Wall Street Journal reports. More »

(Newser) - Twenty-five hardware companies will use a new Intel chip technology for mobile internet devices that are somewhere between a cellphone and a laptop computer in size, reports the Wall Street Journal . Intel hopes the gadgets they've dubbed MIDs will become a new product category, helping the company make up for missing out on the cellphone market. The devices will retail for around $500 and arrive first in Asia this summer. More »

(Newser) - A government laptop loaded with personal medical info on thousands of patients just “fell through the cracks,” a top exec with an NIH subsidiary says. The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute machine was stolen Feb. 23, apparently at random, from an employee’s car trunk. None of the 2,500 records on the machine was encrypted, a violation of federal guidelines, CNN reports. More »

(Newser) - A new laptop security system in development at Intel learns to adjust to you—that is, the user—getting to know your pattern of Internet use in order to provide more personalized protection. The software, called Proteus, is meant for companies that provide laptops to many employees, normally equipping all of them with the same cookie-cutter security system, reports Technology Review . More »