Author: James Kendrick

Taiwanese PC maker Acer has experienced a big year, and they are celebrating by going after every market segment they believe will be big in the coming years. A report has surfaced that has the device maker preparing to produce a e-book reader, a tablet, a netbook with Chrome OS and all of this at the same time an app store will be rolled out to service these devices.

The app store will offer “hundreds” of low-cost or free apps aimed at the cheaper netbook market. Acer believes it can leverage its strong position in this segment to push the app store into a leading source of applications for netbooks.

The company also intends to produce a netbook running Google’s Chrome OS in the third quarter. That might be news to Google as Chrome is not expected to launch until right about that time. That means Acer is already preparing its entry into the brand new Chrome OS netbook market.

Like many other companies, Acer will also produce its first e-book reader to capitalize on the hot segment. The 6-inch reader will be launched in Europe first, as Acer has partners that can be leveraged for the business.

“Amazon, Barnes & Noble; they are U.S.-centric. In Western Europe and Asia-Pacific we have publishers to work with, and most of them are content owners,” Wong said. Acer is talking to magazine, newspaper and book publishers to provide content for its device, he said without naming them.

It definitely looks like Acer is not going to sit on its position in the PC world. Acer is the second largest PC vendor in the world.

It’s getting closer and closer to the expected announcement by Steve Jobs of the Next Big Thing (NBT) from Cupertino. It’s pretty much a given we’ll see the most discussed unreleased product of our time, the Apple tablet. There have probably been hundreds of items appear on the web that discuss what it will be called, if nothing else. The fascination about this mystery gadget has been nothing short of phenomenal, especially given that tablets have been around for a good while. My experience with the tablet form for years has led me to understand what this mystical, magical tablet from Apple better have to be the gadget that will revolutionize our lives.

The expectations over this as-yet unannounced gadget are as high as I’ve ever seen for a new device. That puts a lot of pressure on Apple to meet or exceed those expectations if it will be the NBT as we’ve come to believe it will be. I have used a lot of tablet devices over the years and there are a few simple physical traits that this new tablet must have or it won’t get the acceptance that everyone expects.

First and foremost, the new tablet had better be thin. I’m talking iPhone thin, and not much thicker. There are already quite a few tablets out there, but they all exhibit one trait that makes them not so easy to use — they are thick. Handheld devices are held to a higher standard than other types of devices, and comfort is the single biggest factor that determines whether a user will actually pick up one of these tablets and use them for extended sessions. Thicker than an iPhone and these tablets become unwieldy and worse, uncomfortable to use for more than a few minutes at a time. The NBT must be comfortable enough to pick up and use for an hour or longer.

Secondly, yet just as important as device thickness, is the weight. The rumors have this Apple tablet equipped with a 10-inch screen, but even if it is smaller than that it cannot weigh more than a pound. This comes from my own experience using handheld gadgets, once you exceed a pound in weight they become uncomfortable quickly. A tablet is by design to be used totally in the hands, and it better be light enough to make it feel right. And that’s what this tablet will be totally dependent on, feeling right while being used. Too heavy and users will stop and think before they pick it up for extended sessions. Less than a pound is a must, and the lighter the better.

I have used tablets as small as 5 inches, and they’ve all been at least an inch thick and over a pound in weight. This makes them harder to use for more than a few minutes at a time. This won’t work for the Apple iPad, or iSlate, or whatever it’s going to be called. Thin and light it must be, no matter what other goodies Apple puts inside.

Photo of the iPad, courtesy of Gizmodo.

Our platform focus continues this fine Sunday with the e-Book Echo, our take on the week in the digital publishing world. You know a technology is beginning to make an impact when it gets recognized on the web. Get ready for “Read an e-book week“, March 7 – 13. Actually, according to the promoters this week first occurred in 2004 so maybe it’s not so new after all. The purpose behind the week of recognizing the e-book is summed up best by those behind it:

Read an E-Book Week educates and informs the public about the pleasures and advantages of reading electronically. Authors, publishers, vendors, the media and readers world-wide are welcome to join in the effort. We encourage you to promote electronic reading with any event. These could include: public readings, library displays, reading challenges, school visits, newspaper and blog articles, chat show appearances, internet radio interviews, e-book give-ways, and banners on your website.

All eyes will be turned to Cupertino on Jan. 27th, with the expectation that Apple is going to introduce the world to its new tablet. Speculation has run amok about what the tablet will bring to consumers, but there is little doubt the tablet will be leveraged by Apple as an e-book reader. This is significant for the e-book world, not for the tablet itself but for the e-book ecosystem that Apple will surely introduce along with the device. It has been reported for quite some time that Apple has been in discussion with publishers to get content deals for the table. While it may not be critical for Apple to become a huge e-book seller, a venture of this nature will definitely add big momentum to the growth of the e-book business.

The week marches on and today being Saturday means it is time to recap the recent happenings in the world of Windows Mobile. Garmin and ASUS have joined together to make a Windows Mobile smartphone. The new phone will leverage Garmin’s GPS technology with ASUS’ phone experience, and is appearing for pre-ordering on various web sites. Windows Mobile is not the only focus of the partnership, as it is rumored the two companies will also be producing phones running Android later this year.

Folks that follow the Windows Mobile world are expecting Microsoft to announce Windows Mobile 7 at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) next month. That looks like it is indeed going to happen as some folks have received an invite to a press conference during the event. A Windows Mobile event will be held on Feb. 15 at 6 AM Pacific Time. We’ll have to wait until the event to see if there will also be a Microsoft-branded phone announced.

Developers selling apps in the Windows Mobile Marketplace have lodged complaints with Microsoft that they are not being paid for sales that qualify. Apparently Microsoft defers payments until a developer’s sales have passed the $200 mark, but it seems like that is not always happening. Microsoft has acknowledged there is a problem but has not provided a solution as yet.

The e-book seller that began life as Shortcovers is getting ready to explode on the e-book reading scene. Recently Kobo signed a deal with Borders to handle e-books for the chain, along with producing a reader for them. The folks at Kobo aren’t content to rest on the Borders deal, as information we’ve just received from them proves. Kobo has reader applications in development for “netbooks and dedicated eReaders, like the Sony eReader.”

Kobo already has reader apps for iPhone, Android, BlackBerry and the Palm Pre, and when they add support for both Windows 7 and Android tablets they will have just about everything covered.

Kobo realizes that the key to e-book adoption is to allow reading content on devices the consumer already owns. These free reader applications will be available starting in February, and in addition to handling e-book reading duties, they will allow syncing of libraries and reading locations among multiple devices. They are obviously taking a cue from Amazon and the Whispernet syncing.

In spite of the fact that the tech world is anxiously awaiting the unveiling of the tablet, they’ve been around quite a long time. The most fascinating mythical tablet was rolled out on stage by none other than Bill Gates, way back in 2005. Sadly, the Haiku mockup was ahead of its time, as the hardware technology was not ready for what was a very compelling tablet device. The 6-inch screen of the Haiku was large enough to yield a decent screen’s worth of information, yet still small enough to fit in Gates’ hand. The mockup of the Haiku was also as thin as can be, and the front of the device was simple and not distracting to the task at hand. Or in hand.

It’s too bad that Microsoft no longer has the video online of Gates’ demonstration, it was the forebear of things to come. Too bad the things to come will not be from Microsoft as Mr. Gates intended. Of course, tablets running a desktop OS like Windows have their shortcomings, so maybe this is actually a good thing.

Another week has come and nearly gone and that means I get to share the past week with you. My home office, aka Mobile Tech Manor (MTM), has been a busy place as I have gotten back into a normal routine following the big CES trip. I’ve been playing working with a lot of gear as usual including a couple of new gadgets that have come through the door. HP sent over an iPAQ Glisten, and I’ll share some thoughts about that. Come on in for a spell and let’s talk tech.

In the door

Two little gadgets came to roost in MTM this week, a mouse and the HP Glisten smartphone. I finally got tired of repeatedly cleaning the trackball in the Mighty Mouse I’ve been using with the MacBook. I may be in the minority but I actually like the Mighty Mouse and the way the trackball worked as a scroll wheel, at least when it worked. I didn’t like the constant cleaning of the ball as it kept getting dirty and binding up. It made sense to replace it with a mouse with no moving parts.

The Magic Mouse (these names get confusing don’t they?) is expensive, but I am already convinced it is the best mouse I have ever used. The multitouch surface has just the right amount of sensitivity, and I find scrolling by touch with the Magic Mouse works even in programs where the trackball in the older mouse did not. It fits comfortably in the hand, and it works so well I am even using it while mobile. Prior to getting this new mouse I would always use the trackpad on the MacBook while mobile, but I like using the new mouse even better so I am carrying it with me.

I am just getting started experimenting with configuring the mouse using MagicPrefs. That’s the free utility that allows configuring just about every facet of the Magic Mouse so that it works exactly as desired. There are a lot of options that I have to test before I get it just right. I find it amazing that the Magic Mouse accepts up to four finger touch. It does, and with MagicPrefs I can use multi-finger taps to trigger different actions. It is frankly awesome, and adds so much control for such a simple addition.

I did have a scary moment after adding the Magic Mouse. The mouse cursor went dead at one point and when I went to the MacBook trackpad to get control back I found it was dead too. That left me with a Mac with no cursor control, kind of hard to use. I rebooted to get it back and while that brought the trackpad back to life, I was confronted with the dreaded “no Bluetooth hardware detected” scenario. It’s kind of hard to get the mouse and external keyboard working when the MacBook thinks there is no Bluetooth on board.

I had experienced a similar issue once before, and it required rebooting with Command-Option-P-R to get it back. That worked like a charm and the problem hasn’t happened again. I believe I caused this problem, as I was trying two different mouse utilities and I think they were both fighting over the mouse. It’s all good now in any event.

Yesterday the FedEx guy brought an HP iPAQ Glisten to test and I’m just beginning to try it out. I can already tell that the hardware is top-notch, as the phone looks and feels very well made. I especially like the keyboard on the Glisten, and I had my wife (the Crackberry) try it out and she liked the keyboard, too. The phone feels good in the hand, and call audio quality is very good.

The Glisten is available in the U. S. through AT&T, so I popped my iPhone 3G SIM card in it before first boot. It is getting good 3G speed, and I’ve also tested the Wi-Fi which works well.

The Glisten has a 2.5-inch AMOLED screen (320×240), but it’s a resistive touchscreen. That means it’s not a great touch input device, and you have to use the fingernail to get clicks to register. That’s why it comes with a stylus in a silo on the bottom of the phone.

To be honest it feels a bit strange to have that small touchscreen and the big keyboard. It seems like it should be operated without touch, but the fact is touch must be used to do certain things. Windows Mobile 6.5 uses the two soft buttons on the bottom of the screen to do many things, and since there are no hardware buttons associated with them the touchscreen must be used. The soft buttons are pretty small and they can be really hard to press using the fingernail. The stylus is always available, but it’s no fun pulling it out, tapping once, and putting it back.

That sums up the user experience so far with Windows Mobile 6.5. It looks a lot better than previous versions of WinMo, but at times the interface is even harder to use than those older versions. That’s backwards but it’s the way it is. Maybe I’ll get used to the WinMo 6.5 interface with more time, but right now it feels very awkward to use.

That is the best way to describe it, now that I think about it. Awkward. Like the honeycomb program screen. It is not very configurable and it feels like I have to scroll forever to get to the bottom of the screen to find the program I want to execute. Even preinstalled apps are awkward to use. When I tried the new Windows Mobile Marketplace for the first time it was just an icon and not the actual program to access the Marketplace. It had to download and install the Marketplace, and that felt wrong. It’s part of the OS, there was an icon for it, but the program didn’t really exist. It’s like it was not complete.

I’ll be covering the Glisten more over time, these are just my early impressions. I feel strongly that WinMo 7 better get released pretty darn quickly, as I am not very impressed with 6.5 so far. WinMo 6.5 on the HTC HD2 was darn nice, but that’s because the HTC Sense interface hid WinMo almost completely.

Program of the week

My program of the week is not new, but it was updated this week and is even better. SnagIT for Mac is still in beta so it’s free for now, and it is simply a great utility. It takes screen shots that are second to none given the control the program provides over the process. I am more impressed with it every day I use it, and that’s the mark of a great program. I love the way the snapshot interface sits on the side of the screen waiting for the mouse to hover over it, which opens it up. It is elegant and easy to use, and now when I move back to SnagIT on the Windows side of things I get frustrated. I wish they would make the Windows version work like the Mac version. Maybe some day they will. Hear that, TechSmith?

e-Books of the week

I was thrilled to pick up two new James Patterson novels, as he is just about my favorite novelist. The two novels are not his usual fare, with one being a fantasy novel and the other sci-fi. Witch and Wizard is his newly released novel that was co-authored with Gabrielle Charbonnet, and it tells the tale of a brother and sister team with unusual powers. It’s a story along the lines of 1984 with magic thrown in, as the New Order takes over the country and does bad things to the good citizens. The tale is lively and entertaining, but it was very unfulfilling for me. It is the first novel in what will be a series, and while I love a good series there is one rule I insist on. I expect each novel in a series to be a self-contained story, with each subsequent novel adding to the overall grand story. This is not the case with Witch and Wizard, with the novel ending in the middle of the story, and with the phrase that is a pet peeve of mine– “To be continued”. It just stops in the middle, and it frustrated the hell out of me. I expected more from James Patterson.

The second James Patterson e-book I read was also written with another author, Ned Rust. Daniel X: Watch the Skies is a romp of a story dealing with big, bad, smelly aliens, and the alien hunters who are after them. It is irreverent, funny and entertaining. I enjoyed it far more than the first novel. It is also completely different than Patterson’s other work I like so much, and I wonder if these two books are really Patterson’s writing, or if his valuable name is just on the covers. Hey, it sure seems that way.

Wrap-up

That’s the week as it went down, and this one is coming to a close. I have a business trip to San Francisco coming up soon, but until then it is business as usual. Take care and drop back by next week and we’ll do this again.

Ordinarily a new Twitter app wouldn’t float my boat, but when I heard that the new Seesmic Look app was optimized for touch operation I couldn’t resist. I installed it on an evaluation ThinkPad x200 Tablet PC running Windows 7, and gave it a whirl. It’s not perfect but in the video I show how cool it is to work with a very busy Twitter world via touch.

Seesmic Look handles all of the basic Twitter functions, friend lists, Twitter lists and the like, but it also has predefined interests such as News and Tech. Take a look at how Seesmic Look always optimizes the display to provide a good look at information of interest that is crossing the Twitter scene.

It’s Thursday, which means it’s time for another Palm Press, our weekly look at the world of Palm. The new Palm Pre Plus and Pixi Plus are already getting the review treatment, and the most interesting one is this one I found of the new Mobile Hotspot feature. Palm was justifiably proud when they announced the Mobile Hotspot capability, which basically lets you use the Verizon 3G connection with up to 5 devices at the same time. It basically turns the Pre / Pixi into a MiFi router, connecting to the 3G network and slinging the web to those 5 devices over Wi-Fi. Verizon charges $40 per month to use the Mobile Hotspot, so you’ll want to make sure you really need it to pay that price. This service has the same 5 GB monthly data cap on Verizon as other data plans so you won’t want to regularly feed 5 devices with data. Check out the review to see what they thought of the Hotspot, especially how it drains the battery. Really quickly.

There are now over 1,150 apps in the Palm App Catalog, so if you haven’t checked it in a while you may want to do so. It’s good to see apps continually to flow in, although trickle is probably a more apt way to put it.

The e-book world is fascinating to me. As a long-time reader of digital texts and a mobile aficionado, the rapid pace that is gripping the e-book scene is great to see. The news today that Amazon has opened the Kindle up to developers so they can make apps for it is surprising on the surface. The Kindle has been the most locked-down reader since its release, and it is interesting that Amazon is trying to turn the Kindle into a platform. I don’t think it will succeed, but not for the reason that is already floating around the web.

It wasn’t long after Amazon released this news that some started the speculation game. Why is Amazon doing this? Surely it’s because they are trying to deal with the heat that Apple is going to put on them with the mystical tablet / e-book reader? Amazon doesn’t want to be caught with its Kindle feet mired in quicksand, so it is turning the Kindle into a platform to cut Apple off at the pass. I don’t think that’s the main reason for Amazon’s big move.

Now, Amazon may very well be concerned with Apple’s move into the e-book world, if indeed that comes to pass. But the fact is, Amazon is already facing stiff competition from readers with platforms that developers can tap into. That platform is Android. Barnes & Noble didn’t choose Android as the platform for the Nook just because it’s open source, although that probably played a role. No, it’s a safe bet that B&N chose Android because it is already a complete platform that is optimized for handling mobile devices such as e-book readers.

There is already a vast developer network for Android, happily churning out thousands of apps. Many of those apps can be used by readers today, with little special attention required. This is why the Nook is not the only reader based on Android — there are quite a few of them getting ready for release. This is the real competition that Amazon faces with the Kindle, because it is already in motion no matter what Apple does with the fabled tablet. Amazon realizes it is move forward or stagnate, and opening up the Kindle for developers is something they must do to compete with Android.

I don’t believe opening up the Kindle will help Amazon deal with these upstarts in the long run. Android is already a complete platform, and I don’t see developers making the Kindle into one. Why spend a lot of effort to do so when these Android-based readers are already out there? No matter what Apple does, and if they enter into the e-book market it will certainly get even murkier for Amazon. Open Kindle or no.

It was almost a year ago when we first ran across Linja Zax, the unique Firefox add-on that puts a finger spin on the browsing experience. Linja Zax augments mobile browsing by letting the browser do things with simple gestures. Draw a circle on the screen and the display zooms in; circle the other way and it zooms out. You know it’s good technology as Nokia has enabled it in the N900 browser currently shipping.

The company has reached out to us and let us know that while in the early stage, Linja Zax 2.0 is bringing even more capability that is designed for the mobile browser. The most unique feature is how the technology puts a 3D tilt to the browser screen, making interaction via touch a more natural experience. Have a look at this video of the Linja Zax 2.0 concept in action:

As a long-time e-book reader, the report that has recently surfaced that mentions that owners of e-book readers buy more books than others does not surprise me in the least. While the report used a survey of book buyers to draw the conclusion that reader owners read more books than ever, I could have told them that based on my own experience.

I have been reading e-books for a decade. Take a step back and read that sentence again. While it seems that these readers have only been around for a short while, and that’s true, the fact is e-books have been around for a lot longer. I started reading e-books back in the old Palm Pilot days. Sure the screen was a lot smaller than say a Kindle screen, but it had its advantages. That advantage is one of the three reasons that e-book reader owners buy (and read) more books than the old-school book readers.

1. The buying experience. It’s easy to see a book in many stores and leaf through it. Maybe the cover graphic draws us in, or maybe it’s a book by a favorite author. What could be easier than carrying the book to the checkout counter and buying it? Easy, buying an e-book online. Amazon has done a great job making it as easy as possible to buy an e-book for the Kindle. Let’s face it, one-click buying is the ultimate in impulse buying technology, and that’s what many Kindle owners do. Other retailers like Barnes & Noble make buying almost as easy. The prospective book reader can either buy a book from the electronic reader, or from any computer. See the book, click the button, and the book is pushed to the e-book reader. It couldn’t be easier, and that leads to buying more books.

2. Price. I don’t have statistics, but based on the way booksellers operate it’s no secret that new releases are a big piece of the book selling business. Consumers anxiously wait for the next big book from a favorite author, as the sale of hardcover books demonstrates. These hardcover books can easily cost $25 or more, and readers snap them up. It’s no surprise then that with Amazon and Barnes & Noble selling new releases and bestsellers for $9.99 or less, shoppers are quick to snap them up. There’s no more waiting for the cheaper paperback edition to appear; just click the buy button and in 30 seconds you are reading that bestseller.

3. Alternate readers. I mentioned I started reading e-books on the Palm Pilot, and both Amazon and B&N are savvy enough to recognize that still has appeal. Both retailers were quick to release iPhone (and other phone) versions of their readers to handle those e-books on the run. While a Kindle might give a more enjoyable reading experience than an iPhone, the iPhone (or other device) is always with the owner. I can attest that using a phone to read e-books allows me to capture far more unexpected reading time while on the go than most would realize. I can spend that free time reading a good e-book, and I believe I am not alone in this practice. Amazon’s WhisperNet technology leverages that to maximum benefit, as all the different devices I use to read Kindle books talk to each other. No matter which gadget I have in hand to read, it automatically takes me to the exact spot I left off in the book, regardless of the device I used last for reading.

These three simple reasons have a direct impact on both the amount of time that consumers have to spend reading, and on the number of books purchased. Compared to paper books, e-books are more portable and in the case of best sellers, are much cheaper.

Related GigaOM Pro Research: Evolution of the e-Book Market

One of the best Tablet PCs I’ve ever used is the HP 2730p. The great construction combined with the thin convertible screen makes for a compelling tablet. The problem with the 2730p is that HP seems to have no desire to refresh the model, although an online slip by a school may indicate a refresh is forthcoming.

Mercy High School uses HP tablets on-site, and recently published a set of guidelines on how the program works. Of interest to those desiring a new tablet model is this little statement:

The Mercy Computing Package will be available from the Inacomp online store in May 2010. The designated HP 2740p tablet is not scheduled to be manufactured until Spring 2010. This is a non-consumer, professional model. This series of tablets are the only units which the Mercy IT Department services and supports in parts.

Of course, HP isn’t talking, but then it never does. To see how great the 2730p is, here’s a video I shot quite while back:

Remember Symbian? It’s still alive and kicking in spite of Nokia’s fascination with Maemo. Seriously, Symbian has got nothing to worry about as Nokia has made it clear they are still 100 percent behind the platform. Well, except for that portion of the company that is now behind Maemo. In any event, third party companies are still developing apps for Symbian, and the Skyfire browser has just opened up a new version for the platform.

The new Skyfire 1.5 has performance improvements, along with some totally new features (from the press release):

• Finger friendly UI: A new, intuitive, and finger friendly UI for high resolution touchscreen devices provides an easier browsing experience.
• Smooth Scrolling: Kinetic scrolling has been enabled to Skyfire. Pan or flick the screen to move in any direction smoothly on touchscreen.
  
• Full screen mode: For touchscreen, browse in full screen mode with no UI elements on the screen for maximum page visibility.
• Auto-Rotate: Browse in portrait or landscape mode with a simple change of the device orientation.

Skyfire 1.5 supports both Symbian S60 Third Edition and S60 Fifth Edition, and can be downloaded here. Skyfire is the mobile browser that does page rendering on the Skyfire servers, making for fast performance and the ability to display virtually any web page just like on the desktop.

Eyes are looking toward Apple and the expected tablet announcement that has everyone all a-twitter (except Twitter folks as it’s down a lot) but there was another tablet in the works that wasn’t being discussed as much. The folks at HTC and Google have been working on a tablet of their own, at least until recently. HTC and Google collaborated successfully on the Nexus One Android phone, and they were also working on a tablet that would run the Chrome OS. Reports have come in that HTC sales and marketing director, Anthony Petts, has stated that HTC is halting all work on the Google tablet.

According to Petts, HTC will concentrate on its forte making smartphones, and not look at the tablet market. Work on the tablet had reportedly been taking place for as long as 18 months, and a few prototypes supposedly had been produced. Word on the street had the HTC / Google tablet running the Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, and one model was said to be running the Chrome OS, even though it won’t be released until late this year.

This coffee break is not the kind I usually take. I simply wanted a change of scenery while working, something I recommend all home workers do from time to time. So I’m working in the breakfast nook at home, but I am using the Acer Aspire 8940G. This beauty has the 18.4-inch high-resolution screen that is a joy to use. I can run two programs side-by-side using the Windows 7 Aero drag feature, and neither window requires horizontal scrolling to view everything. It’s also a performance beast with the Core i7 processors on board. Throw in the 4 GB of memory and the 500 GB hard drive and it’s like a high-power workstation. One I can carry into the kitchen to work.

Those of you who love the TripIt service for tracking your travels know that having a good app on your smartphone can make that a real productivity tool. The folks at TripIt have just let us know that the BlackBerry app is now available for download. It will be officially launched tomorrow but you don’t have to wait, it’s ready for you now.

Just visit this location on your BlackBerry, and you’ll be tracking your travels in just a few minutes.

It didn’t take long after I picked up a Magic Mouse for use with my MacBook before great suggestions started pouring in pointing to utilities that make the mouse even more useful. I have spent some time playing with a couple of them, and it does seem like you can take the multitouch capabilities of the Magic Mouse to new levels with either.

The first app I tested was BetterTouchTool, and I found it to be a very powerful tool. It allows total configuration of the Magic Mouse, including swipes, clicks and gestures. There are so many settings I admit it’s a bit daunting to explore, and will require some extended testing to find what works best. This tool also provides configuration over the MacBook trackpad, which some may find useful.

The second tool I tried seems to be a better fit for me. MagicPrefs is written to provide complete control over the Magic Mouse, and makes it possible to configure up to four finger touch events to trigger different things. It can handle taps, clicks, swipes, drags and pinches, which makes for a very personal mouse usage tool.

I would have no qualms using either of these utilities, as they both are very well done. For now I’m sticking with MagicPrefs, as much to try to get it fully customized the way I want it as for any other reason.

While writing this post I had a situation develop that may have had something to do with the mouse utilities. The Magic Mouse lost connection to the MacBook, and nothing could bring it back. Over the course of futzing with that, the MacBook’s trackpad went dead, leaving me with no good way to control things.

I rebooted the MacBook (after saving the draft post), and when it came back up no Bluetooth hardware was detected. I had to do the old Command-Option-P-R trick to get it back. I’m thinking that switching between these two utilities, both of which control the mouse and/or trackpad, that something got confused. It may be that one or both of them don’t cleanly quit when instructed to do so, and perhaps both were fighting over the mouse at the same time.

The Sony VAIO Z is one of the most portable notebooks around with a svelte form weighing in at just over 3 pounds. Sony put a lot of power in that aluminum and carbon fiber frame to round out the offering. The Z is being refreshed in March, and Sony has an intriguing option of four SSDs to offer RAID for the user’s data to the cloud and back. No telling what quad SSDs might cost, but if you have to ask…

Expect two new models in March, both with a 13.1-inch display. The VAIO VPCZ11Z9E and VAIO VPCZ11X9E differ mainly in Core i7 processor speed and available RAM. The two models available for ordering have either 128 or 256 GB SSDs in the basic configuration, as the Z series offers no models with conventional hard drives. The cheaper of the two will reportedly start at around $1,000, which is not too shabby given everything the VAIO Z brings to the gear bag. If that price holds true, it is a big drop from the current VAIO Z that Sony sells.