Netbooks
Netbooks continue to be a very popular purchase. A recent survey reported that while most buyers seemed content with their netbook purchases, many (more than half of some age groups) were not. A netbook is not a notebook. At least for now, the capabilities are different. The main reasons stated for buying a netbook are ease of portability and low cost, not capability. Manufacturers seem to be moving towards a common definition of what is and is not a netbook. One requirement is that the unit needs a screen no larger than 10.2 inches.
USB Pen
At the NATA Annual Meeting and Trade Show in San Antonio in June, vendor Premier Software displayed its Simtrak™ Mobility software installed on a pen with regular writing capability and with a laser pointer. The software installation included full encryption, making the pocket pen a complete sports medicine documentation device with both software and data storage incorporated into the nifty pen unit. A few of these USB pens are available for sale on a limited basis from the company. Call for further information if interested.
iPhone versus Blackberry & Mac versus Windows
Traveling recently in Europe, a Premier Software staff member did an informal study from one airport lounge to another. The results: there were more Mac laptops being used than Windows ones. And, Blackberry remains the leading handheld device, about one-half, with iPhone a strong second, about one-third. All other devices share what’s left.
Maintaining Your Laptops
A recent study found that keeping your laptop too long is expensive. If kept beyond three years, and held on to for two more years, the average cost is more than $1,000 for those extra two years (more than the cost of replacing it). Plus, the older laptop brought about a decline in user productivity, which sometimes cost the employer as much as $9,600. Processor.com, 08 May 09, p. 2.
Where are Your Laptops?
The U.S. Dept. of the Interior reported 13 missing laptops, and they could not locate about 20% of a sample of more than 2,500 other computers, almost all belonging to the Fish and Wildlife Service. There was no uniform policy in the Department for tracking custody of portable computers, and there was no encryption requirement. A manager stated that the Department was indeed vulnerable to sensitive and personally identifiable information being lost, stolen, or misused. Processor.com, 19Jun09, p. 27