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Is the MacBook Air overpriced?

Is the MacBook Air overpriced? Competitive offerings from Dell and Toshiba reveal that the MacBook Air may not be so extortionately expensive.

Of course, it all depends on your perspective: $2,499 for a laptop is a lot of money. But put the Air into the context of its product category--ultraportable laptop--and you see that, by comparison, it's not necessarily overpriced.

(Note: Here we're talking about the just-announced update to the MacBook Air.)

Let's start with Dell's recently announced ultraportable laptop (or 'subnotebook," choose your nomenclature). The 12.1-inch Latitude E4200 is priced at $2,… Read more

Video: New Apple notebooks reportedly include liquid sensors

As klutzy Apple laptop users know, damage from spilled water, coffee, or other liquids is not covered under the standard warranty. To uncover any potential for warranty fraud, it's rumored the Cupertino, Calif.-based company has installed liquid sensors in its new line of MacBooks and MacBook Pros. CNET's Kara Tsuboi looks into the rumored move and the potential for false-positives.

iPhone apps of the week

You may have noticed a trend in my iPhone apps of the week posts: I mostly download games. To offer a little balance to my posts, this week I have a couple of useful iPhone apps that aren't just for when you want to waste some time. Both are free so you can take advantage of these useful tools right away.

Free Translator is a language translator that lets you send e-mails in different languages. The concept is fairly simple: choose a source language, choose a target language, and then hit translate. When you're finished, you can send … Read more

CNET News Daily Podcast: Can Moto get its mojo back?

Motorola invented the cell phone biz, but hasn't had a hit in years. Now the company's losses are starting to pile up and investors and observers wonder if the company will be able to turn itself around. CNET News reporter Maggie Reardon, who keeps a close eye on Motorola, talks with us about how the phone maker can get its groove back.

Also on Friday's podcast: Movement within the Microsoft ranks, IBM's not happy about Apple's most recent hire, Tesla is having financial issues, and electric-car companies could be creating a different kind of environmental … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 843: Nine legal uses for BitTorrent

We asked. You answered. Our listeners provided not seven, not eight, but nine real legal legitimate uses for BitTorrent. Plus Apple's getting into an old-fashioned spat with IBM. Just like 1979 all over again. Plus Rafe says stop whining about Windows 7. Listen now: Download today's podcast Episode 843

National Novel Writing Month starts tomorrow http://www.nanowrimo.org/

Trojan virus steals bank info http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7701227.stm http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10079593-83.html

Apple hires top IBM chip designer and blade server guru http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10079494-37.html

More on … Read more

Microsoft sets up ad kiosk outside U.K. Apple store

Microsoft is taking its "I'm a PC" ad campaign directly to the people: the Mac people.

At least, that's the case in the U.K., where an AppleInsider reader spotted a Microsoft-branded video kiosk just outside a Birmingham Apple store. Microsoft employees were asking passersby to come in and record their very own "I'm a PC" video, presumably for use in a future ad.

It's not clear from AppleInsider's report whether this tactic was actually working, but it's certainly become clear this year that Microsoft is determined to hit back … Read more

Microsoft's Mac unit gets new boss

Microsoft said Friday that it is changing the leadership of its Macintosh Business Unit, the group responsible for Office for Mac.

Eric Wilfrid, a product unit manager in the division, will succeed Craig Eisler, who is moving to a role elsewhere in Robbie Bach's entertainment and devices unit. In an interview, Wilfrid declined to say what exactly his former boss will be up to or even to whom Eisler will report.

Eisler took over in June 2007 when then MacBU head Roz Ho moved to a secretive mobile job within the entertainment unit.

Wilfrid said that Office for Mac … Read more

Apple fanboys vs. Microsofties: A scientist's verdict

Since embracing Incorrectness, I have noticed that the passion of those who love either Microsoft or Apple seems even to exceed a Goth's passion for black eyeshadow.

The more I have come to know the two sides, the more their mutual stand-off resembles the kind of love-hate continuum embraced nightly by those two remarkably large-headed souls, Fox's Bill O'Reilly and MSNBC's Keith Olbermann.

Now, research led by Professor Semir Zeki of University College London may help to illustrate and explain the inflamed emotions that surround two mere technology brands.

It appears that, although love and hate … Read more

iPhone gaining ground with lower-income fans

Apple and AT&T's decision to subsidize the price of the iPhone 3G is paying off with an increase in sales to lower-income folks.

Comscore released data earlier this week indicating that while most iPhone users are in the $100,000-a-year income bracket, those earning between $25,000 a year and $75,000 a year are the fastest-growing segment of new iPhone customers. iPhone adoption among those making $25,000 to $50,000 a year has grown 48 percent since June, according to the report.

"Fastest-growing" is always one of my favorite research terms because it … Read more