Quick Look - BlackBerry PlayBook

Following my less-than-spectacular experience with the Samsung Galaxy Tab a few months back, I was somewhat curious to see how RIM's BlackBerry alternative would perform. The PlayBook is the company's first slate attempt, and while it improves greatly on what I had previously, my short time with the tablet echoes the same overall consensus - the device remains to be a serious work in progress.

Off the Beaten Track - Why the Intel Atom is Doomed

Image credit: Toshiba

Intel's Atom has been around since 2008 and today controls pretty much the entire netbook market. However, the company has been slow to push the platform forward, giving only mediocre performance updates. Does advances by Intel's rival AMD, a delayed product schedule and previous product releases by the chip giant signal an end for the humble platform's dominance? Should Intel take this as a serious wake up call or be content sitting on it's laurels? Based on my experience with some newer netbooks recently, here's what I believe could be the new status quo in 2011 and beyond.