Australia's love affair with digital technology isn't fading, despite our reportedly reduced appetite for spending.

The new generation of Intel's Atom platform that was codenamed Oak Trail is now shipping and will being appearing in devices next month.

The headline isn't literally true, but a major professional services firm is predicting that 2011 will be the year when non-PC computing devices outnumber traditional PCs.

After the embarrassment of CES 2010 when Microsoft prematurely published a press release showing off a HP tablet that never ended up seeing light of day after Apple’s iPad swept aside all-comers in the tablet market, Microsoft is once again pushing what CEO Steve Ballmer called “job number one” at the company’s Financial Analyst Meeting, held  earlier this year.

Netbooks aren’t always just PC companions but are primary machines for many people, and either way usually contain information you don’t want to lose. To give Windows netbook users a much better way to backup and restore than Windows provides, Acronis’ new True Image 2011 for Netbooks has arrived!

The Asus Eee PC 1001P is more than just a very cheap netbook computer. It very much signals the end of an era of portable PC computing that Asus single-handedly revolutionised in 2007.

The current worldwide outlook for sales of PCs look bright, with an exceptional fourth quarter last year followed by year-on-year growth in shipments of 27.1 percent in the first quarter of this year, and forecasts by IDC of further recovery in the market after the global economic downturn.

According to an online survey by shopping site Retrevo.com, netbooks are maintaining their popularity vis a vis laptops, but are losing their luster when compared to the iPad.

In a market where the specification and performance of netbooks is largely undifferentiated it’s great to see HP do something a little different. The new Mini 5102 runs most of the usual netbook kit but ups the ante in a couple of important areas.

Almost singlehandedly, Asus created the modern version of the netbook category with their groundbreaking Eee PC. While the first Eee PC was a very basic system that could best be described as adequate when it comes to mobile computing the latest generation of hardware, like the Eee PC 1005P Seashell, have moved ahead in leaps and bounds to deliver a desktop-like computing experience at a reasonable, although not budget, price.