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Intel is betting a chunk of its PC future on so-called convertibles. So far, financial analysts aren't convinced these are designs that will win the day.

Newfangled laptops that perform mechanical acrobatics to convert to tablet mode, like Lenovo's Yoga convertible and Dell's XPS 12, aren't impressive enough yet to revive PC-market doldrums, according to a growing chorus of financial analysts who follow Intel.

On Thursday, Intel CEO Paul Otellini, speaking during an earnings conference call, tried to depict convertible PC designs as the best of both worlds: the laptop and the tablet. In essence, he … Read more

Having secured the trademark for the iPad name in China last year, Apple is now going after rights over the tablet's likeness.

In a new trademark application, spotted earlier today by Patently Apple, Apple aims to trademark the likeness of the iPad, as depicted in both color and black-and-white photos. The filing shows a simple front shot of the device with a standard set of application icons, though not the sides or the back.

The move follows a short but intense legal battle with a Chinese company named Proview over the rights to the iPad moniker trademark. Proview took … Read more

Facebook unveiled a new tool this week it touts as helping find people, photos, places, and interests that are most relevant to Facebook users.

Graph Search is the social network's newest way for users to make sense of its massive base of 1 billion users, 240 billion photos, and 1 trillion connections. The tool is meant to provide people the answers to their questions about people, photos, places, and interests. CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Graph Search is launching to a small number of people and is available only on the desktop and in English for the time being.

People … Read more

Al Gore has just purchased a big chunk of Apple stock by exercising his Apple stock options.

A filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission shows that Gore exercised options on January 15 to buy 59,000 Apple shares at the price of $7.475 a share.

That means Gore paid around $441,000 for his load of Apple stock. With the shares trading just under $500 this morning, Gore's investment is now worth around $29.5 million.

Of course, Apple stock has been falling recently, although that could turn around next week if the company releases good results … Read more

The National Rifle Association's recent release of an App Store game called NRA: Practice Range has stirred up an impressive amount of controversy lately. Supporters and detractors alike are chiming in on the app and an online petition has been started demanding its removal from the App Store.

The reviews in the App Store range from complaints about the bad controls to users praising the gun safety tips.

I checked out the app for myself. As far as first-person shooters go, it's pretty innocuous. There's no blood spurting out from the vaguely humanoid indoor range targets. For … Read more

Apple has asked Sharp to decrease production of its 9.7-inch iPad screens, leading some to wonder if the iPad Mini is behind the move.

Sharp's iPad screen production line has fallen to "minimal level," Reuters reported today, citing people who claim to have knowledge of its output. The sources say the production slowdown commenced late last year.

Those sources say that the slowdown could be due to consumer demand increasingly shifting to the iPad Mini, though they would not say how much Apple's smaller slate could be impacting screen production. It's also possible, the … Read more

The cellular edition of the iPad Mini debuted in China today, but buyers will have to wait two weeks before it ships.

That delay also applies to the Wi-Fi only version, which has been out for about six weeks. A check of the Apple Store in China finds that all capacities of both the Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi + Cellular models are stuck with a two-week ship time.

iPad Mini buyers in the U.K., Japan, and other countries face the same delay, though the wait time in the U.S. is only one week.

Apple has been battling to meet global … Read more

E-mails reveal that executives at Apple and Google saw a substantial financial benefit to a mutual agreement not to recruit each other's employees, a federal judge said today.

The comments came in relation to a lawsuit brought by five former employees at various tech companies, alleging that an illegal conspiracy eliminated competition for talent. The lawsuit, filed in 2011, accuses Apple, Adobe Systems, Google, Pixar, Intel, and Intuit of conspiring to keep workers' salaries artificially low.

U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh, who is pondering whether to award class action status to the lawsuit, also ordered Apple CEO Tim … Read more

Publisher Hearst has a new initiative that gives iPad owners early access to digital versions of its magazines.

Apple today quietly launched a new section in its App Store called "Read them here first," with a listing of Hearst-owned magazines that can be had digitally before they arrive on newsstands or on competing digital platforms.

Hearst has 20 of its titles involved in the program, including Esquire, Car and Driver, and Popular Mechanics. A company spokeswoman said the lead time varies by publication.

The move gives Apple a leg up against competing digital newsstand products, particularly apps Zinio … Read more