Benchmarks are the best way to gauge a notebook’s prowess with applications such as office suites, photo and video editors, video players, games, and the like. Aesthetics are another important consideration, because you'll likely be staring at the thing for the next several years. By those measures, Samsung’s $1060 Ativ Book 7 Ultrabook (model NP740U3E-K01UB) is a fine machine. But a notebook must also feel good in your hands—unless you rely on dictation software, you have no other way to use it. And on that score, I found this laptop a major disappointment. ROBERT CARDINSamsung Ativ Book 7 is pretty enough to look at, but actually using it can be problematic for touch-typists. The Ativ Book 7 has a gorgeous brushed-aluminum finish. But if you wear a watch with a metal wristband, take it off before you lay hands on this computer’s keyboard. The noise produced as one metal scrapes the other is enough to curdle a glass of milk into cottage cheese. Reliance on integrated graphics doomed the Ativ Book 7's gaming performance. After my ears recovered from the horror, I once again laid my hands on the home row of the Chiclet-style keyboard. Such shallow-travel keyboards are common among Ultrabooks—they’re practically a necessity to achieve the required thinness—and I’ve touch-typed on more than my fair share of them. But the keys on the Ativ Book 7 travel such a short distance and deliver so little tactile feedback that I found myself constantly making typos. To read this... Continue reading at 'PC World'
[ PC World | 2013-08-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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"I find way too many inaccuracies," MacKenzie Bezos writes in a critical Amazon.com review of a new book about the company her husband founded.The vast majority of the 45 Amazon.com customers who have reviewed Bloomberg Businessweek writer Brad Stone's new book, The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2013-11-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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To compete against the Kindle, Barnes & Noble is going back to its roots, leveraging decades of bookseller expertise to make its Nook e–reader feel more like a paper book. Released Wednesday, the new Nook Simple Touch GlowLight features a brighter, sharper display; lighter body; improved... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2013-10-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Colleen McCullough is back with a family saga, while Louis Nowra exposes the underbelly of Kings Cross. Our round-up of this week's best book reviews. Continue reading at The Sydney Morning Herald
[ The Sydney Morning Herald | 2013-10-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Daily Mail's consultant literary editor Jane Mays has predicted that reviewing... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-06-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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While a high-calibre jury of writers and critics ponders the nominees for this year's Children's Book Awards, we have asked the true experts. Continue reading at Stuff
[ Stuff | 2013-06-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Stuff is teaming up with the NZ Post Children Books Awards in an initiative to promote the importance of books and reading, and to inspire New Zealand's future writers and illustrators. Continue reading at Stuff
[ Stuff | 2013-05-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Among the best, new self-published titles of March and April is The Beach at Herculaneum by Susan G. Muth, only the second title to win a BlueInk Best Book Award. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-04-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A debut author who graduated from the celebrated Iowa Writers' Workshop has a seven-figure book deal.HarperCollins announced Wednesday that it will publish Erika Johansen's Queen of the Tearling, a fantasy trilogy inspired in part by Barack Obama.A person with knowledge of the negotiations said... Continue reading at Crains New York
[ Crains New York | 2013-02-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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This months reviews of top self-published books features a witty novel about a coupon-clipping mother and her stoic daughter, and a memoir of life on the island of Malta, among several other appealing reads. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-02-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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This month's starred BlueInk reviews offers a look at some of the best literature the self-publishing community has to offer. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-01-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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This month's starred reviews of self-published books includes a SF mystery set in dystopia where people live in domed cities and a memoir of Mexican immigration to the US. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2012-11-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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British crime writer R.J. Ellory is the latest author to be caught out writing glowing online reviews of his own work. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2012-09-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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This brisk first-person account by a Navy SEAL is an important historical work, though it, like the mission itself, is not flawless. No Easy Day Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-09-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Defense Department and CIA consider legal action against the former SEAL, author of 'No Easy Day,' for failing to submit the work for a security review.WASHINGTON — The Pentagon and CIA are reviewing a forthcoming book by a retired Navy SEAL who was on the May 2011 raid that killed Osama bin... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-08-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The front page of the New York Times Book Review has always been—and continues to be—a much coveted spot for authors and publishers alike. But just how much does a Book Review cover affect a book’s sales in today’s publishing climate—does the revered paper publication still move units in the... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-07-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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British journalist Richard Lloyd Parry skillfully goes beyond the headlines in the 2000 disappearance of fellow Brit Lucie Blackman in Tokyo. It is a dark, unforgettable ride.People Who Eat Darkness Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-06-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Hilary Mantel returns to the vicious world of Henry VIII and Thomas Cromwell's maneuverings.Bring Up the Bodies Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-05-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A lawyer and a caretaker with similar backgrounds follow different paths in contemporary Jerusalem with the same motivation: to leave their small-town Arab lives behind and be accepted for the new personas they have created.Early in the novel, "Second Person Singular," a main character known... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-05-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The cookbook has been republished after an initial run in 1947, and her great-granddaughter Elizabeth Gilbert ('Eat Pray Love') reintroduces Potter in the forward. The cookbook is insightful and funny, weaving together practical advice and recipes.At Home on the Range Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-05-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The author wants American Jews to force changes in Israeli policy to protect the democratic legacy of Labor Zionism. He also explains why that's unlikely to happen.Nearly all the considerable attention generated by Peter Beinart's "The Crisis of Zionism" has focused on its final 81/2 pages.... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-05-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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