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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It's 1969 and James Bond wakes up in The Dorchester in London. It’s his 45th birthday.... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-09-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Scholastic has donated 1 million books to Reach Out and Read, a literacy charity that works to provide books to at-risk children via doctors and nurses. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-09-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Festival des Ecrivains du Monde, a celebration of world literature, began in Paris Friday September 20, continued through the weekend and carried over for two days in Lyon where it ends today. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2013-09-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Signature Series Strategy Guide to Grand Theft Auto V, the fastest-selling video game of all... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-09-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bloomsbury children's sales director Phil Earle is to join newly independent David Fickling... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-09-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bookshops involved in the Books Are My Bag campaign launch on Saturday 14th September saw an... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-09-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Marcel Reich-Ranicki was a living embodiment of so much of 20th century German intellectual life. Will the internet era ever produce as influential a critic? Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-09-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Even though the physical book market is more unpredictable than ever, “print is here to stay,” declares Stuart Applebaum, spokesman for Penguin Random House. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2013-09-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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#hybrid market
Thousands of tickets for Sir Alex Ferguson's book tour have been signed up in minutes after... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-09-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Word-of-mouth has long been a driver of small business success (and failure), and these days it takes the form of online customer reviews. But the relative anonymity provided by the Web has added a new wrinkle: review fraud. In fact, fake reviews have been a real problem on Yelp. Last fall the... Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2013-09-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The National Book Award for nonfiction longlist screams "USA, USA..." with 8 of the 10 titles covering American history, biography, cultural analysis, music, and religion. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-09-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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“Book” has meant different things to different cultures, explains Harvard professor Leah Price in an interview with Ploughshares literary magazine. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-09-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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According to AAP’s monthly StatShot report, adult ebooks rose only 4.8% in the first six months of 2013 compared to the same period in 2012, hitting $647.7 million. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2013-09-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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So what about that National Book Awards fiction longlist? It's a good one, and the last of the four longlists to be released by the National Book Foundation this week.So what about that National Book Awards fiction longlist? It’s a good one, and the last of the four longlists to be released by... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2013-09-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A pair of best-selling works by staff writers for The New Yorker, Lawrence Wright's "Going Clear" and George Packer's "The Unwinding," were among 10 books chosen for the nonfiction long-list of the National Book Awards.Besides Mr. Wright's investigation of Scientology and Packer's bleak account... Continue reading at Crains New York
[ Crains New York | 2013-09-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The phrase "virtual book club" may not conjure romantic visions of low-lit rooms and vintage wines, but you don't necessarily need those things to throw fancy words around. Amazon-owned Goodreads hosts user-created online clubs, but a Google patent application that's surfaced today imagines a... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2013-09-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In Mexico, the attitude towards ebooks has shifted from one of wariness and worry to one of enthusiasm, as evidenced by this year's International E-book Symposium. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-09-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Former Happy Days actor Henry Winkler will star in a new CBBC comedy drama based on his Hank Zipzer children's books - inspired by his own experiences growing up with dyslexia. Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2013-09-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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We swear, we won't be giving you the blow-by-blow on every single app that gets updated for iOS 7 today, but this one seemed like a biggie. Amazon just announced that its Kindle reader for iOS has received a major redesign, with fonts, menus and other details retooled to match the flat,... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2013-09-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The value of the printed book market rose for a third consecutive week last week. It was helped... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-09-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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