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 ]
News tagged with:
#fair share
Author Ros Barber recalls the early hostile reaction she received for her award-winning debut novel in which playwright Christopher Marlowe is credited as the true author of Shakespeare's plays. Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2013-06-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#award-winning debut
The Daunt Books imprint is to begin publishing original fiction, in an "exciting development... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-06-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#original fiction
#daunt books
Young people have been put off buying from Amazon after recent revelation's about the company... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-06-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Templar is launching a new imprint this autumn with a list of colouring-in books for all ages.... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-06-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Ros Barber's The Marlowe Papers, a novel written entirely in verse, wins the annual Desmond Elliott Prize for best debut novel. Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2013-06-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#ros barber
#marlowe papers
Startup Crowd the Book launched in March, is using selective, online marketing to try and 'create a wildfire around great books published by small presses.' Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-06-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#book aims
#build community
#online marketing
#small presses
The future of book publishing is increasingly digital -- and increasingly tilted towards genre fiction. Continue reading at Wired
[ Wired | 2013-06-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#big publishers
#genre fiction
#book publishing
Judge Denise Cote seemed inclined to rule for the Department of Justice at the beginning of the trial, but her remarks as the case closed seemed to indicate a shift towards Apple's side. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2013-06-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
The French government announced a plan to introduce a law to stop Amazon from offering discounts and free delivery for books, citing it as "unfair" competitive practice. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-06-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#fair play
#offering discounts
#free delivery
This portable app's website says "Bright Snippet Sire," but everybody calls this open-source favorite Briss for…er…short. Briss crops a section of a PDF file and creates another PDF file of the cropped area. You can crop unwanted areas from PDFs with Briss. It's free, open-source, and portable,... Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2013-06-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#cropped area
#single-column pages
#unnecessary margins
#page numbers
#chapter headings
#epub converter
Library campaigners are braced for a further round of cuts as the Government unveils the latest... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-06-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#library closures
#library campaigners
Publisher John Blake has signed world rights to a new title about the life of Nelson Mandela [... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-06-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#nelson mandela
#prison guard
The "Korea Times" compares the Seoul International Book Fair to Tokyo's International Book Fair, and finds it sorely lacking. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-06-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Author Nick Harkaway has called for authors to be offered a greater share of royalties from e-... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-06-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#greater share
Jennie Bristow, associate fellow at the University of Kent, says grown-ups read children's books because they feel 'disenchanted with adult culture'. Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2013-06-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Among the curiosities for sale at last week's Seoul International Book Fair were Borges-themed beach gear and tiny hand-bound artists books from a tiny Irish island. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-06-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
For much of the year, Andrej Bauer spent more time on GitHub than he did on Facebook. But Bauer wasn't writing software. A mathematician by profession, he was embarking on a bold adventure in online collaboration. He and about two dozen other mathematicians used GitHub to write a book. Continue reading at Wired
[ Wired | 2013-06-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Online subscription services have proved successful for entertainment businesses like Netflix, Hulu, and Spotify, but other than O’Reilly’s Safari Books Online, which is geared to professionals, trade ebook subscriptions have gained little traction. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2013-06-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#proved successful
#entertainment businesses
Why does HarperCollins need a VP of Innovation? Ana Maria Allessi, who holds that very title, tells us about a future in which books look a lot like apps. Ana Maria Allessi is somewhat of an oddity, for someone who’s worked at a publishing house for almost 13 years. While publishing is rife... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2013-06-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#joined harpercollins
#audio books
#technology company
#technology companies
#tech world
Sally Gardner, a dyslexic author once branded "unteachable" at school, wins the prestigious Carnegie Medal for her book Maggot Moon. Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2013-06-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#sally gardner