Ross Rubin (@rossrubin) contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.
It was the best of ideas. It was the worst of ideas. It was the age of innovation. It was the age of stagnation. It was the epoch of developing a bold new computing platform. It was the epoch of churning out another piece of converged electronics nobody needs.
Rumors have been swirling that PC operating system heavyweights Apple and Microsoft are developing forays into the world of tablet computing. Such devices will face strong competition from netbooks featuring low prices and a large library of applications remains to be see