In Brief
A tougher notebook; Microsoft's OneCare service.Product Pipeline
Tiny Toughbook: The Toughbook W4 is Panasonic's first ultrathin and lightweight notebook designed to withstand assorted dings and drops. Reinforced with a magnesium alloy, the 2.8-pound, Wi-Fi-ready W4 ships with a 1.2-GHz Intel Pentium M processor, 512MB of RAM, a shock-mounted 40GB hard drive, and a 12.1-inch antiglare display; Panasonic says it will run up to 6 hours between charges. Its suggested retail price is $2150.
Tidbyte
Windows TLC: Microsoft is seeking to make Windows safer and easier to manage with Windows OneCare Live, a service slated to debut sometime in 2006 (read details about the beta). OneCare offers antivirus protection, a personal firewall, and backup and PC-cleanup tools. Microsoft says it plans to charge for the service, but it hasn't yet stated how much. The OneCare offering is part of a larger push by the company to provide more online tools--some on a subscription basis, others ad-supported--under the Live brand.