Stories by: Brian Nadel

While the bring-your-own-device (BYOD) movement has IT departments scurrying to figure out how to cope with the all the issues inherent in consumer technology, there are still tablets out there that are less about entertainment and more about work: Windows 7 tablets. In fact, according to Alex Spektor, associate director for wireless device strategies at Strategy Analytics, thousands of companies use Windows tablets to get business done.

Looking to knock Apple's MacBook Air from its pedestal, PC manufacturers have been launching an array of high-end, superslim laptops over the past several months. Called ultrabooks (a term coined by Intel), these new laptops feature low-voltage Intel Core chips and emphasize long battery life and fast boot times.

Roughly a year after Verizon Wireless established LTE-based 4G mobile phone and data service in New York City, AT&T's rival LTE network is up and running here and in several other cities. Although its average speeds lagged behind Verizon's in my tests, AT&T's 4G LTE service has a lot going for it.

It's a fact of modern life that archiving data is essential to prevent a data disaster. Still, something like one-third of computers are never backed up, according to 2257 respondents in a recent Backblaze poll carried out by Harris Interactive. The survey came to the dismal conclusion that a scant 7 per cent of users practice safe computing by archiving their systems on a daily (or nightly) basis.

Being thin never seems to go out of style, and the latest notebooks take this ideal to a new extreme. Called Ultrabooks, these devices are thinner, sleeker and lighter than the typical laptop, yet they offer a long battery life and a full set of features.

Buried inside many of the latest smartphones is a capability that few people take advantage of. A feature called tethering lets a phone go beyond talk, email and Web surfing to act as a mobile hotspot that can supply Web access to nearby computers, tablets and other devices.

This is the second half of a two-part series on technology breakthroughs that have the potential to change computing. Last week, we looked at five chip-level innovations that will make electronic devices faster, more powerful, more flexible and less expensive to manufacture. This week, we explore advances in how we access the Net, how we power our devices and how we interact with them.

Imagine a world with electronic devices that can power themselves, music players that hold a lifetime of songs, self-healing batteries, and chips that can change abilities on the fly. Based on what's going on in America's research laboratories, these things are not only possible, but likely.

Known for its straightforward business laptops, Lenovo is adding a touch of style with its new ThinkPad X1. The ultrathin laptop will be available May 24th for a starting price of US$1,399.

Because of its association with the BlackBerry brand, Research in Motion's BlackBerry PlayBook will appeal to businesspeople, but on arrival it lacks many corporate must-haves, such as email and 3G wireless data. In fact, it feels like it was rushed to market.