Gartner is back thumping about how the cloud will replace the PC as personal hub by 2014, and, whoa, that's not exactly so far away. I wrote the "ding dong, the PC's dead" last month. After identifying five trends then, the analyst firm today highlights three things cloud vendors had better watch out for.

Simply stated: "Mobility and location"; "platform independence"; and "seamless synchronization". That aptly describes what the cloud-connected -- oh, post-PC, if you insist -- era is all about: Personal computing anytime, anywhere on anything. However, many cloud offerings fall short of that definition and the three must-have characteristics Gartner defines.

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Recently I had the chance to use the Sony Speaker Dock for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod. I love the sophisticated looks; the dock would be perfect to add to the atmosphere of a get-together or party. Even though this is a Sony product, it reminds me of Apple in the sense that this speaker is very simple. It isn't overloaded with complicated buttons that you would need an instruction manual to understand.

For a dock system of its quality, the RDP-X500IP is on the less expensive end, price-wise. For example, Sony sells the dock for $250. The comparable Bose system is $150 more. If you're on a budget, however, there are many quality alternatives, from Logitech and Klipsch, among others. Overall, the RDP-X500IP is a truly fabulous audio system. It's known for great bass, which honestly is quite phenomenal for a speaker of its price and size.

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So um, yeah, I have a confession to make. Even though I've written dozens of stories about the dangers of cell phone use while driving or hell, even criticized Google's Project Glass on international television because it is a distraction, writing this post makes me face the music and my hypocritical ways.

British insurance company Ingenie released the results of a survey of 1,000 young drivers age 17-25 on Friday. It shows that smartphone apps are becoming an increasing distraction, and one of the biggest culprits is OMGPOP's Draw Something.

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What do sexually transmitted diseases and Mac viruses share in common? Surprisingly lots, according to security software developer Sophos. People can spread both without exhibiting symptoms, and the infection rates for "Macs carrying malware and level of Chlamydia infection amongst young people" are about the same.

Say what? That's the question asked in BetaNews group chat this morning about the seemingly strange correlation. But it makes sense to me. My colleague Tim Conneally gets it, too. He observed (after doing a little research): "One in 4 people with Chlamydia have no symptoms. They're saying it's spreading but not affecting the host". That's exactly Sophos' point. The firm found a shocking number of Macs infected with PC viruses, in a 100,000 sampling. The Macs are immune but can infect Windows PCs.

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Why is it so hard to get developers to realize the software they design is slow, bloated and does not have the "fast and fluid" experience we all would like? End users may not appreciate this about many programmers and their mindset, but many developers don't like to use old computers? They love their technology and demand leading-edge PCs.

Maybe it's time to take away their computers, and send  them to Walmart to buy new ones.

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Surely it's no surprise that nearly nine out of 10 American adults owns a cell phone. But would you believe that 19 percent own an ebook reader or tablet? Or that one in five dosen't use the Internet? These are among the fascinating findings from a fresh Pew Internet report "Digital Differences".

The findings are a blueprint for understanding Americans' digital lifestyles and what gadgets -- and supporting products and services -- fit in where. Major tech companies create distinct digital lifestyles people buy into, which is particularly true for Apple, Dell, Google, Microsoft, Samsung and Sony among others. Apple, Google and Microsoft are in pitched lifestyle product competition, and should look to studies like this one to understand the stunning nuances connected, so-called post-PC devices bring to consumer behavior.

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There have been quite a few studies aimed at figuring out what makes the so-called "digital native" (i.e. children of the 90's who have had Web access and mobile technology their entire lives) tick.

Most of them arrive at some disparaging conclusion or other: "Digital natives are slow to pick up nonverbal cues," "Digital natives need help understanding search," and my personal favorite, "Beware the Digital Native!" (in which Enrique Salem, president and CEO of Symantec, says digital natives don't think about identity and security "the way we do.")

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I occasionally do. My wife does every day, multiple times, either using her Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket or Amazon Kindle. "In the US, 88 percent of tablet owners and 86 percent of smartphone owners said they used their device while watching TV at least once during a 30-day period", Nielsen says today. That's me. "For 45 percent of tablet tapping Americans, using their device while watching TV was a daily event". That's my better half. What about you?

I do tend to use my smartphone more often than a tablet while watching TV, that's to Shazam music -- something I frequently do everywhere. I was a deejay in an earlier life and compulsively search for good music. I'm not alone. Shazam audio QR codes appeared in Super Bowl ads for Best Buy, Pepsi and Toyota, among others. I see more QR codes in ads and TV shows every day. They're everywhere, and in some surprising places.

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Discussion Counterpoint. Colleague Tim Conneally and I got into a heated debate about smartphone comparisons this morning. He has the Nokia Lumia 900 Windows Phone for review (and I -- whaaaaa -- don't). I suggested Tim do a comparison with Google-branded Galaxy Nexus, which we both have. He refused. Tim was quite adamant about it, too. His out-and-out refusal clearly taps into strong feelings about how products are compared.

We bantered back and forth over group chat, with neither of our positions changing. "Buyers make these product comparisons all the time", I expressed late in our debate. "I can see we won't agree. If I had the Lumia 900, I would compare them". But I don't, and Tim won't. So I suggested: "Let's ask the readers...something like: 'Would you like the Samsung Galaxy Nexus and Nokia Lumia 900 compared?'"

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Discussion Point. Joe Wilcox asked me to write an article comparing the Nokia Lumia 900 to the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. I refused. Here is why. Read Joe's response.

Anyone who knows about marketing should readily understand market segmentation: it is a way of isolating customers/users/consumers by type. It could be geographically, it could be demographically, it could be psychographically, or it could be through some other defining characteristic.

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When you’re looking to capture a moment in time then your first instinct might be to take a still photo. Getting this right is a challenge, though -- it takes skill and great timing to produce quality results.

And while taking a video seems easier, you can often end up with too much information -- shaky camerawork, noise and background clutter -- which only takes away from what should be the real focus of your movie. But now there’s a third option, in Microsoft Research’s newly-released Cliplets, which produces something that’s part still photo, yet also includes motion in just the area that matters to you.

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eBay's payment processing subsidiary PayPal is no longer relegated to online purchases and auctions. Mobile payment app Tabbedout on Tuesday announced it now includes PayPal as an option to let users pay their bar tab or restaurant bill if they happen to be in Austin, Texas. And in just three days, a lot of people are going to be happening through Austin for the SXSW Interactive, Film, and Music Festival.

The Tabbedout mobile application is available for free on Android and iOS, and it lets bar and restaurant patrons open, view and pay their tab with their credit card on a smartphone. By doing this, the idea is that servers can more quickly and easily collect payment without actually having to process cards, come back for tips, and so forth. Within the app, the tab is kept, a tip calculator is included, and credit card data is stored locally and password protected. The system, of course, only works if a restaurant or bar has partnered with Tabbedout, and the startup has about 400 partnerships thus far.

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