Samsung targets Apple with tablet

Samsung Electronics is taking aim at Apple in gaining a foothold in the global tablet computer market with the release of its Galaxy Tab, states JoongAng Daily.

Samsung is taking on a tough challenge since Apple's iPad now had 95% of the global market for tablet PCs in the third quarter of this year, according to Strategic Analytics.

Apple benefited from a first-mover advantage in unveiling the first tablet PC model in January and releasing it for sale in the US and some other markets in April. But Samsung and other electronics companies are now crowding into the sector with rival products.

Using a laptop computer, as the name suggests, may not be good for male reproductive health, according to a study, reports Reuters.

And there is little that can be done about it, aside from using the laptop on a desk, said Yelim Sheynkin, a urologist at the State University of New York at Stony Brook who led the study published in Fertility and Sterility.

In the study, thermometers were used to measure the temperature of the scrotums of 29 young men balancing a laptop on their knees. Even with a lap pad under the computer, the men's scrotums overheated quickly.

Global personal-computer shipments continued to expand in the third quarter, rising 7% sequentially and 10% from a year ago, defying a growing chorus of negativity regarding the market, according to research firm iSuppli Corp, notes The Wall Street Journal.

iSuppli also projected global PC shipments will continue to rise in the fourth quarter, by a percentage in the mid-single digits compared with last year.

Worldwide PC shipments totalled 88.1 million units during the latest quarter, narrowly missing iSuppli's forecast. The measure was up from 82.6 million in the second quarter and 79.9 million a year ago.