SiliconBeat

Here’s more evidence that netbooks are still a growth product: A new report from DisplaySearch, a unit of the NPD Group research firm, says netbook shipments grew at twice the rate of regular laptops (40 percent compared with 22 percent) from the first quarter of this year to the second.

As a result, the report says, netbooks now account for one out of every five laptops shipped in the last quarter. Netbooks went from about 6 percent of total laptop shipments in the second quarter of 2008, to 22 percent in the second quarter of 2009.

In addition, the report says, “Asus, the pioneer in mini-note PCs, has been steadily losing share because Tier 1 brands like Acer, HP, Dell, Lenovo and Toshiba have become increasingly aggressive in this shipment.”

While the continued popularity of these low-cost, down-sized “mini” notebooks is good news, in one sense, some are concerned that they are contributing to a broader decline in prices and profit margins for companies that make and sell computers, chips and software.

HP, for example, reported that its notebook revenue was down 10 percent for its most recent quarter, even though it sold 19 percent more units than last year.

Watch for a story in the Merc about a new line of laptops and processors that some believe are intended to shore up sales of traditional notebooks.

This week it seems there’s plenty of evidence that at least some of us have big targets on our backs, when it comes to Internet security and identity theft.

First came the report from security software-maker McAfee that searching for photos of actress Jessica Biel can lead to all kinds of malware getting on our PCs. (Who knew?) Then we heard a report from rival security company AVG that suggests we’re far too trusting of our social networking “friends.”

AVG says a survey of 250 consumers found that a majority are prone to such bad habits as “infrequently or never” changing their passwords for social networking sites, and almost as infrequently adjusting their privacy settings — which can keep complete strangers (or your boss!) from seeing information that you really should reserve to your closest friends.

Add to that another bulletin suggesting that social-networking sites are “a literal gold mine” for phishers seeking information — like date of birth, home town or pets’ names — that could be used for identity theft. That one came to us from IdentityTruth, a company that promises to help monitor for signs of identity theft and post fraud alerts with credit reporting agencies.

Consumer advocates warn that many credit monitoring services are pretty much offering to do something you can do yourself for free. And of course all these companies have a vested interest in making us aware of Internet dangers. But still, you’d think people would learn to be more careful …

You don’t usually think of Hewlett-Packard as a food business. But with food contamination growing as a public concern, HP this week announced a new cloud-based recall service that it’s hoping the food industry will adopt as it searches for ways to address the issue.

HP said Canada’s GS1, a non-profit trade group that works to improve supply chain efficiency, will use HP software, services and infrastructure to operate a system that tracks food products as they are manufactured and distributed to retailers.

The system is intended to let different companies use consistent technical standards to share information — which safety advocates say is often lacking during contamination scares — and to distribute specific recall instructions as needed.

IBM rolled out its own cloud-based approach to food “traceability” earlier this year, built around software developed at its South San Jose research lab. HP reportedly competed with IBM for the Canadian contract.

HP’s announcement didn’t draw as many headlines as some of the other food-safety news that broke this month, including reports that authorities had linked another salmonella outbreak to beef from a Fresno packing plant, and that Congress was debating a bill to give the U.S. Food & Drug Administration more inspection and enforcement power. But HP and IBM both see a big market for technology aimed at this issue.

After gobbling up several software companies recently, Intel announced in June that it was plunking down $884 million for the Alameda software firm Wind River Systems.

But that hardly satisfied the Santa Clara chip giant’s software appetite.

So over the past few weeks, Intel has picked up two more software businesses - Rapidmind of Waterloo, Ontario and Cilk of Lexington, MA, according to information posted on an Intel blog.

The two latest acquisitions bring Intel skill in the arcane art of parallel programming, which involves writing software for so-called multiple-core chips featuring more than one central processing unit.

For a Pink Slip 2.0 story on long-term unemployment, I’m looking for folks to interview who have been laid off and looking for work now for at least 26 weeks. If you care to share your stories, call me beginning Monday, August. 24, at 408 920 5689 or email me at pmay@mercurynews.com and I’ll get back to you. Thanks! Pat

     For many Silicon Valley job-seekers, it’s been a frustrating summer, as the recession grinds on with no real end in sight. Kris took a previously planned vacation to Alaska, which probably did him a world of good getting away from his pink-slip blues. And in the process, he made a promising discovery:
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As a service to our loyal readers who are weary of the relentless parade of negative news offered up these days by various media outlets, those of us at SiliconBeat periodically wish to provide a bit of cheery relief.

Which brings us to this item about LSI.

The Milpitas chip-maker is in the process of distributing free backpacks and school supplies to about 12,000 underprivileged K-12 students around the world in communities where its employees live and work.

Last year, the company said it contributed more than 9,000 backpacks to primary and secondary schools in Asia, Europe and the United States. The backpacks are filled with notebooks, pens, calculators and dictionaries donated by LSI employees.

“As a U.S.-based company that operates globally, LSI understands that investment in local education is an investment in a better world,” said the company’s CEO, Abhi Talwalkar, in a prepared statement.

I wanted to post a short note to let folks know about a couple of changes here.

Elise Ackerman, one of the contributors to SiliconBeat, has left the Mercury News. Elise had been covering the Internet, among other thing.

Also, Jack Davis, our data manager, accepted a buyout. For those of you who have been following this blog for awhile know, Jack was the main force behind Docu-Drama. Jack and I started Docu-Drama as a stand-alone blog back in late summer 2007 to focus on securities filings of valley companies. Earlier this year, Docu-Drama was folded into the re-launch of Silicon Beat.

Jack’s departure will bring an end to official Docu-Drama posts.

I wanted to acknowledge Elise and Jack’s work here, and say thanks to those of you who have been reading their stuff.

So now we know: The Great Obama Twitter Revolution was an illusion.

At the moment when Obama needs his vast social media army to support him in the debate over health care reform, they are nowhere to be found. No spontaneous meetups. No big Facebook followings. Hardly a tweet on Twitter.

Instead, the dominant images of the health care debate are people shouting down Congressmen at town hall meetings. It’s talk show hosts on cable news channels blustering about the evils of socialized medicine. And it’s radio show hosts pushing the usual propaganda.

Obama has lost control of the debate. And the fight will be soon be lost if the trajectory of the shouting match doesn’t change.

This may be the most critical policy moment of Obama’s presidency. And Obama’s Twitter posse is sitting it out.

What are they waiting for?

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Google Opt Out Feature Lets Users Protect Privacy By Moving To Remote Village