Hewlett-Packard

How many times have we heard about a smaller Apple iPad?

A Google search turns up 114 million hits, but that couldn't be right. Could it?

The Wall Street Journal was getting a lot of play Tuesday morning with a report out of Taiwan that Apple (AAPL), to "broaden its product pipeline" and respond to "intensifying competition," was testing a new smaller tablet with a screen size of about 8 inches.

Color us skeptical.

First of all, we don't sense that Apple MORE

Mac sales zigged as Windows PC sales sagged in Q4

Apple is the only bright spot in the industry's worst quarter in a decade

Fourth quarter personal computer numbers for the U.S. market came in from Gartner and IDC Wednesday and for the second quarter in a row, Apple (AAPL) sales grew like gangbusters while the Microsoft (MSFT) Windows PC market actually shrank.

Apple sales in the U.S. were up 20.7%, according to Gartner, while HP (HPQ) was down 21.6%, Dell (DELL) MORE

Today in Tech: Is Verizon pulling a Netflix?

Fortune's curated selection of tech stories from the last 24 hours. Sign up to get the round-up delivered to you each and every day.

* Verizon Wireless (VZ) ruffled some feathers after users of its high-speed 4G network experienced the fourth outage of the year and the third this month alone. Also, news of a $2 surcharge fee for one-time credit or debit card payments conducted via phone or online spread, somewhat inaccurately, causing customers MORE

The global supply chain: So very fragile

Manufacturers have spent years building low-cost global supply chains. Natural disasters are showing them just how delicate those networks really are.

By Bill Powell, editor-at-large

FORTUNE -- The image to the right is almost surreal: It shows part of a Honda auto factory in central Thailand, one of the largest in Southeast Asia, swamped under 15 feet of water, brand-new cars floating in the currents. The devastating November flooding in Thailand, which MORE

Today in Tech: WebOS lives, more hardware coming

Fortune's curated selection of tech stories from the weekend. Sign up to get the round-up delivered to you each and every day.

"If you don't fail, you haven't tried hard enough."
-- Shervin Pishevar, Menlo Ventures Managing Partner (TechCrunch)

* HP (HPQ) has finally decided the fate of the WebOS operating system, and things are looking up. The company announced that it's making WebOS "open source," allowing developers and other hardware manufacturers to freely MORE

'Pure' PC makers reportedly fleeing the tablet market

Likely to leave the field to Apple, Amazon and Barnes & Noble, according to DigiTimes

Taipei-based DigiTimes, which has been churning out rumors from Asian electronics parts suppliers as fast as its correspondents can type, reported Thursday that unnamed "sources from upstream supply chain" believe that PC makers such as Hewlett-Packard (HPC), Dell (DELL), Acer and Asustek will "gradually phase out" of the tablet market.

According to DigiTimes:

With Amazon offering its Kindle Fire at MORE

Cisco promised a turnaround. Is this it?

Cisco has been struggling to find a suitable second act. Now, with its major competitors distracted, the first glimmers of hope may be in sight.

By Kevin Kelleher, contributor

FORTUNE -- Few companies have been as central to the Internet's development as Cisco. ISPs, private companies and public institutions have relied on its switches and routers so much that the San Jose company's name might as well be synonymous with the Net's MORE

Gartner: Apple and Asus were the big winners in Europe in Q3

Their PC shipments grew by double digits while the broader market fell more than 11%

Even without counting the iPad, Apple (AAPL) gained smartly on the major personal computer vendors in Europe last quarter according to a report issued Monday by Gartner, Inc.

While the broader market for PCs fell 11.4% in the quarter, Apple's Mac shipments grew 19.6%. Only Asus, which specializes in Microsoft (MSFT) Windows-based notebooks, grew faster.

Otherwise, writes Gartner's MORE

Morgan Stanley: Apple's share of world's largest PC market -- China -- set to grow from 5% to 21%

Chinese consumers rate Macs as most desirable, although only 7% can afford one

In August, according to IDC, China overtook the U.S. as the world's largest consumer of personal computers.

On Wednesday, Morgan Stanley issued the results of a survey suggesting that Apple (AAPL) is the best positioned of all PC manufacturers to capitalize on the boom.

Summarizing the results of a proprietary Alphawise survey of 1,553 consumers in 16 Chinese cities, Morgan MORE

The greening of Apple Inc.

Jumps to 4th place in the latest Greenpeace survey of electronics manufacturers

Apple (AAPL) has come a long way in the eyes of the environmental activitsts at Greenpeace since they painted Steve Jobs as a hypocrite for promising "a greener Apple" in May 2007 and delivering an iPhone the next month laced with bromine, chlorine and phthlates.

In its annual Guide to Greener Electronics that year, Apple came in 11th place, barely MORE