Two Tech Leaders Aim For Bold New Portable, But Miss the Mark

In the boring world of me-too personal computers, only a few companies are frequently bold enough to try something really new. Apple and Sony are the usual suspects. Microsoft and Intel, which dominate the industry, rarely make the list of design risk-takers. So the latter two leaders deserve credit for cooking up a whole new type of Windows computer -- a machine that's smaller than the smallest mainstream laptop -- the Ultra Mobile PC, or UMPC. The first UMPC for the U.S. market, the Samsung Q1, goes on sale next week at Best Buy's Web site.