The Pipeline: Pundits pick on the UMPC

Welcome back to The Pipeline, a weekly feature where we dig through the mainstream media and see what the pundits, prognosticators and and pencil pushers have been discussing over the past week.

Last week, the media piled on the Nintendo Wii, more or less agreeing that the name left just a little something to be desired. This week's target: Samsung's Q1 UMPC, which went on sale today. As much as we'd like to say somebody actually liked the Q1, the mini-tablet was panned across-the-board, from The Wall Street Journal's Walt Mossberg, who called it "so deeply flawed in key respects that it amounts to little more than a toy for techies," to BusinessWeek's Steve Wildstrom, who commented that "buyers would do better to step up to an ultralight laptop or down to a PlayStation Portable or a handheld media player."

Elsewhere in the media, WNYC radio's Leonard Lopate sat down with Giles Slade, author of "Made to Break," to trace the history of product obsolescence from Henry Ford to Steve Jobs (what, you thought it was an accident that your iPod dies just as a hot new model hits the stores?). Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Times checked out the "Into the Pixel" exhibit of video game art, while that city's LA Daily News, checked out the celebs at the star-studded Helio launch, including Milla Jovovich and Chloe Sevigny. We assume the glitterati showed up largely for a chance to get a free Kickflip, though we suspect most of them could afford the phone, even at its $250 price tag.

The New York Times: A big question unanswered by a tiny PC
The Wall Street Journal: Two tech leaders aim for bold new portable, but miss the mark
The Washington Post: Turning a miniature into a lightweight
AP - Tiny PC carries a small load of annoyances
BusinessWeek - An itsy bitsy problem

WNYC - Made to break
Los Angeles Times - The fine art of the video game
Forbes - Helio heats up handheld lifestyle
Los Angeles Daily News - Hello, Helio