My daughter heads off the college in a few days. She has a nice laptop already, but it’s large; I’m thinking she needs something with enough power, that’s also really portable. And it can’t be expensive, seeing as how we just paid the tuition bill.

That, of course, led me to examine netbooks. They offer a nice compromise between functionality, size and price. My daughter isn’t much of a computer gamer, so it doesn’t have to be a fire-breather; something with which she can take notes, check e-mail and surf the Internet (only for research for classes, of course (wink, wink)), and that won’t tire her out lugging from class to class.

Here’s what I’m zeroing in on: it’s a Dell Inspiron Mini 10v Netbook.  The 10-inch screen lends itself to small weight, but is still large enough to be easily viewable. It has an Intel Atom processor and 1GB RAM, which is plenty to run Windows XP, the operating system of choice for this netbook (Windows Vista is too resource-hoggy to use with a netbook.)

Another very nice thing is the hard drive. It comes with 160 GB, a very nice size at this price point. I’ve owned many Dells in the past, and have been happy with the quality and service they offer.

In all, this is a capable computer in a form factor that works for my daughter. It even has a webcam, so she can chat with her parents at night, and see them crying that their baby is gone!

Gizmodo has an interesting article about Apple’s AppStore and how, and why, certain applications for the iPhone and iPod Touch (right) are rejected — or not.

Apple is claiming that it hasn’t actually rejected the Google Voice application. It’s still “studying” it, the company claims. Does anyone else actually believe this? There’s no reason for Apple to “study” a proposed application for months — either it meets the criteria or not. Certainly, Google Voice meets all relevant criteria. It’s obvious that Apple just doesn’t want competition for potential voice applications from partner AT&T on this.

Shame on you, Apple and AT&T. Do the right thing and approve Google Voice. Let the market determine the success or failure of an application — and make the iPhone, the greatest gadget of all time, even more useful for consumers. Stop denying your user base access to this technology. Now.

As if the iPhone didn’t have enough problems, now there are reports that some in Europe are actually exploding. Yes, exploding.

Reuters, among other outlets, is reporting that iPhones are shattering. One story, from a website covering French news, states that a French youth heard a hissing sound from an iPhone before it exploded. The youth reportedly got a small shard of glass in his eye.

Some websites have graphic photos of iPhones with shattered faces.

Apple has stated that it’s aware of the reports and is investigating. It believes, according to various news outlets, that these are isolated incidents and not part of a widespread issue. The reports also do not show this happening to customers in the U.S. at this time.

Check back for updates to this story.

One of the very best things about the second-generation iPhone — known as the 3G — was the GPS functionality. Of course, it wasn’t as full-featured as a dedicated unit you could get from Garmin or TomTom, but it still beat the heck out of Mapquest.

Well, now the TomTom has come to the iPhone. A $99 application, it’s far from the cheapest program you can buy for your phone, but it may be one of the most useful.

The  TomTom for iPhone takes care of most of the built-in GPS’ weaknesses. The two most glaring are turn-by-turn navigation and voice directions. It also adds TomTom-only features like TomTom IQ Routes, which the company says finds the quickest, most efficient route to a destination.

Initial reviews of the app are positive for the most part. Some of the drawbacks listed by users include no spoken street names, and it lacks traffic updates. On the whole, though, most users seem quite happy with this app. Expect TomTom to update this software frequently (and for a hundred bucks, they should!), adding some of those missing features.

Can a car be a gadget? I say yes — if that car has to be plugged in, like most other gadgets. That’s the case with the new Chevy Volt, which the car maker says can manage an astounding 230 miles per gallon — mileage figures never seen before, never even dreamed about by most of us.

Chevy says the Volt can run about 40 miles on a single charge of its massive batteries. Once the batteries get really low, a gas engine takes over.

To tell the truth, it’s hard to not be skeptical of such incredible claims. And, as it turns out, lots of folks are skeptical, and saying Chevy’s claims wilt under analysis. Still, there’s no doubt that the Volt will get amazing mileage, even if not 230 MPG. And General Motors’ first ever hybrid looks like it will be making a splash in the market.

The Volt is expected to go on sale in 2011, with orders being taken the latter half of next year. If you want one, you’ll have to wait; but not for long.

I have a daughter leaving for college in a few weeks. When she goes, she’ll be taking our love and best wishes with her, along with a primary school tool: a laptop.

In a college environment, security is critically important; in many jobs, it’s just as — or more — important. Consider the cost of a stolen laptop: not just the computer itself, but the data on it, which could be vital, and worth hundreds of thousands of dollars or more.

To that end, it’s worth your while to strongly consider a laptop lock, like this Targus DEFCON 1 Retractable Cable Lock. One of the highlights of this lock is that the cable retracts into the unit itself, making it ultra-portable. It’s also a combination lock, adding another layer of security.

Another advantage of the Targus is that it can lock up more than your laptop. In a pinch, it could lock up pretty much anything the four-foot cord can wrap around.

If you travel a lot or carry around your laptop often, strongly consider the Targus or another lock. While it won’t stop a determined criminal, it will definitely scare off most everyone else that’s looking to score a free laptop.

Things are starting to get tense in iPhone land. As regular readers know, I think the iPhone is the greatest gadget of all time; that doesn’t mean I think it’s perfect, however.

Some of its flaws are starting to surface, and some bloggers are starting to take its shortcomings to task. Some are complaining about poor call quality and dropped calls. Personally, I haven’t experienced many of these problems; my calls rarely drop, and I don’t have any problem hearing or being heard.

There are also some features that are available on many other cellphones, most of them cheaper than the iPhone, that it still doesn’t support. They include multimedia messaging and using the phone as a modem, to connect a laptop to the internet (known as “tethering”).

A growing concern is about Apple’s App Store, one of the best things about the iPhone. Apple is starting to reject applications for various reasons, and those reasons aren’t always clear. It used to be that the rules for accepting or declining an app were very clear to developers; now, it appears that Apple may be trying to stifle competition by keeping out apps that compete with its own products.

The dissatisfaction with the iPhone began only recently; it would be a good idea for Apple to look into these issues and try to resolve them before this unhappiness starts causing mass defections to the many other good smartphones out there.

We pretty much all love our iPhones, right? And now that I’ve had mine for about a year now (no, I didn’t sing Happy Birthday to my phone, in case you’re wondering), I thought it might be a good time to go over my favorite apps. If you’re like me, you have a lot of apps, but there are some you keep returning to again and again. Here’s my list.

Google for iPhone is at the top of my list. I use the voice search functionality often, and it’s a serious time (and typing) saver. I also have a gmail account (free Google e-mail). In addition, there is a calendar, Google Docs, an RSS reader, and more. My iPhone’s Swiss Army Knife.

AP Mobile is up next. I check the news often, and the AP is my primary source. This app has improved over time, allowing a lot of customization, local news, a technology category (you can imagine I spend some time there) and more.

Clock. This built-in app is one I bet many people overlook, but I’ve come to rely on the alarm clock functionality. I use it a lot since I’ve discovered it — one of the things I like best is that you can set different alarm sounds, the same way you can set ring tones. Instead of the hated buzzing of most alarm clocks, I have it set to graceful bells. It’s a nicer way to wake up.

Recorder. This is a voice-recording app that’s come in handy numerous times. In my day job as a magazine editor, I’ve used it time and again to record phone interviews. The digital clarity is quite good compared to my old, trusty (and revered) Radio Shack microcassette recorder, and since I have a 16GB iPhone, hard drive space to record conversations has never been an issue.

Fieldrunners. I have a number of games on my iPhone, but this is by far the one that has wasted the most of my time. It’s absolutely addicting. Fieldrunners is a tower defense game; you need to stop the baddies from getting through to your base by blocking their way through a series of towers. The towers can be filled with machine guns, missiles, electricity-generating machines, and more. I’m actually not much of a video/computer game guy, but this one keeps me coming back.

Well, there’s five iPhone faves. What are some of yours? Comment below.

The rumors are flying fast and furious that the popular iPod Touch — essentially, the phoneless version of the iPhone — may be getting a camera upgrade.

According to the Website TechCrunch, Apple has placed a massive order in Asia for camera modules of the type that would fit the Touch.

Other circumstantial evidence is starting to crop up, too, such as new Touch cases that have a camera lens-sized hole in the back, and other rumors. Keep in mind that this is all speculation, and based on non-direct evidence. The amount of information coming out, however, lends weight to such speculation.

The Touch coming with a camera would be great news, and bring it even closer to the functionality of the iPhone. We’ll update you when we have more.

Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader is a really good product. The large screen, wireless network and print-like resolution make it a perfect gadget for those who want to combine old-fashioned reading with new-fangled technology that allows you to store multiple books, magazines and newspapers on a single device.

The Kindle has also done very well in the market, leading to the Kindle 2, released earlier this year.  The main downside to the Kindle, and Kindle 2, is the price.

Well, Amazon has done something about that, marking down the Kindle 2 to under $300.

The new price represents a $60 cut, especially significant in this economy. And the Kindle 2 includes some nice upgrades from the original. Some of the big ones include a better screen that displays text and images more clearly; more memory, for more documents; and a huge increase in the types of documents it can display, including PDF, HTML, TXT, JPEG, GIF, PNG and BMP, among others. What all those acronyms mean is that the Kindle 2 can handle all types of graphics and a wider range of text documents.

There are hundreds of thousands of free books available for the Kindle 2, and that number is increasing all the time. Add into that the fact that there’s no monthly subscription to pay, and the Kindle 2 looks like an even better value.