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Hewlett-Packard CEO Meg Whitman had a lot more to say about the company's new Android products than she did about Windows 8 during HP's second-quarter earnings conference call.

Whitman's remarks hinted at HP's newfound affinity for new operating systems, which includes Android of course.

"Using multiple operating systems, multiple architectures, and multiple form factors, we are moving quickly to product the devices that customers want," she said.

Then she proceeded to talk about new Android devices, with no mention of Windows 8.

"Following the launch of our first Chromebook in February, we launched … Read more

If you are using more than one Mac, or have replaced your Mac with a new one, there are several ways you can migrate your account to the new system.

Conventionally, when you get a new system you are presented with the OS X Setup Assistant, which will guide you through migrating your data from an existing system or a backup.

In addition to Setup Assistant, you can use Apple's Migration Assistant tool at any time to transfer data from one Mac to another. This tool is especially useful for establishing your current user account on another system. Simply … Read more

An ongoing issue for some people who have installed Mountain Lion is the inability to access their systems' internal optical drives. Once installed, inserting a disc results in a couple of noises before the disc is ejected. While this can sometimes happen for burned discs that are no longer readable, it appears to happen for all discs, be they home-burned or commercial.

If this is happening on your system, first try testing the problem with multiple operating systems to see if the problem is hardware or software based. If your system came with gray boot discs, try inserting them and … Read more

Computer malware authors exploit weaknesses in software. Developers combat computer crooks by patching their programs to block malware attacks. That's why we're encouraged to keep our software up-to-date. Every now and then, a software update fails, leaving our systems a little less secure.

I got a first-hand look at the problem the other day when the Apple Software Update program balked at installing iTunes version 11.0.3 on my Windows 7 PC. The installer reported "insufficient privileges" and suggested I log on as an administrator or contact my system administrator. Of course, I was logged … Read more

Samsung may do something it has never done: Put an Intel chip in a Galaxy Tab.

The Samsung Galaxy 10.1 Android tablet is expected to sport a dual-core 1.6GHz Intel Atom CloverTrail+ chip, industry sources familiar with the product told CNET. The plus sign means the CloverTrial chip packs a high-performance PowerVR SGX544 MP2 graphic processing unit from Imagination Technologies.

Other specs include Android 4.2.2 and a 1,280 x 800 display.

Samsung is slated to reveal the Galaxy Tab at Computex, which starts June 4 in Taipei.

While Intel processors power a raft of Windows … Read more

Apple's Preview program is the default PDF viewer in OS X, and has a number of options for annotating and otherwise managing PDF files. One of its features is support for Quartz filters, which can be applied to PDFs and image files to convert them, for example into sepia, black-and-white, or gray scale. A Quartz filter can be used to reduce the PDF's file size, but while it's effective at doing so, you may find images in the resulting PDF too grainy to use.

These compression routines are done by adjusting the embedded image quality of the … Read more

Counting apps like Count 10 x 10 are theoretically very useful. The learning concepts and the theme behind this particular app are well chosen, but the execution of its interface and the lack of features beyond the core concept are enough to make it a tough recommendation.

The idea behind Count 10 x 10 is very basic. Bananas appear on a 10 x 10 grid. You must enter the number of bananas on the screen and tap the "check" button to proceed. Children can also tap the bananas and they will become highlighted, helping little ones to count … Read more

MacFixIt Answers is a feature in which I answer Mac-related questions e-mailed in by our readers.

This week, readers wrote in with questions on the locations of the various libraries in OS X, the options for using an old internal hard drive from a MacBook as an external hard drive, and the options for managing Wi-Fi networks that span greater distances than their radios can cover.

I welcome contributions from readers, so if you have any suggestions or alternative approaches to these problems, please post them in the comments!

Question: The location of various libraries in OS X MacFixIt reader &… Read more

When Apple releases Mac firmware updates, the system undergoes a special installation procedure in which it shows a progress bar on a gray screen and then reboots. If you have an update available but do not see the progress bar when applying it, it may not have installed properly. As such, you may see the update still showing in Apple's Software Update service.

There are some special requirements for handling firmware updates as opposed to standard software updates, and if they are not met, the system may fail to install the update.

The first requirement is to ensure that … Read more