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Today Google announced a new netbook offering, called Chromebook. It's being touted as a new kind of computer that offers "nothing but the web." A chromebook will look like a laptop, only it won't have any software programs or storage space. The only thing it has is a web browser, from which you will be able to access your email (from Gmail or other online mail services), calendar (Google calendar), documents (most likely from Google Docs), social networks (like Facebook) and any other web-based service.

This is the culmination of Google's strategy to release browser-based services for just about everything, but in particular around productivity apps like email and word processing. Its social web services initiatives have been patchy at best, so Google hasn't managed to muscle in on Facebook or Twitter like it has with Microsoft and Yahoo. Nevertheless, this is what all of that activity was building up to: the Chromebook. But do consumers need this device; and if they do, is it too pricey?

Angry Birds has been ported from mobile phones to netbooks. The game is now available from all versions of Intel AppUp center, including those distributed by Best Buy, Best Buy Canada, Future Shop, Dixons, Walmart, Asus, Croma, HSN, New Egg and TigerDirect.

Angry Birds makes an interesting case study for developers porting applications from one interface to another. Previously, we covered Conceptualizing Your Ported Application on the Netbook Platform.

Bob Duffy takes a look at how two different iPhone developers ported their games to AppUp for netbooks running Windows. Duffy notes that while the two methods are very different, both follow some common practices. One approach was bold, the other very deliberate. Duffy compares the two approaches to the leaderships styles of two famous starship captains: James T. Kirk and Jean-Luc Picard.

Programming languages aren't the only concern for developers porting applications from one platform to another. However, with today's diversity of devices developers need to consider how hardware and interfaces affect user experience. This case study from Intel explores the process of porting applications to netbooks.

The process for creating apps for netbook apps is very similar to creating apps for any other platform. You need to ask yourself who your audience is, how to hold their attention and what devices you are going to support. Dmitry Rizschkov has some advice for developers thinking about these questions.

It's been almost a year since I last worked with DIY repair site FixYa but I still remember the traffic spike we'd see every Christmas. While families would be thrilled to unwrap smart phones, netbooks and flat screen monitors in the early morning, they'd find themselves lost in a sea of instructions by noon. There is nothing worse than having a new shiny toy and not being able to play with it. In addition to FixYa, below are a few resources you can use to help set up your new gadgets.

Google Chrome has begun taking submissions from third party developers. In a blog post written earlier today, Google is asking developers to contribute to the Chrome extensions gallery - an act that will put third party applications on both the Chrome browser and eventually the operating system.

In this edition of the Weekly Wrapup - our newsletter summarizing the top stories of the week - we poll our readers on their 3 most exciting web apps or services, analyze the latest Twitter client stats, report on MySpace's acquisition of Facebook app iLike, review the state of the netbook market, talk to Tim O'Reilly about his vision for a government web platform, and more. We also check in on our two new channels: ReadWriteEnterprise (devoted to 'enterprise 2.0' trends and products) and ReadWriteStart (dedicated to profiling startups and entrepreneurs).

Late last year, we boldly proclaimed that your next computer might be a Linux PC. Thanks to the ever-growing market for the low-end machines dubbed "netbooks," this seemed like a real possibility at the time. But then, MSI's U.S. sales director Andy Tung had to come along and burst our bubble saying that the Linux machines were seeing a higher return rate than their Windows counterparts. For a while, that seemed it would be the end of hope for this next big "Linux for consumers" push. Or it was at least until this month, when Todd Finch, Dell senior product marketing manager, made a very different claim. He noted that return rates for Linux machines were about the same as those for Windows. Is this a second chance for the Linux netbook? Perhaps. 

It seems everyone and their dog is coming out with a netbook. Verizon and AT&T are the latest entrants in the race to produce the itsy-bitsiest, teeny-weeniest, underpoweredest laptop on the market.

Apple is the lone holdout, steadfastly refusing to cop to any plans to join the netbook stampede - although some have argued that they already have, thanks to the iPhone.