Hasta La Gadget!

If you are reading this post from your mobile device or from your wireless laptop at a coffee shop, your Internet habits are in the minority, according to a Monday report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

About 39 percent of the population embraces technologies that allow for on-the-go access like smartphones and wireless-enabled laptops, but 61 percent of people polled by Pew prefer to stay in their less connected comfort zone.

“Not everyone has the wherewithal to engage with ‘always present’ connectivity and, while some may love it, others may only dip their toes in the wireless water and not go deeper,” wrote report author John Horrigan, associate director at Pew.

That is not to say that this group is sticking to dial up and eschewing cell phones – many have mobile phones and high-speed access — but they are not exactly going to be lining up at the Apple store for the next iPhone or blowing their paycheck on the Palm Pre.

The report split this 61 percent into five groups: the desktop veterans, drifting surfers, information encumbered, the tech indifferent, and off the network. Desktop veterans (13 percent) are likely to have embraced the Internet early on but are content to remain on desktops with high-speed Internet connections, and are not particualarly interested in the mobile web. Drifting surfers (14 percent), meanwhile, have the tech hookup, like cell phones and high-speed access, but just don’t make the effort to go online very much. If they do, it is for basic information, and this group would not be bothered if they had to give up their cell phone or the Web.

What group do you fall into? Check out the full report on the Pew Web site.

Looks like a MacBook Air; feels like a MacBook Air; costs way less. But can the MSI X340 (021US) (http://tinyurl.com/kqsvcv) measure up?

If nothing else, Della–a Dell marketing experiment–shows that women are listening to technology companies that reach out to them. That doesn’t mean we always like what we hear.

Della’s patronizing tone provoked criticism that started here and on sites such as Maximum PC, then made its way over to Twitter, and finally was picked up by mainstream media including the New York Times and MSNBC. The criticism was universal, decrying Dell for talking down to women and playing to offensive stereotypes that female technology users have been fighting for decades.

The fact that Dell was attempting to reach out to the fairer sex is admirable, but suggesting that women are inept when it comes to technology (with statements like, “You’ll find that netbooks can do a lot more than check your e-mail.”) was downright insulting.

Dell today posted a video of its 10-inch sub-$300 Mini 10v netbook today running three OSes–most interesting was the fact that one of the systems was running the Cupcake version of Google’s open Android OS. Of course, just because Dell’s technology strategist Doug Anson was showing off the configuration in an officially sanctioned video doesn’t mean that the company is going to release it to market, right?

Dell hasn’t made any official statements to that effect, but if that’s not part of the game plan, it sort of begs the question why the company would release such a video. Barring an announcement in the next few days, the answer here seems to be, you know, because they can.

Dell today showed off the new Latitude 2100, a 10.1-inch touchscreen netbook targeted at students. The computer ships with either Linux or Windows (Vista or XP Home) installed and runs off of the Intel N270 Atom chip. It also features built-in Wi-Fi a Webcam, and a anti-microbial keyboard for all of those kid germs.

The Latitude 2100 weighs 2.9 pounds, features a ruggedized exterior, and comes in five different colors. It’s available from the Dell priced at $369 and $450, for Linux and Windows, respectively.