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Google rolls out verified profiles for Google+, Skype buys GroupMe messaging service, and HP liquidates its stock of tablets.

Links from Monday's episode of Loaded:

Ultrabooks are coming. The first wave of superslim laptops are expected to hit in force by the holiday season. Earlier this week, I spoke with Greg Welch, director of Intel's Ultrabook group, to get a better idea of what an Ultrabook is.

Though Intel won't make Ultrabooks, it will supply the core components, so it is intimately involved in the platform. And, as Welch, describes it, the Ultrabook is "an initiative to advance the state of the art of the notebook experience across several years."

Question: Can you talk about some of the new technologies Intel … Read more

The Windows Start menu definitely isn't the easiest way to access particular programs or folders, but many people don't want to clutter their desktops with shortcuts, either. MerlinStart is a fun alternative that can open many commonly used applications and folders using voice commands. Although we wish it were customizable, it's still a pretty useful--if slightly goofy--tool to have around.

MerlinStart employs Microsoft Agent technology, which supports speech recognition and text-to-speech functions in the guise of animated characters. In this case the character is Merlin, a cute and friendly-looking wizard. MerlinStart can open 20 different applications and … Read more

In the wake of comments from an IBM executive who said that his "primary computer now is a tablet," I wondered how closely my own experience mirrored that statement.

Mark Dean,who was chief engineer for the development of the IBM PC/AT, prefaced the above remark by saying he has "moved beyond the PC.."

That second statement is probably the most significant, as it implies that, for him, the traditional PC paradigm is dead.

Indeed, I've witnessed this change in friends and family. People who already spend a disproportionate amount of screen time on … Read more

Intel believes ultraslim Windows laptops dubbed Ultrabooks can reach aggressive price points and compete with the MacBook Air, arguably the first Ultrabook.

With the entry-level Air today bottoming out at $999 for an 11-inch model, major PC vendors like Hewlett-Packard, Acer, and Asus must roughly match Apple's build quality at lower prices to draw consumers to the category in large numbers. This issue was raised in a report from Taipei-based Digitimes on Friday.

Intel--which, ironically, is competing with itself in a sense because the Air already uses its chips--believes the industry can get there. "We won't publicly … Read more

This week, a yearlong cyberwarfare campaign has been uncovered that has stolen everything from private intellectual property to high-level government secrets. The plot thickens in the Airbnb vacation rental horror story, and we bring you Twitter's 30 most eligible bachelors!

Ever since Intel announced Thunderbolt and made it exclusively available to Macs, Windows users have been wondering if they are missing out. The truth is: yes, they are, big-time. I've been working with the first Thunderbolt storage device, the Pegasus R6 from Promise, and find it to be the fastest consumer-grade storage device out there, period. (Stay tuned for my full review, coming up soon.)

On the other hand, since Macs generally don't support USB 3.0, which has been out for a long time and is becoming more and more popular in the PC world, Mac users have also been missing out quite a bit. Many people are wondering which is better, Thunderbolt or USB 3.0. This is a hard question, as Thunderbolt is about more than data storage; it's also about video transport, connectivity, expandability, and synced audio. However, strictly in terms of storage applications, neither is better. Consumers should really have both. The current separation of the two standards is a lose-lose situation for Windows and Mac users alike. … Read more

On today's show, security researchers report that Anonymous and LulzSec are, if anything, just distracting us with their antics while the true threat is a years-long cyberwarfare campaign that's stolen everything from private intellectual property to high-level government secrets. So, that'll probably lead to some reasoned and logical cyber-security discussions, no? No. Also, is the Amazon App Store screwing developers, and are you finally getting what you pay for, broadband-wise?

Regular Cheapskate readers know that I'm a sucker for three things: Wi-Fi printers, big monitors, and flash drives. I can't explain why; it's all part of the giant enigma that is Rick Broida.

If you share my bizarre love for flash drives (or, more likely, you just need extra mobile storage), here's one mighty fine deal: Newegg has the Corsair CMFVY3 16GB USB 3.0 flash drive for $14.29 shipped. That's after applying coupon code EMCKCHH22 at checkout and redeeming a $10 mail-in rebate (which comes in the form of a prepaid VISA card).… Read more