Netbook shipments will see tremendous growth this year but won't be enough to boost overall worldwide PC shipments, which will sink due to the global economic downturn, according to surveys from IDC and Gartner released on Wednesday.

Shipments of netbooks, or mini-notebooks as IDC calls them, totaled 10 million in 2008 and will likely double this year, IDC said in a study. But the growth will be outweighed by slow or even declining sales of traditional laptop and desktop PCs, IDC said. IDC defines netbooks as devices with 7- to 12-inch screens and a fully functional OS like Windows XP or Vista.

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Barack Obama's election to U.S. president has already brought a string of firsts, and on Wednesday there came another. The official presidential portrait was shot on a digital camera for the first time.

The picture was taken by the White House's new official photographer, Pete Souza, and issued by The Office of the President Elect through its Web site. It was taken on Tuesday evening at 5:38 p.m. using a Canon EOS 5D Mark II, according to the metadata embedded in the image file.

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Apple CEO Steve Jobs told employees that he will be taking a leave of absence until June to deal with lingering health issues.

Jobs informed employees of his decision in an e-mail sent Wednesday.

"Unfortunately, the curiosity over my personal health continues to be a distraction not only for me and my family, but everyone else at Apple as well," Jobs told employees. "In addition, during the past week I have learned that my health-related issues are more complex than I originally thought."

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Groups calling for the U.S. government to spend US$30 billion or more to improve broadband networks across the country are optimistic that kind of money will be available in an economic stimulus bill pushed by President-elect Barack Obama, one telecom expert said Wednesday.

Representatives of Educause have heard that about $30 billion for broadband is in line with Obama's goals for the stimulus package, during conversations with the Obama transition team and other groups pushing for broadband funding, said John Windhausen, a consultant for Educause. Obama and several groups have argued that many U.S. residents are being left out of the digital economy because they don't have broadband available, and a national broadband program could create hundreds of thousands of jobs.

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