In spite of the economic downturn (or perhaps because of it), a new product category is seeing vast growth: Netbooks. The miniature, inexpensive, stripped-down laptops are meant for little more than web surfing, word processing and e-mail, with little storage space (deemed unnecessary due to the ubiquity of online storage and peripheral storage devices). Chances are last year you'd never even heard of netbooks, but 5.6 million of them were sold last quarter.

Here's a roundup of netbook goings-on and buzz:

- PC Mag lists the top five netbooks (most under $500).

- Wired points out that $100 netbooks can be had from Acer, Radio Shack and AT&T, who plan to make their money back by tying the product to a service plan, a la cell phones.

- The Economist shows you how to choose a netbook.

- As netbooks are now outselling the iPhone (as reported by The Washington Post, pundits are saying Apple can no longer afford to ignore this market. Computer World quotes an analyst as saying that Apple will release a netbook at January's Macworld, though that seems unlikely, given that Jobs won't be giving the keynote, as reported by MacRumors.