In financial news, HP delivered something positive today. The fourth quarter has been a good one, with HP reporting a net income of $2.4 billion, in comparison to the $2.1 billion they reported last year. It’s nice to see some good news for a change.

SquareTrade, proprietors of extended warranties, just released a 3-year study that sheds some light on the reliability of laptops and netbooks. The main conclusion that 1 in 3 notebooks fail within three year should come as no surprise. After all, they are portable computers that get banged around. It’s the nature of the beast. However, the study does reveal some other interesting tid-bits, including a handy graph the shows the malfunction rate of the top nine laptop manufacturers.

You better act quick. This deal ends today. But if you really need a smaller WHS for, lets say, backup purchases only, the HP MediaSmart LX195 is perfect and Newegg has it on sale just for you.

HP is acquiring network infrastructure manufacturer 3Com for $2.7 billion. 3Com provides networking, switching, routing and security components.

HP says the acquisition will further its data center strategy “built on the convergence of servers, storage, networking, management, facilities and services.” The acquisition of 3Com also help to expand HP’s Ethernet switching offerings, add routing solutions and significantly strengthen the company’s position in China thanks to 3Com’s strong presence in China.

HP might not be done with the Envy line. The Envy 13 and Envy 15 might get a sibiling if an entry in an HP support document is to be believed. Sitting right along side current models are two entries that are clearly labeled Envy 14. Hmmm.

Hewlett Packard refreshed their TouchSmart line of computers today. If you’re not familiar with these, imagine an iMac all in one computer that has a touch screen, and you’re most of the way there.

I really like the TouchSmart line, and use a second generation machine as my main Windows test computer. The touch interface is done via infrared, which is a very cost effective way of creating a touch interface on a large screen. Microsoft, in fact, uses it in their experimental TouchWall product that can make a touch screen of virtually any size wall (more TouchWall footage).

Overall I give the TouchScmart top marks – the only drawback is that it is inexplicably heavy at something like 60 lbs., and no one seems to know why. But since it sits on your desk, it’s not like you’re lifting it very often, so it doesn’t really matter.

But the machine is still all wrong. Anyone who has used one for a long time will tell you that they quickly revert to using the keyboard and mouse. And it isn’t because of the software or touch technology – both are fine.

Like many of you, my knowledge of Greenpeace begins and ends with that one Seinfeld episode, the one where the NBC executive, so in love with Elaine, freaks out and joins the organization in order to impress her. That is to say I don’t really understand the “point” of the organization, or who appointed it the protector of the environment. But, it is, somehow, so let’s roll with it. Good news for HP and Apple: Greenpeace hates you two a little bit less today! Break out the champagne!

HP’s printer division, long a cash cow, is being folded into its PC division after sales of printers and ink fell this year. Most companies broke out their printer divisions once they realized they could make a lot of money there but now that HP is beating Dell, the company may see a good reason to bring printers and PCs together.

Oh my God is that the HP Pavilion dv3, complete with a fancy touchscreen? Oh my God it is! And is that the Engadget watermark? Oh my God it is! Man those guys are crazy!

Last week I saw some coverage of this new HP device called the DreamScreen. And more than a couple of blogs were comparing it to the elusive Apple Tablet. Given my extreme interest in this space, I thought I should get this new DreamScreen in my hands as soon as possible and see if HP had indeed beaten Apple (and us) to the punch in delivering the first high quality tablet computing experience to consumers.

The press: “Want a hint at how the much-anticipated Apple Tablet might be shaping up? Take a look at the HP DreamScreen,” said one of those blogs, adding “this certainly looks like what we’re expecting from the Apple Tablet.” Another site: “Hewlett Packard has beaten Apple to the punch in coming up with a beautiful tablet-like computer.” Engadget called it “something special.”

The reality: I can’t repeat here what I wrote on Twitter because of the sensitive nature of the TechCrunch audience, but I will say this. The HP DreamScreen is possibly the biggest piece of crap to ever grace my desk. Which is saying something.

HP has released a new line of wireless photo frames; the 10.2-inch DreamScreen 100 and 13.3-inch DreamScreen 130, priced at $250 and $300, respectively.

Convergence. That’s the word that comes to mind when I watch the fancy demonstration of the HP Photosmart Premium TouchSmart web printer. We’ve all seen the all-in-one PC design, a la the iMac, but how often do we see a printer and a computer in one package? HP is bundling a teeny little touch-interface computer with their latest set of printers, allowing you to access stuff from the Internet without using your PC at all! Some of the examples don’t seem particularly useful: I don’t think I’m likely to go to my printer when I want to buy movie tickets, for example, but letting kids print out their own coloring books seems like a pretty good idea to me. And printing Google Maps will be helpful for those Luddite friends of mine who don’t have GPS units.