Digital Lifestyle Gear

Best cheap tablets

Tubby — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 21:52:00 +0000

Take a look at some of our top budget tablet picks. (Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET) The demand for dirt-cheap alternatives to the iPad 2 is undeniable. At the outset of the tablet wars, the majority of sub-$300 tablets being sold were pretty awful .

Chinese service adds ‘Sent from my iPhone’ for a fee

Ray Kaario — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 21:40:32 +0000

This phrase is worth money. (Credit: Screenshot by Amanda Kooser/CNET) I put a lot of thought into whether to leave the "Sent from my iPad " tag on my e-mails. On one hand, I didn't feel the need to advertise my hardware.

2012 Jeep Wranger Rubicon 4×4: Zombie apocalypse approved

terseflag — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 21:24:44 +0000

The Wrangler's rugged construction and simple, yet effective, power train makes it the perfect post-apocalyptic vehicle. (Credit: Antuan Goodwin/CNET) Trail rated? Sure, but what about Zombie rated?! (Credit: Antuan Goodwin/CNET) It's no secret that I'm a zombie enthusiast--it's right there at the top of my Twitter profile .

HP ZR2740w review: Melting your face, one pixel at a time

Dirk Pitt — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 21:22:38 +0000

If it wasn't for multiplayer and a need to play with my Xbox Live friends, I'd totally be getting the PC version of Mass Effect 3. I still may get it, cause of the pretty

Mobile World Congress 2012 preview: what will we see?

Peter Yung — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 21:00:00 +0000

Without hesitation, February always seems to be the most hectic time of the year for the mobile industry, thanks primarily to the annual Mobile World Congress held in Barcelona, Spain. The show has long been considered the proper venue for phone and tablet vendors to show off their latest and greatest innovations.

Old CDs get new life as playful animal sculptures

terseflag — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 20:46:48 +0000

Artist Sean Avery breathes new life into CDs by turning them into animal sculptures. (Credit: Sean E.

Google tests the ‘do not track’ waters with a Chrome extension

Ray Kaario — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 20:41:00 +0000

Well, that didn't take long. One day after agreeing to implement a do not track button as part of a new consumer bill of rights , Google has given the people what they want... sort of

Crafty designer makes art out of chain-link fencing

Peter Yung — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 20:32:25 +0000

(Credit: Lace Fence) Ask people to think of a chain-link fence, and the pleasure center in their brain isn't exactly going to light up. Unless, of course, they're thinking of Dutch designer Joep Verhoeven's creations

Growing up Geek: Nicole Scott

Sally Hendrix — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 20:00:00 +0000

Welcome to Growing Up Geek , an ongoing feature where we take a look back at our youth and tell stories of growing up to be the nerds that we are. Today, we have a special guest: tech journalist and co-founder of Netbooknews , Nicole Scott.

Galaxy Nexus landscape dock comes to the US

terseflag — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 19:39:00 +0000

Officially branded Galaxy Nexus accessories have been a dream of ours for a while. So imagine our surprise, caution and then surprise again when the landscape dock for the ICS super-phone arrived on these shores. Cradling the device horizontally, it'll let you charge the phone via the side-mounted pogo pins, so you can continue to watch that movie when low on power.

AC/DC Pinball, for those about to rock

steven — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 19:17:21 +0000

The Stern AC/DC Pro Pinball machine is 250 pounds of blinking, blasting, rock/geek awesome. (Credit: Stern Pinball) Have you ever tried buying an AC/DC album on iTunes

The 404 1,000: Where we enter the 2K (podcast)

Leon23Tricia — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 19:14:36 +0000

(Credit: 0ver-doze ) Welcome to our 1,000th episode of The 404 Podcast! It's an exciting mile marker for the show, so we commemorate it with Wilson Tang--remember that guy? This episode is packed with stories guaranteed to induce Wilson's chuckle that we miss so dearly

DIY bokeh modifier kit for crafty shutterbugs

clark — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 19:04:17 +0000

(Credit: Mike Gerdau) Though the concept of transforming bokeh (the aesthetic quality of image blur) into different shapes isn't new, photographer Mike Gerdau has managed to come up with a system of bokeh modifiers to be used on a variety of lenses instead of just being restricted to one dedicated lens diameter. In his tutorial, the solution he provided was to cut out the desired custom shapes first, then mount them on 45x45mm squares, which can be slotted into a cutout located on the front of the homemade hood

Ubuntu for Android: more details and prototype hands-on (video)

Tubby — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 19:03:00 +0000

Canonical's announcement of Ubuntu for Android kicked up quite a stir, but it also left us with a few unknowns. The idea is that your phone becomes a mobile PC, switching from Android into full desktop Ubuntu mode when you dock it to a bigger display, keyboard and mouse. But just how well does it perform?

Zooka: Glow-in-the-dark iPad speaker for tablet raves

Ray Kaario — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 18:49:51 +0000

Now you can locate your iPad in a cave. (Credit: Zooka) I see lots of iPad speakers out there

Chrome for Android updates: recognizes app links, boosts speed

Peter Yung — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 18:37:00 +0000

Google slipped a bit of an upgrade into the Android Market today. The mobile version of Chrome received a seemingly minor version bump and, much to our chagrin, left no changelog behind for us to peruse.

Samsung partners with FeliCa for Japanese NFC solutions, unveils 2012 Olympics’ mobile payment app with Visa

steven — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 18:24:00 +0000

Across the globe today, Samsung is bringing a number of pushes to broaden NFC adoption. On the island of Japan, the company's sealed a partnership with FeliCa Networks to implement its NFC-Secure Application Module chips in its mobile devices. Notably, the solution is ensures compatibility between Japan's long established Osaifu-Keitai contactless payment services and the newer breed of NFC Types A and B which normally don't play nice together

Engadget Podcast 282 – 02.24.2012

Joe Plumber — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 18:00:00 +0000

The Engadget Podcast: it's all BlackBerry PlayBooks, overblown sales figures and airbag backpacks.

Samsung Galaxy B with edge-to-edge screen rumored

Leon23Tricia — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 17:46:41 +0000

Rumors are circulating that Samsung's planning a smartphone with an edge-to-edge screen, dubbed the Samsung Galaxy B. Sammyhub spotted a report from the Korean language Maeil Business newspaper that hints that the company has been beavering away on a nearly bezel-free device. Peering through the dense fog of Google Translate, it would appear that Samsung has been working on the phone for a while already, and that it'll feature a screen that leaves only the top of the phone's front display-free

Google’s ‘continuous gesture’ patent application runs circles around copy and paste

Sally Hendrix — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 17:39:00 +0000

You know the drill, you're browsing an article about volcanos on your phone and want to know more about Eyjafjallajokull.

Rumor: Apple’s iOS dock ports headed for a diet

Ray Kaario — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 17:12:44 +0000

Apple's latest iOS plug, not all that different technology-wise from the first 30-pin dock plug. (Credit: CNET) What's one thing that's basically stayed pretty much the same throughout the entire lifespan of iOS devices?

3rd Place in Patagonian Exped Race!

terseflag — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 17:07:42 +0000

It took 162 hours and 31 minutes. But after more than a week of racing Team GearJunkie/YogaSlackers has managed a third-place finish in the 2012 Patagonian Expedition Race, a multisport competition that’s been dubbed the toughest race on the planet

Box offers 50GB of free cloud storage to Android users

terseflag — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 17:06:49 +0000

Log into your Box account (or a new one) from your Android device and presto: 50GB of free storage is yours.

Cops wear Body Mounted Cameras – Say Cheese!

Peter Yung — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 17:00:58 +0000

You see it everyday, a police officer involved in some sort of a scuffle that’s been recorded on someone’s Smartphone. It almost always makes the officer look bad.

The Engadget Show 30: DJ Spooky, Google, Toy Fair and a pinball museum

Ray Kaario — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 17:00:00 +0000

The Engadget Show has just hit the big 3-0, and to celebrate, we're stretching out our legs in a more spacious locale. Yep, we're hitting the Times Center this month, but don't worry, we've got plenty of show to fill up the space