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Monday, May 31

A plea for gadget interface consistency
Change is always welcome, except when it comes to the placement of basic buttons on your cell phone. CNET's Josh Lowensohn explains why.

Lime Wire scrambles to save itself
File-sharing service asks court to reconsider decision and appeals to labels to cut a deal. But is it too little, too late?

Just in

2 million iPads sold in under 60 days
Apple touts its latest sales figures for the buzz-generating tablet and acknowledges difficulty in keeping up with demand.
•  Analyst expects iPad to pass Mac
(Posted in Apple by Jim Dalrymple)

Firefox for Windows starts 64-bit transition
Programmers have begun releasing early versions of 64-bit Firefox. It's scheduled to be mature later this year.
(Posted in Deep Tech by Stephen Shankland)

Think acupuncture's a hoax? Think again
New research finds that the natural compound adenosine, known for its anti-inflammatory properties, floods tissue that is punctured or aggravated, and may be the secret ingredient in acupuncture.
(Posted in Health Tech by Elizabeth Armstrong Moore)

Bangladesh quashes Facebook over prophet images
Government asks local Internet service providers to temporarily block the site pending removal of a page publicizing "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day."
(Posted in Digital Media by CNET News staff)

BP fails to plug oil well with 'top kill' method
Next option is to try to capture the oil from the well rather than plug it. The best option for stopping the flow remains drilling a relief well, which is expected to take months.
• Photos: In the Gulf, struggling with the oil disaster
(Posted in Green Tech by Reuters)

Report: DOJ inquiry of Apple goes beyond music
News that the Justice Department has been asking about Apple's business practices in the music sector hit last week. It appears other media sectors may be included too.
(Posted in Apple by Greg Sandoval)

A slimmer Kindle coming in August?
The next-generation e-book reader will be thinner and come with a sharper picture, two people familiar with Amazon's plans told Bloomberg.
(Posted in Digital Media by Anne Dujmovic)

Figuring land use into renewable-energy equation
Academics study land requirements for different energy sources and find that they vary greatly, but the biggest challenge is siting power plants and new transmission lines.
(Posted in Green Tech by Martin LaMonica)

'Hurt Locker' downloaders, you've been sued
Voltage Pictures files lawsuits against 5,000 John and Jane Does. Will this trigger new round of copyright lawsuits against public?
(Posted in Media Maverick by Greg Sandoval)

Lawmakers oppose FCC plan to reassert Net authority
Congressional leaders say FCC needs to put aside a plan to reclassify broadband services and let lawmakers rewrite the nation's telecom laws.
(Posted in Signal Strength by Marguerite Reardon)

DIY Weekend: Mobile Xbox setup 007 would love
When you want to game on the road, and a DSi or iPod Touch isn't cutting it, you go this route.
• Photos: A mobile gaming workstation Bond would love
(Posted in Crave by Matt Hickey)

What should Ballmer do with Zune?
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is taking a more direct role overseeing consumer products. Here are some suggestions on how to turn the troubled Zune brand around.
(Posted in Digital Noise: Music and Tech by Matt Rosoff)

Sony, Nokia express concern over Foxconn suicides
Electronics makers join Apple, HP, and Dell in saying they're pursuing their own investigations into the working conditions at the contract manufacturer's factory.
(Posted in Circuit Breaker by Erica Ogg)

Sunday, May 30

Willow Garage robots find new homes
The company says its open-source PR2 machines are a big step toward all-purpose robots. Now 11 R&D teams from around the world will get a crack at making that happen.

MIT plugs 'living lab' in energy efficiency
The tech school aims to reduce its electricity use by 15 percent over the next three years, for savings equivalent to powering hundreds of thousands of homes.

Just in

Think acupuncture's a hoax? Think again
New research finds that the natural compound adenosine, known for its anti-inflammatory properties, floods tissue that is punctured or aggravated, and may be the secret ingredient in acupuncture.
(Posted in Health Tech by Elizabeth Armstrong Moore)

Skype 2.0 with 3G lands on iPhone
Skype 2.0 for iPhone has finally arrived, with 3G calling. But get your calls in quick--there'll be a "small monthly fee" for Skype-to-Skype calls after August.
(Posted in Wireless by Kyle VanHemert)

Saturday, May 29

Bangladesh quashes Facebook over prophet images
Government asks local Internet service providers to temporarily block the site pending removal of a page publicizing "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day."
(Posted in Digital Media by CNET News staff)

BP fails to plug oil well with 'top kill' method
Next option is to try to capture the oil from the well rather than plug it. The best option for stopping the flow remains drilling a relief well, which is expected to take months.
(Posted in Green Tech by Reuters)

Report: DOJ inquiry of Apple goes beyond music
News that the Justice Department has been asking about Apple's business practices in the music sector hit last week. It appears other media sectors may be included too.
(Posted in Apple by Greg Sandoval)

A slimmer Kindle coming in August?
The next-generation e-book reader will be thinner and come with a sharper picture, two people familiar with Amazon's plans told Bloomberg.
(Posted in Digital Media by Anne Dujmovic)

Figuring land use into renewable-energy equation
Academics study land requirements for different energy sources and find that they vary greatly, but the biggest challenge is siting power plants and new transmission lines.
(Posted in Green Tech by Martin LaMonica)

'Hurt Locker' downloaders, you've been sued
Voltage Pictures files lawsuits against 5,000 John and Jane Does. Will this trigger new round of copyright lawsuits against public?
(Posted in Media Maverick by Greg Sandoval)

Lawmakers oppose FCC plan to reassert Net authority
Congressional leaders say FCC needs to put aside a plan to reclassify broadband services and let lawmakers rewrite the nation's telecom laws.
(Posted in Signal Strength by Marguerite Reardon)

Top-rated reviews of the week
photos CNET reviewers scope out the Diddybeats high-end in-ear headphones, the LG Fathom smartphone, the 2010 Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG, and more.

DIY Weekend: Mobile Xbox setup 007 would love
When you want to game on the road, and a DSi or iPod Touch isn't cutting it, you go this route.
• Photos: A mobile gaming workstation Bond would love
(Posted in Crave by Matt Hickey)

What should Ballmer do with Zune?
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is taking a more direct role overseeing consumer products. Here are some suggestions on how to turn the troubled Zune brand around.
(Posted in Digital Noise: Music and Tech by Matt Rosoff)

Big crowds for iPads overseas; supply may be tight
Apple begins sales of the iPad outside the U.S. and, according to reports, it appears to be a big day. Supplies of the tablet, however, may be limited overseas.
•  Analyst expects iPad to pass Mac
(Posted in iPad Atlas by Joe Aimonetti)

Friday, May 28

Opposition to FCC's Net power grab builds
Congressional leaders say FCC needs to put aside a plan to reclassify broadband services and let lawmakers rewrite the nation's telecom laws.

Using wave power for desalination
The Seadog water pump, which captures the energy of waves to turn a generator, heads to an offshore platform near Texas to test using ocean power to desalinate water.

Just in

'Hurt Locker' downloaders, you've been sued
Voltage Pictures files lawsuits against 5,000 John and Jane Does. Will this trigger new round of copyright lawsuits against public?
(Posted in Media Maverick by Greg Sandoval)

Report: AT&T to offer insurance for iPhones
One of the major complaints customers have with the iPhone and AT&T could finally be addressed on June 6, according to The Boy Genius Report.
(Posted in Crave by Matt Hickey)

Sony, Nokia express concern over Foxconn suicides
Electronics makers join Apple, HP, and Dell in saying they're pursuing their own investigations into the working conditions at the contract manufacturer's factory.
(Posted in Circuit Breaker by Erica Ogg)

Analyst expects iPad to pass Mac
Analyst Ashok Kumar sees shipments of the tablet device leaping ahead of the Mac by September. Also, production levels for the next-generation iPhone should hit 12 million by then.
(Posted in Nanotech - The Circuits Blog by Brooke Crothers)

Fake BP Twitter account remains shrouded in mystery
Someone very funny has been aping oil company BP's public relations department in the wake of the Gulf Coast rig disaster. We still have no idea who's behind it.
(Posted in The Social by Caroline McCarthy)

Obama in Gulf as BP reports progress
President Obama visits one of the worst-affected areas from the spreading spill, while BP says success of latest effort to stop the flow still uncertain.
• Photos: In the Gulf, struggling with the oil disaster
(Posted in Green Tech by Reuters)

Lime Wire scrambles to avoid annihilation
File-sharing service asks court to reconsider decision and seeks negotiation with the labels. Is this a case of too little, too late?
• LimeWire judge cuts curious note about EFF lawyer
(Posted in Media Maverick by Greg Sandoval)

What makes a tablet a tablet?
faq As gadget makers rush to embrace the iPad craze, a slew of new "tablets" is appearing. But how are they different from smartphones or notebooks?
(Posted in Circuit Breaker by Erica Ogg)

Symantec pushes security to Android, iPhone
A new initiative called Norton Everywhere will aim at securing smartphones and other non-PC connected devices, as well as DNS-based Web filtering.
(Posted in Security by Matthew Broersma)

Mozilla prepares coders for Firefox 4 features
Web developers, brace yourselves for Firefox 4 features. One in particular, IndexedDB, gives Web applications new data storage abilities.
(Posted in Deep Tech by Stephen Shankland)

Survey: iPhone owners are the happiest
Apple's iPhone scores tops in satisfaction among smartphone owners, followed by Motorola in second place, according to ChangeWave survey.
(Posted in Wireless by Lance Whitney)

Nokia, Opera side with Adobe on Flash
The companies offer two more votes of support for Adobe in its public battle with Apple over Adobe's Flash multimedia software.
(Posted in Signal Strength by Marguerite Reardon)

Thursday, May 27

FCC takes aim at wireless bill shock
The FCC is digging into those pesky overage charges that keep showing up on phone bills, putting wireless companies on the defensive.

Start-ups on a mission find new home
An old sewing factory in San Francisco finds new life as incubator to globally minded entrepreneurs.
• Video: Sparking social innovation
• Photos: Inside a social incubator

Just in

Does Microsoft need a Windows 7 slate?
Putting Windows onto a consumer tablet is essential to rival the iPad and stay relevant, say the analysts at Forrester.
(Posted in Beyond Binary by Ina Fried)

Politicians press Google on Street View Wi-Fi flap
Three influential House members ask Google to answer detailed questions about Street View and data collection practices by June 7.
(Posted in Politics and Law by Declan McCullagh)

Is this the unluckiest man in digital music?
Robin Kent, who worked for failed music service SpiralFrog and the controversial P2P start-up Qtrax, is walking away from digital music.
(Posted in Media Maverick by Greg Sandoval)

Researcher warns of browser 'tabnapping'
The attack allows a browser tab to change from a trusted site to a malicious one while the user isn't looking, according to a Mozilla developer.
(Posted in Security by Matthew Broersma)

Microsoft does right by freeing Outlook archives
Sometimes Redmond does the right thing. One example is its active effort to give Outlook users control over their data.
(Posted in Deep Tech by Stephen Shankland)

Willow Garage gets robots into researchers' hands
Company says its open-source PR2 machines are a big step toward all-purpose robots. Now 11 R&D teams from around the world will get a crack at making that happen.
• Photos: Meet the PR2 robots
(Posted in Geek Gestalt by Daniel Terdiman)

Palm loses mobile design guru Matias Duarte
The man who led development of Palm's WebOS user interface has left the company following HP's acquisition and has apparently landed at Google.
(Posted in Wireless by John Paczkowski, AllThingsD)

Micromidas to test sludge-to-plastic tech
Another way to use waste: a California start-up plans to test a mobile wastewater biorefinery that turns sewage sludge into a biodegradable plastic.
(Posted in Green Tech by Martin LaMonica)

Adobe patches 'critical' holes in Photoshop CS4
The ability to add brushes, color swatches, and other customizations left an older version of Adobe's image-editing software vulnerable to attack.
(Posted in Deep Tech by Stephen Shankland)

One-on-one with Mark Zuckerberg
podcast After Wednesday's announcement of Facebook's new "simple" privacy settings, we talked to CEO Mark Zuckerberg about reactions to earlier privacy changes.
• Facebook off the hook with privacy revamp?
• Video: Statement on privacy
• Screenshots: Tour Facebook's new privacy settings
• Navigate Facebook's new privacy paradigm
• Live blog: Facebook faces press
(Posted in Safe and Secure by Larry Magid)

Apple passes Microsoft in valuation
The Mac maker is now worth more than that software maker in Redmond. CNET's Ina Fried takes a look at this historic moment in computing.
• With iTunes, Apple has thrown its weight around
(Posted in Beyond Binary by Ina Fried)

Report: 3D PCs soon to boom
Within a few years, your PC may well be equipped with 3D capabilities, according to Jon Peddie Research. But don't forget the special monitor and glasses.
(Posted in Business Tech by Larry Dignan)

Wednesday, May 26

Facebook off the hook with privacy revamp?
CEO Mark Zuckerberg announces sweeping changes to privacy controls following a month of fierce member and lawmaker backlash. But those changes won't quell the storm.
• Facebook faces the press
• Video: Statement on privacy

With iTunes, Apple has thrown weight around
DOJ investigation comes years after Apple used its power to dictate terms to music labels. But did Cupertino go too far by trying to derail an Amazon promotion?

Just in

Report: Natal to cost $150, launch in late October
Edge Online says Microsoft's fancy new camera peripheral for the Xbox 360 could cost $150--just $30 less than the price of a new console.
(Posted in Web Crawler by Josh Lowensohn)

MIT plugs 'living lab' in energy efficiency
The school aims to reduce its electricity use by 15 percent over the next three years--savings equivalent to powering hundreds of thousands of homes.
• Photos: Plugging efficiency at MIT
(Posted in Green Tech by Martin LaMonica)

Apple passes Microsoft in valuation
The Mac maker is now worth more than that software maker in Redmond. CNET's Ina Fried takes a look at this historic moment in computing.
(Posted in Beyond Binary by Ina Fried)

FCC says consumers are 'bill shocked'
Federal Communications Commission releases survey results finding that one in six customers have been shocked by unexpected cell phone charges.
(Posted in Signal Strength by Marguerite Reardon)

Google releases add-on to block its own analytics
With a nod toward user privacy, Google's new add-on will stop certain data from being sent from PCs when visiting a site that uses Google Analytics.
(Posted in Security by Lance Whitney)

Microsoft warns on Windows 7 upgrade tool
Software maker says Parallels software, aimed at easing the upgrade to Windows 7, is likely to cause users to violate Microsoft's licensing terms.
(Posted in Beyond Binary by Ina Fried)

British researcher cracks crypto problem
His scheme lets computation be performed on encrypted data without the need to decrypt it first, which could be useful for calculations connected to electronic health records.
(Posted in Security by Matthew Broersma)

Bartz: Yahoo has pride, but still needs work
As investors wonder if Yahoo's stock is ever going to take off, CEO Carol Bartz tries to reassure them Wednesday that the company is focused and improving.
(Posted in Relevant Results by Tom Krazit)

Greenpeace: 'Michael, What the Dell?'
Timed with the release of its updated electronics guide, environmental group protests at Dell for company's failure to meet deadline to remove toxins from its products.
(Posted in Green Tech by Candace Lombardi)

Firms tackle virus-laden Web sites, ads
As more users get hit by "drive-by downloads" and "malvertising," companies like Armorize and Dasient offer services to help keep surfers safe.
(Posted in InSecurity Complex by Elinor Mills)

Study: Almost 5 million charging stations by 2015
With electric car demand on the rise, Pike Research expects the number of car charging stations to surpass 4.7 million over the next five years.
(Posted in The Car Tech blog by Lance Whitney)

Android ownership hottest in North America
Across the world, 75 percent of all Android smartphones are in North America, compared with 49 percent of iPhones OS devices in the same region, according to AdMob.
(Posted in Wireless by Lance Whitney)

Tuesday, May 25

DOJ exploring Apple's role in music pricing
Department of Justice is asking questions about what company's role was in the recent scaling back of special music discounts at Amazon.

Google: Here's how we help the economy
The Web titan claims a $54 billion impact in the U.S. through its ad programs as it tries to show the world how it's helping small businesses.

Just in

Facebook event will outline 'simpler' privacy controls
At an event at 10:30 a.m. PT Wednesday, CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other executives are expected to respond to recent privacy criticism by making things a bit simpler.
(Posted in Politics and Law by Declan McCullagh)

Democrats' split over Net neutrality widens
commentary Bill Clinton's old group, the Democratic Leadership Council, says "no" to the Democrat-controlled FCC's plan to regulate broadband.
(Posted in Politics and Law by Declan McCullagh)

Why you shouldn't believe 'Facebook backlash' numbers
Some statistics say Facebook is at risk of having members quit en masse. Others say it's still growing like a weed. Which do you take as the truth? For now, it's neither.
(Posted in The Social by Caroline McCarthy)

Bezos: No drastic changes in store for Kindle
At Amazon's shareholder meeting Tuesday, CEO Jeff Bezos says the Kindle isn't getting a color screen and that the device will remain primarily focused on reading.
(Posted in Circuit Breaker by Erica Ogg)

McAfee to buy mobile-security firm Trust Digital
McAfee to strengthen mobile enterprise offerings with Trust Digital acquisition. Terms of the deal have not been disclosed.
(Posted in InSecurity Complex by Elinor Mills)

Intel to lay out supercomputing chip plans
Intel is targeting specialized "many-core" chips for supercomputers.
(Posted in Nanotech - The Circuits Blog by Brooke Crothers)

Has the 8GB iPhone 3G been discontinued?
The device is no longer for sale on Apple.com, just a few weeks from the expected unveiling of Apple's newest phone.
• Tweets suggest new iPhone commercial coming
(Posted in Circuit Breaker by Erica Ogg)

Unmanned robot to troll Gulf oil spill for data
iRobot says its Seaglider, an unmanned underwater vehicle, will be used to track the presence of oil droplets from the BP oil spill in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
• Less toxic oil dispersants sought for Gulf spill
(Posted in Green Tech by Martin LaMonica)

The man behind World of Warcraft magazine
q&a 45 Minutes on IM: Former Wired.com managing editor Marty Cortinas is now running WoW's official magazine. He talks about his transition.
(Posted in Geek Gestalt by Daniel Terdiman)

3D imaging could help improve hearing aids
A new imaging technique out of MIT could result in hearing aids--and earphones and earplugs--that fit and function better.
(Posted in Health Tech by Elizabeth Armstrong Moore)

Netbook, laptop sales growth biggest in 8 years
Gartner says mobile PC growth during the first quarter of 2010 saw a jump of 43.4 percent over the same period a year ago.
(Posted in Circuit Breaker by Erica Ogg)

T-Mobile USA upgrades more cities to faster 3G
T-Mobile USA is adding more HSPA+ markets and says it now can offer the faster 3G wireless service to 30 million potential customers.
(Posted in Signal Strength by Marguerite Reardon)

Monday, May 24

What Facebook does when something's rotten
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's op-ed in The Washington Post this week pitches him as a fallible young monarch. Benevolent or not, he's still disconcertingly powerful.

Going hypersonic with the X-51A Waverider
images On Tuesday the Air Force plans to launch a scramjet-powered test vehicle that could hit Mach 6 en route to a new generation of spacecraft and missiles.

Just in

Google offered Viacom $592 million for content
Court documents released Friday also show Viacom's top attorney defended YouTube, and Larry Page "can't recall" much about YouTube deal.
(Posted in Media Maverick by Greg Sandoval)

Adobe's PDF Reader app comes to Android phones
Android users looking for a free and powerful PDF reader now have an official solution from Adobe, however it requires the latest version of the Android OS.
(Posted in Web Crawler by Josh Lowensohn)

NASA's Mars lander damaged, down for count
Phoenix, apparently damaged by ice buildups during harsh Martian winter, has not phoned home during fly-overs, ending hopes for additional science with the lander.
(Posted in The Space Shot by William Harwood)

Tony Blair to join venture capital firm
The former British prime minister is turning his attention to Silicon Valley and becoming a senior advisor at Khosla Ventures.
(From The New York Times)

U.S. CyberCom launches with first commander
With Army Gen. Keith Alexander at the helm, Cyber Command is now on its mission--unifying and protecting Defense Department's computer networks against cyberattack.
(Posted in Military Tech by Lance Whitney)

A newbie's take on Maker Faire
CNET's Ina Fried goes to her first Maker Faire. She took a pass on a giant bowl of paella but said yes to on-demand poetry and a giant cupcake costume.
• Photos: A maiden visit to Maker Faire
• Photos: It's all DIY at Maker Faire
(Posted in Beyond Binary by Ina Fried)

Google PowerMeter comes to U.K. in monitor deal
Google signs on another energy monitor maker to connect to PowerMeter, which will let people in the U.K. view home energy data from Web-enabled devices.
(Posted in Green Tech by Martin LaMonica)

Google discloses AdSense revenue share
Publishers who run AdSense ads alongside their content get to keep 68 percent of revenue generated by those ads, Google has revealed for the first time.
(Posted in Relevant Results by Tom Krazit)

Twitter cuts the cord on third-party ad networks
Companies that post sponsored tweets in Twitter streams are now banned from its API, but, for those who care, Kim Kardashian is still allowed to charge $10,000 for a paid tweet.
(Posted in The Social by Caroline McCarthy)

Steve Jobs to keynote WWDC 2010
Apple's CEO will deliver the keynote speech at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference in June. Expect to hear a lot about iPhone OS 4.
(Posted in Apple by Jim Dalrymple)

Quitting smoking, one text at a time (podcast)
Researcher says smoking-cessation data collected via texting study subjects every two hours is far more accurate than data captured using other methods.
(Posted in For the Record Podcast by Larry Magid)

IBM to spend $1.4 billion on a Sterling buy
AT&T sells off Sterling Commerce, a company that tries to help businesses better share information with partners, customers, and suppliers.
(Posted in Business Tech by Lance Whitney)

Sunday, May 23

The new electronics power broker: Google
Google TV could be the solution to a problem that has eluded tech geniuses for years: how to marry the PC and TV. Win or lose, it says much about Google's clout outside search.
• Images: Web TV through the ages
• 7 Google TV questions
• Complete I/O coverage

Web TV gadgets through the ages
images Following the unveiling of Google TV, we take a look at where Internet-enabled television has been in the past few years.
• 7 unanswered questions about Google TV

Just in

Wastewater-to-fertilizer plant captures nutrients
Venture-backed Ostara Nutrient Recovery Technologies to open a facility that converts wastewater from sewage treatment plants into fertilizer while reducing nutrient run-off.
(Posted in Green Tech by Martin LaMonica)

U.S. could fall behind China in clean energy: Locke
"There's too much capital sitting on the sidelines for lack of an energy policy," Locke says of United States during trade mission to Asia.
(Posted in Green Tech by Reuters)

Saturday, May 22

An ad engine to put 'Mad Men' out of business
The PlaceLocal software creates ads automatically after scouring the Internet for references to a client, be it the restaurant on the corner or a lawyer's office.
(From The New York Times)

Man goes home with 'Total Artificial Heart'
After living in a hospital for two years, Charles Okeke gets an artificial heart with groundbreaking portable technology.
(Posted in Health Tech by CBS Interactive staff)

HP expands notebook battery recall
Hewlett-Packard extends a 2009 recall of lithium ion notebook batteries that can pose a fire hazard to include an additional 54,000 packs.
(Posted in Crave by Leslie Katz)

Exclusive: Yahoo, Nokia to unveil 'Project Nike'
Sources say the Finnish mobile giant will build Yahoo e-mail, search, and other applications and services into a range of its devices.
(Posted in Wireless by Kara Swisher, AllThingsD)

Maker Faire comes to life
photos May 21, 2010 11:03 PM PST This weekend, about 80,000 DIY enthusiasts will flock to the Maker Faire in San Mateo, Calif. Here's what the do-it-yourself extravaganza looks like before the crowds descend.

Top-rated reviews of the week
photos Here are a few of CNET Reviews' favorite items from the past week, including the 500 GB Samsung G2 portable hard drive, 2010 Cadillac SRX Turbo, and the LG Ally phone for Verizon.

GOP candidate slams Apple's attack app rejection
Republican challenger trying to unseat incumbent Rep. Henry Waxman says critical phrases like "Soviet-style regulation" should be allowed.
(Posted in Politics and Law by Declan McCullagh)
• FAQ: Deleting your Facebook account
(Posted in Politics and Law by Declan McCullagh)

Facebook page tied to Pakistan ban back up
After Pakistan blocks the site due to what it views as "blasphemous" content, the page disappears. Now it's back, with a message that a moderator had his e-mail and Skype hacked, and got scared.
(Posted in Digital Media by Leslie Katz)

AT&T's new early-termination fee for iPhone: $325
The carrier is raising the fee for smartphones starting June 1, citing Verizon's move last fall as partial justification.
(Posted in Wireless by John Paczkowski, AllThingsD)

This week in Crave: The mad scientist edition
Too busy doing lab experiments to read Crave this week? You missed out on synthetic cells, sarcasm, and tweeting cows. If only those were all part of the same experiment.
(Posted in Crave by Tim Hornyak)

Friday, May 21

The relevance of Pac-Man at 30
The iconic '80s arcade game is more than a relic of a bygone era. Many in the games industry say its influence is as strong as ever.
• Pac-Man gets Google banned?
• Images: Pac-Man then and now
• Google gets Pac-Man fever
• Video: Google's Pac-Man doodle

Facebook working on 'simple' privacy settings
After a remarkably tumultuous month, Facebook is planning new privacy settings as early as next week that will be simpler and easier for users who don't want to wade through layers of menus.
• FAQ: Deleting your Facebook account

Just in

AT&T's new early-termination fee for iPhone: $325
The carrier is raising the fee for smartphones starting June 1, citing Verizon's move last fall as partial justification.
(Posted in Wireless by John Paczkowski, AllThingsD)

Facebook page tied to Pakistan ban now down
After Pakistan blocks the site, calling a page promoting "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day" blasphemous, the page is gone, though it's unclear why.
(Posted in Digital Media by Leslie Katz)

Microsoft sues over 'click laundering' fraud
The software maker accuses science news aggregator RedOrbit of engaging in a scheme to get paid for fraudulent clicks, but the site's operators deny accusations.
(Posted in InSecurity Complex by Elinor Mills)

Mars rover on the move, another yet to come
The rover Opportunity sets a record for duration with its continuing operation on Mars, while NASA gets ready to launch the Curiosity in late 2011.
• Images: Mars rover Curiosity to seek answers
(Posted in Cutting Edge by Jonathan E. Skillings)

Brewing a better coffee cup online
Starbucks has thrown its weight--and $20,000 in prize money--behind a competition to design a legitimate alternative to the disposable coffee cup.
• Images: The concept cars of the coffee cup world
(Posted in The Social by Caroline McCarthy)

U.S. unveils new push for more efficient cars, trucks
Obama unveils a push to boost auto fuel economy for model-year 2017 passenger vehicles and beyond, and introduce a truck efficiency target for the first time.
(Posted in Green Tech by Reuters)

FTC approves Google-AdMob deal
In what comes as a bit of a surprise, the FTC will not stand in the way of Google's purchase of mobile-ad company AdMob, saying the deal would not harm competition.
• Google takes on iTunes with Simplify buy
(Posted in Relevant Results by Tom Krazit)

Google rolls out encrypted Web search option
Encryption first came to Gmail, then Google Docs. Now Google is expanding this privacy protection feature by building it into its main search engine.
(Posted in InSecurity Complex by Elinor Mills)

Mozilla to rebrand Weave as Firefox Sync
The latest version of the browser synchronization add-on, still in beta, promises to emphasize its ties to the browser with a new name and better features.
(Posted in The Download Blog by Seth Rosenblatt)

IBM: We distributed malware-ridden USB drives
Company apologizes after visitors to the IBM booth at the AusCERT security conference get more than they bargained for with the freebies handed out.
(Posted in InSecurity Complex by Elinor Mills)

Microsoft releases 'sunset edition' of Money
Company puts out last version of personal finance program, this one intended for those who want to use product after online support ends.
(Posted in Beyond Binary by Ina Fried)

Deleting your Facebook account
faq Facebook's ever-changing privacy practices and adherence to opt-out methods are prompting users to consider deleting their accounts. But how is that done and what does it mean?
• Facebook sent data to advertisers
(Posted in InSecurity Complex by Elinor Mills)

Thursday, May 20

I/O confab heralds era of Google TV
roundup The company unveils its strategy for intermingling TV and the Web in home electronics via a platform dubbed Google TV. Plus: lots of Android news.
• Speed central to Android 2.2 plans
• Test-drive: Flash Player on Android

A tale of five turbines at a Boston museum
To shed light on rooftop wind performance, Boston's Museum of Science puts up small, roof-mounted wind turbines and measures how they blow.
• Photos: Rooftop wind experiment

Just in

Google faces probes and lawsuit over Wi-Fi spying
The company is being investigated by European authorities and is the target of at least one U.S. lawsuit after admitting it had spied on some Internet users.
(Posted in Signal Strength by Marguerite Reardon)

Ford re-examining its carbon footprint
U.S. automaker plans to research its top 35 suppliers, create cleaner global supply chain.
(Posted in Green Tech by Candace Lombardi)

Oracle buys database firewall provider
The enterprise software giant acquires Secerno, a company that offers firewall security for both Oracle and non-Oracle databases.
(Posted in Business Tech by Lance Whitney)

Apple allows cash sales for iPad
A California woman's complaint spurs the company to change its stance on iPad purchasing--you may now bring those greenbacks to an Apple store.
(Posted in The Digital Home by Don Reisinger)

Belkin invests in smart charger for electric cars
Belkin, best known for its PC and Mac accessories, gets deeper into home energy management by investing in Juice Technologies, which makes equipment for charging electric vehicles.
(Posted in Green Tech by Martin LaMonica)

IDC: 46 million media tablets by 2014
Shipments of media tablets, a la Apple's iPad, are expected to hit 46 million units in 2014, jumping from the 7.6 million forecast to ship this year, says IDC.
(Posted in Apple by Lance Whitney)

Cartoon contest leads Pakistan to shut Facebook
Pakistan temporarily shutters social-networking site after a satirical campaign dubbed "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day" draws scores of supporters online.
(Posted in Digital Media by Leslie Katz)

House votes to expand DNA arrest database
Americans arrested but not convicted of some crimes would likely have DNA forcibly extracted and added to FBI database, according to new legislation.
(Posted in Politics and Law by Declan McCullagh)

Twitter debuts official iPhone app
It's an upgrade from Tweetie 2.0, which the company got custody of when it bought developer Atebits in April.
• Twitter's official iPhone app: Any good?
(Posted in iPhone Atlas by Lance Whitney)

BrightSource Energy raises funds for big solar plants
The concentrating-solar power company plans to use $150 million to build 14 solar power plants in southwest U.S. and to expand internationally.
(Posted in Green Tech by Martin LaMonica)

Google offers free fonts for the Web
Elaborate typography has been slow to emerge on the Web. Now the underlying technology is in place, and Google is trying to help supply fonts as well.
(Posted in Deep Tech by Stephen Shankland)

Aquamarine Power unveils next wave machine
The Oyster 2 is expected to be capable of sucking down more energy from ocean waves, to be transferred to an onshore hydroelectric turbine.
(Posted in Green Tech by Candace Lombardi)

Symantec-VeriSign deal unlocked
analysis Some say VeriSign's Secure Sockets Layer business fits Symantec well. Others question the wisdom of entering the commoditized SSL certificate market.
• Symantec targets VeriSign
(Posted in InSecurity Complex by Elinor Mills)

Wednesday, May 19

Smartphones come to prepaid market
Penny-pinching wireless customers who want cool, new smartphones now have a less expensive option via some prepaid providers.

Just in

Microsoft not opposed to Google Web video plan
It was hardly a ringing endorsement, but neither was it an attempt to squash Google's new WebM plan for Web video.
(Posted in Deep Tech by Stephen Shankland)

Apple to keep the 'pro' in Final Cut Pro
Reports that Apple's Final Cut Pro will be refocused for a more mainstream audience, leaving the pros behind, are not true, according to Apple.
(Posted in Apple by Jim Dalrymple)

Adobe hastens release of HTML5 developer tool
Only three weeks after releasing Dreamweaver CS5, it releases an update to add support for HTML5. It's not Flash or nothing at Adobe.
(Posted in Deep Tech by Stephen Shankland)

Google Wave: Now open to the public
Buzz may have eclipsed the Wave tool for collaboration and communication, but Google says it's time for naysayers to give it another whirl.
(Posted in Deep Tech by Stephen Shankland)

iPhone OS 4 beta reveals AT&T tethering option
A beta version of the mobile software released to developers shows that the ability to share data via the iPhone is an option, at least for now.
(Posted in Circuit Breaker by Erica Ogg)

Solar glut leading to more solar growth?
Credit availability coming back and the decrease in price for solar installations spurred by the glut have led to a market shift, report from Pike Research shows.
(Posted in Green Tech by Candace Lombardi)

Cell phone, smartphone sales surge
Global cell phone sales in the first quarter rise 17 percent year over year, while smartphone sales specifically soar 48 percent, Gartner says.
(Posted in Wireless by Lance Whitney)

Pirate Bay on MPAA, RIAA most 'notorious' list
Entertainment trade groups release list of six "notorious" pirate Web sites, along with list of countries they say have inadequate intellectual-property protections.
(Posted in Media Maverick by Greg Sandoval)

Microsoft to give governments patch previews
Pilot program will provide an early look at technical details of OS patches to governments and critical infrastructure providers ahead of Patch Tuesday releases.
(Posted in Security by Ben Grubb)

Facebook launches mobile site free of data charges
Thanks to special deals with more than 50 mobile carriers across 45 different countries and regions, accessing the social network won't rack up data charges.
(Posted in Digital Media by Lance Whitney)

Did EFF lawyer cross line in LimeWire case?
Federal court judge suggests that one of the most respected attorneys from the technology sector advised LimeWire execs to destroy evidence.
(Posted in Media Maverick by Greg Sandoval)

Blinkx debuts mobile video search
Video search engine Blinkx launches beta of new mobile site, designed to let users search for and play videos via smartphones and mobile gadgets.
(Posted in Digital Media by Lance Whitney)

Tuesday, May 18

Why I became an Android fanboy
After a few months, Google's mobile-phone operating system won CNET's Stephen Shankland over with a powerful new generation of phones.
• Photos: Android phones I've known

Wolfram Alpha's niche continues to elude
Stephen Wolfram's most ambitious project to date has yet to make a dent in the search market. However, the Internet search problem is far from settled.

Just in

In a media move, Yahoo buys Associated Content
For about $100 million, Yahoo has acquired a company that will give it a product similar to AOL's "content farm" Seed.com.
(Posted in The Social by Caroline McCarthy)

HP quarterly revenue up 13 percent to $30.8 billion
The tech giant slightly beats Wall Street expectations for the second quarter of 2010.
(Posted in Circuit Breaker by Erica Ogg)

Utility industry grapples with smart-grid tech
In a survey, utility industry executives say they want certainty over regulations and are struggling with how best to invest in new technologies.
(Posted in Green Tech by Martin LaMonica)

Cheezburger's Ben Huh: I can has Q&A?
Beh Huh, CEO of the Cheezburger Network, publisher of the hit blog I Can Has Cheezburger, sits down for a 45 Minutes on IM interview.
(Posted in Geek Gestalt by Daniel Terdiman)

U.K. officials ask Google to delete Wi-Fi data
Google's admission that it collected personal data from unsecured Wi-Fi hot spots has prompted the U.K. government to request deletion of that data.
(Posted in Relevant Results by Tom Krazit)

Microsoft kills off Response Point IP phone
Redmond says the sales weren't strong enough to justify continued development and support for the product.
(Posted in Beyond Binary by Ina Fried)

Tearing down the Microsoft Kin
Tech site Chipworks has cracked open Microsoft's new phone and had a look at what makes the youth-oriented device tick.
• Photos: A look inside Kin
(Posted in Beyond Binary by Ina Fried)

Kindle for Android due this summer
It's more surprising that it took this long than that Amazon's reader app is coming to Google's mobile OS.
(Posted in Deep Tech by Stephen Shankland)

IBM supercomputer mixes Intel, Nvidia chips
Big Blue announces a hybrid, high-performance computer that combines Intel and Nvidia processors--a first for IBM.
(Posted in Nanotech - The Circuits Blog by Brooke Crothers)

New apps reset Facebook privacy settings
It's unclear so far what Facebook thinks of the third-party apps that can reset a user's privacy settings to "friends only."
• MySpace promises users simpler privacy settings
(Posted in The Social by Caroline McCarthy)

Panasonic flips switch on Skype for TVs
Furthering the videophone trend, starting Tuesday some Panasonic HDTV owners can make free video calls with purchase of an extra camera.
(Posted in Circuit Breaker by Erica Ogg)

As expected, The Pirate Bay returns
Whoever's operating the BitTorrent search engine now pokes fun at attempts by the entertainment industry to take down the site--and keep it down.
(Posted in Media Maverick by Greg Sandoval)

Monday, May 17

Microsoft: More oomph for technical computing
Software maker's new effort is meant to help scientists, engineers, and others by addressing key challenges around data modeling and parallel computing.

YouTube and the new creative class
guest column On the video site's fifth birthday, YouTube new-media honcho Kevin Yen notes the emergence of the youthful, do-it-yourself media mogul.
• YouTube adolescence begins at 5

Just in

New species from 'Lost World' unveiled
photos A veritable menagerie of new species are unveiled, including a new kangaroo, a frog that changes its nose size, and a multicolored pigeon.

MySpace promises users simpler privacy settings
Company plans to release a simplified version of its settings that promise to make it easier to make personal information private.
(Posted in Web Crawler by Josh Lowensohn)

iPad so far having minimal effect on Mac sales
Initial data from NPD Group shows that iPad sales in April aren't cannibalizing Mac sales after all, though iPod sales are down.
(Posted in Apple by Sam Diaz)

Tracking Web users without using cookies
EFF paper shows how sites can track visitors by collating version numbers, screen resolutions, and other data modern browsers provide.
(Posted in Security by Declan McCullagh)

Google Flu Trends: Take with grain of salt
A study out of the University of Washington finds that Google Flu Trends is least accurate during times when people use it most, as compared to CDC national surveillance programs.
(Posted in Health Tech by Elizabeth Armstrong Moore)

Airplane design could use 70 percent less fuel
An MIT team has come up with plans for two new airplanes that by 2035 could require 70 percent less fuel than today's aircraft.
(Posted in Geek Gestalt by Daniel Terdiman)

LTE subscribers to hit 200 million by 2015
Dual-mode smartphones and devices that support both 3G and LTE will lead to millions of new wireless broadband customers, says new report from Maravedis.
(Posted in Wireless by Lance Whitney)

Google to hone Android, Web pitch at Google I/O
More than 5,000 developers will be in San Francisco this week as Google attempts to keep Android momentum going and remind attendees that it thinks the Web is the future.
(Posted in Relevant Results by Tom Krazit)

Wikimedia: Wales' editor position unchanged
The foundation challenges a report alleging that the Wikipedia founder had been stripped of many of his responsibilities in the wake of community unrest.
• Wales gives up some controls
(Posted in Geek Gestalt by Daniel Terdiman)

Microsoft working on Hotmail's iPad issue
Software giant says it's looking into problems running its Web mail service on Apple's tablet. For now, it's sending users to mobile Hotmail site.
(Posted in Beyond Binary by Ina Fried)

Busy schedule for rocket Obama wants scrapped
President Obama has called for an end to the Ares rocket program, but NASA is planning a manned flight in 2014.
(From The New York Times)

CTIA honchos dish on FCC regs
q&a The lobbying group's Steve Largent and Chris Guttman-McCabe weigh in on Net neutrality rules, an impending spectrum crisis, and more.
(Posted in Signal Strength by Marguerite Reardon)

Verizon gives up on family's $18,000 bill
A Massachusetts family wins its fight against Verizon Wireless, as the company decides that it is unable to collect an $18,000 bill.
(Posted in Technically Incorrect by Chris Matyszczyk)

Sunday, May 16

The next five years of the X Prize
At a gala event Saturday night, the X Prize Foundation rolls out a vision and a plan for the next half-decade. Will it change the world for the better?

Experts: Ruling likely the end of LimeWire
Lawyers say the music industry finally has the file-sharing system on the mat. And while illegal file sharing will go on, there likely won't be any profit in it.
• RIAA wins big in LimeWire lawsuit

Just in

BP tussles with latest bid to contain oil spill
As tricky undersea efforts to stanch the flow of oil continue, the Obama administration demands "immediate public clarification" about BP's intentions on paying costs tied to the accident.
(Posted in Green Tech by Reuters)

Saturday, May 15

Even old master Photoshop can learn new tricks
Photoshop CS5 greatly expands the tool set that Adobe offers in its flagship product, charting new ways to make image manipulation easier while making older tools work better than before.
• Photos: Photoshop CS5 Extended
(Posted in The Download Blog by Seth Rosenblatt)

Google: Oops, we spied on your Wi-Fi
The Web titan has mistakenly been collecting snippets of e-mails and Web surfing activity as part of its Street View mapping program.
• Google to offer encrypted search next week
(Posted in Signal Strength by Marguerite Reardon)

MacBook update in the works?
A Vietnamese Web site--the same one that purportedly did a teardown of an iPhone 4G--now seemingly has a new MacBook in its hands.
(Posted in Nanotech - The Circuits Blog by Brooke Crothers)

Electric motorcycles all the buzz at eGrandPrix
photos Gentlemen, charge your batteries. The TTXGP zero-carbon electric motorcycle racing circuit is wired for speed at the Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif.

DIY Weekend: Sonic sculpture for arcade lovers
Homemade soundboard by artist/nerd Steve D'Angelo rocks a vintage look and sounds like Space Invaders and Pac-Man.
(Posted in Crave by Matt Hickey)

Study pokes holes in air bag standards
A study suggests that new designs may place belted drivers at a greater risk than the air bags they replaced.
(From The New York Times)

This Week in Crave: The good-as-gold edition
Too busy bidding adieu to space shuttle Atlantis this week to keep your eyes on Crave? Here's what was happening here on Earth while you were looking toward space.
(Posted in Crave by Leslie Katz)

Top-rated reviews of the week (photos)
photos Here are a few of CNET Reviews' favorite items from the past week, including the 27-inch iMac, the 2010 Acura ZDX, and the Palm Pre Plus for AT&T.

Researchers take control of cars remotely
q&a A group of researchers discover that, just like PCs, cars can be hacked. However, they say the risk is fairly low--for now.
(Posted in InSecurity Complex by Elinor Mills)

Shuttle Atlantis streaks into orbit on final flight
Atlantis blasts off on final planned mission, closing out 25 years of service with a flight to deliver a Russian docking module and critical spare parts to the space station.
(Posted in The Space Shot by William Harwood)

Friday, May 14

Apple spurred police in iPhone probe
Steve Jobs personally asked Gizmodo to return the 4G prototype, but the blog refused unless Apple provided "confirmation" it was real, according to documents made public Friday.
• Images: Gizmodo-gate highlights
• Gizmodo's e-mail to Jobs
• iPhone finder: No pity for Powell

Google: Oops, we spied on your Wi-Fi
Google has been mistakenly been collecting snippets of emails and Web surfing activity as part of its Street View mapping program.
• Google to offer encrypted search next week

Just in

Researchers take control of cars remotely
q&a A group of researchers discover that, just like PCs, cars can be hacked. However, they say the risk is fairly low--for now.
(Posted in InSecurity Complex by Elinor Mills)

Shuttle Atlantis streaks into orbit on final flight
Atlantis blasts off on final planned mission, closing out 25 years of service with a flight to deliver a Russian docking module and critical spare parts to the space station.
(Posted in The Space Shot by William Harwood)

Google turns Nexus One strategy upside down
After several setbacks, Google now plans to increase the availability of the Nexus One in retail channels, closing its Web-only store after building sufficient inventory.
(Posted in Relevant Results by Tom Krazit)

Appeals court to review EchoStar, TiVo patent fight
A federal court grants EchoStar's petition to take another look at the long-running legal dispute over DVR technology patents.
(Posted in Circuit Breaker by Erica Ogg)

Silicon 'nose' turns cell phones into toxin detectors
A new type of sensor that can be embedded in cell phones could map both the location and extent of gas leaks and toxins in the air.
(Posted in Health Tech by Elizabeth Armstrong Moore)

Brazil: A chip in every cow
The giant South American nation is trying to use its large cattle population to create a market for a homegrown semiconductor industry.
(Posted in Beyond Binary by Ina Fried)

Will electric cars spread like cell phones or washing machines?
Deloitte survey results show slow adoption for electric vehicles in the next few years unless consumers' concerns over cost and infrastructure can be addressed.
(Posted in Green Tech by Martin LaMonica)

Legal experts: LimeWire likely doomed
Lawyers say music industry finally has the file-sharing system on the mat, and while illegal file sharing will go on, there likely won't be any profit in it.
(Posted in Media Maverick by Greg Sandoval)

Students now get priority access to Google Voice
Just like it offered to active members of the U.S. military, Google is giving students priority access to getting a Google Voice account.
(Posted in Web Crawler by Josh Lowensohn)

Microsoft: IE6 is past its expiration date
Web developers aren't the only ones unhappy with Internet Explorer 6. A Microsoft marketing campaign urges people to upgrade.
(Posted in Deep Tech by Stephen Shankland)

The laser turns 50
On May 16, 1960, Hughes Lab researcher Theodore Maiman built the world's first laser, even as two Bell Labs researchers got the patent for the innovation.
• Images: 50 years of the laser
(Posted in Geek Gestalt by Daniel Terdiman)

Thursday, May 13

Adobe fights Apple with pro-Flash push
The next battle in the two companies' war over Flash takes the form of an Adobe publicity campaign, including its own letter propounding openness.
• Mac confab KO'd over Flash drama

Sylvania LED light takes on 60-watt bulb
LED makers are unveiling replacements for the popular 60-watt incandescent bulb that use less electricity and that could last for years and years.
• Philips offers LED bulb, too
• Lemnis ratchets up LED race

Obama keeps privacy oversight board on ice
Even though a 2007 law requires the president to appoint members of an independent privacy board "in a timely manner," he still has failed to do so despite continued pressure from Congress.
(Posted in Politics and Law by Declan McCullagh)

Google executives reflect on year at annual meeting
Little drama emerged during Google's annual stockholder meeting, with the company following its usual stump speech on the future of computing.
(Posted in Relevant Results by Tom Krazit)

RIM tablet said to be 'companion device'
A report says Research in Motion's tablet will be a device that works in conjunction with its successful line of smartphones.
(Posted in Circuit Breaker by Erica Ogg)

Report: Acer Chrome OS device ready for Computex
The Taiwanese gadget exhibition in two weeks is reported to be the site for the first Chrome OS-based device introduction.
(Posted in Circuit Breaker by Erica Ogg)

Sprint and Wal-Mart offer cheap prepaid plan
Sprint has introduced a new cheap prepaid wireless plan called Common Cents that will be sold through Wal-Mart retail stores.
• Wal-Mart tries to close gadget gap with Best Buy
(Posted in Signal Strength by Marguerite Reardon)

Shoefitr uses 3D to help buy the right kicks
New technology is helping online shoe shoppers find the perfect fit by taking 3D scans of shoes, then comparing them to the pair that user already has.
(Posted in Web Crawler by Josh Lowensohn)

Navistar eStar electric delivery trucks get rolling
Consumers may crave electric cars, but fleet operators of trucks and cars are seen as the most promising market to first use electric vehicles on a large scale.
(Posted in Green Tech by Martin LaMonica)

Cory Doctorow: Geek culture icon
q&a 45 Minutes on IM: The Boing Boing editor, sci-fi author, and all around big-time Net thinker hits on a range of topics from gold farming to NAFTA.
(Posted in Geek Gestalt by Daniel Terdiman)

Facebook confirms informal company meeting
Facebook spokesman says company is merely offering employees a forum to ask executives questions. We have a vision of how that might go.
(Posted in InSecurity Complex by Elinor Mills)

Breakthrough in tissue engineering: 'Bio-Legos'
A new technique called micromasonry uses a gel-like material to bind cell bricks together as the material hardens, enabling the formation of 3D shapes to build such things as new organs.
(Posted in Health Tech by Elizabeth Armstrong Moore)

Adobe update tests Photoshop CS5 lens correction
One of the headline features of Photoshop CS5 arrives a couple weeks after the software: the ability to automatically correct some lens problems.
(Posted in Deep Tech by Stephen Shankland)

Microsoft goes outside for Kin's Mac sync
The company announces that third-party firm Mark/Space is the developer of the promised Mac sync software for the Kin, "Kin Media Sync," which hits stores today.
(Posted in Beyond Binary by Ina Fried)

Wednesday, May 12

How secure is that software?
q&a Gary McGraw and team of security experts have assessed how well big companies develop products with security in mind.

Good data needed for home turbines to spin
Massachusetts stiffens the requirements for its wind rebate program, a sign that more accurate data is needed to find where small-scale wind power will work.
• Photos: Small-wind turbines pick up steam

Just in

RIAA wins big in LimeWire lawsuit
U.S. District court judge rules for summary judgment, finding the company behind the file-sharing program and founder Mark Gorton liable for copyright infringement.
(Posted in Media Maverick by Greg Sandoval)

Study: Facebook rises as popular phishing target
Facebook targeted by phishers more than Google, IRS, and Bank of America, Kaspersky Lab study finds.
(Posted in InSecurity Complex by Elinor Mills)

Shuttle Atlantis set for launch on final mission
The shuttle Atlantis is poised for launch Friday on its 32nd and final planned mission, a three-spacewalk flight to the International Space Station.
(Posted in The Space Shot by William Harwood)

Google adds more content to search pages
Searchers looking for specific facts will now find those answers right below the query box, increasing the amount of time they spend on Google's pages.
(Posted in Relevant Results by Tom Krazit)

HTC fires back at Apple with patent complaint
Following Apple's allegations of patent infringement, the handset maker says the iPhone, iPad, and iPod together violate five of its patents.
• SoftView files patent suit against Apple, AT&T
(Posted in Circuit Breaker by Erica Ogg)

YouTube gets useful 'unlisted' video option
New video privacy level keeps your clips from being seen by other users, or YouTube's search engine. It also makes it easier to share with non-members.
(Posted in Web Crawler by Josh Lowensohn)

RIM's strategy to stay on top in smartphones
Research In Motion, the maker of BlackBerry smartphones, is going after the mass market with efficient and cost effective devices.
(Posted in Signal Strength by Marguerite Reardon)

Hollywood backs Viacom in Google legal fight
Some of YouTube's own content partners have jumped into the copyright fray on the side of Viacom.
(Posted in Media Maverick by Greg Sandoval)

'Secret' telecom anti-Net neutrality plan isn't
The "secret plan" an advocacy group claimed that broadband providers created to thwart Net neutrality turns out to be a Florida class project.
(Posted in Politics and Law by Declan McCullagh)

Details of new Senate climate bill emerge
A summary of the bill, known as the "American Power Act," is being circulated as Sens. John Kerry and Joseph Lieberman get set to introduce it.
(Posted in Green Tech by Reuters)

Another possible iPhone 4G prototype surfaces
A Vietnamese businessman reportedly purchased an iPhone 4G while on a trip to the U.S.
• Hearing on Gizmodo iPhone warrant scheduled
(Posted in Apple by Jim Dalrymple)

Microsoft aims to sell business on Office 2010
q&a As Microsoft prepares for the corporate launch of the new Office, the head of its business division talks about moving beyond the desktop.
(Posted in Beyond Binary by Ina Fried)

Tuesday, May 11

Facebook tries to save face amid backlash
The social network releases promising numbers for publishers tapping its social plug-ins product. That probably won't do much to calm folks worried about privacy.

Firefox 4 embraces the need for speed
Better performance is high on the list of improvements planned for Firefox 4. If all goes well, the new browser should emerge by November.

Just in

TechCrunch50 start-up show canceled
Show co-founders Michael Arrington and Jason Calacanis announce they have parted ways and report the demise of the annual tech start-up conference.
(Posted in Digital Media by Steven Musil)

Project Playlist settles copyright suit with Universal
Struggling music start-up settles legal dispute with Universal Music Group and can now offer music from three of the four top music labels.
(Posted in Media Maverick by Greg Sandoval)

Mozilla CEO John Lilly to step down
The well-regarded CEO is preparing to give up his post at the open-source software foundation. A search for his replacement is under way.
(Posted in Business Tech by Kara Swisher, AllThingsD)

Verizon: We're making a tablet with Google
CEO Lowell McAdam confirms plans to the Wall Street Journal to release a tablet in partnership with Google at some point soon.
(Posted in Relevant Results by Tom Krazit)

Pixar releases vintage Lots-o-Huggin' Bear ads
As part of the marketing campaign for "Toy Story 3," the studio puts out at least two videos purporting to have been recorded off TV on a VCR.
(Posted in Geek Gestalt by Daniel Terdiman)

Report: FTC delays Google-AdMob review over iAd
Apple's recent move to announce its iAd technology for iPhones has forced the FTC to consider the effects of that move in evaluating the proposed Google-AdMob deal.
(Posted in Relevant Results by Tom Krazit)

FCC invites comment on cell phone 'bill shock'
Should wireless carriers be required to inform you when you're about to incur a hefty charge? The FCC will consider the matter.
(Posted in Relevant Results by Tom Krazit)

Yahoo turns news photos into searches
Company delivers promised search market share gain in April, but only after it starts treating photo galleries in Yahoo News as search queries.
(Posted in Relevant Results by Tom Krazit)

Microsoft releases fixes for Windows, Office holes
SharePoint vulnerability for which exploit code has been published remains unpatched.
(Posted in InSecurity Complex by Elinor Mills)

A public invitation to visit the moon
Virtually, that is. A program announced Tuesday aims to crowdsource lunar research by letting the public examine high-res images of the moon.
(Posted in Geek Gestalt by Daniel Terdiman)

Gates Foundation to fund 78 more health projects
In a fourth round of funding, the Grand Challenges Explorations grants have been awarded to 78 projects aimed at improving global health, with each project collecting $100,000.
(Posted in Health Tech by Elizabeth Armstrong Moore)

Intel CEO: 1 million PCs built, shipped daily
Intel CEO Paul Otellini talks about market growth for tablets, Netbooks, and smart TVs at the company's 2010 investor meeting.
(Posted in Nanotech - The Circuits Blog by Brooke Crothers)

Monday, May 10

Google Android zips by iPhone in the U.S.
Devices running Android account for 28 percent of units sold to U.S. consumers in the first quarter, NPD says. The iPhone falls to third, while BlackBerry is No. 1.
• Still, the iPhone's no slouch

iPad is hot on eBay, but for how long?
Some number-crunching on pricing shows that it might not be worth auctioning off the device once it's available outside of the United States.

Just in

Google reportedly looking for social-media leader
Company appears to have decided that its social-media strategy could use a new someone in charge.
(Posted in Relevant Results by Tom Krazit)

Sprint hangs up on Google's Nexus One
Sprint will not support Google's Nexus One strategy with subsidized pricing and a contract, leaving T-Mobile as the device's exclusive U.S. carrier.
(Posted in Relevant Results by Tom Krazit)

Twitter confirms awkward 'auto-follow' bug
A blog discovers a flaw in which users can force other users to follow them--and tested it out on Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and CEO Evan Williams.
(Posted in The Social by Caroline McCarthy)

AOL hires Microsoft's Alex Gounares as new CTO
Alex Gounares joins the company this week to spearhead AOL's technology strategy. AOL also names Julie Jacobs as new general counsel.
(Posted in Business Tech by Lance Whitney)

Report: Facebook to let users share their locations
Adopting the latest trend in geotagging, Facebook will soon unveil a new feature that will let users tell others where they are, according to Ad Age.
(Posted in Digital Media by Lance Whitney)

Boeing's Phantom Ray to fly in December
Looking like a boomerang with a bump in the middle, the unmanned aircraft will be a testbed for advanced systems that can cruise at more than 600 mph.
(Posted in Military Tech by Jonathan E. Skillings)

A crusader for critical infrastructure security
q&a As the electrical infrastructure and other critical industries move toward the smart grid and Internet technologies, control system expert Joe Weiss is the voice of caution.
(Posted in InSecurity Complex by Elinor Mills)

Facebook phishing scam snares board member
With negative press lately about Facebook's security and privacy policies, this was not a good time for a phishing scam to wind up in the in-boxes of Jim Breyer's Facebook friends.
(Posted in The Social by Caroline McCarthy)

Verizon leads carriers in customer satisfaction
Verizon also tops list for fewest dropped calls. Rival AT&T, meanwhile, is at the bottom of list on several accounts, says ChangeWave Research.
(Posted in Wireless by Lance Whitney)

WiGig group opens way to gigabit wireless devices
Wireless Gigabit Alliance publishes spec for 60GHz tech and teams up with Wi-Fi Alliance, paving way for wireless products that run at a higher speed.
(Posted in Wireless by Lance Whitney)

Nintendo chief: 3DS will have a 2D switch
Satoru Iwata, Nintendo's CEO, tells AP that his company's upcoming handheld gaming device will include 2D functionality, even though its real focus is 3D.
(Posted in The Digital Home by Don Reisinger)

IBM liquid-cooled supercomputer heats building
Supercomputer is designed to cut energy use by 40 percent by cooling each processor with circulating water. The waste heat is then used to warm the building.
(Posted in Green Tech by Martin LaMonica)

Sunday, May 09

Mozilla, HTML5 editor differ with Microsoft
The Web standards world and Microsoft are getting reacquainted with one another. But it's not all kumbaya around the campfire.

Can green tech operate under Moore's Law?
It's tough to match the speed of chips, but clean-energy technologies can follow a similar downward cost curve, say executives from GE and Intel.

Just in

Report: Apple developing a Flash alternative
Apple introduced the tech, called Gianduia, last summer and is already using it for retail support apps, according to AppleInsider. Could it worsen an already-tense Apple-Adobe relationship?
(Posted in Apple by Jim Dalrymple)

Researcher offers arm to knife-wielding robot
A German researcher gives a robot a few knives--as well as his own arm--to play with. A collision avoidance system he and his colleagues are testing may help prevent injury by robot.

Saturday, May 08

Five hidden dangers of Facebook (Q&A)
Joan Goodchild, senior editor of CSO Online, outlines on The Early Show big risks she thinks people should be aware they're taking when they use social network.
• Understanding Facebook's privacy aftershocks
• Protect your privacy online and elsewhere
(Posted in Security by CBS Interactive staff)

Arizona to remove its highway speed cameras
A state that has recently become a symbol of excessive surveillance decides to remove all of the speed cameras on its highways. One potential reason: people weren't paying their tickets.
(Posted in Technically Incorrect by Chris Matyszczyk)

BP suffers snag in oil containment effort
A four-story containment dome, seen as the best short-term way to stem the flow from a ruptured Gulf of Mexico oil well, gets filled with crystallized gas and has to be set aside.
• Hair, fur, pantyhose deployed to fight oil spill
(Posted in Green Tech by Reuters)

'Smart' grenade launcher heads to Afghanistan
The XM-25 makes use of features like a laser rangefinder and microchip-equipped ammo to take on targets out of reach of small arms fire.
(Posted in Military Tech by Jonathan E. Skillings)

HP Labs sees a great future in plastics
The PC maker's Information Displays Lab is working on a kind of plastic display designed to replace glass displays in the next 10 years.
• Trading glass for plastic displays (photos)
(Posted in Circuit Breaker by Erica Ogg)

DIY Weekend: Mutant four-wheeler for road, rail
New Crave series kicks off with the Hennepin Crawler, a quirky, functional four-wheel contraption made from 90 percent found parts.
(Posted in Crave by Leslie Katz)

Reports: Zynga may launch social-games network
The social gaming giant is apparently at odds with Facebook over the percentage it would have to pay to use Facebook's currency platform.
• Zynga pulls pit bulls from Mafia Wars after complaint
(Posted in Geek Gestalt by Daniel Terdiman)

Computer pioneer Palevsky grew wary of technology
Intel founding investor Max Palevsky, who died Wednesday at age 85, had doubts later in life about the impact of personal computers on society.
(Posted in Nanotech - The Circuits Blog by Brooke Crothers)

Google scraps plug-in, refashions 3D Web plan
Google's O3D plug-in is officially over. Instead, the company is rebuilding it as a higher-level add-on to the WebGL effort for 3D Web graphics.
(Posted in Deep Tech by Stephen Shankland)

AOL hires Microsoft's Alex Gounares as CTO
Sources say Gounare's departure was announced internally Friday at Microsoft, where he was CTO for the Online Services division.
(Posted in Digital Media by Kara Swisher, AllThingsD)

Friday, May 07

Comcast: FCC plan would open a 'scary' door
Comcast's Joe Waz takes aim at the FCC's Net neutrality plan, saying it could eventually subject the Internet to a "heavy burden of regulation."
• FAQ: The FCC's plan

Clearwire chief sees bright 4G future
q&a CEO Bill Morrow talks about what wireless customers want, how WiMax stacks up against LTE, and why he's not worried about Verizon's buildout.

Just in

Reports: Zynga may launch social-games network
The social gaming giant is apparently at odds with Facebook over the percentage it would have to pay to use Facebook's currency platform.
• Zynga pulls pit bulls from Mafia Wars
(Posted in Geek Gestalt by Daniel Terdiman)

Computer pioneer Palevsky grew wary of technology
Intel founding investor Max Palevsky, who died Wednesday at age 85, had doubts later in life about the impact of personal computers on society.
(Posted in Nanotech - The Circuits Blog by Brooke Crothers)

Google scraps plug-in, refashions 3D Web plan
Google's O3D plug-in is officially over. Instead, the company is rebuilding it as a higher-level add-on to the WebGL effort for 3D Web graphics.
(Posted in Deep Tech by Stephen Shankland)

AOL hires Microsoft's Alex Gounares as CTO
Sources say Gounare's departure was announced internally Friday at Microsoft, where he was CTO for the Online Services division.
(Posted in Digital Media by Kara Swisher, AllThingsD)

Cape Wind finds buyer for offshore wind power
The controversial Cape Wind offshore wind project off Massachusetts' Cape Cod secures a power purchase agreement with utility National Grid for half of its electricity.
(Posted in Green Tech by Martin LaMonica)

Microsoft makes cool stills from lousy video
At Microsoft's TechFair this week, researchers show how a surprisingly sharp panorama can be created from a rather wobbly video image.
• Images: Turning video clips to still images
(Posted in Beyond Binary by Ina Fried)

Borders taking preorders on $150 Kobo eReader
Hoping to gain a foothold in the nascent e-reader arena, Borders is selling the relatively inexpensive Kobo. It ships June 17.
(Posted in Crave by David Carnoy)

New version of Yahoo IM worm hits Skype too
Worm targets Windows users on Skype and Yahoo IM, injects malicious links in e-mail, Word, and Excel files, and automatically copies itself to USB drives, Bkis says.
(Posted in InSecurity Complex by Elinor Mills)

Warner Bros. expands DVD-to-Blu-ray program
Studio expanding a program that lets people swap their DVD films for Blu-ray versions, for a fee starting at $4.95 per title.
(Posted in The Digital Home by Don Reisinger)

Dual-core Intel Netbook chip due by June
Netbooks will move away from single-core Atom processors, which provide good battery life but lack the performance of multicore chips.
(Posted in Nanotech - The Circuits Blog by Brooke Crothers)

Hands-on with Microsoft's translating telephone
CNET's Ina Fried tries out prototype that uses speech recognition and machine translation to let people who don't speak the same language talk to one another.
(Posted in Beyond Binary by Ina Fried)

Thursday, May 06

FCC has Net neutrality plan for broadband
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski will announce a "third way" to regulate broadband providers on Thursday, responding to a recent appeals court decision denying the agency regulatory authority.

Printing a solar cell on paper
Researchers at MIT are experimenting with nanomaterials for solar cells that can be coated onto paper and other flexible substrates.
• Photos: Going nano to go solar

Just in

Report: UC Davis ending Gmail pilot program
Concerns about privacy and security--apparently fueled by the Google Buzz launch disaster--have derailed a Gmail pilot program at Calif. university.
(Posted in Relevant Results by Tom Krazit)

Clearwire adds subscribers as losses mount
It is still losing money, but the company is growing subscribers and revenue, as it continues to build its 4G wireless broadband network across the country.
• Clearwire expands 4G but major cities still left out
(Posted in Signal Strength by Marguerite Reardon)

Wednesday, May 05

Court fight brews over unsealing iPhone records
Judge expected to hear arguments Thursday on whether CNET and other media groups will have access to docs about search of a Gizmodo editor's home.
(Posted in Apple by Greg Sandoval)

Google spends over $250 million on start-ups in quarter
Google spent $268 million on companies during the first quarter of the year, with another potential $750 million deal still pending.
(Posted in Relevant Results by Tom Krazit)

Mozilla's 'Lorentz,' 'Lanikai' edge closer to release
Company introduces its Firefox 3.6.4 beta 3 Web browser and its Thunderbird 3.1 beta 2 e-mail program, respectively code-named Lorentz and Lanikai.
(Posted in The Download Blog by Seth Rosenblatt)

Adobe's Apple tiff won't prevent HTML5 support
At Web 2.0 Expo, CTO Kevin Lynch pledges to build developer tools for HTML5 and gets in a few shots at Apple's policy regarding Flash.
• Video: Adobe CTO responds to dispute with Apple
• Photos: Scenes from Web 2.0 Expo
(Posted in Relevant Results by Tom Krazit)

Privacy bug causes Facebook to disable chat
After video shows a profile-preview feature could expose users' private chats and friend lists, company calls it a temporary bug that was swiftly fixed.
• Facebook users reveal risky details
(Posted in The Social by Caroline McCarthy)

MIT Museum captures Polaroid treasures
The museum gets a donated archive covering 70 years of Polaroid history--every make and model of commercially produced Polaroid camera, plus ephemera and much more.
(Posted in Crave by Leslie Katz)

Former Microsoft exec Veghte headed to HP
Longtime Microsoft executive Bill Veghte will head the computer maker's software unit.
• Top Microsoft coder heads to Google
(Posted in Beyond Binary by Ina Fried)

Facebook to open engineering office in Seattle
The company has also enlisted iLike co-founder Hadi Partovi, who is based in Seattle, to help recruit a team of engineers.
(Posted in The Social by Caroline McCarthy)

ARM: Smartbooks stalled by Flash issues
ARM's hope to get in on the expected smartbook trend has been thwarted by delays in Flash optimization, a lower-than-expected uptake of Linux on Netbooks, and the emergence of tablets.
(Posted in Business Tech by David Meyer)

Texas to be U.S. transportation testing ground
IBM to test telematics and analytics to track and manage traffic, accidents, and highway construction in the Lone Star State.
(Posted in Cutting Edge by Candace Lombardi)

Tuesday, May 04

How CrowdFlower grew from a love of Go
q&a CEO Luke Biewald chats with CNET about Haiti, social apps, and building a business on the principles of an ancient game.

Google to start book sales this summer
Google Editions will go live in June or July as the Web giant awaits a resolution to its settlement over out-of-print books.

Just in

Microsoft launches 'Spindex' social aggregator
Pulling Facebook, Twitter, Evernote, and other media-sharing services into one place, the service is currently in a limited private beta.
(Posted in The Social by Caroline McCarthy)

T-Mobile considers 4G network partnership
Mobile phone carrier is considering partnering with a private equity firm that is building a 4G wireless network using LTE technology.
(Posted in Signal Strength by Marguerite Reardon)

William Shatner, tech mogul?
The actor's decade-long gig as the pitchman for Priceline.com may have made him wealthier than "Star Trek" ever did.
(Posted in The Social by Caroline McCarthy)

Chrome beta catches up to developer's build
Latest update to beta version of Google's browser brings it up to speed with more experimental developer's version and includes new features.
(Posted in The Download Blog by Seth Rosenblatt)

RealNetworks launches social-game platform
Fusion will enable gamers to keep track of scores, achievements, and friends while they play, while giving developers a way to track what players are up to.
(Posted in Web Crawler by Josh Lowensohn)

YouTube will let some users charge for rentals
Partners in YouTube's existing revenue-sharing program will soon be able to use an automated tool to charge for rentals.
(Posted in The Social by Caroline McCarthy)

GM Chevy Volt to feature 'Mountain' mode
The gas engine of the Volt will strain getting up the steepest of grades, so GM added a way to store an extra charge for a power boost.
(Posted in Green Tech by Martin LaMonica)

Getting robots to do the laundry and the dishes
Willow Garage is offering 11 research groups use of robots with an open-source platform to push personal general-use robotics rapidly forward.
(Posted in Geek Gestalt by Daniel Terdiman)

How Go shaped a crowdsourcing business career
q&a 45 Minutes on IM: CrowdFlower CEO Luke Biewald talked with CNET about Haiti, building a business on principles of the ancient Chinese game and more.
(Posted in Geek Gestalt by Daniel Terdiman)

Microsoft hitting 'unsubscribe' on newsgroups
Starting next month, the software maker will phase out support for the older discussion hubs, pointing users instead to its various Web-based forums.
(Posted in Beyond Binary by Ina Fried)

Washington to award $1 million in tech challenge
Department of Commerce launches "i6 Challenge," offering up to $1 million to each of six winning teams with best ideas to commercialize technology.
(Posted in Cutting Edge by Lance Whitney)

Sophos sells majority stake to investors
Venture capitalists Apax Partners pick up a 70 percent share in the security company in a deal worth $580 million.
(Posted in Security by Tom Espiner)

Monday, May 03

Apple iPad: CNET's resource guide
special coverage Our reporters and reviewers keep you fully up-to-speed on what's new and what's what with the tablet, as the 3G version gets into consumers' hands

Oil spill responders employ latest tech
Cleanup from oil spills is largely a low-tech field, but there are an increasing number of new technologies being used in the Deepwater Horizon disaster.
• Photos: Oil spill in the Gulf

Just in

Pirate Bay sees 'Iron Man 2' ahead of U.S. debut
Overseas release apparently leads to a host of camcording, and now scores of pirated copies are available online.
(Posted in Media Maverick by Greg Sandoval)

Sunday, May 02

OPower looks to add human touch to smart grid
Your neighbors and lots of data crunching can help you cut home energy bills, says start-up, which is releasing software for smart-grid programs that nudge consumers toward efficiency.
(Posted in Green Tech by Martin LaMonica)

Google acquires 3D desktop BumpTop
Bump's BumpTop desktop replacement freeware runs on top of Windows and Mac OS X, creating a three-dimensional work environment.
(Posted in Digital Media by Steven Musil)

Hawking: Time travel will happen
In his new documentary, Stephen Hawking offers the view that humans will be able to travel millions of years ahead of their own time.
(Posted in Technically Incorrect by Chris Matyszczyk)

Stolen Facebook accounts for sale
Thefts in which pilfered and bogus Facebook accounts are sold in bulk--the more the friends, the higher the price--is spreading in the United States.
(From The New York Times)

Obama to visit scene of Gulf oil spill
President over the weekend will visit the Gulf Coast to back efforts to clean up and contain of one of the worst oil spills in U.S. history.
• Gulf Coast oil spill responders employ latest tech
• Photos: Oil spill in the Gulf
(Posted in Green Tech by Reuters)

iPad 3G: Examining the differences
CNET's Donald Bell takes a closer look at some of the small details and differences that make the iPad 3G unique.
• Apple iPad: CNET's resource guide
(Posted in iPad Atlas by Donald Bell)

Facebook revamps events feature
Just in time for spring outings, social network launches tweak meant to make it even easier to invite friends to impromptu get-togethers.
(Posted in Digital Media by Michelle Meyers)

Activist groups launch new Facebook privacy offensive
MoveOn.org and the Electronic Frontier Foundation are both campaigning against new modifications at Facebook that once again change the policies that govern users' privacy.
(Posted in The Social by Caroline McCarthy)

Shoppers who can't have secrets
Sophisticated new techniques for consumer surveillance and data collection far outpace personal data protections.
(From The New York Times)

Top-rated reviews of the week (photos)
Here are a few of CNET Reviews' favorite items from the past week, including the Apple MacBook Pro Spring 2010, Samsung PX2370, and the 2010 Nissan 370Z.
• This week in Crave: The May Day edition

Jury convicts Palin e-mail hacker on two counts
Tennessee jury convicts 22-year-old son of a Democratic politician of hacking into Sarah Palin's Yahoo e-mail account when she was a U.S. vice presidential candidate.
Posted in Politics and Law by Declan McCullagh)

Saturday, May 01

Patent fights could change Android pitch
A big selling point for Google's Android software is that it's free. But with Apple's and Microsoft's patent moves against HTC, that might be changing.
• Microsoft claims Android steps on its patents

Cape Wind gets feds' OK for offshore project
Interior Secretary Kenneth Salazar gives the go-ahead for controversial Cape Wind project to be first offshore wind farm in the U.S.

Just in

iPad 3G: Examining the differences
CNET's Donald Bell takes a closer look at some of the small details and differences that make the iPad 3G unique.
• Apple iPad: CNET's resource guide
(Posted in iPad Atlas by Donald Bell)

Obama to visit scene of Gulf oil spill
President over the weekend will visit the Gulf Coast to back efforts to clean up and contain of one of the worst oil spills in U.S. history.
• Gulf Coast oil spill responders employ latest tech
• Photos: Oil spill in the Gulf
(Posted in Green Tech by Reuters)

Facebook revamps events feature
Just in time for spring outings, social network launches tweak meant to make it even easier to invite friends to impromptu get-togethers.
(Posted in Digital Media by Michelle Meyers)

Activist groups launch new Facebook privacy offensive
MoveOn.org and the Electronic Frontier Foundation are both campaigning against new modifications at Facebook that once again change the policies that govern users' privacy.
(Posted in The Social by Caroline McCarthy)

Top-rated reviews of the week (photos)
Here are a few of CNET Reviews' favorite items from the past week, including the Apple MacBook Pro Spring 2010, Samsung PX2370, and the 2010 Nissan 370Z.
• This week in Crave: The May Day edition

Chinese rules said to threaten proprietary information
A concern is that the rules would permit key foreign technologies to leak to Chinese competitors who are seeking to build a technology industry on a par with the West.
(From The New York Times)

Jury convicts Palin e-mail hacker on two counts
Tennessee jury convicts 22-year-old son of a Democratic politician of hacking into Sarah Palin's Yahoo e-mail account when she was a U.S. vice presidential candidate.
(Posted in Politics and Law by Declan McCullagh)

Free Android phones coming to Adobe employees
Adobe employees will be encouraged to use Android as the company plans to give away phones around the time of Google's I/O conference.
(Posted in Wireless by Tom Krazit)

Microsoft exec touts Windows 7's strength
In interview, Windows VP Tami Reller says there is strong consumer and business demand for Windows 7 and says that Microsoft is finally gaining on Apple.
(Posted in Beyond Binary by Ina Fried)

Patent challenge looming for open-source codecs?
An e-mail from Apple CEO Steve Jobs, if authentic, could be the start of a patent offensive against open-source video codecs such as Ogg Theora.
(Posted in Relevant Results by Tom Krazit)

Family disputes Verizon's $18,000 bill
A Massachusetts family is still fighting over the huge bill, allegedly caused by their son connecting to the Web on his phone four years ago.
(Posted in Technically Incorrect by Chris Matyszczyk)

RIM replaces Motorola as top-tier phone maker
BlackBerry maker Research In Motion beats Motorola out of a spot as one of the world's top five handset makers for the first quarter of 2010.
(Posted in Signal Strength by Marguerite Reardon)