comparison

Three great alternatives to the Big Three browsers

Browser upgrades are all the rage this month: Google Chrome is now at version 10, Internet Explorer 9 was released last week, and this week Firefox 4 joins the upgrade parade.

Anyone who uses one or all of the three most popular browsers is almost certain to upgrade to the new releases. While there are plenty of good reasons why IE, Firefox, and Chrome are the browser leaders, they may not be the best choice for your needs. The three lesser-known browsers described below show that our surfing options have never been richer.

The browser that invites you to go … Read more

AT&T and T-Mobile: By the numbers

AT&T and T-Mobile rocked the United States this morning with merger plans that would make T-Mobile USA part of AT&T's empire. (That's assuming the buyout receives regulatory approval; until then, it's business as usual at T-Mobile for now.)

Both T-Mobile and AT&T have a claim to fame in recent smartphone history. AT&T was first to get the Apple iPhone, in an exclusive two-year deal no less, but it was T-Mobile that first got the Android ball rolling with the T-Mobile G1.

CNET will have much more news and analysis … Read more

MacBook Pro vs. MacBook Air vs. white MacBook: Which 13-inch Apple laptop should you buy?

Update (7/25/2011): the white MacBook has been discontinued and new MacBook Airs have been released. Read our new side-by-side 13-inch comparison and purchasing advice here.

In contrast to the dozens of models offered by some Windows vendors, Apple's streamlined product line can be liberating for those who want an easier time deciding what computer to buy. That said, Apple does offer no fewer than three different models of 13-inch laptop: the white "classic" MacBook, the MacBook Air, and the MacBook Pro. Two of those--the Air and the Pro--come in two different stock configurations (with additional … Read more

9 free shopping apps for iOS, Android, and more

Whether you relish in the holiday shopping season or dread it, your smartphone can be an instrumental tool for finding and purchasing gifts for your loved ones. A useful app (or two) can go a long way toward saving you time and money. Many of them even integrate bar code scanners these days, so all you need to do to comparison shop is take a quick pic of a product's packaging.

In the gallery below, you'll find a selection of apps for devices running iOS, Android, and BlackBerry--all free, of course. Sadly, though Windows Phone 7 does have … Read more

Bargain-hunt with Window Shopper browser add-on

Like it or not, the holiday shopping season is upon us. Luckily for those of us who dread the thought of wandering through crowded malls and department stores with Christmas music assaulting our ears at every turn, this nifty little tool called the Internet is here to help save our sanity. Still, scouring dozens of Web sites for the very best deal on that perfect gift is exhausting on a whole 'nother level. To that end, Superfish--a visual search engine developer that just raised $4 million in funding--has created a nifty app called Window Shopper.

Window Shopper is a … Read more

Is comparing iOS and console game totals fair?

Earlier today The Unofficial Apple Weblog posted a story comparing the number of games available for the iOS platform to the total amount of console games made in the last 25 years. To the surprise of no one, TUAW concluded that there are roughly three times as many iOS games than consoles titles. The comparison was done to demonstrate the "staggering size" of iOS' game library, but we're not sure the assessment is entirely fair.

The post has since been updated twice (as of 6 p.m. ET) with the author responding to user comments, exploring the … Read more

Comparatively easy

Trying to identify the differences between two text documents full of hundreds of lines of code can be time-consuming and frustrating. Fortunately, there are utilities that can do this work for you, making document comparison both faster and more accurate. AptDiff is an easy-to-use program that can compare both text and binary files and easily identify differences.

The program's interface is plain and intuitive. When AptDiff is opened, a dialog box appears asking users to select the two files that they want to compare. Users simply choose the desired files, and AptDiff will display a side-by-side or top-bottom comparison, … Read more

Ultimate Defrag maximizes your disk-management options

It makes sense that having the files you access most often closest to your hard drive's read-write head will improve your system's performance. Unfortunately, programs tend to store files in various noncontiguous clusters spread across your drive (and occasionally other storage media).

To open or otherwise access a single file, Windows or one of your applications may have to retrieve data from several drive clusters. That's why you need to defragment your hard drive regularly to prevent your system from bogging down.

Windows Vista and Windows 7 claim to defragment your hard disk automatically in the background. … Read more

Microsoft Kinect vs. PlayStation Move: The basics

Both Microsoft and Sony finally showed their respective motion-controlling hands earlier this week at E3 2010. Of course, we'll have full reviews of these products as their release dates approach, but first we're comparing their basic specifications head to head. Here's how they stack up: