clone

The Force is strong with 'Clone Wars' writer

Every job has its advantages and its disadvantages, but Christian Taylor's may have one of the best perks around: regular creative meetings with George Lucas.

You may not know who Taylor is, but if you've got kids who watch TV, they almost certainly know his work. He's the head writer on the "Clone Wars," the animated series that picks up the "Star Wars" universe where the movies leave off.

After previous stints writing for shows as diverse as "Lost" and "Six Feet Under," Taylor began writing three years ago … Read more

Report: Stolen data sold over online black market

Cybercriminals buy and sell stolen information using a vast network of online stores, forums, and even social-networking accounts, according to a report released yesterday by PandaLabs.

Posing as a cybercriminal to gain access to this online black market, PandaLabs researchers uncovered a world where the bad guys work together to buy and sell stolen bank account information, credit card numbers, passwords, and other products. Much of this illegal enterprise is done through online stores and forums, but PandaLabs found criminals using Facebook and Twitter accounts to set up shop as well.

Though this black market is relatively open, the security … Read more

Scientist says he can clone long-extinct mammoth

A Japanese scientist says he has a "reasonable chance" of successfully cloning the long-extinct woolly mammoth within just a few years, according to a report.

Professor Akira Iritani of Kyoto University told the U.K.'s Telegraph that a technique pioneered in 2008, which allowed for the cloning of a mouse using cells from another mouse that had been frozen for 16 years, could be used to resurrect the famous long-tusked mammal from remains found in Siberia's permafrost.

"The success rate in the cloning of cattle was poor until recently, but now stands at about 30 … Read more

Survey: People can't live without high-speed Internet

High-speed Internet is the technology that's had the greatest impact on society and the one that people say they can't live without, according to survey results from Zogby Interactive.

Released this week, Zogby's study found that 28 percent of those polled tagged broadband Internet as the one technology they can't live without; e-mail came in second at 18 percent. Facebook was lower on the overall list at only 3 percent, but among the younger crowd (18-24), 15 percent said they can't live without Facebook.

Looking at technologies that have had the greatest impact on society … Read more

Another Otterbox competitor: Gumdrop Drop Series for iPhone 4

The success of Otterbox's Defender cases has a lot of smartphone accessory manufacturers scurrying to go rugged. The latest rival to say it's taking Otterbox on at its own game is Grumdrop, with the freshly announced Drop Series, "made to withstand gnarly falls and still leave the iPhone 4 as handsome as ever."

While the case certainly looks tough and has several layers of protection, what's amusing is that Gumdrop has included the Otterbox name in the Web site address for its new Otterbox case competitor. We assume that's for SEO (search-engine optimization) purposes, … Read more

Acronis True Image Home Edition backs up your system with confidence

Freeware's cool, but some programs are worth paying for. Antivirus, graphics, and accounting tools justify their cost if they outperform their free competitors, but for our money, nothing beats top-quality backup software. And for our system, nothing provides the level of security, total restoration capability, and confidence like Acronis True Image Home Edition. Acronis automatically creates full, incremental, and custom backups; remote backups; and even optional Internet-based backups with file synchronization features. It also includes a variety of tools for cleaning disks and shredding files, creating bootable media and secure partitions, backing up settings, adding and cloning disks, sandboxing … Read more

Migration options for OS X

When you purchase a new Mac and are ready to migrate your data, applications, and user accounts to it, Apple has its Migration Assistant that should work just fine for most people; however, sometimes you can run into problems with the Migration Assistant, so there are several other options that can also do the job.… Read more

Gadgettes 182: The Your Mother Deserves Better Episode (podcast)

In honor of that mom in your life this Mother's Day, we beg of you: Don't get her THAT! Actually show her how awesome she is by getting her something she'll actually enjoy. But not THAT!

Subscribe with iTunes (audio) Subscribe with iTunes (video) Subscribe with RSS (audio) Subscribe with RSS (video) EPISODE 182

iPad: yay or nay?

Steve Jobs’ big New York Times letdown

iPad Clone Wars: China Unveils Android-based iPad knockoff

Oh god, not another digital picture frame for Mother’s Day

ATAT strollerRead more

Capable image editor

We've tested a lot of image editors lately, and most have been pretty disappointing, so we weren't expecting much from AKVIS MultiBrush. But we're happy to report that this program exceeded our expectations on a variety of levels.

AKVIS MultiBrush has a sleek user interface that is extremely straightforward and seems perfect for novice users. Five navigational commands run across the top of the window; these allow you to open new images, save, print, and undo and redo actions. A simple toolbox resides on the left side of the window, and hovering your mouse over each tool … Read more

Psystar closes up shop...or does it?

Last one out at Psystar, turn off the lights.

After being ordered by a federal judge on Tuesday to stop selling its Mac clones, Psystar was reported to be going out of business, according to a Dow Jones Newswires story on Thursday. Psystar's Web site was also inaccessible late this week.

Psystar attorney Eugene Action told Dow Jones that founder and President Rudy Pedraza will be "shutting things down immediately," and that all eight employees will be let go. However, Computerworld reported Friday that another attorney for Psystar, K.A.D. Camara, of the Houston, Texas, firm … Read more