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Boeing today announced the 787-10 Dreamliner, the third (and longest) plane in the often-troubled 787 family, and an aircraft that the aviation giant said will be the most fuel-efficient in the industry.

The unveiling was timed to the Paris Air Show, which is being held this week in Le Bourget, France. That show is the aviation industry's biggest event of the year, with many companies working hard to make sure their latest projects can be announced, or shown, there. Boeing's chief rival, Airbus, made its long-awaited first flight of the A350 XWB on Friday to ensure that that … Read more

For airplane enthusiasts, there's nothing quite like a first flight.

And for fans of Airbus' A350 XWB, this meant that Friday morning provided one of the best treats of all.

With thousands on hand near the Airbus headquarters in Blagnac, France (just outside Toulouse), its next-generation A350 XWB took off on its first flight this morning.

The A350 XWB is Airbus' response to three planes from archrival Boeing: the troubled but still popular 787 Dreamliner, as well as the 777 and 777-X. The new Airbus was designed to be one of the most fuel-efficient planes ever, thanks largely to … Read more

Airbus has confirmed that the A350 XWB will make its first flight Friday, a milestone that marks perhaps the last highly touted inaugural flight for years to come.

Over the last 10 years, aviation enthusiasts have been treated to a series of exciting first flights, from Airbus' A380 to Boeing's 787 Dreamliner and 747-8 Intercontinental. But with no other game-changing airplanes set to be launched in the next five years or more, the A350's first flight could be it for a while.

There has been significant speculation in recent weeks that the plane would take flight in time … Read more

Efficient Sticky Notes has been a go-to recommendation for a free sticky notes app, but shareware upgrades are available: Efficient Sticky Notes Pro and Efficient Sticky Notes Pro Portable. They're basically identical, including their modest price, except the portable version can run from a USB drive, and all its "stuff" is inside its program folder instead of roaming throughout Windows. Both versions of Efficient Sticky Notes Pro do everything the free version does and more, including the ability to add attachments to notes. We tried Efficient Sticky Notes Pro Portable Edition in Windows 7.

Instead of skipping … Read more

Lexus injected its brand, which had taken the place of Cadillac among AARP members, with a little excitement when it introduced the LFA and the IS-F. While those models have legitimate sport cred, the F-Sport line of cars, exemplified here by the 2013 Lexus RX 350 F Sport, comes off as much less convincing.

In colloquial terms, F Sport is all hat and no cattle.

On its own, the Lexus RX 350 works as a solid luxury SUV. Seating for five, flexible cargo space, and an easy driving character have made it a strong seller for Lexus, and a success … Read more

Staying on top of appointments, to-do lists, and other items can be a chore, but Efficient Calendar offers a way to track your daily, weekly, or annual events in one easy-to-use package. While it doesn't offer email integration like Microsoft Outlook, it serves very nicely as a standalone calendar.

The interface is packed with information and options, but the main functions are neatly organized along the left side, allowing quick access to the calendar, events, and tasks. We found it very easy to add events and tasks with Efficient Calendar. A small window pops up for both with pull-down … Read more

With Boeing's 787 Dreamliner reeling from recent and well-publicized setbacks, the commercial airline industry is no doubt eagerly awaiting the first flight of Airbus' next new airplane, the A350 XWB.

Although Airbus isn't saying when it will unveil the all-new A350 XWB (the XWB stands for "extra-wide body"), there is plenty of speculation that those attending this summer's Paris Air Show will get to see the plane in flight.

This would be big news for a number of airlines, who no doubt are wondering if they can afford to tie themselves to the Dreamliner, given … Read more

The latest release of ES-Computing's EditPlus, version 3.5, adds improved support for high DPI displays as well as Windows 8 compatibility to a long-running and well-regarded text, HTML, Java, and PHP editor that also offers syntax highlighting, integrated Web browsing, code folding, auto-completion, and much more. EditPlus is shareware that is free to try for 30 days with a nag screen.

The EditPlus installer offers more options than most software, whatever the type, including three different installation directories and context menu association. When we first ran the program, we selected the Evaluate button to start our 30-day trial. … Read more

Every day this week, a different CNET writer or editor is recalling a tech or geek-centric present that left a mark. Read past stories by Eric Mack, Jeff Sparkman, Jay Greene, and Dan Ackerman, and look for another installment tomorrow at midnight PT.

On a chilly autumn day in 1997, I came home from school to find that my mom had a brand-new IBM PC 350 in her office. It was an astonishing computer, especially considering our previous machine was a DOS/Windows 3.1 slowpoke that could barely run Wolfenstein 3D.

For its time, the PC 350 had it all -- a screaming Pentium 133MHz processor, a 1.6GB hard drive, 64MB of RAM, and 4MB of video memory. Though my mom bought it for the household and not for me exclusively, it was the best tech gift I ever got, as it truly turned me into a geek and gamer (and therefore the person I am today). … Read more