wanted

Rumor Has It: iPad Mini launching in October? (video)

June was cruel to the iPad, which saw its tablet competition grow fearsome.

Microsoft showed off its Surface tablet, which is aimed squarely at stealing iPad lovers away with the lure of its keyboard case (though without pricing, launch date, or any real details, it's hard to know if the iPad has anything to fear). Not to be left behind, Google took the wraps off its much-rumored and ballyhooed 7-inch Nexus Tablet. All that excitement was enough to wake the dead; in this case, it reanimated the iPad Mini rumor, which had been laid to rest.

Not anymore! Analysts … Read more

Cloud games mean sweet streams for Sony

Don't care how, just watch Monday's Update now:

The future PlayStation experience could involve streaming your video games. Sony is buying the cloud-based game provider Gaikai for $380 million in shares. Gaikai lets you stream games like Mass Effect 3 with just an Internet connection. No downloading. No discs. Gaikai began working with Samsung and LG to bring video games to Smart TVs. This acquistion could cause a few ripple effects in the gaming industry, not to mention we could be seeing streaming as an option for a future Playstation device. It could even expand the Playstation footprint … Read more

MTV and the 'day' the music died

Launched on August 1, 1981, with the Buggles' "Video Killed the Radio Star," MTV had a huge impact on 1980s pop culture.

Before MTV arrived, music programming was mostly limited to bands playing a song or two on the late-night talk shows or "Saturday Night Live." Amazingly enough, most big cities' cable providers weren't on board for the MTV launch; NYC and LA didn't offer the network until 1982. MTV's "I want my MTV!" ad campaigns helped rectify the situation, but MTV's initial rise was painfully slow. The network went … Read more

The 40 most anticipated games of 2011

It's that time of the year again: a chance to look ahead at games we're really starting to get excited about.

Only 13 games on our list are completely unique franchises, whereas the rest are sequels, prequels, and reboots. Whether you consider that a good or bad thing, publishers are clearly looking to play it safe in 2011. Not surprisingly, a few stragglers from 2010's list appear again in our 2011 collection, and we'd be shocked if all 40 listed here actually see the light of day before 2012.

All things considered, we think 2011 will … Read more

30 best iPad games

Editors' note: This post was updated March 26, 2013, with five new games.

Wondering which games to buy for your iPad? Well, we've taken our best shot at putting together a list of top titles that we feel meet the criteria for a good iPad game.

And just what does make a good iPad game? We debated it for a while and narrowed it down to these five factors:

It's gotta be fun (obviously). Ergonomics (Are the gameplay and control scheme well-suited to the iPad?) Uniqueness (Though many iPad games play well as upconverted, higher-resolution versions of their iPhone predecessors, we respect new, iPad-exclusive games.) Value (Some of the best iPad games currently carry high price tags, but we also tried to include titles we thought were simply a good value.) Showoff quotient (Extra points if the game flat-out looks good, or makes efficient use of the Retina display.)

… Read more

iPhone 4G: 25 most-wanted features

The day the iPhone 3GS launched, I wrote a column entitled "364 days and counting to iPhone 4G." Since then, thanks to Google, I've gotten a lot of e-mails from folks wondering just when the fourth-generation iPhone will come out, whether other carriers besides AT&T will offer it, whether it will actually work on 4G networks, and just what features it might have.

Until I hear otherwise, I'm sticking to my guns and saying the iPhone 4G--or whatever Apple chooses to call its next iPhone--will arrive almost a year to the day from when … Read more

Inside CNET Labs Podcast 66: No one wants to raid with that guy!

What effects do Facebook, other social networking sites, and today's media on have on young people? We have no idea. Neither of us have been young for a very long time. I think we think we know and like always, we're not afraid to discuss it.

Dong goes in for a job interview. Did I say job interview? I meant guild interview. Dong is evaluated and dehumanized in his attempt to join a new World of Warcraft guild.

Dong and I talk more about Windows 7. Dong spouts his first impressions--kinda weird, seeing as he's been using … Read more

The Kindle 2 has enough features, for some

With the launch of the Amazon Kindle 2 and its text-to-speech feature, a broader range of reading materials would now be available to the 15 million Americans represented by The Reading Rights Coalition, a group which defends the rights of those who cannot read printed words because of blindness, dyslexia, spinal cord injury, or other disabilities. However, The Authors Guild is looking add a hoop or two for people with print disabilities to jump through .

As previously written by my colleague Greg Sandoval, "the retailer, which makes the popular Kindle electronic-book reader, announced late Friday that the company is modifying systems to allow authors and publishers to decide whether to enable Kindle's text-to-speech function on a per-title basis."

According to The Reading Rights Coalition: "The Guild has told them that in order to read their books with text-to-speech they must either submit to a burdensome special registration system and prove their disabilities--or pay extra. The Guild's position is contrary to the principle of equal opportunity for all and discriminates against millions of people with print disabilities. The Guild's position is outrageous and discriminates against the millions of people with print disabilities who are eager to be their readers and customers."… Read more

Fake tauntaun sleeping bag just might come to life!

That tauntaun sleeping bag that was all over the Internet on April Fools' Day just might go from being a geek dad's dream to being a real product. Think Geek has updated the fake product listing page with this information:

ATTN Tauntaun Fanatics! Due to an overwhelming tsunami of requests from YOU THE PEOPLE, we have decided to TRY and bring this to life. We have no clue if the suits at Lucasfilms will grant little ThinkGeek a license, nor do we know how much it would ultimately retail for. But if you are interested in ever owning one … Read more