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Volvo XC60 makes collision prevention standard

If the 2013 Volvo XC60 is any indication, the Swedish automaker's first five years under the thumb of the Chinese company Geely has not changed a thing where it comes to product. The XC60, a midsize SUV, retains the styling and technology course began under previous owner Ford.

Both owners have let Volvo be Volvo, which means building premium-quality, safety-conscious vehicles.

The exit of Ford may, however, have caused the stagnation of Volvo's cabin electronics, which have not progressed much in the last five years. Although the XC60 does a solid job with the basics, such as navigation … Read more

The classic game of Connect 4 in a portable, friend-matching wrap

If mobile phones have done anything well, it's pitting friends and family members against each other in cross-country bouts of word games and chess. Four in a Row Vs Friends is the newest entry into the growing genre, bringing the classic Connect 4 game into the digital space with digital friend-matching and wireless synced games. The game is as intuitive as you likely remember, requiring you to drop checkers into one of seven slots, blocking your opponent as you attempt to match four of your own tokens and win. The game installs quickly and easily and, after registration, you'… Read more

Want a TV now-ish? Get the Panasonic ST50 rather than waiting on the ST60

I can't tell you how many times last year I told people, "Just get the Panasonic ST50 plasma." A lot. More times than I shaved, surely.

Turns out I'll be saying it a lot at the beginning of this year, too, at least until the TV sells out.

One of the most important products announced at CES 2013, at least as far as I'm concerned, was its direct successor, the Panasonic ST60 series. So with the ST50 still available for sale and the ST60 launching in March or April, the natural question is whether to … Read more

Will Panasonic ST60 outdo our favorite 2012 TV?

LAS VEGAS -- Last year, if someone asked for a recommendation on which TV to buy the discussion usually started and ended with the excellent Panasonic ST50. This year the ST60 again looks like that TV.

Panasonic reps told me that the ST60 has a few picture quality improvements over the ST50, namely a slightly better screen filter, but I took that to mean the two would perform basically the same. That's not a bad thing; the ST50 was one of the best-performing TVs of the year, despite a modest price.

Speaking of price, Panasonic is already taking pre-orders … Read more

Panasonic's E series LCDs are feature-rich

LAS VEGAS--In 2013, Panasonic is releasing its largest line of LCDs yet, with seven different series to choose from. While the WT60 and DT60 sit at the high end, it's the three types of E series that make up the bulk of the company's offering.

The three E series include the 50-inch and 60-inch ET60; the E60 in four sizes (42-, 50-, 58-, and 65-inch screens); and the entry-level EM60 at 39 inches and 50 inches.

Unusually for Panasonic, the ET60 and E60 are blessed with an embarrassment of feature riches. The most "gadgety" addition is … Read more

Ideo's David Kelley talks design, Steve Jobs

Meet one of the most innovative thinkers of our time. He is a man who has had an enormous impact on our everyday lives.

David Kelley is the founder of the Silicon Valley global design firm Ideo. His company has created thousands of breakthrough inventions, including the first computer mouse for Apple, the standup toothpaste tube, and a better Pringle for Procter & Gamble. Ideo may be the most influential product design company in the world.

Kelley was a longtime friend and colleague of Steve Jobs -- "He made Ideo," Kelley tells Rose -- and he is a … Read more

Samsung's first portable Bluetooth speaker does NFC

Samsung embraced Bluetooth and AirPlay speakers in a big way last year with the gorgeous DA-E750 and its sister products, but surprisingly the company hasn't rolled out a portable Bluetooth speaker -- until today.

The Samsung DA-F60 is the company's first entrant to the booming portable Bluetooth speaker market. It features the apt-X codec, which offers better sound quality if your tablet or smartphone supports it. It also supports NFC (near-field communication), which makes it slightly easier to pair with compatible phones.

The DA-F60 is compatible with Samsung's SoundShare platform, which means it can be used as … Read more

Download MP3 and MP4 files from YouTube

Want to grab videos from YouTube? Get Tube for Mac is designed to do exactly that. Get Tube for Mac supports multiple files for simultaneous downloading. The app installs easily and adds a new option to the menu bar. There's no integration with your browser, but a standalone app. An interface to the browser would have been a nice addition.

When you find a video you want to download on YouTube, simply click on the video and start the download process, choosing the format you want to use (both MP3 and MP4 formats are supported, and you can also … Read more

AMD launches its response to Intel's tablet processor

Advanced Micro Devices has announced its answer to Intel's tablet chip, just as Windows 8 devices are about to flood the market.

AMD's Z-60 chip is being marketed as a chip for the "performance tablet" segment.

Translation: it's packing high-performance graphics silicon, which boasts 80 Radeon graphics cores, with the graphics processing unit (GPU) rated at a speed of 275MHz (see chart below).

Its two central processing unit (CPU) cores are rated at 1GHz.

The chip can be squeezed into designs as thin as 10mm, AMD said in a statement.

The first tablets based on … Read more