books

How to set a monthly iTunes allowance for your kids

There are plenty of iOS devices on holiday wish lists this year. Which means there's bound to be plenty of iOS devices under trees, waiting for anxious kids to unbox and begin using them.

On the other side of those iOS devices are parents, like you, trying to figure out how to limit the amount of spending on games, apps, books music and movies their kids (or perhaps themselves) can do in iTunes.

Today I found a feature in iTunes I didn't know existed; the ability to set up a monthly iTunes allowance for specific Apple IDs. Brilliant! … Read more

Top five Cracking Open teardowns of 2012

From smartphones and tablets to a $7,000 desktop, we've cracked open a lot of tech this year. And as is the tradition at the end of each year, it's time to take a look at a few of our favorites. During this special episode of Cracking Open, I'm counting down my top five teardowns of 2012.

5. Nokia Lumia 900

First on our list is the Nokia Lumia 900. Released in the spring, this Windows Phone device was Nokia's attempt to recapture some of the American smartphone market.

Unfortunately, as we discovered during our teardown, the phone's hardware just wasn't up to par with the competition. I went so far as to call it mediocre. So why did I include our 900 teardown on this list? Because it's probably this year's best example of why knowing what's inside a device is an important factor in deciding whether to buy one.… Read more

Report: Amazon Kindle store hit by regulatory trouble in China

Amazon's new Chinese Kindle store is reportedly being investigated by Chinese authorities over charges that the store does not have a license to sell e-books in the country.

China's GAAP (General Administration of Press and Publication) agency requires that digital publishers operating in China must receive at least one of four licenses to publish, copy, distribute, or import ebooks, according to blog site MIC Gadget.

But Amazon allegedly did not obtain any of the required licenses. Instead, the company reportedly borrowed a license from one of its partners, which is against the law in China. Amazon did apply … Read more

Q&A: MacFixIt Answers

MacFixIt Answers is a feature in which I answer Mac-related questions e-mailed in by our readers.

This week, readers wrote in with questions about RAM upgrade options for new MacBook systems, using a Mac laptop as a desktop workstation, song progress options for the iTunes 11 mini player window, and updating external secondary recovery partitions. I welcome views from readers, so if you have any suggestions or alternative approaches to these problems, please post them in the comments!

Question: RAM upgrade options for new MacBooks MacFixIt reader David asks:

Can you upgrade the current 15-inch MacBook Pro sold by Apple? … Read more

Share Karma's Wi-Fi, get free data

Friday's CNET Update is counting megabytes:

Today's tech news roundup looks at the Karma hotspot, which rewards owners with free data for sharing access with others. Karma gives 100 megabytes of data for every person who taps into the network, plus the owner gets another 100 megabytes that do not expire. Adding more data costs $14 for 1 gigabyte. Frequent travelers might find Karma appealing. FreedomPop is offering a similar concept for home broadband, giving free data every month and adding more to those that recommend friends.

Another startup wants to change how we watch broadcast television. Aereo … Read more

Apple, publishers settle in EU e-book antitrust case

Apple and four major publishers have settled a case with European antitrust regulators after negotiations began in September, ending an ongoing row over e-book price fixing.

The iPhone and iPad maker, along with HarperCollins, Hachette Livre, Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck-owned Macmillan, and CBS-owned Simon & Schuster (CNET and ZDNet are also owned by CBS), all agreed to legally binding conditions that would ease pricing restrictions on Amazon and other e-book sellers.

A fifth publisher, Penguin -- owned by U.K. group Pearson -- is still under investigation as the publisher "chose not to offer commitments," but … Read more

RIP e-book readers? Rise of tablets drives e-reader drop

The rapid rise of tablets is driving the e-book reader market to an equally rapid fall, according to a new study.

IHS iSuppli said that after "spectacular" growth during the past few years, the e-book reader market is now on an "alarmingly precipitous decline," all thanks to the growing popularity of tablets.

How alarming? Well, the firm predicts that shipments of e-book readers will tumble 36 percent this year to 14.9 million units and then drop another "drastic" 27 percent next year to 10.9 million units. By 2016, IHS iSuppli predicts, the … Read more

Does it still make sense to buy an e-reader?

I've been an e-book fan for as long as I can remember. Ever since I found myself stuck on a slow-moving mountain train with nothing but my PalmPilot and an e-book, I've been hooked on digital reading.

Flash-forward some 15 years and e-books are everywhere, thanks in no small part to the Amazon Kindle -- a dedicated e-reader with a special "e-ink" screen that I still consider a marvel of modern technology. (Know why Kindles and other e-ink devices have such phenomenal battery life? Because every pixel on the screen is either "on" or &… Read more

BlackBerry 10 won't be PlayBook redux. Here's why

Research In Motion's BlackBerry 10 is no PlayBook, and that's a good thing.

There's concern that RIM's next-generation smartphone operating system may fall flat on its launch, an expectation driven largely by the example of the company's critically lambasted tablet. AllThingsD, citing an analyst from Wedge Partners, says the same issues that hamstrung PlayBook sales will hurt BlackBerry 10's prospects as well.

The comparison is an easy one to make, but I don't buy it.

Of course, RIM and BlackBerry 10 face more than their fair share of challenges, and it remains to … Read more