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The circus that is the end of the year is one that is filled with family, friends, and, of course, food. While all these hectic gatherings certainly do represent good times, the occasion can be fraught with danger. As the turkey, ham, or roast rests waiting to go under the knife, the inside of the beast is plotting against you. The anticipation of the first slice is tempered by the reality of the released juices -- inevitably rolling straight to your new tablet, phone, or e-reader.

The same juiciness that makes the centerpiece of a meal delicious also makes it … Read more

Motorola Mobility will close "most" of its South Korean operations by 2013, according to a leaked internal memo.

According to the memo (in Korean), the move is part of a continued global restructuring effort by parent company Google, which bought the smartphone maker earlier this year for $12.5 billion. Since then, however, restructuring costs have bumped the overall price close to $13 billion.

The deal was proposed by Google to acquire more than 17,000 patents from Motorola, but the hefty price tag will soon be challenged in court, where the search giant may discover that … Read more

Moody's cut Hewlett-Packard's rating today, topping a day marked by a rash of critical articles about the Silicon Valley giant.

Moody's Investor Services cut HP's long-term credit rating to Baa1, three levels above junk, from A3, according to Bloomberg. The rating agency said that HP's "credit profile will remain weaker than previously expected over the intermediate term," among other reasons.

This comes in the wake of an $8.8 billion writedown related to alleged fraudulent accounting at Autonomy, the software company HP acquired last year.

And HP's core businesses aren't faring … Read more

Japan continues to set the standards for high-speed transport with its latest prototype, a magnet-powered train designed by Central Japan Railway Co.

A prototype Series Lo train was unveiled at a test facility in Tsuru, Japan, late last week, according to The Daily Yomiuri.

The magnetic, levitating train can reach speeds of 310 mph. Without actually touching any tracks and therefore not subject to friction, the train can reach much higher speeds than standard models. The train's cars can hold up to 24 passengers.

Central Japan Railway Co., also known as JR Tokai, plans to begin five-car test runs … Read more

Cut the Rope is the sort of Android game we love: supersimple to play but challenging to master, with a side benefit in the form of a physics lesson. Om Nom is a candy-loving monster who arrives at your front door in a cardboard box. To make him happy (and win gold stars and unlock new levels) you must feed him candy. The catch is you have to lower the candy on a rope (more of a string, actually) that you must cut at just the right place to drop it into Om Nom's mouth. You must cut more … Read more

This is an update of a deal I first wrote about back in June. With the holidays upon us, it's the perfect time for this "rerun."

Through the end of next week, and while supplies last, Roku is bundling the Roku HD box, a six-month Hulu Plus subscription, and an HDMI cable for $79.99 shipped. Those items would normally cost you around $128 if purchased separately.

A brief personal story: we're having a bit of trouble with our cable service. For some reason, the signal from ABC has degraded in the last couple weeks, leaving … Read more

If you are a user of Apple's Final Cut Pro video editing software, you may be pleased that Apple has released an update that adds some nice enhancements to the package.

Some notable additions to the software are its support for dual viewers that have separate scope displays which allow you to better match aspects of frames. The program also now provides flexible clip connections which keeps your various connected clips and snippets together when you move them around in the storyline.

The entire set of enhancements to the program includes the following:

Disclosure up front: we've played and been addicted to Fruit Ninja for a couple of years now! The goal of Fruit Ninja sounds weird: you get a bunch of fruit tossed up on the screen and you have to slice each one in half with a swipe of your finger (which represents a blade). Miss three fruits and you die. Slice a bomb instead of a fruit, and you die. Successfully slice enough fruit and you get one mistake wiped off your record. Very simple. And fiendishly addictive fun.

Fruit Ninja installs quickly. The paid app is very reasonable … Read more

Beleaguered electronics maker Sony will cut thousands of jobs by March as it continues to restructure its operations to try to remain competitive in the market.

The electronics giant said the restructuring will save more than $370 million annually, but will likely have a minimal effect on this fiscal-year's earnings.

Sony said in a statement that the efforts stem back to April when it announced it would kickstart its "revival" plan by cutting 10,000 workers across its global business, including about 3,000 in Japan. The latest announcement offers details of how Sony is making those … Read more