polling

Music, or should I say most recorded music, is already free; you can get it whenever and wherever you want it and pay nothing.

I've bought thousands of CDs, SACDs, LPs, and a few hundred downloads. Of course, when I started buying music I didn't have too many "free" options, other than radio or taping friends' albums. Radio was a great way to discover new music, but once I heard something I really liked, I bought it. My $3.98 "Led Zeppelin II" LP was a great investment; I've played it hundreds of … Read more

Google Glass eyewear has both an extreme cool factor and an extreme dork factor.

On one hand, an eye interface device is sweetly sci-fi. On the other hand, everyone will know you're sporting a set of Google Glass spectacles if you wear them out in public. It's even more obvious than a Bluetooth headset.

I fall on the happily nerdy side of the equation. If Google Glass just fell into my lap, I'd put it on and wear it around in a heartbeat. There is an obstacle preventing the device from falling into my lap. … Read more

The headline on stories regarding a new Harris Poll survey would seem to say it all: "58 percent of adults blame games for violent behavior."

But that doesn't address what those adults are doing about it. Dig into the Harris survey and you'll see the answer is not very clear. About one third of the 2,278 U.S. adults interviewed said they allow their children to play any sort of video game, violent or not. About two in five say they know little or nothing about game ratings, though 66 percent say they do, in … Read more

A new Harris Poll survey has found that 58 percent of adult Americans believe video games are a contributing factor to violent behavior in teenagers.

In addition, 38 percent of survey respondents said they were unaware of the ratings service provided by the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB). On top of this, 33 percent of adults queried said they allow their children to play whatever they want.

Harris culled the data from interviews of 2,278 U.S. adults. Venturebeat obtained the results of the independent survey, which Harris ran without funding from outside corporations or interests. … Read more

When the iPad first came on the scene back in 2010, most people bought them without having much idea how they'd use them. It was more out of curiosity, to see if a tablet would indeed meld with modern life.

Fast-forward three years. Now we all know exactly what tablets are good for and what they're not. We buy different sizes to accommodate different needs and purposes. Heck, some of us are already moving on to our second or even third tablet.

But why? What drove you to buy one, and what's your primary use for it … Read more

At long last, the PlayStation 4 is arriving Sort of. It's been announced, but the announcement left fans with a lot of questions, like "How much will it cost?" and "What on earth does it actually look like?"

As sketchy as the details are, you can already hear the sound of gamers saving up bucks to buy the new machine when it comes out, supposedly later this year. We're also hearing some concerns resulting from unanswered questions and the news that the new console won't be natively compatible with all those PlayStation 3 games you already sunk a ton of money into.… Read more

Opinions on the alleged Apple iWatch are all over the place. Some people see it as a sign of Apple jumping into a hot space. Others question just how many people will feel the need to wear Apple on their wrists.

Apple iWatch rumors have been floating around like people in blue shirts at an Apple Store. We've gotten a report that Apple has a small army of 100 people working away to create the smartwatch, but we're still short of any real evidence.

The whole wearable tech market is buzzing right now, so it's not too … Read more

Amazon is the most reputable company in the U.S, at least according to the results of a new Harris poll.

Released today, the 2013 Harris Poll Reputation Quotient measured the reputations of the most prominent companies in the United States based on the opinions of more than 14,000 people. The poll analyzed companies based on six criteria: social responsibility; emotional appeal; financial performance; products and services; vision and leadership; and workplace environment.

Amazon came out first in emotional appeal and products and services, and was among the top five companies in the other four categories. The retail giant … Read more

I suppose it's still a fair assumption that more people listen to music than movies with headphones, but there has to be a growing audience listening to movies, TV shows, and YouTube videos via their headphones. Thanks to the booming popularity of tablets, might the ratio of movies-to-music listening time be moving away from music? Or not?

I watch a lot of movies at home with headphones on. They present a level of detail that you can get from speakers only when you play them really loud. With headphones, I don't have to crank the volume. They're … Read more