popular

Links from Monday's episode of Loaded:

Things just keep getting worse for the PlayStation Network.

Apple is now the world's most valuable brand.

Wired, GQ, and more mags coming to the iPad.

HP jumps into the 3G data market.

HP line of laptops refreshed.

LinkedIn goes public.

Popular Mechanics magazine today unveiled its sixth annual Breakthrough Awards winners, honoring 10 products that its editors identified as solving existing problems in all new ways.

The products range from two different approaches to electric cars to the smallest ever camera with interchangeable lenses to a thermostat that can provide a wealth of data even as it responds automatically to changing conditions. The magazine will name the individuals it chose for the Breakthrough Leadership award and Breakthrough Innovators awards later this week.

For six years, a group of the magazine's editors have sifted through countless products, looking for the selections for the year's best inventions. According to science editor Jennifer Bogo, the team tasked with choosing the 2010 awards--which comprised editors from Popular Mechanics' automotive, home, technology, science and online departments--searched for a roster of products that they felt satisfied their rigorous criteria.

Each of the editors on the team nominates their favorite candidates, and then the list is vetted to ensure that each winning product is "really, truly unique," Bogo said.

"We look at things that do more than work well," she explained. "We look for things that actually solve a problem and things that do that in a genuinely new way. [These are] products that take advantage of new materials, or which are networked in a new way, or which can pack more processing power into a small space."

And while the precise variety of selections varies from year to year, it's clear from this year's choices that the editors are sticking with the same general set of themes that Jerry Bellinson, the magazine's deputy editor, spelled out in an interview with CNET in 2009: alternative energy and products and designers that push categories forward. … Read more

CNET reviews 24 categories of tech products, but if we dropped 23 of them you might be cool with that as long as smartphones remained! Here are the top 5 most popular products on our Web site as of July 2010, all of which fit in a pocket. Poor HDTV's.

Want to just see the best of everything we've reviewed? Check out the CNET Editors' Choice list to cut right to the pantheon of right on.

Cell phones still dominate CNET's most-popular list. Well actually, they're the entire list. But it's interesting to see where they fall. Remember, these lists aren't based on our recommendations, but on the number of times people visited the reviews page.

And there is a lame prize this time of course, so watch the show, and then post your answer in the comments below.

Last week's question: What was the name of the Linux computer sold at Wal-Mart that was sued by Microsoft for brand confusion with Windows? Answer: Lindows (though technically, each machine had its … Read more

You know all those times when you recognize someone on the subway or on the street but can't quite remember who they are?

Well, a new technology from the Swedish firm The Astonishing Tribe (TAT) called Recognizr could soon help you figure out who they are so that you can get up and greet them by name.

According to an article published Tuesday in Popular Science, Recognizr is a new application that can figure out who someone is--and auto-discover social networking information about them--based solely on a photo (see video below).

PopSci, riffing on the growing field of augmented … Read more

Time to check in on the pageviews report here at CNET to see which product reviews are getting the most traffic. We figure a high number of people looking at a review means it must be pretty popular. So this Top 5 counts down the most popular products based on how many people read our reviews. And all you read about these days is phones, at least in large numbers.

Of course, there is still a lame prize, so watch the video, then come back here and post your answer in the forums. We'll pick a winner from the … Read more

An inventor and a generator manufacturer have come up with a new use for used motor oil.

Cyclone Power Technologies signed a deal with Phoenix Power Group on Thursday to develop an external combustion engine that runs on waste oil. The deal signs over waste-oil-related rights to Cyclone's Mark V external combustion engine to the Phoenix Power, which plans to use the engine in its new Phoenix 5-Series Generator.

"Cyclone still retains rights for the Mark V with other fuels," a Cyclone representative noted in an e-mail. "Phoenix Power only holds exclusive rights for generators running … Read more

Just in time to round out your holiday shopping season, we've consulted the Web traffic oracles and compiled a list of the most popular laptops of 2009.

Based on which system reviews CNET readers clicked on most often, this list shows what's on the minds of laptop shoppers -- and the emphasis is clearly on value over all else.

We've got six Netbooks in the top 10, including the Asus Eee PC 1005HA, which we've held up as a classic example of a Netbook done right. Apple, and 13-inch laptops in general, are also well-represented. Interestingly, … Read more

Ah, long live the year-end listicle. What did we ever read (or write) in December before the media came up with the idea of compiling and disseminating lists of the best, most popular, strangest and stupidest?

Here's my contribution to the tradition for 2009--oh wait, there's also my Holiday Gift Guide offering--a potpourri of camcorder popularity as based on how many people read reviews of a product since last New Year's. As you might guess, the results are rather heavily skewed toward older products, products on our top lists, and products that we've reviewed, but I'… Read more