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Although the clock in the Windows system tray displays the time, it doesn't do much else, and there are a variety of programs that seek to provide useful clock features that Windows doesn't. Talking Desktop Clock is an attractive addition to the default Windows clock, and we recommend it to anyone who could use an audio reminder or alarm.

Talking Desktop Clock appears as an icon in the system tray and also displays an attractive translucent analog clock face, which disappears when you mouse over it. Opening the Options menu revealed a wide variety of settings, including numerous … Read more

BARCELONA, Spain--Where do the largest telecommunications companies in the world want to be in in the future? In the cloud.

We've all heard this schtick before: Carriers don't want to be the purveyors of dumb pipes. Their equipment suppliers--namely, Cisco Systems and Alcatel-Lucent--also don't want them to be dumb pipe operators. The reason is simple: There just isn't much money in being dumb.

Smart is the way to go.

But for telecommunications giants, what does it mean to be smart? For the CEOs of Deutsche Telekom, Alcatel Lucent, and Cisco Systems, who spoke as part of … Read more

BARCELONA, Spain - A year into its partnership with Microsoft, Nokia is filling out its Windows Phone smartphone portfolio and differentiating devices with Nokia-only features and apps.

On Monday, Nokia kicked off the Mobile World Congress tradeshow here with a new low-end Lumia Windows Phone smartphone, the Lumia 610. This is now the fourth Lumia Windows Phone in the portfolio, and it will sell for 189 euros ($254) in Europe before subsidies.

Microsoft announced the Lumia 710 and Lumia 800 in October. These were the first Windows Phone devices for Nokia, and they were initially only available in Europe. Now, … Read more

BARCELONA, Spain--Sony Mobile Communications has a new strategy. Instead of announcing one killer phone at this year's Mobile World Congress, it's announcing a suite of devices that it hopes will attract a wider audience of consumers, particularly those at the low end.

Will the strategy work? It's hard to say. There's a lot of competition out there that will make it hard. Still, with full ownership from its former parent company Sony, executives say they're ready to spend big on making Sony's mobile phones a household brand.

Sony Ericsson (Sony Mobile's former name … Read more

Ferrari just rolled out a short teaser video announcing the dawning of "a new era of extreme V-12 cars." Speculation around the 'Net indicates that the Italian automaker will be pulling the wraps off of the successor to its 599 grand tourer: the F620 GT.

Expect the new vehicle to carry its V-12 engine--possibly sourced from or based on the V-12 that powers the Ferrari FF shooting brake--up front and under an elongated hood. Like the 599 it aims to replace, the new model will probably also send its power exclusively to the rear-axle. And if this … Read more

Recently, I wrote an article titled "What if the Vita had an Apple logo instead of Sony's?" Some readers didn't appreciate that I'd talked about the Vita in the context of Apple or as one reader put it, "Damn, CNET has to talk about Apple all the time???"

Worse yet, another reader chillingly removed us from his Google home page, stating that our articles don't have enough "variety and range" for him anymore.

Ironically, a couple days ago I ran into an Apple employee at an event who complained that … Read more

The InCharge Auto BT is a simple device, both in form factor and function. Essentially, it features a 12-volt power connection on one end of a 4-foot cable and a male analog auxiliary audio connection on the other. You may be asking, "If one end of the cable connects to power and the other end connects to the car, where does my phone connect?" The answer is: wirelessly. That "BT" at the end of InCharge Auto BT doesn't stand for Brian Tong. It's short for Bluetooth and this unit uses Bluetooth HFP and A2DP/AVRCP to wirelessly receive audio from your handset to be output to your car's speakers via the aforementioned auxiliary audio connection. … Read more

You know you're an audio geek when you're most interested in the bit of the product demo where you get to hear how it sounds. Well, after about 10 minutes of listening time with the Beolit 12, a new AirPlay-compatible speaker launched under the Danish company's new B&O Play line, we have to say we were impressed.

Listening to a couple of tracks of our own over the 3.5mm stereo minijack (the Bang & Olufsen store we were in was afraid of us hogging Wi-Fi bandwidth for AirPlay), we have to say that this … Read more

The Xbox 360 is still scoring big amidst a slump in overall gaming sales.

Microsoft's hot gaming console was the best-selling platform in the U.S. in January, its 13th month in a row at the top of the charts, NPD Group said yesterday.

For January, Microsoft sold 270,000 Xbox 360s,  grabbing 49 percent of the console market last month. The Xbox accounted for $310 million in total sales (hardware, software, and accessories), the highest number for any console in the U.S. January also marked the 11th month in a row in which the Xbox grabbed … Read more