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Dim everything but media in Chrome or Firefox

Cinemas dim the lights during showings to help eliminate distractions, making it easier for you to focus on what you came to see. With media sites like YouTube, it's easy to become distracted by the other content on the page like the recommended videos or comments sections. And let's face it, not all videos look good in full-screen mode due to low resolutions. Wouldn't it be nice if you could dim the lights on the rest of the page to cut out the distractions? Well, there happens to be an add-on for Firefox and Chrome that does … Read more

Is this the ultimate watch for geeks?

Spotted this one on Twitter courtesy of timepiece aficionado and TechCrunch gadget editor John Biggs, who labeled it The World's Nerdiest Watch. It's actually a line of several Click models that feature "retro-tronic" circuit-board designs complete with DIP and turn switches.

The site Watchismo sells the watches, which range in price from $150 to $170. Here's how Watchismo describes them: … Read more

Happy 20th birthday, World Wide Web!

Happy birthday, Web!

On August 6, 1991--20 years ago--Tim Berners-Lee posted a summary of a project for organizing information on a computer network using a "web" of hyperlinks: the "WorldWideWeb," or W3. At the same time, the W3 made its debut as a publicly available service on the Internet. Now, as the Web turns 20, those of us here at CNET and sister site CBS News.com are giving it a big thank you for revolutionizing the world as we know it.

There have been some definite downsides to the Web, such as online … Read more

How to turn off Google Instant

Opinions vary on whether Google Instant is a time-saver or very distracting. I hear Ross Perot's Texan twang--"Can I finish? Can I finish?"--each time Google anxiously starts returning search results as soon as I enter the first letter into the search bar. Thankfully, there is a way to turn off this feature, and the hardest part about it is knowing where to look.… Read more

Magellan RoadMate for iPhone updates with Yelp, Google search

Magellan's RoadMate app for iPhone updates today to version 2.0 with a refreshed UI. However, the biggest change is the new POI search, because joining Magellan's standard list of searchable points of interest are new options for Yelp and Google Local.

With Yelp search you can browse all of Yelp's categories and subcategories. Search results include Yelp's star rating for quickly identifying, for example, the best Ethiopian restaurant in your area. Once you've found your destination, the app can call the venue or initiate turn-by-turn directions. Additionally, every search result is a clickable link … Read more

The 404 743: Where it's complicated with Caroline McCarthy (podcast)

Caroline McCarthy from CNET's The Social blog joins us on today's podcast to discuss this morning's Oscar nominations and eight nods for "The Social Network" including Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Director, Best Screenplay Adaptation, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Original Score.

The film undoubtedly deserves the recognition, but it seems they left off Andrew Garfield for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Eduardo Saverin, Facebook's co-founder and a 5 percent shareholder of the $2.5 billion company.

Despite this oversight, Garfield will likely have another chance with his upcoming role as the famous Webslinger in the upcoming reboot of the Spider-Man franchise. The rest of the cast includes Rhys Ifans as the Lizard, Martin Sheen as Uncle Ben, Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy, and Chris Zylka as Flash Thompson.

But there's no chance the movie will be quite as awful as "Turn off the Dark," Broadway's version of the Spider-Man genesis wrought with disaster even in the face of its new finale.

Wilson checked out an early preview of the show and has an equally negative review to share that makes this Onion headline sound right on the mark: "Nuclear Bomb Detonates During Rehearsal For 'Spider-Man' Musical." We blame Bono.

As usual, the Razzie nominations were announced today in conjunction with the Oscars, and it's no surprise that the "Twilight Saga: Eclipse" swept the Golden Raspberries for Worst Picture, Worst Actor (Robert Pattinson), Worst Screenplay, and...actually, the movie appears in all the categories except for Worst Supporting Actress and Worst Eye-Gouging Misuse of 3D, where they were ineligible to be nominated.

Episode 743 Subscribe in iTunes audio | Suscribe to iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS VideoRead more

Tunnel vision

Every now and then we run across an application that we never even knew we needed until we tried it. Turn Off the Lights is one such program. This Chrome add-on lets users obscure everything on their screen except the Flash video they're watching, minimizing distractions and making for a more pleasant viewing experience. Although this seems like a minor task, we found that we really enjoyed what Turn Off the Lights did for us.

The program is quite easy to use. A lamp icon is displayed in Chrome's menu bar when a video is detected, and users … Read more

Civilization V: Striking a blow for complexity

Hearing tales of everyday regular folk skipping work to play a new game happens a couple of times a year, usually around the release dates of a new Madden or Halo installment. Much more rare is seeing same "taking the day off" messages via Twitter or Facebook in reference to a PC game. That's part of what makes the Civilization series so unique; it's a serious turn-based PC strategy game that manages to have similar mainstream crossover appeal as some of the big-console action hits.

What makes Civilization V even more of an anomaly is that … Read more

Defeat the pigs!

Angry Birds Lite is a free, 12-level preview of Angry Birds, an addictive physics-based puzzler with a lot of personality.

You're helping a bunch of birds, as they wreak vengeance upon a crew of smug little egg-stealing pigs. Basically a one-player, turn-based artillery game, Angry Birds has a dead-simple interface: you just pull back on a slingshot to launch birds one at a time, with your finger position determining the speed and trajectory of each bird. The only other interaction comes when new birds (essentially, different ammo types) are introduced: a tiny, MIRV-like bluebird and a speedy yellow bunker-buster, … Read more

CoPilot Live HD, first iPad navigation app, approved

Having survived the crucible that is Apple's App Store approval process, CoPilot Live HD has become the first available iPad-specific GPS application. The app is a reworking of the iPhone version of the CoPilot Live app for iPhone, featuring a revised interface that takes better advantage of the iPad's larger screen.

The app features 2D and 3D maps of North America stored locally on the device, so users won't need to maintain a data connection while navigating from point A to B. However, the app will need to make use of the iPad's GPS antenna for … Read more