roundup

With new features like autosave, versions, and mission control, there's good reason to be intrigued by Mac OS X Lion. The new operating system carries the same intuitive interface as Snow Leopard, but adds a slew of new features, settings, and trackpad gestures.

To help you make the switch, we've rounded up our helpful Mac OS X Lion How-Tos.

If you're upgrading from Snow Leopard, start with our best practices for installing Lion before moving onto the tips, tricks, and hacks that we like best. Or, if you were lucky enough to pick up a machine with … Read more

Google held a special search event in San Francisco this morning to discuss several improvements to its Web and mobile search products.

Though details surrounding the Inside Search event were slim leading up to it, the company promised journalists it would give them "an under-the-hood look at Google Search, share our vision, and demo some of our newest technology and features."

At a similar event last year, Google unveiled its Instant Search feature, allowing users to see results as they type queries into the search box.

This time around, the company focused first on mobile search. It reported … Read more

The dust from Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference has settled and now we know all about iCloud, iOS 5, and Mac OS X Lion. We also know which rumors from ahead of the show turned out to be true, and which ones didn't.

To Apple's credit, there were very few leaks ahead of this year's show. While a few iOS 5 features came out, as well as functionality that would appear in iCloud, there was a fair bit that was unknown going into it. The one exception being OS X Lion, which Apple had taken most of … Read more

When choosing a notepad app for your Android, the first thing to think about is: what kinds of notes will you be taking? Are we talking grocery lists here? Are you looking for a full-on multimedia mood board? Do you need to be able to set reminder alarms? Voice notes? The choices can be overwhelming, we know. Luckily we've done some of the research for you. Here's an inside look at five of the most popular free note-takers for your Android mobile device.

AK Notepad is your basic, bare-bones notepad app. Open it up, click "Add note&… Read more

For years now, the tech industry has been a sucker for the "gotcha" moment every April 1. Teams at companies large and small cook up clever gadgets and widgets and such that sound ever so almost plausible. Or not.

In case you hadn't already noticed, April Fools' Day is here again. A flurry of pranks has descended upon us via the Web. Some of them are quite smart and might just elicit a few chuckles from even the most cynical of us. Others are just plain goofy.

We're keeping tabs on the April Fools' jokes for … Read more

What a confusing week it's been for iPhone rumors. On Monday, a report by The Independent said that Apple was holding off on bringing near-field communication (NFC) technology to the next version of the iPhone, and then a story posted last night by Forbes claims that the effort is still on track.

The source on that newer report is said to be "an entrepreneur who is working on a top-secret NFC product," who has a buddy working at Apple. That's compared to The Independent's multiple sources on the matter, which were "several of the … Read more

With the holiday season upon us, many laptop shoppers are looking for a new system as a gift for either a lucky recipient or themselves. To assist you in this noble endeavor, we've been tracking the most promising laptops from the second half of 2010, from entry-level systems starting at well under $500 to $1,000-plus high-end multimedia and gaming rigs.

Unlike our previous review roundups, our net is cast a bit wider this time around, and includes both retail-specific systems as well as laptops you can order directly from the manufacturer. Additionally, we've decided to focus on … Read more

In our current roundup of retail laptops for the back-to-school season, we noticed that the most common price was $799. Halfway between the bargain basement single-core systems and the high-end desktop replacements, there was a surprising amount of variety, with Intel Core i3 and i5 CPUs, and screen sizes from 13.3 inches to 15.6 inches.

At that $799 sweet spot, you can get a very capable mid-range system that should be fine for any kind of schoolwork, plus reasonably heavy multitasking and HD video playback. Harder to find are features such as Blu-ray or discrete graphics, although we did find a couple of models with these high-end extras.

Two of the standouts were the HP Pavilion dm4-1065dx, which was one of the top performers in the category thanks to its Intel Core i5 CPU; and the Toshiba Portege R705, a slim 13-inch model that includes Intel's Wireless Display technology.

The picture is muddied somewhat because several of these laptops were originally listed at $799, but within the past few days, they've been bumped up to $829. But because they were (and may be again) widely available for $799, we're including them here.

Besides the Toshiba R705, two other notable laptops that hover between $799 and $829 are the Sony Vaio EA24, which adds a Blu-ray drive, and the Samsung Q430-11, which offers discrete graphics for gaming.

Note: Also see our roundup of retail laptops in all price ranges.

Check out details of each system below:… Read more

The budget category of our back-to-school 2010 roundup collects retail-specific laptops on the lower end of the price scale, and should be of particular interest to students looking to upgrade their tech without spending too much.

Compared with previous years, and with the other categories in this year's back-to-school roundup, the budget-priced selections seem a little thinner than we'd like, with only one all-around standout. Part of that may be the economic climate, in which PC makers are less generous with features and components for budget systems, and have a desire to move buyers accustomed to $300 Netbooks into more mainstream-priced systems.

The Asus K501J-BBZ5is probably the best all-around deal, with a decent design and usable Intel dual-core processor (but not the current Core i3 found in more expensive mainstream systems). Battery life was good, but the Asus oddly lacks an HDMI output, so it probably won't be your dorm room media center.

Most of the other laptops in this category had either single-core Intel processors or dual-core AMD processors, which generally were not as fast or had especially weak battery life or annoying design flaws. HP's Pavilion dv5-2035dxmakes good use of its AMD Turion II processor, and was one of the more upscale-looking budget laptops, but some users hate its redesigned touch pad; we'd suggest test-driving one in a retail store first.

Note: Check out our roundup of retail laptops in all price ranges.

Check out details of each system below:… Read more