elements

Yes, here it is, folks, our first iPad-related giveaway: the Joule iPad stand from Element Case.

You can get the full rundown on the company's product page, but the key here is that this stand not only looks sleek, it's also sturdy. "Unlike most stands," the company says, "the Joule won't tip over when using the iPad's touch screen, which allows you to better utilize your iPad on your desktop or kitchen countertop."

It's made in the USA from solid aluminum and comes in a polished finish or a black anodized … Read more

Many green technologies associated with energy production rely on an often overlooked resource: minerals.

Molycorp Minerals, a company with rights to mine the rare earth elements that are vital to many green technologies, said on Friday that it hopes to raise $350 million by going public on the stock market. In its S-1 document filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company said its operation in Mountain Pass, Calif., in the Mojave Desert is the most fully developed rare earth project outside of China.

There has been growing attention being paid to rare earth elements because most of these … Read more

Welcome back to another Yuletide Mini-sode of CNET's The 404 Podcast. We'll be keeping you company all season with fresh episodes, year-end wrap-ups, CES 2010 previews, and much more!

Today's special holiday edition of The 404 is dedicated to The Fifth Element, easily one of our favorite movies of all time. From the epic vision of the distant future to the colorful characters and of course the operatic techno scene, this movie retains its entertainment value after almost 13 years.

To celebrate, we run off a list of our favorite scenes and quotes from the movie, then play a quick game of trivia. For example, did you know that Ruby Rhod wasn't supposed to be the original name for Chris Tucker's character? It was actually Loc Rhod! The original name appears in the script and the movie novelization.

Lots more to talk about, so check out the show and keep it hot hot HOT!

Sothink Quicker for Silverlight provides a helpful collection of tools to help users build a Flash film or Web site. Although prior knowledge is helpful, anyone can learn to use Flash with this program.

Sothink's intimidating interface is a cluttered collection of boxes and tools spread around a central screen. The Help file's instructions proved to be indispensable, since we are far from experts at Flash imagery. While it's extremely difficult to build a smooth film without some Flash background, we were still able to move forward and learn a lot. We created layers and scenes with … Read more

Budding chemists will enjoy using pElement to learn all about the periodic table of elements. This interactive program boasts a simple layout, several excellent tools, and an impressive collection of facts and figures.

The program's interface brought us back to chemistry class, as it is primarily just the periodic table. All the information embedded within each element was easy to access, and we never felt the need to seek guidance from the Help file or a tutorial. We simply clicked on one of the elements, and a box popped up with its basic information, like its periodic number and … Read more

Periodic Table (freshney.org) is much more than just a periodic table. This program is absolutely jam-packed with features and would be a tremendous resource to any chemistry student.

The program's interface is not the most beautiful we've ever seen, and the program's creator admits on the Help page that it's gotten a little unwieldy as he's added more features. Still, it's worth it to take some time getting acquainted with everything this program has to offer. Although the online Help file is well-written and thorough, it's easy enough to get comfortable with … Read more

Time again for Adobe's annual update of its consumer photo- and video-editing applications, Photoshop Elements (Windows | Mac) and Premiere Elements (Windows only). We're up to version 8 now, and while there's no killer must-have new capability--unless you consider automatic sync across multiple computers--the two products still provide solid mass appeal for their respective markets.

As in the past, you can buy the pair together for $149.99, which is a far more attractive buy for video-editing shoppers than Photoshoppers, and in fact the combination makes quite a nice bundle for home videographers. Independently, they're $99.99 each. Tack "Plus" to the name of the product for another $40 and you get an extra 20GB on the otherwise free Photoshop.com membership (along with ongoing new template and tutorial content), which will then cost you $50 annually to renew.

The latter becomes key if you plan to take advantage of one of the nicer new features, the ability to sync your videos, photos, music, projects, and PDF files across multiple systems using Photoshop.com as the hub. (In case you missed it, Photoshop.com rolled out video support last month in preparation for this release of Pre.) While Adobe doesn't make a Plus membership a requirement for doing so, you'll very quickly max out your free 2GB without it.

After allowing the product to languish for a while, with 8 Adobe brings the Mac version of Photoshop Elements up to parity with the Windows version and with the buzzy new features in iPhoto, including face recognition and geotagging/mapping. Unlike iPhoto, however, there's no direct upload to Facebook, though it supports a broader number of services, including Kodak EasyShare Gallery and Smugmug. Annoyingly, those choices are buried as More Options on the Share pane (likely because the interface decision was based on the technology used--implemented via an API rather than core program code--rather than where the user will look for them).

Like most current facial recognition implementations, Adobe's is only moderately accurate. For instance, in many photos it correctly identifies one person, but didn't detect others and thought inanimate objects were faces. The batch detection and labeling where you confirm different faces in groups of selected images is better, but still a little clunky.… Read more

Google has made it easier for novice Web publishers to spruce up their sites with feeds of Google's products.

Google Web Elements, set to be unveiled Wednesday at the Google I/O developer conference in San Francisco, is an easy cut-and-paste way to add a Google News feed, for example, to a Web page. The company plans to demonstrate the service later on Wednesday at the conference.

Web publishers have been able to add such feeds to their sites in the past using Google's APIs, said DeWitt Clinton, technical manager of Google's developer relations team. But using … Read more