roundup

Back-to-school 2010 retail Netbook roundup

In our back-to-school 2010 roundup of retail-specific laptops, we've divided our 25-plus systems into four different price categories, from sub-$600 budget models to high-end ones that cost more than $1,000.

In the "Netbook" category, we looked at three off-the-shelf models that cost between $349 and $399. In terms of hardware and components, they stuck with the standard Intel Atom N450 CPU (except for the HP Mini 210, which has a variation called the N455, allowing for newer DDR3 RAM), along with 1GB of RAM and 250GB hard drives.

Though we applaud the Dell Mini 10 … Read more

CNET's back-to-school 2010 retail desktop and laptop review roundup

With the back-to-school season upon us, many laptop and desktop shoppers are looking for a new system suitable for dorm room living or high school homework. We've hit the well-stocked store shelves of brick-and-mortar retail stores to find boxed versions of popular PCs, from entry-level systems starting at less than $300, to $1,000-plus high-end multimedia and gaming rigs.

These specific retail models are similar to those you'd be able to configure online from companies such as Dell and HP, but they may have slightly different names and features. Also worth noting, thanks to frequent retail discounts, they … Read more

Windows desktop: Go 3D

Just over a year ago, we took a close look at a Windows app that was supposed to turn the way some of us interact with our desktop on its head. And that was three years after the product's demo video debuted. Now it's back. BumpTop reimagines the desktop as a 3D surface where you can fling, fan, or even stack your desktop files. While we haven't heard much about the app's development since then, Google's sure been paying attention. The company gobbled up the conceptware over the weekend. There's no confirmation yet, but … Read more

Battle Royale: Five smartphone screens face off

With the recent release of DisplayMate Multimedia Edition for Mobile Displays, a battery of tests to measure the quality of portable screens--and apparently because I'm a glutton for punishment--I thought now would be the perfect time to bring five popular smartphones back to CNET Labs for a down-and-dirty comparison of their screen performance.

The five phones I chose to put through the ringer (ahem) are the Samsung Behold II, the Motorola Droid, the Apple iPhone 3GS, the HTC Nexus One by Google, and the Palm Pre Plus. These five were chosen because of their relative popularity and similar feature sets.

We used three different types of tests to evaluate each phone:

Scientific measurements: We used the Konica Minolta CS-200 ChromaMeter to test the maximum brightness, black level, and contrast ratio of each phone and reported numbers for each of these three tests.

Test pattern screens: We used several DisplayMate Mobile test patterns to test for color-tracking errors, 24-bit color, and font legibility, among others.

Real-world: Finally, we conducted real-world anecdotal testing using 3D games, photos, and a little tool I like to call "the Sun" to test the diffuse reflectance of each display.

All test screens were viewed within each phone's native gallery application. Some phones may handle pictures differently--and even improve them to some extent--outside the application. That said, we believe that testing within the respective gallery applications is still a viable test as this is where most users will view pictures on their phones.

In order to diminish potential repetition, I'll dive right into the details of how each phone performed; if you'd like to know more about our tests, you can binge off nerdy details in our "How we tested" section at the bottom of this article. Please note that this is an evaluation of each phone's screen performance and nothing else. Check out the full reviews of these phones to determine which is right for you. Also, DisplayMate recently conducted a more technically focused evaluation of the iPhone 3GS' and the Nexus One's screens that I recommend you take a look at.

The bottom line… Read more

Spring 2010 retail Netbook roundup

In our spring 2010 roundup of retail-specific laptops, we've divided our 25-plus systems into four different price categories, from sub-$600 budget models to high-end ones that cost more than $1,000.

In the "Netbook" category, we looked at three off-the-shelf models that cost between $329 and $379. In terms of hardware and components, all three were very close to identical, with Dell's M1012-687OBK dropping from a 250GB hard drive to a 160GB one and sticking to basic b/g Wi-Fi instead of 802.11n. The $329 Asus Eee PC 1005PEB offered the best overall value; … Read more

GDC 2010: Scaling the summits of gameplay

The Game Developers Conference in San Francisco brings together designers, programmers, publishers, and others for the latest from the world of video play.

Work hard, play hard at GDC audio slideshow Gamers come from Europe, China, South America, and across the United States, and GDC gives them an opportunity each year to meet the industry's biggest players face to face. (Posted in Full Frame by James Martin) March 13, 2010 6:00 AM PST

Sid Meier and his mind games Game developer and guru tells developers that if they want to create the next best seller, they need to … Read more

CNET's spring 2010 retail desktop and laptop review roundup

The latest wave of new laptops and desktops for 2010 is here, and these systems have some important new features to help them stand out from last year's models. We're seeing Intel's Core i3 (as well as the i5 and i7) CPUs, and the new Intel Atom N450processor for Netbooks, along with Wireless Display technologydesigned to easily send a signal from your PC to your TV.

To help cut through the clutter, we've been scouring the shelves of big retail stores to find boxed versions of popular PCs, from entry-level systems starting at $329 to massive $… Read more

New iPhone games of the week (February 10, 2010)

Each week brings a slew of new iPhone games to our doorstep (digitally speaking), but time doesn't permit us to write individual posts about each one. Therefore, here's a roundup of some new and interesting titles you might want to check out:

Daisy Mae's Alien Buffet Unapologetically sexist and gloriously campy, Daisy Mae (top) has the look of a '50s drive-in movie and a plot to match: the gun-toting titular heroine must blast wave after wave of aliens that have invaded her trailer park. Boy, howdy! Giana Sisters If you like Mario-style platform games, you're sure … Read more

Apple tablet iRoundup: The good, the bad, the ugly

In a few hours, the jig will be up. Apple will have unveiled its latest and greatest gadget, which is widely expected to (and better) be a tablet. For months, the tech world has been swarming over a steady stream of purported leaks, rumors, and strategically planned business moves by Apple that have pointed in a number of directions. Let's break a few of the big ones down by quality.

The good

The tablet idea

Rumors of Apple offering a tablet device have been swirling for close to a decade, though things really started to heat up when Apple released the iPhone and iPod Touch. After several very successful generations of these touch-screen devices, along with the acquisition of PA Semi and touch-gesture company Fingerworks, it seemed almost inevitable that Apple was cooking up something bigger.

The real proof, however came in the form of a patent application from 2008 that gave a very clear idea of how Apple imagined users interacting with such a device. Many of the ideas and principles that are detailed in that patent seem to mirror Apple's user design ethos for the iPhone and iPod Touch, which has led to speculation (and even more rumors) that the tablet will have a similar OS to what's found on the iPhone and iPod.

The name game The rumored name of Apple's tablet has gone under two main monikers: the "iSlate" and the "iPad."

Blog Mac Rumors discovered historical evidence that Apple has owned the iSlate.com domain since 2007. The day after that discovery, blog TechCrunch found that the iSlate name was a registered trademark of Slate Computing, which turned out to be a company owned by Apple. The connection was confirmed by Mac Rumors, which found the signature of Apple's senior trademark specialist on the iSlate trademark application.

The lesser of the two names is "iPad," which despite being just one letter off from "iPod" is in far shakier legal ground. Tech company Fujitsu has held a trademark for the word iPad since 2003. This is on top of the company having shipped Microsoft Windows CE-based devices called the iPad, which were sold to retail stores to let customers look up prices and navigate around the store.

The only reason this became a lead in the tablet name sniffing case, was because Apple filed three separate extension requests with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to lengthen the amount of time it had to file for an opposition to Fujitsu's claim.

In either case, both are perfectly reasonable names for the tablet. But more importantly, there's enough of a legal shuffle behind the scenes to suggest that Apple is at least trying to cover its bases in a similar fashion to what it did prior to releasing the iPhone. … Read more