Miscellaneous

Could Google be introducing a touch-capable Chromebook at the end of the year?

Citing a Taiwanese newspaper, DigiTimes said the search company will launch a 12.85-inch Chromebook soon. Besides the presence of a touch screen, we know nothing about the rest of the hardware. Still, Chromebooks have always been very affordable and even with the addition of a touch panel, this probably wouldn't change drastically.

Google's Chrome OS already includes a touch-screen keyboard, which means that it shouldn't be too difficult to add a touch-centric interface to the operating system, especially with Google's experience with … Read more

Remember the cuddly Furby? Imagine it's grown a killer case (literally) of artificial intelligence and decides your house and your family are far better than its own, and decides to murder you for it.

OK, so researchers think that such a scenario is a "flakey concern" and wildly far-fetched. Still, the U.K.'s University of Cambridge is setting up a new center to analyze the dangers posed by artificial intelligence and increasingly non-human interactive machines.

Founded by distinguished philosophy professor Huw Price, cosmology and astrophysics professor Martin Reess and Skype co-founder Jaan Tallinn, the project will … Read more

Here's a quick Thanksgiving/Black Friday question for you.

In the run-up to Christmas, Hanukkah, and all the other gift-laden winter holidays, would you rather go after a bargain by letting your fingers loll about on the screen of a smartphone or tablet -- or mix it up with the punch-throwing, gun-toting, um, customers at your local big box store?

We thought so. And if data from eBay is any indication, that instinct toward self-preservation is strong in many of us (or at least an increasing number of us). For the data shows that, since last year, Thanksgiving and … Read more

week in review After public criticism of a proposal that would let government agencies warrantlessly access Americans' e-mail, a prominent senator says he will "not support" such an idea.

Sen. Patrick Leahy has abandoned his controversial proposal that would grant government agencies more surveillance power -- including warrantless access to Americans' e-mail accounts -- than they possess under current law. The Vermont Democrat said on Twitter that he would "not support such an exception" for warrantless access, a few hours after a CNET article disclosed the existence of the measure.

Leahy's about-face comes in response … Read more

If the iPad Mini is a Gucci tote bag, the Retina iPad is a Rimowa Topas suitcase.

Use the iPad Mini for a while, then reach for the Retina iPad. It's a mild shock every time. That extra metal and glass add up.

So, you might ask: wasn't there some way Apple could have made the Retina iPad less like a dense slab of aluminum attached to a great display?

Probably not. The Retina's 2,048x1,536-pixel screen is demanding. The grams begin to pile up quickly when you pack a display assembly supporting 3 million-plus pixels … Read more

There is nothing wrong with Black Friday.

Save for the fact that it seems to bring out behaviors that may well have perplexed Neanderthals.

One example might be that of a man who pulled a gun on a line-cutter at a Sears in San Antonio, Texas.

Another might be the following joyous, spirit-lifting tale from Springfield, Mass.

According to police, 34-year-old Anthony Perry was very much excited by a 51-inch TV at his local K-Mart.

He allegedly drove to the mall at around 1:30 a.m., his girlfriend's 2-year-old in tow.

As WWLP News tells it, the police … Read more

This week, in the spirit of the busy holiday season, we decided to pause and reflect on some of our episodes past. But rather than revisit the rumors of yore, we decided to give you a behind-the-scenes look at what actually goes into making an episode of Rumor Has It.

Spoiler alert: we have a lot of fun.

So please sit back, relax, finish that helping of turkey, and check out our blooper reel. Hopefully you have as much fun watching it as we did living it.

Happy Thanksgiving! … Read more

This year, some retailers are so impatient to open their doors for Black Friday that they're calling in employees to kick off the sales bonanza as early as 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day. But why wait even that long? In fact, why even get off the couch when that tablet resting on your turkey and pie-filled belly has access to both your wallet and a whole universe of deals?

Digital ad agency Digitas told its hometown paper the Boston Globe this week that its recently commissioned survey (conducted by Harris Interactive) of consumers found that 28 percent plan to shop via a mobile device this Thursday. … Read more

It was a year of fakers: fake degrees, fake demonstrations, even fake interviews. It seems the tech industry this past year has been awash in people who couldn't tell the truth -- or maybe wished the truth were something different.

We had executives racing for the exits of what was a year ago one of the hottest companies on the Internet. We had a head scratcher of a mistake from Apple that even the company's CEO seemed to think was a conundrum. And we have a system that's supposed to protect entrepreneurs that -- and not to … Read more