On

Always On torture-test giveaway: One iPhone 4S (bricked)

I hear a lot of geeks make jokes about "really pretty paperweights." Even some Android fans have been known to refer to the iPhone that way, just for amusement. In this case, it's ... kind of true.

We put the iPhone 4S through the normal battery of tests back in season 1, and it was relatively tough, despite a nasty purple line on the screen after being dropped. But its unibody construction meant we could never dry it out enough to save it from a spin in the washing machine.

But I believe in miracles, and I'm … Read more

Episode 18: The Galaxy Note 2 and a ThinkPad torture test

When Samsung debuted the Galaxy Note last year at CES, the phone met with, well, a mountain of mockery.

It was inexplicably huge, it came with a stylus, hallmark of the hopelessly unhip, and worse, pundits took to calling it a "phablet" -- half phone, half tablet. It appeared to be a product in search of a market it could never, ever hope to find.

We were wrong. The Note found a following, and Samsung reportedly sold 20 million of the funny little things. That's pretty good for a tweener device with no known purpose.

And here … Read more

Google TV makes its way to Korea

Google TV is expanding its reach and moving into Korea. The local provider, LG Uplus, is now offering an integrated Google TV set-top box with its television subscription service.

"If you've ever considered moving to Korea to enjoy its kimchi and K-pop -- starting today we have another reason for you," Google wrote in a blog post. "New and existing LG Uplus subscribers can get the u+tv G starting today, bringing live TV and 50,000 on demand titles, now integrated with Google TV apps like Search, YouTube, Google Play and Chrome."

This partnership … Read more

Episode 17: Kindle-palooza!

Last month Amazon.com's CEO Jeff Besos, unveiled the new Kindle line, complete with new updates to the current Kindles and an 8.9" Fire. Naturally, Molly bought all of the new kindles, including the "revolutionary" Paperwhite!

We unboxed the 7" Kindle Fire a few episodes back, and now it was time to enter it into our torture chamber. That Kindle Fire really took a beating from us, and we were all shocked to see it survive. I personally would be using it right now, but agree with Molly. It's just too WIDE to … Read more

OnLive acquired for just under $5 million

OnLive, a cloud-gaming company that had at one time been poised for preeminence in that market, was recently sold for a surprisingly cheap sum.

Venture capitalist Gary Lauder acquired OnLive for just $4.8 million, the company has confirmed in an e-mailed statement to CNET. The Mercury News was first to report on the acquisition, citing a letter it had obtained. The letter, which was reportedly sent to OnLive's creditors, claims that the company owed $18.7 million. The company's creditors will only receive one quarter of that back, according to Mercury News.

Over the summer, reports surfaced, … Read more

Expect frustration from Faster Downloader

There are so many easy ways to download streaming media these days that we find absolutely no reason to bother with a program that's the least bit complicated. For that reason, we recommend that users who want to download video and music from streaming sites (where that's permitted, of course) look for something other than Faster Downloader to do it with. This unintuitive program left us scratching our head and wondering why the creators had so needlessly complicated what should be a simple process.

Faster Downloader boasts that it's "fully integrated" with Firefox and Internet … Read more

Breakfast on a stick for those on the go

Breakfast may be the most important meal of the day, but that doesn't mean you have to know how to make it. For many, a bowl of cereal or some type of food in bar form does the trick. Others opt for a short wait in a fast-food line. Somewhere, between the chaos of wrestling with ingredients and the order of ordering from a drive-through, there must be a happy medium.

The Nostalgia Electrics FTW200 2-in-1 Breakfast Treats Maker is a no-nonsense, easy-to-use morning machine. The countertop clamshell-type gadget consists of two sets of cooking plates; one set is … Read more

Always On torture test giveaway: MacBook Air (slightly damaged)

... it only comes on when it's plugged in. Hey, but I'm pretty sure it's just a battery issue, so I bet it's a pretty easy fix, and you'll have yourself a really tough-looking MacBook Air! Me, I'd enter to win it, for sure. And it's not like it's our Nexus 7 or anything. That's coming later.

So, if you'd like to be the proud owner of the Always On Collector's Edition MacBook Air, just enter to win in the comments below! In our last giveaway, we proffered the iPad … Read more

Protect yourself with SpywareBlaster

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and that's especially true when it comes to spyware; wouldn't you rather protect your system than spend hours trying to rid it of malicious visitors? SpywareBlaster is a simple program that provides protection from ActiveX-based software and unwanted cookies for both Firefox and Internet Explorer users.

SpywareBlaster has a simple interface that will be easy for even novices to navigate. The main screen shows the protection status for Internet Explorer, restricted Web sites, and Firefox. By default, protection is disabled for each of these, but you can easily … Read more

iPhone users express a drop in satisfaction with iOS 6

It's not news that people aren't too happy with iOS 6's maps. But what about other aspects of the operating system?

Well, a new survey shows that iPhone owners satisfaction with the iOS 6 overall seems to be decreasing compared with iOS 5.

According to TechCrunch, the mobile customer research firm On Device conducted a poll of nearly 16,000 iPhone owners in the U.S. and found that owner satisfaction had slightly dropped compared with previous surveys done on iOS 4 and 5. Although the drop is minimal, this is the first time On Device has … Read more