phones

49 iPhone games that would rock with a controller

Apple's opening up iOS 7 like nothing before it, allowing and even encouraging the use of game controller hardware that will finally bring physical buttons to iPhones, iPods, and iPads.

This has been done before, of course, but not with Apple backing those efforts. Companies like Ion Audio and its iCade have brought hardware add-ons, though they required developers to tweak their games in order make those things work. This new option from Apple also requires that, but aims for a standardized set of controls that developers can plug into their software, and that come baked into Apple's … Read more

Video shows what looks like iOS 7 running on an iPad

Apple has yet to give developers an iPad version of iOS 7, but photos, videos, and reports are popping up left and right about what the new operating system will look like on the tablet.

A new iPad iOS 7 video (see below) surfaced Tuesday from a Russian-based YouTube user named Rozetked who claims to have the upcoming OS running on his iPad. In the video, the user holding an iPad taps and swipes through different screens and features.

What's shown is awfully similar to what is known about iOS 7 for the iPhone and iPod Touch. When Apple … Read more

A portable Breathalyzer that can be too social

Driving while intoxicated is, quite literally, a life-and-death issue: according to the U.S. Department of Transportation, every 2 hours three people are killed in alcohol-related highway crashes. Compounding the tragedy is the fact that these deaths are preventable. Keeping intoxicated drivers from getting behind the wheel can save lives. And that's where the BACtrack Mobile Breathalyzer aims to make a difference.

While keychain-size Breathalyzers have been around for years, the $150 BACtrack Mobile Breathalyzer brings the technology into the smartphone age. The pocketable unit syncs wirelessly over Bluetooth, allowing you to view your blood alcohol level on the … Read more

Preview iOS 7 using nothing more than your browser

With the curtains pulled back on the new-look iOS 7, it's only natural for users to want to get a better idea of what the changes actually mean to their daily use. People don't like change -- big or small -- especially when it comes to the tech that's used on a daily basis.

Should you not be a developer and have access to early beta builds of iOS 7, or don't want to deal with all of the bugs and issues that come from dealing with the early test builds, you can click your way … Read more

Want to curb texting and driving? Turn it into a joke

There's nothing worse than a senseless death.

Not that any death makes sense, of course. But it's easier to accept someone dying of sheer old age than a 16-year-old being crushed in a car because she was texting Polly about the dimples on Charlie's cheeks.

This week, advertising's loudest are meeting at the Cannes Advertising Festival. One campaign doing absurdly well is an absurdist effort from Australia that tries to stop people doing stupid things around trains.

Called "Dumb Ways to Die," it takes the silliness of how people die around trains and raises … Read more

Never miss the free App of the Week from the App Store again

Last summer I covered an easy-to-create recipe on IFTTT that would send an e-mail or alert of your choosing once the App Store Twitter account posted a tweet announcing the latest freebie. Since that time there have been some changes to Twitter 's API policy, and IFTTT (name based on "If this, then that") has had to change how it uses Twitter within its service.

As such, the recipe demonstrated in my post last June no longer works. While browsing through public IFTTT Recipes today I found a solution that uses posts on the App Store's official … Read more

Check the air quality with Smoggy

I spent a couple of years growing up in Los Angeles, and I can still remember the feeling I'd get in my chest on particularly smoggy days in the summer. It was so bad some days that my brother and I would have to cut our Wiffle ball games short. If you live in a part of the country where the air quality isn't great, use iPhone app Smoggy (99 cents) to get a reading of the air quality before heading out to exercise or sending your kids out to play.

The app lets you use your current … Read more

BlackBerry Q10 finally landing on AT&T June 21

It's been a long time coming, but AT&T customers can now expect to get their hands on the BlackBerry Q10 on June 21. The physical keyboard-toting gadget will cost the industry standard price of $199.99.

With an expertly designed typing surface that's based on BlackBerry's legendary Bold line of handsets, the Q10 features keys that are billed as 30 percent larger. In my experience with the device, I can certainly vouch that punching out messages on the keyboard is both fast and accurate.

That said, to make way for the bigger key layout you … Read more

Questions persist about NSA surveillance

CNET Update wants answers:

In this episode of Update:

- Get up to speed on the latest developments in the NSA spying flap and how it extends to contents of U.S. phone calls. Apple, Microsoft and Facebook are only able to disclose limited details on government requests for customer data.

- Speed things up on MetroPCS with new phones that work on T-Mobile's 4G network.

- Keep the kids entertained next year with DreamWorks television shows on Netflix.

- Learn how to leave a video message for anyone on Skype.

- Speculate on rumors about Facebook's news announcement on Thursday. … Read more

Action Movie FX adds 'Star Trek' effects, donates proceeds to 9/11 veterans

One of my favorite apps of 2012, Bad Robot Interactive's Action Movie FX, just got even better.

Available for iOS, the app lets you add Hollywood-style special effects to videos you've shot with your iPhone or iPad.

What kinds of effects? Suppose you're making a movie that involves blowing up a car (as all good movies should). Action Movie FX includes a missile-attack sequence that ends with a gorgeous fiery explosion. All you do is record at least 5 seconds of video (in this case, footage of your car), then wait for the app to render the … Read more