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We know, we've seen your e-mails. There's something that doesn't feel quite right about buying a beautiful, brand-new piece of technology and then deliberately attempting to destroy it. Granted, it's all in the name of science and helping you make better buying decisions -- and feel more confident that your device can survive the occasional drop, ding, or dunk. But still. We're not sleeping at night.

Enter the Torture Test Giveaway. We're going to give away these "lightly used" devices in whatever condition they happen to have ended up in -- so … Read more

CNET's Always On / Torture Test Giveaway

Official Rules

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. A PURCHASE WILL NOT INCREASE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING. YOU HAVE NOT YET WON. MUST BE LEGAL RESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, AT LEAST 18 YEARS OLD OR AGE OF MAJORITY, WHICHEVER IS OLDER IN YOUR STATE OF RESIDENCE AT DATE OF ENTRY INTO SWEEPSTAKES. VOID IN PUERTO RICO, ALL U.S. TERRITORIES AND POSSESSIONS AND WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.

Sponsor, Administrator and Prize Provider: CNET, a Division of CBS Interactive, Inc. 235 Second Street, San Francisco, California 94105.

Prize Provider: CNET, Always On … Read more

In the Season 2 premiere of Always On, the Google Nexus 7 takes a beating. Well, it wouldn't be fair to say it takes a beating. It receives a beating, and frankly, doesn't handle it very well. It's one of our more dramatic Torture Tests, and I think it points out that sometimes, you do get what you pay for when it comes to quality and durability. The Nexus 7 is a great tablet in many respects but, well. It's not the toughest little thing. You'll see what I mean.

We'll find out in … Read more

It's a little unusual for a Web show to have "seasons," I know, but we are trying to create something here that's equal in length and quality to our broadcast cousins, and you can't just do that week after week. So, I know an eight-week season seems a bit on the short side, but hopefully so does a four-week production break.

And when I say "break," believe me, I don't mean we took a break. I had one of the best summers in recent memory: I jumped out of a helicopter to … Read more

If you're not a fan of relying on browser add-ons and plug-ins, you'll probably want to enable a feature that can help you ditch at least one of them. Firefox now has a built-in PDF reader, and while it doesn't offer all of the same features that Adobe's version does, it's more than sufficient for most uses.

Before you get started enabling the PDF viewer, make sure you have the latest version of Firefox and you've disabled the Adobe PDF viewer.

To check the version: click the menu at the top left-hand corner and … Read more

Googling seems to be such an automatic act -- like shaving, or weeping at humanity's myopia -- that I am not even conscious of what my searches are.

So along comes Microsoft's search machine with a large-hearted promotion, asking you to truly think about whether it could be better than the great Lord Google.

Called Bing It On, the promotion asks you to offer up a search and then look at a side-by-side comparison of the results, in which the identities of the search engines are hidden. Then you vote on which results are better. You do this … Read more

This might surprise you, but our darling Sharon Vaknin has a bit of a potty mouth, and an interesting favorite cursing string that starts with the f-bomb and, well, goes from there. I know, I was shocked, too.

This week, it's blooper time at Always On -- this episode marks the best moments of Season 1 as outtakes and foul-ups (or foul-mouthed-ups, as the case may be, even though that's a completely made-up phrase that makes no sense). But you'll also get extended cuts of some good moments from Season 1, like the full interview with pro … Read more

Avast Free Antivirus for Mac is Avast's answer to concerns about how to browse safely. The application is packaged with a brand-new, easy-to-understand graphical user interface, with access to all features available at single click.

The application's onscreen tools are well-organized, and its live graphics enhance the feeling of safety -- you can see that the antivirus software doesn't sleep and is always working to protect you from any viruses circulating on the Web. Avast's free software provides three shields to protect your computer: a file system shield, an e-mail shield, and a Web shield. With … Read more

Intel's system-on-a-chip design for small devices is slated to go quad core.

Leaked Intel documents dated August 15 have appeared on a Chinese-language Web site that indicate Intel's next-generation system-on-a-chip (SoC) will be offered in configurations that include quad-core, a first for Intel's Atom chip design, according to a report at CPU World.

At the risk of wading too deeply into a codename quagmire, the Atom 22-nanometer architecture is dubbed "Silvermont" and the SoCs are referred to as "ValleyView."

The chips will also get punched-up graphics. ValleyView SoCs will integrate a graphics processing … Read more