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Dreamliner traces '787' and Boeing logo in U.S. skies

Now this is clever marketing.

Over the last few months, Boeing has been sending its next-generation airplane, the 787 Dreamliner, all over the world on a goodwill tour meant to impress country after country with its composite materials, its curved wings, and of course its fuel efficiency.

But this month, the aviation giant sent one of its Dreamliners on a very precise flight over the United States. Over the the last two weeks, a 787 has been plying the skies of America, tracing out "787" and Boeing's signature logo over much of the northern U.S.

To … Read more

Military, government officials could get secure Android phones

Google's Android operating system may soon receive the U.S. government's seal of security approval, according to a report from CNN.

Citing a source close to the project, CNN says that developers in a government program are working on smartphones that run a customized version of the OS with security improvements. Though the first batch of test devices is authorized only for storing confidential documents, phones and tablets capable of transmitting such documents over wireless networks could arrive in the next few months.

Michael McCarthy, a director for the Army's Brigade Modernization Command, told CNN that the … Read more

CNET Roadside Assistance 42: End of the CD player--Why you might care (podcast)

We examine the end of the in-car CD player, our supposed hatred of Chevys, how to upgrade the head unit in your Prius, and the need (or not) for Android in your dash.

Subscribe with iTunes (audio) Subscribe with iTunes (video) Subscribe with RSS (audio) Subscribe with RSS (video) EPISODE 42 SHOW NOTES

U.S. CTO Aneesh Chopra is logging off

U.S. chief technology officer Aneesh Chopra is leaving his post at the White House.

Chopra, who was sworn in on May 22, 2009, works closely with U.S. Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra. Prior to taking his position in the Obama administration, Chopra was Virginia's Secretary of Technology. In the White House, according to his official bio, his job included "fostering new ideas and encouraging government-wide coordination to help the country meet its goals from job creation, to reducing health care costs, to protecting the homeland."

News of his impending departure was first reported by Fedscoop. (… Read more

Mount your attack

Allied Star Police is a fun little game with a touching backstory: developer PopCap Games helped create this simple, side-scrolling castle-defense-style game through the Make-a-Wish Foundation, for a 9-year-old with leukemia whose wish was to make a video game.

Befitting a game co-created by a 9-year-old, Allied Star Police is action-packed, quick to play, and not too complicated--with cool graphics and animation (even cooler on the iPad) and a loud, rock-out soundtrack. The game pits you (the Allied Star Police, of course) against the evil Flamions, as you send competing waves of well-armed vehicles toward each other's bases.

Your … Read more

Apple getting greener, adds iPad, iPhone recycling program for U.K., France, Germany

Apple has once again reached out to the greener side of our sympathies, this time by implementing its recycling program for iPads and iPhones in the United Kingdom, France, and Germany.

The recycling program, extended to iPads and iPhones in the United States this summer, allows customers with older-model iOS devices to send them in to Apple and receive an Apple gift card in return for the remaining value of the device.

In Germany, France, and the U.K., customers will get a direct deposit into their bank accounts for the value as opposed to a gift card, according to … Read more

NORAD ready to track Santa Claus again

Editor's note: This story originally ran in 2009. In the spirit of the holidays, we thought we'd run this touching piece again.

On a recent Christmas Eve, Jeff Martin found himself forced to explain to a Canadian general why, when Santa Claus passed through Toronto that night, Google Maps had placed the city in the United States.

Martin, then a senior marketing manager in Google's Geo group, was part of a huge team of people involved in the joint U.S.-Canada North American Aerospace Defense Command's annual NORAD Santa tracker program, a long-running effort to … Read more

$2.5 billion Mars rover departs Earth, heads for Red Planet

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla.--A towering Atlas 5 rocket flashed to life and vaulted into space Saturday, putting on a spectacular weekend sky show as it boosted NASA's $2.5 billion Mars Science Laboratory rover on an eight-and-a-half-month, 352-million-mile voyage to the Red Planet.

Equipped with a nuclear power pack, a robot arm, and a suite of sophisticated instruments, the mobile laboratory, dubbed Curiosity in a student naming contest, is expected to spend at least two years looking for organic compounds and signs of past or present habitability in the layered terrain at the heart of a 100-mile-wide crater.… Read more

Apple gives most of its top execs $60M bonuses

It's bonus season at Apple.

A flurry of new filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission show Apple's top executives getting bonuses with big payouts that hinge on them staying with the company through the end of 2016.

The company on Wednesday doled out 150,000 shares each to most of its senior vice presidents, short of recently-minted SVP Eddy Cue, who received a slightly smaller 100,000-share bonus, and design guru Jonathan Ive, who is an SVP, but does not fall under the SEC's section for directors, officers, and principal stockholders. That works out to just … Read more

Megaupload settles copyright suit with porn studio

Megaupload lives to fight another day.

The Internet file-storage business accused of helping millions around the world to store pirated videos, music, and software, has settled a copyright suit filed against it in January by Perfect 10, a porn studio with a long history of accusing tech companies of copyright violations.

Terms of the settlement weren't disclosed and representatives from the two companies did not respond to CNET's requests for comment. Megaupload is the parent company of multiple services, such as Megaporn, MegaVideo and MegaPix.

In e-mail exchanges this year with CNET, the company confirmed that it is … Read more