gadgets

Twitter mourns for the undead typewriter

You thought you had killed another one, techies.

With your boundless need to show how clever you are and how you can force people to change their ways of life, you were sure you had put paid to another traditional industry. But you're not as smart as all that.

Yes, Godrej & Boyce--which a news story claimed was the last known producer of typewriters in the world--declared recently that it was giving up trying to market machines that weigh more than the Taj Mahal and write slower than Thomas Pynchon.

According to India's Business Standard, the company just … Read more

Let's get real about 'digital detoxing'

We should all be panicking, obviously: the omnipresence of glowing, wireless gadgets giving us constant access to an unlimited amount of news and social-media toys is bad for our brains.

To be more specific, earlier this month a team from the University of California at San Francisco published research that claimed digital information overload, from the onslaught of Twitter updates from the site of the latest natural disaster to your mom's FarmVille updates to that YouTube video of the baby raccoon freaking out in a bathtub, can impair mental performance. Appropriately, the results come right around a week designated … Read more

Streamlining your gadget collection (video)

I remember a time not too long ago when my pockets were stuffed with my cell phone, a digital camera, and my MP3 player. Oh, and the glove box of my car housed a GPS device. No longer. Thanks to the functionality of a smartphone, I've been able to carry just one gadget for all of my chit-chatting, photo-taking, music-playing, and navigational needs. Thank goodness, because those pockets were getting bulky and it was getting expensive to continually update each device.

The accompanying video below is all about those gadgets that you no longer need to invest in--for example, … Read more

iBoobs in Android. No, they're not real.

Links from Monday's episode of Loaded:

Google confirms that it had to remove malicious apps from the Android Market

iBoobs comes to the Android Market two years after being kicked out of Apple's App Store

"The Today Show" relaunches its Web site with more emphasis on video and original Webcasts

A new study shows that technology is having a negative effect on American's sleep habits and overall health

CBS acquires Clicker and brings in the CEO to run CBS Interactive

Charlie Sheen owned the Internet over the weekend with his new Ustream show

Computer hardware online sales heat up holidays

Computer hardware is hot among holiday buyers this season, according to data out yesterday from ComScore.

As online buyers scoop up iPads, e-readers, laptops, and other portable devices, computer hardware is ringing in the holidays as the product category showing the most growth for the season so far, a 25 percent increase compared with last year.

Lower prices on flat-panel TVs is spurring growth in consumer electronics, helping that category grow 22 percent among online buyers over the same period last year, says ComScore. Books and magazines are also proving to be a popular gift item, up 21 percent from … Read more

Costco confirms it will stop selling Apple products

In an interview with The Seattle Times earlier today, Costco's Chief Financial Officer Richard Galanti confirmed the company is in the process of phasing out Apple products from its shelves.

The news confirms a 2-month-old rumor from iLounge that noted the process as already under way. iLounge's source had attributed the move to the wholesale retailer getting shut out of acquiring stock of products like the iPad, which competitors like Sam's Club, Wal-Mart Stores, and Target had gotten access to some six months after its launch.

The Seattle Times says the split is mutual and notes that, … Read more

Greatest Gadget final: Apple vs. Microsoft

Deep down, we knew it would come to this. Samsung, Sony, HTC, Sky, Nintendo: these brands may talk a good fight, but when push comes to shove there are only two tech megacorporations capable of total domination.

Microsoft and Apple. It's the oldest grudge match in tech history, and it's bubbling up once more in CNET UK's Greatest Gadget tournament, as Apple's iPhone squares off against Microsoft's Xbox 360.

Are you a Microsoft Minion? Or an Apple Acolyte? You must be a U.K. resident to score the ultimate prize in the epic tourney, an … Read more

Get a Thermal Leak Detector for $29

It's always great to save money on gadgets, but even better when that gadget helps you save even more money.

For example, the Black & Decker Thermal Leak Detector helps you locate hidden energy leaks in your home. Patch 'em up and you could save a small fortune on heating and cooling.

The gizmo has a list price of $60, but Lowe's has the Thermal Leak Detector for $29 (plus sales tax). The only hitch is that you have to pick it up in-store. (Truck delivery is laughably expensive.)

Update: Apparently this was a regional deal. Although it … Read more

What's the greatest gadget of 21st century so far?

Our British cousins at CNET UK have just launched an epic tournament to find the greatest gadget of the last 10 years. The honor of choosing the winner is down to the readers. The site is asking you to whittle a list of 32 gadgets down to just one incredible, era-defining piece of tech.

Here's how it works. Each of the 32 gadgets has been paired off with another. Starting next week, CNET UK will be asking you to vote for one of the two you feel is best.

After a week's worth of voting, the gadgets in … Read more

Holiday gadget sales could be grim

Consumer electronics retailers have good reason to be scared right now, and it has nothing to do with Halloween.

Retailers typically do one third of their annual sales between October and December, and this year's holiday shopping season is not on track for big gains, according to an analyst firm that follows the industry and interviewed shoppers. In fact, the outlook is pretty bleak.

The NPD Group says it is expecting a 1 to 3 percent decline in sales for the approaching holiday shopping season for tech retailers. And that's unfamiliar territory for an industry that's been … Read more