cell phones

Cell phones have become the most crucial personal technology purchase you can make. Not only are these devices full-fledged miniature computers in their own right, they're getting smarter with each product generation. If you're looking for a new handset right now, start with the Samsung Galaxy S4 or the HTC One. The Galaxy S4 offers all the power you'd expect from a high-end Android device in an ultraslim package. The HTC One, meanwhile, is the most gorgeous smartphone we've ever held, yet also manages to match the S4 in terms of speed and performance. Of course … Read more

T-Mobile issued invitations today for a media event in New York City on July 10.

Exactly what the carrier has in store for the shindig remains a mystery, but T-Mobile promises that it will deliver its "boldest moves yet." It all begins at 11:30 a.m. PT.

Of course, a flashy new handset (or handsets) is a big possibility, with the Sony Xperia Z as the most likely star. Remember that last week, CNET's Roger Cheng reported that T-Mobile had confirmed that the Xperia Z would go on sale "in the coming weeks."

The … Read more

Verizon Wireless today expanded its rugged smartphone lineup by announcing the Casio G'zOne Commando 4G LTE.

An update to 2011's Casio G'zOne Commando, the Commando 4G LTE has largely the same design as its predecessor. Clad in black with a few red accents, the handset packs rubber sidings for protection, and top and bottom ends that almost come to a point.

More importantly, it meets the expected military standards (under the MIL-STD-810G certification) for shock immersion, dust, vibration, salt fog, humidity, solar radiation, low pressure, and high and low temperature. What's more, the touch screen, which … Read more

As one who has been dumped by Skype, registered mail, Pinot poured on bald head, head-butt, intermediary, and sudden marriage to another, I wondered what could possibly remain.

Then I read Katy Perry's plaintive revelation that the very humorous star of "Forgetting Sarah Marshall," Russell Brand, had allegedly told her to forget their marriage by text.

I had heard that this might be a method employed in middle school to end what wasn't meant to be.

However, I wasn't aware that those designated as adults might also believe this was appropriate etiquette. … Read more

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

You wouldn't expect high-end features in a simple phone, and you're not going to get them with the Envoy II. Not only is the low-resolution screen hard to look at from certain angles, you also won't get video recording, a flash, or any expandable memory.

True, like its predecessor, this handset is geared toward people who are mostly interested in making calls. But given that, call quality should have been better than it was.

Frankly, for a prepaid price of $49.99 and a contract price of $69.99, I'd want something more. Fortunately for U.… Read more

There has been much kvetching about the revelations suggesting that the National Security Agency might have obtained records of millions of phone calls over the years.

There has been less focus on the potential good this might have done.

No, I'm not talking about protecting the U.S.A. from bad people. I'm talking about giving you an alibi for a bank robbery.

For here is a man in Florida, Terrance Brown, who believes that the NSA should be forced to hand over any records it has of his calls forthwith.

As the Sun-Sentinel reports, Brown and five … Read more

It was first spotted in Houston. But then so many strange phenomena are.

Now it's heading your way, regardless of where you might be keeping safe in these excitable United States.

It might seem to you as if it's had a few drinks. But no amount of offering it your Jack or your Bacardi will keep it from one thing it really wants in its mouth.

Yes, your S4, iPhone 5 or, indeed, anything that smacks of electronica.

Nylanderia fulva is its name. But you, at least as far as scientists are concerned, can call it the "crazy ant."… Read more

"We were more behaved than kids should be."

These deeply felt words were offered to CNN by just one of the 101 students asked to leave an Air Tran flight bound for Atlanta from New York on Monday.

Some might feel that kids on planes should just sit like the rest of the adult cattle in a soporific stupor. However, this incident provoked feelings that are anything but sleepy.

Please imagine, too, the bemused thoughts of those few left behind after 101 students (and 8 chaperones) from New York's Yeshiva of Flatbush Joel Braverman High School were … Read more