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Dragon City Mobile 1.4 Review

The growth of city building and management apps on the iPad is due in large part to the touch and play interface that the device allows. A few simple taps on any object or tile on screen and you can manage your city. Combined with notifications and a powerful processor with online connectivity (meaning social sharing), games like Dragon City Mobile are ripe for explosive popularity.

Dragon City Mobile is one of the finer made city management games on the App Store. While not wholly different from many of its contemporaries, it is fun to play and incredibly deep in … Read more

Google expands Fiber to Grandview, Mo.

Google Fiber is hitting another Kansas City, Mo., suburb, the online giant said Tuesday.

Grandview, Mo., will become the latest location to snag the super-high-speed Internet, joining other cities such as Austin, Texas; Provo, Utah; and Shawnee, Kan.

However, Google said in its blog post that it will still be "awhile" before it can build Fiber in Grandview as it needs to plan and engineer its network there first.

Google, which announced the Fiber project in February 2010, began construction of the network backbone in February 2012. The idea behind Google Fiber is for the company to build … Read more

Sims 4, due in 2014, to ditch need for Net connection

A newly unveiled Sims sequel will arriving in 2014, giving gamers yet another chance to take control of tiny virtual humans for some ruthless life management.

The Sims 4 will be published by Electronic Arts, with EA subsidiary Maxis once again taking the reins when it comes to bolting the new title together, EA said Monday in a blog post. In a case of a corporation learning from its mistakes, EA has confirmed that the next Sims installment won't require an Internet connection for gameplay.

The publisher said the game will be a "single-player offline experience." Taking … Read more

Lego book does world landmarks in plastic (Q&A)

Lego fans! If you can't get over to Legoland Malaysia to gawk at its plastic architecture, here's the next best thing. A new book titled "Brick City" looks at Lego re-creations of global landmarks and shows you how to build them.

The 256-page manual has more than 400 illustrations of architectural icons such as the Taj Mahal, Buckingham Palace, the Eiffel Tower, Chicago's Tribune Tower, and Westminster Abbey, as well as 46 instructions and two posters. Author Warren Elsmore and 13 other builders constructed the 100 models in the book, which includes vehicles such as New York cabs -- check out the eye-popping creations in "Brick City" in the gallery below. … Read more

Uber taxi-hailing service returns to NYC streets, without payments

After an eight-month absence punctuated by legal battles, Uber taxi's service is returning to the streets of New York City.

Uber launched its taxi-hailing pilot program on Tuesday night, just days after a State Supreme Court judge dismissed a lawsuit that sought to put a stop to the program. Passengers will be able to hail a cab with a smartphone app, but the app won't accept payments, at least initially.

"The way New Yorkers hail yellow cabs fundamentally transforms today, and we're proud that it's Uber who gave the Big Apple this option," Uber … Read more

Check the weather in style with the Yahoo Weather app

Yahoo Weather is a weather app that displays stunning Flickr photos as a backdrop to a wide range of weather information on your iPhone -- more than you get with Apple's weather app. There are certainly other options with more weather information, but for a quick look at what's happening in your area, Yahoo Weather is a good-looking and well-made app.

When you launch Yahoo Weather, you'll be asked immediately if the app can use your location so it can give you information on the weather around your area. From there you'll be presented with a … Read more

Nerd nirvana: Top 10 nerdiest cities in America

In just about every American city, you can find a bastion of nerdiness. There's a comic book store, or a video game shop, or a fantasy convention where all the geeks get together. Some cities, however, are much more serious about their nerdiness than others. Real estate site Movoto recently put together a list of the top 10 nerdiest cities in America.

The list was based on factors like the number of geeky conventions, the distance to the nearest Renaissance faire, and the ratio of people to computer stores, comic book stores, and live-action role-playing groups. Admittedly, it's not the most scientific of methods for determining nerd levels, but you have to set the bar somewhere.… Read more

Judge gives taxi-hailing apps in NYC the go-ahead

The on-again, off-again scenario of whether to allow taxi-hailing apps to set up shop for a pilot program in New York City is back on again.

State Supreme Court Judge Carol Huff dismissed a lawsuit Tuesday that sought to halt the pilot program, which was filed by a group of mostly livery-car companies, according to the Associated Press. This means that startups like Uber, GetTaxi, and Hailo can now commence with e-hails.

The way the taxi-hailing apps work is by letting potential passengers put their location information into the app, which is then sent to yellow cabs. The first taxi … Read more

How Dish's deal could improve Sprint

CNET Update dishes the details:

Dish has made a $25.5 billion unsolicited bid to merge with Sprint. Today's video explains what this deal means for consumers and how it might improve Sprint's network.

Also in this tech roundup:

- Microsoft reportedly is considering making a smartwatch

- Windows 8 apps for news and maps get updates

- Electronic Arts will shut down Sims games on Facebook

- This 55-inch Panasonic plasma is the first television to get a 5-star rating from CNET

Watch CNET Update in the video above, and subscribe to the podcast via the links … Read more