roundup

Four security trends defined 2012, will impact 2013

The Internet is slowly changing, and security experts say that today's security issues will continue to be major players in driving that change. Here are four trends that dominated headlines in 2012, and will continue to play a major role in 2013.

The Internet as governmental tool The collective realization by governments around the world that the Internet is an excellent network for conducting surveillance, monitoring, espionage, and war, says Finnish computer security firm F-Secure's Chief Technical Officer Mikko Hypponen, may not come to full fruition in 2013. But the foundation for that change is already underway.

"… Read more

Best of the best from this year in Crave

It's been an eventful year here at Crave, what with the discovery of Dungeons & Dragons dice from the Ptolemaic Period; the strange tail of the robotic butt; a ship that flips over on purpose, and cow lady-parts that text farmers when it's time for a booty call.

Our retrospective gallery below gives you just a small sense of the mind-bending stories we encountered in our 2012 travels. Among the stories that grabbed your attention most (as judged by traffic and reader comments), we've got jaunts to remote geeky destinations in New Mexico, a trip aboard a giant Lego spaceship, and a look at a zombie-proof safe house. … Read more

Compact cameras for advanced shooters (roundup)

Editors' note: This story was originally published on November 21, 2011, but has been updated to reflect more-recent reviews. The latest update adds the Nikon Coolpix P7700.

It's a common complaint: you want the photo quality of a dSLR but find you're leaving the camera at home because it's so large.

The compromise is a compact camera with a sensor larger than a typical point-and-shoot -- sometimes even the same size as a consumer or midrange dSLR -- raw file support, and sufficient manual control over aperture and shutter speed to allow for a measure of the … Read more

Tech to be thankful for

It's easy to get jaded working at CNET. We see every phone, every tablet, every laptop, every piece of tech you can imagine. And of course they're each accompanied by a PR pitch that paints it as an unprecedented, game-changing, life-affirming, must-have gizmo. Some of them are truly great, but mostly it's just more of the same.

So to keep my heart from blackening over with cynicism, I thought I'd take a minute to remind myself about all of the great things modern technology has given us. There's no single product here, no brand name, … Read more

Top prepaid phones (roundup)

Two years is a long time. In that amount of time you can finish a master's degree or, uh...raise a baby into a 2-year-old child. OK, that latter example wasn't the most illustrative, but what I'm trying to say is that for some mobile phone users out there, two years is too long to be locked down in a carrier agreement. That's why I've gathered a few top-notch, recently released phones on prepaid carriers that are ideal for those who want to be contract-free.

Samsung Galaxy Reverb (Virgin Mobile), September 2012 Though it doesn'… Read more

Hottest tech products (fall 2012)

I'm proud of you guys. Every year we roll out our fall list of the products getting the most attention from readers, and every year it ends up being a list dominated by phones.

But not this year. No, this time you guys are spicing things up with a surprising mix of products.

Of course, this would be a very different list if we didn't put some restrictions on it. We wanted to only look at very new products (added to our site in the past two months). So for example, the popular Samsung Galaxy S3 didn't … Read more

iPad Mini, fourth-generation iPad reviews arrive

Just a week after both devices were announced, the first crop of iPad Mini and fourth-generation iPad reviews are out of the gate.

The general consensus is that reviewers like the smaller form factor of the Mini for most tasks, but yearn for the Retina Display found on Apple's other devices, like the normal-size iPad, iPod Touch, and iPhone.

For the fourth-generation iPad, most reviewers say it's zippier, but that it's also difficult to tell how much zippier, since developers haven't done anything to push it to the limit. Reviewers also suggest that owners of the … Read more

Complete guide to using iOS 6 (roundup)

iOS 6 was first previewed during Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference last June, revealing a few big changes, and many more minor tweaks to the operating system that powers the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch.

You'll need to update to iOS 6 before you can take advantage of the new features, so be sure you've done that before diving into the new features. Here are just a few of the best features and how to use them. We'll continue updating this page with more tips and tricks as we have them.… Read more

Apple iPad Mini: The ultimate rumor roundup

Lately there's been no shortage of rumors that Apple's got a smaller iPad on the way. The only problem is that we've heard this song and dance before.

Don't believe us?

CNET has rounded up just about every claim that a smaller iPad is on the way, going back to before the original iPad was announced.

It's a collection we plan to keep lovingly updated, and also one that should serve as a tasty grain of salt to take with any rumors that make their way out in the next few months. (Editors' note: This … Read more

Flip phones to flip for (roundup)

Don't get me wrong, I still love my smartphones as much as any modern 21st century kid. But there's something about whipping out a flip phone and then shutting it closed that is very gratifying. And while many phone manufactures pump out high-tech handsets every season, it's nice to see that once in a while, a simple flip phone still makes it through the pipeline.

Not only do these handsets have the best call quality (and really, isn't that what phones are made for?), but they also are extremely simple to use and can withstand a … Read more