With Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA), Congress needs to take a breath, step back, and approach the issues from a fresh perspective - About 14 million people participated in Jan. 18 online protests against the two bills... The bills would have harmed free speech, innovation, cybersecurity and job creation ... Senator Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat and lead sponsor of PIPA, has indicated he wants to push forward with legislation

Posted on 7 February 2012 | 6:38 pm

The mobile-device explosion may be getting fueled in recent months by Kindle Fires and iPads, but smartphones continue to be the foundation of the incredible growth the mobile industry is experiencing.

Posted on 7 February 2012 | 6:10 pm

The plug-in hybrid (PHEV) version of Toyota's best-selling Prius hybrid, which is debuting in the U.S. next month and will be commercially available in 14 states this Spring (national rollout in 2013), was first supposed to be rated at around 87 MPG-equivalent. This alone would have been enough to put the plug-in Prius pretty high on the fuel-efficiency list, but after more testing, Toyota has revised its estimate and now says it is confident that the Prius PHEV will get 95 MPGe, which is 2 MPGe more than the Chevrolet Volt, which is rated at 93 MPGe. Be careful, though, as fuel-efficiency num

Posted on 7 February 2012 | 5:33 pm

Open-web advocates may long for a revolt against walled gardens, but in the end the success of a social network is determined by the willingness of users to put up with its restrictions. For Facebook, that is both its biggest strength and its biggest weakness.

Posted on 7 February 2012 | 5:25 pm

Twitter's policies change worldwide as the world changes because of Twitter.

Posted on 7 February 2012 | 5:03 pm

Paramount, "humbled" by last month's SOPA defeat, wants to visit college campuses to discuss the challenges of "content theft." But last week the head of parent company Viacom denounced the "mob mentality" behind the protests.

Posted on 7 February 2012 | 3:36 pm

High drama in cyber realm after hackers wanted $50,000 from Symantec or else the hacking group would leak the security firm's source code. Email negotiations between hackers and feds posing as a Symantec employee went down in flames. Now a file claiming to be Symantec's pcAnywhere source code has set sail into the wild from The Pirate Bay.

Posted on 7 February 2012 | 2:07 pm

Last week, a blog called Console Cowboys exposed a security vulnerability in some models of Trendnet home security cameras. Following the instructions on the site, thousands of streaming personal IP cameras can be accessed.

Posted on 7 February 2012 | 1:32 pm

Dropbox serves as a rock-solid cloud storage service for millions of personal and business customers.

Posted on 7 February 2012 | 1:14 pm

Yikes.

Posted on 7 February 2012 | 11:27 am

The same maps that can help you find your way to the mall can help the police predict where meth labs will pop up next. Here's a look inside the strange, fascinating world of geospatial predictive analysis.

Posted on 7 February 2012 | 9:58 am

Panorama's Declan Lawn confronts a man who uses the internet to post offensive comments.

Posted on 7 February 2012 | 9:13 am

Facebooking has its benefits, but it also holds mental-health pitfalls, especially for competitive young men and people with low self-esteem.

Posted on 7 February 2012 | 4:44 am

Best Buy has been sending out consumer surveys asking for people's opinions on potential products and services that could be released. It's a common practice for retailers to do this and normally no one would bat and eyelash at such a survey, but the fact that Best Buy is gauging customers, in detail, about an Apple brand HDTV has people wondering...

Posted on 7 February 2012 | 3:05 am

Over 70 different groups, including many who were central to the January 18th online protests against SOPA, have put together a letter asking Congress to put a halt to any attempts to further expand intellectual property laws. The key point: Now...

Posted on 7 February 2012 | 12:45 am

A new Facebook scam tricks people into downloading malware by using a fake CNN report about World War III.

Posted on 6 February 2012 | 10:19 pm

Anonymous' gutting of Puckett & Faraj, the firm that defended the Marines behind the Haditha Killing, might have been more than a major embarrassment.

Posted on 6 February 2012 | 9:23 pm

A wonderful thing about computers, like cars, is that there's one out there for everyone. But in recent weeks I've been particularly sensitive to a trend I truly don't understand: Computers, or cases for them, that don't seem to be designed with their users in mind.

Posted on 6 February 2012 | 6:10 pm

Google's secret project(s) will soon produce Google Glasses that integrate head motion control with heads-up display.

Posted on 6 February 2012 | 5:53 pm

"Mrs. Chen," as CNN calls her, works in a Foxconn plant installing iPad screens for virtually every waking hour of her life. Despite this, she never actually saw an iPad until CNN whisked her away.

Posted on 6 February 2012 | 4:03 pm

Parents of students attending Albert Einstein High School in Montgomery County, Md. are upset after some high schoolers were sent home with flyers claiming nobody is "born gay," My Fox DC reports.

Posted on 7 February 2012 | 7:24 pm

You know it's true. But now covert surveillance of people parking their cars shows the truth in the data. The surveillance, which was initiated by the Croydon, U.K.-based car park firm NCP, was done as part of one of the most comprehensive studies (PDF) ever conducted on gender driving differences. The firm employed a team of researchers to observe 2,500 drivers across 700 parking lots in Britain over a one-month period.

Posted on 7 February 2012 | 7:03 pm

Billions of bacteria and fungi are ready to go to work making compost for you. All you need to do is provide them with the conditions they need to grow and reproduce.

Posted on 7 February 2012 | 6:35 pm

Questions This Cover Raises: "What Should You Know About Social Networking?" and, in tiny type at the bottom, "How Should We Pray to God?" Ping Him!

Posted on 7 February 2012 | 5:53 pm

It turns out most of us value nearby stores and parks rather than McMansions. Luckily, that's probably where we're headed.

Posted on 7 February 2012 | 3:50 pm

The real benefit of technology will be in the development of new learning progressions -- pathways that combine adaptive learning, social learning, and project-based learning -- that are engaging, efficient, and effective.

Posted on 7 February 2012 | 3:50 pm

A collection of famous sayings about food from sources like Julia Child, Mario Batali, Anthony Bourdain, Thomas Keller, Jay Leno, Federico Fellini, and Anaïs Nin.

Posted on 7 February 2012 | 3:11 pm

How many of the rumors are inflated, and how many get at the real heart of why people responded to this decision with so much outrage?

Posted on 7 February 2012 | 1:43 pm

Orlando is a destination for rollercoaster lovers, but apparently there are unstated requirements for riders. A 17-year-old-girl was told that she could not partake in some of the city's most thrilling rides because she does not have hands.

Posted on 6 February 2012 | 7:56 pm

From health insurance to housing, singletons get fleeced. Maura Kelly explores the rights of the unwed.

Posted on 6 February 2012 | 7:40 pm

University of Missouri educator using web to share cancer experience, says he's not wasting his time fighting the cancer

Posted on 6 February 2012 | 6:07 pm

Posted on 6 February 2012 | 5:48 pm

Gas prices always soar in the springtime. Northerners venture out of their houses more as milder weather arrives, and the market anticipates higher consumption for summer vacation trips.

Posted on 6 February 2012 | 5:43 pm

Here's how we're doing.

Posted on 6 February 2012 | 5:36 pm

Data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that there were 706 cases of syphilis diagnosed among U.S. adults aged 45-54 in 2000 and 179 in those aged 55-64; by 2010 the numbers had risen to 2,056 and 493, respectively. A similar increase was seen in cases of Chlamydia. In 2010, there were 16,106 in the 45-54 age group diagnosed with the Chlamydia, versus 5,601 in 2000, and 1,110 cases in adults aged 55-64 in 2000, compared with 3,523 in 2010.

Posted on 6 February 2012 | 4:47 pm

When it comes to child abuse, the first year of life is the most dangerous for children. Although SIDS, or sudden infant death syndrome, attracts far more attention, the rate of hospital admissions related to SIDS is actually lower than the rate of child abuse — 50 per 100,000 children under age 1...

Posted on 6 February 2012 | 3:22 pm

This year, on MLK Day, we brought together more than 750 volunteers and corps members to paint inspiring quotes above doorways and spruce up school walls with colorful painted murals. There is something cool about how a little paint can really change your mood when you enter a space.

Posted on 6 February 2012 | 2:09 pm

Rejoice fellows of the Lego ring, because we got the first close-up look of the Lego Lord of the Rings sets coming out this year. And they are amazing,

Posted on 6 February 2012 | 12:15 am

​Leading up to today's showdown between the Giants and the Patriots, we've been offering up recipes and ideas for those of you brave souls who are hosting Super Bowl parties at home. And if you've decided that you don't want to take the easy way out by ordering a party pack of barbecue, here are some tips to keep in mind this Sunday.

Posted on 5 February 2012 | 6:45 pm

Drinking two large glasses of wine a day triples the risk of developing mouth cancer, a government campaign will warn.

Posted on 5 February 2012 | 6:38 pm

The study of sex should belong to the social sciences, not the physical sciences. In centuries past, it was not uncommon for adults of the same sex to share a bed. It was a way to keep warm, save money, and maximize quality time between friends.

Posted on 5 February 2012 | 2:55 pm

Most people's exposure to rural environments consists of taking a scenic drive through wine country or being tricked onto a tomato farm by a Domino's ...

Posted on 5 February 2012 | 5:49 am

Look, I love dogs and cats as much as the next guy — probably more, unless he also spends a good chunk of his day watching videos of Corgis on YouTube.

Posted on 5 February 2012 | 4:35 am

Read about three families who are falling out of the middle class and living on the lower end of the income scale.

Posted on 5 February 2012 | 4:27 am

Seen as factor in declining population there; Many say they can't be bothered with relationships and prefer video games

Posted on 5 February 2012 | 12:47 am

More than 200 passengers on two cruise ships headed to south Florida have been stricken with a gastrointestinal illness.

Posted on 5 February 2012 | 12:12 am

Releasers and torrent racers are the select few counted on by millions to bring the latest movies, music and video games to the wider Internet in record time. One such person, a 15-year-old school kid, eventually gained access to elite piracy sites and went on to become the top uploader on one of the world's most famous BitTorrent trackers. But how did the buzz of the elite compare to being hunted down by a Patriot Act-empowered FBI?

Posted on 4 February 2012 | 9:41 pm

Just because kids are idiots who’ll buy anything with their favorite character’s face slapped on the box doesn’t mean that toy companies should take advantage of them. Here’s some of the most odious licensed crap to have ever been hawked as “fun” or “worth buying.”

Posted on 4 February 2012 | 3:52 pm

Point, Texas (pop. 792) is not the easiest place for a single lesbian to raise her child. But neither her sexuality nor her unwed parenthood are enough to make Renee Johnson an American conservative’s worst nightmare. As she explained to me when I

Posted on 4 February 2012 | 2:54 pm

You would think it might be New York with its dreamy skyscrapers. Or how about a quaint village on the California coast when couples can escape it all. No, the most romantic place in the whole of the United States is apparently the city of La Crosse in Wisconsin.

Posted on 4 February 2012 | 1:12 pm

After watching her father and mother suffer the effects of debilitating illness, the author Ann Thwaite explains why she rejoiced at news of her parents' deaths

Posted on 4 February 2012 | 8:19 am

See photos of African marriage rituals (including Berber, Swahili, Masai, and more) in this travel photo gallery from National Geographic.

Posted on 4 February 2012 | 8:05 am

Patrick Papagni, a lieutenant with the Paterson Police Department, was placed on desk duty in October after being charged with aggravated assault with a weapon for allegedly pointing his gun at his girlfriend and dragging her out of her house.

Posted on 3 February 2012 | 7:47 pm

Social media criticism should focus on whether a service works, not the people who use it.

Posted on 3 February 2012 | 7:06 pm

Steady reduction in segregated communities is significant -- and due to variety of factors

Posted on 3 February 2012 | 5:26 pm

90% of North Americans consume caffeine on a daily basis. When ingested by itself, caffeine is extremely bitter — not the type a flavor many of us want lingering on our taste buds. Some foods naturally offer substantial amounts of caffeine, while other companies load up caffeine into...

Posted on 3 February 2012 | 5:09 pm

This Super Bowl Sunday the New York Giants will battle the New England Patriots, but here in Denver, we’re still talking about our favorite son, famed Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow.

Posted on 3 February 2012 | 2:07 pm

Telegraph journalist Chris Knapman heads to Sweden where he learns how to drift a Corvette supercar in the snow.

Posted on 3 February 2012 | 11:36 am

Charitable organizations geared towards non-believers are growing.

Posted on 3 February 2012 | 8:23 am

South Florida and Michigan dominate our annual look at the cities whose residents have the most to complain about.

Posted on 3 February 2012 | 6:20 am

Hot Wheels' iPhone app controls the little Ken Block Fiesta radio controlled car.

Most remote control cars come with dual stick controllers, but Hot Wheels opens up many more driving options with its iPhone controller app.

Although a little clunky to set up, Hot Wheel's iNitro Speeders gives the option of using an iPhone to control its little remote control cars. The iPhone app includes the standard dual stick controller, but also lets you drive the car with the iPhone's accelerometer, choose a predefined driving pattern, or draw your own pattern.

The iNitro Speeders car is less than two inches long.

Hot Wheels sent us the iNitro Speeders kit with a Ken Block Fiesta car, one style of about eight. The Ken Block Fiesta is only 1 3/4 inches long, with a 1 inch width body. The body style is very close in look to the actual car on which it is based, but the wheels stick out far from the body.

The car comes with a carrying case that serves as charger and physical controller. This case has the dual stick controller setup, with forward and reverse on the left, and turning on the right.

Push the control stick forward, and the car takes off like a shot. ... [Read more]

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Posted on 8 February 2012 | 2:00 am

Olympus OM-D E-M5

Much as it did when launching the PEN series of Micro Four Thirds cameras, Olympus trots out another beloved film brand and updates it for the digital age. This time out, though, Olympus frames enthusiasts squarely in the scene.

The Olympus OM3, design ancestor of the OM-D series.

When Olympus revived the venerable PEN brand with the PEN E-P1 in 2009, I suspect its product planners were a bit taken aback by how well it was received by prosumer photographers and slightly dismayed by its failure to become a blockbuster among the coveted point-and-shoot crowd. This time around, Olympus' reincarnation of its OM film line targets those enthusiasts who've proven to be either Olympus loyalists or fans of the Micro Four Thirds (MFT) interchangeable-lens standard. And while I'm not fond of the nomenclature--the first model is the overhyphenated OM-D E-M5--Olympus certainly deserves points for style.

It has a modest-size body, but it's built along the same lines as the E-5 dSLR: a bit tanklike, with a magnesium alloy chassis that's dust and weather sealed. While the PEN series eschews built-in electronic viewfinders... [Read more]

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Posted on 8 February 2012 | 2:00 am

Sony gave us the Xperia Ion at CES. Could the Xperia Sola be next?

With Mobile World Congress just three weeks away, rumors continue to fly about what we might see out of big players like Nokia, LG, Samsung, and HTC.

Sony has been a notable exception up until now, but a recent filing with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office may finally offer some clues as to what the company has in store.

Filed on January 31, the application asks for a trademark on the name "Xperia Sola." Though there's no indication as to what type of device would carry... [Read more]

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Posted on 8 February 2012 | 12:42 am

Ep. 75: Hot for teacher

Eric and Donald run though the latest in desktop haptic devices, including a weather forecaster you can feel, and a USB kissing robot cow.

"Tron"-inspired electroluminescence makes a comeback with some neat shades and an eco-friendly charging cable. And in Geek News, we take a longer look at "The Avengers" and a preview of the upcoming "Amazing Spider-Man."

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Episode 75

A raspberry, pointing fingers, flowers, and a cat? Sometimes companies plant exciting clues in their press conference invitations. And other times, you're better off putting the puzzle out of your mind.

Of this I am certain: HTC is throwing a press conference the night before Mobile World Congress officially kicks off (February 26), and I'm going.

Thankfully, there are enough rumors and leaks to guess that one device we could be seeing is the HTC Edge, which could also be the world's first quad-core phone. We caught whiff of that one back in November.

Related stories

• What to expect out of HTC at Mobile World Congress
• Leaked HTC Edge could be world's first quad-core phone
• HTC Titan II drops jaws with 16MP camera, 4.7-in screen

There's also talk of the ... [Read more]

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Posted on 7 February 2012 | 11:56 pm

Perhaps you are aware that we conduct power consumption testing across a number of review categories.

David Katzmaier started it with TV reviews in 2006. We rolled it out to desktops, laptops, and monitors in 2009. At least for most desktops, measuring power consumption no longer makes sense. So we're going to stop.

I wish we'd started testing energy usage on desktops earlier, particularly with Intel's old power hog Pentium D chips. The problem is Moore's Law. Intel's Sandy Bridge chips (sorry, "second-generation Core") are too damn efficient. They're also pretty much everywhere.

The result is that our power draw tests aren't all that interesting anymore for mainstream PCs. The chart below helps illustrate the point.

Posted on 7 February 2012 | 11:47 pm

The LG Miracle

Photos of a new Windows Phone, dubbed the LG Miracle, have been revealed by Pocketnow, and boy does it look...underwhelming.

Don't get me wrong, I have no qualms with either LG or Microsoft, and I'm always excited to hear about what new phones will be sporting the Windows Phone platform.

But seriously, if it weren't for that fake lens flare up at the top right, my eyes would have just glazed over the whole picture. It looks like every other (save for the Nokia Lumias) Windows Phone we've seen so far.

As far as the specs go, the phone is expected to have a 4-inch NOVA display, 8GB of internal storage, a 1GHz Snapdragon processor, a 5-megapixel camera (able to handle 720p video recordings), a front-facing VGA camera, and HSPA connectivity.

The phone is also rumored to have an NFC chip, which will allow it to wirelessly transfer data between itself and nearby NFC enabled devices.

We anticipated the chip appearing in phones stocked withWindows Phone 8. Those are scheduled to come out some time around Q4. But since the LG Miracle is coming in Spring, perhaps users will take a bite out of the NFC chip earlier than expected.

There hasn't been... [Read more]

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Posted on 7 February 2012 | 11:45 pm

HTC is quietly re-evaluating strategies for the coming year.

After a less than perfect 2011 in which even HTC admits that it "tried to do too much," the handset maker is looking at the new year with a new perspective.

What should the company do to resurrect the glowing brand that helped build Android? Ask around and you'll get a variety of suggestions, from releasing considerably fewer devices to scrapping its custom Sense UI skin. Talk to HTC, however, and you'll find that it has plans of its own.

Recently, the company announced that it has formed a new internal group for creating key products to help it "regain the edge" over the next year. Called the "Studio," the group is composed of designers and engineers and will report directly to CEO Peter Chou.

It's not immediately obvious whether this secret society is already in operation or if it's still being fleshed out, but in light of the company's ... [Read more]

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Posted on 7 February 2012 | 11:25 pm

Star Fox stars in his own Hipstamatic gallery on a fictional Facebook page.

Artist Andrew Golden lives in a world where famous video game characters have escaped from their consoles, signed up for Facebook accounts, and posted photos from their everyday lives.

Golden's imaginings run the gamut from Uncharted Drake's family vacation at the Grand Canyon to Goro from Mortal Kombat showing off his 12-pack stomach and four arms at the gym.

The images don't stop at snapshots. They also include snarky or admiring comments from video game characters' Facebook friends. Mario from Super Mario Brothers hoists a beer at a bar while his sibling Luigi announces his photobomb in the comments section.

Zelda and Link share a sappy photo of themselves cuddling in Zelda's album of engagement pics. The happy couple is congratulated in the comments with lots of excessive exclamation marks from Navi and the Happy Mask Salesman.

This isn't the first time video game characters have made an attempt to escape into real life. Angry Birds have flown through the air for a T-Mobile marketing stunt and French comedian Remi Gaillard took a ... [Read more]

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Posted on 7 February 2012 | 11:07 pm

Buy one hardcover book, or a whole computer for the same price. Your choice.

Finally, a computer that costs less than a filet mignon is almost here. We first reported on the $25 (a "B" model with double the RAM and an Ethernet port runs $35) minicomputer way back in May of last year, and now it's less than two weeks from finishing production.

The Raspberry Pi Foundation's Liz Upton over at the Raspberry Pi site discloses that after some delays, the first production run will be finished in China on February 20 and immediately shipped to the U.K., where it should be available for purchase from the Web site by the end of the month.

Raspberry Pi's creators plan to make 10,000 in the first run, and while they will be available to the public, the foundation is a charitable organization that hopes it can help inspire children worldwide to learn programming. It's currently looking into organizing a "buy one, give one" program that will try to get more of the minicomputers into the hands of underprivileged kids.

Related stories

• ... [Read more]
  
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  Posted on 7 February 2012 | 10:41 pm