Tech News, Tips and Advice

There’s a whole team behind the special Google logos that mark holidays, big events, and VIP birthdays. CNET’s Daniel Terdiman witnesses the Doodlers in process.

Everyone knows about the special versions of its logo that Google posts from time to time. But how do they come about?

Technologies that help air traffic control systems discern flying airplanes from wind turbines show positive results, but cooperation among government agencies is needed.

Hurd and Oracle are in negotiations to have the former HP chief join Oracle as a senior executive, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

The telecommunications infrastructure company gives ZDNet UK a tour of its cable gear factory and the ship Ile de Batz, offering a look at a vital part of the global Internet that’s normally hidden by miles of water.

A Liquid Paper-like product’s ad, created specifically to run on YouTube, shows the possibility of creating something remarkable on a site for which display advertising is becoming a key profit-making component.

In a remarkable twist to the battle over Craigslist’s Adult Services area, the site removes the section and replaces the home-page link to it with a “censored” tag.

Here are a few of CNET Reviews’ favorite items from the past week, including the Garmin Nuvi 3790T, the Microsoft Arc Touch mouse, and an Iomega 1TB hard drive built for the Mac.

The iPhone’s no longer the only smartphone with a CNET News app. Our breaking stories and in-depth features are now even easier to read and browse on Android devices from the new, free CNET News app. Read about what it does and why it’s worth downloading.

Internet privacy groups will be the beneficiary of the settlement, which came as the result of a lawsuit filed over Google’s maligned Buzz launch.

VCs are funneling funds into Foursquare, Gowalla, Loopt, and other apps that let users check-in and then broadcast their locations. We find out why on this week’s show, featuring Claire Cain Miller of The New York Times and Adrianne Jeffries of ReadWriteWeb.

Facebook has added more functionality to its search results by including all the articles a user’s friends have said they “like.”

Attorney General Greg Abbott has asked Google for information regarding the complaints of several companies that Google is penalizing them in search results.

A prototype implantable artificial kidney could, in the next decade, render costly and inefficient dialysis a treatment of the past, according to work out of UCSF.

The new Apple TV doesn’t support video content with 1080p resolution, but it shouldn’t have a major impact on its image quality.

Though most feel safer and more in touch with mobile phones in hand, many are annoyed by the interruption of calls, says Pew Internet study.

It’s got its rough patches, but the Samsung Galaxy Tab’s size, screen, and performance shows Android tablets can work. Here’s a hands-on look, with video.

At the huge IFA consumer electronics show, the big names in tech show off their newest wares, including an Android-based tablet from Samsung and a cloud-based music service from Sony.

In an interview, CNET’s Ina Fried speaks with the three people behind “Catfish”–that other Facebook movie. This one is both a documentary and a thriller.

Toshiba has gone all in for Android. At the IFA electronics show in Berlin, it displayed its Folio tablet and its AC 100 Netbook. Here’s how they looked.

At the huge IFA consumer electronics show, the big names in tech show off their newest wares, including an Android-based tablet from Samsung and a cloud-based music service from Sony.

Also in this week’s Ask Maggie advice column find out why Verizon Wireless is able to charge more for its service and why T-Mobile gives customers who don’t sign a contract a break on their monthly fees.

The tablet will cost 399 to 499 euros in Europe when it goes on sale later this year. Here’s a hands-on look at it and Toshiba’s AC100 Android Netbook.

The new nHD model of the Pico DLP line has better optical performance and lower power consumption, Texas Instruments says.

The SD Association should rev its flash card specification in 2011 with faster cards arriving the year after. Also at IFA, Toshiba announces faster cards using today’s SD technology.

Despite claiming a rather nifty Chanel bag containing cocaine was not hers, it seems the dazzling socialite tweeted a picture of a bag that looks spectacularly similar more than a month ago.

Space agency hopes to send a spacecraft into the solar atmosphere by 2018.

A few days after AT&T said its push toward “paid prioritization” of network traffic is backed by technical standards, the Internet’s primary standards body disagrees.

Executives from the Korean electronics giant say their Android-based tablet matches and sometimes outdoes Apple’s iPad. Samsung has its work cut out.

More and more sporting events are being broadcast in 3D, but exclusive distribution deals limit who can see what.

Apple’s incredible success in the digital music player category puts it in an odd position. Except for a few minor tweaks of design, it’s not clear how much more Apple can do with the category.

Ping picks at the good parts of Twitter and Facebook and builds a social network around something for which everyone has strong feelings. Might Ping teach Facebook something about privacy too?

In a move that could raise privacy concerns, the microblogging site said Wednesday evening that it will record and analyze every link users click on when using its Web site or any of the thousands of third-party apps.

The newest compact laptops from Hewlett-Packard strike an improved balance between performance and power efficiency.

CNET Senior Editor Donald Bell weighs in with his first impressions of the fourth-generation Apple iPod Touch.

Ford reveals its newest pursuit-rated vehicle–the company’s first-ever specially designed Police Interceptor utility.

Apple’s Web site suggests wider support for AirPlay wireless streaming from third-party vendors, but offers few details.

Google adds a new labs feature to its bleeding-edge version of Chrome to make it easier for users to test features that are still in development, but at least partially ready for users to explore.

Imagine the day when a mirror tells you what shade of lipstick to wear. That day has already arrived at Boots stores in the U.K. and a handful of Wal-Marts here in the U.S.

The media giant is ready to move beyond the disaster that was Sony Connect and once again take on iTunes, according to the FT.

As usual, rumors are swirling about what is coming during Apple’s annual fall event, typically music-focused, taking place this year on Wednesday morning. Stay up-to-date here.

Sony has officially unveiled three new e-readers, the Reader Pocket Edition PRS-350, Reader Touch Edition PRS-650, and the Reader Daily Edition PRS-950. They all feature next-generation touch-screen E-Ink technology.

Online retail giant is in talks with major media companies to create a subscription service to deliver movies and TV shows in a model similar to that of Netflix, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Alongside Arcade Fire song “We Used To Wait,” lots of pop-up windows and videos incorporating real street scenes from Google Street View are among the highlights of this crafty Chrome demo.

For months we’ve heard Apple was pitching Hollywood studios to adopt a 99-cent rental fee for TV shows. According to the Journal, Disney and Fox have signed on.

Apple announces that it will provide a live video stream of Wednesday’s music event, but only to those who have Macs running OS X, an iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch.

Bloomberg reports that when the Apple set-top box debuts, Netflix will be the featured digital-movie service.

CNET will be covering Apple’s yearly music event in San Francisco live, starting at 10 a.m. PDT Wednesday.

This summer, the hot springs resort of Atami became a vacation hub for guys who like to treat their digital girlfriends to romantic sun-and-fun getaways.

After making Windows Phone 7 her primary mobile operating system for the last month, CNET’s Ina Fried reports about what she does and doesn’t like about Microsoft’s new offering.

CNET’s Ina Fried shows what she likes–and doesn’t like–about Windows Phone 7, Microsoft’s effort to get back into the phone game.

Speech technology efforts are top of mind as the company searches for ways to improve the most natural computer input method of all.

New feature sorts mail into three sections: “important and unread,” “starred,” and “everything else.” The latter isn’t spam. It’s “bologna.”

Software maker tells CNET it’s posting an open letter to VMWare customers, aiming to get them to think twice before signing long-term deals with the virtualization leader.

Rain and sun at the famous arts festival inspired a large-scale and spontaneous recitation of the famous “Double Rainbow” meme.

In a collaboration between NASA, Flickr, and the Internet Archive, dozens of historic space images are getting more public exposure.

Skype and Cisco Systems could be a match made in heaven. Cisco is reportedly courting Skype, which plans to go public sometime this fall.

NASA and the Internet Archive have agreed to bring historic photos related to the space organization to Flickr Commons.

“Affective computing” standards and technology could help computers grasp human emotion. An intuitive user interface sounds nice, but what about information overshare?

More companies are developing solar systems that can be installed a few panels at a time, bringing down the hefty upfront cost of solar photovoltaics.

Solar power can be a pricey project for your house, but tech advances are making it possible to fit just a few panels in a tight space, bringing upfront costs down.

It’s one of the many questions we have leading up to Wednesday’s Apple music event. We look at what will happen to the iPod lineup, what’s next for iTunes on the Web, and the chances of seeing an improved Apple TV.

World’s largest chipmaker is buying Infineon’s wireless unit as it seeks to boost its presence in smartphones.

Google is looking to jump-start its fledgling movie rental service with titles from Hollywood’s major studios, according to a report in the Financial Times.

Controversy swirls around whether tech excludes both women and those of an advanced age. If true, will this always be the case? Or will the tech world become a little more inclusive?

Just the right number of gadgets and computers can enhance productivity, but there is a tipping point when too many gadgets hinder rather than help productivity.

In a major restructuring, the news-gathering organization will break up its news room and deemphasize print to focus on tablets, smartphones, and other digital platforms.

The search giant is experiencing a delay in acquiring ITA, which provides software for plane fare comparison sites such as Orbitz.

In a vintage video clip, Apple’s iconic CEO, Steve Jobs, kicks off the company’s spectacular comeback by introducing the Think Different campaign. And he does it in shorts and sandals.

Less than a week after Communications Products Head Jason Titus bid Yahoo good-bye, the company’s VP for social platforms, Neal Sample, follows suit.

After the members of 4Chan expose a British woman who put a cat in a trash bin for 15 hours, the Web excoriates her so much that she has to go into hiding.

Can Diaspora, an open-source social networking project developed by NYU students, justify the hype it’s received? Maybe, but it’ll be tough.

Tokyo entertainment firm Kokoro shows off its latest fembot, Actroid F, in a PR video. The lifelike android is slated to go on sale to work as a receptionist or hospital worker.

Tokyo entertainment firm Kokoro shows off its latest fembot, Actroid F, in a PR video. The lifelike android is slated to go on sale to work as a receptionist or hospital worker.

Here are a few of CNET Reviews’ favorite items from the past week, including the 2011 Audi A8, the newest Amazon Kindle, and the Nikon Coolpix S6000.

A major lens overhaul yields two new supertelephoto lenses and two prototypes. The SLR powerhouse clearly wants to keep pro shooters from defecting to Nikon.

Spam message, which Facebook says it’s looking into, is similar to ones used on Twitter earlier this year.

CNET took a ride in the full flight simulator for Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner aircraft in Renton, Wash. Catch a glimpse of our virtual flight.

The new Digg is out for everyone, but a few things went awry or missing along the way. Founder Kevin Rose has come out with a laundry list of the problems, fixes.

CNET takes a ride in Boeing’s 787 simulator.

Cricket Wireless exec Al Moschner dropped by CNET’s offices to talk efforts to go national, growth in prepaid, an impending music service, and cheaper data plans

Producers of Oscar-winning film “The Hurt Locker” did not properly serve a subpoena on a South Dakota-based ISP, according to that company’s lawyers.

Facebook is reportedly not only trying to trademark the word “book” but the word “face.” Yet Apple owns the trademark for FaceTime. Might Cupertino object?