Crave

MONTREAL -- Guitar-strumming astronaut Chris Hadfield is hanging up his spacesuit and quitting the astronaut biz, with plans to pursue "private interests." Does that mean a Leonard Nimoy-style album?

Heralded as the most popular spaceman since Neil Armstrong, the social-media phenom announced his retirement Monday at Canadian Space Agency headquarters outside Montreal, his first Canadian appearance since returning to Earth in May after five months on the ISS.

"I've decided to retire from government service after 35 years of serving our country," Hadfield, 53, told a press conference, adding that he's making good on a promise he made to his wife 30 years ago. … Read more

Nowadays breathalyzers are being used to detect far more than just how much alcohol one has imbibed. Researchers in Sweden are working on one that can spot marijuana and cocaine. Scientists in Germany are exploring one that can sniff out heart failure. And researchers in the U.S. are hard at work on one that can detect diseases such as diabetes.

And now, a group of chemists at the University of Pittsburgh is unveiling new sensor technology that could lead to a breathalyzer for not just the detection of diabetes, but the ongoing monitoring of it as well.… Read more

Now that Google Glass is in the hands of developers, it seems like everybody wants a smartphone connection on their specs. That pesky $1,500 price tag is a little annoying, though. Let's say you don't need all the fancy Glass features, like an eyeball-level display, camera, directions, search, and voice commands. If you're satisfied with just notifications, then you may soon be able to connect your smartphone to your glasses for $25.

The NanoGlass Indiegogo project from EmoPulse consists of a small Bluetooth device that attaches to the side of a pair of glasses. A fiber optic strip extends toward the front, just enough to show up in your peripheral vision.… Read more

Apple may not be able to do anything to stop a mugger from stealing your iPhone, but changes in iOS 7 will prevent the thief from trying to sell the phone as new.

At its Worldwide Developers Conference here on Monday, Apple unveiled several security enhancements. Activation Lock is the most interesting. Though the company didn't go deep into detail on the new feature, Apple's head of Mac software engineering, Craig Federighi, said the feature prevents unauthorized resetting of an iPhone or iPad.

Basically, if the Find My Phone tracking utility has been deactivated, or if the phone … Read more

It's official: iOS 7 arrives this fall, bringing with it a Cook's ransom in new features and a fairly radical new design.

I suspect the latter will spark the most conversation, with some users no doubt finding the much-ballyhooed "flat" icons just plain flat. (My take: They've transformed from pretty to ugly. I like the new fonts and overall design, but those icons look really amateurish.)

Ah, but on the feature front, iOS 7 doesn't disappoint. Apple packed in so many badly needed updates and improvements, it's hard to know where to tap … Read more

There are heaps of RPG miniatures available. It's easy to find muscled warrior dudes, cloaked wizard guys, armor-clad knights, and masculine beasts. It's less easy to find the ladies, especially ones wielding mighty weapons.

The RPG miniature options for women players (or anyone playing with a woman character) are about to explode with the overwhelming funding response to the Raging Heroes: The Toughest Girls of the Galaxy Kickstarter project. The miniatures come from an experienced French company and are geared for science fiction war game scenarios.… Read more

LOS ANGELES -- So, the Xbox One does play games after all.

After enduring criticism from the gaming community that the Xbox One launch last month was light on the gaming news, Microsoft responded on Monday at a pre-E3 press conference with a torrent of game announcements, including a handful of key exclusive titles, such as Dead Rising 3, and a tease of the next game in the Halo franchise, which will land next year.

In running through a marathon of announcements, Microsoft's message to the gamers was simple: We haven't abandoned you. The company also said the Xbox One would launch in November and sell for $499. … Read more

Apple unveiled on Monday a new look for Siri that came with new voice options, actions, and some hot integration, including in-car options and music streaming.

The voice command technology has new voices, female and male -- also available in French and German. Siri's display includes a new look that shows a sound wave at the bottom while its detecting a user's voice and full-screen results.

Users can instruct Siri to complete functions like "turn off my Bluetooth," or "increase my brightness," according to software VP Eddy Cue. The digital assistant also has a … Read more

While Apple's updates to Safari for OS X Mavericks are more about keeping up with the Joneses, Safari for iOS 7 looks to forge new ground by making the browser look and feel more like the operating system.

Safari for iOS 7 features a nearly chrome-less interface ("chrome" refers to the visible interface portions of software), a new tab view, fewer restrictions on tabs, and iCloud Keychain integration, Apple announced at its Worldwide Developers Conference on Monday.

By default, the iOS 7 Safari is set to what looks like full-screen mode. With the browser's chrome mostly … Read more