bang

I have had several messages from people as far away as Venezuela this week wanting to know whether I've seen "this thing."

The thing is question turns out to be a charmingly named Facebook app called Bang With Friends. At its root, this is a dating app that eschews the "dating" part and rushes you headlong to the denouement.

There is a clear need for it. The New York Times reported only the other day that the poor and starving men of New York couldn't afford to take women on nice dates, so they resorted to asking them for a hangout. Not the Google Plus kind.

Bang With Friends merely removes the "h" from hangout and replaces it with a "b." Both parties are only notified when there is mutual interest. So there's no deep, direct rejection. … Read more

It's looking like the TV show "The Big Bang Theory" may become a reality series, of sorts.

Jim Parsons, one of the show's geek protagonists, is working on creating a television series that profiles real-life young geniuses, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The series will be based on a YouTube show by the THNKR channel called "Prodigies."

"I knew within a few minutes of viewing my first episode of 'Prodigies' that I wanted to be a part of the team bringing the digital series to a wider audience via television. Spending time with … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Yesterday CNET reported on Audi's announcement of its concept Q7 featuring 3D Audio at CES 2013. Today I got to listen to it.

How do you describe an audio experience? Inside the Q7, the first word that came to my mind was "bigger." In standard, 2D mode, the audio sounded excellent, mostly due to the Bang & Olufsen hardware making up this system. Having driven to many Bang & Olufsen-equipped cars, I did not detect any degradation in the standard audio.

However, when I switched the stereo to 3D mode, the audio seemed to rise up … Read more

LAS VEGAS--We're huge fans of Audi's Bang & Olufsen ultra-premium audio system, but the automaker is kicking things up another notch at CES 2013 with the announcement that it is developing a 3D Sound system in partnership with audio giants B&O and Fraunhofer IIS.

The automaker will be demonstrating the 3D Sound technology in its booth at the CES 2013 in an Audi Q7 playing a version of the "Iron Man 3" trailer with a sound mix that should highlight the system's abilities. The 3D Sound system features 23 speakers, each of which … Read more

Bazinga! Scientist Sheldon Cooper, a character on the TV show "The Big Bang Theory," already has two Ph.Ds and an IQ of 187. But now he also has a bee dedicated to him.

A new species of the Brazilian orchid bee -- dubbed Euglossa bazinga -- has been named after Dr. Cooper's catchphrase "Bazinga."

On CBS' TV series (disclosure: CBS is CNET's parent company), Cooper, played by actor Jim Parsons, uses the word after he pulls a trick on someone. Brazilian biologist Andre Nemesio from the Universidade Federal de Uberlandia recently discovered a new bee species that he thinks fits the "bazinga" bill. Because the new species so closely resembles the Euglossa ignita, a more common Western Brazilian orchid bee, it wasn't recognized as a separate species -- therefore it "tricked" scientists for years. … Read more

We don't usually talk about beds here on Crave, but we know our readers just had to see the techy Anemone multimedia box spring bed by Lavital. Developed by Dutch interior designer Robert Kolenik, the 35,000 euro ($43,901) sleeper costs as much as a mid-grade Audi car. A perfect gift for the one-percenter in your life!

In all seriousness, the overall frame does sport a few nifty features that you can adjust through an iPhone or iPod Touch app. Yes, you read the correctly -- the bed comes with an app, which for that price it most certainly should. … Read more

If you are like me, you use the Google app or the Google search bar in Safari to perform Web searches on your iPhone. And then you use the search function within your various apps to search for something in a particular app. Well, no more! Spend $1.99 on Bang On, and you'll be able to search more quickly and efficiently.

Bang On is a universal app in more ways than one. It's a universal app in the sense that it works on both the iPhone and the iPad. It is also a universal search app in … Read more

I went to the New York International Auto Show with just one thing on my mind: car audio. Like many New Yorkers, I don't own a car, so this was my chance to sample a wide range of premium car audio systems in everything from Smart cars to Rolls-Royces. For the most part, generic car audio or famous name-brand systems like Bose and Mark Levinson sounded thick and muddy. Not one was up to the standards of a decent home hi-fi system. They played loud and had lots of bass, but even the most expensive car systems at the … Read more

The position of guest star can sometimes be abused by sitcoms.

They roll out a movie star for one or two episodes in order to boost ratings, before that star departs, leaving a pitiful normalcy behind.

When it comes to "Big Bang Theory," however, the term "star" enjoys a more celestial quality.

So I know that many will feel a heavenward surge to learn that Stephen Hawking--he of the extremely large brain and extreme suspicion of the goodness of aliens--will be making a guest appearance on the show.

My voracious reading of Entertainment Weekly offered … Read more