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Those of you who loved Lenovo's classic-style laptop keyboards can wave bye-bye to them.

With the new 2012 T-series ThinkPads, Lenovo has put the final nail in the coffin of the classic keyboard once made popular by IBM.

Lenovo stuck with the classic keyboard for the current T420, T420S, and T520. But the new ThinkPad T430, T430s, and T530 due to launch early next month have been overhauled with the island-style keyboards that seem to be hitting almost every laptop these days.

The company had already switched to the island-style keyboards for all of its other laptops, so the … Read more

In today's show, Google takes us for a spin, ultrabooks are no longer ultra-pricey, and the iPad isn't just for humans anymore:

Hewlett-Packard announced several new thin and light laptops under the Envy brand. Some are officially called ultrabooks, equiped with Intel's latest Ivy Bridge processors, while less-expensive ones are called sleekbooks. But regardless of the different labels, it means high-quality thin and light laptops are moving into the $600 to $700 price range. (There's even a rumor that the MacBook Air -- the computer that kickstarted the ultrabook craze -- will drop its price to $… Read more

"Hey, George Lucas: Come on and cross the Bay. The water's just fine."

That appears to be the message from hundreds of people who have signed an online petition urging the "Star Wars" filmmaker to locate his new 260,000-square-foot technical production facility at Vallejo, Calif.'s Mare Island.

The petition comes after Lucasfilm decided to abandon long-held plans to build the new facility on a piece of property it owned in bucolic Marin County, about 30 minutes north of San Francisco and across San Pablo Bay from Vallejo.

That decision was the result of … Read more

What makes a game addictive? Obviously your answer to that question will depend on what type of games you like to play, but certain games have a way of breaking down those barriers when they have just the right mix of challenges, rewards, and overall feel.

If you had never heard of Angry Birds, a description of the game probably wouldn't entice you to play. But once you fling your first bird at a structure and hear the sounds as it flies through the air and takes out the pigs, suddenly you start to want to chase that perfect three-star rating. Few games have just the right mix to keep you playing, but when you find one you can't wait to jump back in whenever you get a spare moment.… Read more

It may look like the scene in "Star Wars" when Luke Skywalker and his comrades are flying through the channel in the Death Star, hoping to blow it up and strike a victory for the Rebellion. But it's not. It may be even cooler than that.

NASA has released a simulation video showing the results of what's called "Operation IceBridge," an attempt by the space agency to do an up-close-and-personal investigation of a mammoth crack in Antarctica's Pine Island Glacier.… Read more

Ever wonder what it would be like to own your own island? Well, with Paradise Island for Android, you can at least simulate the experience. In this "freemium" simulator game, you are the owner of a small sector of a tropical island, on which you work to build a perfect resort getaway. As you build more attractions and entice more tourists, your wealth grows, and eventually (if you're good enough) you can expand your empire to cover the entire island.

With enough money, you can build resorts, restaurants, casinos, hot dog stands, shopping centers, monuments, pyramids, waterslides, … Read more

With Justin out for the rest of the week, today we bring in CNET duo Bridget Carey and Mark Licea to run through the ashes of Amazon's Kindle Fire announcement with price cuts for both the BlackBerry PlayBook and the Barnes and Noble Nook Color.

A listener's girlfriend, Laurie, completes her mission to take a photo of The 404 logo at an Apple Store, though Apple employees refuse to take part. We also get a look at the next version of the Android operating system codenamed Ice Cream Sandwich. Finally, Jeff's fear of flying also isn't helped when we learn that pilots can now flip a plane with the push of the wrong button, but Bridget is traumatized even more by the Dead Island trailer and nwo movie.

Are you a fan of adventure games? Monkeys? Terrible puns? How about pirates? Then today be your lucky day, mateys.

In honor of Talk Like a Pirate Day (which is today, scallywags), Telltale Games is offering Monkey Island Tales HD for iPad for just $2.99 per episode. (There are five that make up the complete game.) Normally, each episode would run you $6.99.

That link is to Episode 1. (Never mind that CNET's download page says "for iPhone"--this is definitely an iPad game.) Assuming you've tried it and liked it, be sure to grab Episode 2, Episode 3, Episode 4, and Episode 5.

If the name Monkey Island doesn't ring a bell, you were probably born sometime after 1980, in which case I hate you. These were "graphic adventures" at their finest and funniest, and I was jazzed to see the series revived after all these years.… Read more

preGame is back from the dead with two demos: Dead Island and Resistance 3. We return from our summer hiatus with an announcement on some recent changes that include the show moving to the end of the week and other things viewers can expect down the road.

The summer had its share of quality games and we summarize our past month of gaming with a few notables like Infamous 2, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, and Catherine.

Then we discuss some news regarding Nintendo's right thumbstick attachment announcement following a six months of lackluster 3DS sales. Max Payne fans can … Read more