ratings

Executives from the nation's largest phone companies went to Capitol Hill Tuesday to defend themselves against allegations that they've been fixing prices on text messaging.

Executives from AT&T and Verizon Communications testified before the Senate Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy, and Consumer Rights, saying their companies have not been involved in a conspiracy to hike text messaging rates. And they argued that competition is alive and well in the wireless market.

The hearing was called in response to a letter sent in September from Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) to the four major U.S. operators--Verizon, AT&… Read more

This week's Top 5 looks back over the past three months at the ratings our reviewers have given products. What gear got our very highest ratings? It wasn't the Palm Pre. In fact it wasn't even a phone.

Watch our video to find out what the highest-rated tech products were, and get a chance to win a CNET patch, made by CNET fan Joe, a Pi joke calendar from 2008, and a copy of Mass Effect.

For travelers on a budget, slipping in a new SIM card may be the best way to ensure they won't break the bank while using their cell phones on a trip abroad.

U.S. carriers, such as AT&T and Verizon Wireless, have been trying to make it easier and less expensive for mobile subscribers to use their cell phones when traveling in another country. And indeed they have. All the major carriers offer phones that can be used for international roaming. And some have even added special international packages with reduced calling and data rates to encourage … Read more

Update 11:47 a.m. PDT: This story has been updated with additional information about Verizon Wireless' international roaming voice and data plans. Information about roaming in Japan and South Korea has also been updated.

It's summer time. And you know what that means: Harrowing international travel with your cell phone.

While the sour economy may be keeping some travelers closer to home this summer, good deals on flights and hotels, and the growing strength of the U.S. dollar are enticing some travelers to grab their passports and book a flight to Europe and other parts of the … Read more

Last week, I wrote about The Godfather II game, which features topless women. I argued that the nudity was unnecessary and gratuitous.

After reading through the story, some readers debated whether in-game nudity objectifies women. Both sides make a compelling argument.

One reader, "CrimsonCantab", said "female nudity...is unneeded and degrading to women. Pornography is shown to have many negative side effects, like reduced fidelity in marriage. There's already too much of it on the Internet, and I find it harder and harder to be a gamer when games are headed in the same direction."

"Renegade Knight," on the other hand, wrote that "the problem isn't the nudity so much as the reaction to it. Clearly, it's a problem for some people."… Read more

EA sent me a copy of The Godfather II for the PlayStation 3 last week. A Godfather trilogy fan, I was excited to see how the game would turn out.

After escaping from Cuba, I was ordained the Corleone family's New York boss and set out to take over some turf. The first place I was told to capture was a bordello. I had to make it clear to the owner, through violence, that I was now in-charge. After a short drive, I walked through the "front" business and proceeded into the brothel. I was greeted by a woman offering me sexual favors. But there was something special about this prostitute. Unlike the dozens I'd seen in the Grand Theft Auto series, this one was topless.

It wasn't the first time a woman has been shown nude or partially nude in a video game. Nudity in gaming dates back all the way to the Atari 2600 when Mystique, a "Swedish Erotica" video game developer, started making adult titles for the console.

Since then, nudity of some kind (breasts, buttocks, or full frontal), has remained an infrequent occurrence in the industry. The vast majority of games containing nudity have been released on the PC, but some titles have found their way to consoles (here's a full list).

So, The Godfather II isn't unique. But nudity played an important role in this game. In fact, it was its only memorable feature.… Read more

Whether you're moving to a new place or you just want to be more familiar with your surroundings, there are a variety of sites on the Web that fill you in on everything from restaurants to businesses to apartments in your area.

BooRah If you're only looking for restaurants, BooRah is for you. The site features information on how to get to a restaurant, but really shines when you read through the informative reviews from users and consider the "similar restaurant" tab, which features a listing of local eateries that are similar to … Read more

GoodGuide, the service that tells you how environmentally friendly your bottle of shampoo or other household product is, now tracks food items. And not just nutritional content either. The site puts food items up against the same microscope it does for all the other products in its database, showing you how a food item stacks up against others in the same category, and what kind of score the parent company has.

Essentially it's all the things that makes GoodGuide really work, like finding out if your laundry detergent is killing polar bears; something you can now check for your … Read more

GooseGrade, the service that lets your blog readers correct any mistakes you've made, has a new plug-in for WordPress users that makes it easier for blog administrators to approve and implement corrections suggested by readers.

Once installed, corrections get sent directly to WordPress' dashboard, where administrators can then make a fix just like they would approve or deny a user comment. Because the plug-in is given privileges to write over your content, it then goes back into the post and makes the edit, without the administrator having to do it manually. Best of all, it shows you a before … Read more