test

CNET's TV testing lab: Behind the curtain (photos)

You've seen the video and you've read the entire How We Test document top to bottom. Now take the photo tour.

As CNET's two-man HDTV reviews team gears up to take on the panels of 2012, we thought we'd pause to give you a taste of the place where the magic of evaluation happens: our lab. We just vacuumed and we're pretty proud of the results. … Read more

It's time to move on from power testing most desktop PCs

Perhaps you are aware that we conduct power consumption testing across a number of review categories.

David Katzmaier started it with TV reviews in 2006. We rolled it out to desktops, laptops, and monitors in 2009. At least for most desktops, measuring power consumption no longer makes sense. So we're going to stop.

I wish we'd started testing energy usage on desktops earlier, particularly with Intel's old power hog Pentium D chips. The problem is Moore's Law. Intel's Sandy Bridge chips (sorry, "second-generation Core") are too damn efficient. They're also pretty much everywhere.

The result is that our power draw tests aren't all that interesting anymore for mainstream PCs. The chart below helps illustrate the point.… Read more

CNET Labscast 16: OnLive Desktop, laptop backbacks, and the Sony Headman visor

This week, Ty demos Sony's strap-on 3D visor, which we've dubbed the "Headman," while Scott shows us how the OnLive Desktop brings cloud PC computing to the iPad. Also, check out a cool new laptop backpack, and find out what our favorite MacBook Air substitutes are.

CNET Labscast 15: Super Bowl TV tips, developing new battery tests, and pricey little cameras

This week, we go over some Super Bowl TV tips, including what to do if you're not going to be near a TV at all. Julie talks about developing new battery life tests, and Josh laments the decline of the compact point-and-shoot camera.

CNET Labscast 14: CES favorites, new laptops, and why OLED matters (podcast)

Back from CES, we show off some video clips of our favorite products, Ty tells us why OLED matters, and Scott and Dan debate the best laptop for covering trade shows.

Oral HIV test almost as accurate as blood test

New findings that a saliva-based HIV test is only 2 percent less accurate than blood tests could make a case for more widespread self-testing around the world.

Researchers from McGill University in Montreal report in this week's issue of The Lancet Infectious Diseases that field research data from five worldwide databases show that in high-risk populations, the saliva test (approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2004) is 98.0 percent accurate, compared to a blood test's 99.68 percent accuracy.

The painless and noninvasive OraQuick HIV-1/2 saliva test, which yields results in just 20 minutes, … Read more

Update: Long-term plasma TV tests enter second 'year'

You asked for it, now you got it. After a few delays I've updated the results from my ongoing long-term testing of five 2011 plasma TVs by adding a sixth and publishing a new round of numbers.

One of the models tested has now accumulated nearly 3,000 hours of "on" time, equivalent to about a year and a half of normal TV watching, and a couple of others are also well into their second simulated year. New for this round I've also included measurements of the LG 50PZ950, the only 2011 LG plasma I've … Read more

Doomsday Clock moves 1 minute closer to catastrophe

Tick, tock. The infamous Doomsday Clock, which represents how close mankind supposedly is to its annihilation, has been moved one minute closer to midnight.

The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists (BAS), which created and maintains the symbolic clock, announced its decision yesterday.

"It is five minutes to midnight. Two years ago, it appeared that world leaders might address the truly global threats that we face. In many cases, that trend has not continued or been reversed. For that reason, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists is moving the clock hand one minute closer to midnight, back to its time in … Read more

Apple refunds buyers of GameStore, calls app 'premature'

Those who jumped on buying an unannounced, and apparently unfinished, first-party iOS application from Apple ended up getting their money back from the company today.

Buyers of GameStore--a 99-cent app that appeared briefly on the App Store on Saturday and listed Apple as the developer--today received an e-mail from the company notifying them about the refund. Following its discovery, the software was pulled off the App Store.

In its e-mail to customers, which has been posted by Macrumors, Apple acknowledged that the software was put on the App Store "prematurely."

Dear [name], You recently purchase (sic) the GameStore … Read more

How to invoke and interpret the Apple hardware tests

Regardless of the condition of your OS installation, if your system's hardware is not working properly then you will undoubtedly see undesired behavior that can stem from slowdowns and hangs to full system crashes and data corruption.

Because of the importance of having working hardware, Apple includes a hardware test routine on all of its new Mac systems, some of which are on the boot drive of your Mac, an others that are on the included OS X installation DVDs that came with older systems.

If you experience problems with your system crashing, hanging, or overheating with no change … Read more