experience

Cut the Rope: Experiments is a fun follow-up to the arcade puzzler Cut the Rope, with a few new elements but the same core concept centered on inventive physics challenges, well-designed and replayable levels, and a cute little candy-loving monster named Om Nom.

The interface is the same: you swipe your finger to cut a rope (occasionally more than one, with multitouch) to drop an attached piece of candy into Om Nom's mouth, a task that becomes increasingly complex with the addition of floating bubbles, dangerous spikes, movable anchors, elastic ropes, and so on. As before, you're also … Read more

Apple has won a second award for customer satisfaction in as many days.

Beyond Philosophy, which assists companies in improving customer experience, announced today that Apple delivers the "most admired customer experience" in the marketplace, besting Amazon.com, Zappos, Starbucks, and Disney, respectively, in the top 5.

"Apple has married all the elements of its experience and connected with its customers in a deeply emotional, irrational way," Steven Walden, senior head of research and consulting at Beyond Philosophy, said in a statement. "Amazon put a stake in the ground when it announced it would become … Read more

AMSTERDAM--Its green bottle is instantly recognizable. Its brand name is known throughout the world. It may not be the best beer on Earth, but it certainly is one of the most popular.

It, of course, is Heineken, and for many people a visit to the Dutch capital is not possible without taking a tour of the big brick building with "Heineken Brouwerij" emblazoned on the side: The old Heineken brewery.

Though the building no longer houses the actual brewery, today it is home to what is known as the "Heineken Experience," a self-guided tour through the … Read more

There's no line, so you figure you'll try it. You put your shopping basket down, then you begin to scan the items. That part generally works fine. But then there's the bananas. How much do they weigh? How much are they per pound? Which button are you supposed to press?

No, you're not reading a hacked cell phone conversation between myself and my mother. I'm just describing the irritating technological phenomenon known as the self-checkout, an idea which, it seems, may have already had its glimpse of notoriety.

In a move that might stun those … Read more

Amazon scored tops in customer service out of 143 different companies, according to the Temkin Group.

Based on a survey of 6,000 different consumers in January, the 2011 Temkin Experience Ratings rated companies across a variety of industries based on recent dealings with customers. The survey looked at interactions online, in person, and over the phone, and asked consumers how their needs were met, how easy it was to do what they needed to do, and how they felt about the overall experience.

Retail chains did well in the survey, with Amazon followed by Costco, Lowe's, and Sam'… Read more

The idea of convergence, of one device replacing several, has long been a popular theme in forecasting high-tech gadgetry. It's also something that doesn't happen as often as predicted.

Some of the reasons relate to design and technology. It's hard to make a multitool as elegant for each individual function as specialist devices are. A form factor that's optimized around, say, being a phone demands serious technical compromises when it comes to a totally different function, such as taking a picture. And rapidly evolving technology means some functions in a device are inevitably behind the technology … Read more

We tend to think of paper planes as small things, thrown in class in order to get 7-year-olds through the crushing boredom of, say, arithmetic.

But you might not have guessed that some adventurous sort would, one day, try to build a paper plane with a three-foot wingspan.

If you did, I feel sure that it would not have crossed your mind, as it did that of three British amateurs, to build a paper plane with a three-foot wingspan and send it into space.

John Oates, one of the threesome, cheerily told the BBC: "I knew we'd be … Read more

Google launches search tools to help Americans vote

Sophos unveils free antivirus software for Mac users

T-Mobile announces a $10 Android phone

Hotmail now works with other e-mail accounts, even Gmail

Google blurs images of homes and faces in Germany on Street View maps

Ubisoft's Michael Jackson Experience game will come with a free sparkly glove if you preorder the Wii version

Martha Stewart launches an iPad app to help you make the best holiday cookies on the block

Those looking forward to the Michael Jackson Experience, raise your hand. Now put a rhinestone-bedazzled glove on it.

Ubisoft says it's giving those who preorder the game--it launches for the Wii, PSP, and DS on November 23 and other platforms later--a holiday gift. Yep, it's a glove just like the one Jacko was famous for wearing the night he introduced the world to the Moonwalk.

It's a free extra for those who preorder the Wii version only, and the company isn't raising the cost of the Wii version to make up for it. The price will … Read more