life

Smartphone survival guide: How to stretch your battery life

With the smartphone increasingly becoming the lifeline for any household, keeping it alive is more important than ever.

But with Hurricane Sandy barreling its way across the East Coast, thousands of homes face the prospect of losing power for several days. That's bad news for power-hungry smartphones, many of which can barely last a day with normal use.

Fear not. CNET has compiled this handy smartphone survival guide to make the most out of your phone's battery. If a power outage hits, you'll know exactly what to do to ensure you remain connected. … Read more

Droid Razr Maxx battery life still reigns supreme

If you own an old-school Razr Maxx and have been gazing longingly at Motorola's latest creation, the Droid Razr Maxx HD, here's a tidbit to consider. Its bigger screen and more robust processing comes at a price: a shorter run time. … Read more

How being an Apple fanboy can threaten your cat

I feel sure that the number of corporate hours lost to workers sitting and watching YouTube videos has a severe effect on GDP.

I would, therefore, like to contribute to that.

Here is a video, which Cult of Mac saw on Reddit, that shows the unexpected consequences of becoming a little too committed to Apple's software.… Read more

Get free multiuser video chat with OoVoo

So you Skype; do you OoVoo too? Because OoVoo is a free HD video, voice, and IM chat app that lets you chat with up to 12 friends at once (6 via video and 6 on the phone). It records voice and video on your hard drive, not an online account, so file size is unlimited. You can use OoVoo to share large files (up to 25MB) as well as make phone calls to landlines, text chat, record video messages up to 1 minute long, and do a whole lot of other cool things. Mobile and tablet users have a … Read more

CNET's iPhone series: An illustrated look

From rocks to recycling: The life of an iPhone Riots, suicides, and other issues in Foxconn's iPhone factories 'No more iSlave:' An activist fights for iPhone workers Digging for rare earths: The mines where iPhones are born Hazards at the end of an iPhone's life CNET's iPhone series and why we decided to write it

Black Mesa: Half-Life revisited

Whether you're an old-school gamer or a recent fan of Valve's Steam games, don't miss the chance to play (or replay) the critically acclaimed classic first-person shooter Half-Life in its latest re-imagining for free with the total conversion mod Black Mesa (download, 4GB).

After eight years of development, the Black Mesa Modification Team has finally released a remake of the award-winning FPS Half-Life. Utilizing more than 40 developers and headed by project leader Carlos Montero, the team has reconstructed the fan favorite into a polished Source Engine version complete with new models, maps, textures, voice acting, and … Read more

Facebook enhances timeline events with 'registered to vote'

Facebook users can post to their timelines that they have a new tattoo, they're learning how to play a new instrument, and other "life events;" and, as of today, they can also announce that they're registered to vote.

The social network is rolling out this new "life event" as the 2012 presidential election season heats up.

"Election Day in the United States is right around the corner and people are increasingly using Facebook to discuss candidates, campaigns, and critical issues facing the country," Facebook wrote in a blog post. "Starting today, … Read more

Top 5 features missing from iPhone 5

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The iPhone 5 has arrived, and it's pretty great. But I can't shake this nagging feeling that Apple could have done more.

A week ago, CNET's David Carnoy penned a great roundup of the most-wanted features that didn't make it into the iPhone 5. It seemed like easy pickings for a Top 5 video, so I imposed a ranking, stood in front of a camera, and created the video you see before you (click here if you don't see a video at the top of this … Read more

Smartphones with long battery life (roundup)

Smartphones are the Swiss Army Knives of the tech world.

They're cell phones, music and video players, mobile Web browsers, and personal organizers, among other things. Not surprisingly, all this can take a toll on battery life, and when you depend on your smartphone for so much, the last thing you want is for it to run out of juice when you need it most.

Generally speaking, with moderate use, smartphones can give you a full day's performance before needing to be recharged, but not all gadgets are created equal -- some simply run out of steam early, whereas others will hang in there for the long haul. Here are eight smartphones with battery usage that really impressed us, whether it was because they scored well in our CNET Labs battery tests, or simply because their usage time stood out from the crowd of humdrum cell phone batteries we encountered (and believe us, we encounter a lot). Give one of these devices a try if you're looking for a phone that packs some decent juice.… Read more

How tweets reveal where you live

Monday's top-story rundown knows where you live:

Just when you think it's safe to tweet, here comes WeKnowYourHouse.com. The site is a social media experiment designed to show how easy it is for tweets to be used against you. If a Twitter user has location turned on, and they send a message with the word "home" in it, then the site will display it along with a Street View image of the location. Similar to PleaseRobMe.com, it showcases how some users may not be aware of how much information they are sharing.

But you … Read more