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There are plenty of creative hacks you can use to control a random appliance or two in your house with Apple's Siri, but most of them take some level of programming and hardware expertise to accomplish.

I've come up with a less tech-savvy way to use Siri to control a lamp, or anything that plugs in. You'll only need to know how to give Siri a command after everything is set up.

The Light Marker for iPad is Griffin Technology's latest collaboration with Crayola to make more kid friendly products, and this gadget looks like it will be a hit.

For $29.99, you can get a glowing marker-shaped pen that interacts with your iPad's front-facing camera to let you freehand draw, paint, and color on your iPad screen. After touching the glowing tip of the pen to your front-facing camera you simply point the pen in the direction of the iPad (from a couple of feet away) to see a laser-pointer you use as your drawing instrument.

Directing the … Read more

Bathroom break video: iPad magician at the world famous German "Hofbraeuhaus" in Munich, the beer capital.

Show title credit: Beatmaster (join us live at noon Eastern everyday to suggest a show title. The most-used suggestions at the end of every month will win a prize!)

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The top-scoring cars of 2012 are, happily, an oddball assortment. If they were just a bunch of Audis and BMWs, I'd be as bored as you would. But cars with many different brands on their trunks came through this year, delivering great CNET ratings in a variety of price categories; though, of course, pricey cars do tend to have an advantage.

So if you want to see the year that was in cars and tech, sit back and enjoy this … Read more

It's easy to take our electric lights for granted. Many people in developing counties don't have the luxury of electric grids and have to rely on kerosene lamps to brighten the night. Kerosene costs money and breathing the fumes is dangerous. A new light powered by gravity could be a superior solution to lighting needs.

GravityLight doesn't need to be recharged through solar cells. It doesn't use batteries at all. It's powered by the same force that keeps our feet on the ground. A weight attached to the light takes 3 seconds to lift up, but provides 30 minutes of light as it descends. … Read more

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Some 15 years after its introduction, the Toyota Prius still defines the hybrid car business. It's an amazing dominance, comparable with the iPod's position in the portable media player market. Prius models outsell all other hybrids combined in the U.S. but that doesn't mean they always will. Enter the Ford C-Max. The name is about as goofy as "Prius," but the mission is serious: to give the Prius some real competition and perhaps push it … Read more

Have you missed the weekly Crave podcast? We sure have. We are, therefore, very happy to tell you it's making a comeback with CNET producer Stephen Beacham! Catch the madness and mayhem below.

- Feeling jumpy? Bounce down a trampoline sidewalk

- Trotify puts Monty Python horse coconuts on your bike

- Chuck Taylors collide in nerdy shoe collection

- Geek out over Legend of Zelda playing cards

- DOE, NASA testing fission reactor for spaceflight

- Interchangeable clothing uses magnets to switch up the style

- $2.4 million air-conditioned limo submarine perfect for 007 … Read more

When it comes to lighting, most of us live in a yellow or white world. iLumi, a new player in the light bulb space, aspires to change that with a few fresh and colorful ideas.

Similar to many other techy lights coming out these days, the iLumi lets for users control the light's color wirelessly through an iOS or Android app -- except this one utilizes low-power Bluetooth 4.0 instead of commonly used Wi-Fi (like LIFX). Bluetooth 4.0 offers more range than previous iterations, meaning you can control the light from up to 100 feet away. … Read more

In Umea, Sweden, the forecast for Thursday is partly cloudy with a 10 percent chance of precipitation and a high of 25 degrees Fahrenheit. As I write this in dark and damp Portland, Ore., Umea doesn't sound so bad.

But the city, located some 400 miles north of the already northern Swedish capital Stockholm, is for most of the day this time of year cloaked in darkness, with the sun rising at almost 9 a.m. and setting just after 2 p.m.

So the local energy company Umea Energi has begun installing phototherapy lamps in 30 bus shelters … Read more