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In just a few months, many of you with a PlayStation 3 may be eyeing The Last of Us as your next acquisition. In the meantime, eye some scary concept art from the artists responsible for creating the look and feel of the game, in which players must survive a post-pandemic world of fungus-ridden zombies.

Created by acclaimed developer Naughty Dog (responsible for the epic Uncharted series), The Last of Us earned some serious hype at the last E3 gaming expo due to its incredible graphics, compelling gameplay, and post-apocalyptic storyline. The experience seems like the perfect setting for those who can't get enough of the television show "Walking Dead" or the video game DayZ. … Read more

U.S. Cellular is offering a limited time "Family Switcher Bonus" for new customers who activate at least two lines on a Family Plan. The deal, which runs through April 1, provides consumers with a $300 MasterCard debit card.

The catch? At least one of the new lines must be a smartphone.

To sweeten the deal, U.S. Cellular has discounted a number of smartphones, including the Samsung Galaxy S 3 for $150 and the Huawei Ascend Y, which now sells for just a penny.

What's more, the carrier is tossing in a free 4G LTE Samsung … Read more

It seems Hewlett-Packard plans to follow Samsung, Acer, and Lenovo into the Chromebook market.

The company published a spec sheet for the Pavilion Chromebook 14-c010us that reveals a 4-pound model with a 1.1GHz Intel Celeron 847 processor, 16GB SSD, 14-inch LED-backlit display with 1,366x768 resolution, a Webcam, and three USB 2.0 ports.

It appears the device will ship in the coming weeks. The spec sheet, spotted by The Verge, lists an advertising embargo date of February 17.

"The HP Pavilion Chromebook gives you fast and easy access to the things you love and depend on, from … Read more

Nintendo, Verizon Fios, and US Cellular are ranked highest for consumer experience, according to research firm Forrester (registration required).

The three took the top slots for their respective industries in Forrester's annual ranking of consumer goods and services. Forrester looked at 150 companies and asked 7,500 U.S. consumers these questions: How well did they meet your need? How easy were they to do business with? How enjoyable were they to do business with?

Nintendo did the best in these categories among the tech-related companies. The games and console maker scored an 83 when it comes to customer … Read more

If you own a Samsung Galaxy S3 with U.S. Cellular, an update to Android 4.1 Jelly Bean is just around the corner.

Starting Friday, December 21, GS3 owners can begin the update process wirelessly, or manually by plugging in their phone via USB cable and visiting this U.S. Cellular site.

U.S. Cellular is one of the last carriers to offer the Android 4.1 update; a process that's been kicked into high gear as part of the busy holiday season.

Android 4.1 enhances features like the Google search app, the notifications menu, and some … Read more

Research In Motion's upcoming BlackBerry 10 is being eyed by one government agency that had already planned to switch to iPhones.

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency will take a look at BB10 starting in January. The agency plans to launch a pilot program to test BlackBerry 10 devices and the BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 to see if the new operating system can meet its needs for security and mobility. ICE will be among the first government agencies to give BB10 a spin, according to Research In Motion.

"ICE has been a valued BlackBerry customer … Read more

European data stored in the "cloud" could be acquired and inspected by U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies, despite Europe's strong data protection laws, university researchers have suggested.

A research paper written by legal experts at the University of Amsterdam's Institute for Information Law and titled "Cloud Computing in Higher Education and Research Institutions and the USA Patriot Act" supports previous reports that the antiterror Patriot Act could theoretically be used by U.S. law enforcement to bypass strict European privacy laws to acquire citizen data within the European Union.

The Patriot Act, … Read more

U.S. Cellular this week quietly introduced another Android smartphone this week with the budget-friendly Samsung Galaxy Axiom.

Appearing on the carrier's Web site without even a press release, the Axiom runs on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and delivers a 4-inch 480x800-pixel WVGA display, a 5-megapixel rear camera, and front-facing 1.3-megapixel camera. Additional details include a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, 2,100mAh battery, NFC, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and 4G LTE connectivity.

Astute readers will recognize that the Galaxy Axiom closely resembles the recently announced Galaxy S3 Mini. Save for its slightly faster processor and longer-lasting battery, it'… Read more

Owners of certain Samsung printers may find their devices a target for hackers.

Samsung printers and some Dell printers made by Samsung have a hardcoded account that someone could use to control and access information on the devices, according to US-CERT (United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team).

As described by the security team, these printers contain a hardcoded SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) string that has full read/write access and stays active even if the network protocol is disabled by the user.

"A remote, unauthenticated attacker could access an affected device with administrative privileges," US-CERT said. "… Read more