friday

So now you can get a Kinect for the Xbox 360. Or a Move package for the PlayStation 3. Or maybe you already have a Wii. The point is, this holiday season, gaming is going to be all about moving. There's a three-front motion-tracking war going on and it may be a while before there's a clear winner.

Nintendo's Wii has been around for a few years now, so movement-based gaming isn't as novel as it used to be. Sony's Move is fun, but along with Microsoft's Kinect, it may have to play catch-up. … Read more

So here we are on the verge of another Halloween weekend, and I've yet to be sufficiently scared. That said, as I look back at the year to date, I'm a little freaked out--2010 has had its share of frightening tech moments.

Sure, Facebook faced some serious privacy charges, but Firefox now has a plug-in that lets you spy on everyone on your network. Zoinks!

You likely heard about the Stuxnet virus that went around not long ago. It appears to have been built to disrupt power grids around the world. That's frightening.

At the Black Hat … Read more

I have about 30,302,866 apps on my iPhone. I know, I need to pare it down some. But I'm crazy about apps. The app store coming to OS X is interesting to me, as it gives me still more devices to overload with fart apps and unit converters. But not everyone is like me, it seems, at least when it comes to one Apple device, the iPad.

In fact, according to a recent survey by Nielsen, 9 percent of iPad owners queried have never downloaded or installed a single app. Not one. Zero. And I don't … Read more

In case you missed it, this week was Ceatec, which is basically the Japanese equivalent of CES. Asian tech companies show off lots of technology there. Some is coming soon to Japan. And some is conceptual and may never hit shelves anywhere but gets gadget lovers worked up into a lather nonetheless.

Going through our coverage of the geek fest, I saw many things that would look good in my gadgets drawer, in my pocket, or in my hands. You're Crave readers, so I'm sure that there's some gear that makes you drool, too.

Of course, as … Read more

We made the case this week for holding off on buying the new and improved (and shrunken) Apple TV. We highlighted a few other boxes, notably those made by Roku, that might be better Internet TV choices, but also pointed out that the other devices sport features that Apple TV might eventually get.

That said, some consumers aren't going to be ditching their cable or satellite TV anytime soon, and for them the question is irrelevant.

For the others, the set-top market is going to be fractured and confusing, much like the burgeoning tablet market. And, well, that's … Read more

With consumers and analysts guessing which companies plan to take on Apple's iPad, BookMaker, a Web site dedicated to online gambling, has calculated odds (click the "Entertainment" link on the site) on who will be next after Research In Motion to debut an iPad-like device in 2010. It's been widely reported that RIM plans to show off its BlackPad sometime next week, and the gamblers are hoping to cash in when the next company shows theirs off.

The lines show HTC as the frontrunner with an even money payout, followed by Nokia with one and a … Read more

There's a new Apple TV around the corner and we're fielding rumors that a Google TV device will be launching at the end of the month. Both devices--as well as boxes by companies like Boxee and Roku--share the same goal: they want you to ditch your cable or satellite TV provider as well as DVDs and Blu-ray.

Many people actually have done so already--yours truly included. But there are others, like my parents, who find the idea too hard to wrap their head around. They want the content pushed to them by the providers and they're OK … Read more

As of this week, they're finally available to the general public. The helper robots we've been seeing in sci-fi movies for years are here to fold your laundry, wash your dog, care for your elderly relatives, and lie to your spouse--if you have $400,000, that is.

The open-source PR2 robot from Willow Garage stands about 5 feet tall, has two articulated arms and stereo vision, and is apparently very smart. The bots can be programmed to undertake tons of jobs using more than 1,000 software libraries, if you're up to the task.

Right now, the … Read more

As we've noted before, some people in Japan have rather wacky ideas when it comes to the intersection of technology and culture.

Take, for example, the Nintendo DS dating sim Love Plus. Men must keep their virtual dates happy by engaging with them in real time--buying them gifts, taking them on dates, and generally doing whatever it takes to keep them happy.

The latest craze with the Konami game, however, takes this relationship nurturing to a whole new level. This summer, guys brought their virtual gals on vacation to the Japan beach town of Atami as part of … Read more