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Want good health in your golden years? Keep working

If you're hoping to retire as soon as possible with the intention of never working again, you might want to reconsider. Retirees who transition from full-time work to full retirement in one fell swoop actually contract more diseases and function worse doing day-to-day tasks than those who continue to work even just temporarily or part-time, according to a national study published in the October issue of the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology.

"Choosing a suitable type of bridge employment will help retirees transition better into full retirement and in good physical and mental health," says co-author Kenneth Shultz, … Read more

'Microserfs' author Coupland talks tech

In an interview with CNET News sister site Silicon.com, Canadian author Douglas Coupland reveals his attitudes toward technology and its influence on his zeitgeist-defining books.

Douglas Coupland has been a keen observer of technology's impact on society for almost two decades. Through novels such as "Microserfs," which charts the progress of Microsoft employees during the mid-1990s, and "JPod," which tells a parallel tale of computer game developers in thrall to Google a decade later, he has consistently associated the development of technology with the progress of society.

1995's "Microserfs" paints a … Read more

BOL 1049: The Pirate Bay will never die.... and neither will SCO

Monarchy, mercantilism, and Talmudic tech are on the table today. We get a little obscure in our references...at least I do...but Leo and Brian keep us on track talking about the new Sony Reader, and how the Pirate Bay is unkillable. In bad news, SCO is back, and this time it's personal.

Subscribe with iTunes (audio) Subscribe with iTunes (video) Subscribe with RSS (audio) Subscribe with RSS (video) EPISODE 1049

Sony unveils three would-be Kindle killers--Pocket, Touch and now, 3G Wireless with AT&T http://paidcontent.org/article/419-sony-unveils-new-reader-digital-books-pocket-touch-and-now-3g-wireless/ http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=23187 … Read more

Conde Nast launching new Web site brands

Conde Nast in October is bringing down the curtain on its Web-only brand Men.Style.com and launching sites for two of its print titles, GQ and Details, according to an Advertising Age story and subsequently confirmed by a company official.

Ad Age gives the impression that the move is part of the publisher's overall strategy to align its Web site brands with its print brands.

But, Conde Nast Digital President Sarah Chubb, in a phone interview with CNET News following the Ad Age report, clarified that rather than shutting down and starting fresh with a brand new GQ.… Read more

Alienware M17x the fastest gaming laptop ever, but do we still need big PC gaming rigs?

After a steady stream of Netbooks and entry-level laptops, it's nice to slip behind the seat of a deluxe mobile powerhouse for a change. Alienware's new M17x laptop jams pretty much any high-end component you can think of into an imposing, matte, black chassis, including an Intel Core 2 Quad Extreme QX9300 CPU, dual Nvidia GeForce GTX 280M GPUs, and 1TB of hard-drive space.

While the system starts at a reasonable $1,799, you'll need to configure something closer to our $4,849 review unit to really get the benefit of Alienware's years of experience making high-end gaming PCs.

While playing around with the M17x was a blast, and we especially enjoyed creating wacky color combinations with the customizable backlit keyboard (this new version has four separate color zones under the keyboard tray), we're left wondering if the era of the extreme gaming rig is over--replaced by a mix of 10-inch Netbooks and console games.

It's an argument some have been making for years (or rebutting), but the oft-reported "Death of PC Games" really does seem closer than ever.… Read more

70 percent of Kindle owners over 40?

Back in March, I did a post titled, "What's the average age of Kindle owners?" I cited a thread in Amazon.com's forums discussing Kindle owners' ages.

Well, I have a little follow-up on the whole issue. Apparently, someone went ahead and tabulated 700 of the responses in that Amazon thread (that represents about 75 percent of all the posts) and broke out the numbers. Here they are:

0 - 19: 5% 20 - 29: 10% 30 - 39: 15% 40 - 49: 19.5% 50 - 59: 23% 60 - 69: 19.5% 70 - … Read more

Nintendo helps moms cook, lose weight, be more maternal

Gamers and geeks, step aside. It's Mom's turn to jump on the gaming bandwagon. On Monday, Nintendo announced a new DS Lite bundle, clearly tailored to the interests of middle-aged women.

At the usual $149.99, the bundle includes a lime green console, a matching carrying case, and Personal Trainer: Cooking. Those who tend to buy into gender stereotypes can already preorder the bundle just in time for Mother's Day on Amazon. Don't forget to add on My Weight Loss Coach and Imagine: Babyz while you're at it.

In the past couple of years we'… Read more

My reaction to Sun being bought? Profound sadness

By now we've all read hundreds of opinions on why Oracle bought Sun Microsystems and whether this is a good or bad decision. I, too, have an opinion, but for once I'm keeping quiet. Rather, I want to reflect on the sadness I feel as Sun becomes an acquired memory like other pioneering tech companies have.

When I started in the tech business over 20 years ago, it was extremely young and exciting. If you went for a drink after work, you would find a saloon full of folks from Digital Equipment Corp., Data General, EMC, Lotus, McCormick &… Read more

DSiWare, WiiWare, and Virtual Console releases for this week

DSiWare joins our weekly post with six new additions to the DSi Shop. Also ready for download today is a marble balance game on WiiWare and a oceanic exploration title from the days of Super Nintendo. DSiWare Nintendo DSi Browser (Nintendo, FREE): The first free app in the DSi Shop, the Opera-powered DSi Browser will let you surf the Web on your DSi. Bird & Beans (Nintendo, 200 DSi Points): This mini game lets you control Pyro, a bird with an elastic tongue. Use it to grab falling beans and earn more points the quicker you catch them! Master of … Read more

First impressions: Dragon Age: Origins

One of the more interesting games we saw at the recent Game Developer's Conference was a large-scale RPG called Dragon Age: Origins, combining well-trod sword-and-sorcery clichés with an inventively twisting plot and an advanced branching dialog engine (where the main character often affects the story by deciding what to say to other characters).

If all that sounds too "hardcore gamer" for you, that's a shame, although understandable considering the dangerously nerdy Dungeons & Dragons vibe of the game's marketing pitch to date.

Despite the elves, dwarves, and renaissance faire outcasts that populate the … Read more