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Monoprice's ultraslim 60-foot HDMI cable with RedMere (hands-on)

All HDMI cables may be the same in terms of image quality, but that doesn't mean they're physically the same.

In the photo above, the thick cable on the right is Monoprice's current 50-foot cable; the cable on the left is the upcoming Monoprice 60-foot ultraslim cable. The new cable is dramatically thinner than traditional long-run HDMI cables--every editor at CNET who held the two cables was impressed by the difference.

RedMere: Unidirectional, thin, and enables long runs The difference between the two cables is because of the 60-foot cable's built-in RedMere chipset, which draws a small amount of power from the HDMI source (Blu-ray player, cable box) and allows less copper to be used in the cable.… Read more

Apple CEO Tim Cook donates $100 million to charity

Apple CEO Tim Cook might just be taking some tips from Bill Gates--last week he announced he donated $100 million to charity, according to The Verge.

Cook made his announcement during an internal town hall meeting celebrating Apple's successful fourth quarter.

According to The Verge, Cook said $50 million had been donated to Stanford's hospitals, with $25 million for a new main building and $25 million for a new children's hospital. Another $50 million has been donated to Product RED, which is a charity that combats diseases such as AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria.

Since becoming Apple … Read more

Photo editing powerhouse

Photogene2 is the successor of a favorite photo-editing app of ours on iOS, and this completely rebuilt version is definitely worth checking out. To start off, a redesigned interface offers intuitive controls for exploring Photogene2's many editing options.

Photogene has a bunch of editing tools and effects you can use with your images. Either take a snapshot with your iPhone camera or grab an image from your photo library to get started. From there, the app features a radial menu on the bottom that divides up Photogene's main functions, including crop, rotate, color adjust, effects presets, and retouching … Read more

The 404 978: Where you're today's lucky winner (podcast)

Since Jeff can't attend the 26th annual Game Developers Conference on March 5 in San Francisco, we're doing the next best thing and bringing part of the show to him!

General Manager Meggan Scavio is our guest today and we're getting all the details on the upcoming show, like the split among console, PC, and mobile gaming, the rise of independent game developers, and sequelmania! We'll also rant about 3D games and the convergence of the film and gaming industries.

She'll also join us in the second half of the podcast where we'll run … Read more

For Chinese communists, only RedPad, not iPad, will do

When you're a member of the China Communist Party, the iPad just doesn't let you think different enough, it seems.

According to Reuters, China's Communist Party members can now carry the RedPad Number One, which among other things comes bundled with software that allows up-and-coming commissars to monitor both the news and the journalists who report it. The Android-based tablet, which comes with a 9.7-inch display and a leather case, isn't for the masses, though. The device sells for 9,999 yuan (about $1,600).

That exorbitant price tag is causing some bloggers in China … Read more

Microwave concept projects its innards

I had an incident recently where oatmeal bubbled over the top of the bowl and coated my microwave with a gloppy mess. If only I had a microwave with a built-in projector, I would have seen it coming much more clearly.

Designers Hwang Jungjoon and Lee Jaeryong are already on top of this issue with a concept that melds a microwave and a projector. It's called the "Proinjector," which sounds more like a fancy turkey prep accessory than a kitchen appliance.

The idea is that the projector captures what's happening inside and projects it against the kitchen wall. You don't have to squint through the thick front window of your microwave to see if the chicken cacciatore is about to explode.… Read more

The frontier is yours to explore, cowboy

Six-Guns is a freemium sandbox cowboy game that models itself after the popular console game Red Dead Redemption. While it may not be on par graphically with the game it resembles, Six-Guns definitely still has good-looking graphics as you explore a huge world and complete quests. The control system is like in many first-person shooters on the iPhone: move your character using a control stick on the left side, and look around by swiping the screen on the right.

The game is set in both Oregon and Arizona (with a way to fast-travel between regions). As you explore, you'll … Read more

Your old gang is now after you!

Cowboy Guns is a dual-stick shooter set in the Wild West with quests, guns you can upgrade, and a few different gameplay modes to keep you interested. Along with the dual-stick interface (standard movement on the left and firing on the right), you can switch to a different gun by tapping its icon in the middle; use thrown weapons like dynamite with a button on the right; or gain health back by tapping a first-aid icon on the left.

Adventure mode takes you through the storyline: you're a cowboy who faces a deadly gang of criminals called the Crimson … Read more

Draw!

McGyro is a fun target-shooting game where you tilt your iPhone to aim at targets in an Old West setting. You play as the Sheriff McGyro, and your job is to blow away bad guys that appear as wooden targets.

The storyline is presented in comic book format between each part of the three-part missions. Each mission follows a simple formula: the introduction of a bad guy, traveling to the destination, killing the bad guy's evil henchmen, then killing the bad guy. Scoring head shots gives you extra points so it pays to be accurate, but if you don'… Read more