advance

The U.S. is creating a virtual version of the Internet--this one designed as a testbed to help the nation hone its defenses against cyberattacks, according to Reuters and other sources.

Known as the National Cyber Range, the virtual testbed would be set up by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the same agency that kicked off the Internet itself more than 40 years ago. The new simulated mini-Internet would give Washington the opportunity to carry out virtual cyberwarfare games as a way of testing different scenarios and technologies in response to cyberattacks.

To work on the initial development … Read more

What if I told you that the Blade Runner-esque vehicle in the photo above was the next Prius? Would you be excited? Well, the bad news is that the concept above is likely not the next Prius, it's a design study by industrial designer Eric Leong. The good news is that Leong completed this study as part of last year's Toyota Design internship at the automaker's Advanced Design Studio in Tokyo, Japan, so at the very least there is a Toyota connection.

Leong's concept features a windswept design that channels airflow around the vehicle to reduce … Read more

According to sources who talked to 9to5Mac, Apple is currently in the advanced testing stages for an iPhone compatible with Sprint's network.

Sprint was in the rumor mill a few weeks ago when an Apple job post appeared for a cellular engineering team based in Kansas City, Mo., where Sprint is headquartered.

With so much attention going to the AT&T and T-Mobile merger and rumors of whether the next iPhone will have 4G capabilities, the news that Sprint may be carrying the iPhone very soon has gone largely unnoticed.

The interesting thing to note in all of … Read more

UPDATE June 13, 2011: This offer has now ended.

For three days only, you can get a copy of IObit Advanced SystemCare Pro for just $4.99 (reg. $29.95). That's a savings of over 83 percent off the regular price and is exclusively available on CNET until 11:59 p.m. PT on Sunday, June 12, 2011.

Currently ranked No. 1 in the Utilities Diagnostics Software category, IObit Advanced SystemCare Pro wants to be your full-time technician inside your PC by providing you with a one-click solution to as many as 10 of the most common PC problems … Read more

At last year's E3, the Nintendo 3DS was arguably the headlining tech of the whole show, if for nothing more than its successful use of glasses-free 3D in a handheld game system.

Nevertheless, since the launch of the 3DS this March--just a few short months ago--the system's been luffing in a dying breeze. While the 3DS' capabilities show promise, the actual games, price, and battery life (or lack thereof) have soured the equation. Add to that the fact that the 3DS still doesn't have its Web browser, online e-shop, or last year's promised Netflix streaming … Read more

Today Nintendo announced that its DS Lite handheld, originally released in 2006, has had its retail price reduced to $99. This comes a week before the annual E3 expo in Los Angeles, and a week after the Nintendo Wii dropped its price to $150.

The DS Lite was always a well-received handheld, and was the last Nintendo portable to support Game Boy Advance cartridges, but it's currently two generations behind. The Nintendo DSi, released in 2009, still sells for $150, and the Nintendo 3DS, released earlier this year, sells for $250.

It's not surprising to see price drops … Read more

CNET Editor at Large Brian Cooley said it best in his First Look video for the 2011 Acura MDX when he said--if I may paraphrase--that if you're pushing a big seven-seater SUV for sport driving, you need a second car, not Acura's Super Handing All-Wheel Drive system.

I understand exactly what he means, but as I swung that big-ol' SUV around a bend in my favorite mountain road, I honestly didn't care. With its six-speed automatic transmission manually locked into second gear, the 3.7-liter V-6 engine was able to output all 300 of its available ponies, … Read more

Advanced SystemCare Free 4 wants to be it all when it comes to keeping your system clean. It gives you a wealth of tools, rolling many of parent company IOBit's better-known system utilities--or at least those utilities' engines--into one convenient package.

The program's Quick Care option includes the ability to clean your Registry, perform a rudimentary malware scan, fix and remove broken shortcuts, delete junk files, and erase browsing tracks. It's no accident that to make the process even faster, with even less of a need for user input, that you can configure it to run on … Read more

The ethanol industry has not made progress as fast as expected on a more environmentally sound successor to corn ethanol. But so-called advanced biofuel companies are making progress scaling beyond the demonstration stage.

Pasadena, Texas-based Kior said yesterday it intends to raise as much as $100 million by going public on the stock market. The money will be used to fund construction of a commercial-scale biofuel facility in Mississippi, which is now under construction and is expected to be opened next year.

The company already has a demonstration facility making what it calls "gasoline and diesel blendstocks," or … Read more