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Flight Control HD is an attractive, addictive game in which you play an air-traffic controller guiding an endless armada of incoming aircraft to safe landings (you hope!) at a crowded airport. Flight Control makes great use of the iPad interface, as you use your finger to trace a trajectory for each approaching craft, sending jets, seaplanes, helicopters, et al. to various runways and landing pads. The controls are incredibly simple and intuitive, which contributes to Flight Control's surprisingly rich, devilishly addictive gameplay.

The game starts out at a leisurely pace, but as aircraft enter from every edge of the … Read more

Photo-editing programs seem to come in two flavors: huge programs that provide comprehensive editing suites, and tiny utilities that have only one or two features. Auto Adjust Photo falls into this second category--or at least it would if it worked. The program promises to analyze an image and then set "the most optimal contrast/gamma and color balance for it." Unfortunately, we did not find that to be the case.

Initially, we liked the fact that Auto Adjust Photo seemed so easy to use. It installed without issues and then appeared in the context menu any time we … Read more

Google and its partners cleared the first major hurdle with U.S. regulators today to build a $5 billion transmission line that would transport electricity from wind farms off the Atlantic coast.

The companies backing the project can earn a 12.59 percent return on their equity investment in the proposed power line, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ruled.

The project, which consists of two parallel transmission lines stretching from northern New Jersey to southern Virginia, could transport up to 6,000 megawatts of electricity that would provide power to 1.9 million households.

The transmission lines would each extend 250 miles along the mid-Atlantic coast. The electricity carried by the lines would connect with the main electric grid at onshore sites in New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia.

The project still needs approval from the Interior Department, several state agencies, and the regional power grid operator, PJM. The project's backers are Google, Good Energies, a private firm, and Japan's Marubeni Corp.

The companies hope to have the first phase of the transmission line operating in 2016.

The transmission line project will help the mid-Atlantic states meet their goals to… Read more

If you live in a house that's either huge or has many thick walls or both, even the most powerful home wireless router probably won't be able to broadcast the signal to every corner. In this case, it's a good idea to also equip the property with power-line networking via kits such as the WD Livewire or the Linksys PLK300. In this case, it's more convenient to get yourself an all-in-one router that has built-in support for both Wi-Fi and power-line technologies.

The first example of this new type of networking device is the D-Link DHP-1320 Wireless N PowerLine Router.

The DHP-1320 looks similar to other wireless routers, except it's noticeably thicker. This is because its power adapter is housed inside the chassis and doubles as a power-line adapter. When plugged into the wall, the power cable will also work as a data cable for the first end of a power-line connection. All you have to do is plug other HomePlug AV Powerline adapters into other power sockets around the house and you'll have yourself a complete power-line network, which turns the home's electrical wiring into network cables.… Read more

I'm not ashamed to admit I'm one of the people who's waited in a long line for several hours for an Apple product.

This was a short time before I was on the front lines of one of these launches as part of our coast-to-coast coverage at CNET. And what I can tell you is that there was a reason for it. It was an iPhone, and there weren't a lot of them, and it was something I was going to use every day. Not to mention the most important factor: the sooner I got it, … Read more

I remember, last year, waiting on line one morning for an iPhone 4. I was on the Upper West Side in Manhattan, and I gave up after an hour and a half. The lines were too long and had formed hours before.

This was two months or so past the iPhone 4's launch, and it was still impossible to buy one of the phones at a store. Lines would form every morning, scoop up whatever little stock there was, and leave the Apple Store once again drained of its supply. The cause? Grey-market resellers.

Sound familiar?

We're less … Read more

THX, born out of the George Lucas/Star Wars legacy, has stayed true to its roots while developing new audio technologies to improve the home entertainment experience.

Last week I spoke with Laurie Fincham, senior vice president of THX to discuss the company's Steerable Line Array technology. He told me THX wanted to create a new type of speaker that could focus sound beams to specific areas in a room. I've heard those sorts of claims before, but Mr. Fincham assured me that this system was designed to a very high standard. The Steerable Line Array speaker prototype … Read more

After all the buzz at CES 2011 about a hybrid all-in-one option that combines Ethernet, Wi-Fi, and power line in one box, you now can lay your hands on an actual product.

D-Link announced today that it is now shipping the first hybrid router, the Wireless-N PowerLine Router (model DHP-1320).

The router combines a regular Wireless-N router with the 200Mbps HomePlug AV standard. This means the router's power cord itself provides power-line data connectivity, and you can use any other HomePlug AV adapters at the far end of the connection to extend the network there, via electrical wiring. Traditionally … Read more

Right now, millions of men all over the world are sweating.

They are poised over their laptops, wondering what to write to a girl whose fetching photograph they have espied on Facebook, eHarmony or, perhaps, Lifestyle Lounge.

They are wondering whether to tell her she has beautiful hair. They are twisted about whether to compliment her eyes, her cheeks or even, perish the daring, her obvious intelligence.

One false step and they will disappear into the trash.

I want to save these men from themselves and their torture. Thankfully, armed with new research from dating site Badoo.com, I bear … Read more