polling

Friday Poll: Do you track your exes on Facebook?

I'm feeling a little left out of the Facebook experience. I'm friends with some of my exes on the social-networking megasite, but I don't hover around their profiles, watching their every social-media move. I may be in the minority on this.

Western University master's candidate Veronika Lukacs conducted a study to see how people respond to breakups using Facebook. Her survey respondents were people who had gone through breakups within the last year. She that found 88 percent of them, in her words, "creeped" their exes around on Facebook.

Some jilted lovers take a … Read more

Friday Poll: Will you buy Android now or wait for iPhone 5?

The Android-packing Samsung Galaxy S III will be arriving in stores in a few days with plenty of fanfare to welcome it. The Galaxy Nexus is expected to change into new clothes and reappear wearing the latest Android 4.1 Jelly Bean operating system.

All these hot Android developments mean the ball is now lobbed onto Apple's side of the smartphone court. The iPhone 5 is shrouded in both secrecy and juicy rumors. It may be bigger. It may have NFC. It may be a true world phone.

The biggest problem is you may have to wait until September for the official iPhone 5 announcement. With some enticing Android options showing up sooner, how antsy are you for a fresh, new phone?… Read more

Friday Poll: How important is it to buy U.S.-made tech?

The Fourth of July is coming up next week. It's a good time to take stock of where the country stands in the world of technology manufacturing.

We've been hearing quite a bit lately about how feasible (or not) it is to make tech products right here at home.

Manufacturing plants in Asia pretty much have the cell phone and gadget market cornered, but there are some blips on the U.S.-made tech radar. Google has managed to design and build the Nexus Q streaming media player in America.

Is this a sign of a reboot for technology manufacturing in America?… Read more

How much will the Wii U cost?

Despite more than a year of teases, one critical aspect of Nintendo's Wii U remains a mystery: the pricing.

With two E3 gaming expos now under its belt, we know plenty about the Wii U. Nintendo has showed off many HD games and fully revealed the second-screen GamePad tablet.

Earlier this month, CNET Senior Editor Scott Stein mused on the Wii U's retail cost, saying: "The Wii U needs to undercut the competition and be practically an impulse purchase. Is that even possible?"

To answer that question, perhaps we should look at Nintendo's past.… Read more

Friday Poll: Will Microsoft finally conquer mobile?

Windows is about to become a lot more portable. Microsoft hopes that its new mobile moves will also make it a lot more popular for buyers shopping for smartphones and tablets.

Microsoft has dabbled in both the phone and tablet worlds, but without the resounding sales success Apple and Android have achieved.

Now that Windows Phone 8 is due in the fall and Surface tablets are in the pipeline, it looks like Microsoft is going all in with the mobilization of Windows.

Both Windows Phone 8 and Surface will tie in strongly with the company's still-popular desktop OS, perhaps … Read more

Do you want a Microsoft Surface tablet? (poll)

Before Microsoft announced its Surface tablets today (and while speculation was still running wild as to what the big mystery reveal would be), we asked you, readers, what a Microsoft tablet should be should Redmond head in that direction. This is the answer that led our poll by 77 percent:

"Design it to be forward-looking. New tablet-centric software is key, older Windows software is not. Very cool (in other words thin), good battery life, and good-enough performance. Tight integration of software and hardware is important. (Apple's iPad comes to mind.)"

Well, now that Microsoft's two new slates have arrived, it's time to ask if they meet your expectations. The forward-thinking highlight feature of the Surface might be a magnetically attached, 3mm-thick Touch Cover that folds down and functions as a full touch-screen keyboard. But maybe you were hoping for more. … Read more

Friday Poll: Upset about Verizon's new plans?

I'm a Verizon customer. I'm currently on month-to-month, contemplating a new phone. But with that new phone comes a new two-year contract. If I sign that contract after June 28, I'll be shoehorned into Verizon's new Share Everything plan.

Share Everything lets users pool data between smartphones, tablets, and USB modems. It starts at $50 per month for 1GB of data; individual device fees are then tacked on top. Those fees range from $40 for a smartphone to $10 for a tablet.

As it's just little ol' me on my plan, I'll be looking at paying $100 for just 1GB of shared smartphone and tablet data, and unlimited talk and text that I don't need. Yippee. I should note, I have a "feature phone," and upgrading to a smartphone should land me into Share Everything territory. For more on how the math works out, check out Executive Editor Roger Cheng's explanation.… Read more

What's the best game controller?

Update: Voting is now closed. Thanks for helping us choose a winner. Stay tuned for an upcoming CNET Top 5 on console controllers.

All this E3 coverage recently has me thinking it's time for a Top 5 on console game controllers.

I have my thoughts, and I'll be sure to poll our CNET editors for their opinions too. In fact, I'll probably have the final Top 5 span the best game controllers of all-time, just to keep things interesting.

But I also want to know what you think. To keep it manageable, I'm restricting this reader'… Read more

Friday Poll: Is Facebook mobile enough for you?

While Facebook is a pillar of online social media, it hasn't really proven itself to be a moveable feast when it comes to mobile. In a piece this week that got a lot of you talking, CNET Executive Editor Molly Wood looks into how mobile could eventually be the social-media giant's death knell.

Facebook's mobile apps have been notoriously sketchy in quality. It's at the point where I don't even try to download the latest iPad app update, I just use my browser when I want check in on the site.… Read more