friday

Twitter launched a new star during the presidential debate on Wednesday, but he wasn't wearing a suit and tie. Big Bird from "Sesame Street" was the subject of an explosion of tweets after the topic of cutting funding to PBS came up between President Obama and his Republican rival Mitt Romney.

There was a point during the debate where the phrase "Big Bird" was tweeted 17,000 times a minute. That's some serious action for a fictional creature. He also spawned a slew of satirical accounts. This all just goes to show how Twitter … Read more

Hush. Be quiet or you'll startle them. We are observing the annual migration of the Apple fanboys. Magnificent herds gather in patient lines, awaiting the arrival of their newest pack member, the iPhone 5.

It's Friday, but, more importantly, it's iPhone 5 release day. You might be in line, reading news about all the people in line, or back from waiting in line (you lucky dog) with your shiny new smartphone.

I've done my time in an Apple line before, way back when the iPad 2 came out. In my day, we had to wait 5,000 hours in the freezing cold with no shoes, climb Mount Everest to reach the Apple Store at the top, walk back home uphill, and sacrifice a goat to the Verizon gods to get the 3G turned on.… Read more

The iPhone 5 boasts some undeniable improvements over the previous generation. Thinner, lighter, and faster are all good things, though they may not get geeks flooding into the streets and dancing with sheer exuberance.

CNET's Roger Cheng goes into detail on why he thinks the new iPhone is ho-hum and won't wow anyone. In short, he doesn't see anything groundbreaking about it.

CNET reader Renegade Knight sums up the feelings of a lot of iPhone fans: "It's a good phone. Radical redesign of a working design is bad juju. Just keep improving it incrementally and you are far better off than trying to hit a home run with a radical change every year."… Read more

I've gotten together with my friends Chewbacca and Scotty to unveil a little machine we've been working on. This combination of a transporter and souped-up Millennium Falcon allows passengers to travel to a sci-fi universe. We're handing the controls over to you. Where would you like to go?

This week, we shared an infographic comparing the technologies of "Star Wars" and "Star Trek," and it sparked a spirited discussion among fans of the famous franchises.

Reader methos2000 brought up an interesting point: "The best argument I ever read regarding Star Wars vs … Read more

I had to really think about what the old Microsoft logo looked like. I ruminated. I racked my brain. Then I googled it. Ah, I thought to myself, I can see why they changed it.

Microsoft has traded in the old text-only logo for a new set of duds. Something with a little splash of color. A little pizzazz, but not too much pizzazz. … Read more

The brightly lit aisles of Best Buy have a certain pallor to them these days. Geek Squad employees have been axed. More than 50 stores are closing. The consumer-electronics retailer is treading water in a sea full of hungry online competitors.

Will Best Buy go the way of dearly departed Circuit City? Sales are slumping and profit is shrinking into losses. Consumers are avoiding the mazelike store layouts and shopping around for deals online. Apple Stores are popping up everywhere and Microsoft is expanding its brick-and-mortar presence.… Read more

The 1976 Viking mission to Mars uncovered some tantalizing, and much-debated, evidence of possible previous life on the big, red planet. Now we have the Curiosity rover over there to really sort things out.

Among other adventures, Curiosity is looking for organic molecules. The discovery of organic compounds could indicate previous life on Mars, though that life isn't likely to look like a toothy, long-headed alien that wants to hug your face.

While we wait for the rover to wander around and report back on its findings over the course of its mission, we have plenty of time to speculate about what it might find. … Read more

The glamor days of great meals on airplanes, no luggage limits, and easy boarding at airports are long gone. Those Pan Am dreams have disappeared into a maze of airline money-saving efforts and increasingly personal TSA security checks.

Ever since the TSA rolled out its revealing body scanners, we've been in the midst of a contentious privacy versus security debate. … Read more

I just slayed a nasty-looking giant spider in the Skyview Temple. I got there thanks to The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. It came out last year, but I'm a little behind the times with my gaming. Maybe that's why I'm still enjoying the Wii when so many have consigned it to collecting dust.

Wii sales have slowed to a crawl, leaving Nintendo in a tough financial position. When the Wii first came out in 2006, it was next to impossible to track one down. It was the Cabbage Patch Doll of game consoles that holiday season.… Read more