round

I was bowled over by Anthony Gallo Acoustics' original Reference Strada when I heard it at a hi-fi show a few years ago. The small speakers projected a sound that rivaled the scale of big, flat-panel speakers, like my Magnepans. I never got around to reviewing the Strada, but when I heard that the Reference Strada 2 was coming out I let the company know I wanted a pair ASAP.

Unboxing the speakers it was impossible not to be impressed by the solidity of the cast-aluminum chassis and brushed stainless-steel spheres. The Strada 2 is 13.5 inches tall, and … Read more

Amazon shook up the tablet scene with the release of the Kindle Fire tablet in 2011. With one of the most popular tablets on the market, rumors are already swirling about Amazon's next move. The release of Google's Nexus 7 tablet at the same price point of the first-generation Kindle Fire has increased the competitive climate; not to mention the seemingly never-ending reign of the Apple iPad as the king of tablets. Will Amazon make another relevant and successful tablet? Will there be three different versions of the Kindle Fire? What about 4G? In anticipation of the expected … Read more

Rounding the corners of a photo can be visually appealing, especially in profile photos and avatars. Sure, you could get it done in Photoshop and or other photo-editing programs, but a Web service called RoundPic can do it for you in about a minute.

To use RoundPic, upload a photo or paste in the URL of a photo you want to round, then click the Round it! button.

After RouncPic completes processing, you'll be presented with a rounded photo. If you want to customize the rounding, change the settings to your preferences, then click the Round! button. Once you'… Read more

If there's one medium that you wouldn't expect to see get taken on by graffiti and other contemporary artists, it's military airplanes.

But thanks to the folks behind the Round Trip: Art from the Boneyard Project exhibition, now on display at the Pima Air & Space Museum in Tucson, Ariz., visitors can see just that.

Although only five full airplanes have been painted--out of dozens in the museum's full collection--the show also includes two cockpits and a large group of airplane sections, all reimagined with an artist's flair. The exhibition, which runs through May 31, &… Read more

We asked CNN technology writer Mark Milian to come into the studio today to wrap up the last show of the year, and he surprises us with Peter Ha from The Daily in tow!

Our two favorite guests join us for a discussion about the tech trends of 2011 ("hacking," privacy, mobile OS wars, Tumblr, and Reddit), and we'll also take a look at Mark's new book, Letters to Steve: Inside the E-Mail Inbox of Apple's Steve Jobs.

It's a collection of e-mails sent from the legend himself that shows his dedication to customer service and Apple fans. Some of them aren't so nice, though, as Mark tells us a few stories about his lesser-known messages.

I know you're probably super upset that this is the last episode of the year, but we'll be publishing exclusive Yuletide and Throwback episodes throughout the break, all the way up until we start our block of CES shows, live from the CNET stage at the Las Vegas Convention Center!

Thanks to everyone who helped us out this year--too many names to list, but we wouldn't be here without all our awesome guests, fans, moderators, producers, callers, and co-workers!… Read more

The MacBook Air is Apple's new mainstream MacBook, and though the latest version is undoubtedly the best, there are still aspects of this slim laptop that could do with accessories. The Air achieves an excellent balance of design, performance, and battery life, but it still leaves out some features that many people consider essential to their laptop experience.

Consider these accessories a way of mending the missing pieces and providing true MacBook Air road warriors with all the tools needed for a worry-free Air-based lifestyle.

Click through for our picks. Did we miss any? Are there even better examples … Read more

When we first created CNET's Best 5 Tablets feature, it was a stretch just to find 5 worthwhile products. Today, there are dozens of solid tablet choices out there in all shapes and sizes, with more arriving every month.

Still, the iPad and its 10-inch screen remains the tablet drawing the most attention. It's in good company, though, with an increasing number of tablets coming on the market with the same 10-inch screen size.

Though early competitors were quick to differentiate themselves from Apple with 5- or 7-inch tablets, most are coming around to the larger screen size. … Read more

Since the company was founded in 1994, Anthony Gallo Acoustics (AGA) has specialized in designing spherical speakers. I've recounted the reasons for eliminating box, wood-based cabinets in most of my Gallo reviews, but for now let's just say that getting rid of the box can be a huge plus for the speaker's sound. So, why after so many years of dominating the round loudspeaker market would the company dare make a traditional wooden enclosure speaker?

"We learned how to really make it work," says Anthony Gallo, founder of AGA. "Since its inception, the box … Read more

The fall months may be the season for colder weather and dying leaves, but in the software world it means major updates for security suites. We've reviewed and benchmarked 11 suites, organized them along the traditional line of cost, and picked one in each category that we highly recommend.

We looked at four updated free security options: AVG Anti-Virus Free 2011, Panda Cloud Antivirus 1.3, Microsoft Security Essentials 2, and Ad-Aware Free Internet Security 9. Other well-known free security programs, such as Avast and Avira, generally update in late winter or spring, so they were not included.

AVG … Read more