sling

Stay Alight! (iPhone|iPad) is a destruction game that is somewhat similar to Angry Birds, but in this game, you play as Mr. Bulb and it's your job to take out the monster microbes.

Instead of flinging objects like you would in Angry Birds, with this game you're shooting an energy projectile that bounces off walls. So to get the best trajectory and power, you'll need to both think about where your targets are and how the projectile will bounce through the level to hit as many monster microbes as possible. Like many games in this genre, … Read more

Dish Network is a believer in advertising its Dish Hopper DVR, which allows users to automatically skip ads on recorded programs. The AutoHop feature, as well as the capability to watch programming over the Internet and on mobile devices, are the subject of multiple lawsuits brought by the TV broadcast networks.

To get around the ban by the TV networks on advertising the Hopper product on their airwaves, Dish has become the sponsor for the No. 95 car driven by Scott Speed in Sunday's Daytona 500, which will be on the Fox Broadcasting network.

"Everybody skips commercials, and … Read more

Last week, about 40 members of the CNET editorial staff met in the CNET trailer in the parking lot of the Las Vegas Convention Center to vote on our official Best of CES winner. We gathered on Wednesday evening and heard from each editor covering the show what he or she liked best.

Ultimately, we chose the Dish Hopper for our Best of CES award because of innovative features that push shows recorded on DVR to iPads.

After the vote, we communicated the winners, as we always do, through normal channels. CNET immediately got down to the business of preparing … Read more

Earlier this year I wrote about the Kungl, a nifty plastic iPhone case with an embedded 1/4-inch tripod mount.

At $19.99, it's one of the more affordable tripod accessory options out there. But what if you want to shoot video with, say, an iPod Touch? Or an Android phone? And what if you don't happen to have a tripod handy?

This Kickstarter project might be just the answer: the SlingShot is a universal smartphone video-stabilization system that has a few nifty tricks up its sleeve. And you can get in on the action for just $14.… Read more

With the incredible success of the original Angry Birds, few iOS gamers were probably surprised that Angry Birds Space would rocket to the top of the iTunes Store's list of paid apps. I've been playing the game quite a lot over the past 24 hours, and though I've noticed some bugs (kill all pigs with one bird to get one star, anyone?), the new gravity fields, interesting levels, and new bird types definitely add something new to the game.

Angry birds isn't the only game in this genre, however. When Angry Birds took off at the iTunes App Store, several developers came out with their own version of the sling-shot game mechanic and many brought new elements to add to the fun.

This week's collection of iOS apps are all Angry Birds-like destruction games, but each have an interesting twist on the original game mechanic. The first offers a heavy metal theme as you smash monster trucks into structures. The second lets you blast ragdolls through intricate levels towards a target. The third mixes game genres to add liquid physics into the equation making for unique challenges.… Read more

Ragdoll Blasters 3 is the third installment in the popular physics puzzle series, and this sequel is a solid offering with plenty for puzzle gaming fans. Like the first two Ragdoll Blasters, the game concept is simple: on each level, aim your cannon and fire the rag doll to hit the target. Of course it's never quite that easy; you'll also want to grab buttons for extra points, and maps provide plenty of obstacles to make it hard to get a perfect three-star score.

As the third game in a popular series, you would expect the game to … Read more

Nearly every device in your house, from your television to your refrigerator, is going to be networked and could very well be Android-powered, panelists said today at a CNET CES event in Las Vegas.

Of course you'd expect Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Google, to say that. But the vision was also endorsed by executives at Google partner Samsung, Sling Media, and Benchmark Capital, who spoke to CNET's Brian Cooley and Molly Wood about ecosystem trends. Here's what they said.

Eric Schmidt, Google executive chairman

The smartphone will become the portal to other devices and appliances in … Read more

Pull back, aim for the cheese, then hit the cat. That's pretty much all you have to remember to play this unique, addictive, and whimsical platform game.

In Bouncy Mouse, you are the colorful, cheese-loving protagonist. Your special power? An elastic, prehensile tail. With it, you can sling yourself to and from the small knobs strategically placed throughout each level, and earn points by picking up as many pieces of cheese as you can along the way. Also, thanks to your round, rubbery exterior, you can bounce your way to hard-to-reach pieces of cheese and even bounce yourself out … Read more