Snowflakes on Christmas cards drawn wrong[ Wed, 23 Dec 2009 20:09:13 GMT ]In pop culture depictions, snowflakes are usually drawn inaccurately, an expert now says. Snowflakes are six-cornered, rather than the four-, five- and eight-cornered crystals typically depicted in children's books, Christmas cards and even in an ad for a science magazine.

Decrepit stars locate the fountain of youth[ Wed, 23 Dec 2009 20:46:23 GMT ]Mysterious old stars that look oddly young found the fountain of youth via two means, new research finds. Some rely on vampirism to suck the life out of a companion star, while others are rejuvenated in cosmic collisions.

Why bees always have a safe landing[ Wed, 23 Dec 2009 21:12:52 GMT ]Whether landing on a picnic table, underneath a flower petal, or on a wall of a hive, bees always manage to touch down without crashing or tumbling.

BlackBerry users suffer second outage in a week[ Wed, 23 Dec 2009 18:26:15 GMT ]BlackBerry e-mail service in North America was restored for some users Wednesday morning following its second outage in less than a week.

Netbook decision: Windows XP or 7 Starter?[ Wed, 23 Dec 2009 01:47:31 GMT ]Some critics think Microsoft's previous operating system, Windows Home XP, remains a better choice for netbooks than Windows 7 Starter. Both versions are being sold on netbooks.

Cool gifts for shutterbugs[ Wed, 23 Dec 2009 01:47:07 GMT ]From a practical gift of a spare battery to a lavish new camera lens, these are add-ons that any shutterbug would love.

10 best video games of 2009[ Tue, 22 Dec 2009 20:28:02 GMT ]The last year has been a difficult one for the game industry. And yet, 2009 has still managed to deliver a bumper crop of truly excellent and even inspiring games.

Cosmic Log: Pick the weirdest wonders[ Wed, 23 Dec 2009 22:38:43 GMT ]Science editor Alan Boyle's Weblog: Which of the past year's scientific discoveries were the weirdest? Cast your official ballot for the 2010 Weird Science Awards.

Wondering about the ‘Star of Wonder’[ Tue, 9 Dec 2008 20:38:43 GMT ]What could the Christmas Star have been? Astronomers say the most likely candidate was actually a series of planetary conjunctions that peaked on June 17 in the year 2 B.C.

Take spectacular holiday photos[ Thu, 24 Dec 2009 01:00:10 GMT ]A little planning and preparation can help you take holiday photos that you will be happy to share with family and friends now and over the years to come.

Lookout keeps an eye on mobile-device security (photos)[ Thu, 24 Dec 2009 04:00:00 PST ]San Francisco start-up Lookout aims to keep mobile devices--and their data--safe.

Behind the scenes of CBS's NFL coverage[ Thu, 24 Dec 2009 08:22:21 PST ]Natali Del Conte invites you to see how CBS covers NFL games. She introduces you to the team of experts and professionals who will bring you 2010's Super Bowl game.

Obama says disappointment at Copenhagen justified[ Thu, 24 Dec 2009 08:55:04 PST ]President's statement hardens widespread verdict that the climate conference was a failure.

Apple stockholders get record high for Christmas[ Thu, 24 Dec 2009 14:24:49 PST ]On rumors of a January Apple tablet unveiling, the company's stock closes as an all time high Thursday of $209.04, up 3.43 percent.

Apple owns iSlate.com--the mystery deepens[ Fri, 25 Dec 2009 09:45:00 PST ]More intrigue arises around Apple's widely rumored tablet. The latest: it may be dubbed iSlate, according to information uncovered by MacRumors.com.

Flixster/Rotten Tomatoes/MySpace mystery solved[ Fri, 25 Dec 2009 11:59:00 PST ]A complex, potential deal centers on News Corp.'s Rotten Tomatoes merging with Flixster, a social-networking site for movies. The resulting company's content could then be threaded throughout News Corp.'s MySpace.

How tech touched the '00s[ Fri, 25 Dec 2009 12:46:00 PST ]Among the multitude of end-of-decade lists, the Associated Press rounds up 50 lifestyle trends. Whether it's surprising or not, tech-related items make up nearly half of them.

FCC member berates Verizon for termination fees[ Fri, 25 Dec 2009 14:39:00 PST ]Commissioner Mignon Clyburn says in an open letter that she find Verizon's defense of its early termination fees to be "unsatisfying and, in some cases, troubling."

Ford sees bump in hybrid sales[ Fri, 25 Dec 2009 18:59:00 PST ]Carmaker says its hybrid sales are up 67 percent this year, despite an 11 percent slump industrywide.

The 10 best new Firefox add-ons of 2009[ Sat, 26 Dec 2009 00:00:00 PST ]2009 felt like a rebuilding year for Firefox add-ons, with two new frameworks created to help guide the future of extensions. But that doesn't mean there weren't any cool debuts. Check out list of the best new add-ons from the past 12 months.

Behind NORAD's Santa tracker[ Thu, 24 Dec 2009 12:16:40 EST ]Children thought they were calling Santa when they reached a U.S. Air Force colonel poised to deal with attacks from Russians. More than 50 years later, NORAD's Santa tracking program spreads cheer to millions.

Roller coaster year for video games[ Tue, 22 Dec 2009 11:56:31 EST ]In January, sales were up 13 percent over the year before, reported industry analyst the NPD Group, and that trend continued in February, with a 10 percent boost over 2008.

Mall of America tweets parking info[ Wed, 23 Dec 2009 13:19:39 EST ]One of the messiest aspects of the holiday season is fighting the holiday traffic, especially during the last-minute shopping rush. But the Mall of America, the mammoth shopping center outside Minneapolis-St. Paul, is turning to technology to ease the parking pain.

BlackBerry users hit by outages[ Wed, 23 Dec 2009 03:32:35 EST ]Service outages plagued BlackBerry customers across North America on Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning, leaving them without e-mail and Internet for more than eight hours.

Jailbreak fugitive updates Facebook page[ Wed, 23 Dec 2009 10:11:13 EST ]British police have appealed for information about the whereabouts of an escaped prisoner who has been telling the world via Facebook about his life as a fugitive.

DDoS attack hobbles sites, including Amazon[ Thu, 24 Dec 2009 14:00:42 EST ]An attack directed at the DNS provider for some of the Internet's larger e-commerce companies -- including Amazon, Wal-Mart, and Expedia -- took several Internet shopping sites offline Wednesday evening, two days before Christmas.

Micro-blogs in China: Tweeting through the Great Firewall[ Thu, 24 Dec 2009 23:03:52 EST ]A handful of homegrown micro-blogging sites emerged about the same time Twitter started to gain a small, yet steadily growing, share of Chinese Internet users, beginning about 2007, around a year after Twitter was launched in the U.S. in 2006.

Recycle yule into Christmas alt-fuel[ Fri, 25 Dec 2009 08:36:46 EST ]For all the joy of Christmas morning, there's certainly a lot of waste involved.

Boeing's 787, as innovative inside as outside[ Fri, 25 Dec 2009 10:00:06 EST ]Oh sure, Boeing's new 787 Dreamliner is made of composite materials and it's super fuel efficient, but unless you own an airline, the only thing you care about is how comfortable it is. Boeing knows this, and has striven to give passengers an experience unlike any other airplane.

Training day for astronaut mom[ Fri, 25 Dec 2009 08:41:21 EST ]Gearing up for blast off on a Russian Soyuz rocket is a tricky balancing act for Cady Coleman, who can spend one evening cooking dinner and picking up toys and the next preparing to orbit the Earth at 17,000 mph.

How one odd duck says 'no' to sex[ Wed, 23 Dec 2009 15:54:30 GMT ]When it comes to sex, some female ducks have taken "no" to a new level. They have evolved vaginas with clockwise spirals that keep out the oppositely spiraled penises of undesirable males, scientists have discovered.

Ancient Mayans likely had fountains and toilets[ Wed, 23 Dec 2009 18:18:55 GMT ]The ancient Mayans may have had enough engineering know-how to master running water, creating fountains and even toilets by controlling water pressure, scientists now suggest.

Snowflakes on Christmas cards drawn wrong[ Wed, 23 Dec 2009 20:09:13 GMT ]In pop culture depictions, snowflakes are usually drawn inaccurately, an expert now says. Snowflakes are six-cornered, rather than the four-, five- and eight-cornered crystals typically depicted in children's books, Christmas cards and even in an ad for a science magazine.

Decrepit stars locate the fountain of youth[ Wed, 23 Dec 2009 20:46:23 GMT ]Mysterious old stars that look oddly young found the fountain of youth via two means, new research finds. Some rely on vampirism to suck the life out of a companion star, while others are rejuvenated in cosmic collisions.

Why bees always have a safe landing[ Wed, 23 Dec 2009 21:12:52 GMT ]Whether landing on a picnic table, underneath a flower petal, or on a wall of a hive, bees always manage to touch down without crashing or tumbling.

BlackBerry users suffer second outage in a week[ Wed, 23 Dec 2009 18:26:15 GMT ]BlackBerry e-mail service in North America was restored for some users Wednesday morning following its second outage in less than a week.

Netbook decision: Windows XP or 7 Starter?[ Wed, 23 Dec 2009 01:47:31 GMT ]Some critics think Microsoft's previous operating system, Windows Home XP, remains a better choice for netbooks than Windows 7 Starter. Both versions are being sold on netbooks.

Cool gifts for shutterbugs[ Wed, 23 Dec 2009 01:47:07 GMT ]From a practical gift of a spare battery to a lavish new camera lens, these are add-ons that any shutterbug would love.

10 best video games of 2009[ Tue, 22 Dec 2009 20:28:02 GMT ]The last year has been a difficult one for the game industry. And yet, 2009 has still managed to deliver a bumper crop of truly excellent and even inspiring games.

Cosmic Log: Pick the weirdest wonders[ Wed, 23 Dec 2009 22:38:43 GMT ]Science editor Alan Boyle's Weblog: Which of the past year's scientific discoveries were the weirdest? Cast your official ballot for the 2010 Weird Science Awards.

CNET News Daily Podcast: Comcast, Microsoft lawsuits conclude[ Wed, 23 Dec 2009 13:01:00 PST ]Comcast settles a class action lawsuit, Microsoft loses its Word patent appeal, and RIM explains what happened with Tuesday's BlackBerry outage.

iPhone + robot marimba player = instant band[ Wed, 23 Dec 2009 13:21:00 PST ]Shimon is an autonomous robot marimba player created at Georgia Tech. When teamed with iPhone app ZOOZBeat, Shimon can jam Thelonius Monk-style.

iPhone vs. BlackBerry in the California outback[ Wed, 23 Dec 2009 13:28:00 PST ]On a recent trip to the California desert, CNET Blog Network's Brooke Crothers had a chance to put Verizon (BlackBerry) and AT&T (iPhone 3GS) service to the test.

How iPhone apps can ruin your Christmas[ Wed, 23 Dec 2009 14:42:57 PST ]If you are looking to download new iPhone apps that will change your life this Christmas, beware if a couple that could easily change things for the worse.

Twitter buys developers of GeoAPI[ Wed, 23 Dec 2009 14:48:00 PST ]With location-aware services hot right now in the social-media segment, Twitter is buying the developers of a popular API used by developers on the platform.

Wait! Nook arriving for Christmas after all[ Wed, 23 Dec 2009 15:11:00 PST ]Despite statements to the contrary a few days earlier, Barnes & Noble now says it will fulfill all preorder shipments by Christmas. Got whiplash yet?

Tablet hint? Apple developers supersizing apps for January event[ Wed, 23 Dec 2009 16:42:00 PST ]Company has told some key developers to prep versions of their iPhone apps that will work on a device with a larger screen, sources say.

Web staggers under pre-Christmas DDoS attack[ Wed, 23 Dec 2009 17:23:00 PST ]Several high-profile e-commerce sites were inaccessible for around half an hour Wednesday evening, due to what customer support at a major DNS provider called an attack.

DDoS attack hobbles major sites, including Amazon[ Wed, 23 Dec 2009 20:04:00 PST ]More than a mouse was stirring Wednesday night on the Internet, as an attack on a major DNS provider to sites such as Amazon.com and others hobbled service for about an hour.

Web-based Lookout protects mobile devices, data[ Thu, 24 Dec 2009 04:00:00 PST ]Lookout offers data security, backup, and management over the Web and a way to locate and protect missing or stolen devices.