The world is better off with Best Buy alive than dead

A Lenovo Yoga convertible ultrabook on display at a Los Angeles Best Buy. It's still the best place to comparison shop for gadgets in a physical store.(Credit:Brooke Crothers)Despite all the flak Best Buy gets from consumers and financial analysts, the world is probably a better place with it than without it. For those who don't follow Best Buy as a business, existential questions have been dogging...

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Crave Ep. 111: Man vs. jetpack

Man vs. jetpack, Ep: 111Subscribe to Crave:iTunes (HD) | iTunes (SD) | iTunes (HQ)RSS (HD) | RSS (SD) | RSS (HQ)A German inventor has built a DIY jetpack, so we hop onboard. Also, we get a first look at "Star Wars" pinball for iOS and Android, and "Star Trek" fans win a major space battle when they vote to name a Pluto moon "Vulcan." All that and more on this week's episode of...

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Do Not Track privacy bill reintroduced in Senate

Senator Jay RockefellerA new bill intended to grant more privacy protections to Internet users was introduced today by U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller. Dubbed "Do-Not-Track Online Act of 2013," the bill would make it law for all Web browsers, online companies, and app makers to give users a choice of opting out of being tracked online, according to The New York Times. Advertisers and data brokers commonly...

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Firefox and Tizen make a move for Android

Likely by Samsung's design, the Tizen OS looks reminiscent of Android.(Credit:CBS Interactive)Alongside a myriad of new tablets and phones, Mobile World Congress 2013 also gave us our first real look at Mozilla's Firefox OS and the Samsung and Intel collaboration, Tizen OS. While Android might dominate the smartphone landscape today, it's only five years old. I can recall plenty of headlines in 2007...

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Samsung Galaxy S4 rumor roundup

The next next big thing is almost here?Editors' note: This piece was originally posted on January 24, 2013. We'll continuously update the roundup until the device's official launch. Please let us know if we missed any rumors ourselves.Considering the popularity and success of the Samsung Galaxy S3, it's understandable that whispers of its successor (presumably called the Galaxy S4) are circulating....

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Firefox betas pull the shades per-tab on 'porn mode'

Desktops get a new Download Manager in Firefox 20 Beta.(Credit:Mozilla)Private browsing, or 'porn mode' for people with more prurient Web browsing requirements, will soon be available in Firefox on a per-tab basis.The latest versions of Firefox 20 Beta (download for Windows, Mac, and Linux)and Firefox 20 Beta for Android (download) have been updated to allow people to choose private browsing on a...

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Samsung, Tim Burton brighten Oscars with rainbow-colored unicorn blood

Movies take a lot of thinking.(Credit:Samsung Screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET)"This is getting too weird for me."These are words you never expected to hear coming from the mouth of Tim Burton.Yet Samsung, which these days leaves no competitive joke unturned and no Hollywood star untapped, delivered precisely that during the Oscars broadcast.The ad, released by Samsung a little while before the...

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The Facebook mistakes people make after a date

February can make people excitable.A new year is barely old. Hope springs eternal. And then there's Valentine's Day to add a little piquancy to their emotional state.Sometimes, though, lovers suffer from a certain lack of self-control. This can manifest itself on society's everyday manifest: Facebook.I was moved, therefore, that someone had taken the time to list the major faux pas that occur when...

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Crave Ep. 110: Prevent a hangover with the worlds first 'sober pill'?

Prevent a hangover with the worlds first 'sober pill'? Ep 110Subscribe to Crave:iTunes (HD) | iTunes (SD) | iTunes (HQ)RSS (HD) | RSS (SD) | RSS (HQ) This week on Crave, William Shatner has some choice words for J.J. Abrams, and we toss one back in the greatest drinking game ever invented. Cheers! Plus, we dodge a bullet the size of a football field as an asteroid nearly collides...

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Social media aggregator Memolane to shut down

Memolane's timeline service.(Credit:Eddie Echo/CNET)Memolane, a social-media aggregator that promised trips down memory lane, announced today that it is shutting down immediately and will delete users' account content tomorrow.Launched in 2010, the Web app extracted each moment users shared on popular social-networking services such as Facebook, Last.fm, Twitter, Foursquare, and others and combined...

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Apple, Facebook, Twitter hacks said to hail from Eastern Europe

While many security experts have been pointing the blame at China for the recent wave of cyberattacks on U.S. companies and newspapers, Bloomberg reports that some of the malware attacks actually may be coming from Eastern Europe. Investigators familiar with the matter told Bloomberg they believe a cybercriminal group based in either Russia or Eastern Europe is carrying out the high-level attacks...

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Google doodle does circles around Copernicus' birthday

Google doodle of Copernicus' model of the universe. (Credit:Screenshot by Steven Musil/CNET)Google is invoking the name Copernicus again, but this time it's not a joke.The Web giant is celebrating the 540th birthday of the Renaissance mathematician and astronomer who changed the way people look at the universe with a doodle. Nicolaus Copernicus, who was born in 1473, is perhaps best known his heliocentric...

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Why Google's stores shouldn't look so much like Apple stores

Is this really different enough?(Credit:Crave CNET UK)Some engineers have never dated a real person.They've tried to, but it's hard for them to appreciate that real people don't necessarily use data to make decisions -- especially when it comes to love.Perhaps their most embarrassing moments come when they try to mimic what non-engineers do in order to make themselves more attractive.This mirrors...

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Russian meteorite: The conspiracy theories

A strange time for a military attack?(Credit:CNN; screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET)A good hearty conspiracy theory can shine a sharp light on two of humanity's most enduring traits.One, of course, is humanity's boundless imagination. The other is humanity's essential suspicion of humanity.So while you might be deeply immersed in Bill Nye's explanation of the Russian meteorite, those with darker...

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With Microsoft as tablet rival, will HP go Android?

First a Chromebook, next an Android tablet?(Credit:Hewlett-Packard)If Hewlett-Packard introduces an Android tablet, the newfound rivalry with Microsoft will be one motivating factor, according to analysts. "I can see why they would go down this route instead of sticking with Microsoft for everything," said Ben Bajarin, a principal at Creative Strategies.That may be putting it charitably. "[PC makers]...

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Iceland works to block Internet porn

If Iceland's Interior minister gets enough support, his country could be the first in the West to ban all Internet pornography. Ogmundur Jonasson is working on new legal measures that could make access to online porn nearly impossible, according to the Daily Mail. "We have to be able to discuss a ban on violent pornography, which we all agree has a very harmful effects on young people and can have...

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Hackers can easily breach Emergency Alert Systems

Hackers broke into several television stations' Emergency Alert Systems this week and broadcast that zombies were "rising from their graves" and "attacking the living." While a comical hoax, security consultancy firm IOActive warns that this type of behavior is dangerous and not that hard for hackers to do, according to Computerworld. This week it's zombies, but next time it could be something that...

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Apple reportedly has 100-person team working on 'iWatch'

Is Apple eyeing an iWatch?(Credit:Sarah Tew and Christopher MacManus/CNET)As the Apple "iWatch" rumor mill gets wound up, a new report holds that Apple already has a team of 100 people working on the rumored smart wristwatch, including some prominent Apple employees.Following initial reports earlier this week that Apple was developing an iOS-based wristwatch, unnamed sources tell Bloomberg that the...

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LG updates Optimus L-Series handsets for MWC 2013

The successors of LG's L Series handsets, which include the L7 II, L5 II, and L3 II.(Credit:LG)Mobile World Congress will kick off in Barcelona in two weeks, but that doesn't mean the news will wait until then.LG announced today that it will unveil the next iteration of its L-Series line of mid-tier devices at the mobile conference later this month. The series includes the successors of the LG Optimus...

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Did Google Earth error send murderer to wrong address?

Dennis and Merna Koula.(Credit:CBS News.com Screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET)Sometimes, even after a murder conviction, some see reasonable doubt that the conviction was a righteous one.Such is the case in the murder of Dennis and Merna Koula in La Cross, Wisc, a quiet community.Their son Eric was found guilty and is currently serving two consecutive life-sentences for the murder of the wealthy...

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