How Facebook is banishing roommate horror stories from the dorm

A scene from move-in day at the University of Florida, a school that lets its thousand of incoming freshmen find a roommate on Facebook. (Credit: Screenshot by Nick Statt/CNET) In 2007, Facebook had been open to the public for less than a year, but a troublesome tendency -- now commonplace among nearly every college-age teenager...

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Smartphones: When is 'big' too big? (Smartphones Unlocked)

I've handled a lot of oversize smartphones in my years as a reviewer. That's a bit of a trick statement, I'll admit, since both handset screen sizes and our perception of them as large or small have grown throughout the years. Today, phablets like the Samsung Galaxy Mega (6.3 inches,) Huawei Ascend Mate (6.1,) and Sony Xperia Z Ultra...

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HiFiMan RE-400

First, an admission: I've never really liked any of HiFiMan's in-ear headphones. For whatever reason, they just didn't sound all that great and never measured up to the Chinese company's full-size HE family of headphones, which employ proprietary thin-film "planar magnetic" flat drivers that produce clear, dynamic sound. (The HE models...

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Crave giveaway: Colorful Coloud Boom headphones

For those who like their headphones with a splash of color, the Boom cans come in two or more contrasting shades. (Credit: Coloud) Congrats to Cheryl W. of Irvine, Calif., for winning a Bem Wireless Bluetooth boom box in last week's giveaway. This week, we've got another prize your ears will like: a pair of sturdy and stylish...

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Crave giveaway: Sennheiser Momentum headphones

The Sennheiser Momentum headphones feature a brushed stainless-steel headband and plush, leather-covered earpads. (Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET) Congrats to Tywan J. of Owings Mills, Md., for winning an Otterbox Realtree Camo case for the HTC One in last week's giveaway. Like the sound of getting a pair of high-end headphones for...

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Autosolo is cheap, easy to get involved in, and good fun

Autosolo: Motorsport We Can All Get Involved In Very few things about "get up at 5 a.m. on a Sunday and drive to a bit of concrete in Rugby" appeal. First, there's the hour, then the day, then the "desolate bit of ground" bit. If it were a palace of gold and rubies I'd be there before 5 a.m., not just stirring. Still, I had good reason for an early start: Autosolo. Autosolo is one of the newer grassroots motorsports...

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End of Moore's Law: It's not just about physics

An Intel wafer. Chipmakers may find it more difficult to justify the huge costs of developing the next generations of chip technology. (Credit: Intel) The end of Moore's Law may ultimately be as much about economics as physics, says a DARPA director. "My thesis here is that it's time to start planning for the end of Moore's...

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Plants vs. Zombies 2 (iOS)

Plants vs. Zombies 2: It's About Time will be live in the App Store at 6:00 a.m. PT on Thursday, but I've already played through a large chunk of the game, and I can tell you it was definitely worth waiting for this sequel. The original Plants vs. Zombies was a huge hit when it came out for iOS devices in February 2010. After more than...

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We drive the fastest Skoda in the world

We Drive a Skoda Capable of 227.080mph. As birthday presents go, Skoda did well for itself when its vRS sub-brand turned 10 in 2011. Rather than releasing a Fabia vRS with some stickers plastered to the side, or an Octavia vRS with a tiny dollop of extra power, Skoda decided to break a world record. It wanted to take an as-close-to-standard-as-possible Octavia vRS to Speed Week in Bonneville and come away with a world...

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Audi R8 V10 Plus: Like an R8 but better

Audi R8 V10 Plus: Audi's Mk1.5 is the same but better In 2007 Audi released the R8 supercar. It was years in the making and much anticipated. Audi's high-performance form had been proven time and time again -- at first on the world's rally stages, then on the road with the S and RS (Renn Sport) line of cars. When 2012 rolled around Audi gave the R8 a mild face-lift and a bit more go. Its face was given a new, brighter...

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Cambridge SoundWorks Oontz XL

Cambridge SoundWorks has been making some inroads into the ultracompetitive wireless Bluetooth speaker market with its value-priced, weirdly named Oontz line, which has now grown to three products with the addition of the larger Oontz XL. For a lack of a better description, the 1.85-pound Oontz XL is essentially a poor man's Jawbone...

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HP SlateBook x2

The HP SlateBook x2 is a "woulda, coulda, shoulda" Android tablet that doesn't quite justify its $480 price tag. No, it's not a bad tablet. There are plenty of connectivity ports, the screen resolution is high -- if not impressively so -- and while in gaming performance iy can't match the $300 Nvidia Shield, Hewlett-Packard's Tegra 4-fueled...

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Samsung Ativ S Neo (Sprint)

Features-wise, the Samsung Ativ S Neo sits in the center of Sprint's lineup, neither the high-end, high-priced smartphone on the premium side of spectrum, not the entry-level smartphone trying to keep it all together. A mass market phone like this occupies an important, if less exciting, place in any carrier's roster. Yet this particular...

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Limbo (iOS)

Limbo for iOS is a spooky, and award-winning, indie puzzle-platformer, which first made its name on Xbox 360 and now is out for iOS. The touch-screen controls are spot on, making it a great purchase for any iOS device, but you might be left wanting more. The storyline is both straightforward and mysterious, with only this line as an introduction from developer Playdead: "Uncertain of his sister's fate, a boy enters Limbo." That's...

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Bar Facebook-shames man over unpaid $100 tab; man jailed

Arrest by Facebook? (Credit: KRNV-TV screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET) Should you happen to be thirsty and wander into the Brewer's Cabinet bar in Reno, Nev., in the next few days, I have a suggestion: please pay the bar tab. This might seem excessively basic advice. Yet there exist those who feel that paying is sometimes...

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Microsoft details indie game publishing for Xbox One

Among the many groups initially turned off by the first wave of Xbox One details were indie game developers and publishers. Despite creating critical and commercial hits for the Xbox 360 (and being major players in Android, iOS, and PC gaming), the indie game community was troubled by new rules that would require all games on the upcoming...

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Android or Apple? How about agnostic?

Whether it's Apple or Android, a Nexus tablet or an iPad, it just isn't that big a deal anymore. For me, that is. A couple of years ago the iPhone and iPad were easy choices. Today, Android is, well, Android. It's everywhere. Apps: Just mentioning apps in the context of Android versus iOS can be provocative. That said, the...

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Crave giveaway: Pick-Pocket Proof Pants for safe travels

Stay away pickpockets! The P^cubed at the Great Wall of China. (Credit: Clothing Arts) Congrats to Ron G. of Chittenden, Vt., for winning a SwingTip golf-analysis system in our June 7 giveaway, and to Katie D. of Rockaway, N.J., for winning a package of Kanex travel tech last week. This week's prize would help Katie keep all...

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Design Council: Range Rover

Adored the world over, the Range Rover is a style icon. (Credit: Land Rover) Land Rover vehicles are some of the most distinctive vehicles in the world today, and the Range Rover is probably the most iconic. Comfortable and capable, the fact that it has seen only four different model iterations since it launched 42 years ago...

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Kyocera Hydro Edge (Sprint)

Unless you find you and your phone often drenched in water, consider skipping over the Kyocera Hydro Edge. True, as the successor to the Hydro, the Edge can still survive a good dunking. But while this new iteration includes some welcomed improvements like a bigger 4-inch screen and a 5-megapixel camera (the original featured only a 3.2-megapixel...

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