Consumer Electronics

September 3, 2008

Peek-ing at Your E-Mail

I just tested Peek, a small gadget that lets you check Web e-mail, like Hotmail from Microsoft (MSFT) or Google's (GOOG) Gmail, on the go. The device can access e-mail...

September 3, 2008

Microsoft Will Cut Xbox Prices in the U.S.

Microsoft (MSFT) thought it would steal a march on the competition when it launched its Xbox 360 video-game console in late 2005, a year before rivals could get out ...

September 2, 2008

Samsung's Satisfactory Sound Bar

Anybody who's set up a home theater system knows a thing or two about clutter. Unless you pay money to have wires hidden behind walls, you'll need to contend with a ...

September 2, 2008

What's Hot: Used Apple iPhones

As the head of a company that sells used consumer electronics, David Chen follows sales of the iPhone with the precision of a mathematician. At the outset, the price ...

August 29, 2008

Has Dell's Comeback Hit a Roadblock?

Dell's turnaround plan veered off course during the summer. The PC maker reported on Aug. 28 that its fiscal second-quarter profits slumped 17% on aggressive price ...

August 28, 2008

Students Will Help Save Apple

Take a look around and it's hard not to get depressed by all the negative economic news. Home prices keep sliding. Credit is drying up. Inflation fears are on the ...

August 28, 2008

Cell Phones Make Headway in Education

Cell phones have long been anathema in the classroom, banned as a potential distraction, at best, and as a possible vehicle for cheating, at worst. But lately, ...

August 27, 2008

Orb's Awesome Audio Mod2 Speakers

One of the often overlooked areas of setting up a home theater is sound. Many of us spend thousands of dollars on a high-definition TV, then shell out several hundred ...

August 26, 2008

VoIP Goes Mobile

Scott Goldman uses his mobile phone to call friends and business contacts all over the world, from Britain to Australia. But the Southern California-based consultant ...

August 25, 2008

Trulia's New iPhone House Finder

House hunting? Forget the listing agents and classified ads. Now you can find homes for sale with a few taps on a smartphone. Trulia, one of the Web's most visited ...

August 22, 2008

Apple's Ambitious iPhone 3G Plans

Forecasting iPhone sales is one of tech's toughest guessing games. Since Apple's iPhone 3G came storming out of the gate with 1 million units sold in the three days ...

August 19, 2008

The iPhone Kill-Switch Kerfuffle

And you thought Google's (GOOG) got the goods on you. Sure, the Web search leader keeps tabs on the searches that emanate from your PC. But consider the data dossier ...

August 19, 2008

Sprint Airave: Nothing to Rave About

I had high hopes for Sprint's Airave. Too high. Airave is what's known as a femtocell, a scaled-down version of those useful but unsightly towers that convey phone ...

August 18, 2008

Can Undersea Optic Cables Presage a Boom?

One thing I've learned about the optical network business, having followed it for more than a decade, is that the boom and bust cycles of the business often mask ...

August 15, 2008

VCs Hope to See Wi-Fi Everywhere

Many people are familiar with the coffee shop's Wi-Fi, while others even know how to set up a simple home network. Pretty much everyone, however, knows that Wi-Fi is ...

August 15, 2008

Dell's Music Player Has New Zing

A long list of powerful companies have tried and failed to make much of a mark in the world of digital entertainment, where Apple (AAPL) reigns supreme. Think ...

August 14, 2008

What May Be Behind the iPhone 3G Glitches

Complaints over dropped calls and choppy Web connections on Apple's iPhone 3G have sparked a wave of debate in the blogosphere over the root cause of the problems. Two...

August 11, 2008

How to Make Money off Free iPhone Games

Can developing free software for mobile phones be a business? It can if you're Illusion Labs, a fledgling company in the Swedish port city of Malmö. Illusion Labs was ...

August 6, 2008

Sprint Makes Progress, But Not Much

In recent months, Sprint Nextel (S) has been described as "seen turning a corner" by The New York Times and as possibly "turning around" by The Washington Post. That's...

August 6, 2008

Apple's iPhone Takes a Toll

Last year, when Apple (AAPL) unveiled its iPhone and made it available in the U.S. exclusively from AT&T, the debut sent ripples throughout the cell-phone industry. ...

August 5, 2008

Why Cell-Phone Health Concerns Persist

Why can't we get a definitive answer about cell phones and health? Mobile phones have been around for over 20 years, and they're now used by more than 3 billion ...

August 5, 2008

Nokia Leaps into Mobile Web with Sports Tracker

On a recent holiday morning, I waited nervously in a pack of cyclists at a shopping mall parking lot outside Frankfurt, Germany, suited up in helmet and Lycra and ...

August 4, 2008

Motorola: The New CEO's Real Challenge

There's no question what Wall Street thinks about Motorola's (MOT) new co-chief executive, Sanjay Jha. The communications conglomerate's shares jumped 11% to nearly ...

July 31, 2008

Google, Symbian: Cooperation Needed

When it comes to cell-phone software, open is the new black. In less than two years, no fewer than three coalitions have formed with the intent of building mobile ...

July 31, 2008

Motorola's Big Quarterly Profit Surprise

Could it actually be that things at Motorola (MOT) are improving? The embattled Schaumburg (Ill.) communications company posted a small quarterly profit of $4 million ...