poll

On Monday I asked you to vote for the item you most wanted to see during Apple's special event today. Nearly 30 percent of you chose "an updated iPod Touch"--and your wish was granted.

Others beat the drum (and clicked the mouse) for a new Apple TV and iOS 4 for iPad--both of which Apple also announced. In fact, the rumor mill got just about everything right; the only poll item that didn't become reality was a smaller iPad.

All this begs the question: which of today's announcements did you like best? Are … Read more

Apple's big September music event, coming on the first day of next month, is less than a week away. But that still gives us plenty of time to wax philosophical on the whats and wherefores of the company's plans, as many techophiles are already doing.

This year, it's widely expected that Apple will add the "Retina" display and front-facing camera of the iPhone 4 to the iPod Touch. There's also been talk of changes afoot for Apple TV, including a scaled-down device, a much lower price tag of $99, and access to the App … Read more

So Apple's iPad is in the news again this week, with more rumors of a smaller, perhaps 7-inch, version due in time for the holiday-shopping season.

The iPad has arguably created a new market, which Apple is clearly dominating. But non-Apple tablets are on their way.

Research In Motion, Hewlett-Packard, Samsung, and even Google are gunning for the Cupertino company's market share.

Until we get our hands on the devices themselves, we can't make any predictions of the iPad's demise.

But you're not like us. You're Crave readers and you love to prognosticate. So...… Read more

This week we reported that Amazon may be broadening its hardware efforts beyond the e-reader.

A Tuesday piece on the New York Times Bits Blog said the online retailer is looking to build gadgets beyond the Kindle in a bid to retain and expand its niche in the digital marketplace.

CNET's David Carnoy, for one, posits that it would make sense for Amazon to build and sell a small Android-powered tablet that manages to undercut the pricing of Apple's competing iPad products. We've also heard recent rumblings that the e-retailer could be building a phone.

So, if … Read more

This week, Google surprised absolutely nobody everyone when it announced that it was pulling the plug on Google Wave, its collaboration tool that was billed "as if e-mail were invented today."

The tool, which debuted in June 2009, was ambitious, to be sure, and many--myself included--liked where Wave seemed to be headed. It just never got there. Or even close. Or anywhere really.

Google says it's going to keep Wave around, but stop supporting it (kind of like the kid I had with my first ex--JK, JK). Some think Wave failed because it wasn't tied to … Read more

Apple's new Magic Trackpad is a clear sign the company is serious about multitouch and gesture as the future of personal-computer navigation. And it might be right.

Almost all modern smartphones incorporate a series of swipes and taps as their interface. MacBook users have been using multitouch on their trackpads for a few years, and the Magic Trackpad is clearly an extension of that experience.

But a lot of people are making noise that the Magic Trackpad--and it's sure-to-follow imitators--heralds a mouse-free future. This being the Internet, there's an opposing camp calling them all idiots.

So … Read more

Do you remember when you bought stereo receivers based on their power and connectivity? The entry-level models were low in power and had just a few inputs. As you moved up in the line, they got more power, more ports, and an extra feature or two. The top models looked cooler than the entry-level ones, with a more high-end design flair and they hid their lesser-used controls under a flip-down panel. If someone bought a more expensive model, it's because they wanted better sound quality.

Home-theater receivers followed the same course, except the higher end models had more speaker … Read more

Despite public approval, U.S. wind energy investment is slowing down instead of growing, according to the American Wind Energy Association.

An overwhelming majority of Americans support a renewable electricity standard, and wind energy investment in particular, according to a poll of 600 likely voters conducted in March by Newhouse of Public Opinion Strategies and Bennett, Petts & Normington.

Specifically, 89 percent of Americans said increasing the amount of energy the U.S. gets from wind is a good idea. Broken down by ideology, 84 percent of Republicans, 93 percent of Democrats, and 88 percent of independents support increasing the … Read more

In Sweden, musicians, actors, and other artists get revenue from blank CDs via a copy fee built in to the price consumers pay. This is a fee supported by the Swedish copyright authority, Copyswede, to ensure that home recording doesn't destroy the music industry there, as it contends home recording would.

But as more people stop purchasing discs in favor of online storage and iPods, these artists are seeing income from the discs shrinking. That's why Copyswede is pushing for legislation to extend the reach of its copyright claims to thumbdrives, external hard drives, and even cell phones, … Read more