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In 2012, technology design went square, and I don't mean boring. Rather, the past year signaled a shift to sharp 90-degree angles as a design element. By itself, that change may not seem significant, but when you consider that so much in tech -- from hardware to software to Web design -- was built on the concept of rounded corners, you see that it is a notable design shift. Apple didn't follow the pack (Steve Jobs wasn't a fan of square corners), but plenty of its rivals did.

Microsoft was the biggest promoter of square corners, not … Read more

Imagine seven of CNET's most senior editors locked in a room, arguing over the course of three days to determine the 100 biggest tech stories of the year for our annual CNET 100 package. We bickered, we pounded coffee, we reminisced, and we wrestled over some big questions -- including which products we considered the hands-down best of 2012.

The question of gadget supremacy intrigued us, so we decided to pull from our list of biggest newsmakers the five best devices of the year as well as the five most influential tech products of 2012. The ongoing battle between … Read more

Evidence suggests that Apple could be assembling some of the new iMacs in Fremont, Calif.

Two U.S. models that 9to5Mac traced originated in the San Jose area.

"One tipster's origination pickup point was briefly visible as Fremont CA so it would appear that iMac assembly is happening in that general vicinity," the Mac enthusiast site said.

Another possible location for an assembly operation would be Elk Grove, Calif., where Apple still has operations. But, so far, there's no hard evidence that units are being assembled there.

This follows images posted last week by iFixit showing &… Read more

Could Apple be assembling some new iMacs in the U.S.? A teardown of a new model introduced on Thursday shows an iMac with this marking.

A teardown by iFixit revealed markings on the back of an iMac that say, "Designed by Apple in California, Assembled in USA."

What isn't clear at this point is whether this is a new Apple policy to assemble new products in the U.S. or imprecise Apple labeling.

Refurbished products and some custom-ordered Apple products are modified in the U.S. -- but that's different than assembling a standard product … Read more

Adobe decided to kill off support for its Flash Player on Android a while back. Unfortunately, that didn't mean all Web sites you visit would start using HTML5 instead of Flash (though it would have been nice). So what can you do if some of the Web sites you want to look at are using Flash and your new Android device doesn't have support for it?

Fortunately, the last version of Adobe Flash Player that landed on the Google Play Store will work with your Jelly Bean device. However, since it's no longer available through the Play … Read more

Windows 8 PCs now embed their product keys in the BIOS, a move that offers both pros and cons.

In the past, a new Windows PC would display its product key on a sticker, usually on the side of a desktop and on the base or the bottom of the battery compartment on a laptop. But with Windows 8, Microsoft has switched gears and now stores and encrypts the key in the BIOS instead.

A response to a question on Microsoft's Answers Web site confirmed the details earlier this month:

Maybe it's that Black Friday shopping time of year or maybe Apple is trying an experiment, but it appears that the company now may be selling its refurbished products on eBay.

According to 9to5Mac, which noticed the site a few weeks ago, the eBay store has been up for about a month, and many aspects of it exactly mimic Apple's Web store. For example, the refurbished products are the exact same price and come with the same perks as the Apple Store, like a one-year warranty, original OS, and "final quality inspection by Apple."

With the introduction of tabbed browsing, the way we surf the Internet has never had more distractions. Session Buddy and Session Manager aim to bring a little order to the chaos. Whether you're a couch surfer, a college student, or an office jockey, chances are you probably have what seem to be a thousand tabs opened right now. Managing all those open windows were a hassle before, but now with each one having about 20-plus tabs opened, too? One trick was to force shutdown Chrome. The crash-saving feature would save your session for the next time you launched your … Read more

Far-fetched? Um, yeah. But Foxconn reportedly is thinking of expanding its operation to the U.S.

Famous as the company that makes iPhones for Apple, China's Foxconn is now evaluating a few U.S. cities, including Detroit and Los Angeles, to determine whether they would be good places to set up shop, Digitimes is reporting today, citing so-called "market watchers."

It should be noted that it's not clear who these market watchers are or why they would have knowledge of Foxconn's plans. Beyond that, the company has been able to establish itself as a leading … Read more