• 

  FBI unbolts Steve Jobs 1991 investigation file

  The FBI today released a background check it did on Apple's founder Steve Jobs when he was being considered for a position on the President's Export Council under George H.W. Bush in 1991.

  By Michael Cooney | 10 February, 2012 05:23

  Tags: wireless, steve jobs, smartphones, security, networking, industry verticals, government, FOIA, fbi, consumer electronics, Apple

• 

  Incoming Sony CEO: Hot gadgets aren't enough anymore

  Sony's new CEO says the company needs to move on from its hardware roots.

  By Jay Alabaster | 10 February, 2012 04:49

  Tags: sony, personnel, Kazuo Hirai, consumer electronics, business issues

• 

  Apple and Google disagree over licensing of essential patents

  Google is at odds with Apple, Microsoft and Cisco over the licensing and litigation of patents. While Google wants to make the most of patents it will receive if its acquisition of Motorola is approved, the others want to change the way so-called essential patents are licensed.

  By Mikael Ricknäs | 10 February, 2012 04:45

  Tags: Telecommunication, tablets, smartphones, Samsung Electronics, patent, Motorola Mobility, Motorola, Mobile OSes, mobile, legal, iPhone, iPad, iOS, intellectual property, hardware systems, consumer electronics, applications, Apple

• 

  Pre-rendered pages highlight latest Google Chrome release

  You're familiar with autocomplete. Now get ready for auto-page rendering.

  By Brad Reed | 10 February, 2012 04:29

  Tags: software, smartphones, Google Chrome, Google, consumer electronics, Chrome upgrade, Chrome update, Chrome 17, chrome, browsers, applications, Android 4.0, Android

• 

  LTE boosts mobile gear by 17% in 2012

  Thanks to 4G LTE technology, the global market for mobile communications gear will grow 17% in 2012, according to research firm IHS, formerly iSuppli.

  By Matt Hamblen | 10 February, 2012 04:07

  Tags: wireless networking, wireless, Telecommunication, smartphones, networking, Mobile and Wireless, iSuppli, IHS, consumer electronics, broadband

• Digitize your music

  In my lifetime, music has been delivered on vinyl, cassettes, eight-track tapes, CDs, and audio DVDs. How do I listen to it now? Usually with a PC or a smartphone, and occasionally with an MP3 or other media player. I downloaded much of that music or ripped it from CDs, but the rest of it came from LPs and cassettes.

  By Jon L. Jacobi | 03 March, 2011 01:59

  Tags: music files, consumer electronics, Consumer Advice

• 

  iPhone 4 newbies: 10 essential tips and tricks

  You soon-to-be Verizon iPhone 4 customers can learn from the experiences of others. Take it from iPhone old-timers, you're about to enter a magical world of awesome apps running on the most simplistic, addictive device on the planet.

  By Tom Kaneshige | 09 February, 2011 07:33

  Tags: Verizon Wireless, Phones, iPhone, consumer electronics, Apple

• Keeping track of your iPhone data usage

  When users had unlimited data there was no reason to be concerned with how or where that data was being consumed. Since AT&T dropped unlimited data in favor of tiered data caps, though, users have struggled to understand data usage, and now AT&T is faced with a law suit accusing it of systematically overcharging customers.

  By Tony Bradley | 09 February, 2011 08:26

  Tags: Phones, consumer electronics, Cell Phones, at&t

• Smartphone security: Keep your handset safe

  Once upon a time, a phone was just a phone: It simply made and received calls. The only security you worried about was if someone had picked up in the other room to listen in.

  By Brent Rose | 12 January, 2011 02:07

  Tags: Windows Phone 7, tech support, smartphones, RIM BlackBerry, Phones, online security, data protection, consumer electronics

• Overclock your smartphone, if you dare

  WARNING: Overclocking is not for the faint of heart. Do not attempt to hack your phone unless you understand and accept the risks of turning it into a useless "brick."

  By Keir Thomas | 05 January, 2011 12:56

  Tags: software, Phones, operating systems, open source, non-Windows, Linux, consumer electronics, Cell Phones, Android

• 

  Smartphone data shake-up: The end of 'unlimited'

  Americans like living large. We have all-you-can-eat buffets and all-you-can-stream entertainment. And, until recently, we had a virtually unlimited trough of mobile data to digest on our always-available smartphones.

  By JR Raphael | 09 February, 2012 02:04

  Tags: Verizon Wireless, smartphones, mobile, consumer electronics, at&t

• 

  2011's biggest security snafus

  Perhaps it was an omen of what was to come when the city of San Francisco on New Year's Eve 2010 couldn't get a backup system running in its Emergency Operations Center because no one knew the password.

  By Ellen Messmer | 02 December, 2011 06:27

  Tags: smartphones, security, duqu, consumer electronics, Blackberry, anonymous

• 

  What smartphones will be like in 2012

  Since the advent of the first modern smartphone--arguably the original Apple iPhone in 2007--the power of these mobile computing devices that also happen to make phone calls has advanced by leaps and bounds.

  By Jared Newman | 12 November, 2011 01:31

  Tags: Windows Phone, verimotorola, t-mobile, smartphones, Siri, samsung, qualcomm, Phones, nvidia, Mobile OSes, mobile, Micro Express, iPhone 4S, htc, Google, consumer electronics, Components, Batteries / fuel cells, batteries, apple iphone, Apple, Android

• Want Siri on your Android phone? Try these apps

  Wouldn't you like to have your very own gofer dedicated to doing all the menial tasks you hate? That's a big part of the appeal of the iPhone 4S: Siri, the voice-driven virtual assistant, turns anyone with a couple hundred bucks into a CEO attended by a full-time lackey. But can you get the same kind of slavish devotion from an Android phone?

  By Edward N. Albro | 09 November, 2011 01:52

  Tags: voice recognition, software, smartphones, Phones, Google, consumer electronics, apple iphone, Apple, Android

• 

  Insight: Why Microsoft's vision of the future will really happen

  Microsoft released a video in 2008 and another one this week that together predict the sleek, wireless, connected gadgets we'll all enjoy by the year 2019.

  By Mike Elgan | 01 November, 2011 02:32

  Tags: Microsoft, hardware systems, consumer electronics

Whitepapers about consumer electronics

• 

  Two May Be Better Than One: Why Hard Disk Drives and Flash Belong Together

  This white paper will explore the need for a caching and buffering technology between DRAM and HDDs and why Flash memory can be used to fill this need. We will go on to look at various ways that Flash and HDDs can be combined in a computer storage hierarchy. These technologies to combine Flash memory and HDDs include hybrid HDDs, Flash on the computer motherboard, and a combination of Flash and HDD storage devices in the same computer – paired storage systems.