CNET Archives - Page 4 of 4

Samsung Readies ATIV Ultrabook and Tablet for U.S. Launch

By Rob Scott
August 13, 2013

Samsung plans to release two new PC products in the upcoming weeks: The company’s ATIV Book 9 Plus is a $1,399, 13.3-inch ultrabook featuring a 3,200 x 1,800 Gorilla Glass qHD+ display, which the company claims offers the “highest resolution in the world.” In addition, Samsung’s ATIV Tab 3 measures a mere 0.32-inches thick and weighs only 1.28 pounds. The $700 tablet features a 10.1-inch, 1,366 x 768 resolution display and boasts up to seven hours of battery life. Continue reading Samsung Readies ATIV Ultrabook and Tablet for U.S. Launch

CNET Gives MWC Best of Show Award to Ubuntu Touch OS

By Rob Scott
March 4, 2013

At last week’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, CNET was impressed with the Asus Padfone Infinity, Asus FonePad, Nokia Lumia 720 and Sony Xperia Z tablet. In selecting its Best of Show award, however, a panel of CNET judges focused on the potentially disruptive category of new mobile operating systems. Mozilla’s Firefox OS and Canonical’s Ubuntu Touch generated the most buzz at MWC. Continue reading CNET Gives MWC Best of Show Award to Ubuntu Touch OS

CES 2013: Razer Edge Takes Top Awards in CNET Best of CES

By Rob Scott
January 10, 2013

CNET announced the winners of its official “Best of CES” Awards program on Thursday morning. Hundreds of new products were judged by the CNET editors, while the People’s Voice Award was selected by an online audience. This year, both the Best of Show and People’s Voice Awards went to the $999 Razer Edge, a PC gaming-oriented Windows 8 tablet. Other winners included the Lenovo 27-inch Horizon Table PC, Samsung’s 4K UHDTV and the Android YotaPhone with e-ink display. Continue reading CES 2013: Razer Edge Takes Top Awards in CNET Best of CES

Facebook Responds to Google+ Features, Unveils Smart Lists

By Rob Scott
September 14, 2011

Facebook has unveiled improvements to its “friends” lists with a new feature dubbed “Smart Lists” that automatically generates friend groups so that users no longer need to manage their own lists.
The improvement — which follows the lead of popular Google+ features — is currently based on categories that create lists based on workplace, school, family and city. “For example, if a user lists their college on their profile, Smart Lists will automatically find all their friends that did the same, and group them together for easier sharing of content between them,” reports CNET.
While the social networker has previously made list creation available, the company explains that users complained about “how time-consuming it is to organize lists for different parts of your life and keep them up to date.” These improvements should address this concern. Facebook also points out that users can still manually add or remove friends from their lists.
Additionally, a new “Close Friends and Acquaintances Lists” component has been added. The option allows users to categorize friends into either their “Close Friends” list or mere “Acquaintances.” The distinction will help funnel updates through the news feeds; users will see all updates from close friends and just important updates from acquaintances.

Toshiba Glasses-Free 3D Laptop Available this Month

By Rob Scott
August 3, 2011

CNET offers a largely positive hands-on review of Toshiba’s new glasses-free 3D laptop, the Qosmio F755.
A prototype of the 3D laptop was awarded CNET’s “Best of CES” award in January and Toshiba wasted little time bringing the concept to market (the post includes a video review of the prototype from CES 2011).
The $1,699 Qosmio F755 will be available in the U.S. starting August 16.
Toshiba’s new laptop “has a 15-inch 1080p display that uses special eye-tracking software to track the viewer’s head movement and adjust the stereoscopic image accordingly, via the built-in Webcam.”
Features include an Intel Core i7-2630QM CPU, 6GB of RAM, an NVIDIA GeForce GT540M, a 750GB hard drive and a Blu-ray-RW drive.
According to CNET: “Blu-ray content in 3D looked excellent, but took a resolution hit. Like a 3D TV, it requires a few moments to orient your eyes, especially if you’re not used to watching 3D content. But the eye-tracking allowed for a reasonable amount of freedom of movement, and the 3D effect worked from an off-axis side view.”