poll

My cure for post-CES information overload is playing music. For me, that means a return to the basics: pop on a LP, sit down, close my eyes, and just listen. Man, that feels good.

Call me a Luddite, but I like well-designed products you don't have to replace every year or so. Unless you have money to burn, why be an early adopter? Why buy a first generation anything? You'll pay a big price for being first, and pay again when trading up for the next "improved" model. I've never heard of anyone who regretted … Read more

This week can more or less be summed up in three words (or should we say three acronyms?)--CES, CES, CES. It's virtually impossible to keep up with the avalanche of announcements rolling out of the gadget blowout in Vegas, and if your head is spinning as much as ours, you'd be hard-pressed to list your standouts just yet.

But what if your pushy Crave editors told you you absolutely had to cite your pick for the most exciting or noteworthy news out of CES 2010 so far (or else Crave would only post Hello Kitty gadget news … Read more

Anyone who knows me knows that I'm a cheapskate. (I even have a blog that says so.) Needless to say, when it comes to buying games for my iPhone, I tend to choose titles that are free or supercheap.

In fact, my buying habits work like this: If a game I want costs 99 cents, I'll usually grab it without a second thought. If it's $1.99 or $2.99, I'll sometimes pull the trigger, though not without some hesitation. Anything that costs more, I rarely pony up for it.

Am I alone in this regard? To find out, I created this poll. Cast your vote, then read on for more discussion.

I suspect most people will choose, "It depends on the game." And, sure enough, some games offer relatively limited replay value, and therefore should be priced lower than games you're likely to play endlessly.

On the other hand, why should I balk at spending, $5 for an iPhone game that's every bit as good as a $50 PlayStation game? (PlayStation 2, anyway.) I'll drop five bucks for a Starbucks coffee and cookie, which last all of 10 minutes, but not on a game I might play for weeks. Why?

Maybe it's because I'm spoiled by all the great freebies, like Tap Tap Revenge 3, Unblock Me, and Traffic Rush. Or perhaps there's less perceived value in a game that runs on such a small screen.… Read more

We're nearing 2010, and that means it's time for bloggers like yours truly to stock up on champagne, put on our one necktie, and start making predictions. Instead, I thought it would be fun to talk about the tech I'd like to see in the new year. Then I thought it would be even more fun if we talked about the tech that you, the readers, would like to see.

To be fair, a few of our poll options are left over from my 2008 holiday wish list that didn't come to be in '09. Then … Read more

If you'd have told me a year ago that late 2009 would see a new format war brewing, I would have said, "Great, I love a good format war!"

If you'd have told me it would be an e-book format war, though, I might have laughed at you and made fun of your stupid Christmas sweater. Because a year ago the Kindle was the only game in town, and by the looks of it you shop at the Mervyns outlet.

This week we got our hands on the Nook, the tight little e-book reader from Barnes &… Read more

This week we told you about a couple of breakthroughs in bionics, including a Luke Skywalker-like artificial hand controlled by the brain, and a bionic larynx that uses a speech synthesizer to let people who've had their voice boxes removed speak more realistically. Those are both awesome.

They also hint that we may be on the threshold of a new wave of bionic devices that will boost the quality of life for people around the world. But what's next? What bionic science will most wow us in coming years?

Vote in our poll, and be sure to leave … Read more

Black Friday is my favorite day of the year--not just because retailers and manufacturers are falling over each other to try to nab my holiday dollars, but because the rush at the big-box stores is hilariously insane.

Working at a Best Buy-like store for several years, I made sure to take full advantage of my tryptophan-induced coma so I'd be ready to go for the 16-hour workday ahead. In the end I was always exhausted, but also happy, as I'd helped many people get the good deals they were looking for.

We've featured quite a few Black Friday deals … Read more

So we've all heard that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, released Tuesday, broke all kinds of sales records this week and is being touted as the biggest video game release of all time. But that's coming at the same time that we get word of some less-than-good data from The NPD Group: the video game industry was down a staggering 19 percent in sales in October.

Some say the much-anticipated Modern Warfare 2 could give the industry a boost, but it might not be enough.

As a self-proclaimed influential tech journalist and longstanding pundit of the absolute … Read more