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Self-driving cars have long been the dream of futurists, but they came one huge step closer to reality this year, as California became the third state to legalize autonomous vehicles, and Nevada issued the first license for testing on public streets and highways. Google released a demo video of one of its autonomous vehicles carting a blind man around town in May.

How realistic is it that you'll soon spot a driverless car in the next lane over? Probably not very. But testing will certainly continue in 2013, and Google's Sergey Brin is optimistic, predicting that consumers will … Read more

It's been a tough couple of years for NASA, which has seen huge budget cuts and the retirement of the U.S. space shuttle program. But it's not all bad news at the agency.

Curiosity, the newest robot in NASA's little fleet of Martian rovers, landed on the Red Planet in August and quickly got to work. Within a few months, the rover had already made a significant finding: NASA announced in early December that Curiosity had found signs of simple organic compounds in a Martian soil sample, though scientists were quick to check expectations since they … Read more

John McAfee just might be the worst over-sharer on the Internet.

Living as an expat in Belize, the founder of the ubiquitous antivirus software hasn't been an active figure in the tech industry for years. But when his neighbor was found murdered in November, he came back on the scene in a truly bizarre way.

Wanted for questioning by local police, McAfee went on the lam. In an odd turn, he began publishing regular updates and pictures to his blog declaring his innocence, making claims of government persecution, describing his disguises, and explaining the nature of his relationship with … Read more

Up-and-coming hardware designer and phone maker Huawei has been making a name for itself of late. But expanding into the U.S. market hasn't been easy.

The company was dogged all year by accusations that some of its employees might actually be spies for the Chinese government. Huawei issued several statements to the contrary. And after 18 months of investigations, a White House review reportedly found no evidence to this effect.

But even if that report turns out to be true, some in Congress weren't satisfied. Regardless of whether there are currently spies working at Huawei and fellow … Read more

2012 was the year the entire world went "Gangnam." In November, indigenous locals from the Andean hills in northern Ecuador gathered at a Saturday market in the nearest town, but the day didn't seem to truly get underway until someone plugged a flash drive into a boombox and South Korea's Psy began chanting "Op op op op oppan Gangnam Style!"

Psy and "Gangnam Style" have achieved a lot in just the second half of 2012. Not only did the K-pop sensation make galloping cool again, it made it a requisite dance move … Read more

There's bad blood, and then there's Apple and Samsung. A little more than a year after Apple sued the South Korean tech giant for copying its products, followed by Samsung filing its own suit right back, the two frenemies finally headed to court for a trial that would last a little over three weeks.

In the end, a California jury sided almost entirely with Apple, finding that Samsung had, in fact, infringed on a handful of Apple's patents and the look and feel of its products. That resulted in a $1.05 billion damages bill and a … 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

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Some 15 years after its introduction, the Toyota Prius still defines the hybrid car business. It's an amazing dominance, comparable with the iPod's position in the portable media player market. Prius models outsell all other hybrids combined in the U.S. but that doesn't mean they always will. Enter the Ford C-Max. The name is about as goofy as "Prius," but the mission is serious: to give the Prius some real competition and perhaps push it … Read more

Editor's note: This contest is now closed. Check out our selections for the biggest stories in tech at the CNET 100.

Think you know tech? Let's find out.

Our editors are hard at work putting together the CNET 100, our annual look back at the most important developments in tech this year. In it, we will name the 100 most important stories in tech, broken into four categories: technologies, people, trends, and news events.

Here's where you come in. Guess what our editors will pick for the most important technology, trend, person, and news story in 2012, … Read more