point

Many people enjoy it when technology works automatically. Sometimes, though, a little stick-shift principle might be the wiser course.

I make this entirely free suggestion on having heard about Father Martin McVeigh, a priest in County Tyrone, Ireland.

McVeigh was making a presentation to parents of children preparing for Holy Communion. Like any modern pastor would do, he prepared a PowerPoint and carefully inserted his USB stick into a computer.

For reasons that seem not entirely clear, scenes of gay pornography appeared on the screen. Yes, in a slideshow.

The Associated Press offers that the parents at St. Mary's … Read more

Embattled Yahoo reportedly has a new plan for keeping dissident shareholders at bay: pack its board with supporters ahead of an anticipated proxy fight with hedge fund Third Point.

AllThingsD reports that Yahoo leadership is beating the bushes for three more directors to fill the vacancies created in February when five of its 11 board members announced they wouldn't stand for re-election. Yahoo has already named two new directors -- former Rovi CEO and patent-litigation enthusiast Alfred Amoroso and former eBay exec Maynard Webb.

The struggling Web giant, however, is in a race against time. Last month, Third Point named an alternative slate of four candidates, … Read more

Third Point LLC, the hedge fund that owns 5.8 percent of Yahoo, is taking its case against the company's current strategy to the shareholders. Specifically, the fund is asking shareholders to vote in an alternate slate of directors in an attempt to oversee new CEO Scott Thompson as he struggles to turn the company around.

Yahoo snagged Thompson from eBay in January following last September's ouster of former CEO Carol Bartz. Co-founder Jerry Yang resigned shortly afterwards, while several board members announced that they would not seek re-election this year.

But those changes weren't enough to … Read more

Mickey Mouse is gearing up for another adventure. In an interview with the Associated Press, Junction Point co-founder Warren Spector revealed details about Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii.

Due out this fall, the sequel to the action-adventure game Epic Mickey will boast drop-in, drop-out cooperative play with Mickey Mouse and Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Oswald will be AI-controlled when another human player isn't available.

Another new design choice for Epic Mickey 2 is full-voice acting. Frank Welker (Abu from "Aladdin") is slated to play Oswald, with other cast members also featuring human voices.

Read more of "Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two due this fall" at GameSpot. … Read more

Microsoft Office users can expect to see a new version of Office Web Apps this summer, according to Windows Live enthusiast site LiveSide.net.

The cloud-based suite will reportedly be available in "preview" mode at the same time that Office 15 for the desktop is released as a beta. Users will be able to try the latest features of Office Web Apps to create or edit documents stored through SkyDrive or Hotmail, LiveSide added.

Little else is known or at least revealed about a new version of Office Web Apps. Microsoft did not immediately answer CNET's request … Read more

The iPhone and iPad are truly elegant designs, but they are the rare exceptions in the rather drab world of consumer electronics. Most cameras, printers, computers, home theater receivers, and speakers are pretty sedate, but there is one product category that stands out: turntables. I've picked a choice selection that represents remarkable achievements in industrial design, and they're highly functional, exquisitely engineered products.

The Redpoint Model A turntable has an aluminum and composite Teflon platter, damped by silicone oil, and the turntable features a battery-powered 12-volt DC motor with precious metal brushes. The turntable weighs 90 pounds.… Read more

Microsoft Office 15 will come built for the desktop but offer a huge touch of the Metro flair, according to a description posted by Supersite for Windows author Paul Thurrott, who obtained a copy of an early preview version.

Accord to Thurrott, the technical preview of Office 15 kicks off like the current version, letting you choose which applications to install.

But after a full installation, you'll find your Metro start screen cluttered with a huge number of live tiles for each application. That's an inherent flaw in the Metro UI, which doesn't allow tiles to be … Read more

Keynote for iOS lets you create presentations using only a touch screen, your content, and a huge number of ways to present your ideas. Like the other iWork for iOS apps, Apple has made it easy to get started using Keynote with a Getting Started presentation that shows you how to use each of the program's features.

The touch-screen interface is very intuitive with slide navigation on the left side of the interface, and close-ups of the slides in your main working area. In the left navigation you can add, delete, duplicate, or reorder slides, all with only a … Read more

Recent weeks have seen a lot of (overdue) talk about privacy and technology. There was the flap over Path and other mobile apps uploading your phone's address books to their servers without your permission. A follow-up story noted apps might be able to slurp up photos and their location data on iOS, too.

There was the discovery that Google overrode some cookie settings in Safari in order to track users for ad serving. And Congress is still figuring out a response to last fall's concerns over software on phones that could share your location or other data without … Read more