users

Under-45 crowd: Most carry smartphones now

Smartphones keep luring more mobile users, especially those under the age of 45, according to a new survey from Nielsen.

Only 43 percent of all mobile users own a smartphone, Nielsen noted in its third-quarter survey. That figure covers the gamut of 13 to over 65. But ownership has hit more than 50 percent among some specific age groups under 45.

Of those in the 25 to 34 range, a whopping 62 percent now own a smartphone. And 54 percent and 53 percent of those 18 to 24 and 35 to 44 do as well, respectively. Teenagers are known to … Read more

Data backup: Top portable drives for home users (roundup)

Having up-to-date backups of your data is like insurance, we all need it and at the same time never want to have to resort to it.

Though backing up data is not required by law, the consequences of not doing it are often so huge that it's fair to call those who don't frequently back up their important data, well, reckless, irresponsible, or just simply foolish. The truth is, when you realize that the originals of your important documents or photos are gone because of a hard-drive crash or losing your laptop, being called names is the least of your worries.

Now there's an easy fix. Here's a list of our top portable hard drives that make backing up data a no-brainer. Take a look and get yourself one if you don't already have a backup solution in place. … Read more

Flex it, baby! Nokia's new interface is seriously twisted

LONDON--Multitouch revolutionized user interfaces, and if Nokia researchers get their way, a mobile device that's sensitive to how it's being flexed could be the next revolution.

At the Nokia World show here, the Finnish mobile phone maker showed off its "Nokia kinetic device" with a flexible display. Gripped with two hands, it would scroll through music collections or photo albums when twisted. Bowing it inward or outward zoomed photos in and out or paused and played music, while tapping the corners panned through photos.

While it was a real computing device with a real OLED display, … Read more

The 404 930: Where we go thermonuclear war (podcast)

Believe it or not, we still have our jobs after welcoming Jim Lanzone, CBS Interactive president, on yesterday's show. Go back an episode and listen for a rare opportunity to hear someone make fun of Jeff. Cheers, Jim!

Today we're going over some of the stories that we didn't get to talk about yesterday, including Google's latest OpenGL project. The platform that Google tested using Google Earth is once again put to use on the Google Infinite Digital Bookcase, a helix of virtual books you can browse in a 3D model.… Read more

Five productivity-boosting iPad tips

The iPad is becoming an office worker's best friend. In terms of work time saved, your iPad will likely pay for itself in a matter of months if not weeks. But like any computer, you can't realize the iPad's full potential without tweaking the machine's default settings to suit your style.

Here are five ways to squeeze a little more productivity out of your iPad.

Lock the screen orientation. The iPad was made for sharing. Handing off a laptop is clumsy, but passing someone your iPad is as natural as shaking hands. The only problem is … Read more

OS X 10.7.2 with iCloud showing Guest user account at log-in

After installing OS X 10.7.2 and enabled the new iCloud services that Apple unveiled yesterday, a number of users have found that the system is displaying a Guest User account at the log-in window.

Upon clicking this account, the system will show a warning that states the system will restart into a Safari-only mode for the guest user, and if any accounts are currently logged in then they will be forced to log out and may lose unsaved work.

For people seeing this, if they go to the Users & Groups system preferences, the guest account will be … Read more

Five Foursquare hacks you need to use

Foursquare held its first-ever global hackathon a few weeks back, with developers and hackers gathering in cities all over the world, including Paris, London, Ottawa, San Francisco, and New York. All of the hackers had one goal in common: create some out-of-the-box idea on top of the Foursquare API. Not only did they accomplish their goal, but some of them even won prizes for doing so. … Read more

Best Twitter apps for iOS

Unless you've been living under a rock (or maybe just don't read tech news) you probably already know that next Tuesday, October 4, is when Apple makes its next major announcement. While the company is tight-lipped as usual, we know that it will probably announce at least one new iPhone and when it plans to launch iOS 5, the operating system that powers the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad.

One of the big known features of the new iOS is Twitter integration. Apple generally does a great job of creating intuitive interfaces for just about everything and what we've learned of Twitter on the iPhone sounds great, as you'll be able to tweet directly from Safari, Photos, YouTube, and Camera. But if you're a serious Twitter user, you're still going to need a third-party app to get all that Twitter has to offer.… Read more

Sprint rolling out 4G LTE next year

Kindle Fire could disrupt iPad's tablet dominance, Facebook cookies track users after logging off, the Facebook iPad app could be announced next week, and Sprint will be rolling out its own 4G LTE wireless network.

Links from Tuesday's episode of Loaded:

Facebook changes creeping out some customers

At the F8 conference yesterday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg showed off some of the most drastic changes ever made to the company's service. And though Zuckerberg is excited by those changes, many folks across the Web aren't so quick to celebrate.

The fear among some users relates to what some say could become a potentially worrisome privacy situation on the social network, led by Timeline and changes to Open Graph.

Timeline provides users with a way to view "the story of your life," according to Zuckerberg, including a collection of all the "stories" uses … Read more