design

REDMOND, Wash. -- Microsoft has been beefing up its design chops in recent months, pushing the sleek Metro user interface in Windows 8 and diving into hardware design with its striking Surface tablet prototype.

But maybe the most daring makeover comes today as Microsoft unveils the new-look Office. The productivity software suite is among Microsoft's longest-in-the-tooth products, dating as it does back to 1989. It's ballooned from a relatively compact offering of word-processing, spreadsheet, email and presentation software to a vast collection of applications, each of which gets countless new features with every release.

Elegant design is often … Read more

Recently a number of Mac users of Adobe's InDesign software found that after upgrading to Apple's new MacBook Pro systems, the software would crash and show an empty warning box after performing certain actions within the program. Adobe has addressed this problem in part by releasing a small software patch for InDesign, but also by recommending against certain OS X updates.

Initially it was unclear what caused the crashes, with the only correlations being that it happened on the latest Apple hardware that was using the OS X 10.7.4. After investigating the issue, Adobe found that … Read more

Maybe you don't care how many features a TV has. Maybe you just want to see the coolest design going. Maybe all you want is the best bang for your buck, or the best picture regardless of cost.

Lucky for you, CNET's reviews have subratings. All of our TV reviews are rated according to four criteria -- Design, Features, Picture quality, and Value -- that are weighted, sifted, and centrifuged into the overall star rating.

Unfortunately you can't sort CNET's TV reviews by subrating on the Web site yet, so in the meantime I present the four TVs that would be perched at the top of those sorted lists. Each scored the only "10" we've awarded so far this year in the subratings mentioned above; they're not perfect, but a "10" is as good as it gets. I also list runners-up and potential challengers in each subcategory.

Disagree? Sound off in comments! TL;DR? Click here!… Read more

A number of Adobe users who have purchased one of Apple's latest MacBook systems have been experiencing crashes of Adobe's InDesign layout software.

Yesterday, AppleInsider reported that a number of users had been complaining on the Adobe discussion boards about InDesign becoming unresponsive (for some displaying an empty warning dialog box) and requiring users to force-quit the program. This happens when performing several different tasks, including after deleting a page that has content on it and when packaging a file.

Following these complaints Adobe has been investigating the problem and has narrowed the issue down to an incompatibility … Read more

Olympic track star Usain Bolt is known for his magical gold shoes. Recently, he's been spotted wearing green kicks. Perhaps his recent losses on the run could be remedied with a new pair of 3D-printed gold trainers.

Designer and engineer Luc Fusaro is developing a pair of 3D-printed running shoes with some unusual features. The athlete-specific performance sprint shoes are named "Design to Win." The most eye-catching features are the gold color and the short spikes for added traction.

Spikes are a hot commodity in the world of 3D-printed footwear. We recently ogled some very pointy high heels from a fashion designer, but you wouldn't want to try them out on a 100-meter sprint.… Read more

The AudioQuest DragonFly is a USB-powered (it doesn't use batteries or an external power supply) digital-to-analog converter. I usually need some time to get a handle on the sound of a component, but within minutes of plugging in the tiny $249 DAC I knew exactly what made it so special. It sounds clear and clean, so there's less standing between the music and my ears.

The DragonFly is a bona fide audio component, designed by Gordon Rankin, a man known in audiophile circles as a great tube electronics engineer, but Rankin is also a computer audio guy. He's one of the few DAC designers with equal depth of knowledge in analog and digital audio technology.… Read more

I don't appreciate turbulence in the air.

However, a rough landing once in a while can be quite entertaining. For example, there is always something special about landing in Gibraltar, as the pilots have to brake violently in order to avoid hitting, well, Gibraltar.

I'm not sure how it would feel, though, if the plane simply bent during landing. Which is what this Boeing 767-300 managed to do.

I am grateful to the Daily Mail for first affecting my digestion by unearthing this footage from Kyodo News.

It shows an ANA 767 coming into land at Tokyo's … Read more

Facebook has grabbed its latest managerial hire from the ranks of Apple.

Chris Weeldreyer, a former user interface design manager for Apple, is now a product design manager for the popular social network. Weeldreyer joined Apple in 2003 before leaving the company this past February, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Facebook had been looking to fill the design manager slot with the right person to lead a team of designers.

The job has been advertised as primarly a management role. But the company also needed someone who could do hands-on design work.

"Candidates must have strong visual and interaction … Read more

Summer is here and already it is easy to see how fast it will go. The warm weather beckons us outside for fun in the sun, where good times and food will go hand in hand for the upcoming months. With all this time flying about, before we know it the fun will be over (or at least have to be moved inside). And that's when we trade the burgers and the grill for the stew and the slow cooker.

Even though summer has just begun, the Crock-Pot SCCPRP500-LTD Slow Cooker (in a "Limited Edition Crocktober Pattern") … Read more