Consumer Electronics

January 15, 2009

Apple Succession Plan: Nobody's Business?

Ask Apple (AAPL) about succession planning for CEO Steve Jobs and you'll quickly get the message: We have a plan, but we're not sharing it with you. Now, Apple may ...

January 13, 2009

Spies in Your Mobile Phone

Just as advertisers and wireless companies are hoping for the business of marketing on mobile phones to take off, consumer groups are raising pointed questions about ...

January 13, 2009

A Sea Change at Seagate

Editor's Note: An earlier version of this story had the name of former Seagate executive Jim Druckrey misspelled. Additionally, he left Seagate to work for Bose, not ...

January 12, 2009

TVs Transform at 2009 CES

No longer a passive box that just displays moving pictures, television got a whole lot more interesting at this week's Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. ...

January 9, 2009

Open, Schmopen: Wireless Networks Are Still Closed

Over the past year, there's been a lot of lip service in the mobile-phone industry about making our wireless networks "open." The idea, consumer and open network ...

January 9, 2009

The Real Cost of Delaying Digital TV

The transition team for President-elect Barack Obama wants Congress to push back a planned changeover to digital television. The delay, Obama's team argues, would give...

January 9, 2009

CES: No Stopping Innovation

A recession is no time to promote big TVs—or is it? As the annual Consumer Electronics Show got under way in Las Vegas on Jan. 8, reminders of the industry's ...

January 7, 2009

CES: Greener in 2009

The annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES)—at which every new gadget debuting in the year ahead is trotted out for display in a stadium-size convention center in...

January 7, 2009

Clearwire's WiMAX Launch

You could hardly turn around in Portland, Ore., in recent weeks without bumping into ads for the new mobile broadband service from Clearwire (CLWR). Product reps ...

December 31, 2008

Ten Stories that Defined Broadband in 2008

With every tick of the clock, 2008 is taking its final steps toward 2009, when the year starts afresh. From a broadband perspective it has been an eventful ...

December 31, 2008

GigaOM Interview: Broadcom CEO Scott McGregor

Heading into 2009, Web-connected consumer electronics are finally on the horizon, and players from Cisco to AT&T are salivating at the opportunity. But in the welter ...

December 28, 2008

The nano's Big Strides

iPod nano, $149 or $199, depending on storage capacity 4.5 stars The good: Great screen, light, improved interface The bad: You must twist the device 90 degrees to ...

December 28, 2008

SageTV's HD Theater

I like a lot of things about the new SageTV HD Theater, a set-top box that lets you view computer- and Internet-based content on your TV. But if it had access to more ...

December 23, 2008

Pioneer's Kuro Doesn't Disappoint

A year ago, I declared Pioneer's Elite Kuro plasma television one of the best TVs I've ever reviewed. So when the electronics company released its successor Kuro ...

December 23, 2008

Teardown of Sony's PlayStation 3

One of the great articles of faith in the consumer electronics industry might be stated thusly: "Time heals all costs." Basically it means that over time the parts ...

December 23, 2008

For the Disabled, More Power for Play

Assistive technologies are prevalent in the workplace, but when people with disabilities gear up to have some fun their options are more limited. This may seem like an...

December 22, 2008

The Consumer Electronics Inventory Glut

Automakers aren't the only ones halting production as inventories pile up. The consumer electronics industry is also coming to grips with rising stockpiles of unsold ...

December 22, 2008

Why Netbooks Are Greener than Laptops

It was just over a year ago that small, low-cost netbooks hit the market, and since then they've become one of the hottest technology trends of 2008, with the top two ...

December 18, 2008

Seagate's FreeAgent Go: Brilliant Backup

I backed up my work on Seagate Technology's slim, colorful new FreeAgent Go disk drive for about a week, and it was a joy to use. That's saying a lot in the external ...

December 18, 2008

How Electronic Arts Lost Its Way

Expectations ran high almost two years ago, when John Riccitiello took the helm of video game maker Electronic Arts (ERTS). Formerly operations chief for EA, ...

December 15, 2008

Palm Pins Its Hopes on Nova

Jon Rubinstein got the call in mid-2007 while he was living on the Pacific Coast of Mexico, working on his dream house after a storied nine-year stint at Apple (AAPL)....

December 12, 2008

Tech Trends to Expect in 2009

Don't be surprised if during the course of 2009 you opt for a bigger TV screen because you're playing more video games and going to the movies less often. You won't be...

December 11, 2008

Windows Mobile: What Microsoft Needs to Fix

In September, Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer spent a week traipsing across Europe and parts of the U.S. schmoozing 17 of the world's largest handset makers ...

December 10, 2008

2008: The Year of Living Cheaply

It was mid-2008, and Americans were struggling to make mortgage payments and credit-card minimums. To top it off, gas prices were surging. No wonder many would-be ...

December 9, 2008

iRiver's Disappointing Spinn

As a longtime iPod owner, I wonder whether Apple (AAPL) has created the be-all, end-all line of digital music players. They boast elegant, compact forms, affordable ...