Category: Slideshows

  In the beginning, Bluetooth headsets were a bit off-putting. You stuck one in your ear, called a friend on your mobile phone, and watched as people on the street looked on as you had a conversation -- seemingly with yourself. But things have changed drastically since then. These small, wireless gadgets are now ubiquitous, gracing the earlobes of everyone from the guy on the next treadmill to ...

Soon it may be easier to list the companies that don't have navigation devices in their roster of products than those who do. If the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show proved anything about the personal navigation category, it's that finding your way from point A to point B is what manufacturer's think will get you to find your way to the store to buy a new GPS device. Garmin and TomTom, the ...

In the world of computing, small is in. Be they laptops or desktops, PCs keep getting smaller. And that's not a bad thing. Smaller means a laptop is easier to toss in a backpack without feeling like you're carrying a computer, or that a desktop can be moved to the living room without looking too tacky. Bottom line: Smaller PCs can be hidden completely from view. We took a walk around CES ...

Every January in Las Vegas, the latest and greatest, thinnest, biggest, and weirdest new TVs make their debuts at the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES). More than 150,000 people descend on the City of Sin to see what consumer electronics manufacturers have in store for the upcoming year. Switched has been roaming the floors of the Las Vegas Convention Center, looking at TV ...

Sure, iPods are cool, but they're just not the status symbol they once were, and there's nothing cool about having sleekest slimmest laptop on the market if everyone else has one, too. Companies are realizing this and know that people, especially fiercely independent Americans, have a need to be different. So, as a way to make their products stand out (and their customers feel a little more ...

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Check this out: A new prototype dress may one day help dense men or women clue in on their partner's emotional condition. The Daily Mail reports that the Bubelle Dress, designed by scientists at the Dutch electronics company Philips, changes colors depending on the wearer's mood. The dress's development was prompted by a research venture dubbed the SKIN Probe Project, which imagines daily ...

American Idol Talent Challenge Not old enough (or brave enough) to hit the 'American Idol' auditions? This holiday season, your kids can sing their hearts out with real American Idol performers with American Idol Talent Challenge (Tech2Go, $49.99), a small piece of hardware that hooks up to your DVD player and uses a microphone and mixer to make little dreams come true. Also included: a DVD ...

The writing is on the cave wall as a tried and true friend moves from city mainstay to relic of the Stone Age. Telephone giant AT&T will leave the pay phone market by the end of 2008, the company announced today. PR Newswire reports that the widespread use of cell phones and other communication devices has left AT&T with a declining market it no longer wishes to pursue. The phasing out ...

After nine months of pregnancy and a baby shower, you've probably acquired a lot of stuff. Now that the baby's here, what do you really need and what can you stuff back in the closet or sell on eBay? Based on our own experiences with our own young babies, here are a few things we've think you won't want to live without. (And if you've got a Mom -- or a new baby -- on your gift list this ...

Milton from 'Office Space' had his coveted red stapler. Dwight Schrute from 'The Office' has his Dwight Schrute bobble-head doll. What have you pimped your cube with -- one of those horrible inspirational posters that reads something soul-crushing like, 'Excellence,' 'Success' or 'Opportunity'? Lucky for you, we've compiled a list of the 10 ultimate cubicle gadgets no worker should toil away ...

It's the holiday season and we're all eating a bit more. Unfortunately, going to the gym is such a drag that the only way to make time pass (and exercise more bearable) is to blast some tunes while we work out. Unfortunately, many of the headphones we like to wear on the street (because they're stylish), at home (because they're audiophile-quality), or while we travel (because they block out ...

NSFW. Not Safe For Work. The very acronym sends up red flags for those who share office space with fellow employees -- or employers -- who may be less accepting of Web ads or sites with naughty content. But what about those times you get blindsided with unexpectedly racy content while innocently looking for, say, moisturizer or new music? What about pop-ups or banner ads on "respectable" sites ...

Blogging under the Influence is the New D.U.I. (Dialing under the Influence): What Happened: When Courtney Love posted her New Year's resolutions on her blog she provided a window into her surreal world that combines wacky Buddhist prayers with politics ("chant for Hilary to win"), her struggle with Hollywood's most seductive addiction ("no more surgery for any reason other ...

According to none other than Wired magazine, T-shirts have come into their own as a form of media, one that uniquely documents messages and stories, not to mention emergent technologies and companies changing the way we use the Internet. Here at Switched, we write a lot about these next-gen, "Web 2.0" companies and technologies, which include everyone from MySpace and Facebook to Twitter ...