Crave, the gadget blog

You spend 23 days a year on your phone, survey says

How long do you spend looking at your phone? More than three weeks a year, according to new figures that indicate how amazing it is you haven't permanently cricked your neck.

Mobile-phone insurance Web site MobileInsurance.co.uk asked 2,314 phone owners how much time they spent each day sending texts, making calls, using apps and games, or doing anything else on their phones. The average answer is 90 minutes per day spent poking and prodding their blower.

That's 32,850 minutes a year, or 22.8 days. Over the course of the average person's life, that's 1,414 days -- 3.9 years -- spent squinting at a little piece of glass and plastic.

Read more of "You spend 23 days a year on your phone, say new figures" at Crave UK. … Read more

RetroN 4 plays vintage games through HDMI

Still own vintage NES, SNES, Genesis, or Game Boy Advanced game cartridges but lack the working consoles to play them all? The new Hyperkin RetroN 4 console may be what you've been waiting for. It features a cartridge slot and two controller sockets for each retro video gaming system.

The RetroN 4 has modern touches such as an HDMI output and Bluetooth connectivity. You'll be able to connect this console to any flat-panel TV with the HDMI port. Meanwhile, Bluetooth supports a bundled wireless controller sporting a directional pad and an array of buttons. … Read more

SimCity launch a complete disaster

Good luck trying to move into the new SimCity.

Ever since the city management game launched on Tuesday, countless gamers have found themselves battling error messages and random disconnections that prevent them from experiencing what SimCity was supposed to deliver in the first place -- fun. In response, publisher Electronic Arts says it's working around the clock to try to fix the problems and add more servers so people can play without worry.

SimCity Senior Producer Kip Katsarelis issued the following statement to frustrated builders last night, hoping to soothe their nerves:… Read more

Carrie Fisher back as Princess Leia? Hmm, not so fast

There seems to be a great disturbance in the Force.

Was Carrie Fisher pulling fandom's collective legs when she said she'd be returning to the Star Wars universe to reprise her role as Princess Leia?

In a recent interview with Palm Beach Illustrated, Fisher gave a simple "yes" when asked to confirm if she'll be putting on the buns and bikini in the next Star Wars trilogy. Fisher joked that Leia would be elderly and living in an intergalactic old folks' home but said the princess would "be just like she was before, only … Read more

2013 Geneva show: From superfast to supereconomical

GENEVA--Despite a slump in the European automotive market, this year's Geneva auto show was the most impressive in recent history, and also showcased some of the most exotic cars in the world. We saw new limited-edition models from Ferrari and Lamborghini. McLaren came out with a hybrid supercar, and Volkswagen showed a hybrid hypermiler. Chevrolet took the top off its Corvette Stingray, and Toyota did the same with its GT-86, the equivalent of the Scion FR-S in the U.S. Here are just a few of the cars we saw.

Head over to our Geneva auto show page to see it all. … Read more

Watch Kim Jong-un throw nuclear bomb, hoops in video game

Perhaps Kobe Bryant's teammates feel the same way.

They stand back and watch their supreme leader perform as no other man can. Or no other man thinks he can.

In this case, on one team is North Korea's "Supreme Leader" Kim Jong-un, partnered by his new bosom chum, Dennis Rodman.

On the other team are two Americans -- one of whom, curiously, isn't an American.

The genesis of this sparkling video game is the recent visit of Rodman, the former Chicago Bull great and "Celebrity Apprentice" not-so-great to North Korea. … Read more

Mind your manners with LinkMe SMS bracelet

You've played that "no phones at dinner" game and lost. You can't bear ignoring your messages. Well, this bit of bling could be your new best friend.

LinkMe is a digital bracelet that displays the messages, Facebook updates, and tweets that you need most.

Billed as a world first on its Kickstarter page, LinkMe will "display the messages and alerts you choose, making your entire social life available to you with just a glance at your wrist." … Read more

Mu aims to offer thermal imaging cam for cheap

When you own an older home, it's common for aging insulation, warped windowsills, and other pesky problems to let the cool or hot air out and drive the energy bill up. To help homeowners locate these weak spots (and for many other uses), Mu Optics created a low-cost thermal imaging camera that allows users to see the world according to temperature -- anywhere in the range of -86 to 285 degrees Fahrenheit.

The thermal imaging device features USB charging and battery life of more than 3 hours (an hour for video recording). The optics offer 160x120 resolution -- which may sound very small, but most thermal cameras deliver a similar view -- for pictures and video up to 30 frames per second.

Five live viewing modes enable the owner to see things such as temperature information for a specific area, a thermal and regular camera view blend, and other combinations. Check out some of the neat thermal videos produced by the camera on Vimeo.… Read more

Could goggles hold key to detecting strokes early?

Testing for strokes can be inaccurate and expensive. But a new device that looks like a pair of swimming goggles may offer a better, cheaper alternative, and save tens of thousands of lives every year.

The goggles, equipped with an infrared camera attached to a cord that goes to a laptop computer, measure eye movements, Dr. David Newman-Toker, an associate professor of neurology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, explained on "CBS This Morning."

"The eye movements (when) patients present with strokes in the back part of the brain -- and that's about one out of every four strokes -- the patients present with dizziness and vertigo and we can tell from their eye movements whether they've had a stroke or whether they have a benign inner-ear condition, quickly and easily," said Newman-Toker, who is leading the study of the new technique.

The goggles will work best as strokes occur, Newman-Toker said, and will likely find use in emergency rooms. … Read more