Consumerization of IT

Facebook, Google+, Twitter, and other social networks help you stay connected with friends and family, but it's easy to overdo the connecting and end up distracted and unproductive. Worse, many social networks notify you every time someone tries to interact with you, making it even harder to concentrate on productive tasks. Turning these helpful reminders off can be tricky in some instances, but setting up a way to tune out mobile and e-mail notifications is well worthwhile. Here's how to stop your social networks from distracting you, so you can get your working life back on track. And don't worry--you can still peek at your Twitter page once in a while.

Android seems to be everywhere these days. While we're still eagerly awaiting for it to appear on toasters (and toaster-fridges), at least we now have it running on full-fledged laptops.

Samsung Thursday unveiled the Galaxy S III, the highly-anticipated successor of the popular Galaxy S II, and of course, the iPhone’s newest big rival. The Galaxy S III is like a sequel to the Galaxy Nexus that was made in collaboration with Google, but has a bigger screen, a beefier processor, and a better camera.

Research In Motion recently unveiled its next-generation mobile operating system, BlackBerry 10, giving critics a little more insight into the company's future prospects. BlackBerry 10 is a significant break from previous BlackBerry operating systems that focused on physical keyboards and smaller screens; BB10 is designed for touchscreens first. The new BlackBerry platform will still include RIM's traditional enterprise-focused hallmarks such as stability and security. But the company is also making a play for app developers so it can woo consumers by offering popular apps for gaming and social networking.

Angry Birds Land, based on the bestselling game, catapults its way into Finland's Sarkanniemi Adventure Park

Mobile apps that use your location to offer services are no longer new. But are they truly useful to businesses? We look at Facebook, Foursquare, Google Latitude and Yelp to see how they're doing.

It was love at first sight: From the moment I unboxed the HTC One X ($200 with a new two-year contract on AT&T; price as of as of 5/1/2012) I immediately fell for its slim profile and brilliant 4.7-inch display. But it was more than just the phone's good looks that snagged my heart, as the HTC One X came with a tasty serving of Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4) and a long enough battery life to keep me satisfied for hours on end. But like all romances, this one was not without its sour spots, and even the One X's smoking-fast LTE connectivity was not enough for me to overlook the phone's poor call quality and its clunky HTC Sense overlay running over Android.

Reader Gregg Andrews has an iOS device here and files there and wonders how to bring the two together. He writes:

Research in Motion faces huge challenges in its battle to survive and they'll all be on attendees' minds at this week at RIM's annual BlackBerry World conference in Orlando. What will also be on our minds: the ticking clock counting down the time RIM has left to turn around its fortunes.

While the Music app on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch might be sufficient for you, there are plenty of other apps you can use to listen to music on your iOS device. Some offer unique ways of organizing and listening to music, and others focus on providing better sound. Here’s a look at three apps that you can use to listen differently to music on iOS.

Back when I had a morning commute, I would often pop in some earbuds before hopping on the bus and rock out to one of the many tunes on my iPhone as we rode through Chinatown. The problem, of course, came when I reached my desk mid-song: Did I pause and try and find the song on my Mac's iTunes library? Or did I continue to listen through my iPhone, only to look up hours later and realize I'd drained my phone's battery when I should have switched to my desktop?