Origin PC lineup makes the leap to Haswell, GeForce GTX 700M

Origin PC makes a point of embracing game-friendly technology as soon as it arrives, and you'd better believe it's welcoming Haswell-based processors with open arms: virtually all of its computer line is making the jump to the faster Intel hardware. The raw CPU power is the main highlight for the Chronos, Genesis and Millennium desktops, while those buying the larger EON15-S and EON17-S laptops get a few additional treats. Origin PC is adopting NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 765M, 770M and 780M graphics for the portables' mainstream editions. It's also letting the truly storage-addicted run two simultaneous RAID configurations if their laptop has four drives. The Haswell upgrades bump EON15S-S and EON17-S prices by about two Benjamins to $1,722 and $1,784 respectively, but players who just have to stay current can pay the premium today.

CBS acquires all of TV Guide Digital

TV Guide Digital has fared well between its web portal and mobile apps, but part-owner CBS thinks there's a lot of potential locked away. Enough so, in fact, that CBS is taking over TV Guide Digital by acquiring Lionsgate's remaining 50 percent stake in the venture. The media giant now has full control of both TVGuide.com and the TV Guide Mobile apps, both of which are folding into CBS Interactive's Technology, Games and Lifestyle division. CBS mostly hopes that the deal will make it a font of wisdom for channel surfers -- it sees TV Guide Digital's rapidly growing audience and programming knowledge as complements to TV.com. We don't yet know how the acquisition will affect the TV Guide properties themselves, but we'd expect more than just the status quo.

The make(out)-or-break(up) for Google Glass

Is she making eyes at me? Or checking the baseball scores?

I have a confession to make.
Please don't tell everyone, but I'd like to kiss someone who's wearing Google Glass.
In fact, if you really push me up against this wall and make me talk, I'd also like to kiss someone while wearing Google Glass.
It's not that I don't think Google Glass is stranger than walking up to a stranger and putting your finger in his or her ear.
It's precisely because of Google Glass's sheer strangeness that I want to know whether it would alter my approach to love.
Would I think -- or even feel -- something different? Would I have to dip my head to an unforeseen angle in order to avoid being poked? Most importantly, would I care whether the camera is on or off?
Sadly, some who bowed, scraped, and applied to own one of the these gadgets have already begun to experiment with seeing how Google Glass might alter their love lives.
Rosa Golijan of NBC's Today.com has thrust herself into this new life with a gusto that Matt Lauer would envy.
She says she's been on "half-a dozen" dates with men while wearing her new object of attraction.
I wondered, naturally, whether these half-a-dozen dates were with half-a-dozen men.
She told me: "Half a dozen different fellas, with some of whom I've had additional dates afterward. (Glass was worn on those, too.)"
You must decide whether these men are brave, foolhardy, or merely enchanted by Golijan regardless of her eyewear.
Golijan does concede that the contraption "sure makes the awkward moments more awkward."
Oddly, she says that her dates didn't seem so worried that she might photograph them through her lens. Rather, wearing Google Glass seemed to turn her into a rockstarish object of attraction, which meant that whenever she was out, everyone wanted to talk about them or even try them on.
She admitted that one date had become not best pleased when other men sidled up in alleged fascination with her gadget.
Now to the question that you (and I) want answered: "Yes, friends, Glass can get in the way, uh, physically. I've got no issues making out with glasses on. But things got weird once when a fella started kissing me while I was still wearing the headset. God forbid two Glass wearers ever hit things off."
When two wearers of normal glasses kiss, they often resort to simply taking them off. Should you not have tried this, please just believe me.
But there's a temptation with Google Glass to leave them on, simply because you remain an object of wonder. Perhaps, indeed, they begin to define you.
I did wonder whether, over time, she had created a more disciplined regimen with respect to, perhaps, taking them off at certain appropriate -- or even important -- moments.
Golijan told me: "I've (very gradually) gotten better when it comes to dealing with interruptions!:) That was bound to improve over time."
Yes, Sean Penn says the same thing.
Perhaps, in time, women wearing Glass will find it easier than men wearing these prized objects.
I say this because I asked my colleague Lori Grunin how she would feel if a date turned up be-Glassed.

ATIV Odyssey for US Cellular leaked in promo materials

US Cellular's been promising a WP8 handset for quite some time now, and it looks like the company's about to deliver exactly that. As you might recall, US Cellular's last Windows Phone offering was the entry-level ZTE Render which ran WP7.5 (Tango). We recently obtained promo materials for an ATIV Odyssey with US Cellular branding. This Samsung device, which is currently available on Verizon, packs a 4-inch WVGA Super AMOLED display, 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor, 1GB of RAM, 8GB of built-in storage (with microSD expansion), LTE and NFC support, plus a five-megapixel autofocus camera with flash. While none of this is official (yet), we fully expect US Cellular to make a proper announcement real soon now. Until then, check out the gallery below for some of the aforementioned promo material.