Top Ten Reviews

Facebook has never been known for simple privacy controls. But to be fair, you can put a ton of data into your profile and specify who can see each item if you're willing to do the work. However, giving users granular control still isn't enough.

Facebook last month issued a revamped Statement of Rights and Responsibilities and opened a comment period, which was extended through April 27. Recently, the company invited more than 2,000 users to comment on the statement -- selected because they had "liked" Facebook's governance page and represent some of the social media site's most vocal critics.

Supply and demand? That old economics rule doesn't seem to apply to the cable industry. More people are cutting their cable services and prices for cable TV service are expected to keep rising.

Cable TV service is expected to rise from today's average of $86 a month to more than $100 by 2015 -- $200 by 2020, according to a new report from analyst firm NPD. Meanwhile, 3.58 million U.S. cable subscribers will cancel their service, an increase of 35 percent over cord cutters in 2011, reports Convergence Consulting in its annual study "The Battle for the American Couch Potato."

What's happening? The licensing fees for movies and shows continues to rise and the cable companies pass the cost along to you.

If you've had enough, you can quit cable. The transition may be tough for ardent HBO fans, but others may find they can get as much entertainment as they want for less than half the cost of cable. I know, I did it and that's with a houseful of teenagers.

Instagram isn't just for hipsters. The iPhone-only photo app is getting ready to take off in a big way, and you might enjoy giving it a try -- even if your kids, like my daughter, say it's really only for people under the age of 25.

Tax season is here. The IRS expects to receive more than 144 million individual tax returns this year and has set the filing deadline of Tuesday, April 17. It also expects a surge in tax scams.

"Scam artists will tempt people in person, online and by email with misleading promises about lost refunds and free money," IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman said. "Don't be fooled by these scams."

If you're one of the millions of Americans whose wireless contract will be up for renewal this year, you will have new options to consider.

A lot has changed in two years. We've seen the spread of 4G service. We've seen wireless carriers expand their offerings to include tablets, laptops and USB broadband devices. AT&T lost its exclusive on the iPhone, which is now available at Verizon and Sprint.

More changes are on their way.

One of the biggest challenges in learning to code is understanding that every character counts.

Get it right, and a website runs smoothly; get it wrong, and you'll see nothing but error messages.

If you lean a little toward the obsessive-compulsive, the demands of coding will feel familiar. Otherwise you'll have to develop an anal-retentive sense of detail, as I've been learning in a new online course called Codecademy.

The free self-directed programming school has huge aspirations and big supporters. Founders Zach Sims and Ryan Bubinsky, who left their studies at Columbia University to start Codecademy, believe that everyone should become programming literate.

The tech world last week converged in Las Vegas for the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES). Room rates tripled and cabs were hard to come by throughout the weeklong event. Here's a look at the major product announcements and what they mean for the year ahead.