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No spam in Tuesday's top tech stories:

It's not often we get a shakeup in the email world, but say hello to Microsoft's new free email account, Outlook.com. It'll eventually be replacing Hotmail, but you might want to grab your name now. There's a new, clean look and it ties in your social media contacts. It's not too far off from what you may be used to already in Gmail, as you'll be able to tell from CNET's full overview of the features.

The Mars Science Laboratory rover, called Curiosity, will … Read more

Two little birds, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G. One's name is Wayne Cunningham, the others is 2013 BMW 640i Gran Coupe. You can read all about their 4.5-star love affair, which resulted in the highest rating we've given to anything this week. But please know that unless you're rolling in cash, this is a recreational read only. This tech-friendly beauty (with built-in chair massage) costs $76,000.

For real, live, normal people, we've reviewed plenty more exciting and affordable tech, including Apple's latest OS X release, Mountain Lion. Jason Parker took a deep dive … Read more

Google goes fiber and Samsung doubles up on Apple:

Google has launched a Fiber TV and Internet service in Kansas City, Mo., as part of a beta test. The service provides customers with 1Gbps broadband speed and fiber television that uses an interactive interface. Now while it may not get you all of your favorite channels, Google is trying to show the cable providers of the world that this is how content should be delivered. Google hopes that the technology will spark the interest of other companies who are using older communication mediums. Those who sign up for the service … Read more

Dell will sell its sleekest ultrabook with a version of Ubuntu Linux this fall.

The Dell XPS 13 ultrabook will be offered with Ubuntu 12.04LTS preloaded in select geographies, the company said in a statement.

The initiative is an extension of Project Sputnik, a pilot project aimed at creating an Ubuntu-based developer laptop.

Dell is taking the project "from pilot to product this fall" and allowing developers "to create 'microclouds' on their laptops...and then deploy that environment seamlessly to the cloud." … Read more

Think 2.5-inch spinning hard disk drives are slow compared with the solid-state variety? Not always, Toshiba seems to be saying with today's announcement of drives that top 10,000rpm.

Toshiba launched four 2.5-inch HDDs, ranging up to 900GB in capacity, that boast speeds of 10,500rpm.

That's faster than the 5,400rpm and 7,200rpm 2.5-inch HDDs typically found in laptops.

The internal transfer rate for Toshiba's AL13SEB900 family of HDDs is 286 MB/s (megabytes per second), a boost of approximately 32 percent over the previous generation of drives "due to improved liner recording density," according to Toshiba.

Though slower than the fastest solid-state drives on the market, that kind of transfer rate approaches some less-expensive SSDs in speed. … Read more

Wouldn't it be great to be able to see if your furniture is going to fit before you move it? Or how a color will look on your walls before you paint them? With Roomeon 3D-Planner, you can. If you've ever used 3D panoramic software to shop for apartments, tour historic buildings, or devastate the enemy, you've seen Roomeon 3D-Planner's basic operation. This free 3D interior design application lets you create virtual models of your rooms and furnishings, down to the exact dimensions, that you can arrange, rearrange, and rearrange again, without lifting a finger (not … Read more

Keyloggers are programs that hide in the background and record a user's every keystroke, mouse click, and screen image, letting others (such as the boss) see exactly what that user has been doing while at the computer. Long used in high-security applications, keyloggers can help parents, employers, and others who are responsible for others' behavior (and, more to the point, misbehavior) by clearly showing which Web sites and programs a specific user accessed at a specific time. Spyrix Free Keylogger can put that power in your hands. This easy-to-use freeware logs keystrokes and online activity, takes screenshots, and monitors … Read more

Major Share's CPU-M Benchmark is a free program that runs benchmarking tests on your CPU and RAM and displays detailed test results in an easy-to-read interface. You can also post your results online to share and compare. That's all this tool does, but it's enough to have so much useful technical data in one place. Most users won't need CPU-M Benchmark's detailed reports; at least, not beyond basic performance data. But technicians and geeks will find lot of useful information.

CPU-M Benchmark's compact, dialog-based user interface looks a lot like the system data and … Read more

Editors' note: This post was updated October 26, 2012, with all 2012 MacBook Air and Pro reviews, including the 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display.

As 2012 draws to a close, we've seen the death of one MacBook, the 17-inch Pro, and the addition of two new models -- 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Pros with thinner bodies and high-resolution Retina displays. All now have third-generation Intel Core i-series processors, Thunderbolt ports, and USB 3.0, while the two new Retina models even have HDMI outputs, a long-requested feature.

The Retina models are impressive reboots, walking the line between slim … Read more