hidden

HiddenRadio Bluetooth speaker raises almost $1 million on Kickstarter

Compact Bluetooth speakers are hot items these days and nowhere is that more evident than with HiddenRadio, a Kickstarter project that is due to get funded today to the tune of almost $1 million, blowing away its modest goal of raising $125,000.

For those who don't know, kickstarter.com is a crowdsourced angel investor site that can help folks raise money to produce products that are in various stages of development (some projects get funded, some don't). HiddenRadio appears to be one of the site's bigger success stories.

Industrial Designers John Van Den Nieuwenhuizen and Vitor Santa Maria … Read more

HiddenRadio Bluetooth speaker needs no knobs

Something about the HiddenRadio has hit a nerve on Kickstarter. The project blew past its $125,000 goal and has already topped $400,000 in pledges.

HiddenRadio is a small canister-shaped Bluetooth speaker with no knobs or buttons. You just rotate the casing upward to reveal more of the speaker and increase the volume.

When fully open, the HiddenRadio can crank out 80 decibels of sound. That should be enough to get the neighbors to bang a broom handle on the ceiling.… Read more

How to hide files and folders in OS X

The separation of files by user accounts in OS X negates much of the need for hiding files and folders, at least for security purposes; however, there are times when you may still want to hide a file or two.

Unfortunately, hiding a file makes managing it much more tedious, since you can no longer access it directly in the Finder.

The easiest way to manage individual hidden files when you need to access them is to toggle the Finder's ability to reveal hidden files, instead of making specific files visible again. For multiple hidden files, there's an even easier method.… Read more

Find your files with Hidden File Tool

Windows has its own built-in search utility, but people often find that it's not good for more than the most basic searches. Hidden File Tool is a simple utility with which you can search for hidden files as well as a variety of other file types. It's not much to look at, but it does a good job of finding files that might otherwise be inaccessible.

The program's interface is plain and utilitarian, with all of its features displayed on one screen. From drop-down menus you select the drive you want to search and the file type; … Read more

Not quite as advertised

We love a good adventure game, and Samantha Swift and the Hidden Roses certainly qualifies, as long as solving puzzles meets your criteria for adventure. As much as we enjoyed the game, however, we were quite put off by all of the advertising and uninvited bloatware that comes along with it.

Samantha Swift looks like it's going to be a lightweight program at just over 720K, but all that download really includes is the Free Ride Games Player. The actual game must be downloaded using the player, and at 112MB, it's not nearly as small as you may … Read more

Manage all partitions with Disk Utility in OS X

OS X comes with a variety of tools and utilities for managing your system (available in the /Applications/Utilities/ folder), including those for observing OS activity, network and disk activity, and also those for managing some aspects of the hardware in your system. One of the most commonly used utilities is Disk Utility, which allows you to create disk images, burn DVDs and CDs, as well as manage the partitions and formatting of your hard drives. Disk Utility comes both in the form of the Disk Utility application, but also as the "diskutil" terminal command.

The Disk Utility … Read more

Tip: Autocomplete path names in Finder's 'Go to Folder'

When attempting to access hidden folders in OS X, you can use a tool like TinkerTool or MacPilot to reveal hidden items in the Finder and then navigate to the desired folder, or if you know exactly where you want to go then you can use the Finder's "Go to Folder" option that is available in the "Go" menu. This option brings up a window where you can enter the full path to the desired folder which will then open in the Finder when you click "Go," but to use this, the full … Read more

New Nook Touch has hidden Web browser

When Barnes & Noble launched its new Nook e-reader a couple of weeks ago, we asked why it didn't include such features as a built-in Web browser or an e-mail app. After all, it is an Android-based device, so we assumed it could do a bit more if those Nook software engineers in Palo Alto, Calif., were directed to add new features.

Well, it turns out the new Nook, dubbed the Simple Touch Reader, sort of does have a built-in Web browser. Nathan over at The eBook Reader put together the video below to show off its capabilities.

Alas, it didn't work quite well for me as it did for him (I couldn't get most URLs to load, though I did get Twitter working). But if you have a new Nook, and want to give it a shot, just press the virtual "Search" button at the bottom of your Nook's screen and key a URL into the search bar when it comes up. … Read more

The 404 832: Where we finally get our own 404 page (podcast)

Good news, 404 listeners! We've made it easier to tell your friends about The 404 show. Just direct them to CNET.com/ANYTHINGYOUWANT, because all CNET 404 error pages now contain a link to our page! In case you can't think of good filler, we recommend CNET.com/balls, CNET.com/horselips, and CNET.com/butterscotch.

Listen in to today's show to find out which app is absolutely crucial to install on your Apple laptop, why the Android marketplace is now devoid of emulators, and what it means to shoot a basketball "in the paint."

The 404 Digest for Episode 832

We got ourselves a 404 page! Go to CNET.com/insertarbitraryphrasehere. Console emulators removed from the Android Market. Install this program on your MacBook right now.

Episode 832 Subscribe in iTunes (audio) | Subscribe in iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more