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Six April Fools' Day launches that were real

Every year the tech world trips over itself to create a myriad fake products for user chuckles and some easy press. There's also a very small percentage of companies that decide to launch real products. We've rounded up six of those sites and services below, as well as some honorable April Fools' Day-related news events.

1. Google Gmail

One of the most notable April Fools' Day launches was Google's Gmail in 2004. Back then, a gigabyte of storage for a Web e-mail service was a big deal. This was especially true given that competitors like Microsoft and Yahoo were charging for extra in-box space.

Gmail wasn't open to everyone though. Its small, 1,000-user private beta test, which expanded through the company doling out user invites from time to time, became a hot tech ticket, and one that spawned an entire ecosystem of invite-trading economies.

Gmail has since continued to expand how much service it gives users, which is now up to 7.4GB.

2. Yahoo Sideline

Yahoo launched its Twitter tracking tool Sideline exactly one year ago, and it's still up and running. The Adobe Air-based app lets users keep an eye on Twitter in real time. Users can enter in search queries, and see them stream in across multiple tabs. The software is meant to be running all the time, though it cannot do some basic things like allow you to post to Twitter, or quickly follow a user that shows up in the results.

See our hands-on with it from last year.

3. Scribd's "Paper to iPaper"

A scanning-by-mail service from a digital documents service? It seemed too outlandish that a company would eat the cost of scanning a giant stack of your documents in order to get them in its database. But that's just what Web document-sharing tool Scribd launched on April Fools' Day in 2008. We thought it was a joke and so did our readers.

The service, which was quietly killed off last year, worked pretty well in our testing (see the result). The only big downsides were that you never got your physical documents back, and you had to pay for it to be shipped to Scribd's scanning headquarters.… Read more

Cablevision to offer 3D programming

Cablevision is the latest company eyeing 3D technology.

The cable provider announced Wednesday that it's using a 3D format called RealD to offer customers high-definition 3D programs. Licensed from 3D technology maker RealD, the format will let cable networks and providers send their content in 3D using Cablevision's current broadcast system and existing set-top boxes.

But customers do need a 3D-compatible TV, which are just now coming onto the market. And manufacturers who've spoken with CNET have indicated that their current 2D-only TVs can't be upgraded to 3D.

Cablevision's 3D format makes its debut Wednesday … Read more

RealNetworks: A tale of opportunities missed

Rob Glaser's 16 years at the helm of RealNetworks started with the pioneering of the early dot-com days and ended with a courtroom drubbing at the hands of the entertainment industry. In between, Glaser, who by most accounts saw the promise of Web video and music long before his peers, proved himself to be a better visionary than executive.

Earlier this month, Real announced it was giving up on attempts to defend its RealDVD technology against a lawsuit filed by the major movie studios. RealDVD is software that enabled users to create copies of their film discs and store … Read more

MP3 Insider 184: Insert lyrics here (podcast)

This week, Donald and Jasmine discuss a monumental smackdown between the Beats Solo by Dr. Dre and the Bose On-Ear Headphones. OK, maybe not quite monumental, but it is certainly interesting. Of course, if you think we're going to reveal the outcome without making you suffer through all three judges' rantings on the matter, you're sorely mistaken. Also on tap for this week: Cowon trots out a new video player, V-Moda makes an appearance with some new iPhone-friendly headphones, and Real takes a huge, industry-changing beating from the MPAA-holes. Plus, what exactly do the MP3 Insiders think about keeping all our media in the cloud? Tune in to find out.

Subscribe in iTunes audio | Subscribe in iTunes video | Subscribe in RSS audio | Subscribe in RSS video… Read more

Week in review: Tech on the docket

The biggest news in the tech world this week could be read first on court dockets.

Apple is suing phone maker HTC and has filed a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission, alleging that the Taiwanese company is infringing 20 Apple patents related to the iPhone. The patents that Apple alleges HTC is infringing are related to the iPhone's graphical user interface and the iPhone's underlying hardware and software design.

The company is asking for a permanent injunction, which would prevent HTC from importing and selling infringing devices in the United States. Apple also said it … Read more

RealNetworks surrenders in RealDVD case

U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel has issued a permanent injunction that bars RealNetworks from selling RealDVD, the DVD-copying software that Hollywood claimed in a lawsuit violated copyright law.

Real and the Motion Picture Association of America reached a settlement, according to statements issued by both companies, that called for Real to stop selling RealDVD or any similar products and to pay $4.5 million to reimburse the studios for legal fees.

"We are gratified by the successful conclusion of this important matter," said Daniel Mandil, the MPAA's general counsel. "Judge Patel's rulings and … Read more

Facebook eats up patents for the 'feed'

Facebook this week was awarded a patent pertaining to streaming "feed" technology, more specifically "dynamically providing a news feed about a user of a social network," complementing another patent filing that has been published but not yet approved.

The implications for this, as AllFacebook.com pointed out earlier on Thursday, are far-flung: Facebook may choose to pursue action against other social-media sites that potentially violate this patent. Twitter, as AllFacebook points out, is effectively one giant news feed, to the extent that it clearly has influenced some of the changes that Facebook made to its own feed technology.… Read more

Yahoo turns on the Twitter firehose

And then there were three Twitter search customers.

Yahoo has agreed to purchase access to the Twitter firehose, adding real-time Twitter content to both search results and Yahoo profiles. The company has been featuring Twitter content in search results for some time but plans to augment those results now that it will receive content directly from Twitter rather than having to pull it from the service through public APIs, said Jim Stoneham, vice president of communities at Yahoo.

Google and Microsoft announced similar plans months ago at the Web 2.0 conference. Yahoo will continue to integrate Twitter content into … Read more

Easy video downloading and transferring

These days, a great number of people are not only finding the majority of their entertainment online but are also conducting a fair amount of their social lives there as well. In such times, it's great to have a quick and simple tool for downloading, editing, sharing, and transferring media. RealPlayer SP for Windows already had most of that down, but the latest version brings the features full circle.

RealPlayer SP has been around since 1995, which is practically the dawn of the Web. It started as a basic media player, becoming the preferred embedded app for streaming audio … Read more

Get 3 classic Command & Conquer games for free

What's better than a freebie? A freebie that's actually decent. Case in point: Electronic Arts is giving away three awesome real-time strategy games--one of which all but defined the genre.

For a total cost of zero dollars, you can download Command & Conquer: Tiberian Dawn, Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun, and Command & Conquer: Red Alert.

Yes, they're old, but so is this giveaway--as I've just learned from CNET's John P. Falcone, who wrote about these and other free PC games more than two years ago.

Yes, the graphics look dated--really dated. And, yes, you have to jump through some downright obnoxious hoops to get them to run on Windows XP or later. (Hey, thanks and everything, EA. But would it have killed you to provide a simple installer?)

On the other hand, you're in for hours, days, maybe even weeks of solid RTS entertainment. The very first time I played Tiberian Dawn, which was originally known simply as Command & Conquer, I became a lifelong fan of the genre. Red Alert was even better, and GameSpot agreed, awarding it a 9.5.… Read more