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Atrium for Facebook 1.3.1 Review

If Facebook's default app isn't useful enough for you, this app may give you what you need. Atrium adds plenty of information to your Facebook feed, while still maintaining most of the look you're accustomed to. It's a pain to set up, but it rewards your patience with an interesting new way to look at your feed.

The app asks for permission to access just about everything your profile can do. This makes sense, since it's trying to be a complete replacement for Facebook's default app. It still might raise some eyebrows, though. Once … Read more

Flipboard: Your Social News Magazine 2.0 Review

In an age of information overload, apps like Flipboard provide the much- needed organization and curation tools to keep it all in one place. By taking your RSS subscriptions, Twitter account, Facebook account, and other online accounts and combining them into one easy-to-use interface, Flipboard simplifies the consumption of information on an iPad and makes it faster and easier than ever before to get what you need from your device.

When you first open Flipboard, you'll be prompted to create an account. This account will store all of your subscriptions, and you can choose to either create a new … Read more

How Facebook and Twitter mess with DUI checkpoints

The police are sometimes accused of linear thinking, especially when it comes to DUI checkpoints.

They set them up on Friday and Saturday nights. They redouble their efforts on New Year's Eve.

Perhaps the finest example would was one police force in the wine country of Northern California that decided to put a DUI checkpoint at the bottom of a winery's driveway. Yes, on barrel-tasting day.

The police now have a stronger enemy in the people -- the people who are using social media to warn others that this particular Friday or Saturday night has been selected for … Read more

Zuckerberg bores staff in new Facebook Home ad

They're a smug, self-centered, self-righteous lot at Facebook.

Which is why Facebook Home, the tool that turns your Android into a Windows Phone, was designed specifically for them.

They can stare at their phones all day, bathing in the joys of those closest to them. Well, those closest to them in a virtual sense.

They can also ignore the catatonia-inspiring monotone that regularly emerges from their CEO's mouth.

Please, you know I'm never mean. I am merely describing the new commercial for Facebook Home on AT&T, a quite stellar act of self-deprecation.… Read more

Turn iPhone photos into artwork with Pixuru

Do you fancy yourself an Instagram artist? If you have masterpieces on Instagram, Facebook, or tucked away on your phone's camera roll that are begging for a spot on your living-room wall, give Pixuru a whirl. This free iPhone app lets you order a variety of prints. Pricing is reasonable, and Pixuru promises quick turnaround and free shipping. It also states that an expert will carefully review your work of art before shipping it to you. Photographers without iPhones, fear not. Pixuru also offers a Web app and says an Android app is coming soon.

The process of ordering … Read more

Twitter launching music discovery app

CNET Update tweets to the beat:

Twitter is launching a new music service that will suggest songs to listen to based on accounts you follow or artists that are trending. As the world waits for the official launch, Ryan Seacrest seems to be enjoying it.

Android users can experience Chat Heads on the Facebook Messenger app, rather than download the Facebook Home interface.

Also in this tech roundup, I bring you the highlights from the DigitalFocus technology showcase, which includes the Honeywell Wi-Fi Smart Thermostat, the Linkase Wi-Fi signal booster for smartphones, the new Duracell Powermat iPhone 5 wireless charging … Read more

The 404 1,248: Where we take a staycation in the dead zone (podcast)

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- Electrosensitive community moving to a secluded town in Green Bank, Va.

- Facebook fixes comment threads for Pages and public figure.

- A promising 'Home' for the Facebook obsessed.

- Five ways to get more out of Facebook Home.

- Prepare a digital will for your Google accounts.

- Roger Ebert's Twitter lives on.

- Microsoft exec reportedly leaves job following testy Xbox tweets.… Read more

Study: Anxiety and alcohol use linked to Facebook

In a quest to learn what leads some people to turn to Facebook to connect with others, doctoral student Russell Clayton of the Missouri School of Journalism found that anxiety and alcohol use seem to play a big role.

For his master's thesis, which appears in the May issue of Computers in Human Behavior, Clayton surveyed more than 225 college freshman about two emotions, anxiety and loneliness, and two behaviors, alcohol and marijuana use. He found that the students who reported both higher levels of anxiety and greater alcohol use also appeared the most emotionally connected with Facebook. Those … Read more

Facebook Home arrives in Google Play store

Facebook attempts to put people before apps with today's release of Facebook Home, a family of applications that recreates popular social-networking functions such as chat and News Feed and embeds them within the home screen experience on select Android devices. The software suite is now live in the Google Play store.

Excluding the HTC First, which is optimized to run Facebook Home, the software package is currently compatible with six devices: the HTC One, One X, and One X+; and the Samsung Galaxy S3, Galaxy S4, and Galaxy Note 2.

To get Home working on these handsets, you'll … Read more

Five ways to get more out of Facebook Home

At a glance, Facebook Home looks like a complete operating system. Cover Feed replaces your home screens, "Chat Heads" pop up as you receive new messages, and even your lock screen is ruled by a slideshow of Facebook updates.

Luckily, Home is nothing but a launcher -- a custom interface that lays over your existing Android operating system. It's an excellent insurance policy, allowing you to enable it and disable it as often as you'd like.

Barring that, Home still demands you relearn most of what you know about navigating Android. Gestures, settings, and customization options … Read more