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Perian lays most file formats under QuickTime 9 or earlier

Perian is a software app that makes viewing your media files easier. Basically, Perian enables QuickTime application support for a wide variety of media files. Perian is available from several sources, but not the App Store when we looked. It installs easily as long as you have no software already installed that can conflict with Perian.

Perian supports a variety of file types for both video and audio files. All the standard file formats are supported, but there's a ton of less-commonly found file formats supported by Perian, too. Perian works without you realizing it is there. When QuickTime … Read more

LinkedIn smashes Q3 earnings estimates

LinkedIn, the professional networking site that now has 187 million members, today posted third-quarter earnings that easily beat Wall Street estimates and raised its revenue guidance for the full year.

The company, which had strong growth across the board, saw revenue rise 81 percent from the year-ago quarter, to $252 million. Analysts had expected revenue of $244 million. Net income also was up, with LinkedIn posting earnings per share of 22 cents, twice what Wall Street had predicted.

Membership rose 6.9 percent to 187 million from 175 million at the end of the second quarter.

Shares of LinkedIn, which … Read more

Take a drive down the 'Route 66 of the future'

Dutch designer Daan Roosegaarde thinks we drive on dumb roads. So he teamed with mega European construction company Heijmans Infrastructure to create a vision of a "smart highway" for the Netherlands -- and possibly the rest of the world.

Perhaps the most exciting aspect of these future roads is the fact that two concepts of the bunch -- glow-in-the-dark roads and dynamic paint -- should arrive by mid-2013. The group plans to introduce the rest of the concepts before 2015, giving the world a glimpse at how technology could revolutionize the way we drive by making it a safer and more sustainable experience. … Read more

LinkedIn expanding on 'followers' feature

Letting users tap industry leaders for original content must be working out for LinkedIn. The professional network is getting more social today, adding a leaderboard for its subscription service and recommendations on who to follow based on member interests.

The company launched the ability for its 175 million members to subscribe to industry leaders, dubbed "influencers" by LinkedIn, and their industry-focused posts last month. The model is similar to Twitter's, in which a person can follow someone without needing them to follow back.

Since LinkedIn's launch of the subscriptions, the elite industry leaders, hand-picked by LinkedIn, … Read more

Get prepared for Windows 8

Thursday's CNET Update prepares for a new era:

Windows 8 arrives at 12:01 a.m. local time Friday -- are you ready? CNET has everything you need to prepare for the new system, including a buying guide, as well as tips and tricks to navigating the new interface.

Microsoft's Surface RT tablet also arrives Friday, but Surface is just the start of a new line of devices from Microsoft. CEO Steve Ballmer has said Microsoft will build more devices under its name. So maybe we'll see a Surface Mini someday, or even a Microsoft Phone.

Google … Read more

Asus shows off Windows 8 and RT lines

Most of these Asus laptops, tablets, and desktops have been seen or mentioned before, but the company brought several upcoming new systems to New York for a press event this week (unfortunately timed for the same day as Apple's iPad Mini unveiling).

Some, such as the dual-screen Taichi or the Windows RT VivoTab, have already generated significant buzz. Others are not quite as high-profile, or else revamps of existing products. A quick rundown is below, along with price and release dates where available.

Asus Taichi Clearly the most interesting new Asus system, this dual-screen laptop has a panel on … Read more

LinkedIn rolls out video ads for brand promotion

Looking to amp up its ad revenue, LinkedIn rolls out global video advertising.

The professional networking site announced today that its self-serve platform, LinkedIn Ads, now lets advertisers use their YouTube or other videos to promote brands.

"Video ads are currently available through the LinkedIn Ads self-serve interface, our targeted advertising platform that lets large and small advertisers place text and image ads across the LinkedIn site," LinkedIn's online marketing manager, Will Hambly, wrote in a blog post today. "With LinkedIn Ads you can control your costs, pay per view or click, and stop your campaign … Read more

Enable click-to-play for Chrome plug-ins

Isn't it annoying when you load a Web page and audio starts playing without warning? Usually it's a background music track or an advertisement video, but it always seems to happen at the worst time: when your volume is the loudest. Maybe you just finished watching a movie on Netflix with a lot of whispering and suddenly your ears are being assaulted by loud noises.

Instead of policing your volume levels before each Web browsing session, why not just disable those plug-ins from loading content unless you say it's OK? Here's how to disable plug-ins from … Read more

What you need to know about Windows 8

Friday's CNET Update is charmed:

Brace yourselves: Windows 8 is coming. Today's tech news roundup goes over the new Windows operating system, available Friday Oct. 26. Be sure to read up on CNET's complete guide to using Windows 8 before upgrading. And if you are in the market for one of the many Windows 8 computers, don't get tripped up by the different versions of Windows 8. Just remember: Anything with "Windows RT" will not run your older Windows software. The Windows RT version of the Surface tablet is already facing shipping delays. However, … Read more

Flash videos on the Mac, albeit with a few hiccups

Most people know about the lack of support for Flash on the iPad and iPhone, but Flash is alive and well on Mac OS X with the Adobe Flash Player for Mac. As the app name suggests, this is a player for Flash 11 videos for Mac OS X 10.6 and higher. Adobe Flash Player for Mac is a browser plug-in and allows viewing of Web sites with Flash videos embedded in them to appear on the Mac OS. You won't find Adobe Flash Player for Mac on the App Store (thanks to the dispute between the two … Read more