Mac software

Survey: Adobe discount draws customers to subscription plan

Apparently Adobe Systems can persuade skeptics that its Creative Cloud subscription plan is worthwhile -- as long as the price is right.

That's one finding from a survey by CNET and analyst firm Jefferies this month. Nearly half of the 525 respondents already are subscribers, and of them, 59 percent said deeply discounted introductory pricing was a "major" influence in signing up for the Creative Cloud.

The Creative Cloud subscription is a monumental change to Adobe's business. Instead of persuading customers to buy perpetual licenses to Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere Pro, Edge, and other members of the … Read more

Android's Google Now services headed for Chrome, too

It looks like Chrome users, not just Android users, will get access to Google Now, the search giant's technology for bringing weather reports, trip departure reminders, birthday alerts, nearby restaurant reviews, and more to the attention of Android users.

Google's Chrome team added a "skeleton for Google Now for Chrome" to the Google browser yesterday, an early step in a larger project to show Google Now notifications in Chrome.

Google Now integration into Chrome gives Google a new way to connect people closely to online services that Google judges to be relevant depending on time and … Read more

Hot new games for iOS

The stars lined up just right this week (read: gift-giving season is here!) to have a number of awesome game sequels and new releases launch all at once. Frankly, there are so many new games that there is no better time than the present to check out what the App Store has to offer.

Rick Broida already wrote about Grand Theft Auto: Vice City earlier today, but there are plenty more that would make nice additions to your iOS gaming collection.

This week's collection of apps is a group of excellent games released over the course of this week. … Read more

Mozilla to developers: Come build apps for Firefox OS!

SAN FRANCISCO -- Microsoft's not the only big tech player taking a gamble on a new direction. Mozilla made an aggressive argument for Firefox OS to Web and app developers Monday night at its confusingly named Mobile Monday Mixer -- confusing because the company held the event last night at its San Francisco office.

As the lights from the Bay Bridge blinked in the background, Jay Sullivan, Mozilla's vice president of products, laid out why developers should care about Firefox OS. "If you're looking to build and develop mobile software without the 30 percent toll [Apple … Read more

Missing 'Find Duplicates' feature in iTunes 11 to be restored

The latest version of Apple's music management software, iTunes 11, was recently released, and is the first in a while to include significant changes to both its interface and the services offered through it.

While some of its refinements such as enhanced ease of use and overall snappier feel have been welcomed, the update did bring some changes including missing features that have been met with a fair bit of criticism.

Recently All Things Digital's Walt Mossberg outlined some of these features in his review of iTunes 11, and in doing so offers some insight on why Apple … Read more

DoNotTrackMe: New name, same tracker-blocking game

While providing sharp teeth for the Do Not Track header has proved to be futile so far, Abine's DoNotTrackMe makes increasing your privacy online as easy as installing an add-on. The latest update, available exclusively today from Download.com, makes it much easier to use while making some important but small security changes.

Known as Do Not Track Plus when it underwent a massive overhaul at the beginning of this year, DoNotTrackMe remains available as a cross-platform, multibrowser add-on.

You can download DoNotTrackMe for Firefox (Windows | Mac), Chrome (Windows | Mac), Internet Explorer 32-bit (Windows only) | Internet Explorer 64-bit), and … Read more

How to improve sound quality in iTunes

While there are a number of media players and audio programs that can be used to play music through your Mac, iTunes being a library and content manager as well as a player that comes preinstalled on Mac systems makes it the most popular option out there. The program offers simple controls for sorting through music, generating playlists, and playing your music, but in addition there are some settings that can be used to greatly improve sound quality during playback.

The first of these is the Sound Enhancer setting in the iTunes preferences, which is activated by going to the … Read more

How to manage downloads in iTunes 11

Last week Apple released the much anticipated, and delayed, update to iTunes. iTunes 11 has a new look and feel, as well as some new features such as "Up Next." Along with the new look and feel comes new methods of interacting and accomplishing once familiar tasks in iTunes. One of those tasks, managing downloads, isn't as obvious as it used to be.

When iTunes 11 was first released I had a few apps with updates available, so I started the downloads. In the previous version(s) of iTunes you could manage active downloads in the sidebar, … Read more

Tubalr: Spotify and YouTube rolled into one

Tubalr has been making a buzz among the Web community quite recently by bringing a service everyone has been asking for but has never been quite fulfilled until now. This simple Web app lets you create playlists from YouTube videos. Simply input a search term, select between 'only' and 'similar' depending on how much you want to narrow down your options, and Tubalr will auto-generate a video playlist according to your search. The 'only' function will bring up videos directly relevant to your key term while hitting 'similar' can bring up a variety of related videos.

For example, we started … Read more

Survey: Are you going for Adobe's Creative Cloud?

It's time again to take the pulse of Adobe Systems and its Creative Cloud product and business overhaul.

In March, analyst firm Jefferies and CNET jointly surveyed people's opinions on Adobe's shift. Now we're running a new survey about Adobe's Creative Cloud subscription plan, Creative Suite 6, and Web design tools.

We'll run the survey for a few days and share results later so you can see if others share your opinions about Adobe.

Photoshop is a storied brand, and the Creative Suite that includes it and many other Adobe projects has been around … Read more