friends

Cheap, eco Samsung Replenish sprouting up at Boost Mobile

It's earning eco cred with its lower-impact packaging and build, but tree huggers aren't the only ones who will eye the Samsung Replenish for Boost Mobile.

Budget-followers will also gravitate toward Boost's first smartphone priced at about a hundred bucks, a rock-bottom cost for a market where prepaid smartphones typically cost between $200 and $300.

The Android 2.3 Gingerbread device has a candy bar shape that supports a full QWERTY keyboard. It also has a 2.8-inch touch screen and a 2-megapixel camera with video capture, among the other Android goodies like access to Google's apps and services.

The Replenish, which was initially released last spring for Sprint, also hosts Mobile ID, the offshoot of Sprint ID that offers packs of thematic apps, wallpaper, and so on to install on your phone in one fell swoop.

The Replenish becomes available for Boost on January 16, for $99.99.… Read more

Chat on Facebook with fTalk

Not everyone is on Facebook, but it sure seems that way sometimes; the site certainly has more members than any other social networking site in history. Among Facebook's many options for staying connected is its chat feature, which is popular with many users. But what if you want to chat with Facebook friends without being tethered to the Facebook Web page? Try fTalk. This slick chat client lets you log into your Facebook account and chat with your friends without even having your browser open.

We got off to a rough start with fTalk, as it immediately crashed the … Read more

The 404 961: Where we've got a Twitch in our eye (podcast)

There's plenty of live video broadcasting platforms to choose on the Web these days, but today we're chatting with one of the pioneers.

Justin Kan is one of the co-founders of Justin.TV, and he drops by our studio today for a full episode about the origins of life streaming and how the site paved the road to Justin's new project for live video gaming, TwitchTV.

We'll also talk to Justin about his participation in Y Combinator, a start-up incubator that helps green entrepreneurs through the first three months of genesis.

The boot camp gives founders the seed funding they need for general living expenses, allowing them to focus on the business idea. YC also guides them through the media pitching process and how to grab the attention of venture capitalists and seed investors.

Some of the headline-grabbing companies to grow from Y Combinator include Scribd, Loopt, Grubwithus, and Justin.TV itself.

Tune in to hear about how TwitchTV is bringing competitive gaming to a much larger audience, not to mention a few tips on what it takes to earn a spot in the next Y Combinator batch!… Read more

Alec Baldwin's love for iPhone game won't fly

I was on an American Airlines flight the other day, when the self-righteous man next to me was refusing to turn off his iPhone.

"NOW!" bellowed the flight crew lady, as if she were talking to a recalcitrant child or a loser lover.

I wonder if something similar might have happened to actor Alec Baldwin yesterday, when he was removed from an American Airlines flight after being somewhat slow to turn off his iPhone, on which he was playing Zynga's Words With Friends.

The way ABC News reports it, Baldwin might have gotten a little annoyed. Or … Read more

Some app makers hope to scare the hell out of you

Today is Halloween and parents are getting bombarded with messages that their kids are at risk. So is CNET News.

"One night every year, parents let their guard down in the U.S. and allow their children to wander the streets of town for hours in the dark," begins a pitch from a location-based app maker to CNET News. "The reality is that every 40 seconds someone's son or daughter is reported missing, totaling 800,000 missing children in the United States each year."

These stats are scary, for sure. They're also misleading* and … Read more

Moby's private location sharing hits Android

Moby, the free, multiplatform location-sharing app, has just extended its reach to Android.

Previously the app was only available on the iPhone and BlackBerry platforms, but it appears Contigo Systems, Moby's developer, is making good on its promise to connect families no matter what devices they may be carrying.

Considering the release of Apple's Find My Friends app and the continued adoption of Google Latitude, some might feel like Moby is pushing its way into increasingly dangerous territory. But to Moby's credit, it seems to be taking a different route from the others. While most of the … Read more

Find My Friends (iOS 5) versus Google Latitude (Android)

When it comes to GPS-based friend-finding apps, you either love them or you don't.

Google has been a big believer on its Android platform for some time, integrating Google Latitude into all of its Android phones. Apple's iOS 5 update brings a separate downloadable app, Find My Friends (shortened to Find Friends once it installs).

In many cases, it's another iOS 5 feature that's very similar to those existing on rival mobile platforms, but there are some features all its own. This weekend, I buddied up with some CNET friends to see how Find My Friends … Read more

The 404 926: Where Siri ratted us out (podcast)

We didn't think it would take this long, but somebody finally exploited the iPhone 4S to catch a cheater using the new Find My Friend app on iOS 5.

The scary part of this story, though, is how easy it is to use GPS to lurk on your S.O. using Google Latitude or any one of these mobile spy apps.

In that same vein, today we're chatting about our favorite tech pranks along with the latest news headlines that include BlackBerry freebies, iPhone record breaking, cell phone bill shock, and a fishy story out of Sesame Street.

… Read more

Apple's new 'Find My Friends' app finds wife cheating?

When your wife tells you that she "hates meat packing," should you be suspicious?

This question seems to have consumed one new iPhone 4S owner, as he pondered whether his beloved always told him the truth.

According to this unnamed New York man's posting to a MacRumors forum, he was one of the privileged who managed to get his hands on an iPhone 4S.

You might have heard of these new machines. They come equipped with a highly intelligent companion called Siri. They also give you the opportunity to load an app called "Find My Friends". … Read more