CNET Update gets social:
Stories featured in Friday's tech roundup:
- Facebook expected to announce an HTC smartphone
- Path plots subscription service for 2nd quarter
- Amazon scoops up Goodreads social network
- New Windows 8 specs could open door for 7-inch tablets
- First look at the $99 Ouya game console
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Lion and Mountain Lion got rid of the sidebar icons and replaced them with a more sophisticated monochrome version. To easily bring the old icons back you can use SideEffects for Mac.
Although it is great that OS X's design is polished with each new release, some people might be missing the classic sidebar icons introduced in the old days of 10.3 Panther. Initially, bringing the colors back using SideEffects for Mac gave us a strange feeling, but after a couple of moments we got used to the colors and also recognized the convenience of easily detecting folders; … Read more
My Lockbox takes the built-in ability to hide folders in Windows a huge step further by adding password protection, drag-and-drop capability, hot keys, trusted apps list, notifications, skins, and more. My Lockbox Free protects one folder per system, and it has a banner ad. A premium upgrade protects an unlimited number of folders and eliminates the banner ads. We tried the free version.
During setup, My Lockbox prompts you to create a username and password, though you can click OK to run the program without a password since it's very easy to set one up later on. You'll … Read more
K-Lite Codec Pack is a free package of media player codecs that can improve both audio and video playback in Windows Media Player or the included free Media Player Classic. It includes many components but has a single installer and setup tool.
K-Lite Codec Pack's installer offers three options: Simple mode, which hides most options and uses recommended defaults; Advanced mode (the default setting), which shows almost all options; and Expert mode, which unlocks additional options. Well, we couldn't resist Expert mode, especially since our biggest concern was having existing codecs displaced or replaced by new but possibly … Read more
Judging from the Developer Preview version of Windows 8, Microsoft has finally decided to change the Windows Start menu in a big way. And it's about time. The last time this happened was with Windows 95, when the Start menu was first introduced. Over the years, this menu has been the signature feature of the operating system, a feature that represents both the innovation and the stasis of the software giant.
In Windows 8, the Ctrl-Esc combo key, which shares the same functionality as the Windows key, now brings up something entirely different: the Metro Start Screen. This screen … Read more
Small Business Tracker Deluxe provides a wide array of tools for managing a small business. However, its cluttered design leaves a lot to be desired.
We were initially excited that the program opens with a tutorial. While informative, this also worried us because we discovered how cluttered and amateurish the interface was. We were eventually able to operate each tool successfully, but we never felt comfortable because this random collection of commands left us wondering if we'd missed any options. The program offers a ton of seemingly helpful small business tools, from invoice creators and trackers to billing tools, … Read more
Monitoring and trading stocks from the comfort of home just got easier with this easy-to-use app.
Personal Stock Monitor Gold launches a familiar, e-mail-client-like interface. Navigating the app's features is easy to master, thanks to the category tabs, and the tutorials built into the Help feature are well illustrated, nicely detailed, and great for introducing the app and its processes to novices. We were very pleased with the feature set for this package: the news feeds and active securities monitoring are very handy for keeping an eye on specific stocks and being alerted to items you haven't been … Read more
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CNET's Galaxy S4 giveaway spectacular!
CNET's publishing another supercharged e-book. "Mastering the Galaxy S4" is almost here, so we're celebrating with a huge S4-related giveaway.
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