singles

Kroes: Unify the mobile market or Europe will fall farther behind

Neelie Kroes, the European Commission vice president in charge of the digital agenda, sketched out several steps toward the unified mobile-network market she believes is necessary to keep Europe's economy from falling behind.

In a speech Tuesday, she called for several steps to lower barriers that today make it hard for carriers to expand from one country to another and for customers to use mobile devices outside their home countries. Among the steps she suggested:

A "passport" that let a carrier, once certified to operate a mobile network permission in one country, operate in other countries, too. … Read more

Will the single kill the album?

Is an album a more substantial work of art than a single? Or is a well-crafted single all we need? There were always singles, but in the days before the Internet, fans were sometimes "forced" to buy albums to get the music they wanted, even when most of the album's tunes weren't great. The hugely entertaining "The Great Debate: Singles vs. Albums" held last Monday at the New Music Seminar in NYC covered the issue in depth.

Robert Christgau, one of the first generations of professional "rock critics," was there to defend … Read more

Amazon unveils single sign-on service for Web sites and apps

You may soon be able to log into your favorite Web sites and apps using just your Amazon credentials.

Following in the footsteps of Facebook and other online companies, the retail giant on Wednesday launched a single-sign on feature dubbed Login with Amazon. The goal of the service is to reduce the need to juggle multiple passwords by allowing you to use your Amazon account to access various Web sites, apps, and games.

Available now to all developers, Login with Amazon is already in place at such Amazon subsidiaries as Zappos and Woot. Amazon claims that both sites saw strong … Read more

Singles go for smartphones, while couples like tablets?

Now singles can look at what device someone is using to decide whether they're married and if it's safe to hit on them.

Singles seem to prefer smartphones while married folks go for tablets, according to a new study released today by marketing firms The Search Agency and Harris Interactive.

"Married people are often older, have more disposable income and can more easily justify superfluous pieces of technology, such as tablets," The Search Agency's marketing strategy vice president Mike Solomon said in a statement. "At the same time, baby boomers are often more tech-literate … Read more

Microsoft kills Messenger to push Skype

Wednesday's CNET Update is app happy:

Today's tech news roundup bids farewell to Windows Live Messenger. Microsoft is pushing users to use Skype instead for instant messaging. The latest Skype update lets users transfer contacts from Messenger.

The new Xbox SmartGlass app is now available for Apple devices. The app turns an iOS device into a second screen for navigating through Xbox menus and media, and it's easier to type with an iOS keyboard. Some games have extra features for SmartGlass, like Halo 4, Dance Central 3 and Forza Horizon.

If you're wondering about an app for Microsoft Office, … Read more

What to do when a Mac always boots to verbose or single-user modes

To help troubleshoot problems in OS X, Apple supports several alternative boot modes, the most common of which is safe mode. There's also a verbose mode that displays what background processes are being loaded, and a single-user mode to avoid user accounts and the OS X graphical interface. While these various modes can be useful, there are times that a system gets stuck loading them and won't boot normally.

These modes are triggered by a boot argument that is passed to the OS X kernel, which can be done in one of two ways. The first is to … Read more

Drinking in the Vue, Keurig's K-Cup successor

A world without K-Cups? The horror! While a K-Cupless world may not befall the caffeine-addicted anytime soon, single-serve coffee giant Keurig recently debuted a next-gen successor called Vue that could warm the hearts and hands of geeky java lovers.

For those wondering what I'm talking about, these small plastic capsules sell in the billions annually. They contain coffee (or another beverage) and a filter; putting a K-Cup in its specific brewing device creates a single serving of that drink in less than a minute without a mess.

We checked out a Vue test unit at a Bed Bath & Beyond, the first retailer to carry the new V700 brewer (other big retailers will sell it soon). Keurig's pricey $249 Vue roaster looks similar to existing K-Cup machines, and bears many familiar components, but it doesn't take long to spot the differences. … Read more

Amazon surpasses 2 million Kindle Singles sales, report says

Amazon's Kindle Singles have apparently caught on with customers.

According to PaidContent.org, 2 million Singles e-books, which are shorter than full-length novels but longer than magazine articles, have sold in the 14 months they've been available. PaidContent, a digital-media news site, analyzed pricing for each e-book and estimated that Amazon may have generated $1.12 million in revenue for itself on those sales.

Amazon launched its Kindle Singles category last January. The company said at the time that it would take 30 percent of the revenue generated from the Amazon-vetted titles, which range in price from 99 … Read more

The 404 945: Where wow, you guys are a lot taller than I thought you were (podcast)

Big thanks to everyone who came through last night's 404 Meet-up at the CNET Gotham holiday gift guide. Friendships were made, business ideas launched, and plenty of stickers were given; it was one of our most productive meet-ups to date!

We'll wrap up last night's event and show a quick interview segment on today's show, then launch into the headlining news of the day: Logitech has announced that it made a huge mistake with its Revue Google TV set-top box, and the company has no plans to upgrade or reinvent the existing hardware. Tune in to find out your other options for streaming Web content to your TV.

We'll also chat about near-field communication (NFC) chips making their way to luxury goods like Louis Vuitton wallets, Prada bags, and Nike sneakers to battle bootlegers, a six-year project to tweet the events of the second World War, and Jeff gives us his quick-take of "Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword."

We've been talking about games like Battlefield 3, Batman: Arkham City, and Uncharted 3 a lot on the show, and Blockbuster just gave us two copies of each game to give away in conjunction with Blockbuster's promo running through Nov. 22 where if you buy a copy of the game in-store you receive a free month of unlimited game and movie rentals!

We have PS3 and Xbox 360 copies for Battlefield 3 and Batman: Arkham City and two copies of Uncharted 3 for PS3 to give away. Here's how to enter:

Follow The 404, Justin, Wilson, and Jeff on Twitter. Tweet out a message that includes #GimmeFreeGames and @The404.

And that's it! Just remember that you need to be a U.S. resident to be eligible and the contest ends November 22. We'll select the winners at random, so good luck!

Stream or download today's show after the break!… Read more

Wide pano shots in one fluid motion

360 Panorama gives you a simple method for creating panoramic images, removing the need to take multiple shots. Instead of matching up shots, this app has you film a scene as you would shoot a movie and then stitches together your shots seamlessly in real time. Just hold up your iPhone and start from one side of the scene. Then, press the button in the bottom center of your screen and slowly pan to the right in one continuous motion. At the end, hit the button again and your panorama is finished. The resulting image lets you swipe to look … Read more