The Download Blog

Blue skies for The Weather Channel's overhauled iOS app

On the short list of must-haves for every iPhone owner: a good weather app. And the one that's bundled into iOS? Not so good.

If you ever checked out The Weather Channel for iOS and promptly turned your nose up at its cluttered, clunky interface, it's time for another look. The Weather Channel 5.0 for iPhone features a gorgeous new UI and some fun new sharing options.

Sharing? TWC has added a photo button to its Home screen; you can take a snapshot of the skies (or anything else) and share it via e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, or more

Firefox gets a 'reset' button

Mozilla wants to cut down on the number of people who complain about Firefox not working properly, and they're giving you a one-click way to do it.

A new feature called Reset Firefox gives you the ability to "reset" the browser while keeping your personal data. Currently available in Firefox 13 beta for Windows, Mac, and Linux, the feature works by migrating your bookmarks, passwords, cookies, and form data to a new default profile. Then it kills off the old one, and you've got a clean Firefox installation without having to troubleshoot anything.

It does not save add-ons, more

Flipboard adds SoundCloud support for new audio features

Flipboard (free) is already many people's go-to app for flipping through the latest news and social network updates. But today, a new update lets you connect Flipboard with SoundCloud to offer audio clips created by major news services like NPR, and audio clips created by your friends and people you follow.

You can sign into the new SoundCloud component by using a previously created SoundCloud account, by starting a new account, or by using your Facebook account. Once connected, Facebook and Twitter posts, and any story that includes audio, can be listened to with a handy player that resides more

Evernote for Android gets a sexy makeover

Much as I have mad love for Evernote, I've always found its apps to be a little, well, challenged in the usability department. Not much to look at, either.

With the newly released Evernote 4.0 for Android, all that changes. And as an iPhone user, I've rarely been more jealous.

The update brings a completely new look to the smartphone version of the app, starting with a beautifully overhauled home screen. It not only provides one-tap icons for creating a new note, snapshot, recording, or attachment, but also gives you quick access to your existing notes, notebooks, more

When in Roamz, do as the locals do (exclusive)

Roamz, the "intelligent" local discovery app for iOS, has just made its way to Android, bringing its social-powered local content to a swath of new users. The Android app has the capabilities of Roamz 2.0 for iOS (released in March 2012), but of course, it's wrapped in the stylings of an Android app, with its main navigation up top.

If you're not familiar with Roamz, it pulls data from Facebook, Twitter, more

Windows 8 Metro apps freshen up for Release Preview

Microsoft is tweaking its core Metro apps for the upcoming Windows 8 Release Preview.

Already showing up in the newest internal builds of Windows 8, the updated apps offer new features, changes to the user interface, and the removal of the "app preview" title, says The Verge. Included in the revamp are the Windows 8 Mail, Calendar, People, and Messaging app; the Photos App, the Music app, and the Microsoft Reader.

Some of the updates are floating about internally at Microsoft but are not available for the Windows 8 beta, aka Consumer Preview. Instead, Microsoft will unveil them all as more

LG unveils new user interface for ICS devices

One of the nicest things about Android is that vendors can place their own user interface on top of it to deliver a unique experience to customers. And LG is taking advantage of that.

The company today introduced the Optimus UI 3.0 for Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) devices it sells. A key ingredient in the new user interface is an enhanced Quick Memo feature, allowing users to use their finger to quickly take notes. In addition, Quick Memo information can be shared via social networks, or sent as a text message or e-mail.

The update is by more

EU regulators: We'll scrutinize Windows RT browser behavior

European authorities who earlier cracked down on Microsoft's browser behavior are now are keeping an eye on its upcoming Windows RT operating system -- but they aren't saying yet whether they have any objections.

Mozilla last week criticized Microsoft's choice to deny browsers other than Internet Explorer privileges necessary to make what it sees as a competitive browser on Windows RT, the new version of the operating system for ARM processors. Specifically, IE gets access to deeper Win32 interfaces, but Firefox, other browsers, and any other third-party software only get access to the new and more limited WinRT interface. more

Apple QuickTime update for Windows only; Macs already secure

Apple issued a QuickTime update today that addresses a number of security vulnerabilities in the media player and its Web plug-in. This update is only for Windows-based machines that have QuickTime installed, since Mac systems have had this update applied in recent security updates for OS X.

Apple's QuickTime media player and plug-in are used by about half of all Windows PCs and all of Apple's systems since OS X includes QuickTime as a core component of the OS. Because of its popularity, attackers may use vulnerabilities in it as a vector for compromising the system on which more

Is Chrome coming to iOS?

Apple's iOS will see a version of Google Chrome before the year's out, and possibly before the end of Q2 -- at least according to research firm Macquarie Group.

The equity research group claims that Chrome for iOS is due for several reasons, all of which can be summed up as part of the current "browser wars." These include Google's interest in reducing costs. It currently pays Apple for, among other things, each person using Google services in Apple's default Safari browser; getting people to use the services through its own browser would potentially offset those more