The Download Blog

The Twitter service with the cutesy raccoon mascot is making a new home on BlackBerry and Google Android phones. The free Seesmic, like its proliferate rivals, lets you read, manage, and compose Twitter messages much more flexibly than you can do from Twitter's Web site. We crash-tested both mobile versions as soon as we heard the news.

Seesmic on Android
Seesmic 1.0 for Android is available from the Android Market app, which is located on the smartphone. It takes up just over 1MB. The interface spreads four tabs along the top in both landscape and portrait mode, one each for the timeline, replies, direct messages, and your profile. There's also a ribbon on the screen that you can tap to refresh the feed. Click to open a tweet and you can save it as a favorite, retweet, or reply as a public "@" message or as a private posting. From the menu button, you can refresh, compose, or tinker with the settings.

Although Seesmic's Android interface is much more stripped down than its desktop AIR app for Windows and Mac, the app manages to remain flexible by giving you a choice over the kinds of notifications you'd like to receive, and over the partner services you'd prefer to use to send a photo, video, or shorten a URL.

Sure, it's blurry (blaming the BlackBerry camera), but squint hard enough and you'll see that Seesmic associated a picture with my account that's not actually my face.

(Credit: Jessica Dolcourt/CNET)

The biggest flaws we've noticed so far? ... Read more

When we hear "update" and "Google Earth" in the same sentence, we're used to groundbreaking additions to Google's high-powered, interactive, and ever-expanding desktop globe. In Google Earth 5, that's meant tools to explore the oceans, sky, and Earth's ruddy neighboring planet.

But Google Earth 5.1 for Windows and Mac is a mere tremor. In fact, if you've been playing around with Google Earth 5.1 beta, only Mac users should notice a change--that the Google Earth browser plug-in comes bundled in the download.

Still, the minor update should still be noticeable for those making the switch from Google Earth 5. Google has made some changes under the hood to improve speed and performance. Using compression technology to make images load faster, and improving the other ways that the app handles graphics, Google claims that Earth now loads 25 percent faster and soars the globe in smoother motions.

In addition, both Mac and Windows versions of Google Earth 5.1 pack in the browser plug-in, so you can explore Google Earth from the browser--Firefox and Safari for Mac users; Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Internet Explorer for Windows. Before, you needed to install the plug-ins separately. The move to drop the beta from Google Earth 5.1 comes just two days after Google released Google Earth for iPhone 2.0.

Amidio makes some heavy-duty musical apps for the iPhone and iPod Touch; I was particularly impressed with StarGuitar, which gives you a virtual guitar with a bunch of preset rhythms, letting songwriters create quick sketches of ideas when they're nowhere near a guitar.

I created a nice vocal loop from the new Beach House single, then dropped it into Pink Floyd's "Astronomy Domine." It took me about five minutes.

On Tuesday, Apple approved a new Amidio app, called TouchDJ, for the iPhone and iPod Touch, and it's both very impressive from a technical standpoint and a heck of a lot of fun. The iPhone can only play one audio track at a time, but TouchDJ essentially fools it into placing two MP3s side by side for simultaneous, real-time manipulation and playback. It's like a two-track digital DJ setup right on your iPhone.

You get a crossfader to control the balance between the two tracks, plus individual controls for each track's volume, pitch/speed (which aren't independent from one another, unfortunately), equalization (three bands), and effects (the built-in real-time effect sounds like a kind of flanger, and there are several lame samples of a low-pitched robot voice, but you can upload your own). Each track is represented by simple waveform images that use a different color for the bass, which helps you match beats more effectively. A tempobend effect, which lets you quickly bend the speed up or down on either track, also helps you get in sync.

The looping functions were most impressive--you can create a cue and loop mark at any point in either track, then return to the cue with the rewind button, move to the loop mark with the fast forward button, or create an endless loop between the two points. All of this is in real time. If you've got an audio splitter, you can even create a separate cue track for your headphones--for example, to set up a loop in your second track while the first one is playing, without exposing your experimentation to your audience--although this requires some serious processing power, and is recommended only for an iPhone 3GS.

There are a couple caveats.... Read more

Having become fairly disenfranchised with all things Star Wars over the years, I didn't really expect to like Star Wars: Trench Run.

And really, the new game from THQ is little more than two kinds of arcade sequences sprinkled with a few familiar cutscenes.

So why can't I stop playing it?

Because Trench Run ($4.99) is a little slice of Star Wars heaven, that's why. It reminds me of the old vector-graphics arcade game from the early 80s--a game that consumed a considerable number of my quarters.

Of course, visually Trench Run blows that coin-op classic out of the sky. And what it lacks in variety, it makes up for with engaging gameplay.

You're at the tilt-sensitive controls of an X-Wing, which you can view from inside the cockpit or from behind. Tapping the right half of the screen fires your guns; tapping and holding the left half engages Force Power, which temporarily slows down the action.

As you might expect from the title, half the game takes place in a Death Star trench. You've got to steer past obstacles, blast turrets, stay out of Darth Vader's gun-sights, and, eventually, "blow this thing so we can all go home."

When you're not racing through trenches, you're dogfighting TIE Fighters just above the Death Star's surface. The only thing that changes from one level to the next is the difficulty.

And Trench Run does get difficult, though a little Force Power goes a long way toward helping you lock in a target or avoid a rapidly approaching turret.

Throughout it all, you're treated to all the familiar Star Wars sound effects along with John Williams' timeless score.

There's not a lot of replay value in Trench Run, and the limited variety means boredom is pretty inevitable. But until then, you'll have a blast.

Internet Explorer 8, Firefox 3, Google Chrome 4, Apple's Safari 4, and Opera 10 include features that block sites known to host malware and malicious downloads. All but Opera also let you browse without leaving any tracks. But just as important as these protections is ensuring that whichever browser you use is thoroughly patched.

Filtering out bad sites
Firefox's built-in antiphishing tool claims to update its bad-site database 48 times a day, according to Mozilla's Firefox security page. Firefox 3 uses Google's Safe Browsing service to automatically block sites that are known to host malware. The Google Code site describes how Safe Browsing works in Firefox.

To verify that attack-site blocking is enabled in Firefox, click Tools > Options > Security and make sure "Block reported attack sites" is checked.

Firefox will prevent known-bad sites from opening when "Block reported attack sites" is checked.

(Credit: Mozilla Foundation)

The same feature is built into Google's own Chrome browser. You can ensure that malware-site filtering is on in Chrome by clicking the wrench icon in the top-right corner, choosing Options, and selecting Under the Hood. "Enable phishing and malware filtering" should be checked. The Google Chrome Help site describes the feature. (Hint: This page looks very similar to the description on the Google Code site.)

Google's Chrome browser blocks known-bad sites when "Enable phishing and malware protection" is checked.

(Credit: Google)

The SmartScreen technology in version 8 of Internet Explorer blocks known-malicious downloads as well as bad URLs. Other new security features in IE 8 include automatic blocking of click-jacking and cross-site scripting attacks, automatic crash recovery, and highlighting of the actual domain name in the address bar. The Microsoft Security site describes the SmartScreen Filter and includes links to a SmartScreen FAQ and information for site managers.

Apple's Safari browser added phishing and malware blocking in version 3.2, which was released in late 2008; read about this and other security features in Safari 4 on the Apple Safari site. Likewise, Opera's Fraud Protection predates the phishing and malware filters in IE and Firefox and is enhanced in the latest version 10. But attack-site blocking is only one of Opera's many security features, which you can read about on the Opera site.

Browsing in private
To activate private browsing in Firefox 3, click Tools > Start Private Browsing, or simply press Ctrl-Shift-P. You can set Firefox to start in private-browsing mode by clicking Tools > Options > Privacy and check "Automatically start Firefox in a private browsing session." The Mozilla support site provides more information about this feature. Likewise, put IE 8 in private-browsing mode by clicking Safety > InPrivate Browsing, or by pressing Ctrl-Shift-P. You can also open a new tab and click either Browse with InPrivate or Open an InPrivate Window.

IE 8 also lets you control the information about your browsing habits that's shared with Web tracking services. To activate this feature, click Tools > InPrivate Filtering Settings and choose "Let me choose which providers receive my information." This opens the InPrivate Filtering settings dialog, where you can turn filtering off, choose which services to block from tracking you, or automatically block all trackers.

Internet Explorer 8's InPrivate Filtering lets you block some or all Web tracking services.

(Credit: Microsoft)

You can open an incognito window in Google Chrome by clicking the wrench icon in the top-right corner and choosing "New incognito window," or simply press Ctrl-Shift-N. The incognito icon (a shadow figure in a fedora and glasses) appears in the top-left corner of the browser window. The Chrome support site offers a more detailed description of this feature.

Opera lacks an equivalent private-browsing capability but does offer private searching and other identity-blocking features, as described on the Opera site. To activate private browsing in Safari, simply click Safari Settings Menu > Private Browsing.

Automatic and not-so-automatic browser updates
Patching is a way of life with nearly all software, but especially with browsers and the media players associated with them: Adobe Reader, the Flash Player, Apple's QuickTime, and Sun's Java, among others. All of a browser's security features can be rendered useless by a piece of malware that takes advantage of an unpatched hole in the program.

Firefox 3 alerts users to the presence of an update and now also notifies you when your Flash Player is out-of-date. Internet Explorer 8 updates via the Windows Update/Microsoft Update services. Google Chrome made a splash by being the first browser to update itself in the background without requiring any prompting from users. Safari updates automatically via Apple's update service, which also serves up patches automatically for QuickTime, iTunes, and other Apple software. Opera also notifies you automatically when a new version is available.

But updating is too important to leave to others. Back in April, I described Secunia's Online Software Inspector and downloadable Personal Software Inspector, which identify out-of-date programs on your PC. The programs mentioned in that post have all been updated since, but Secunia's services should point you to the most recent versions.

(Note that Secunia sometimes reports a program as being out-of-date when in fact you have the latest version. On my PC, it continually reports my up-to-date Flash Player as being in need of an update, for example. But the free service Secunia provides is worth putting up with this and similar minor annoyances.)

"Paint" adorable cats onto any iPhone photo with CatPaint.

How many times have you looked at a snapshot in your Camera Roll and thought, "You know what would make this better? Cats!" (I know: too many to count.)

Enter CatPaint, a 99-cent app that lets you "paint" cats onto your photos, thereby adding that much-needed feline touch to your vacation shots of the Vatican, your kid on the soccer field, or whatever.

It's also an ideal tool for generating your own Lolcats images. (I can has iPhone appz?)

All you do is choose a photo from your Camera Roll or other library, select one of the app's eight different cat "brushes," then tap to place it on the picture. Not happy with the placement? Shake to undo.

When you're done with your "cats-terpiece" (I made that up!), you can save it and/or e-mail it to friends. (I, for one, plan to send lots of cat-ified photos to my buds. They'll love 'em!)

CatPaint is one of those apps that's so entertaining, it's just silly. I wouldn't mind more brush choices (eight may be enough for Dick Van Patten, but not for me), but I guess the developers have gotta save something for CatPaint 2.

Trillian IM is finally available to iPhone users.

(Credit: Trillian)

It took a few months, but finally, Trillian IM is available to iPhone and iPod Touch users through Apple's App Store. The application costs $4.99.

Cerulean Studios, the company that created Trillian, said that Trillian for iPhone sports several features users will already find on the company's desktop software. The app displays contacts, grouped and sorted by their respective categories. Users can also view multiple chat windows in a tabbed display. Thanks to updates Apple has made to the iPhone and iPod Touch, Trillian for iPhone also supports copy and paste. As with Trillian for the desktop, users can set their status, choose an avatar, and set up different status messages.

Because the app is always connected to Cerulean Studios' Astra server, users can synchronize content across multiple IM clients. In other words, any changes made on the iPhone version of the app will immediately be reflected on the company's Windows client and the user's Astra profile. Any contacts users add will also be synchronized with their other clients.

According to Cerulean Studios, all chats are maintained on the server, so they are kept in case of a lost connection. The app will also alert users when they receive an instant message, regardless of whether Trillian for iPhone is open or not. When an IM is received, users will see a dialog box, hear the Trillian IM-notification sound, and be able to start Trillian and reply to the person.

Those interested in using Trillian for iPhone will first need a Trillian Astra account. Luckily, the iPhone app allows users to sign up for Astra from within the app.

Over the weekend, I accidentally deleted all of my MP3s. Using SHIFT+Del, I wiped them from my hard drive without stopping at Go or the Recycle Bin. After running to go get the dunce cap, my initial reaction was to pull out the iPod and copy them back over. In some ways it would be the easiest solution, but it wasn't the most elegant. Wouldn't it be easier if I could just restore all those files to their original locations?

Recuva, from the makers of CCleaner, scans your drive for files you've deleted or damaged and restores them. It's not perfect, but for a free recovery program--a category noted for its lack of freeware--Recuva is both easy to use and effective. It's pronounced "recover," according to the publisher's Web site.

How to use Recuva

As you can see in the screenshots, the interface is more or less a spreadsheet layout with buttons at the top. The real work gets done by the recovery wizard, which starts when you launch the program. You can opt out of it, and change the settings so that it doesn't launch the next time you run it, but the wizard's steps are clear and worth using to streamline data recovery. Closing the wizard will take you directly to the advanced features.

The wizard first asks you what kind of files you're looking to recover, divided into file type categories. There's Pictures, Music, Documents, Video, Emails, and Other, which is really All Types. The next step in the wizard is to identify where the files were located. You can tell it to search everywhere using the I'm Not Sure option, or limit it to any removable memory including USB keys, iPods, and memory cards, in the My Documents folder and subfolders, or in the Recycle Bin. You can also restrain Recuva to one specific folder.

Scanning is a bear of a process, and the predicted duration of the recovery scan was off by about 10 minutes during my situation. The bottom line is that if you're trying to restore a large chunk of data--say, more than 1GB--you're looking at a long coffee break.

Once it's done, Recuva will dump out a list of files and their original locations, their timestamps, and other data. Switching to Advanced mode will provide more detailed information on each file, including a preview if available. It will also show all of the file data in one field that is copyable, and the file's header data.

Recuva is effective, but not all the time.

(Credit: Screenshot by Seth Rosenblatt/CNET)

In the Options menu, you can toggle useful features such as changing the viewing mode from list to tree or thumbnails, outputting your settings to an INI file, and adjust the secure overwriting setting from the simple one pass to the Gutmann standard of 35 passes. Several of the options, such as rescuing damaged files, restoring the original folder structure, or setting the scan permanently to be a deep scan, seem as if they should be set as defaults because they're that useful to data restoration, but they're not.

Recuva lacks an output screen, which would be useful in comparing which files were successfully restored against those that weren't, but because the program is free and effective, it's a flaw that's easily overlooked.

If you have a favorite deleted data restoration program, tell me about it in the comments.

With Internet Explorer 9, Microsoft showed Wednesday it's trying to retake the browser initiative.

IE remains the Net's dominant browser. But perversely, it became something of a technology underdog after Microsoft vanquished Netscape in the browser wars of the 1990s and scaled back its browser effort.

That left an opportunity for rivals to blossom--most notably Firefox, which now is used by a quarter of Web surfers, but also Apple's Safari, which now runs on Windows as well as Mac OS X, and Google's Chrome, which aims to make the Web faster and a better foundation for applications.

Microsoft has been pouring resources back into the IE effort, though, and at its Professional Developers Conference in Los Angeles, some fruits of that labor were on display. In particular, Windows unit president Steven Sinofsky showed off IE 9's new hardware-accelerated text and graphics.

The acceleration feature takes advantage of hitherto untapped computing power in a way that's more useful than other browser-boosting technology--Google's Native Client to directly employ PC's processor and Mozilla's WebGL for accelerated 3D graphics, for example--according to Dean Hachamovitch, general manager of Internet Explorer.

"This is a direct improvement to everybody's usage of the Web on a daily basis," Hachamovitch said in an interview after Sinofsky's speech. "Web developers are doing what they did before, only now they can tap directly into a PC's graphics hardware to make their text work better and graphics work better."