Apple. Google

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

iSwifter brings Google+ games to the iPad

Following the launch of games on Google+ last month, Adobe Flash streaming app iSwifter today is adding compatibility to work with those games, giving iPad users a way to play them on Apple's tablet.

The functionality is being added to iSwifter's existing application (iTunes) as a free update today, and will join iSwifter's catalog of games on Facebook.

The first thing you're probably wondering is if this means you can play Google+'s social version of Angry Birds. The short answer to that is no. It's one of the only titles I couldn't get … Read more

Apple files patent application to learn the sound of your voice

Apple, which recently filed a patent application for a technology to keep screens on mobile devices free of fingerprints, is upping the ante by filing for a new application that could keep you fingers from even touching the screen in the first place.

The application is for what Apple calls User Profiling for Voice Input Processing, which it describes as being able to identify your voice and understand complex commands. Need to make a playlist? No problem, just ask. Need to call your friend? Just say so. The patent application says all these commands are possible: play, call, and search. … Read more

Google Shopper iPhone app now digs up local deals

iPhone owners who use the Google Shopper app to find their favorite products can now hunt for special deals at local restaurants and other businesses.

Updated last week, Google Shopper 1.5 now sports a tab at the bottom called Offers. Tapping on Offers brings up a list of special Google Offers being promoted by local merchants eager for your business. Tapping on each deal or offer then displays the business name, location, details of the deal, and its expiration date.

For example, in the deals I found, a local sports store was offering 25 percent off a bike, while … Read more

FBI strikes back at alleged hackers (week in review)

The FBI escalated its war on hackers, serving dozens of warrants across the U.S. and making more than a dozen arrests.

Sixteen people were arrested in the United States in connection with hacking attacks by the Anonymous group of online activists, as well as one person in the U.K. and four people in the Netherlands, the U.S. Department of Justice said.

The arrests of the defendants, who range in age from 20 to 42, followed the execution of more than 35 search warrants throughout the country by the FBI as part of its investigation into hacking attacks … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 1507: We're out of disk space, too (Podcast)

On today's show, Google already runs out of disk space for Google +, and we're running low on disk space ourselves. The first Google eBooks integrated e-reader is landing soon, Apple takes another run at HTC, and we're discovering the most evil cities on the Internetz. --Molly

How to enable 'Send Mail As' for Google Sync on iOS

Setting up your Gmail or Google Apps account using Google Sync on your iOS device has many advantages. One of the advantages is that you are able to receive push e-mail, calendar and contact updates. Google recently added some new features to its Google Sync solution for iOS users, one of which was the ability to choose which e-mail address sent e-mails appear to be from.

Before we begin, make sure you have your Google Apps or Gmail account set up using Google Sync on your iOS device. If you are unsure how to do so, read this post.

Macintosh designer linked to Google+ user interface

Among the many tidbits in Steven Levy's piece about Google+ in Wired yesterday, one worth picking out is that the new social network's design can be attributed to Andy Hertzfeld, one of the team members who worked on the first Mac.

Hertzfeld joined Google near the end of 2005, and has put his design strokes on the company's newest project. In Levy's story, he notes that Hertzfeld was effectively given free rein to "flex his creative muscles," the result of which was given the OK by the normally minimalist Google co-founder Larry Page.

"… Read more

Apple's giant data center pops up on Google, Bing

Apple's 500,000-square-foot behemoth of a data center in Maiden, N.C., is now ready to have eyes laid on it. Satellite eyes that is.

As picked up by Fortune this morning, Apple's data center--which the company said would go live in the spring--now appears in Google Maps (map), having previously shown up as a large patch of empty land. Of course all the exciting bits are inside, including what has been estimated to be capacity for 95,000 to 120,000 servers.

While the satellite imagery has been updated, Google's Street View has not. Entering into … Read more

Music labels to Google: We're counting on Apple

If Apple rolls out a cloud music service next month, the offering could appear a little dated.

First Amazon and now Google have launched services that enable users to store music libraries on the companies' servers and access them from a variety of devices. This sort of computing via the Internet, rather than on a given PC, is known as cloud computing.

Google unveiled the beta version of its music storage service yesterday at its I/O developer conference in San Francisco. Amazon unveiled its Cloud Player and Cloud Drive offerings in late March.

But the services offered by Amazon … Read more