news

YouTube gets channel-surfing makeover

Friday's CNET Update is channel surfing:

YouTube has a new design that puts a greater focus on subscriptions and channels. YouTube hopes it will get more users to stay on the site longer by flipping through channels -- similar to how folks lose themselves while browsing television stations.

Also in today's tech news roundup:

- Foursquare added event listings, so a business can post about when there's something unique going on, such as a trivia night, book signing, or wine tasting.

- You can now create repeat events on Facebook. Handy for people with regularly-scheduled meetups.

- … Read more

Talking dog and cat repeat what you say in Talking Tom and Ben News

Talking Tom and Ben News is a spinoff of the popular Talking Tom app, in this case using the two characters Tom (a cat) and Ben (a dog) as "newsreaders." The app is downloadable from iTunes for free, and installs cleanly.

Talking Tom and Ben News consists of a launch screen showing Tom and Ben sitting at a news anchor's desk. If you say something to them, they will repeat it as a conversation between the two of them. You can also upload a video or photo that is displayed as a small movie on the "… Read more

T-Mobile to sell iPhone in 2013

Thursday's CNET Update completes the set:

T-Mobile USA Chief Executive John Legere confirmed that the carrier will be selling the iPhone next year. Expect T-Mobile to target AT&T and offer competitive pricing with new Value Plans.

Also in today's tech news roundup:

- Apple CEO Tim Cook said some Mac production will move to the U.S. in 2013. He also hinted that Apple is working on a new television concept.

- Google+ is adding Communities. These groups can be public or private for people with similar interests to start hangouts and plan events.

- Facebook … Read more

Instagram-Twitter feud fudges photos

Wednesday's CNET Update won't cut you off:

Instagram and Twitter aren't playing nice, and it's annoying users. As the two services compete in the photo-sharing space, Instagram stopped supporting a key Twitter feature that helps display media inside a tweet. The casual user won't notice anything different on the Twitter website. But on Twitter's mobile app, you will notice that Instagram photos are no longer properly formatted to fit.

Why would Instagram spoil the appearance of photos shared on Twitter? Because Facebook-owned Instagram is growing its website and wants you to stay on its … Read more

Zite 2.0: A smarter, snappier personalized magazine for iOS

From the minute I was able to put the personalized magazine app Zite on my iPhone, it became one of my indispensable tools.

Even if I glanced at it for just a few minutes at a bus stop, it was the best portal I had to the news I cared most about because it led me to stories from a wide variety of publications and on almost any topic I could want. And the more I used it, the more it knew what I wanted to read.

That was a year ago, and today, the iOS world can get its … Read more

Future of Facebook voting up for vote

Tuesday's CNET Update doubts the vote will be rocked:

Facebook doesn't want policy changes to be put up for a vote anymore. But first, it's letting users have one last chance to make their voice heard on the matter. Facebook lets users vote on policy changes, but the votes only count if 30 percent of all active users participate. Problem is, there has never been enough voter turnout for it to matter. So Facebook now is proposing to end the voting option and also make changes to messages. Users can vote on the Facebook Site Governance app, … Read more

Google: Don't make us pay for Google News content

PARIS -- Some in France and Germany want laws requiring Google to pay for the content it hosts on Google News, usually snippets of text with a link to the site where it was published. But Google, unsurprisingly, thinks that's a rotten idea.

"It's bad for publishers in the long run," said Ben Gomes, the Google vice president in charge of search, speaking here at the LeWeb conference. "The concern is with laws like this, is it clamps down on what you can do, because it breaks the freedom of the Internet."

Instead, he … Read more

Google's Knowledge Graph tripled in size in seven months

Since it unveiled the Knowledge Graph in May, Google said the next-generation search product would grow fast. Today we learned just how fast.

At launch, the Knowledge Graph was a database of the relationships among 500 million objects, and contained 3.5 billion facts. Less than seven months later, the graph covers 570 million entities and 18 billion facts -- as well as three times as many queries as it did when it started.

Whenever the Knowledge Graph recognizes a query it understands, the results show up in a box on the right-hand side of the page. The fact boxes … Read more

News Corp. cans The Daily

News Corp. axes The Daily.

The Daily, which was an ambitious tablet-only news publication backed by News Corp., is shutting its doors December 15. Launched back in February 2011, The Daily was an interactive newspaper stylized for consumption on the iPad. Best of all, a year's subscription went for only $40 and offered a wide variety of sections. While there will be no more issues of The Daily, its brand will live on other channels within News Corp.

This week marks the 20th anniversary of the first text message. On December 3, 1992, SMS pioneer Matti Makkonen successfully sent … Read more