CrunchGear Week in Review: Training Edition

Here are some of last week’s stories on CrunchGear: Five Days of Festivus Contest: Win $500 To Spend On Presents TDK?s Retro-Futuristic Boomboxes Look Sweet Gift Guide: The 10 Worst Toys Of The Season If This Model Train Was Much Bigger, They?d Just Call It A Train Nooka?s Zub Zayu, Another Tasteful Abstact Wristwatch Five [...]

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Verizon FiOS Mobile App for iPad Lets You Change Channels and Manage DVR [Ipadapps]

It's not exactly the 600-channels-of-live-TV-Holy-Grail we caught a glimpse of a few months ago, but Verizon's new iPad-optimized FiOS Mobile app lets subscribers set DVR recordings and change the channel. With a big virtual version of their remote. Mmmmk. [iTunes] More »

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Rogue antivirus apps now masquerading as utility software, too

Once upon a time, rogue antivirus apps were pretty much one-trick ponies. They tried to closely mimic the interfaces we recognize from apps like AVG and Microsoft Security Essentials and use goofily-combined names like Super Windows Antivirus 2010 Gold Pro. However, as Sunbelt reports on their official blog, malware authors are now branching out into other types of bogus apps in order to lure more users into their trap.

To the trained eye, everything about PCoptimizer 2010 looks suspicious -- from the Intel Inside decal to the "Register Errors" text. The unwary Windows user, however, could be tricked just as easily by this trainwreck of a rogue app as her or she could be by a convincing antivirus clone.

Your best defense, of course, is to arm yourself with knowledge and look before you leap. Real, quality utility programs tend not to use flashy pop-up advertisements, make sensational sounding claims about fixing thousands of errors in your registry, and they usually use the correct terms. Register errors? I think you mean registry errors, Captain Scammy.

If you really need a few apps to keep your Windows system running in tip-top shape, check out this collection of six handy tools and our more recent rundown of 15+ trustworthy programs.

Rogue antivirus apps now masquerading as utility software, too originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 14 Dec 2010 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft Opens HTML5 Proving Ground

Microsoft launched an HTML5 laboratory for developers on Tuesday. The company intends the project to be a site where Redmond prototypes early and unstable Web standard specs from standards bodies such as the W3C and shares them with the developer community. One reason for establishing the lab could be that Microsoft wants to leverage its strong relationship with developers for the Web.

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Hulu Plus not happening on cable-provided TiVo Premiere DVRs, Scrooge wins again

It's a little hard to know exactly who to blame here, but one thing is for sure: consumers lose. Last week Suddenlink started deploying TiVo Premiere DVRs to its customers minus Netflix, saying that it was the agreements Netflix has with studios that prevents its streaming service from being deployed on a cable company DVR. At the time it was hopeful that Hulu Plus could still work, but now it's confirmed that its customers won't get that either, blaming the same sort of agreements between Hulu and its content providers. Frustrating? Absolutely -- but there is one obvious work-around: buy your own darned TiVo Premiere, get access to Netflix and Hulu Plus, and stop paying your cable provider that monthly rental fee. Mind, you'll have to rock a CableCard, losing the ability to watch video on demand, and the separate TiVo plus Hulu Plus fees might cost a bit more, but consider that a small price to pay for the right to stick a finger in the eye of The Man.

Hulu Plus not happening on cable-provided TiVo Premiere DVRs, Scrooge wins again originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Dec 2010 07:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Comcast's quad-tuner Xfinity Spectrum DVR with internet access revealed by the FCC

Say hello to the future of DVRs, at least from Comcast, as its as-yet unannounced Xfinity Spectrum box passed through the FCC's database shortly after having its existence revealed by the Wall Street Journal. A quick peek at the production-ready manual reveals there's plenty of new features here, including a new guide design including IMDB-style cast & crew info as well as access to internet services. While it's hardware makes this Pace RNG-210n a 500GB HD DVR with four tuners, MoCA and IP access, one of the biggest changes is a software makeover means it pops up notifications prompted by your Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

Configurable at Xfinity.com/Spectrum, it looks like it will only pull in information when people you follow share pictures, video, or link to info about TV shows and movies, with "most" viewable right on the box itself, plus the option to share what you're watching on those services. There's less details available about that "apps" section of the menu but weather, traffic, music and games are promised, take a quick peek at the most interesting sections including a look at the guide, remote and box in our gallery or check out the FCC filings yourself for more details -- it's hard to tell if the changes will make all our issues with cable provided set tops go away, but pretty much any new guide has to be better than what's there now, right?

[Thanks, cypherstream]

Gallery: Comcast Xfinity Spectrum DVR in FCC

Gallery: Highlights from Comcast Xfinity Spectrum DVR user manual

Comcast's quad-tuner Xfinity Spectrum DVR with internet access revealed by the FCC originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Dec 2010 16:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Pirates Love Daisies is an HTML5 homage to Plants vs Zombies, made by a Flash zealot

If you took a specific subsection of plants -- daisies -- and headed down to the Popular Archetypes store to exchange your zombies for pirates, you'd be about 90% of the way to making a tower defense game called Pirates Love Daisies. It's that last 10%, however -- a little flash of brilliance with a soupcon of quirkiness -- that makes the game. In this case, it's HTML5; Plants Love Daisies is one of the most accomplished HTML-CSS-and-JavaScript games to date. With a truly excellent interface, it plays like a mature, latter-generation Flash game, but it retains the svelte efficiency of HTML, with barely a blip on the CPU graph.

If you've never played a tower defense game, now's your chance. Pirates Love Daisies is easy to play, family-friendly, and features a tutorial that walks you through the mechanics of the game. The visual style is nothing short of beautiful (but cute), and the soundscape is excellent. The point, though, is that Pirates Love Daisies is written in HTML5 -- and when you realize those scudding clouds, buzzing flies and droplets of rain are all being rendered by the browser, your mind blows.

That's not to say the game is without issues, though; despite looking the best in Internet Explorer 9 beta 2, it crashed multiple times (see screenshot after the break), and Firefox 4 beta 7 didn't even get past the loading screen. Firefox 4 also had significantly degraded audio, for some reason. Chrome 9 worked just fine, but seemed to use more resources than IE9.

Gallery: Pirates Love Daisies, HTML5 tower defense game

Continue reading Pirates Love Daisies is an HTML5 homage to Plants vs Zombies, made by a Flash zealot

Pirates Love Daisies is an HTML5 homage to Plants vs Zombies, made by a Flash zealot originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 17 Dec 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Best Wallpapers for Android helps you get some holiday cheer on your home screen

Swiss Codemonkeys are best known as the guys behind the awesome AppBrain website/Android application, which is the de-facto Market for Android (since Google doesn't maintain a Market you can access from the PC). So when I noticed Swiss Codemonkeys has an app called Best Wallpapers, I felt compelled to give it a shot.

It's a very straightforward app; you get a list of categories, including Recently Popular, All Time Popular, Nature, Babes (yes, it has babes, but they appear to be mostly clothed) and a whole bunch of other categories.

At this time of year, the Recently Popular category is chock full of Christmas goodness, which is where the "holiday cheer" comes in. If you're looking for great Christmas wallpapers for your Android device, you've just hit the jackpot.

Once you click into a wallpaper, you can either set it as you current wallpaper or just Favorite it. Favoriting a wallpaper downloads it onto your SD card, and you can then easily access your favorites and set a wallpaper instantly. This basically means you can trawl the gallery at your leisure, building your own catalog of wallpapers which you can then quickly flick between when you get tired of one.

Bottom line: Simple and well-made. And I like my new wallpaper with the cute puppet (top-left in the screenshot).

Best Wallpapers for Android helps you get some holiday cheer on your home screen originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 17 Dec 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Fiabee releases companion apps to share, sync files between Chrome and Android

Fiabee is a relative newcomer to the cloud-to-mobile storage game, having only released its iOS app [iTunes link] back in June. The company has now begun focusing on Google's platforms and has made beta versions of the Fiabee app available for Android devices and Google Chrome.

The Fiabee Chrome app is no bookmark -- it's an extension app (all its HTML, JavaScript, CSS, images, and fonts are stored on your system) that provides a much different experience from the Fiabee website. Install the app and create an account, and you're given 1GB of cloud storage which you can use to share files from your desktop Chrome browser to your Android handset. Open your favorite file management app, find the file you want to upload, and then drag it on to the appropriate drop zone -- the blue box saves it to your cloud storage, while the green box takes the additional step of notifying your Android device that a new transfer is available.

Continue reading Fiabee releases companion apps to share, sync files between Chrome and Android

Fiabee releases companion apps to share, sync files between Chrome and Android originally appeared on Download Squad on Sat, 18 Dec 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mysterious Sony VAIO tablet PC drops by the FCC

Well, would you look at what we found lounging around the FCC -- it's a Sony tablet PC, alright, but the problem is we just don't know much more than that. Filed just today and submitted by a VAIO Business Group representative, the elusive tablet seems to be WiFi-only with 802.11b/g plus single band n, and it's likely to come in a few different flavors as there are a few confusing model numbers listed. Do PCG-31211L, PCG-31311L, PCG-312xxL (where 'x' can be any given number or letter) mean anything to you? Unfortunately, that's really all we can glean from the documents -- beyond the label you're peering at above, Sony has managed to keep the external photos, user manual, and test setup pics confidential until January 20th. Of course, that has us thinking that it might show its touchscreen self at CES, which means until then, we'll be dreaming up magical specs and features for this thing. Care to partake in that wonderful pastime? Dream big in the comments.

Update: We just heard from a proven Sony source of ours who claims that this is actually a mismarked Sony VAIO Y series laptop and that there won't be a VAIO tablet unveil at CES. Doesn't sound too promising, but there's no telling what will actually go down in Vegas...

Mysterious Sony VAIO tablet PC drops by the FCC originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Dec 2010 11:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Take Foursquare for Android with photos and comments for a test drive

If you're using Foursquare on your Android phone, and are willing to try out a testing version (with photos and comments), listen up.  Dennis Crowley, a member of the Foursquare for Android team, is looking for testers of the new app on Twitter. You'll need to be able to sideload applications on your phone, and be ready just in case things don't work quite as expected -- that's why it's a test.  Here's the link to the file, as provided by Mr. Crowley.  Now go check in somewhere! [@dens]

Take Foursquare for Android with photos and comments for a test drive posted originally by Android Central

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Trillian for Android review -- not quite worth your money yet

Earlier this week, Trillian, one of the oldest third-party IM client developers, released its Android app. I've always found Trillian a bit gimicky -- kind of like a 'Super Mega' Windows Live Messenger, with more bells and whistles than I really need, and a bloated, hard-to-navigate UI as a result.

Trillian for Android, I'm sad to say, is no better. Ultimately, it's functional but it feels like the shedding of its beta moniker was more than a little hasty. If that wasn't bad enough, it'll cost you $5 from the Android Market.

Continue reading Trillian for Android review -- not quite worth your money yet

Trillian for Android review -- not quite worth your money yet originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 21 Dec 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Planex MZK-SNG02US brings DLNA to your SD cards and USB drives

Not looking to go all out with a DLNA-ready NAS or dedicated media player to get some streaming started on your home network? Then you might be able to get by with something like Planex's new MZK-SNG02US device, which packs a single USB port and an SD card slot, and basically acts as DLNA-enabled bridge between your storage media and your router. Unfortunately, it looks like this one is only available in Japan at the moment, and its ¥8,000 (or $95) price tag places it a bit closer to some of those aforementioned dedicated devices than we would have liked. We're guessing that will get knocked down a bit if and when it's released (and most likely rebadged) over here, though.

Planex MZK-SNG02US brings DLNA to your SD cards and USB drives originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Dec 2010 10:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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