The name's a bit hard to figure out, but FreshStart delivers to Google Chrome the long-overdue child of tabbed browsing and browsing sessions: tab synchronization. Fast and functional, FreshStart takes a little bit of effort to set up, but the workflow is simple enough that most users should be able to pick it up after one try.

When the extension is installed, it tries to open a welcome page, but that failed for us on both test computers. Close it out and go to your Tools menu, and enable bookmark sync. This will require a Google account, and if bookmark sync isn't active, you can toggle it under the Personal Stuff tab in Options.

From there, click the FreshStart button that now appears on your Chrome toolbar and you can toggle which tabs you want to sync. This is especially interesting because you can create multiple saved tab sessions that contain different tabs. You can also customize the name of your session, rename it later, or remove a saved session. It would be nice, though, if you could set a default naming convention the way that Session Manager does for Firefox.

Once FreshStart has been installed on a second computer's Google Chrome, you can restore a saved session either by merging it with the existing open tabs, or opening it into a new window. In Chrome's global extension options menu, you can also enable a crash recovery that saves your tabs every five minutes. FreshStart's name doesn't really seem to relate to its function, but its features work well and make this a great extension for users with multiple computers.

[h/t Download Squad]

Apple makes extracting your music from your iPod unnecessarily difficult, and there's been a cottage industry of software tools designed to get around Apple's restrictive file-renaming conventions. Most of these programs charge you to use them, and of the free ones, few are exceptional at what they do. SharePod breaks the mold with useful features that work encased in a simple but appealing design.

It's a fast freeware tool for transferring your music collection from your iPod to your hard drive, making it easy to back up or restore your music, videos, and photos. It also transfers playlists, album art, and ratings, both to your hard drive and optionally right into iTunes.

SharePod comes with features that many competitors lack. Not only can you transfer your files, you can also perform some basic track tweaking. You can use it to delete art, playlists, music, and videos from your iPod, edit tags, and you can also transfer from your computer to your iPod without having to use iTunes. When you copy, you can set the folder architecture to one of three defaults, or customize your own. One key feature of SharePod is that it comes with a database backup, so if something goes awry during the transfer process, it's a simple procedure to restore it.

The program comes in an archive, not a self-extracting EXE file. This is slightly annoying, but the EXE file is tiny and weighs in at just 5.4MB so it's small enough to carry around on your iPod. Most importantly, SharePod is surprisingly effective. During two transfers, with one session involving more than 7,000 songs and their accompanying artwork, playlists, and ratings, SharePod only freaked out on two dozen tracks. When it did, it didn't stop copying, but instead logged which files copied successfully and which ones didn't.

SharePod works with most legacy iPods, and with newer models including the Nano 5G, the iPhone 3GS, and the iPod Touch. It doesn't natively support Mac-formatted drives, though. Given how hassle-free it is and how good it is at what it does, it's hard not to consider SharePod a must-have for Windows users.

Apple may have focused all its laser-beam attention on the iPad at Wednesday's press event, but that wasn't the computing giant's only announcement. Effective immediately, Apple has given up blocking voice-over-IP (VoIP) calls over 3G data networks on the iPhone, and has changed the SDK to reflect the allowance. Of course, your carrier has to also comply for VoIP calls to work over 3G in addition to Wi-Fi. Luckily for us, AT&T in the U.S. is already on board.

The iCall app was one of the first to announce the 3G compatibility news to its VoIP users. Fring, a voice and chat app that supports Skype, SIP, and video calls, soon followed. We wanted to see just how reliable Fring's VoIP video calling was in the absence of Wi-Fi, so we turned off the wireless and made a few calls.

Fring dials out from a dial pad using cellular, SIP, or Skype, and can also make video calls with a compatible service. We tested Skype video calls within California and from the CNET offices, first with 3G and then with Wi-Fi. We also tested with and without headphones.

Video calls were one-way--we could see our callers through their Webcams, but they couldn't see us. Despite having full bars of AT&T reception, our callers clearly heard only one out of every 5 or 6 words with the headphones plugged in, but we could hear them. We sounded clearer with the headphones out, but couldn't hear as well on our end. Wi-Fi made the voice transaction clearer all around and caused fewer crashes and stalls.

Stability was an issue over both Wi-Fi and 3G. We had to restart Fring multiple times throughout the course of a call. Of course, the Skype service itself isn't without delays and freezes when you use it on a home computer supported by fast, reliable Internet, and we haven't had a chance to extensively test all Fring scenarios with Wi-Fi and 3G. Your experience may differ based on your own surroundings and the technology level on the other end of the line. One thing that's clear is that Fring's service indeed makes calls over 3G--albeit inconsistently, in our experience--in addition to calls over Wi-Fi. Improving stability and performance are the next steps for Fring, Skype, and other VoIP players taking advantage of iPhone's newly relaxed regulations.

Apple's new iPad device looks like it will have some of the same security issues that affect the iPhone, such as weak encryption, a mobile security expert said on Thursday.

For one, if the iPad employs encryption the same way the iPhone does, sensitive personal data, including phone numbers and e-mail addresses, could be retrieved and viewed, says Daniel Hoffman, chief technology officer at SMobile Systems, which sells mobile security software.

"The problem with the iPhone security encryption is it is fundamentally worthless," he said. "It can be easily bypassed."

Hoffman is not alone in making that assessment.

Secondly, if iPad users get their apps from the Apps Store, they are at risk of getting the occasional bad apple, Hoffman said, noting that there have been malicious apps found in the store.

In addition, the device is subject to man-in-the-middle attacks like any other device that uses unsecured Wi-Fi networks is, he said. SMobile is developing a tool to protect against such attacks, in which someone is able to intercept Internet traffic mobile devices send over Wi-Fi networks and inject new messages while masquerading as a legitimate party in the communication.

The iPad also should have management capabilities, like the option of using a PIN or passcode, and remote lock or wipe in case of loss or theft, he said. The iPhone offers a service to help locate lost devices and provide remote wipe, but it's pricey at about $100 per year.

"Until it's officially released, we just won't know on some of these things," Hoffman said. "I would hope it would have remote wipe capabilities. People do mobile banking and store sensitive information and they want it protected."

An Apple spokesperson did not respond to an e-mail seeking comment on Hoffman's concerns.

Originally posted at InSecurity Complex