The first thing that should come to mind when you think of Cooliris is photos. The company is well known for its imaging products, which include a very snazzy cross-platform browser add-on, an iPhone app, and embedded Web site and mobile phone technology. All of these are able to turn a collection of photos into an interactive, 3D wall, be it in on your browser, Web site, or cell phone.

But with its latest creation for Apple's iPad, called Discover, Cooliris is moving beyond the presentation and organization of photos and into something a little more pedestrian: text.

Discover, which hits the App Store on Tuesday, takes content from Wikipedia--both text and still images (but mostly just text), and splits it up into sections. These can be flipped through with your finger, instead of scrolling down a large page in Safari. The app also keeps track of where you've been so you can retrace your reading path if you've gone several pages deep.

"When the iPad came out, we took an idea we had, and said 'this is probably a perfect platform to try it on,'" Cooliris' executive VP of products Michele Turner told CNET. "This new application takes structured data--in this case Wikipedia, as the starting point. We've then created a templatized starting page and structured data from Wikipedia to let users navigate the depths of Wikipedia in a beautiful and efficient way."

The end result is a Wikipedia with larger text that can be read like an e-book, and photos that can be thumbed through and scaled up to the iPad's full resolution. The app also takes advantage of orientation to reposition, or expand or consolidate the data it's showing. Along the way, Cooliris serves up advertisements, which is where it can make some of its money given the app's free price tag.

But why Wikipedia, and not a larger chunk of the Internet, as something like the recently popular Flipboard has done with RSS feeds? The short answer is that it's not there yet, but it will be soon. Turner and company do, in fact, envision Discover as a platform for various data feeds from around the Web. "We have over 100 content partners in the mainstream Cooliris product," Turner said. "The longer term opportunity is to work with the content partners to flow into this application, but that's kind of down the line."

Eventually the company plans to bring it to other platforms, including Android tablets. In making the iPad iteration of Discover, the company even built one for the iPhone, though Turner says it didn't feel quite right given the smaller form factor.

More pics of Discover can be seen after the break.

Originally posted at Web Crawler

Security suite maker Webroot, best known for its Spy Sweeper program, on Monday finally released the long-delayed upgrades to to its PC security programs, updating its line in a bid to make it more competitive and relevant in an increasingly crowded security field. Webroot also introduced a new program, Internet Security Complete 2011, which provides tools that go far beyond basic threat detection and removal.

The programs offer multiple levels of protection. The simplest is Webroot Spy Sweeper, which focuses on spyware detection and removal. Webroot AntiVirus with Spy Sweeper is analogous to basic programs like Norton Antivirus and combines Spy Sweeper's engine with antivirus detection and removal licensed from Sophos. Webroot Internet Security Essentials 2011 offers a nearly identical suite of features to Internet Security Complete 2011, incorporating antivirus tools, the Spy Sweeper engine, two-way firewall, spam and phishing guards, file storage and sharing from SugarSync, and system cleanup tools ported in from Webroot Window Washer, their separate browsing tracks removal tool.

Internet Security Essentials differs from Internet Security Complete in that Complete comes with password management licensed from LastPass, multiple identity theft protections such as encrypting banking information and credit card monitoring, and Complete comes with 10 GB of online data storage compared with Essentials' 2 GB.

Although security vendors have licensed various components from other software makers in the past, Webroot's approach here feels more seamless than many others. Changes have been made to the interfaces of each so that they feel like a natural part of the original Webroot code. Internet Security Complete 2011 appears to occupy a unique space in the feature-rich security suite landscape, with the combination of password manager, file sharing tool and synchronization along with file backup, and modern security that works from both virus definition files and cloud-based protection.

Webroot has also introduced a level of automation to the revamped programs, so user input isn't necessary to ensure that threat detecting updates are added to the program. This brings Webroot's suite up to parity with many of its competitors.

Webroot Window Washer 2011 and Webroot Spy Sweeper are $29.95 each for a one-computer license for one year. Webroot AntiVirus with Spy Sweeper 2011 is $39.95 for a year-long one-computer license. Webroot Internet Security Essentials 2011 is $59.95 for a three-computer license over one year, which includes 2 GB of online storage. Webroot Internet Security Complete 2011 is $79.95 for a three-computer license over one year, which includes 10 GB of online storage. Users can purchase additional online storage from within the program.

Business-ratings app Yelp just got a massive dose of competition from a much larger source.

Google updated its Maps for Android (version 4.4) on Monday in the Android Market to make its Place Pages business listings more usable. In doing so, Google's solution for taking business listings mobile resembles Yelp's Android feature set more than it ever has before.

Once you install the update (and in our case, reboot your Android phone), you will see a new Places icon in your list of applications. Tapping the icon pulls up a finger-friendly interface with icons for seven categories you might try to locate nearby: restaurants, coffee, bars, hotels, attractions, ATMs, and gas stations.

It has a search bar at the top, a shortcut to Google Maps app, and a GPS location bar to round out the view. An "add" button helpfully lets you create your own shortcuts for often searched terms; perhaps the post office, movie theater, or bakery.

As with Yelp, searching with the new Places interface delivers a sponsored link and information about businesses in your neighborhood, including an address, rating (if available), user reviews, and whether the business is currently open or closed for the day. You can also star it to add it to your favorites.

Tapping the entry bring up more business details, such as the price level, Wi-Fi hot spot information, Web site address, as well as shortcut buttons to plot the location on a map, get directions, call the business, or get a Street View image.

The app worked seamlessly in our quick tests in downtown San Francisco. However, its results page isn't as visually slick as Yelp is, and you can't add your own review (or snippets of a review) from the app.

It's no surprise that Google scours Yelp, along with CitySearch, GrubHub, Yahoo, and other sources, for information about each establishment. For Google, aggregating data from around the Web is key to its Place Pages having the most complete data set on a location available, and winning more users. In fact, one of the nicest side effects of Google's aggregation is that it links to GrubHub, Menutopia, and Zagat for menu pages, an often-elusive and yet important portion of restaurant research.

Google Maps for mobile 4.4 is compatible with Android version 1.6 and above. BlackBerry users should stay tuned for a similar update that's "coming soon," according to a Google blog post. Unfortunately, we don't know if that means days or weeks.

Originally posted at Android Atlas

When I think of Risk, the board game, I think of sitting around a table with a bunch of buddies, arguing loudly, cursing dice-rolls, and just generally being aggravated for several hours.

Risk: The Official Game for iPhone, iPod, and iPad offers a wholly different experience--and that's not at all a bad thing.

For one thing, it gives you the opportunity to play solo, something you can't do with the board game. You can declare war on two-five AI opponents and choose between three difficulty levels.

On the multiplayer side, Risk lets you "pass and play" with up to six human players (adding computer players into the mix as desired), or go the multiplayer route--but only locally via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. Obviously, an online option would be great, but given the time involved to complete a game, I can understand why EA elected to omit it.

This Risk plays just like the board version, but with a few obvious changes. First, you can distribute your armies manually or save time by letting the app do it for you (it's reasonably proficient at strategic placement).

Second, there are no physical dice to roll. When the time comes to attack, you tap an icon for an individual roll (or "skirmish"). There's also a "total war" option that essentially plays the entire attack until there's a victor, no rolls required. This makes the game go considerably faster, though it does leave you without a retreat option (which is available if you skirmish).

The gameplay mechanics are a breeze to learn, and the app includes a tutorial for newcomers. I did discover a couple quirks, a big one being that there's no way (that I can find) to see what or how many cards you've accumulated. Without that information, planning your strategy is a lot more difficult.

Even so, I had a blast playing Risk on my iPhone (and my iPad, where it looks reasonably nice for a non-optimized game). It's nice to be able to zip through a game in 10-20 minutes instead of 2-3 hours. Definitely worth $4.99 if you're a fan.

Speaking of classic board games for the iPhone:

• Blokus makes the leap from board game to app
• Battleship for iPhone: Best board game adaptation yet?
• Beloved board game Settlers of Catan comes to iPhone
  

Originally posted at iPhone Atlas

Citibank has fixed a flaw in its iPhone app that was inadvertently storing customer account data on the mobile devices, the company said on Monday.

"During a recent review, we discovered that our U.S. Citi Mobile iPhone banking app was accidentally saving information related to customer accounts in a hidden file on their iPhones," the company said in a statement. "This information may also have been saved on their computer if they had been synchronizing their iPhone with their computer via iTunes."

Citi has released an update to its iPhone app that corrects the problem and deletes any Citi mobile information that may have been stored on the mobile device or the customer's computer.

Other Citi apps and services are not affected and Citi said it had no reason to believe that any customer data was compromised.

The new app was released a week ago and last Tuesday 118,000 letters were mailed to customers using the app, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Originally posted at InSecurity Complex

For the last two weeks, 10 CNET personalities published their 10 favorite iPhone apps, while you voted on your favorites from the bunch. We call it the CNET 100.

Well, friends, we're rapidly nearing decision time. We'll give you one final shot to vote for your favorite of our favorite iPhone apps.

Tune back in on Wednesday, July 28, to see the top 10 favorite iPhone apps in order of popularity, and according to you.

Kent German's picks

Nicole Lee's picks

Jasmine France's picks

Eric Franklin's picks

Donald Bell's picks

Jason Parker's picks

Jessica Dolcourt's picks

Rafe Needleman's picks

Josh Lowensohn's picks

Brian Tong's picks

Originally posted at iPhone Atlas

Google has released a fourth version of Chrome called Canary for those keen on the latest features but willing to put up with more bugs and crashes.

Chrome Canary installs alongside any of the three existing versions of Chrome--stable, beta, and developer, according to a mailing list message by Google programmer Huan Ren last week. That lets developers test different versions more easily on the same computer, although Canary is available only for Windows at present.

Perhaps more interesting to Chrome enthusiasts is that Google plans to update Canary more often than the developer release, new versions of which arrive roughly every two weeks.

"The canary usually updates more frequently than the Dev channel (higher risk of bustage), and we're working on making it update as often as we have successful nightly builds," said Mark Larson, "I recommend it for anyone who wants to help test the latest Chrome features. The data we get back from canary users--especially crash statistics--helps us find and fix regressions faster."

In other words, it's the canary in the coal mine--something that will indicate early signs of trouble.

While Chrome Canary could be updated as often as once a day, Google plans to release stable versions of Chrome more frequently as well. Stable versions have arrived roughly once a quarter, and Google wants to double that pace.

The next major version of Google's browser, Chrome 6, likely will arrive in beta form soon since developers recently froze the code base to stabilize it.

Chrome has steadily gained usage share since its first beta release in September 2008. With version 5, Chrome arrived in stable form for Mac OS X and Linux as well.

Google later this year plans to release a browser-based operating system called Chrome OS. Although it runs Linux under the hood, the applications run within the browser, one incarnation of the concept known as cloud computing.

Although Canary is installed in a separate area of a hard drive from what's already installed, it can behave similarly through Chrome's gradually expanding synchronization ability.

At present, Chrome can sync bookmarks, preferences, themes, form data, and most recently, extensions. Under development is syn for passwords and some browsing history.

The current Canary build is 6.0.472.0, the same version number as the Chrome developer build. However there are apparently some differences. For example, tab-to-search didn't work in my test on Canary.

Canary has a significant limitation besides just its availability only for Windows, though, as Chrome leader Darin Fisher asked on the mailing list: "One question: Why can't I make this be my default browser?"

Via the unofficial Google Operating System blog.

Originally posted at Deep Tech