Google updated the stable and beta builds of its Chrome browser on Tuesday evening, making a fix marked as critical to the Mac version and numerous repairs marked as high-priority across all platforms. Chrome 6.0.472.59 for Windows, Mac, and Linux also repaired a Linux-specific memory corruption bug.

At the time of writing, the critical Mac bug was still blocked from public view. This is not uncommon with bugs that can represent serious security risks. Judging by its public security logs, Google appears to be releasing details on fixed bugs no earlier than a week after the bug has been repaired.

Other security issues that were addressed include multiple high-level bugs involving use-after-free in document APIs, SVG styles, and nested SVG elements. Two high-level memory corruption bugs were also fixed, one in the HTML5 Geolocation feature, and another in language handling for Khmer. Finally, a small number of users who experienced browser crashes when blocking pop ups should now see that fixed. The Chrome 6.0.472.59 changelog can be read at Google's Chrome updates blog.

I was pretty jazzed about Apple's addition of an HDR-photo mode in the recent iOS 4.1 update--until I learned it was for the iPhone 4 only.

No worries. As I should have guessed, there's an app for that. In fact, a quick check of the App Store reveals there are several apps, all designed to endow the 3GS with HDR photography goodness.

Pro HDR is my favorite so far. For a mere $1.99, it delivers simple high-dynamic-range tools for novices and experts alike.

In case you're not familiar with it, HDR photography combines an under-exposed photo with an over-exposed one, culling the best elements of each to produce a final, third photo.

Like iOS 4.1's new tool, Pro HDR snaps two shots in rapid succession. However, Pro HDR gives you the option of using Automatic or Manual mode: the former handles the exposure settings for you while the latter lets you set it by first tapping a bright area of the preview image and then tapping a dark area. (My take: Automatic works just fine; you'll rarely need to mess with Manual.)

Not every photo will benefit from this kind of software wizardry. But in my tests, some photos looked a little better while others improved dramatically.

As they say, pictures speak louder than words. Check out these two photos of a newly remodeled kitchen--the first taken with the iPhone's standard Camera app, the second with Pro HDR.

The Pro HDR shot exhibits much better balance; the Camera app couldn't handle all the light pouring in from the two windows. And that's where HDR--and, indeed, Pro HDR--shines: it fixes exposure problems that would otherwise ruin a photo.

The catch, of course, is that you need to hold your iPhone rock-steady while the app snaps its two shots, meaning it's better suited to scenery than to people, who are always blinking, moving, and so on. But even if you move a little, or your subject does, the app does a good job aligning and merging the photo pair.

Once it's done processing the corrected image, you can make adjustments using brightness, contrast, saturation, warmth, and tint sliders. However, the app lacks a "reset" or "defaults" button that removes any unwanted changes.

Pro HDR lets you save and e-mail your finished photos at full resolution. While it would be nice if it had Facebook integration, it's far from a deal-breaker.

In fact, I'd say that for $1.99, Pro HDR is a must-have app for both iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4 users, as it gives the latter a lot more control than Apple's software. (Speaking of which, according to Gizmodo, that HDR update might just become available on jailbroken iPhone 3GS and 3G models.)

If you've tried any other HDR apps, hit the comments and let me know how they fared.

Originally posted at iPhone Atlas

Though more mobile apps are finding their way onto cell phones, their owners aren't all necessarily using them.

Among the 2,252 U.S. adults surveyed for a new Pew Internet study, 1,917 said they use cell phones. Out of those people, 35 percent have mobile apps on their devices. However, only 24 percent of the 1,917 said they actually use those apps, and 11 percent were in the dark, not even knowing if their phones had any apps.

Released Tuesday, the "Rise of Apps Culture" study was based on phone interviews of people ages 18 and older conducted between April 29 and May 30, 2010. The survey found that app users tend to be young, male, college graduates making $75,000 or more a year.

By gender, 57 percent of the app users were male versus 43 percent who were female. By age, people 18 to 29 total only 23 percent of the U.S. adult population, but they make up almost half (44 percent) of the app user community. And while people 50 and older account for 41 percent of the adult population, they represent only 14 percent of all app users.

Further, 10 percent of all adult cell phone users downloaded an app in the past week, while 20 percent of users under 30 did the same thing, according to Pew. Overall, 47 of all downloaders have paid for an app, with most of them spending under $3, while the rest say they only go for apps that are free.

"An apps culture is clearly emerging among some cell phone users, particularly men and young adults," Kristen Purcell, associate director for research at the Pew Internet Project, said in a statement. "Still, it is clear that this is the early stage of adoption when many cell owners do not know what their phone can do. The apps market seems somewhat ahead of a majority of adult cell phone users."

What are the most popular apps among those who actually use them? Beyond tapping into its own surveys, Pew also included feedback from Nielsen's Apps Playbook, a December 2009 survey of 3,962 cell phone owners who had downloaded an app during the previous 30 days.

Game apps were by far the most popular, according to Nielsen's study, grabbed by 60 percent of the downloaders questioned. Next on the list were news and weather apps, followed by map and navigation programs, social-networking apps, and then music apps. Among the downloaders, 57 percent said they use their apps every day, while 24 percent use their apps more than 30 minutes a day.

The latest edition of Nielsen's Apps Playbook based on an August study and released last week, echoed similar results over which types of apps proved most popular. But it did break down the results further, finding that the average number of apps owned by downloaders is now 27, up from 22 last December. Further, iPhone users top the list, owning an average of 40 apps, while Android users have on average 25 and BlackBerry users store about 14 apps on their phones.

Originally posted at News - Wireless

Using Google's vast resources in ways that company did not intend is not a new thing, though rarely is it done right. A new service from the Philippines called Insync falls into that small category, while still managing to play by the rules.

Insync does one thing and does it well, which is to use your Google account as a storage locker. This in itself is not that big of a deal since Google has offered general file storage within Google Docs since January. What Insync does that's so special is turn that storage into a local folder you can access on your computer, just like you would any other folder. Any changes you make to this folder get synced back over and vice versa, and like competitor Dropbox, you can link it up to multiple machines.

One thing that's required for using the service is the installation of some local software, which works on both PCs and Macs, runs quietly in the background, and syncs over any changes. It also gives you a visual indication of when files are being transferred, or updated to a newer version.

In my testing the software worked well, though it wasn't quite as good as some other desktop sync apps like the aforementioned Dropbox or Sugarsync--both of which offer progress bars for how far along a large file is to transferring. Not seeing this for a 114MB video I uploaded meant this turned into a bit of a guessing game for when it would finish. The good news is that Insync's creators tell me such an indicator is on their road map.

Insync has a few other bells and whistles including revisioning, which lets you download variations of files; a rundown of file activity; and sharing, which works just like it does over on Google Docs.

While the service is software-centric, users can also download files through a Web interface, though you're unable to rename or reorganize them using it. These two shortcomings are being addressed in future versions of the service, however, you can make these kinds of changes over on Google Docs and they'll sync up. Another shortcoming worth mentioning is that you only get 1GB of storage through Google unless you've invested in one of the paid storage plans. If you're just using Insync on some PDFs, Microsoft Office documents, or another smattering of small files this isn't a big deal, but in the world of Web storage, 1GB can fill up quickly.

Google Apps users looking to add it to their accounts can find it in the Google Apps Marketplace.

Originally posted at Web Crawler