Over the past few years, we've seen a plethora of download servers and utilities that range from the infamous torrent clients to temporary file servers like RapidShare, Megaupload, and HotFile. Torrenting in particular has seen some new improvements in the area of clients; uTorrent (which was eventually acquired by BitTorrent) became one of the most portable, system-friendly clients and Webware sites like Torrific have even eliminated the use of client software altogether.

So how do you top that?

Fetch.io: A Swiss Army Knife download manager?

(Credit: Fetch.io)

Enter Fetch.io, a cloud-based service similar to the likes of Dropbox but with the utilitarian function of Torrific, as well as support for RapidShare, Megaupload, FileServe, and other services. Instead of downloading your files to your own computer, you input a torrent URL or any cyberlocker URL from a site like Megaupload, then go about your business. Fetch.io will "fetch" the files itself using its own connection, download them to a remote server, and notify you of the completed ingestion via e-mail. You can then access your files directly from your Fetch.io folder in a process similar to Dropbox.

If you download a movie file, Fetch.io will automatically encode it as MP4 or Flash format for streaming support. This opens up movie-streaming potential for various media platforms and mobile devices.

Keep in mind that although Fetch.io's servers can download files at an amazing rate, users are still capped at their own respective download speeds and bandwidth when accessing their completed downloads on Fetch.io's servers.

Fetch.io is currently in the beta stage and is offering user accounts of up to 20GB of free storage and 40GB in bandwidth. Fetch 'em while they last.

Fetch.io boasts support for multiple download sources, including torrent and cyberlocker sites.

The Zipcar app for Android drops its beta tag with a version 1.0 release.

(Credit: Zipcar)

After almost two months of beta testing in the Android Market and almost a full two years since the iPhone version was first demonstrated, the Zipcar for Android application has been updated today with a bright, shiny version 1.0 release.

Those who checked out the beta or have spent time with the iPhone version won't notice much difference in this official release, but the company states that the app is now faster and more efficient than the beta version. Zipcar for Android will let members of the car-sharing service search for cars by location and vehicle type, reserve vehicles, and even interact directly with a reserved vehicle by locking and unlocking the doors or honking the horn from within the app. Non-members can browse the available vehicles in their area, but can't reserve a vehicle without first applying for membership on Zipcar's Web site. Application cannot be handled from within the app, but there's a handy join link that will take you where you need to go.

Zipcar for Android is compatible with Android devices running version 2.1 (Eclair) or higher and is a free download in the Android Market.

Originally posted at The Car Tech blog

(Credit: CNET/Turntable.fm)

As a prospective wannabe DJ and geek, three things in today's world incapacitate my productivity: finding good music, cute little avatars, and Facebook.

Enter Turntable.fm, one of the freshest streaming-music apps to hit the Web scene. Turntable.fm is part music-streaming service, part chat room, and part election. Turntable.fm is similar to other music-streaming Web apps like Pandora and GrooveShark; users can create their own custom playlists and listen to music of similar genres and interests. Now imagine taking that playlist you worked so hard on and sharing it with an audience. Live.

The more "Awesome" votes you accumulate, the points you get.

(Credit: CNET/ Turntable.fm)

Users create a DJ avatar and enter one of many rooms where they can interact with people of similar musical taste. Five DJ slots are open for people to take their stab at sharing a song from their playlist. Unlike other streaming music apps on the Web, users in Turntable.fm all listen to the same track at once, allowing them to comment or "politely" express their disapproval all in real time. Users can also actively vote if the song is "Awesome" or "Lame." DJs earn points for every vote, which in turn can be used to upgrade their avatars with newer costumes. If enough people vote positively, the onstage DJ racks up points, and users will be treated to a full house of head-banging avatars; enough "Lame" votes will force the current track to be skipped.

If you hear a song you like, add to your Turntable.fm queue.

(Credit: CNET/ Turntable.fm)

While a song is playing, users can hover over the DJ table and choose to either add their song to their Turntable, Last.fm and Spotify (current not available in the U.S.) playlist, or purchase the song from iTunes store. Although it's currently in beta stages, hopefully the catalog support will expand to other music vendors such as Amazon.

As of now, the only way to get an account is to be Facebook friends with someone who already has a Turntable ID. Despite its semiclosed registration, Turntable.fm's membership is growing at a rapid rate. Only a few weeks ago, the number of simultaneous users we'd seen in a chatroom was about 20-30. As of this post, there are rooms that have exploded into over 200 users in one room. Silicon Valley's Coding channel seems to be drawing the biggest crowd.

One expensive Mau5 costume.

(Credit: CNET/ Turntable.fm)

Although Turntable.fm can be used as an idle music listening Web app, most of the fun comes from trying to actually score points as a virtual DJ. There's a deep satisfaction that comes from watching your DJ points go up and gaining the approval of your audience, or even blackmailing for points by threatening to Rickroll them. In either case, Turntable.fm's charm comes from being actively involved with your music and the audience, watching the avatars approvingly nod their heads to the beat, and saving up for that insanely expensive Deadmau5 helmet avatar you've always wanted. It's this somewhat simplistic yet addicting system where both users (and investors) will find value in the Turntable.fm experience.

Turntable.fm's combination of Medianet-based search results with user uploaded content already boasts an impressive amount of songs to compile that perfect playlist. One can presume that a good chunk of the profitability will come from users discovering new music through this service, as well as potential advertising opportunities as the site continues to grow.

Currently, Turntable.fm is still in its beta stages, so expect to see some bugs here and there. Log on to see if you're friends with a Turntable member and join the social music experience. Just don't expect to be too productive at work with this running in the background. Sound off in the comments below and let us know how your experience is with it thus far!

Google today released an open-source tool called DOM Snitch that tries to flag Web site software that would be dangerous to run in a browser.

The software is an experimental Chrome extension that examines how Web site code executes to see if commands could lead to cross-site scripting or other attacks used to deliver malware to computers via a Web browser.

DOM Snitch (download) "enables developers and testers to identify insecure practices commonly found in client-side code," said Google security test engineer Radoslav Vasilev in a blog post. He elaborated:

To do this, we have adopted several approaches to intercepting JavaScript calls to key and potentially dangerous browser infrastructure such as document.write or HTMLElement.innerHTML (among others). Once a JavaScript call has been intercepted, DOM Snitch records the document URL and a complete stack trace that will help assess if the intercepted call can lead to cross-site scripting, mixed content, insecure modifications to the same-origin policy for DOM access, or other client-side issues.

The move is one of many Google has made of late to improve security on the Web--a medium the company believes is the programming platform of the future and that holds a dominant role in its own business. The company also is working hard to improve Chrome's own security.

Other open-source Google security products include Skipfish and Ratproxy, which let people test the security of Web applications.

Originally posted at Deep Tech

Peggle is the last of three PopCap exclusives in Amazon's Appstore and is a Wi-Fi-only download.

(Credit: Amazon)

You bought it from the games marketplace on the Xbox 360. You've played the demos and flash versions of it on the PC. Now, you can it get for free on your Android smartphone or tablet. The last of three PopCap exclusives to be released in Amazon's Appstore for Android is none other than Peggle, and it's the free app of the day.

A couple of things before downloading: As with all three PopCap exclusives, Peggle is a Wi-Fi-only download and the file size is approximately 75MB. Once installed, just move it over to your phone's SD card, and the internal file size gets considerably smaller (just mere kilobytes).

Some of what you can look forward to are: 55 standard levels and 75 grand master challenges; Adventure, Quick Play, Challenge, and Duel modes; the ability to replay your memorable moments; and new tricks, like Off the Wall, Double Long Shot, and Extreme Slides, earn you more bonus points.

Suffice it to say that it will work on the majority of Android phones to date. The app is supposedly not optimized for tablets--pixelation may occur--but if you have one, try anyway. It's free!

If you find yourself having a problem with downloading the game directly through your smartphone or tablet, here is a workaround:

1. Go to Amazon's site and log in to your account.
2. Hover to Amazon for Android tab on the sidebar to the left. Click Apps. Click on the image of the app of the day (which takes you to the page) and on the right side you'll see a Get now with one-click button.
3. It may warn that you're buying an app that may be incompatible with your device. Just click OK (and buy).
4. It'll start to download in your account on the PC. Once it's done downloading, you can then install through the Amazon Appstore on your phone.

Free Amazon app of the day (screenshots)

In Amazon's Appstore for Android, you can download the full, ad-free version of Peggle. It's free on launch day, then will go back to the standard retail price ($2.99) after the one-day promotion expires. Peggle will remain an Amazon exclusive for only two weeks, then becomes available everywhere else.

Peggle will be Amazon's free app of the day until 3 a.m. ET/12 a.m. PT.

Originally posted at Android Atlas

Crackle for Android.

(Credit: Crackle)

Want to watch movies and TV shows on your Android phone or tablet? For the moment your choices are a bit limited. There's Netflix, which works with only a handful of phones (unless you're game for a little hacking) and requires a monthly subscription. Same goes for HBO Go.

Enter Crackle, a new app that lets you watch dozens of TV shows and a couple hundred movies, all free of charge (but with commercials, natch).

Available for Android 2.2 and later, Crackle is compatible with around two dozen Android phones (unlike Netflix, which runs on only half a dozen or so). I was hoping to test it with my Samsung Galaxy Tab Wi-Fi, but a tablet-compatible version isn't available--yet. (It's coming soon, according to the developer.) Thankfully, it worked like a charm on my Samsung Nexus S 4G.

Crackle delivers much of (but not all) the same content as its eponymous Web service. On the TV side, you'll find shows like "The Tick," "NewsRadio," "Soap," and AMC's "The Killing."

Unfortunately, a lot of the available series (especially newer ones) are merely clips or "minisodes," not full eps. At the risk of sounding ungrateful, I don't want 5 minutes and 30 seconds' worth of "Fat Albert"--I want the whole show. Hey, hey, hey!

The jewel in Crackle's crown is its recently added batch of classic "Seinfeld" episodes, which are swapped monthly for a different batch. I'm literally pausing my writing every few minutes so I can get back to watching "The Outing." (Not that there's anything wrong with that.)

As for movies, they're mostly older titles, and mostly a mix of B-, C-, and D-grade stuff. I don't watch "Joe Dirt" or "So I Married an Axe Murderer" on cable, so I'm certainly not going to watch them here.

That said, there are a few gems to choose from: "Ghostbusters," "The Freshman," "Silverado," and "Real Genius." are among those I think are worth your time. (Most underrated gem in the Crackle library: "Go.")

The app is easy to use, smart enough to resume playback if you have to leave in the middle, and able to stream over 3G/4G and Wi-Fi alike.

And did I mention it's free? Sure, the selection could be better, but if you're looking for something to watch and don't want to pay Netflix, HBO, or anybody else, Crackle can definitely keep you entertained.

Originally posted at Android Atlas

Microsoft's IE team congratulates Mozilla on every Firefox release with a cake. Here's the cake, complete with the updated IE9 logo, for Firefox 5. "We have streamlined our cake release process to keep up with Mozilla's schedule," quipped Microsoft's Sylvain Galineau about the cake.

(Credit: Damon Sicore/Mozilla)

Mozilla delivered two things today: Firefox 5 for personal computers and Android phones, and the promise to complete the new browser just a few months after its predecessor.

The organization, once the leading challenger to Microsoft's Internet Explorer, faces new challenges--notably Google's Chrome, new versions of which arrive every six weeks. Adopting a similar philosophy, Firefox now revs on a three-month cycle, and today Mozilla met its first deadline.

"The world of the Internet is moving at a faster pace than ever, so we realized we had to start innovating faster," said Mozilla Chief Executive Gary Kovacs in an online chat today to announce the product.

New features in Firefox 5 (download for Windows | Mac | Linux | Android) include the following:

• Support for CSS animations, a technology that lets Web page elements move around the screen. That's useful for more dynamic Web pages and Web apps.

• Firefox's new Add-on SDK, formerly called Jetpack. This foundation lets programmers build extensions out of Web technologies such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript rather than the older XUL technology. The expected advantages: extensions will be easier to write and won't break when new browser versions arrive.

• In beta testing is the Add-on Builder, a Web-based tool designed to make writing extensions easier.

• Firefox's do-not-track technology, which lets people tell Web sites they don't want to be tracked for advertising or other purposes, now works on Android phones as well.

• Canvas, which adds two-dimensional graphics technology to browsers, runs faster now, and adheres better to the official specification.

Firefox 5 gives the do-not-track preference more prominence.

(Credit: Screenshot by Seth Rosenblatt/CNET)

• Mozilla worked on performance in various other areas, including JavaScript and launch time.

• On Android, Firefox 5 now supports the Web Open Font Format for downloadable typefaces to embellish Web pages.

• Also on Android, panning around a Web page should be smoother.

Firefox 4 was a major overhaul to the open-source browser, and Mozilla said it was downloaded more than 200 million times for personal computers and Android phones. The faster cycle means new releases aren't as dramatically different from their earlier counterparts, though.

CNET's full review

Firefox 5 is a worthy expression of Mozilla's ideals. The browser is competitively fast, sports a new minimalist look, and includes some excellently executed features. Unfortunately, that describes most of Firefox's competition, too.

"Firefox 6, 7, 8, 9, 10--they're every bit as important, but they won't have this massive celebration," Kovacs said. "They'll just be part of how we deliver awesomeness to the Web."

In addition to the final release version of Firefox, Mozilla has added two faster-moving test versions, the beta version and the Aurora version for the more adventurous. (There's also a nightly version for those on the bleeding edge.)

One consequence of the faster cycle is of course that developers have to move quickly to catch the next release "train." Another, though, is that another train comes in another six weeks. That makes it easier to maintain the release schedule discipline, said Christian Legnitto, Mozilla's Firefox release manager.

"We were a little worried about the transition," he said, but the new schedule worked. "It's been amazing watching the project do an about-face."

Updated at 2:21 p.m. PT with IE cake from Microsoft and a little more detail.

(Credit: Mozilla)

Originally posted at Deep Tech

Final Cut Pro X running on a MacBook Pro.

(Credit: Apple)

Apple today released Final Cut Pro X, the latest version of video-editing software geared for professionals from a company increasingly focused on mainstream consumers.

Final Cut Pro X is a follow-up to Final Cut Pro 7, software Apple released in 2009 as part of Final Cut Studio. The new $299.99 version is a complete 64-bit rewrite of Final Cut, absorbing abilities from several of the software programs that are included in the Studio suite.

Like Apple's upcoming release of Mac OS X Lion, Final Cut Pro X will only be available to customers through the Mac App Store, the digital storefront the company rolled out to Snow Leopard users back in January. That means any new updates get delivered through the Mac App Store app, and users can install a copy on any of their authorized computers.

A look at Final Cut Pro X (images)

Apple said the software "completely reinvents video editing with a Magnetic Timeline that lets you edit on a flexible, trackless canvas; Content Auto-Analysis that categorizes your content upon import by shot type, media and people; and background rendering that allows you to work without interruption."

The application debuted in a demonstration at a Final Cut user group event alongside the National Association of Broadcasters show in Las Vegas in April, but Apple kept mum on further details. A report from Japanese Mac blog Macotakara last week correctly pegged the release of Final Cut Pro X as happening sometime this week.

Related links
• Apple announces Final Cut Pro X
• The skinny on Final Cut Pro X (FAQ)
• Intel's Thunderbolt: What you need to know (FAQ)

Among its new features is a tool that detects when are people in shots, as well as what type of shots those are--close-up, medium, or wide-angle. Apple had added both those features to the most recent version of iMovie, and they're not the only iMovie carry-over. Apple has also brought "skimming," the feature that lets people preview the content of a clip just by moving their mouse across it.

The software uses a design that can take advantage of multicore processors and increasingly powerful graphics chips as well. The software requires a Mac with an Intel Core 2 Duo processor or better, at least 2GB of memory, and an OpenCL-compatible graphics system with at least 256MB of video memory, and Mac OS X 10.6.7.

Final Cut Pro X makes its debut on the Mac App Store, the only way people can buy the new video-editing software.

(Credit: screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET)

Final Cut, which helped unseat Avid Technology's high-end editing system when mainstream technology grew powerful enough, is Apple's top-of-the-line video-editing product. It's joined on the consumer end by iMovie, the video-editing software that's available both on Mac OS X as part of the iLife suite and on iOS as a standalone purchase for the latest generation iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad.

Final Cut Pro also comes with two accessory programs, Motion 5 for professional motion graphics and Compressor 4 for media encoding. Each of those costs $49.99.

Apple has won over one prominent expert who, after an early look at Final Cut Pro X, had expressed worries about how bold a departure its new interface would be. Larry Jordan, a TV producer and digital video trainer, declared this spring that Final Cut Pro "will not be ready for professional use" upon its initial release. In a talk to the Los Angeles Final Cut Pro user group, he raised the prospect that it might merely be "iMovie on steroids." Specifically, he said:

It is a complete and total rewrite from every single level of what Final Cut has been. There is not a single line of Final Cut that is existing in the old version to the new version. Whenever you've got something that's that big a rewrite, stuff gets changed, stuff gets left out, stuff gets added later because they can't get it all rewritten. I guarantee you that on day one when the dot-zero release ships, it will not be ready for professional release. Apple has a very poor track record of perfect dot-zero releases.

But after a follow-up meeting with Apple engineers, Jordan has reconsidered.

"While I can't tell you what Apple told me until after the NDA [nondisclosure agreement] lifts with the release of the product, I can tell you that what I learned during those conversations has completely changed my opinion," Jordan wrote on his blog last week. "I no longer feel, as I once thought, that this is a step backward. Based on what I learned during my conversations with Apple, I believe this release provides us with an opportunity for a large step forward."

Final Cut Pro X has been a long time coming. There was fretting that the software suffered as Apple grew far beyond its creative professional niche with the mass-market success of the iPhone--particularly after a Final Cut Pro layoff early in 2010.

One indication of just how long in the tooth the earlier version had become: it was built using an older Mac programming foundation called Carbon. Apple announced in 2007 that Carbon programs were limited to 32-bit designs, which kept them to a maximum of 4GB of memory. For 64-bit support and its attendant memory benefits, programmers have to use an interface called Cocoa, and video editing is one of the clearest examples of software that benefits from gargantuan amounts of memory.

Adobe Systems switched debuted its first Cocoa-based Premiere Pro--the top rival to Final Cut Pro--with the CS5 version released in April 2010. Curiously, that fact apparently irked Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs, who--in his "thoughts on Flash" letter that emerged just days later--called it out as evidence that Apple and Adobe had grown apart.

"Although Mac OS X has been shipping for almost 10 years now, Adobe just adopted it fully (Cocoa) two weeks ago when they shipped CS5. Adobe was the last major third-party developer to fully adopt Mac OS X," Jobs said in that letter.

But now, when it comes to this programming foundation, Apple no longer trails Adobe.

Originally posted at Apple Talk

Once you've made your choices, you can always go back and switch elements before producing the final product.

(Credit: Screenshot by Jason Parker/CNET)

Flixlab is a free app that has been available on the iPhone for a couple of months now, letting you quickly make movies and share them with your Facebook friends without a lot of hassle. Today, the Flixlab app was updated to include a cooperative movie-making mode: you'll now be able to take pictures and videos of an event with a friend and then quickly share and combine the content from both of your iPhones into one video.

Flixlab takes all the busywork out of making good-looking movies by adding all effects, transitions, and music before you share them with your Facebook friends. Simply follow the app's step-by-step process to choose images and videos from your iPhone's photo library. Then pick from several themes to fit the content, add text slides, and choose the type of transitions you want to use between slides or videos. From there, you'll be able to pick a song from your music library to tie the project together. When you're finished, you can upload the video directly to Facebook and Flixlab will let you tag your friends (just as you would for Facebook photos) so it will show up on their profile walls immediately.

Make a comment, tag your friends, and adjust privacy settings before uploading to Facebook.

(Credit: Screenshot by Jason Parker/CNET)

"Smartphones are increasingly becoming the device of choice for consumers to capture videos and photos. Yet, most people do nothing with this footage--they just leave it on their phones, or at best upload single clips," said CEO David Slater in a press release. "Our research has shown that true sharing experiences require more than just single video clips and pictures; people want to share their lives by combining multiple clips and pictures to tell a complete story. Flixlab solves this by automatically making great movies from what individuals and their friends have captured together."

Though there are a lot of video-making apps in the iTunes App Store, there are not many that offer the shared video-making features found in Flixlab. Depending on how users receive these latest new features and how the developers move forward with the app in the future, it could become a very popular app for creating and uploading video to Facebook.

Significantly faster scanning speeds, advanced configuration options, better reporting tools and a spate of bug fixes arrive in Panda Cloud Antivirus 1.5, released yesterday by Panda Security.

Stating that many of the enhancements in the update were originally suggested by the program's users, Panda senior research adviser Pedro Bustamante said in a blog post that the changes made since version 1.4 tweak the program's interface and installation, as well as offer deeper improvements to performance and to the program's feature list.

Panda Cloud Antivirus 1.5

(Credit: Panda Security)

The performance improvements ought to be noticeable quickly. These include faster scanning speeds and reduced CPU consumption, which means that your computer should function better overall while Cloud Antivirus is running. New features include advanced configuration options for excluding Potentially Unwanted Programs (PUPs) and filtering files by extension. The activity monitor will now show scanned files and the last virus or threat detected, and the program's output report includes entries for Collective Intelligence synchronizations. Collective Intelligence is the cloud-based engine that anonymously collects and aggregates user data to create Cloud Antivirus' "security net." Adding in these reports pulls back the curtain a little bit to show users what their security program is doing.

The last two big changes to the program include a new interface for the installer, and the ability to close the in-program banner ad. Minor fixes include multiple bug repairs, including errors when registering with the Windows Security Center and opening the program immediately after install.

Panda has been gaining attention for the Cloud Antivirus program, which is similar in footprint to Microsoft Security Essentials but offers more features. However, Panda Security is still better-known for its paid-license security suites, which recently updated to their 2012 versions.