Skyfire VideoQ ($1.99 for a limited time), a new video app launched this morning from the makers of the Skyfire browser, offers a fairly simple process to play Flash videos on your iOS device. While any added steps are a pain, if you need to watch a Flash video on the iPhone, VideoQ is one of the only options.

Skyfire says it doesn't matter which iOS browser you use. Once you've registered your iPhone's e-mail adress in the VideoQ app, when you find a Flash video that refuses to play in your preferred Web browser, just use the browser's option to Mail Link to this Page and enter video@Skyfire.com. Now, when you open the VideoQ app, the Flash video will be waiting for you to watch in your video queue.

Surprisingly, in our tests, many of the formerly Flash-only sites we tried had already converted videos to work on iPhone (even at Adobe!). We were eventually able to find a site that required Flash (store.steampowered.com), and--using the steps above--were able to get a game preview to play on VideoQ that would not play on Safari for iPhone. The frame rate was somewhat lower than the original, but that is to be expected with a service that converts the video on its servers and sends it back to you.

VideoQ isn't just for converting Flash video links; it also acts as a media hub where you can watch user-discovered videos. You can touch the Hot button at the bottom of the interface to see the most popular user videos, or you can select Channels to browse video by categories including Technology, News, Sports, and Humor. You also have the option to add categories like Anime, Kids, and others. So even if you don't have much luck converting videos (or finding videos to convert), VideoQ offers plenty of content that will only grow once more people sign up.

VideoQ is a universal app available today at the iTunes App Store in the U.S. and Canada for an introductory price of $1.99. Skyfire says it plans to expand to more countries in the coming weeks.

While the number of sites that display Flash-only videos seems to be shrinking everyday, it's great to have the option when Safari or another iOS browser refuses to play a video.

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Bitdefender has updated its suites for the coming year, and it says it has done it in part by adopting a bit of Romanian lore. Although, to be honest, it may also sound familiar to fans of George R.R. Martin's Game of Thrones series. Available exclusively today from CNET Download.com, Bitdefender Total Security 2012 (download), Bitdefender Internet Security 2012 (download), and Bitdefender Antivirus Plus 2012 (download) were improved in part by taking on the "philosophy based on mythical wolf-dragon from Romania," said Matt Hicks, the company's global public relations manager. The wolf-dragon, he said, is supposed to represent security and alertness.

Whatever the impetus behind the redesign of the suite, there's no doubt that they include a number of notable improvements. A revamped interface has given the suites a cleaner design that feels lighter and easier to use, while retaining its modularity. The virus-detection engine has been improved to look at processes while they are running, while Bitdefender's own processes were moved to the kernel to make it more difficult to for threats to circumvent the suite. In turn, this has reduced the suite's impact on system resources, according to Catalin Cosoi, Bitdefender's head of Online Threats Lab.

The browser add-on for Firefox and Internet Explorer has been wisely done away with, replaced by a make-agnostic module that will protect you across all five major browsers by scanning Web traffic before it reaches the browser. A new autopilot feature has been added to create a completely silent security experience. It's similar to Bitdefender's competitors' "silent" or "gaming" mode, although it does a bit more than just silencing security pop-up alerts. It also makes some changes to the program's settings, in how it deals with threats, and it also is on as the default setting for Bitdefender. Meanwhile, a vulnerability scanner will check your computer for outdated programs, drivers, and patches, and recommend solutions.

The Bitdefender Safego tool has been integrated into the suite, too. It performs link scanning for Facebook, with plans to include Twitter support soon. On Facebook, it will scan your news and wall feeds. It's also available for free to all Facebook users, and the company's Android app remains free to use for all, as well.

The rescue mode changes are extremely useful. If threats like rootkits can't be removed easily, the computer is rebooted into rescue mode. Florin Virlan, Software Engineering Director, said that Bitdefender's rescue mode differs from competitors because it creates a "self-contained Linux OS, contained in one encrypted file on your PC," that the rescue mode boots into. It also adds Linux as an option to your boot BIOS.

The Safebox feature, which automatically backs up your files to a remote server when changes have been detected, will now sync files across multiple computers when they are running Bitdefender. Notably, Safebox is the only new or improved feature that only comes in Bitdefender Total Security 2012. The other improvements have been made across all three suites.

One thing to watch out for is that Bitdefender does not play well with any other security program, even the ones designed to work as complements to security suites like Malwarebytes. Come back to Download.com later today to read full reviews of Bitdefender's 2012 suites.

A new suite from AVG called Premium Security introduces one new feature that AVG Antivirus Free and AVG Internet Security lack: identity protection. AVG Premium Security 2011, available only to people in the United States and United Kingdom, includes a new personal data protection feature called Identity Alert.

The feature is a direct response to the interests of AVG customers, said the company's ambassador of free products, Tony Anscombe. "Identity on the PlayStation Network highlights it perfectly," he said. "Ninety-four million people were affected by the hacks, and the information was hosted on servers in Japan. This is a global problem."

Once registered for the service, it will warn you when your personal data such as e-mail address, telephone number, Social Security or National Insurance number, and credit card numbers are revealed on the Internet. It also includes a service that advises you on how to restore anonymity to your personal data, should it become compromised.

The feature is provided by what Anscombe called "a recognized service," although he would not reveal which company had licensed their technology to AVG, only that they were based out of either the U.S. or the U.K. Users familiar with either of AVG's security products might have to look twice at the revised interface, which simply inserts the "Identity Alert" option as one extra choice among many.

AVG Premium Security 2011 retails for $69.99 and does not come with a trial version. As a point of comparison, AVG Internet Security 2011 retails for $54.99, although it's currently $43.99 from CNET Download.com. However, the peace of mind an identity tracker provides is probably worth the annual cost to those who've had personal data theft problems.

It appears Research In Motion has decided to flip the switch and turn its popular BlackBerry Messenger application, or BBM, as its users refer to it, into a more full-fledged "social experience," complete with app integration, social app discovery, even some enhanced social gaming.

Buzzwords aside, BBM 6 does, in fact, change the game for both BlackBerry app developers and end users. It allows developers to create apps using the BBM API, which in turn will allow users to interact with each other from right within the BBM-connected apps. This means that newly developed games, for instance, could allow players to invite BBM contacts to join them, or perhaps chat with them, without them ever leaving the game.

BBM 6 also aids in app discovery by letting users view and even download those listed on a friend's profile. "This represents an opportunity for developers to leverage the viral nature of the BBM service," says Alistair Mitchell, VP BBM Platform & Integrated Services at Research in Motion. Further, Mitchell says that RIM has "already begun working with various developer partners who will be bringing their BBM connected apps to BlackBerry App World this week." Foursquare, the location-aware check-in service, is working with RIM to enable users to automatically update BBM statuses via their app. Meanwhile, companies like TelMap, Wikitude, and HuffPo are also getting involved.

In all, it looks like BBM 6 does bring excitement to a platform that could use some. But we'll have to wait and see if it's enough to keep users from flocking to iPhone and Android, platforms that have already proven to offer robust social experiences.

BBM 6 will be available later today on the BlackBerry site. Meanwhile, a selection of BBM connected apps will be trickling into BlackBerry App World throughout the week.