On this week's episode of Tap That App, we take a look at GetGlue, a unique kind of social network that lets you "check in" to the movies and shows you're watching, books you're reading, games you're playing, and so on. Sort of like a Foursquare for entertainment, GetGlue takes your check-in data, your Likes, Favorites, and other Ratings, and uses them all to recommend other entertainment it thinks you'll enjoy. It even grants you collectible stickers--both virtual and physical--for all of your activity.

More than just a source of recommendations, though, GetGlue is a great place to chat about entertainment with others, be they personal friends or complete strangers who just happen to be watching the same shows or reading the same books as you. You can profess your love for characters, debate theories, and promote your favorite shows to other viewers. It's a fun and addictive app that should be perfect for staying on top of the upcoming fall TV lineup.

The GetGlue mobile app is available for download from both the Android Market and Apple's iTunes app store. You can also log in to GetGlue.com and start checking in via your desktop browser.

Talk about a flashback to the early 2000s. Tower defense (TD) games are still kicking strong, and just when you thought it couldn't get any better, Symphonic Tower Defense rolls around.

Symphonic Tower Defense is a rhythmic tower defense game by FrozenFire and is currently featured on Newgrounds as one of the top most played games on the site. In true Plants vs. Zombies style, Symphonic takes a linear, multilane, music-driven approach to the tower defense genre.

The title draws its inspiration from the once-popular Dance Dance Revolution (DDR) series. Those who recall the golden days of faux dancing will instantly recognize the interface. Stages are replaced with songs, each with Normal or Hard modes. When a song is highlighted, Symphonic breaks down the featured enemy types or elements (similar to DDR's voltage/stream/chaos chart) so that players can prepare for the incoming enemy notes.

Players are now "conductors." Once you choose a song, you are given an opportunity to prepare your defense towers for the onslaught. Like traditional TD games, towers of varying firepower can be upgraded to hit multiple enemies.

What makes Symphonic unique is that in addition to towers, players can use "Music Attacks" and "Specials" in tight spots. Music Attacks are status inducing attacks that affect enemy notes, ranging from slowdown to completely halting them in their tracks. Specials are flashier attacks of their colored tower counterparts. As players set up towers, a special bar for each color will slowly charge to the beat. Once fully charged, players can toggle these special attacks to dish out massive damage.

Each song is split into rounds (or enemy waves). The top left indicates the duration of each wave and the bottom left indicates the remaining time of the current song. Because each stage lasts no longer than the track duration, Symphonic feels more like an arcade game than the typical tower defense game that normally locks players into an endurance run. Symphonic also boasts unlockable tracks and credits the respective artists by offering direct download links to their music or online stores. In addition, Facebook integration and achievements also await those who want to go the extra distance.

Give it a run and let us know how far you got. Meanwhile, we're going to continue trying to beat Chaoz Overflow on Hard Mode.

Less than a month after releasing Lion, Apple's rolled out its first update.

In a software update that went out this afternoon, the company released OS X 10.7.1, a download that fixes a handful of bugs left by the initial release. The full list includes:

• Address an issue that may cause the system to become unresponsive when playing a video in Safari
• Resolve an issue that may cause system audio to stop working when using HDMI or optical audio out
• Improve the reliability of Wi-Fi connections
• Resolve an issue that prevents transfer of your data, settings, and compatible applications to a new Mac running OS X Lion

The software is being offered in two different versions: one for all users, and another for the new MacBook Air and Mac Mini. The one for those latter two machines fixes three additional problems:

• Resolve an issue where MacBook Air may boot up when MagSafe Adapter is attached
• Resolve an issue causing intermittent display flickering on MacBook Air
• Resolve an issue that causes the SD card slot in Mac mini to run at reduced speed with SD and SDHC media

Those looking for new features as part of OS X updates will have to wait a bit longer. That includes Mac OS X system integration with iCloud, Apple's upcoming cloud-based sync and hosting service which is due this fall. Developers got the latest beta of that, along with a test build of Mac OS X 10.7.2 last week.

Originally posted at Apple Talk

Almost all of us know someone who's lost data--or have lost it ourselves--yet far too many of us keep putting off our next (or first) backup. Given how easy it is, especially for Windows 7 machines, there's just no good excuse for it any more. Here's how to get started and get back in good habits: 

1. Before you get started, take time to think about your important files. Most of it likely lives in the standard folders (documents, e-mail, etc.), but if you've stashed anything away in a folder you created, note it down for later. You also need to shut down any programs that are using the data you want to back up, like e-mail clients. 
2. Click the Start button, select Control Panel, then select "Back up your computer" under "System and Security."
   

   Step 2: Backup your computer.

    
3. If you've never backed up this computer before, you'll need to click "Set up backup" and let the wizard guide you. If you're not the administrator for this computer, you may have to get help with permission (but if someone else is the admin, maybe you can talk them into backing up your data). 
4. It's best to save your backup to an external hard drive, or a DVD if you don't mind filing it away somewhere memorable. (If your version of Windows is fancy enough, you can back up to a network hard drive.) 
5. Most users can let Windows choose which files and folders to back up, but if you have some extras squirreled away that you noted in Step 1, now is the time to add them. 
   

   Step 5: Select files and folders.

6. You can also choose to schedule regular backups, which you should certainly do. Depending on your needs, choose Daily, Weekly, or Monthly. This is the step that makes your life much easier and, potentially, much less stressful. 
   

   Step 6: Schedule regular backups.

7. Windows will immediately configure the backup and get started. It can take quite a while the first time, so make sure you leave your computer on until it's done. 
   

   Step 7: Backup in progress.

8. Finally, ensure your backups are backed up. Make a copy of your first backup and save it somewhere off-site, like a friend's house or even a safety deposit box, and then switch it out every now and then (more often is better, of course, but the first time is the most important). There's no such thing as too many backups! 

That's it. It's easy to get started, and for the most part, getting started is the hardest part. Do it today--the sooner you start, the less likely you are to lose it all in a crash.

Originally posted at How To

Starting today, Sprint Nexus S 4G owners will get to download the newest version of Swype, the popular replacement keyboard for the Android OS. The updated Swype introduces a convenient feature called App Gestures, which allows you to select text and instantly send it to another app using a predetermined gesture. For instance, you can select text, then swipe from the Swype key to the letters G then M to automatically send the text to Google Maps. And with the App Gestures for Twitter and Facebook, you can send quick tweets and status updates just as easily. You'll also find new Swype shortcuts for the Select All, Cut, Copy, and Paste commands, as well as new personal dictionary management and better handling of proper nouns.

Check out Swype's promo video to see the new gestures in action.

Mozilla pushed Firefox 6 out the door today, updating the vast majority of its users to the browser's latest stable build.

Firefox 6 is available to download for Windows, Mac, Linux, and Android. This is the second stable version of the browser to arrive under the new rapid-release cycle, which promises a new stable build of Firefox every 6 weeks. As such, the changes to the browser are smaller in nature, and are more likely to be about stability and security concerns. However, Mozilla has taken the opportunity of this second stable rapid release to also address complaints from fans who want version numbers "to mean something," to summarize the tone and gist of many CNET readers.

Firefox users aren't the only ones with concerns. Competitors, such as Opera, have a vested interest in opposing the rapid-release cycle, which puts the browser in the news cycle far more often than before. "Web developers and IT administrators have expressed concern about the pace of new browser releases from Chrome and Firefox. We believe in a more balanced pace," said Jan Standal, vice president of desktop products for Opera Software.

While Mozilla did not address the complaints directly, it did release two new infographics detailing how the rapid-release cycle works. (Both are in QuickTime TIFF format and are reproduced here.) It also made several statements focusing on the future of Firefox.

"The next generation of innovation on the Web will be anchored by a browser that is an honest broker committed to the interests of the individual user and developer, providing amazing experiences that match those offered by proprietary platforms; and user control and developer reach and freedom that is superior to proprietary platforms. As Firefox has transformed the browser landscape before, it must do so again," wrote Jay Sullivan, vice president of products for Mozilla.

Whether Mozilla can do that is another story. Almost certainly, the company's recent announcement about making a Firefox-based mobile operating system will play a huge role in its attempts. "There's no reason why 'apps' can't incorporate the characteristics that are important about the Web. They don't today because Apple didn't build them that way. There's no reason Apple should; Apple has a different view of the world. But we can," said Mitchell Baker, chairman of the Mozilla Foundation.

As for the browser that was released today, Firefox 6 for desktops and laptops contains a number of important stability fixes, as well as some feature improvements, most of which are aimed at developers. There's a new Web Developer menu in Firefox 6, which collates tools for building and debugging Web sites into one location. These include the new Scratchpad tool, which browsers like Opera and Chrome have had for some time. It allows developers to test JavaScript before implementing it. The Web console feature also has a new auto-complete option and can have its location customized.

The browser's visual tab-grouping feature that was introduced in Firefox 4 now only loads the active tab group. Mozilla said in the blog post announcing Firefox 6 that this will cut down on overall browser load times. The "identity block," the colored left-most section of the URL, has been given a refresh to better call out the Web site you're on, and the URL bar itself now changes the text color of the URL you're on so that the domain is black, for easy identification, while the rest of the URL is gray. This is a small security change, and one that's been previously available to people who are comfortable changing their about:config, but it's definitely a strong visual cue that helps you avoid getting spoofed. Several security bugs labeled "critical" have also been fixed, repairing holes related to memory management, heap overflows, and unsigned scripts.

HTML5 also gets some love in Firefox 6, with improvements and additional support for the new Window.matchMedia API for Web optimization, and WebSockets and server-sent APIs for building more interactive and responsive real-time Web-based apps and games.

While some minor improvements were made to desktop Firefox's memory management in this release, fans will have to wait another six weeks to see the significant gains that Mozilla programmer Nicholas Nethercote wrote about last week.

The Android version of Firefox 6 includes a new Welcome page and a new look for phones running Android 2.3 Gingerbread. The browser now supports IndexedDB for storing Web pages in a local database, enabling the Android version to work better when offline. Mozilla also says the browser will start up faster and use less memory. The first of several planned changes to support tablets have arrived in this version, too, including font and icon optimization for tablets.

Release notes for Firefox 6 for desktops can be read here, and the Firefox 6 for Android notes are here.

A former Microsoft gaming bigwig is convinced that the growth of mobile gaming won't eliminate the demand for game consoles.

In an interview with IndustryGamers published yesterday, former Microsoft Game Studios Vice President Shane Kim said he "would never" say mobile titles could kill game consoles such as the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3. Kim believes that the gaming market is expanding, leaving room for titles dedicated to both game consoles and mobile devices.

Given Kim's history at Microsoft, some might believe that he has a vested interested in supporting consoles in their fight against mobile platforms. But it's worth noting that since leaving Microsoft, Kim joined the board of Zipline Games--a mobile-game development house.

"So will there be some impact on console gaming?" Kim asked in his interview with IndustryGamers. "I think it would be hard to say that there isn't any impact, but I would never say that it's going to go away completely. I think that the big console game manufacturers, they've all got plans for the next console generation. I think that they're all shooting to make sure that those next versions, whatever they look like, are going to be things that are going to be compelling for the kinds of gamers, especially hard-core gamers, who really enjoy that style of gaming."

Kim indicated that mobile gaming's biggest obstacle is power. He said "it's going to be a while before" mobile devices will boast the kind of graphical and processing prowess needed to take on game consoles.

Related stories:
• iOS, Android gobbling Nintendo DS market share
• Nearly half of game downloads go mobile
• Mobile game revenue to top $11 billion by 2015

Even so, mobile gaming is becoming increasingly popular among consumers around the world. According to Flurry Analytics, which analyzes the portable-game software market, iOS and Android titles secured 34 percent of all mobile-gaming revenue last year. The Nintendo DS took 57 percent of the market, while the PlayStation Portable was able to muster only a 9 percent share.

Those figures stand in stark contrast to those of 2009. That year, according to Flurry Analytics, the DS owned 70 percent of the space, while Apple's iOS platform had 19 percent share. Android wasn't even a significant player in the market in 2009.

Mobile is also a major component in the growth of downloadable games. In May, research firm NPD announced that nearly half of all game downloads are completed on mobile devices. NPD also found that 40 percent of folks surveyed in its study say they're spending less on physical games, instead opting to put their cash into digital titles, such as those on mobile platforms.

That shift in the marketplace is helping the mobile-game business grow quite rapidly. Juniper Research said in November that in 2009, mobile-game revenue topped $6 billion. By 2015, it expects that figure to grow to more than $11 billion.

Kim believes that such growth is good for all stakeholders in the industry. He said in the interview that there are "different styles of games that are more popular on the different platforms, and that just creates more opportunities, clearly, for more developers to create content."

Originally posted at The Digital Home

A new flavor of Android malware is disguising itself as a Google+ app in an attempt to capture instant messages, GPS, location, call logs, and other sensitive data.

Uncovered by the team at Trend Micro, the new malware known as ANDROIDOS_NICKISPY.C can also automatically answer and record phone calls. To capture data, the app loads at boot-up and runs certain services that can monitor messages, phone calls, and the user's location, thereby stealing e-mail and other content.

Detailing its findings in a blog Friday, Trend Micro said it discovered that the malicious app tries to trick people by installing itself under the name Google++.

But instead of providing access to Google's new social network, the app sends its stolen user data to a remote site where presumably cybercriminals can grab it. Unlike some malware in the past that masqueraded as legitimate apps through Google's Android Market, this particular one must be downloaded by an unsuspecting user from a malicious Web site and then manually installed.

And even if installed, the app can be uninstalled from an Android device by selecting Settings > Application > Manage applications, choosing Google++ and then clicking Uninstall, according to Trend Micro.

Trend Micro gives the app a low-risk rating, but it's still something that Android owners should be sure to avoid.

Android users concerned about security can learn how to better protect themselves through Trend Micro's online guide "5 Simple Steps to Secure Your Android-Based Smartphones."

Originally posted at News - Security

Windows 8 is set to hit the prerelease stage over the coming months, according to a blog posted yesterday by Microsoft President Steven Sinofsky.

Though the term prerelease version is a bit vague, Sinofsky is likely referring to the beta of Windows 8 since he said that the company wants to "begin an open dialogue with those of you who will be trying out the prerelease version over the coming months."

Aiming the new blog series, "Building Windows 8," at customers, developers, and users in general, Sinofsky used the post to provide tidbits of information but not much detail yet as he acknowledged that "people express frustration over how little we've communicated so far about Windows 8."

Among other comments, Sinofsky said that "Windows 8 reimagines Windows," however he stressed that the company is committed to supporting Windows 8 on all existing Windows 7 PCs and hardware.

Though the initial blog, "Welcome to Building Windows 8," was short on specifics, Sinofsky promised to reveal more over the next few weeks.

"There is so much packed into Windows 8 and there are so many unique and important lenses through which to view Windows 8, and so we want to be sure to take the time to cover as many of these topics as possible, to build up a shared understanding of why we've taken Windows where we have," he wrote. "So in the next weeks we will just start talking specifics of features, since there is no obvious place to start given the varying perspectives. From fundamentals, to user interface, to hardware support, and more, if something is important to you, we promise we'll get to it in some form or another."

The B8 blog, as Sinofsky referred to it, will be updated on a regular basis as different people from Microsoft share the latest information on the development of the new OS.

"As a team we're all going to participate--many of us will author posts, and all of us will read and take note of your comments on this blog," Sinofsky wrote. "We'll participate in a constructive dialogue with you. We'll also make mistakes and admit it when we do. It is almost certain that something will hit a nerve, with the team or with the community, or both, in the blog posts or in the product, or both."

The new blog series comes at a time when rumors have been flying the past several months over when Windows 8 might debut.

Related stories:
• Ballmer: Windows 8 will debut in 2012
• Windows 8 to be released to manufacturing by April?
• Sinofsky shows off Windows 8 at D9

In May, CEO Steve Ballmer said that the new OS would reach consumers in 2012, though Microsoft quickly shot down his comments. In June, Vice President Dan'l Lewin dropped hints that Windows 8 would launch during the fall of 2012.

A report in June by ZDNet reporter Mary Jo Foley cited a source claiming that Microsoft would release the Windows 8 beta in the middle of September at its Build developers conference. Though that specific date doesn't quite jibe with Sinofsky's "coming months" time frame, Foley's source also indicated that Microsoft would release only one beta, followed by the traditional Release Candidate and the final RTM (release to manufacturing) version a few months later.

Sinofsky demonstrated Windows 8 at the All Things Digital D9 conference in late June. The next major event, he blogged, will be September's Build conference where Microsoft will offer developers more details about the tools they'll need to design for Windows 8.

Originally posted at News - Microsoft

The World Wide Web Consortium has begun its effort to speed its processes for standardizing Web technology.

Those wishing a less cumbersome way to evaluate and create new standards now can use what the W3C calls Community Groups, an idea that's been under development for months. The W3C also announced the formation of eight such groups, including ones focusing on the Web payments, Web education, and semantic news.

"Innovation and standardization build on each other," said W3C Chief Executive Jeff Jaffe in a statement. "As the pace of innovation accelerates and more industries embrace W3C's Open Web Platform, community groups will accelerate incorporation of innovative technologies into the Web."

Making it easier and faster to create Web standards is a major priority of the W3C under Jaffe, Novell's former chief technology officer, who took over the W3C last year. The Web itself is maturing rapidly, and a slow-moving or unresponsive W3C is one that will be left behind as browser makers and Web developers set their own course.

That's exactly what happened in 2004 when the W3C decided against new developments for HTML, the language used to build Web pages. When the W3C bowed out, a less formal group called the Web Hypertext Applications Technology Working Group (WHATWG) took up the banner and created most of what's now called HTML5. The W3C re-engaged and now plans to put its final stamp of approval on HTML5 in 2014, though many aspects of it are mature now and are built into browsers and Web pages.

Even as the W3C resumed HTML work, though, the organization realized it was still too cumbersome to get work done. An early attempt to fix that was called incubator groups, but the W3C concluded it hadn't gone far enough and developed community groups instead. Meanwhile, the WHATWG is still active in parallel, and it's even adopted a more fluid HTML development process.

"Through these groups, people can reach influential companies, research groups,and government agencies. Developers can propose ideas to the extensive W3C social network, and in a matter of minutes start to build mindshare using W3C's collaborative tools or their own," said Harry Halpin, the W3C's community development lead.

In addition, the W3C announced another mechanism for like-minded individuals to gather: business groups. These are intended to help people in specific industries work together. The first one is for the oil, gas, and chemicals industry, the W3C said.

The W3C's membership has been growing as Web technologies spread from computers to smartphones, cars, consumer electronics, and other markets. There now are 325 members of the organization. Its standards come with some intellectual property assurances--namely that member companies that create the standards assure they can be used without fear those companies will take legal action concerning patent infringement--and provide a fast track to international standardization at the ISO.

The W3C oversees not just HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), but also development of other technologies such as Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG). That work is gaining importance as the Web becomes the foundation cloud-computing applications that are steadily growing in number and sophistication.

Originally posted at Deep Tech