(Credit: Facebook) Facebook for Android (download) has today jumped to version 1.7, adding a slew of long-awaited features and Honeycomb support to the app that always seems to be playing catch-up.

While 1.7 can run on Honeycomb tablets, sadly it still does not include a tablet-optimized UI. The good news, however, is that the feature updates included in 1.7 are all pretty significant, and should help quell some of the most common complaints against the app.

Most notably, 1.7 finally lets users tag friends in photos, places, and posts. It's a wonder why this seemingly basic feature hadn't hit the Android app until now. The update also includes enhanced privacy controls on posts, several bug fixes, and some nice UI improvements, like pull-down refresh for the News Feed, left and right swiping in photo albums, and new designs for Profiles and Groups.

With the new update to version 1.7, Facebookers appear to finally be getting some of the features they've been in need of. Perhaps, now we can stop signing on to the mobile site and actually start using the app.

Facebook for Android version 1.7 is available now in the Android Market.

The last time we saw a wholly new version of ESET's NOD32 and Smart Security, ransomware didn't exist, Anonymous had just started its campaign against the Church of Scientology, and the first Stuxnet attack hadn't even been launched. The latest versions from ESET bring its suites up to speed with the competition, but except for an innovative education tool, ESET doesn't surpass what's already out there. The basic antivirus suite NOD32 version 5 (download) and the more feature-rich Smart Security version 5 (download) are available exclusively today from CNET Download.com.

ESET Smart Security 5

ESET is known for not including many of the ancillary features in its high-end Smart Security that the competition would include in their analogous editions, and version 5 is no different. You won't find password management, free online storage and file syncing, or mobile protection here.

The suites do offer robust removable media management, so you can whitelist specific drives and block all others. The cloud-powered chunk of ESET's protection engine, which has been around much longer than many of its competitors' ones, leverages generic signatures heavily to recognize malicious behavior quicker. It also will block attempts to manipulate core sys... [Read more]

Not unlike an artfully created but tiny-portioned appetizer leading into a flavorful and filling main course that remains stuck in the kitchen, my first hands-on experience with Windows 8 left me eager for what was coming but disappointed with what was set in front of me.

Microsoft lent out Windows 8 tablets to attendees at the end of the Build conference preview yesterday, surprisingly running an earlier version of the in-development operating system than the one that had been demonstrated as functional earlier in the day.

Take an early tour of Windows 8 (photos)

The operating system represents a major change for the company and its fans, as Windows wholeheartedly embraces and bets on touch-screen interfaces. Julie Larson-Green, vice president in charge of Windows 8, said yesterday, "People want to and expect to be able to touch their screens." She offered up a personal anecdote about a friend who roasts coffee professionally and was frustrated going from the production line where the screens are touch-based to his office, where they weren't.

Related links • ... [Read more]

Google thinks it's time to look beyond JavaScript, the programming language that gives Web applications their brains. The company's project to do so behind closed doors with a new language called Dart, though, has spurred something of a backlash.

The company piqued Web programmers' interest last weekend with the news that it would offer details about Dart, which it calls "a new programming language for structured Web programming," at a conference in October. But immediately after, a leaked 2010 memo about Dart--at the time called Dash--raised hackles by spotlighting how Google often develops Web technologies in-house rather than collaboratively.

"Once Dash has had a chance to prove its stability and feasibility, we are committed to making Dash an open standard with involvement from the broader Web community," said the memo, written by 15 Web programming experts at Google. But the order of events is telling: "We need to make a clean break, make progress, and then engage the community."

Brendan Eich, who founded JavaScript and is chief technology officer of Firefox maker Mozilla, worries that Google's approach will degrade the Web with proprietary technology that means Web sites and Web apps will work only in one browser. He accused Google of "open-washing"--giving a project a g... [Read more]

The Web site that hosts uTorrent was hacked by an unknown person or group early this morning. After initially stating that the "mainline" BitTorrent site had been hacked as well, the company now says that it doesn't think that BitTorrent.com was affected. BitTorrent, the owner of the Web sites and the torrent clients hosted there, reported in a blog post that the breach occurred around 4:20 a.m PT.

According to the blog, the proper executable files for both programs were replaced with "a fake antivirus 'scareware' program" called Security Shield. The company shut off the download spigot at around 6 a.m. and has since restored the proper download files. BitTorrent advises that anybody who downloaded the programs between 4:20 a.m. and 6:10 a.m. PT runs a security scan.

Removing fake antivirus programs, which are almost always a kind of rootkit, can be notoriously tricky. It's advisable to start with Malwarebytes Anti-Malware (before panicking) to determine if there actually is an infection.

Microsoft has released updates for Office 2011 and Office 2008, both of which are the only Office suites that will run in OS X Lion since they contain code for Intel chips. The update addresses critical security flaws in the program that could allow an attacker to execute malicious code on a system, and also provides a number of fixes and improvements to the programs, including the following:

Office 2011:

• Office documents not opening in some Web browsers
• PowerPoint crashing unexpectedly when using Command-Tab
• Excel crashing when switching workbooks or when saving files
• Dutch citations not appearing properly in Word
• Contact images not showing in Outlook's Contacts Search box
• Shared calendars in Outlook now have an option for removing from view
• Outlook now properly shows free/busy status on exchange 2003 mailboxes
• Time Zones are now properly managed in Outlook

The update should be available through Microsoft's Autoupdate utility.

In addition, this update blocks the ability to import data from Apple's Mail program when running in OS X Lion. For now Microsoft has not developed a workaround to this incompatibility, so the quickest option to prevent problems is to disable this feature. Microsoft has promised updates to Office to take adva... [Read more]

A look at mobile Firefox, aka Fennec, on an Android tablet.

Adapting Firefox for tablets is on Mozilla's mobile-browser priority list, and now the first version has appeared in "nightly" builds for developers to try out.

"It has now reached a functional state that is good enough for getting some early feedback," said developer Lucas Rocha on a href="http://lucasr.org/2011/09/13/firefox-for-tablets-on-nightly/">blog post today. "Keep in mind that this is very early stage work. There are lots of rough edges and design is continuously evolving."

The design keeps elements of the smaller-screen smartphone version--tab switching that can pull out from the left side and other options that can pull out from the right side. But with the bigger screen, it also adds forward and backward navigation buttons, an address bar, and buttons for reloading and bookmarking.

With the smartphone version of Firefox now well under way, Mozilla has begun focusing on Android tablets--in particular, those using the Honeycomb version of Google's mobile OS.

Mozilla is banking on Android as a way to keep its browser--and open-Web mission--relevant in ... [Read more]