Moby, the free, multiplatform location-sharing app, has just extended its reach to Android.

Previously the app was only available on the iPhone and BlackBerry platforms, but it appears Contigo Systems, Moby's developer, is making good on its promise to connect families no matter what devices they may be carrying.

Considering the release of Apple's Find My Friends app and the continued adoption of Google Latitude, some might feel like Moby is pushing its way into increasingly dangerous territory. But to Moby's credit, it seems to be taking a different route from the others. While most of the location-sharing apps out there seem focused on connecting friends, mostly for social interactions, Moby's mission is to facilitate private location sharing for families, as a safety measure. It has a built-in messaging platform and a really convenient emergency alert function. It also lets you request check-ins from other users, which, as you can imagine, is a useful feature for protective parents.

With big dogs like Apple and Google already on the location-sharing bandwagon, it's no secret that the category is a hot one. Glympse is another popular app as well. But if Moby continues to develop features specifically to keep families connected and safe, it may just be able to sidestep them all.

... [Read more]

iOS 5 has been out for less than a week, but the mobile operating system has rapidly gained a foothold among iOS-based device owners.

According to mobile app analytics company Localytics, which examined iOS device usage between Wednesday and yesterday, 33 percent of all iOS-based devices, including the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch, are running iOS 5. If the new iPhone 4S is taken out of the equation, 31 percent of Apple's mobile products are running its latest mobile operating system version.

Apple launched iOS 5 last week. The operating system delivers a host of improvements, including a new messaging platform, called iMessage, and support for Apple's cloud-based service, iCloud. Perhaps most appealing to iOS 4 users, the operating system also comes with a new Notification Center to make it easy for users to find all app and system notifications in one place. The platform also includes full Twitter integration.

Related stories: • Apple sells 4 million iPhone 4S units in first weekend • Big mo: In one week, Apple iCloud hits 20M users; 25M use iOS 5 • ... [Read more]

BitTorrent has achieved stability on the Mac with the release today of the newly stable version of its "mainline" client, an update to the stable μTorrent for Mac, and the launch of a new remote management Web interface that's been optimized for iPad users. BitTorrent for Mac (download) and μTorrent for Mac (download) transports the most popular features of those programs from Windows to Mac, including RSS feeds, a scheduler, remote access, and power user controls.

The uTorrent Remote Web interface has been redesigned and optimized for iPads, although it will work on any platform.

As with the Windows versions, the features are fairly robust. The RSS feeds can be set to automatically grab and start downloading torrents. The scheduler includes time-based bandwidth throttling for people on metered or shared networks. Advanced controls, accessible via Command+Option+, include better logging, fine-tuning for ports, network configuration, download/upload speeds, and labeling.

Meanwhile, the HTML5-powered remote access Web site for μTorrent Remote has been optimized for the iPad, circumventing the lack of an app for iPhone and iPad users, although BitT... [Read more]

Lookout Mobile Security revealed a free app for the iPhone and iPad today, porting some of its security tools from Android in its first moves to attract customers of Apple's mobile operating system.

Lookout for iOS (download) brings some mobile-specific security enhancements, such as a System Advisor, Contacts Backup, and Missing Device tools, but it lacks a scan for malicious apps and other traditional app or program-based local threats.

Lookout Mobile Security for iOS will warn you when connected to an insecure public Wi-Fi.

This is by design, Kevin Mahaffey, Lookout's chief technology officer, said last week in an interview at the CNET office in San Francisco. "How do we create a security tool for 95 percent of users? The key problems we've tried to solve are the most prevalent," he said.

Those problems include the hydra-headed whopper of educating the public about what security risks can bloom into legitimate threats on iOS, when Apple touts the operating system as being eminently secure and when many of the threats demonstrated exist so far only in proof-of-concept form. This differs from Android, where more of the threats--such as malicious apps designed to steal personal data or wreak havoc on your phone--have snuck into the Android Market.

To that end, Mahaffey said, Lookout's iOS app contains features to ... [Read more]

Mango users say their keyboards are disappearing.

Mango may have been bitten by its first big bug.

Users who have upgraded to the version 7.5 of Microsoft's Windows Phone are complaining that their keyboards randomly disappear or fail to appear when needed. Both Twitter and the XDA Developers forum have received a swarm of messages from Mango users reporting the glitch.

Apparently, people will either touch the input field only to find that the keyboard fails to pop up or be typing an e-mail or IM or other text, and the keyboard will suddenly vanish. The issue appears to be affecting a fair number of people, at least among those reporting it online, though other users say they have yet to run into it.

Windows Phone enthusiast site WM Power User said that the bug doesn't seem to be specific to any one make or model but is affecting a cross section of Mango-powered phones. Posts from people on the XDA Developers forum confirmed that as well. WM Power Users also noted that several of its commenters claim the issue existed in the Mango beta but was never fixed for the final version.

Related stories: • ... [Read more]

Long before the iTunes Store was a glimmer in Steve Jobs' eye, Download.com launched in 1996 as the most comprehensive, safest place to get all your software, from the latest drivers and codecs to professional-grade programs. It was, and still is, notable for scanning and testing its software catalog to ensure that none would infect your computer. We take a look at the history of the software world before Download.com, the rise of modern software, and where software stands now.

Click the image to see the full infographic.

The software world before Download.com: The software world grew rapidly throughout the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1983, for example, Microsoft actually distributed the first version of Word as a free insert in PC Magazine. Microsoft's Windows 1.0 wouldn't even debut for another two years. By 1986, the first computer virus, called Brain, began making its way around the world, and within in a year, the VIRUS-L mailing list began discussing how to stop computer viruses. Early participants included Eugene Kaspersky and John McAfee, who would later lend their names to their antivirus programs, which are still in use tod... [Read more]

When it comes to performing do-it-yourself fixes or upgrades on your Mac, one of the main resources to use is the online take-apart guides from iFixIt.

The company has detailed how to open and access internal components of many Mac models, and has gained a reputation for quickly tearing down newly released Apple hardware and outlining what's inside.

iFixIt's manuals can now be viewed cleanly on iPhone and iPod Touch devices.

The manuals and high-quality detailed images offered by iFixIt can be invaluable, but if for some reason your Mac is not working and you need to use one of the manuals to replace a component, then you will need to access the manuals with another device. The use of Apple's mobile iOS devices is great for this, but while the company has had an iOS app for its manuals available, until now the program was only available for tablets like the iPad. This meant that unless you had an iPad, you had to access the iFixIt Web site using Safari, which, although not a bad experience, might not be the most convenient one.

To tackle this, iFixIt today has released a new version of its iOS application, which allows its manuals to be browsed and accessed quickly on iPho... [Read more]