Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0)

The Ice Cream man has finally arrived.

Just two days ago, CNET's San Francisco team got its hands on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, the flagship smartphone that's launching Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. More full-on visual revamp than simple update, an OS bump this deep and broad makes (as I've said before) Android 2.3 Gingerbread look like a stale cookie.

Ice Cream Sandwich is ambitious, and packed with such a laundry list of detailed changes, it's easy to drown in the minutiae. For that reason, I'm keeping this review focused on the bigger-picture features that are new to Ice Cream Sandwich. For more detail, the screenshots gallery will be worth several thousand words. Toward the end, you'll also find a list of Ice Cream Sandwich's neater tricks.

Inside Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (screenshots)

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Chrome Remote Desktop is a handy way to control a Mac from your PC.

Need to connect to and control a Mac from your PC? One quick and easy solution can be found in Google's Chrome Remote Desktop feature.

Released as a beta early last month, the Chrome Remote Desktop extension lets you connect to one computer from another directly through the browser. From there, you can control the other computer using your mouse and keyboard.

Of course, remote desktop software is nothing new. Microsoft includes its Remote Desktop Connection in Windows. It also offers a Mac version of the software, but that one only lets you connect to a PC from your Mac, not the other way around. There are certain options for going from PC to Mac, such as setting up a VNC (virtual network computing) connection in your Mac and then running a VNC client on your PC.

But Chrome Remote Desktop can connect you no matter which computers reside on both ends. And as such, it's an effective way to control a Mac from your PC without having to configure a variety of settings and download other software.

You can set up such... [Read more]

Skype deepened its partnership with Facebook today by adding Facebook video calling to both its Mac and Windows applications.

With the just-announced Skype 5.4 Beta for Mac and Skype 5.7 Beta for Windows, you can initiate a Facebook video call without having to open up your browser and log in to the social-networking site. Just connect your Facebook account to Skype, select a Facebook friend, and hit the Skype video call button. Your friend picks up the call directly from within Facebook. While the feature isn't exactly a game-changer, we do think it's superconvenient. Since you can already see your Facebook Wall, update your status, and make comments from within the Skype interface, it only makes sense to be able to initiate Facebook video calls from there as well.

But Skype's news for today doesn't end there. The company claims to have improved its video rendering, giving all users a smoother video experience. Also, Windows users with a Premium subscription now get the Group Screen Sharing feature, which was previously only available to Mac users.

Skype 5.4 Beta for Mac and Skype 5.7 Beta for Windows are available for download now.