AV-Test.org revised their recent Android antivirus app report, improving the scores of six of the apps tested. These are the 23 top-scoring apps.

A redo of an AV-Test.org report that originally found fewer than 50 percent of Android antivirus apps effective at stopping mobile threats now grades six apps higher than before. Unfortunately, that's not much of an improvement.

In an update published earlier this week, AV-Test.org CEO Andreas Marx explained that "certain parts in our initial report and the testing methodology [were] considered imprecise and/or flawed by third parties." The revised rankings now list 23 effective apps in 41 tested, or 56 percent. That's up from 17 of 41 in the previous rankings.

Because of the complexity of Android malware, AV-Test focused on an app's ability to block families of malware as opposed to individual threats. It came up with five tiers of effectiveness, which I'm calling "levels" for simplicity. Level 1 detected 90 percent or more of the malware; Level 2 detected 65 percent to 90 percent; Level 3 only found 40 to 65 percent; Level 4 saw zero to 40 percent; and Level 5 detected zero percent.

Three antivirus apps joined the original seven that ... [Read more]

Real Racing 2 was going to be on this list, but we found out it will be ready in time for launch.

If you're getting the new iPad on launch day tomorrow, you probably can't wait to see the new Retina Display. Having seen it first hand, I can tell you it looks beautiful, but the only problem is there aren't very many third-party apps available yet to take advantage of all those extra pixels. As I wrote earlier this week, it takes time to upgrade the big apps.

CNET has a full list of apps that will be ready to go when the new iPad releases (and more are coming as I write), but there are plenty of apps that will look great even without a graphics upgrade. As more updates trickle in over the coming weeks, expect to see all of these apps updated to take advantage of all 3.1 million pixels on the new iPad.

This stunt racer offers some of the best water effects in iTunes App Store. The environments are great too--if you have time to look at them.

<... [Read more]

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The day the Sparrow faithful have been waiting for has finally arrived; Sparrow for iPhone is now in the App Store!

Sparrow has been available on OS X for some time now, gaining a cultlike following, with its loyal users clamoring for an iOS app to complement their Mac experience.

Sparrow has launched with full IMAP support for Gmail, Google Apps, iCloud, Yahoo, and AOL as well as custom IMAP settings. Unfortunately, POP and Exchange/ActiveSync aren't supported in this release. You can also connect the app to your Facebook account, allowing your contacts' profile pictures to be displayed in your inbox.

There's one more flaw in the initial release of Sparrow for iPhone: the lack of native push alerts. The reason for the lack of native push is laid out on Sparrow's Web site. Basically, either Apple needs to allow Sparrow to use the VoIP API for Sparrow to communicate in the background, or Sparrow needs to get to a po... [Read more]

Perhaps he was dictating.

Like any self-respecting geek, I can quote just about any scene from "Monty Python and the Holy Grail"--complete with a pretty spot-on English accent.

Needless to say, it ranks among my all-time favorite films--and that's why the new Monty Python: The Holy Book of Days app for iPad is such a treat. It's like a coffee-table book come to life, a mammoth interactive collection of cast-member goodies from the filming of the movie.

This embarrassment of riches features everything from outtakes and on-location photos to scene-specific script pages and a diary kept by Michael Palin during the filming (which, by all accounts, was a miserable experience--one completed in just 28 days).

You can peruse the material two ways: "Day by Day," which chronicles every day of the shoot; and "Scene by Scene," which highlights just about every famous scene in the movie.

The latter provides an easy way to look at outtakes, stills, Palin's diary, and script pages. But it's the "Day by Day" section where you really get to the meat of the app. For any given day, you'll get notes and quotes from the Pythons, audio cli... [Read more]

You may already know that the Windows 7 version of Calculator performs basic arithmetic, as well as scientific, programmer, and statistical calculations. What you may not know is that it can also calculate mortgage payments, fuel economy, perform unit conversions, and more.

Here are seven Windows 7 Calculator features you may not know about:

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1. Calculate mortgage payments No need to search online for a good mortgage calculator; you've got one built right into Windows. From Calculator, go to View > Worksheets > Mortgage. You can choose from monthly payment, down payment, purchase price, and term (in years).

2. Calculate car lease payments Thinking about leasing a vehicle? Use this worksheet to calculate lease period, leave value, payments, and residual value. Go to View > Worksheets > Vehicle lease

3. Calculate fuel economy The fuel economy worksheet can calculate your vehicle's fuel economy, distance, and fuel used. Go to View > Wor... [Read more]

The new HotSpot Shield interface.

Following the addition of anti-malware protection in January, AnchorFree pulls the covers off a new look for HotSpot Shield, available exclusively today from CNET Download.com.

Both the standard, ad-supported HotSpot Shield (download) and the paid upgrade sport the refreshed interface and easier install options. However, it still has a lot of visual clutter that could make many either upgrade to Elite or uninstall it.

The new version is easier to install. HotSpot Shield 2.5 automatically detects your Internet connection in all instances, can be used on corporate networks and no longer requires administrative privileges to install. It also adds a connection status icon to the upper right corner of your browser. It's identical to your system tray HotSpot Shield icon: it's red when HotSpot Shield is not connected, and green when it is.

Unprotected networks are now automatically detected in HotSpot Shield.

As mentioned, the interface has been redone to make it easier to navigate HotSpot Shield's few options. However, the ad displays in the free vers... [Read more]

RIM's PlayBook will feature BlackBerry 10, according to an executive.

Research In Motion's BlackBerry 10 operating system will be coming to its tablet, the company has confirmed.

Speaking in an interview published yesterday by U.K. news site Tech Radar, RIM vice president of product management, Rob Orr, said his company will be launching a BlackBerry 10-based handset "towards the end of 2012," and will follow that up by bringing "BlackBerry 10 to our PlayBooks."

RIM has been promoting BlackBerry 10 for months, but the OS so far hasn't seen the light of day. Last month, the blog Crackberry leaked images supposedly originating from "one of RIM's external ad agency partners" that featured BlackBerry devices running what is believed to be the new operating system. One of the more notable images showed the operating system mimicking the functionality of Windows Phone 7's Live Tiles--a feature that has been rumored for quite some time, but never confirmed.

Related stories

• CNET's review of the RIM BlackBerry PlayBook<... [Read more]

Anonymous OS Live is a Ubuntu-based operating system.

The hacking group Anonymous may or may not have launched its very own operating system.

Dubbed Anonymous OS Live, the operating system, which is available as a free download on Sourceforge, is based on the Ubuntu version of Linux. According to a description on the Sourceforge page, the operating system is designed for "educational purposes" and can also be used to check "the security of Web pages."

The people behind the software have set up a Tumblr page providing news and updates on the software. Those folks yesterday announced that the OS had been downloaded over 4,600 times.

What's not immediately clear is just who it is behind the operating system. Anonymous has no central hierarchy, and in many cases, parts of the group break off from the main sector to engage in their own activities. In other words, there is no easy way to know if this operating system has been endorsed by the whole group, or is the brainchild of just a few members.

That has been made abundantly clear in a tweet sent out yesterday, and another this morning, by @Anonops, a Twitter account that is believed to speak for Anonymous. @Anonops wrote that the operat... [Read more]