Foursquare co-founder Dennis Crowley playing foursquare outside the Austin Convention Center during SXSW 2009.

Think of SXSW, or "South-by" as it is affectionately known by its attendees, as a sort of amalgamation of film, music, and interactive media conferences, but topped with copious amounts of booze and barbecue sauce, and all neatly packaged in a charmingly chic week-long festival. It is a geek-gathering like no other.

But more than just the expected parties, panels, and conference sessions, SXSW for the past few years has also been seen as a potential springboard to startup success, particularly for mobile apps. Considering the well-documented launch of Twitter at SXSW 2007, and the less epic, though still successful follow-ups by Gowalla and Foursquare in 2009, it's no wonder why. Thus, we are expecting app developers to come strong this year, all converging on SXSWi (the interactive arm of the festival) on a mission.

This, of course, makes for a potentially eventful week for us of the CNET digerati. So, as we make our way through the festivities, allow us to share with you some app-related SXSW stories that we are part... [Read more]

When OS X Lion was released, Apple dropped all support for the PowerPC processor by removing the Rosetta dynamic translator that allowed PowerPC code to run on Intel-based Macs. Unfortunately this move did prevent a number of older software packages from running in Lion, with one of these being the popular Quicken 2007 personal finance software for OS X.

While Intuit has developed Quicken Essentials for OS X that uses Intel-native code, the program is missing a number of features from the older Quicken packages, making it an unattractive option for those who have heavily used Quicken in the past. Intuit claimed these features were heavily dependent on code that was specific for the PowerPC chip and could not be easily ported to the Intel platform, but given the high demand for these features, Intuit looked into getting Quicken 2007 running in Lion.

In December of last year, Intuit released a statement on its Web site that it would be porting the older program to work properly in Lion, promising a spring release, and today has lived up to that promise by making the program available for purchase through its Web site. The updated Quicken will cost $14.99, and is available as a direct download or on CD-ROM.

Intuit specifically mentions this version of Quick... [Read more]

Find out who you're listening to and share it with your followers on Path.

Are you a fan of Facebook? Twitter? Instagram? Shazam? Nike+?

Would you be interested in a service that essentially combines the functionality of all these mobile apps into one sleek and simple-to-use program? Then perhaps you should give Path a try.

After its most recent update (see my colleague, Paul Sloan's take here), Path could become a major player in the social networking game, expanding its existing 2 million user base. All these enhancements take the brain-child of former Facebook platform manager, angel investor Dave Morin, to a whole new level.

The major integration win for Path comes in the form of its partnership with Nike+. Now, when you want to complete a workout and share with friends, an option to share on Path is at your disposal. Path's integration is more than just posting your times, though. When you start a run, a note is made on Path. If followers add an emoticon (the equivalent of a Facebook "Like"), yo... [Read more]

As part of the new iPad announcement Apple released new versions of iPhoto and GarageBand for iOS, but in addition Apple updated the existing versions of these programs for its Mac OS X platform.

The update for iPhoto is fairly sizable at 354.57MB, which may seem a bit strange given that its only new feature is the ability to delete photos from the iCloud Photo Stream (a feature that Apple also included in iOS 5.1); however, the update does also include fixes and enhancements included in the previous 9.2.0 update, such as problems with rebuilding libraries, compatibility with iCloud, and refinements to importing, gesture support, and printing problems.

iPhoto 9.2.2 is a recommended update, especially if you use the iCloud photo stream, and it will require OS X 10.6.8 or OS X 10.7.3 or later to install, meaning that if you have either Lion or Snow Leopard installed, then you will first need to update it to the latest version before applying this update.

On the other hand, the GarageBand update's system requirements suggest it only requires OS X 10.6.8 or later to install. The update is also smaller at 47.61MB and includes fixes to improve compatibility with GarageBand ... [Read more]

Remember earlier this week when Samsung teased a special announcement at its South by Southwest booth in Austin, Texas? Well, it isn't the pink Samsung Galaxy Note.

Instead, Samsung says it will help Rovio launch the next wave of its blockbuster Angry Birds series, Angry Birds Space. Tomorrow at 4 p.m. CT, Samsung will offer hands-on demos of the game on the Samsung Galaxy Note.

The hope is clearly that lovers of the ornery ornithological critters will appreciate catapulting the squawkers on a large, 5.3-inch HD Super AMOLED screen, thus earning a secondary appreciation for the device as well as for the unreleased game itself.

Related stories

• Samsung Galaxy Note review
• ... [Read more]

Less than two weeks after Google launched Pwnium, a competition for hackers to find security exploits in Chrome, the search giant has announced its first winner.

Google's Sundar Pichai announced on his Google+ page yesterday that Chromium contributor Sergey Glazunov submitted the first successful entry to the Pwnium contest, revealing a "Full Chrome Exploit" that bypassed the browser's sandboxing security. The exploit makes it possible for a malicious hacker to do just about anything they want on an infected machine.

In an interview published yesterday by CNET sister site ZDNet, Justin Schuh of the Chrome security team said that Glazunov was able to execute "code with full permission of the logged-on user." Schuh called the feat "impressive," and said that it deserved the $60,000 bounty.

Related stories

• Why Google is playing games with Chrome's future--literally
• Chrome to support Do Not Track privacy feature
• ... [Read more]

The Windows 8 desktop starts off as a clean slate with no clear access to the applications and features you need. Here are some tips on how to create the familiar desktop you know and sometimes love.

Accessing your desktop from the Metro Start screen is just a simple matter of clicking the tile for desktop. You'll then see the familiar interface with just the Recycle Bin on the desktop itself and icons for Internet Explorer and Windows Explorer on the taskbar.

Setting up the desktop OK, let's say you want to first populate the desktop with shortcuts for My Computer, Network, and your personal folders. Right-click anywhere on the desktop and choose Personalize from the pop-up menu. Click the option to change desktop icons. Select the icons you want to appear on the desktop and click OK.

You can also add other folders and applications to the desktop, such as Documents. Open Windows Explorer from the taskbar. Select the icon for Documents and drag it to your desktop to create a shortcut. Now do the same for Pictures, Music, and any other folders or features you want to see on the desktop.

Setting up the Taskbar You can customize the Taskbar just as in Windows 7. For this, you'll want to bounce back to the Metro Start screen by pressing the Windows key on your keyboard (or moving your mouse to the lower left hot corner and clicking the thumbnail for the Metro Sta... [Read more]