The original let you ride a Yeti down a mountain at top speed. What's not to like?

Ski Safari (99 cents) challenges you to shoosh down a powdery mountain to avoid an avalanche, with animal friends and other vehicles along the way to help you with your escape. This distance game quickly became my go-to time-waster on both my iPhone and iPad, so when an update was announced over the holiday break, you can bet I was at the iTunes App Store immediately. The update adds a new mountain you can choose for your run, a new animal to help you along your way, and added achievements to keep you coming back for more.

Deviant Development didn't stray too far from the popular original and the controls remain the same: simply touch the screen to jump and touch-and-hold to do a back flip -- but it's still your timing that makes the difference in how far you'll get. The cartoonlike graphics make the game cute and easy on the eyes, and the update adds the all new mountain to the mix, but you'll have a hard time noticing as you get farther into your run and need to be perfect in your execution.

The original story for Ski Safari is simple: An avalanche is coming and our hero is rousted from bed in his tiny cabin to start his journey skiing down an endless mountain. B... [Read more]

Using the button at the top center, you can browse through your circles or by What's Hot and activity Nearby.

Built as a Universal update, Google+ version 3.0 adds new features to the iPhone app and is the first version that is made for the iPad with its own unique interface features.

On both iOS devices, you'll now be able to create and manage Google Events. You can create an event, manage comments, add photos, and see who is coming to the event. All the info from past events is saved as well, so you can go back and revisit them later.

Google Hangouts are now supported on both iOS devices as well, which means you'll be able to start and participate in Hangouts from wherever you are. Video chat supports up to nine friends and -- once set up in the settings -- will notify you when friends join or ring their phone to remind them to join.

Touch the upper-left button to bring up the menu where you can start Hangouts, edit your profile, and other actions.

The iPad version of Google+ is a joy to use with an intuitive interface layout that makes it easy to browse through circles and what's hot. You can use the app in either portrait or landscape views, and Googl... [Read more]

Google Maps is adding some fine art to its database, as it today gives Android users indoor maps for more than 20 U.S. museums. Joining the more than 10,000 indoor maps already available on the service are floor plans for the de Young Museum in San Francisco, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Cincinnati Museum Center, the Indianapolis Museum of Art, the American Museum of Natural History, 17 Smithsonian museums, and the Smithsonian National Zoo.

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Whether you're conducting a Google Maps search from afar or you're standing at the doorstep of a supported museum, you can access the floor plans by simply zooming in on your Android device. The familiar "blue dot" icon will still indicate where you are, and if you change floors within a museum, the floor plan will update automatically.

While 20 museums doesn't sound like many, ... [Read more]

Apple's Passbook could put it one step closer to iTravel.

Is Apple getting into the travel business?

The Cupertino, Calif.-based company today was awarded a host of patents by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. However, the one that stood out describes an application, called iTravel, that handles all of a person's needs when traveling. Patently Apple first reported it.

According to the filing, iTravel would allow users to make reservations for a trip and then share them with others. In addition, the application could be used to check in and handle checked luggage. The application appears to work with Macs, as well as Apple's iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch.

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• ... [Read more]

Windows 8 is said to be arriving sometime in October, but that hasn't stopped Slimware Utilities from releasing its brand-new W8-specific PC-imaging program today.

RecImg Manager is a free program that's designed to back up and restore your entire Windows 8 Operating System and other installed software, without affecting your personal files. Whether your system has been corrupted by malware or you're dealing with other kinds of system errors, the ability to "refresh" your computer is one that shouldn't be overlooked.

Many backup and recovery utilities for PC work by backing up your entire disk and restoring everything, which works, but isn't exactly efficient. See, these backup files are typically huge, and as a result, the recovery process can sometimes take several hours because of the sheer volume of data being dealt with.

Enter RecImg Manager, whose makers claim to have simplified the backup and recovery process. According to them, RecImg Manager creates a backup snapshot of just the Windows 8 OS and other installed software (as opposed to the entire disk). This makes the recovery process significantly quicker, as RecImg is only reinstalling your programs and not all of your personal files. Also, the backup snapshot is significantly smaller. Not to worry, though... [Read more]

Sundar Pichai, Google's senior vice president in charge of Chrome and Apps, said in June that Chrome is "exceptionally profitable" for the company.

Just as Apple finished up OS X 10.8, aka Mountain Lion, Google said yesterday that its Web browser will stop supporting OS X 10.5, aka Leopard.

Leopard debuted in 2007 after a long gestation period. Apple's OS updates arrive more frequently these days -- roughly annually -- and Chrome comes even more frequently with a six-week update cycle.

"Please note, on Mac we now require 10.6 or higher, and this release will not be available if you are on 10.5 or lower," said Chrome team member Jason Kersey in a blog post yesterday about Chrome 22, which just entered testing on the developer channel. That version should become the mainstream, stable version of Chrome in about three months.

Chrome has become an "exceptionally profitable" product for Google, driving search traffic and thereby generating ad revenue for the company.... [Read more]