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Top Download News and Features

• Mozilla Firefox updates to version 21 with a new Health Report and additional Do Not Track functionality
• McAfee and Intel want to protect your identity and data everywhere on all devices with new product LiveSafe
• Counting Crows' frontman Adam Durwitz chats with Josh Rotter about his essential software apps and BitTorrent's effect on commercial music

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The stable channel of Firefox 21 (Windows, Mac, Android, Linux) released today, adding a few notable new features such as an expanded social API and further Do Not Track options for customizing privacy settings, along with a new Firefox Health Report feature.

The Health Report is an additional "About protocol" link for Firefox that is available by typing "about:healthreport" into the Firefox address bar or as a drop-down selection under the the "Firefox > Help" menu.

The Health Report itself aims to provide a graphical representation your browser's performance, replete with average and detailed startup times, monthly running time for the application (in minutes), monthly number of crashes, and total number of bookmarks, add-ons and plug-ins. Clicking on the "Raw Data" link at the top of the page opens up a list of data queries and their results in chronological order (i.e. when Firefox was scanned and for what reason.) The "Raw Data" tab will show ... [Read more]

ABC's new live TV video service Watch ABC has arrived on smartphones, tablets, and the Web, though its availability is highly limited for now.

Disney/ABC on Tuesday announced the availability of the live programming feature in its mobile app in New York City as well as Philadelphia though local respective networks WABC-TV and WPVI. The update adds a "live" button to ABC's newly renamed Watch ABC software for iOS devices that lets users in those markets watch live streams of those two stations, just like they would on a TV.

News of the feature came over the weekend and was first reported by The New York Times.

The software is now available for iOS, and on the Web. ABC says the feature will soon be headed to the Kindle Fire and Samsung Galaxy devices as well.

The live feature will roll out in another six markets, including Los Angeles (KABC-TV), Chicago... [Read more]

Looking for workout tunes that play at least 128 bpm? Fit Radio has those and a lot more, all streamed to your phone or PC free of charge.

The more I run, the more I realize my regular playlist isn't cutting it. Even with some 150 hand-picked songs, I get bored hearing the same ones over and over. And although they're among my favorite power-pop tunes, they're quite diverse when it comes to tempo. I need songs of at least 128 beats per minute (bpm) to keep me running strong.

Enter Fit Radio, a free app (Android|iOS|Web) that streams up-tempo playlists designed to amp up your workout. It's like Songza for sprinters, or maybe Pandora for bike peddlers.

The app is divided into three main sections: Genres, Stations, and DJs. Within each you'll find mostly DJ-mixed mash-ups of the songs you'd hear in an aerobics class or dance club -- perfect stuff for your run or workout.

Dig a little deeper and you'll al... [Read more]

As consumers begin to own more and more devices, the risks of increased security threats and a greater need for cross-platform protection have emerged, according to McAfee. In a joint partnership with Intel, McAfee announced on Tuesday the all-encompassing security suite LiveSafe.

LiveSafe is a comprehensive set of security measures that protect the files and digital assets that users value most. According to Mike DeCesare, president of McAfee, "Our digital lives have become more complex as we connect, share, and store data through multiple devices."

McAfee addresses the rising need for security across the fragmented landscape of gadgets that users own by looking to a combination of hardware-driven security and encrypted management via the cloud. To this end, LiveSafe developed Personal Locker, a Dropbox-like storage service that lets users manage their more sensitive files over the Internet. In addition to the standard user password approach, McAfee Personal Locker requires a combination of facial and voice recognition to access individual files in the encrypted directory. During activation, users are required to take a picture and record a sentence.

LiveSafe also introduces McAfee SafeKey, which is a personal password manager that lets users securely manage their log-in credentials for more sensitive tasks like online banking.

To prevent leaking from unauthorized ... [Read more]

Mozilla's Social API fuels MSN Now integration with the new Firefox 21.

A more granular approach to how Firefox has implemented the controversial "Do Not Track" setting leads off the changes to Firefox 21, which updated on Tuesday. Also in the browser is support for more social networks including MSN Now and a "Firefox Health Report."

More options for the Social API, which debuted at the end of last year with Facebook Messenger integration, allows Firefox 21 (download for Windows | Mac | Linux) to work with MSN Now, Cliqz, China's Weibo, and the Japan-only Mixi. While there's no doubt that they're not even on a scale to compete with Facebook, they still command millions of combined users. Wikipedia's Weibo page said that the service alone had 368 million users as of mid-2012.

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