upgrades

Windows 8 $40 upgrade deal ends today

Those of you still mulling over a move to Windows 8 have less than a day to score the upgrade before the price shoots up.

The Windows 8 Pro upgrade is still available for $39.99 for Windows 7, Vista, and XP users. Even further, Windows 7 users who bought their PC after June 2 of 2012 can grab Windows 8 Pro for just $14.99.

Starting February 1, the upgrade price jumps to $119.99 for the standard version of Windows 8 and $199.99 for the Pro edition. Only qualifying students will be able to grab a discount of $69.99 for Windows 8 Pro.… Read more

Tumblr avoids porn label and adds mature rating to iOS app

Tumblr looks to be trying to avoid the porn-war that recently harangued the 500px photo app and Twitter's Vine app.

The microblogging company threw up a 17-and-over age warning for its iOS app for all new users and any people updating their app to the 3.2.4 version, which was released today.

"You must be at least 17 years old to download this app," Tumblr writes in its description of the app in the iTunes App Store, because it contains "Frequent/Intense Sexual Content or Nudity."

The app's upgrade says only that it … Read more

Porn permitted on Twitter's Vine app

Monday's CNET Update is swinging off the Vine:

In today's tech news roundup, everyone is buzzing about the Vine app -- for a different reason this time. Twitter's overly hyped app for six-second video clips seems to have a porn problem. Users are posting pornographic videos, and Vine permits it. Apple has not yet pulled Vine from the App Store, even though it has a strict policy to ban apps with adult content. Could Apple be making an exception and giving Twitter time to clean up its app?

If you're curious what other video clips are … Read more

Get your cheap Windows 8 upgrade now

Anyone even considering Windows 8 should grab the upgrade special now before it expires this week.

Users of Windows 7, Vista, and XP can purchase the upgrade to the new operating system for just $39.99 per PC. Those of you who bought Windows 7 after June 2 last year can score Windows 8 for just $14.99. And that's for the Pro version.

After January 31, the upgrade price skyrockets to $119.99 for the regular edition and $199.99 for the Pro version.

However, Windows 7 users who bought their computer between June 2 of last year … Read more

Whoa. I should have upgraded to an SSD last year

Today I transformed my 2009 laptop into a machine that feels like it's from 2012.

All I did was rip out its 500GB spinning-rust hard drive from Seagate and popped in a 256GB Vertex 4 solid-state drive from OCZ. Now I'm kicking myself for not upgrading to an SSD a year ago.

If you're not up to speed on your PC components, here's the technical background on SSDs vs. HDs. For decades, hard drives handled storage chores by writing data as tiny magnetized patches on spinning platters. SSDs use flash memory chips instead, a design that … Read more

AT&T's U-verse blacks out for days in several U.S. states

Some AT&T U-verse customers are still without TV, Internet, or phone service after a days-long outage that knocked out access for hundreds of users throughout several Southern states.

"The issue impacting some U-verse subscribers has been tracked back to a software upgrade," the company wrote on its Facebook page earlier this afternoon. "We continue to work to determine when service will be completely restored. Our continued apologies for the inconvenience."

The outage began on Monday and was confirmed by AT&T on Tuesday. Hundreds of users have complained of no service on the … Read more

Cheap Windows 8 upgrade may require your Windows 7 key

People who bought a Windows 7 PC on or after June 2 can upgrade to Windows 8 Pro for just $14.99, but they may have to supply their Windows 7 product ID.

Microsoft kicked off registration for the $14.99 deal in August. Anyone who bought or will buy a new Windows 7 PC between June 2 of this year and January 31 of next year can upgrade to Windows 8 Pro for that special price. Shelling out the $14.99 lets you download a copy of the Windows 8 Upgrade Assistant, which helps you install the new operating … Read more

iOS 6 adoption surges after release of Google Maps app

A surge of people adopted Apple's iOS 6 since last week, but it has been months since the latest operating system was released.

This growth in iOS 6 upgrades may not be as random as it sounds. According to TechCrunch, which got data from mobile ad exchange MoPub, iOS adoption has bumped 30 percent since Google Maps released its app for iOS. MoPub surveys more than 1 billion ad impressions a day across more than 12,000 different apps and got its data from seeing users upgrade to iOS 6.

"We observed since the launch of Google Maps … Read more

Samsung outs more details on Galaxy S3 Premium Suite upgrade

Samsung last week unveiled the first group of new features coming to its Galaxy S3. Now, it has unveiled the second group.

The company earlier today updated its blog with more new features coming to the Galaxy S3 through its Premium Suite upgrade. The handset's camera features are getting a lot of attention in the new update. The Premium Suite upgrade adds a low-light-shot feature, ensuring better picture-taking in dark environments. A Best Face feature allows users to take five pictures consecutively and then choose which to keep. Samsung has also added a camera feature that tells users how … Read more

Samsung's Galaxy S3 to get Premium Suite upgrade

Samsung's Galaxy S3 is getting the company's Premium Suite upgrade pack.

Samsung launched a video today showing just some of the features coming to its flagship handset. The upgrade, which was previously announced for the Galaxy Note 10.1, adds a new featured called Page Buddy that predicts what the users want to do based on their actions. So, if the Galaxy S3 owner plugs in earphones, the software will load the music player.

A contextual menu feature is also available in the Premium Suite upgrade, allowing users to see their most frequently used apps, rather than an … Read more