4.1

Game Center finally arriving in iOS 4.1

Ever since Apple's spring run-down of iOS 4, we've been curious about Game Center, Apple's attempt to add an across-the-board social gaming dashboard for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Apple left it out of iOS 4's release, but it will finally be available for free next week as a download after the release of iOS 4.1, and will appear on iOS 4.2 on the iPad.

Game Center was given a quick demo at today's Apple music event, and it seems to offer some actually useful features. While social multiplayer services such as OpenFeint … Read more

CNET TV Apple Byte: Uncle Steve hands out free Bumpers

CNET TV's Brian Tong discusses the latest in the world of Apple. This week, Brian recaps Steve Jobs' press conference about iPhone 4 antenna issues, examines the iOS 4.1 developer release, and talks about rumors for the next generation iPod touch.

Can't see the video? Have an iPhone or iPad? Click the following link to download this week's Apple Byte (should show in the HTML5 viewer in Safari):

→ Apple Byte 7/19/2010 ←

Be sure to check us out on Twitter and the CNET Mac forums. Submit a fix to MacFixIt! Email Us.

A Google Earth layer to scare you into submission

Links from Friday's episode of Loaded:

Apple releases an update to iPhone software in preparation for its press conference at 10 a.m. PDT Friday, which we will cover live here. Amazon is sued by Discovery Communications for alleged patent infringement on the Kindle. The latest Facebook scam claims to have horrific information about Coca-Cola. It doesn't. Don't click that. The upcoming version of Ford Sync can respond to over 10,000 commands. Mozilla releases Firefox Home on iPod Touch and iPhone to sync your desktop browsing with your mobile device. A new Google Earth layer may … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 1270: MP3: the gateway drug (podcast)

On today's show, Buzz Out Loud gets you a tiny bit high ... using a sine wave. Could it be!? Also, we continue our long slog through the Story that Wouldn't End: the iPhone 4 antenna issue. Press conference tomorrow! Also, will the Droid X self-destruct if you try to mod it? Maybe, maybe not. But it seems like the phone world is all about picking your poison these days.

Chat, call, swipe

While it's not hard to find a free chat app that lets you IM and call friends on multiple networks, getting one to elegantly inform you of incoming chats and let you easily switch among open conversations is slimmer pickings. It may not be the most visually exciting app we've seen, but Nimbuzz IM does a fine job delivering features and alerting you to chats when you talk with friends on Skype, Facebook, Windows Live Messenger (MSN), Yahoo Messenger, Google Talk, AOL Instant Messenger (AIM), MySpace, ICQ, or Gadu-Gadu.

The app will buzz by default when a new … Read more

Kitchen sync

Fevosoft's Beyond Synch is just the sort of handy little tool we love to have around. It's a simple but capable utility that can synchronize and back up files locally, on network drives, or on just about any sort of external device, in real time. It can compare files to reduce duplicates, and its "byte to byte" verification feature ensures that files are completely synchronized. In addition to its real-time function, you can schedule regular, automatic synchronization.

Beyond Synch's dual-mode interface expands from a Simple view, a small dialog with a basic complement of file … Read more

Portable puzzle

Jooleem Portable is a basic puzzle game that's designed to travel with you on a portable device, although it works fine on a PC as well. It's not the most thrilling game we've ever played, but it is surprisingly addictive.

Getting started with Jooleem Portable isn't necessarily easy. Users must manually specify where they want the program installed, which makes sense given that it's designed for portable use, but this step might flummox novice computer users. There's no desktop icon or Start menu entry, which means that you'd better remember where you installed … Read more

Amazon.com has the Sony Cyber Shot DSC-S85 4.1MP Digital Camera for $499.95, after $100.04 savings.

Save $100.04 on the Sony Cyber Shot DSC-S85 4.1MP Digital Camera from Amazon.com >> Regular price is $599.99 >> Sale price is $499.95 >> Savings $100.04 (16.67%) >> Click here for deal

Safe at any speed

It's getting harder for developers to make their software stand out in the crowded peer-to-peer file-sharing field. SafeFiles' Rocket Torrents Pro has an angle that will appeal to many users, especially parents. It's an award-winning, adware- and spyware-free BitTorrent utility that does pretty much everything the others do: search for, find, and download files on P2P networks. It supports live media streaming and is iTunes compatible. It offers the usual download resume function, download speed boosters, and security tools to keep you safe. It's in the last category, security, that Rocket Torrents Pro really excels. It claims … Read more

Keep tabs on your tabs

We love tabbed browsing, but we often find ourselves with tons of tabs open. Sometimes they're simply things we forgot to close when we were done with them, but other times they contain pages that we want to return to. TooManyTabs for Chrome is a clever browser extension that helps you hang on to the tabs you're not done with without all the clutter.

TooManyTabs isn't the most intuitive application we've ever used, but after a bit of experimentation, it was pretty easy to figure out. It appears as an icon to the right of Chrome'… Read more