tuning

Apple tries to patent tech behind iTunes U

The technology behind Apple's iTunes U, a repository of educational information for students and teachers, has been outed by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

According to Patently Apple, which first to discover the patent application on Thursday, Apple filed for a patent on the technology that powers iTunes U. Interestingly, the technology in the patent application is called Virtual University, but Apple ostensibly decided it wasn't the right name for its service.

So, what does Apple's application describe? The application describes a method by which instruction information is displayed within a graphical user interface. The … Read more

Finally, Twitter Music is available to all

You don't have to be the host of "American Idol" to use Twitter Music anymore.

A little more than a month after CNET broke the news that Twitter was working on a stand-alone music discovery app and a week after that app was rolled out to an invite-only group of celebrities and others -- including Ryan Seacrest -- the general public can now get its hands on the music discovery app.

Twitter officially unveiled #music on Thursday during "Good Morning America." The company later provided more details about the service in a blog post, saying … Read more

Windows 7 Manager 4.2.4 Review

Windows 7 Manager is an all-in-one system cleaner, tweaker, and maintenance tool that, among other capabilities, incorporates a wide range of "fixes," many of them built into Windows, yet tucked away in odd corners that make them difficult for ordinary users to access. That's sometimes because inexperienced users who misuse a fix or a tweak can cause more problems than they started with. Windows 7 Manager is a good example: It probably packs more features than any tool of its type we've seen thus far. Yet with so many things to run, inexperienced users can end … Read more

Apple's iTunes dominates the music downloading world

In this new era of music streaming, many people seem to wonder whether song and album downloading is becoming irrelevant. Apparently, not quite yet.

Music downloading is as strong as ever, according to a new NPD study based on data from 5,400 consumer surveys. In fact, streaming only seems to bolster downloads.

Though streaming services, like Spotify, Pandora, and Rdio, have grown at an extraordinary rate, music fans still want to own albums. According to NPD, 44 million U.S. residents paid for the download of at least one song track or album last year. And this number has … Read more

U.S. Navy uses laser to take down drone

CNET Update is powering up the laser cats:

Lasers are coming soon to a battleship near you. The U.S. Navy posted a video of a laser weapon that set fire to a drone, and it plans to put one on a ship by the end of the year. One shot of energy from the laser costs about $1.

Also featured in this tech roundup:

- The Galaxy Note 8 is an impressive 8-inch tablet that's tripped up by a $400 price tag. But if you like a stylus, you might not mind that it's more expensive than … Read more

Apple patents method to let you buy iTunes content offline

Want to buy a new song or video from iTunes even though you're offline? A new Apple patent envisions a way, at least sometime down the road.

Granted to Apple today by the U.S. Patent and Trademark office, the patent appropriately named "On-device offline purchases using credits" describes a system of using credits to purchase iTunes content that's stored on your device but which you don't already own. The goal is to allow you to unlock and play iTunes songs, videos, and other items without having to be online.

You would first buy credits … Read more

Tweak this car stereo's sound with a smartphone app

Most car stereos that I've ever fiddled with have offered some sort of equalizer setting that lets the driver customize the sound to their liking, but fitting more than the basic treble, bass, and --occassionally-- midrange controls onto the cramped display of a single DIN receiver is a tricky endeavor. Alpine wants to make it easier for users of its new CDE-147BT receiver to access advanced graphic EQ controls by offloading the audio tuning interface to an Alpine TuneIt app for Android and iOS devices.

The app lets users create a profile for their vehicle and any other Alpine … Read more

TuneUp Utilities 2013 Review

In the sea of PC optimization software, it can be hard to find the right set of tools to keep your computer in tip-top shape. Luckily, TuneUp Utilities is here. A 16-year veteran in the field of Computer Cleanup, TuneUp offers the latest revision of their famous TuneUp Utilities 2013, with some new tools and major fixes that promise to improve the performance of any PC. The best part is that TU gives you full functionality with the 15-day trial.

TuneUp Utilities installation is relatively painless while taking up no more than 80MB of disk space. The program does require … Read more

Apple bans Chinese bookstore app over 'illegal content'

Apple's iTunes Store in China has kicked out an iOS app that offered electronic versions of books banned by the Chinese government.

Hao Peiqiang, the developer of the bookstore app, yesterday posted a letter that he received from Apple informing him that the app would be removed, because "it includes content that is illegal in China."

Apple's letter explained that while the app is no longer available in China, it can still be downloaded from the iTunes store in other countries.

Apple's form e-mail didn't specify which content was illegal. Known as "Jingdian … Read more

Google search has technical issues listing iTunes app pages

A slew of news stories published today questioned whether Google search was lowering the ranking of iTunes apps in query results, but the Web giant says it was actually just having technical issues.

"We've been having some issues fetching pages from the iTunes Web servers, and as a result some people may have had problems finding iTunes apps in search easily," a Google spokesperson told CNET. "We're working with the team there to ensure search users can find what they're looking for."

It seems the issue was first noticed by Appsfire co-founder Ouriel … Read more