monkey

If you like adventure games, monkeys, and/or free stuff, today's your lucky day. LucasArts is offering a free download of Tales of Monkey Island - Chapter 1: Launch of the Screaming Narwhal.

This offer is good today only, and the clock is already ticking, so hurry up lest ye miss yer chance, ye, um, scurvy dog.

(Did I mention today is International Talk Like a Pirate Day? That's LucasArts' impetus for the freebie. But I'm going to restrain myself from going all yo-ho-ho on you. Try to, anyway.)

If the name Monkey Island doesn't ring … Read more

Microsoft's search deal with Yahoo is the culmination of months of well documented negotiations, but in many ways, it is just the beginning of the long road ahead.

In the coming months, Microsoft and Yahoo will not only have to win regulatory approval for the deal, but also figure out how to bring together disparate approaches to the search market.

Microsoft has spent much of its energy in the last couple years refining its core technology, improving in vertical categories, and rebranding its Web search under the Bing moniker. Yahoo, meanwhile has put a lot of energy into tools … Read more

On today's episode, we invent a new word that we hope will show up on a show like "The Hills" sometime soon. Plus, we get fired up, make terrible jokes about monkeys controlling computers with their brains, and actually work in a tiny bit of news. For example, Apple's doing a tablet and music labels are trying to sell some new weird digital album thing. You might like the "fired up" part better.

Apple partners with music labels for interactive content for new netbook -- Sept

Microsoft in new EU browser offer

Confusion at Best Buy over rumors of a $99 Palm Pre

Installing Pre homebrew apps: now even easier

Netflix Prize: And the $1 Million Winner Is...?

ATandT blocks 4chan

AT&T said to block 4chan; pranksters fight back

Wi-Fi on ordinary cell phones

Aussie Net filtering trial deemed a success despite problems

Nissan's Forest AC blows wild scents through your ride, keeps you alert

Monkeys and scientists develop persistent "plug and play" control over brain-to-computer interface… Read more

Two researchers for Hewlett-Packard have created a browser-based darknet, an idea that could make it easier for businesses to keep eavesdroppers from uncovering confidential information.

Darknets are encrypted peer-to-peer networks normally used to communicate files between closed groups of people. Most darknets require a certain level of technological literacy to set up and maintain, including taking care of the necessary servers. However, HP researchers Billy Hoffman and Matt Wood plan next week to demonstrate a browser-based darknet called "Veiled," which they claim requires little proficiency to set up and run.

"This will really lower the barriers to … Read more

As a gaming system, the iPhone has had its share of praises and attacks, but it's hard to challenge the appeal of retro titles on the system. With a perfect version of Myst under its belt, the iPhone's gone one better with a release of The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition that launched last night on iTunes.

For those who don't remember, The Secret of Monkey Island is perhaps one of the most celebrated graphic adventures in the once-popular genre. Originally released in 1990, there were three other sequels released, the last in 2000. LucasArts once … Read more

The iTunes alternative music jukebox MediaMonkey's latest version jacks the volume, but only a little bit. It's an upgrade worth downloading simply for the improved performance that comes with support for multicore processing, and there are some other worthwhile feature enhancements as well.

One long-standing complaint about MediaMonkey has been that its search feature, while adequate, was far from robust. Version 3.1 changes that, and offers a helpful mouse-over tooltip that explains the Boolean-style searching. It's not true Boolean terminology, but typing in queries such as TO* will give you all songs, albums, and artists that … Read more

All eyes may be on Apple this week as the Cupertino, Calif. company is set to release its iPhone 3.0 firmware and iPhone 3G S phone. But unless you number among the 10 percent of smartphone owners who actually has an iPhone, there's little reason you need iTunes, especially to organize your digital music. MediaMonkey is an excellent freemium jukebox that handles large collections especially well. Just updated to version 3.1, its ID3 tags, CD and DVD, and full-featured encoder are just the beginning. A $20 upgrade gets you, among other things, on-the-fly file conversion to your … Read more

FriendFeed's new look, which was launched as an optional feature for brave beta testers, is now the default for all. The company flipped the switch on it this afternoon, and like previous redesigns there's no way to revert back to the old version. Going to beta.friendfeed.com simply brings users to the normal site.

Along with the new look, the company has updated its post-by-e-mail tools. Previously users had a special e-mail address they could send items to that went directly to their home feed. Users can still use that one, but there's now a central … Read more

StockMonkey provides an easy way for users to quickly analyze their investments. Its simple calculator approach makes it suitable for nearly any type of investor who wants help knowing when to buy and sell.

This free program is not much to look at, with a very basic, no-frills interface. But by sacrificing a sleek look, it digs deep into the details and provides users with a clearer picture of their stocks. Compared with other free stock calculators, this one has a much larger number of variables, which means your projection should be more accurate. Users can simply input their purchase … Read more