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Easy Excellence

The power and features that make Microsoft's Excel spreadsheet the business world's standard can be daunting to new and infrequent users. EZ-Format for Excel makes Excel easy by separating data formatting, maintenance, and analysis tasks. It automates the task of formatting worksheets, enables improved, modifiable totaling, and simplifies common tasks such as splitting worksheets and applying row color. The program bundles the maker's EZ-Subtotal and EZ-Split add-ins as well, and it includes the functionality of the EZ-Stat statistical analysis software.

EZ-Format for Excel integrates seamlessly with Excel, appearing in the Add-Ins Ribbon on the Toolbar. An extensive … Read more

Augmented reality augurs the future of toys

I have seen the future of toys, and it is augmented reality.

That was my conclusion Monday after seeing Mattel's i-Tags, new technology that will be included with action figures the company will make for "Titanic" director James Cameron's new film, "Avatar."

For those not familiar with augmented reality, it's an overlay of digital information or imagery on top of real-world objects. AR, as it's known, "is a field of computer research that deals with the combination of real-world and computer-generated data (virtual reality), where computer graphics objects are blended into … Read more

Total Music: 'Free' can't compete with free

Universal Music first floated the idea of Total Music in 2007 as a way to give customers an alternative to free MP3s available on file-trading networks and anonymous Internet sites.

At that time, the business model called for hardware manufacturers to pay some extra amount--perhaps $5 per month--and optionally pass this cost along to consumers. In return, consumers would get the right to download as much music as they wanted, for free, during a certain time period.

Nokia eventually launched a similar plan, Comes With Music, but Total Music (which became a joint venture between Universal and Sony Music) ran … Read more

Will appeal to families

Jumping through the preinstall registration hurdles may turn off some users, but those extra steps demonstrate this user-monitoring utility's attention to detail.

Sentry Total Family Protection is a client-server based application for filtering and monitoring PC use--ostensibly to protect children and other family members from visiting inappropriate sites or making inappropriate connections through IM and other methods. All settings and logs are accessible through the developer's Web-based control panel. The application's link requires you to register before you even download the executable, and installation is a multistep process involving a system reboot, so many users may get … Read more

The 404 185: Where we're banned from using the phone

CNET Tech Editor Matt Fitzgerald joins us on today's show to shoot the film with us on a flurry of random stories from around the Internet, including George Takeiiiiiii's marriage, the inevitable death of TRL, the new POS Dragonball Z movie, the final word in iPhone updates, and more!

The morning starts off with a few crank calls (do I smell a new recurring segment?) that ends with us being forever banned from picking up a CNET telephone. Oh well, phones are overrated anyway. Anyway, I know we all bitch about iPhones incessantly on the show (especially Jeff "Hatin' on Fools" Bakalar), but most of our former qualms are solved by the newest firmware upgrade to end all firmware upgrades, version 2.1! If you have an iPhone, 3G or Edge, do yourself a favor and install the upgrade. Battery life is increased, phone crashes and dropped calls are nonexistent, and no more text lags! After three tries, Apple finally got it right. Now, if only they enabled cut/paste, SMS forwarding, and picture messaging....baby steps, Mr. Jobs, baby steps.

EPISODE 185 Download today's podcast … Read more

Amazon.com has the McAfee Total Protection 2008 for $55.49, after $24.50 savings.

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Want to see that ad in 3D?

Here comes a new way for advertisers to capture attention: software that turns 2D images into 3D simulations when consumers play with them in front of a Webcam.

Total Immersion's D'Fusion system is composed of a kiosk, Web cameras, and software capable of recognizing, tracking, and rendering images.

It works like this. Customers view themselves on a screen through a Webcam and hold up a 2D picture. Suddenly the 2D picture pops up and consumers see themselves holding a 3D simulation of the product in the brochure on the kiosk's video feed. Sometimes it doesn't work: … Read more

What Ronaldinho and soccer can teach you about innovation

It's been a lackluster soccer season so far, especially in my favorite league, the Spanish Primera Division. The performances of the two top teams, Real Madrid and FC Barcelona (Barca), have been inconsistent, and while both have displayed some exceptional skills in their best matches, the passion, the surprise, and the big drama, all of which crucial elements of soccer's unique appeal, have been largely missing.

There is hope that this will change on Sunday when the two archrivals battle each other for the first time this season, in the derby of derbies, "El Cl?sico," … Read more

Nokia's 'Comes With Music' initiative

Yesterday, Nokia announced a new initiative, Comes With Music, that will offer "free" music to purchasers of certain cellphones. It's the first outgrowth of Nokia's Ovi brand, which the company announced earlier this year. It also seems to be the first implementation of Universal's Total Music plan, in which device makers bundle a music subscription on new devices and add the cost to the price of the device, rather than forcing consumers to pay the monthly fee.

As with all such services, the devil's in the details. According to Ars Technica, there's an … Read more