tethered

Prizmo for Mac turns your camera into a scanner

Have you always wanted a scanner, but held back because of size and cost? Do you have a Mac and a digital camera? Then good news: Prizmo for Mac offers a good enough solution to let accomplish most of your scanning needs without the extra hardware.

The $40 software, made by Belgium-based Creaceed, has long been offered as an alternative to the pack-in software that often comes with flatbed scanners. Its latest version sports three handy features, one of which can turn your digital camera into a very powerful text-archiving tool.

The first new feature is camera tethering. This lets you attach a tether-ready SLR or point-and-shoot to your computer, then have the app automatically import the shot as you take it. There's not a whole lot of user dialogue here to let you know your camera is attached. In my test, I simply connected my Nikon D90 (which does not feature USB mass storage support) and began taking photos, and it did the rest.

Users can also grab photo files from their hard drives, or from a camera that's attached in USB mass storage mode, although I found the latter a little jittery when trying to browse for a single file on a crowded memory card. The app would only let me see the top 40 shots or so, and I couldn't scroll down--a problem I didn't have when browsing the same set of files from a USB-powered memory card reader.

To go along with the tethering feature is curviture correction; this lets you fix warping due to the natural bend of pages. The tool itself is simple to use, but lacks some much-needed automation. You can, for instance, only work on one page at a time, so if you've snapped both pages of an open book, you have to open each one individually. This isn't a huge dealbreaker unless you're trying to archive something large, but it does slow things down.… Read more

Inside CNET Labs 84: A Halo Elite? (podcast)

This week, special guest Antuan Goodwin and I gang up on Dong as he has trouble deciding which race to enter on his 2010 census.

Then we move on to a cinematic gem, a celluloid triumph, if you will. I'm speaking, of course, of "Black Dynamite!" (hears "Dynamite! Dynamite! in the background). We explain why, if you haven't seen this movie yet, you're a blight on humanity and we don't wanna be your friend anymore.

If Apple, Microsoft, and Google were women, which would Dong want to date? Listen to find out the … Read more

Tether without rooting

Weak on pizazz but strong where it counts, PdaNet is a cross-platform app that lets you tether your smartphone to a computer either via USB or Bluetooth DUN. When you use PdaNet, you won't have to root your phone, a major time- and stress-saver. This version works on Android phones.

There are two ways to install it. You can download it directly to your phone, connect your phone to your computer, mount the phone as a drive, and the run the executable from there. Or you can download it directly to your computer and run it. Either way, the … Read more

Tether for free via PdaNet

Just because the Moscone Center in San Francisco hosts a veritable plethora of techie conventions, that doesn't mean it offers Wi-Fi. If your phone can pick up a 3G signal, you might not care--and you might not have to pay for it, either. Thanks to PdaNet's phone app and laptop drivers, and the unlimited data plan that you're already paying for, you can use many of the major smartphones as your Internet connection.

From the improbably-named software publisher June Fabrics, PdaNet is known for offering tethering solutions for PalmOS, but it also offers iPhone, Windows Mobile, and … Read more

Buzz Out Loud Podcast 1101: LHC-gull kills science with bread

Apparently the Large Hadron Collider is doomed. It can't even survive a bread bombing by birds. The Droid arrived on the scene though, and people actually lined up. However tethering is gonna cost you on the thing. Are you still in love? And Gwen Stefani doesn't like you making her sing Honky Tonk Women.

Subscribe with iTunes (audio) Subscribe with iTunes (video) Subscribe with RSS (audio) Subscribe with RSS (video) EPISODE 1101

Episode

Midnight Droid madness in Manhattan http://news.cnet.com/8301-30686_3-10392128-266.html

Verizon Droid Tethering Will Cost You http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/181590/verizon_droid_tethering_will_cost_you.html … Read more

Verizon promises tethering for Droid

Data tethering is coming to the new Motorola Droid in 2010, a Verizon Wireless representative has confirmed.

This is great news for people who would like to use the Droid to connect their laptops to Verizon's 3G wireless EV-DO service. Tethering will not be available on the new Google Android phone when it hits stores on Friday. But Brenda Raney, a Verizon Wireless spokeswoman, said it is scheduled to be added next year.

The ability to tether or use a smartphone as a modem to access the Internet on a laptop is a differentiator for the Droid, which will … Read more

Mulling mobile broadband options

I've been thinking about buying a new gizmo, and it turns out I'm not the only one in the family having these thoughts.

My sister sent me an e-mail over the weekend:

I need a 3G card for my laptop and I'm going to get it from Verizon. What should I ask for? I just don't want them to try to sell me more or less than I need.

Coincidentally, I've been looking into the latest options for mobile broadband access for a couple of months now, ever since the two-year contract ran out on … Read more

Sony updates PSP Go firmware, games list

One of our biggest complaints about the PSP Go seems to be partially addressed today as the portable console officially goes on sale. Sony has updated the Go's firmware to 6.10, which introduces a new PlayStation Store interface and access to a much larger portion of original PSP games.

While the selection of games is still nowhere near complete, some notable titles added today are God of War: Chains of Olympus, Madden NFL 10, Gran Turismo, and MotorStorm: Arctic Edge. Also hitting the store today are PSP Minis, smaller, less-expensive download-only games that range in price from $5 … Read more

iPhone OS 3.1 kills tethering hack dead

When Apple released its highly anticipated iPhone OS 3.1 firmware update for the iPhone and iPod Touch, some users' worries were confirmed: the tethering hack we blogged about in June no longer works.

After upgrading, if you navigate on your iPhone to the Settings app, select General, then Network, you will see that the menu item for tethering has vanished.

Developers have not yet been able to find a way to downgrade or re-enable the tethering hack. If you or someone you know has had a different experience, we would like to hear about it in the comments.

Updated … Read more

Rumor: iPhone tethering to cost $55 per month

iPhone tethering is coming soon (or now if you're up for a quick and easy hack), meaning you'll be able to use your handset as a wireless modem for your PC. But at what price?

Rumors have been flying that AT&T will charge as much as $70 per month for tethering privileges, but now mobile-apps blog Appmodo is citing "a source with AT&T" that the cost will be $55.

Note to AT&T: Over my dead body.

Most of the people on this planet think you're already charging too much ($… Read more