Path

Path, a photo-sharing app that had previously chosen to eschew the trendy features that have been giving other photo apps a leg up in buzz and viral proliferation, announced on Friday that it is, in fact, adding some of those same trendy features.

More specifically, the "Version 1.5" of the Path iPhone app, which is slated to go live later on Friday, allows users to share photos on Facebook, whereas previously they were limited to a Path friends list--which is capped at 50 people. They can be selected to be visible either only to members of that … Read more

I went to see Dave Morin, CEO of Path, because I didn't understand the quirky little photo-sharing service. I had signed up and added a few friends, but found it a spare and unsatisfying social experience.

Path is the anti-Twitter and the anti-Facebook: You can only share your stream with 50 people. Compared with almost all other social services, it is closed off--and to some (like me)--claustrophobic. Path may be tapping into a need, though. Existing social services are too broad and, by design, encourage people to "friend" or follow others with wanton abandon. That, in … Read more

The user's home folder in OS X contains a number of default directories including the Documents, Downloads, Desktop, Library, Movies, Music, and Pictures folders. While these locations do not have to be used to store your files, even if you rarely use these folders to store your files we recommend you do not rename or remove them.

OS X should have default permissions settings on these folders that prevent them from being inadvertently renamed; however, if you migrate your system, restore it from backup, or purposefully change permissions, then this restriction might change and allow you to rename the … Read more

The sector of the tech news world that isn't talking about today's launches of News Corp.'s iPad publication, The Daily, or Google's Android Honeycomb operating system is probably talking about two start-ups called Instagram and Path. Both are mobile photo-sharing companies that announced today that they've finalized their Series A funding rounds. Here comes the speculation over which one could "kill" the other.

Well, the two aren't straight-up rivals. Both are photo-sharing services that center, at least at launch, on the iPhone, but they're quite different in structure. Instagram, with its … Read more

eBay said yesterday that it has bought Critical Path Software, a mobile-app developer that had already been working with the auction site for the past couple of years.

Helping to design several eBay mobile apps, Portland, Ore.-based Critical Path has partnered with eBay's mobile group to create eBay for the iPhone and eBay Classifieds. Critical Path and eBay also teamed up to develop StubHub, a ticket-buying app, and Shopping.com, a shopping comparison app.

The acquisition is part of eBay's move to focus even further on the growing mobile market. The auction site has also been busy … Read more

We're joined today by Cheezburger CEO Ben Huh, who's trying to get Brian Tong to love cats. Also, we dissect Facebook's new attempt at a universal inbox: it's email, but not really email, and there's some stuff you're probably going to want to opt out of. As usual. Also, previewing Apple's "unforgettable" iTunes announcement tomorrow, and why did Netflix delay its Android app? --Molly

SAN FRANCISCO--The offices of Path float 40 stories above the city in one of the upper floors of a residential tower just a block away from the waterfront, where the hallmarks of a young start-up--fridges of Red Bull, whiteboards awash in colorful scribbles, the glow of massive Mac desktop monitors--colonize what would normally be coveted apartment space for one of San Francisco's most financially fortunate. There's a balcony with sweeping views of the Bay Bridge and the waters underneath, where on this sunny fall afternoon a lone kayaker in a bright-orange craft flits around uncomfortably close to industrial … Read more

Environmental variables are Windows elements that specify basic system properties and control how various programs behave. They're stored in the Registry, and modifying them changes how the system or a particular program behaves. Experienced users can tweak their systems by modifying environmental variables, and Windows offers several methods, including the temporary Set command and the Registry Editor. We tried out Rapid Environmental Editor, or Rapid EE, from RapidPDF. It's a free tool that adds some sophistication, features, and ease of use to the process by replacing the cumbersome Windows dialog with a full-featured interface.

Before we ran Rapid … Read more

Matt Van Horn, business development director at social-news site Digg, is departing for Path--the ultra-stealthy start-up co-founded by former Facebook executive Dave Morin and Napster co-founder Shawn Fanning. Van Horn's departure comes right after Digg rolled out its much-hyped "Version 4" revamp to the general public.

Van Horn was a hardcore Digg loyalist, something that comes across in a note he sent to colleagues Thursday announcing the job change.

"When I graduated college in 2006, it was a crazy dream to move to the Bay Area and join a tech start-up. So I took it … Read more