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Photo-sharing site Color Labs announces shut down

Color Labs, the photo-sharing site that was the apparent target of an acqui-hire by Apple, is shutting down.

The Palo Alto, Calif.-based startup announced the development this evening via a banner notice on its Web site.

"Alert: We hope you've enjoyed sharing your stories via real-time video. Regretfully, the app will no longer be available after 12/31/2012," the notice reads.

The tale of Color is a bit of a mystery that continues to unfold. After initial reports that the troubled app maker was shutting down, it was reported that Apple was acquiring the company … Read more

Apple shares bounce back after tough few weeks

Apple's stock is up nearly 6 percent in midday trading today, marking a minor recovery for the stock, which has declined more than 20 percent since reaching an all-time high in September.

Shares of Apple were at $557.99, up $30.31, or 5.74 percent, in trading on Monday, coming close to where the stock sat 12 days ago, but far from the high of $705.10 two months ago. The stock hit a nine-month low on Friday, before closing up later in the day.

The recovery comes amid reports that Apple's seeing strong sales of its … Read more

Twitter finally adds ability to e-mail tweets

Twitter is finally adding the ability to e-mail tweets directly from the Twitter stream, a feature that's already well-established in third-party Twitter apps.

The new sharing feature is rolling out to all users in the coming weeks, Twitter announced in a blog post today.

To e-mail a tweet to someone, go to the details of the tweet and click on the "More" icon next to the reply, retweet and favorite buttons. A little box will pop up to let you add a message and your recipient's e-mail. Then hit send. (This eliminates having to cut and … Read more

Nintendo fans line up early for the Wii U

Thursday's CNET Update is ready for the next level:

Nintendo's Wii U goes on sale Sunday, and gamers are lining up early at the Nintendo World store in New York. The first in line is the Power Glove-wearing super fan Isaiah Triforce Johnson. He's been paid by corporate sponsors while waiting outside the store for nearly a month. Other fans began showing up on Monday and Tuesday.

This Nintendo World store will sell the first Wii U console at a midnight launch event. The system comes in two models, a Basic Set in white for $300, and … Read more

Android takes 90 percent smartphone share in China in Q3

Android's dominance in the Chinese smartphone market only strengthened in the third quarter, according to new data.

During the third quarter, Android owned 90.1 percent of China's smartphone market, up from from 83 percent in the second quarter, according to Beijing-based research firm Analysys International. Meanwhile, Apple's iOS, which owned 6 percent of the market in the second quarter, fell to 4.2 percent in the third quarter. Symbian dropped to 2.4 percent market ownership, according to Analysys.

News outlet Tech in Asia was first to report on the Analysys report.

The smartphone market in … Read more

Facebook gets more Twitter-like with mobile 'share' button

Facebook is becoming a little more Twitter-like with one of its newest features: A "share" button for mobile that's a lot like a retweet.

The social networking giant has started rolling out the button on its mobile site, a spokesperson said, and it plans to add the feature to iOS and Android.

The company didn't provide any other information about the share button or its reasoning behind the move. We'll update if we get any more details.

The mobile feature, like the Web browser version, allows users to repost a friend's photos and links. … Read more

RIAA condemns research that shines positive light on pirates

Researchers recently presented a paper that suggested U.S. pirates buy roughly 30 percent more music than those who do not file share. The Recording Industry Association of America wasn't best pleased and has responded by stating the research is "misleading."

Originally reported last month by TorrentFreak, the research came from the American Assembly, a public affairs group affiliated with Columbia University.

Joshua Friedlander, RIAA's vice president of research and strategic analysis, decided to refute the study in a blog post on Monday:

Some commentary has misleadingly reported that people who use P2P services like BitTorrent … Read more

How to share reminders in OS X

In OS X Mountain Lion, Apple included a few of its iOS applications, one of which is the Reminders app for setting up and organizing to-do lists. Reminders used to be part of Apple's iCal feature, but has migrated to a separate app that interfaces with the Calendar for all your Apple devices and with Apple's iCloud service. This unified setup not only makes sharing reminders among devices easy, but also offers a platform for sharing reminders among different iCloud users.

While a little redundant with standard calendar events, reminders are convenient alternatives since they are maintained in … Read more

Facebook insiders could sell 773 million shares Wednesday

The largest set of Facebook stock shares available since May, when the company went public, could hit the market on Wednesday as the social network's employees are given the green light to sell off 773 million shares.

Wednesday marks the expiration of another "lockup" period, which means early investors and Facebook employees, including those who joined before 2011, will be able to sell off 773 million common shares, plus 31 million in restricted stock units.

The previous lockup expired at the end of October, and that fresh infusion of stock into the open market left the share … Read more