Box

ColorBox is an ambitious app with a huge collection of writing implements, but without animations, a clearly-labeled interface or menus, it is unnecessarily hard to use. What ColorBox does well is to create a tool in which you can write nearly anything in any style or color you want, which for many people will be enough to overlook the glaring omissions in the app.

When you first open ColorBox, you can see at a glance just how many options there are. Tap any of the tabs on the left side of the screen and you can choose from one of … Read more

Movie411 captures information about even the most esoteric and ancient movies and saves the information along with their movie covers to your computer. The program works without glitches and offers an intuitive user interface.

Movie411 downloads as an executable file directly to your computer. You will need to manually create a shortcut on your desktop for easy access to this program. The program is very handy if you want to quickly find and save information about a particular movie. There are no Help files, though, so you learn as you go, but the user interface is rather intuitive so it'… Read more

Curious about how well "The Lone Ranger" will fair at the box office? How about whether "Star Trek Into Darkness" will do alright overall?

This is information that Google now says it can predict with up to 94 percent accuracy.

The Web giant released a study (pdf) on Thursday that examines the correlation between Google searches and box-office performance. And, with people using search at an increasing rate (56 percent more in 2012 than 2011), it seems that Google's predictions will only get better.

"Moviegoers are now more actively discovering and exploring their film … Read more

When given the choice, most people would opt for home detention over serving time in a jail cell, eating prison food, and sleeping on a hard bed. As it turns out, not everyone can handle the comforts of home with its cushy chairs and video game equipment. Too much time with his Xbox caused a New Zealand man to ring up the local police and request a jail stint instead.

Details are a little sketchy, but the cry for help was enough to capture the notice of the local news. The Northern Advocate spoke with Senior Constable Paul Nicholas of the Whangarei police. "Mr. Nicholas said the 19-year-old had already served 10 months of an 11-month home detention term and with one month to go 'had run out of Xbox games to play,'" the paper reports.… Read more

Enterprise storage company Box will pay its third-party developers for users that help grow the platform, the company announced Thursday.

The company's new developer program, which launches with 10 developers but will expand to all developers within a month or two, will pay app creators based on user activity.

The focus is on users who not only spend a lot of time on the productivity apps provided by Box's OneCloud platform, but also draw in others by sharing files with people who are not Box users yet. Box already tracks how customers use various apps, so it's … Read more

Low Latency is a weekly comic on CNET's Crave blog written by CNET editor and podcast host Jeff Bakalar and illustrated by Blake Stevenson. Be sure to check Crave every Friday at 8 a.m. PT for new panels! Want more? Here's every Low Latency comic so far.

If you can't beat 'em, buy 'em.

OtterBox, which struggled for months to bring a waterproof iPhone case to market, has acquired rival LifeProof, which makes one of the best -- and best-selling -- tough iPhone cases.

Colorado-based OtterBox has been a leading case manufacturer for a variety of smartphones and tablets and has quickly grown to employ 650 people worldwide. LifeProof, based in San Diego and founded in 2009 by Australian Gary Rayner, employees 250 people.

OtterBox says those 250 employees are now "members of the OtterBox family and will remain in their San Diego location for … Read more

The pallet full of mystery boxes above could be filled with USB drives, keychains, or even snap bracelets, though it's a good bet it's shiny, expensive gadgets instead.

Google teased the rather nondescript, and otherwise unexciting collection of boxes on Google+ Friday afternoon, saying only "Boom. Chrome swag has arrived. #io13."

Whatever's inside is expected to be handed out to the 5,000 developers who signed up to attend Google I/O, which kicks off on Wednesday. In the past, Google has handed out a dizzying array of gadgetry to attendees, from Android phones to … Read more

Congrats to Ken W. of Tallahassee, Fla., for winning a Sonic Alert Sonic-connect 2 in last week's giveaway, and to Maher K. of Maple Grove, Minn., for winning a Grace Digital Ecoxbt Bluetooth speaker the week before that. This week's prize is for the HTC One owners out there.

HTC's new flagship smartphone has generated lots of buzz with its all-metal design and revamped, love-it-or-hate-it Sense user interface. CNET reviewer Brian Bennett calls the Android device "the fastest, most beautiful phone I've ever used," and if you're going to have a gorgeous phone, you're going to want gorgeous clothing for it. That's where our freebie comes in.

We're giving away a rugged OtterBox Defender Realtree Camo case with a built-in screen protector; damage defense from drops, bumps, shock, and impact; and a cool nature-inspired design that'll make it easy to blend in to your surroundings when you and your HTC One commune out in the woods.… Read more