adam

Paul Adams, Facebook's global head of brand design, announced Friday that he has left the social network to join startup Intercom, which makes a social customer relationship management tool.

Adams joined Facebook in early 2011 and led the social network's design and marketing projects for clients such as Starbucks and Nike.

Prior to Facebook, Adams spent four years on Google's user experience team, and worked on Gmail, the now-defunct Latitude and Buzz, and YouTube. He also helped dream up the idea behind Google+ Circles, a way to group friends, which was released only months after his departure. … Read more

Every week, we compile the best new reviews, products, and features from the Download.com software catalog and blog, package them up in a tidy little newsletter, and e-mail it out to all of our lovely subscribers.

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Top Download News and Features

For some audiophiles, Counting Crows and The Wallflowers will forever be associated with the mid-1990s--along with Netscape Navigator, Hotmail, and of course, Windows 95. But don't call their joint summer outing a nostalgia trip. Velvet-tongued Counting Crows vocalist Adam Duritz, hot off the heels of The Outlaw Roadshow (alongside a slew of new indie bands), prefers to view his comparatively intimate Wallflowers double bill as a much-needed respite.

Other than sharing a decade, the comradely combos have shared previous tours, a track (Duritz sang on The Wallflowers' "6th Avenue Heartache"), and even a producer (T-Bone Burnett, back … Read more

Lockheed Martin's ADAM laser weapon wants to step up its game.

In a series of tests in March and April, the prototype directed-energy system destroyed eight small-caliber rocket targets in flight at a range of approximately 1.5 kilometers (0.9 mile), Lockheed said Wednesday. The defense contractor described the targets as "free-flying Qassam-like rockets," making reference to the simple but deadly projectiles developed by the military arm of the Palestinian group Hamas.

You can see a video of one of those test-firings below.

The 2013 tests follow a series of trials in 2012 when the ADAM (… Read more

A Microsoft creative director who got into hot water in the wake of comments about the next Xbox is apparently no longer with the company.

"Sources close to the matter" revealed the news to gaming site Game Informer. The site also called Microsoft's main switchboard to confirm that Orth is no longer working at the company.

The anonymous sources say the former creative director resigned following the controversy he created last week with Twitter comments. But Game Informer hasn't learned whether Orth resigned voluntarily or was forced out.

Orth allegedly got into trouble last week after posting a series of tweets … Read more

"Always on" Internet connections haven't proved to be too popular when it comes to gaming lately -- yes, we're looking at you, Diablo III and SimCity.

But what about a gaming console that needs an Internet connection just to play games? Well, according Adam Orth, the creative director of Microsoft Studios, it's no big deal, and people should just deal with it. In fact, he'd like every device to be always on.… Read more

If you get the feeling someone is watching you, you may not be far off from the truth, though that "someone" may actually be a "something." As the popularity of drones for surveillance grows, so do privacy concerns for citizens just going about their daily business. Designer Adam Harvey has come up with a line of anti-drone clothing that is much more stylish than an aluminum foil hat.

The anti-drone clothes include a hoodie, a scarf, and a burqa. They are made with a metalized fabric designed to thwart thermal imaging. They work by reflecting heat and masking the person underneath from the thermal eye of a drone. The designs may hide you from certain drone activities, but they would definitely make you noticeable to people out on the street.… Read more

Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam cracked open the door to a full no-contract wireless world.

McAdam said it was "pretty easy" to change up the model to eliminate contracts, and added that he would watch the consumer response that T-Mobile gets from its recent decision to drop contracts and phone subsidies altogether. He indicated a willingness to follow suit if consumers start asking for it.

"I'm happy when I see something different tried," McAdam told reporters on the sidelines of an event to raise awareness for Verizon's "Powerful Answers" initiative today. "We … Read more

Twitter is continuing its recent overhaul of its executive ranks with the appointment of Adam Messinger as the company's new chief technical officer.

Messinger, who joined Twitter in 2011 as vice president of app development in the engineering department, revealed his new role at the company via his Twitter user profile. The move, which was first reported by AllThingsD, fills an executive position vacant since 2011 when Greg Pass left the company.

It wasn't immediately clear when this appointment occurred. CNET has contacted Twitter for more information and will update this report when we learn more.

Formerly responsible … Read more