icons

Review: Test your pop culture savvy with What's the Icon?

Our culture is filled with memorable, generation-defining icons, whether a logo from a popular company or a face from a classic TV show or comic book. It is with that in mind that you will play What's the Icon?, a game of memory or pop culture savvy that asks you to recognize the characters, logos, and silhouettes of the past and present.

The app has few menus but dives right into the action with level after level of icons and graphics that you must guess the names of. For each icon, there is a hangman-style letter guessing game in … Read more

Photo Icons (HD) 1.2 Review

Photo Icons HD is designed to provide the tools you need to create icons for your iPhone or iPad. The HD version of the app upscales the interface so you can see the full-sized version of the icon, add new backgrounds, borders, and images, and tweak it until it's ready for sharing. While not perfect, the app provides the basic tools you'll need to create rudimentary icons and buttons.

The interface for Photo Icons HD is very easy to use. Onscreen is a list of 11 options, each with a simple button. Tap each to bring up a … Read more

Photo Icons 1.2 Review

The purpose of Photo Icons is to provide you with enough tools to make any number of possible icon combinations. However, while the app is mostly effective, there are some glaring omissions, a limiting trial restriction, and a poorly-designed interface that will keep most users interested in the actual icons disinterested.

The app is very basic. Open it and you are presented with a list of 11 icons. The interface is messy so you'll need to skim through each of the buttons, some of which have typos and spelling errors. Tap any one of those buttons and a sidebar … Read more

Icon Pop Quiz 1.2.1 Review

Users who know a lot about pop culture may look for a game to test their knowledge. Icon Pop Quiz is well thought out, but its bugs and gameplay are problematic.

Even though it's available for free, Icon Pop Quiz requires coins for certain features, which can be purchased in batches. Despite being available through the Google Play store, the application took a long time to download. While the graphics in the menus were well designed, they were not intuitive. As a result, the lack of any user instructions was a problem. The constant presence of pop-up ads made … Read more

Twitter #Music off to a glitchy start

CNET Update is not a Belieber:

Twitter #Music launched, but it hasn't quite found the beat. Bridget Carey explains the new music-discovery tool and its bugs -- and how to avoid embarrassing judgements about your music taste.

Also in this tech rundown:

- Facebook's latest changes include icons in status updates and Open Graph on mobile.

- Google bans early Glass owners from selling or loaning out units. If that happens, Google will deactivate the Glass unit. Harsh.

- Adding to previous reports, an image of a plastic iPhone has been posted online.

- In a survey of … Read more

Apple wins patent for iOS app folders and 'jiggle mode'

Apple has finally won a patent for a system that lets iOS users more easily organize their apps.

Granted today by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the patent dubbed "Device, method, and graphical user interface for managing folders" describes the method used by iOS to let users create folders in which to store apps and activate the "jiggle mode" to move or delete them. Introduced in iOS 4, the technology outlined in the patent is pretty much the way iOS users know it today.

Holding down the icon for an iOS app causes all … Read more

Facebook is changing the News Feed

CNET Update never did beat Battletoads:

Facebook will unveil a new look for the News Feed on March 7, but we may have a hint at what's to come judging by the new profiles being tested in New Zealand (via The Next Web). And Google is also testing a new look with a navigation grid icon.

Other headlines from Friday's tech news roundup:

- Groupon's CEO was fired, but you should read his farewell memo to staff. He compares the challenges leading Groupon to getting through the difficult Battletoads video game without dying. We hear ya, Andrew. … Read more

Where to find hearts in OS X

With it being Valentine's Day, you might wish to send your significant other an amorous message or two, and while a card, flowers, or a box of chocolates may be the traditional ways to do so, sending a quick e-mail or chat message is not out of the question, either. Of course, you may wish to enhance said message with a heart or two. Sure, the first way that comes to mind would probably be to search the Web for an image you would like, but there are actually a couple of nice heart images buried in OS X … Read more

Facebook testing new status icons

Thursday's CNET Update talks about feelings:

Facebook has been busy coming up with new icons to share your moods. It's also launching a new type of gift card that can be assigned to different merchants before being mailed to friends. But make its own Facebook phone? Well that's just silly.

Also in this news roundup:

- Twitter tweaks photos and video viewing

- GameSpot: No Wii U price cut

- Foursquare reveals "best of" based on check-ins

Watch CNET Update in the video above, or subscribe to the podcast via the links below.

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How to remove the account picture in OS X

Separate user accounts in OS X allow the system to sequester data, settings, and other details for individual users. To identify user account, there are of course the long and short usernames for it, but in addition OS X includes an account picture that while not functional is aesthetically useful at the login window, in Mail and chat messages, among other aspects of the system.

The generic account picture in OS X is a gray silhouette on a darker gray background, that can be seen by enabling the Guest user account in the system, but other accounts are randomly assigned … Read more