pipe

Facebook file-transfer app Pipe goes wide Wednesday

Pipe, a peer-to-peer file-sharing app for Facebook along the lines of Dropbox, is set to launch for the public at large Wednesday, creating a simple way for people on the massive social network to share big files that, thus far, Facebook itself hasn't provided.

The Pipe app allows users to simply drag and drop a file for a friend to receive it directly.

"We've worked really hard to make Pipe this simple," Simon Hossell, founder and chief executive of Pipe, said in a statement. "We've made the technology invisible."

The company took its … Read more

The 404 1,222: Where we bust myths and eardrums (podcast)

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- Makerbong? 3D printing is getting stoned.

- Bloomberg's next ban may be loud headphones.

- A petition to change the national anthem to R. Kelly's 2003 hit "Ignition (Remix)."

- 404 Archive News: 404 Redditor fanbanlo posted a link to download 1,217 archived episodes of the show. Canoy took care of a search for all 404 episodes on CNET.… Read more

Simple puzzler gets challenging quickly as gameboards get bigger

Flow Free: Bridges is an easy-to-learn puzzler with satisfying touch-screen controls, but be ready for a challenge once you hit later levels.

Many people will remember Web-based pipe games where you connect pipes to complete a circuit so water can flow from a starting point to a goal. Flow Free: Bridges is a similar concept, but instead you're trying to connect multiple color-coded start and end points together without crossing the lines. Fortunately, there is an exception to the rule about crossing the lines, with bridge tiles you can make one pipe pass over another to get to the … Read more

Rotate and reorient pipes to solve the plumbing puzzle

In Plumber for Android, your job is to rotate and reorient pipes in order to get a water line to flow correctly. It's simple to play, but challenging to complete.

To play, just tap a pipe to rotate it. Each level is filled with disconnected pipes scattered across your screen, so in most cases, you'll have to tap away at dozens of pipes in order to create a continuous line. And to make things a bit more challenging, not all pipes are used to solve each level, which can leave you concentrating on a bunch of useless plumbing … Read more

Guide the water to Swampy!

Where's My Water? is a charming physics puzzler, in which you funnel clean water to the bathtub of a fastidious little alligator named Swampy.

Where's My Water? ranks among the better arcade puzzlers, sharing some similarities (fast-paced levels, an intuitive interface, and a winningly cartoony protagonist) but with a central schtick that's mostly all its own: you dig paths through dirt, creating channels for liquid to flow from one place to another. Ideally, you'll get enough clean water into a pipe to fill Swampy's tub, but along the way you have to contend with various … Read more

Guide the water to Swampy!

Where's My Water? is a charming physics puzzler, in which you funnel clean water to the bathtub of a fastidious little alligator named Swampy.

Where's My Water? ranks among the better arcade puzzlers, sharing some similarities (fast-paced levels, an intuitive interface, and a winningly cartoony protagonist) but with a central schtick that's mostly all its own: you dig paths through dirt, creating channels for liquid to flow from one place to another. Ideally, you'll get enough clean water into a pipe to fill Swampy's tub, but along the way you have to contend with various … Read more

The 404 866: Where we refrain from physical activity (podcast)

Today marks the beginning of a weekend spent indoors to escape the heat and the smell coming from a sewage plant in Harlem that's been spewing millions of gallons of untreated New York sewage into the Hudson River since last Wednesday. On today's episode, we're chatting about a mysterious similarity between the trailers for the new Spider-Man movie and Mirror's Edge, a pocket urinal solving a wee problem, and more tips on how to help Jeff's dad load songs onto his iPod.

The 404 Digest for Episode 866

Workers struggle to repair damaged sewage plant. John Mayer gives his dad iTunes help. New Spider-Man trailer may be ripping off Mirror's Edge. Go-Guy pocket urinal solves a wee problem. A video voice mail from Kokesh, creator of The 404 Show Title Generator!

Episode 866 Subscribe in iTunes (audio) | Subscribe in iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

Carriers try outflanking app stores with WAC

Nokia and Microsoft want to create a "third ecosystem" to rival the mobile phone realms built by Apple and Google--but carriers have an even broader alternative of their own.

Last year at the Mobile World Congress show, a group of them unveiled the Wholesale Applications Community. It's an effort to outflank native software and monolithic app stores with Web apps not tied as tightly to specific smartphones and available through a variety of conduits.

And this year at the show, they launched WAC.

"With the commercial launch of operator storefronts, handsets and applications, all based on … Read more

Updated: Aqueduct for iPhone

A couple of weeks ago, I put in my picks for the CNET 100 best iPhone apps (check out all the CNET editors' picks here). One title I chose, Aqueduct, continues to be a go-to game for me whenever I have a few moments.

For those who haven't played, Aqueduct combines the old sliding tile and pipeline types of games into an enjoyable and challenging puzzle experience with tons of levels to conquer. Unique board tiles add to the challenge with some that teleport your piece to a different part of the board and others that act as conveyor … Read more