zone

Google has launched a new service designed to get users in developing countries to access its core offerings.

Dubbed Free Zone, the service is launching first in the Philippines starting today. Users in that country will be able to access Google Search, Gmail, and Google+ from their mobile devices without incurring any data charges.

In an interview with Reuters published today, Google product manager AbdelKarim Mardini said that the service is designed to take aim "at the next billion users on the Internet, many of whom will be in emerging markets and encounter the Internet first on a mobile … Read more

ZoneAlarm has long been perhaps the most popular free firewall available, and millions have used it to block unwanted access to their computers. ZoneAlarm generally works well with antivirus software, too, but perhaps you'd be interested in a free antivirus solution that actually incorporates ZoneAlarm's firewall? That's CheckPoint's ZoneAlarm Free Antivirus Plus Firewall. ZoneAlarm Antivirus not only protects your system from unwanted intrusions, viruses, and other malware, but it also includes anti-phishing, site authentication, identity protection, and download management features. It's also available as a premium package. The free tool lacks the premium version's … Read more

BlueStacks's technology for running Android apps on Windows fuels a new way for people with AMD-powered computers to get Android apps on their Windows PCs, the two companies announced today.

AMD's new AppZone Player brings more than 500,000 Android apps to AMD-powered computers, and works on Windows 7 and Windows 8 now.

"This will unify the Win 8 and mobile ecosystems," wrote BlueStacks CEO Rosen Sharma in an e-mail to CNET explaining team-up. "Just by virtue of the size of the deal, it's started a giant ball rolling that will be difficult to … Read more

CareZone, a startup for organizing and sharing personal information, announced a promotion that grants free access to those with a family member with epilepsy.

Chief Executive Jonathan Schwartz, who previously led Sun Microsystems, said a partnership with the Epilepsy Foundation will match what CareZone has done with groups dealing with autism and Parkinson's disease.

(For a look at the executive and his views on Oracle, Apple, Amazon, and Intel, check CNET's accompanying Q&A with Schwartz.)

Schwartz hopes CareZone will catch on as a way to let people privately share information such as instructions for babysitters, emergency … Read more

Instead of leading 30,000 employees at a beleaguered Sun Microsystems, Jonathan Schwartz is now leading just a dozen at his new startup, CareZone

But Schwartz remains the same. True to the provocateur culture that helped keep Sun in the headlines despite a relatively small advertising budget, Schwartz clearly relishes holding forth about the trends that will separate the computing industry's winners and losers.

Among some opinions Schwartz shared in a recent interview: that Macs will once again seriously compete with Windows for PC market share, that Oracle lost a chance to innovate rather than just litigate in the … Read more

ZoneAlarm is making an aggressive move to attract new people to its line of security programs with what may be a first: a free antivirus program pre-packaged with a free firewall.

Available exclusively from Download.com today, ZoneAlarm Free Antivirus+Firewall 2013 (download) could very well make big waves in the free security-suite space. It's the same free firewall that ZoneAlarm has produced for years, but with basic antivirus and anti-malware tools included. It's basically ZoneAlarm Pro Antivirus+Firewall from last year, with an updated engine. And did I mention that it's free?

The free security suite … Read more

Former Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz says the idea for a health care site like CareZone had been germinating for about a decade.

But it wasn't until two years ago that he had some time to really devote to it. It was then that he and his good friend Walter Smith, one of the creators of the Apple Newton, sat down to talk about how they could make a difference in the lives of people who are caring for elderly parents or for children who have issues--people who want a safe place to store medical records and share access to … Read more

Let's start with this: Jonathan Schwartz knew that the sale of Sun Microsystems was inevitable.

Schwartz, you may recall, was Sun's last chief executive--the guy who, in 2006, inherited control of a trailblazing company that had seen better days. He was full of personality until his departure, which he announced in a haiku tweet, but he acknowledges that there wasn't much he could have done to reverse the slide that eventually led to Oracle's 2009 deal to buy the company for $7.4 billion.

Could Schwartz have slowed Sun's decline? Sure. But stopped it? Not … Read more

Whether you're an astronomy buff or a werewolf or have some other interest in the moon's phases, Moonphase is a simple desktop utility that might be of interest to you. This attractive program provides detailed information about the moon that's specific to your location, even noting which days are best for fishing according to what the moon's up to.

The program's interface is maybe a little cluttered at first glance, but it's fairly easy to figure out. On the left side, an attractive graphic provides a realistic depiction of the moon in its current … Read more