friend

Google+ for iOS is a clean and intuitive mobile app that has all of the powers of its desktop counterpart, save for the games and a few other minor features. The latest version brings Events and Hangouts to the iPhone, while the iPad gets Hangouts as well as a stunning, tiled Home screen that's optimized for the larger screen.

Home What used to be called Stream is now simply your Google+ Home screen. This is the lifeblood of Google+. With the little drop-down at the top, you can choose to show feeds from All Circles, Nearby, What's Hot (… Read more

So, how difficult is it to make a low-power-consumption monitor? Well, if this list is any indication, not very. However, among the lowest of low-power-consumption monitors, there's usually one common factor: Twisted Nematic (TN) panels.

Any company can make a low-power-consumption TN-based monitor, though, so a list consisting of only TN monitors would be pretty boring. What would be slightly less boring is a list consisting of In-Plane Switching (IPS) monitors that draw relatively small amounts of power to function. That is a list to get somewhat more excited about. So, I've decided to make that list.

To be clear, the difference you'd pay per year running these things -- using our formula -- is small in the grand scheme of things.

Still, I thought it would be interesting to see just how low IPS monitors can go.… Read more

Gone is the dashboard of icons that once greeted you upon opening Google+ for Android. Now, you can zip around the app with a sliding navigation ribbon on the left of the screen. This gives you easier access to your Stream, Profile, Messenger, Hangout, Photos, and Circles. As a whole, the app is easy to use and just as intuitive as its desktop counterpart.

Home What used to be called Stream is now simply your Google+ Home screen. This is the lifeblood of Google+. With the little drop-down at the top, you can choose to show feeds from All Circles, … Read more

Matching with Friends (2.99, full version - Free, ad-supported version) is another in a long line of Zynga apps that let you play turn-based games with a friend on mobile devices. But instead of playing word games loosely based on Hangman, Scrabble, or Boggle, this time you'll be strategically placing matching colored blocks on a gameboard, then sending your move to a friend.

Like other Zynga games, Matching with Friends makes getting connected with your friends easy. Upon launch you'll be asked to sign in through either your Facebook or Twitter account. Once logged in, you can search for other players from your friends list or get automatically matched with a random player.… Read more

Instagram is a free and fairly simple photo enhancement app that requires only a couple of touches to produce great-looking images. But what's really special about Instagram are the sharing capabilities that let you tell the story of your life through photos.

Start by signing up with Instagram with an e-mail address, username, and password. From there you can configure Instagram to autopost to Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Tumblr, Foursquare, and Posterous, or just choose to share images from within the app or via e-mail. You can also turn any of these options on or off if you don't … Read more

Break off a piece of that BlackBerry and friend some strangers on Facebook:

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion has long been struggling to turn the company around. With thousands of layoffs ongoing, it could be time for the company to try something drastic. One report says RIM is considering spliting itself into two companies by diving the messaging network from the hardware side, and possibly selling the hardware division. RIM didn't comment on specifics of this report by The Sunday Times. But RIM did say it is examining a wide-range of strategies. Perhaps new BlackBerry 10 devices can shake … Read more

Facebook has quietly removed a controversial feature that would let users on mobile devices find other Facebook users nearby, even if they weren't friends with them on the popular social network.

That feature, which Facebook said it was "testing" with users in a roll-out yesterday, became the topic of controversy earlier today when a company called Friendthem accused Facebook of stealing the idea. In a release provided to CNET and other outlets, Friendthem's CEO said the company was mulling a lawsuit.

A Facebook spokesperson declined to comment on the removal of the feature. In an earlier … Read more

-Facebook quietly adds creepy "Find Friends Nearby" feature.

-Apple no longer claims immunity from viruses on its Web store.

-New site "weknowhatyouredoing.com" tracks Twitter and posts incriminating patterns.

-Hot Toys' Joker action figure is serious...ly amazing.

-No one watches TV, Nielsen, and you know it.… Read more

Last update: 11:10 a.m. PT

Facebook's new feature that helps users discover who's around them is a stolen idea, according to a company that's been offering a similar service for the past year.

The chief executive at Friendthem, a service that shows users others who are nearby based on geo-location, says that his company got there first, and even discussed the idea with a company executive earlier this year.

"I was amazed on Sunday to read that Facebook is blatantly stealing our idea with what they are calling, 'Find Friends Nearby,' Charles Sankowich, Friendthem'… Read more