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U.S. Navy uses laser to take down drone

CNET Update is powering up the laser cats:

Lasers are coming soon to a battleship near you. The U.S. Navy posted a video of a laser weapon that set fire to a drone, and it plans to put one on a ship by the end of the year. One shot of energy from the laser costs about $1.

Also featured in this tech roundup:

- The Galaxy Note 8 is an impressive 8-inch tablet that's tripped up by a $400 price tag. But if you like a stylus, you might not mind that it's more expensive than … Read more

Tumblr rolls out its newfangled Android app

Tumblr launched its redesigned Android mobile app today, making some major upgrades over its last version.

"Tumblr for Android just got a total face-lift," the company wrote in a blog post today. "We've completely redesigned the interface, added fancy post animations, made images pop, and a whole lot more."

The app, which is available on Google Play, has an entirely new "post anything" screen that lets users share photos, videos, quotes, chats, links, and text with one tap. The intuitive interface also gives users the option of advanced controls like saving drafts, queuing … Read more

Tumblr preps release of ads in mobile apps

Tumblr will help advertisers reach more of the 165 million people who use the service by soon making sponsored content viewable to its growing mobile audience.

Derek Gottfrid, Tumblr's vice president of product, told Bloomberg that the New York-based company will allow in the first half of this year businesses to promote their Tumblr updates and blog sites on mobile.

Tumblr, which was founded in 2007 and maintains nearly 100 million blog sites, is still new to the advertising game. The company first started selling ads to select clients on a limited basis in March 2012. The startup offers … Read more

Tumblr traveling to a town near you

Jeremy Kressmann has the enviable position of being able to travel the world on Tumblr's dime.

Kressmann, whose unbelievable job title is actually "travel and tourism evangelist," was hired by the blogging company in January as part of an ambitious expedition to get to know members with particular passions.

Kressmann, a regular voyager with a writer's resume, joins Tumblr's arsenal of evangelists for fashion, gaming, music, and other specialized subject matters. Each is tasked with getting to know the communities they've been assigned to and amplifying the best voices therein.

"Tumblr is a … Read more

Zendesk hack snares user data from Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest

At a time when it seems no company is immune from hackers, user information from three high-profile social-networking sites has been compromised due to a hack at another company.

Customer support service Zendesk revealed today that it had been the victim of a security breach and that information from three of its clients had been downloaded. As first reported by Wired, those three clients are Twitter, Pinterest, and Tumblr.

Zendesk revealed the hack in a company blog post today that said the vulnerability was immediately identified and patched:

Our ongoing investigation indicates that the hacker had access to the support … Read more

Facebook grabs most attention among social sites

The U.S. population is enamored with Facebook. The social network ranked as the top Web destination in December 2012, with a 10.8 percent share of total time spent online during the month, according to analytics firm ComScore.

ComScore, which today published a white paper on digital trends, found that while Google sites commanded the largest audience in December, 191.4 million people in the U.S. to be exact, Facebook continues to demand the most attention.

In addition to edging out Google properties, which collectively managed to garner 10 percent of time online, Facebook also accounted for 5 … Read more

Tumblr avoids porn label and adds mature rating to iOS app

Tumblr looks to be trying to avoid the porn-war that recently harangued the 500px photo app and Twitter's Vine app.

The microblogging company threw up a 17-and-over age warning for its iOS app for all new users and any people updating their app to the 3.2.4 version, which was released today.

"You must be at least 17 years old to download this app," Tumblr writes in its description of the app in the iTunes App Store, because it contains "Frequent/Intense Sexual Content or Nudity."

The app's upgrade says only that it … Read more

Tumblr makes blog post creation faster and easier

Tumblr is making it easier for bloggers to blog. The site began rolling out its revamped Dashboard today, which lets users create entire posts without leaving the page.

"It's a step toward making the Dashboard a smaller and more streamlined experience," a Tumblr spokesperson told The Verge. " With this new way to create a post, the Dashboard has become a single experience. Now you're making posts the same way you're reading them."

Before the revamp, users often had to go to new pages when creating blog posts. Now, users can pop in text, … Read more

Tumblr's next step: Become a real business

LAS VEGAS--Tumblr sits alongside the Internet elites in terms of audience, but the 5-year-old blogging medium has lagged far behind the likes of Facebook and Twitter in the money-making department. That could all change in 2013 as the social site pushes forward on a more aggressive strategy to get big brands to pay top dollar to reach its highly influential community.

Derek Gottfrid, vice president of product at Tumblr, told CNET that the company has seen a ton on inbound interest on its Tumblr Radar and Spotlight ad units, first launched in limited release in May of last year.

"… Read more