fast

For SXSWi, Fast Society leaves no cork unpopped

Editor's Note: This is the second installment in a series about start-up Fast Society. Click here for the first part.

NEW YORK--The nightlife-heavy East Village neighborhood can, in fact, be very quiet and unassuming in daylight.

On this Saturday afternoon, for example, you'd never know that there was anything going on at White Noise, a bar hidden behind blacked-out windows in the space above a discount liquor store. Inside, it's Gilded Age excess meets glam rock sleaze, with black chandeliers holding red light bulbs, black vinyl couches with fake gold trim, and floor-to-ceiling velvet drapes framing dark … Read more

SXSWi: Where five days can seal a start-up's fate

NEW YORK--"It was like a black hole," Matthew Rosenberg, 28, says of the failure of his first company, eDopter. "It was the hardest thing I've ever done. Having a start-up and putting two years of your life into something and watching it fail is gut-wrenching."

eDopter, a trend-tracking start-up, launched in 2008 at a time of peak economic panic, when venture capital activity in New York was stagnant and, as Rosenberg and his co-founder Andy Thompson relate willingly, a prospective investor bailed in the middle of a lunch meeting because he saw what a … Read more

Empty folder search-and-destroy

How many empty folders are in your system? Leftovers from uninstalled programs, temporary folders that moved in to stay. Wouldn't it be great if someone wrote a simple tool that finds and deletes all that junk? Someone did: Fast Empty Folder Finder scans folders, directories, and entire drives for empty folders, displays them in a list with previews, and deletes those you select.

At 111.5KB, Fast Empty Folder Finder is compact, and since it's also portable freeware, it requires no installation but runs as soon as you click its executable file. It has a very simple but … Read more

Cover creator

Ever wish you could get a visual representation of what's in a folder on your computer? Now you can quickly and easily assign images to be displayed on folders in Explorer's thumbnail view with Fast Folder.JPG. This tiny app lets you customize your folders with a simple drag-and-drop process.

There are several ways to use Fast Folder.JPG, and all of them are easy. You can open the program, launching a small square interface. Onto this interface you can drag the folder you want to customize and, if there's only one image in it, the program … Read more

Free duplicate finder

Fast Duplicate File Finder is a free version of a shareware tool. If you've tried duplicate finders before and are still recovering, not to worry: Fast Duplicate File Finder uses advanced algorithms that compare the actual binary content of a wide range of file types, not just name, size, and other attributes that may or may not be accurate indicators of duplicate files. It can search not only for 100 percent duplicates but also for similar files based on a variable level of similarity. As with all duplicate file finders, we recommend checking carefully before you delete anything it … Read more

LaCie FastKey review: Fast, furiously expensive

What do you get when you put solid-state storage, USB 3.0 connectivity, and a thumb-size design together? Well, you'll get LaCie's FastKey.

This is a unique portable storage solution that uses the fastest technology in terms of storage type (solid state) and peripheral connectivity (USB 3.0). On top of that, the device is about the size of a large thumb drive but offers up to 120GB of storage space.

Unfortunately, for the quite obvious reasons stated above (namely is high-end functionality), it isn't cheap; the LaCie FastKey costs $475 for the 120GB version. The drive … Read more

CNET Labs' best performers of 2010

If you're curious about CNET's choices for the best overall products, there are more than enough editors' top 5 lists (in multiple categories and subcategories) located across the site to satiate you effectively; however, if performance is the only attribute that piques your interest, well, I'm here to help.

Throughout the year, CNET Labs tests hundreds of products, the results of which are used to fuel editors so that we actually have something to say during the review. Sure, a product's design and feature set are very important, but the meat of most reviews comes down … Read more

A hack on Big Mac

McDonald's has disclosed that one of its customer databases was hacked but insists that no financial information was stolen in the breach.

The fast food chain reported yesterday that the hacker was able to grab e-mail addresses, mailing addresses, phone numbers, birthdates, and other customer information of people who signed up online for special promotions. In a statement e-mailed to CNET, the company said that no credit card numbers, Social Security numbers, or other sensitive financial data were compromised.

McDonald's said it was informed of the breach by one of its business partners, Arc Worldwide, which had collected … Read more

Network congestion issues? Apple has you covered with iOS 4.2.1

Tests conducted by Nokia Siemens Networks confirmed that Apple has included support for the Network Controlled Fast Dormancy technology developed by Nokia to reduce network congestion and improve battery life in iOS 4.2.1.

The NCFD technology works by keeping smartphones in a perpetual "intermediate state" and "makes the network and the handset work together to create the best conditions for smartphones to work quickly, yet have a long battery life and minimize network congestion."

As smartphones continue to add functionality via Apps, the threat of constant signaling on networks from those Apps could cause … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 1360: Level 3 vs. Comcast: it's massive

On today's show, once the amazing Benito finally gets the studio in working order, we break down the Level 3 and Comcast battle--no matter how you slice it, it's still very, very, VERY bad for the Web. VERY. Also, Cyber Monday proves, once more, that marketing works. And NASA is apparently set to announce that aliens are walking among us. And we're just buying the Playboy hard drive collection for the storage. --Molly