lives

Galaxy S4's awkward tween messenger

CNET Update can't keep a secret:

Soon we will know the secrets of the Samsung Galaxy S4. Until the smartphone is unveiled on March 14, the young Jeremy Maxwell must keep the secret smartphone safe. (Wait, what?) Samsung's odd teaser video for the Galaxy S4 might leave you asking, "What was Samsung thinking?"

Other stories mentioned in Monday's tech news roundup:

- An indie film premieres exclusively on Xbox Live

- YouTube's iOS app can send videos to your TV

- The Socialmatic Camera will be made in 2014, with support from Polariod

- … Read more

Indie film 'Pulp' premieres exclusively on Xbox Live

Indie movie makers Adam Hamdy and Shaun Magher are bringing a full-feature comedy film to the Xbox Live -- exclusively.

The film, "Pulp," premiered today on Xbox Live. The comedy follows Tony Leary, a "nice-guy owner of Junk Comics," who assists police to help them bring to justice a gang of "Geordie criminals" who want to use another comic company to launder money. Leary is joined "by his trusty geek sidekicks," Rick and Keith.

Although "Pulp" might be a good movie in its own right, the big story behind the film is that it is premiering on Xbox Live. Although a slew of movies are available on Microsoft's service, none has shown first there -- until now.… Read more

The 404 1,217: Where it's kind of hot in these rhinos (podcast)

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- Discussion: Are you spoiling a movie for yourself by listening to the soundtrack before watching the movie? Inspired by Clint Mansell's new "Stoker" score available to stream.

- Discussion: Which programs are still shown in standard definition?

- The New York Times warns against sitting at work.… Read more

How the Copyright Alert System works

It's legal to share CNET Update:

If you use a peer-to-peer network like BitTorrent, then pay attention to today's Update video. I offer a quick explanation of what Internet service providers will be doing to discourage customers from sharing copyright-protected music, movies and television shows.

Also in Tuesday's tech roundup:

- Apps and websites are now letting users sign in with a Google+ account, as well as share activity with circles.

- Get ready to be annoyed by hundreds of new Internet domain extensions, like .cadillac, .vegas and .app.

- The Guardian reports that all games on … Read more

LivesOn: Twitter ghost keeps tweeting when you're dead

Death is never popular, even in social media: the poor guy behind @death on Twitter has zero followers.

You might think your online fans will lose interest when you kick the bucket, but an upcoming app says it will let you keep tweeting from beyond the grave.

LivesOn will host Twitter accounts that continue to post updates when users shed this mortal coil. … Read more

LivingSocial raises $110M in funding from current investors

LivingSocial has raised $110 million in funding from its current investors, Chief Executive Tim O'Shaughnessy wrote today in a memo to employees, giving the daily deals site a much-needed cash infusion.

"This investment is a tremendous vote of confidence in our business from the people who know us best, our current board members and investors," he said in a memo viewed by CNET. "They have reviewed our plans for 2013, and they are enthusiastic enough to want to commit additional financial resources through this round."

The financing followed a "competitive process" in which … Read more

Sony PlayStation event: Join us Wednesday (live blog)

Sony is widely expected to reveal the first details of its next game console later today.

The "PlayStation Meeting 2013" event will take place in New York at 3 p.m. PT/6 p.m. ET. CNET will offer both a live blog, with live analysis from myself, Roger Cheng, Scott Stein, and Jeff Bakalar, as well as a live video stream, featuring commentary from Brian Tong and Donald Bell both before and after the event.

While the actual details of the PlayStation 4 (and even its name) are still under wraps, some widely reported possible features include … Read more

Microsoft fine-tunes shift from Messenger to Skype

Microsoft is moving ahead with its aggressive plans to move users on its Messenger instant-messaging service to Skype.

Late last year, officials said to expect Microsoft to retire Messenger in all countries in the first quarter of 2013 with the exception of mainland China. The new timetable is slightly lengthier, but not much.

Officials are now saying they plan to discontinue Messenger for a "test group" comprising about one percent of the installed base of "tens of millions" on March 15. Starting April 8, Microsoft will begin phasing out Messenger for the remaining users, starting with … Read more

White House debuts 'enhanced' streaming for SOTU speech

The White House is debuting a new way to watch President Obama's State of the Union speech tonight -- it has created an "online-only enhanced" live stream that lets viewers both watch in real time and see different policy charts, stats, and data.

Obama mentioned the live stream on his Twitter page:

Watch Obama's #SOTU address with enhanced graphics, charts, and useful stats on his plan to keep us moving forward: OFA.BO/eJ9Z7k

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) February 12, 2013

This "enhanced" live stream seems to be geared toward people who don't have … Read more