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Yesterday, Sony added four new single-DIN in-dash receivers to its Xplod line of car audio equipment, replacing last year's CDX-GT line. The new CDX-GT650UI, CDX-GT550UI, CDX-GT350MP, and CDX-GT250MP will all be available in the coming weeks with prices ranging from $80 for the most basic GT250MP to $160 for the most fully-featured unit, the GT650UI.

The top-of-the-line CDX-GT650UI and CDX-GT550UI have USB ports on their faceplates to connect with iPods, iPhones, Sony's Walkman, and other USB mass storage devices, as well as analog auxiliary inputs. Both units also feature Sony's ZAPPIN, Quick-BrowZer, and Jump Mode search technologies … Read more

The latest version of Intuit's small business accounting software, QuickBooks 2011, focuses on the fact that time is money for entrepreneurs. With that in mind, the update offers a host of new features aimed at streamlining important accounting tasks. Namely, QuickBooks 2011 hopes to make invoicing and collecting payments even faster and easier than before.

The main updates for QuickBooks this year are found in the two most popular versions of the software, Pro and Premier. The first thing seasoned users are likely to notice is a vastly simplified start-up process, thanks to the new Quick Start Center feature, … Read more

Some fonts are better suited for certain projects than others, but it's not always easy to preview and compare fonts to make the best decision. FontViewOK is a lightweight font viewer that lets you do exactly that. It's nothing fancy, but it's a great way to easily see what fonts look like in a variety of styles.

The program's interface is plain, consisting mostly of just a list of fonts. You can enter custom text with which to preview the fonts, and can also see what the fonts look like bolded, italicized, struck-through, and underlined, as … Read more

SizzlingKeys is a free background app that lets you control iTunes playback with hot keys, even when you're in another application.

SizzlingKeys lets you program nine global hot keys: play/pause, previous and next track, volume up and down, show/hide iTunes, show playlists, search, mute, and the ingenious "Almost Mute," with a customizable Almost-Mute level. The app also lets you assign hot keys for rating tracks, and it will display an optional, temporary floating window (with the track info and art). You can also set SizzlingKeys to automatically launch iTunes when you press your play/pause … Read more

Fishbowl Inventory 2010 is an inventory control application that integrates with QuickBooks, the popular bookkeeping software. However, it can also be run as a standalone inventory management tool, making it especially suitable for distributors, wholesalers, delivery businesses, and even large operations such as manufacturing that maintain lean inventories for just-in-time operations. Among the features it packs are bar coding, parts tracking, shopping cart and Point-Of-Sale integration, multisite operations, administrative tools, and order management and tracking. Development kits, integrated hardware, and additional services are also available.

Fishbowl Inventory's installer lets you select or exclude the Manufacturing Option, which adds specific … Read more

MacFixIt Answers is a feature in which we answer questions e-mailed from our readers. This week we have questions on extending wireless networks with AirPort Express devices, new Macs not booting to a retail upgrade DVD for Snow Leopard, QuickTime not able to play some media files, and changing from the less secure WEP wireless security scheme to WPA or WPA2.

Question: Extending wireless networks with an AirPort express

MacFixIt reader "Mark" asks:

How can I get my Airport Express to act as a bridge (extend my Wi-Fi signal)? I only have a 2Wire (WEP password) router, and … Read more

CNET editors did not review the Samsung UNC6300 series, but we did review a similar series of Samsung LED-based LCD TVs, the UNC6500 series.

According to Samsung's Web site, the main difference between the two series is the presence of Samsung Apps in the UNC6500 models. The two series also have slightly different styling, one colored "stone black" and the other "graphite." According to one portion of Samsung's Web site, the UNC6500 is also 0.1 inch thinner than the UNC6300; however, according to another section of the site, they're the same thickness (… Read more

MacFixIt Answers is a feature where we answer questions e-mailed to us by readers. This week, we have questions on recovering accidentally deleted files, retrieving files off iPhones, where the QuickTime preferences went in Snow Leopard, and external drive compatibility with the Mac.… Read more

Intuit's several Web sites, including Quicken Online and QuickBooks Online, are back online following a major power outage that took the sites down Tuesday evening.

In a statement released Thursday morning, Intuit said that after working throughout the night on Wednesday it had restored service to the customer sites that were down since 7 p.m. PDT Tuesday as a result of the outage. Those sites include Intuit's core Web site, QuickBooks Online, Quicken, QuickBase, and TurboTax Online. Intuit advises that in some cases customers may need to refresh their browsers to reconnect to the affected sites and … Read more