suite

I bought a PSP Go a year ago. Why? Because I believed the PSP could transform, become something more than it's been. Perhaps, even, achieve the promise I first felt when I held the very first PSP in my hands back in 2005. It was a magical device back then. It drew crowds, turned heads. Waiters and subway riders wanted to know what it was that I was holding, how they could buy one. My parents were fascinated. Friends wanted to hold it. A Sony portable device hasn't achieved that original PSP magic since--certainly not once the iPhone … Read more

It might not be long before Sony turns its back on iTunes, if a new report from Australia's The Age proves to be accurate.

According to the publication, Sony is working hard on on getting its Music Unlimited streaming service to catch on with customers. Michael Ephraim, head of Sony Computer Entertainment in Australia, said that as the service is rolled out around the world and it starts to gain popularity, it might be time for Sony to think twice about its partnership with Apple and iTunes.

"If we do [get mass take up] then does Sony Music … Read more

The fall months may be the season for colder weather and dying leaves, but in the software world it means major updates for security suites. We've reviewed and benchmarked 11 suites, organized them along the traditional line of cost, and picked one in each category that we highly recommend.

We looked at four updated free security options: AVG Anti-Virus Free 2011, Panda Cloud Antivirus 1.3, Microsoft Security Essentials 2, and Ad-Aware Free Internet Security 9. Other well-known free security programs, such as Avast and Avira, generally update in late winter or spring, so they were not included.

AVG … Read more

It's not easy to keep up with social networking sites, especially when you don't share the same information across them. You might use Twitter for business and post more personal information on Facebook, or you might want to share something on your WordPress blog that you don't necessarily want on LinkedIn. HootSuite is a handy extension for Google Chrome that lets you easily share updates, links, and images on multiple social networking sites, but only when and where you choose.

The extension appears in Chrome as an icon to the right of the address bar. Users can … Read more

The bottom line: Webroot's updates for 2011 needed to overhaul the program to keep it relevant, and on that count the company succeeded. The competitive feature set in Webroot Internet Security Complete 2011 might mitigate its midrange efficacy and performance scores for some, but the noisy firewall will drive all but the biggest Webroot fans batty.

Review:

Security suite maker Webroot, best known for its Spy Sweeper program, finally has released the long-delayed upgrades to its PC security programs, updating its line in a bid to make it more competitive and relevant in an increasingly crowded security field. Webroot … Read more

People serving in the U.S. military now have their own Web site where they can upload, share, and watch videos.

Announced yesterday, the new MilTube site has been set up as a safer, more secure alternative to YouTube, with content protected behind firewalls. As such, it's designed to serve the interests of military personnel who want to share videos but also satisfy the concerns of the Department of Defense (DOD), which has never been comfortable with access to commercial social network and sharing sites.

"Video is an extremely powerful tool for storytelling and sharing information among personnel,&… Read more

ZIP files are a great way to compress larger files into a format that's easy to store and share. Although Windows comes with a utility for creating ZIP files, it's pretty basic and doesn't offer a lot of options. ZipGenius Suite is a full-featured program that lets users easily create, edit, and share ZIP files.

The program's interface is plain and intuitive, with large, graphical buttons across the top. The opening screen lets users go straight to the program's major features, which include creating a new archive, opening an existing archive, extracting files from an … Read more

Twitter is trying out a new feature to display ads, or promoted tweets, directly in a user's Twitter stream, but the company admits it's watching carefully to see how people react.

The site expanded its "promoted tweets" feature yesterday, starting slowly by displaying the ads only for those who use HootSuite, a third-party Twitter client. Promoted tweets are tweets that advertisers pay to show to a large number of people, similar to the way advertisers pay for sponsored links that appear among search results at Google.

Those who access Twitter through HootSuite will begin to see … Read more

As I noted in a tweet yesterday, Microsoft's Office unit has scheduled an event for Tuesday in San Francisco. But folks hoping that the company is ready to move its productivity software to the iPad may be disappointed.

Instead, I'm hearing that the event will likely be focused on Microsoft's hosted online services, which today center around the awkwardly named Business Productivity Online Suite, a bundle of hosted Exchange and SharePoint. ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley says the next version is in testing and may also be getting a less cumbersome name--possibly the moniker "Union." (… Read more