syncing

Read It Later goes free, becomes Pocket

Meet Pocket, the successor to the megapopular short-term bookmarking tool Read It Later. Just as simple and platform-compatible as Read It Later, this new incarnation adds extra features and shows off a completely redesigned interface.

If you're not familiar with Read It Later, it's an incredibly convenient app that's useful in countless scenarios. Say you're on your morning commute and you come across a lengthy article that you can't quite (or don't want to) finish reading. Just add it to your RIL list, and go back to it later. Or say you come across … Read more

LogMeIn launches Cubby: File sync and share done right

Dropbox. It's the Apple of Web storage companies. It's got a clan of fanboys who swear by it. And for good reason: It's simple to use and has some strong features. It's also one of the least flexible products among its competitors.

Holdouts (like me) who want the capability to sync files outside of Dropbox's walled garden -- the Dropbox folder on your desktop -- have to look to other products. Likewise, people who want to store or sync more than 100GB of files.

Personally, I've been using SugarSync, which does two things right: … Read more

Samsung SyncMaster S23A750D review: The dark mirror of monitors

Yes, the Samsung SyncMaster S23A750D supports Samsung's proprietary active shutter 3D, but forget about that for a minute. What you should really focus on is its movie and games performance.

Now, not everyone loves glossy screens. As I mentioned before, they can get uber-reflective, particularly during sunny days, and movies or TV shows or games with lots of dark scenes can suffer as a result.

However, the payoff of watching movies on the S23A750D under proper lighting conditions (i.e. at night) is worth any difficulties that sunny days bring.… Read more

Apple secures 17 patents, including wireless sync

Apple has secured 17 new patents.

The patents, which were first discovered by Patently Apple, include a host of technologies, such as digital-camera calibration and the way in which a computing device boots under a single security model. Even Apple's iPod Shuffle design, boasting an ultrasmall footprint, control buttons at the top, and a clip underneath, has been cleared for the company to own.

One of the more notable patents Apple has been granted is one related to wireless synchronization. Dubbed "Wireless synchronization between media player and host device," the patent allows Apple to add content to … Read more

How to privately stream video with VLC for Windows

VideoLAN (VLC) is an awesome media player that offers many features to its users for no cost. One of these features is the ability to stream videos across the same network. The steps are a little lengthy your first time through them, but are totally worth the time. So here's how to watch a synced video at home or work so everyone can enjoy it at the same time.

If you don't already have it, you can download VLC for free.

Setting up the server:

Step 1: Open VLC and then open the Media menu. Select Stream … Read more

HTC buys stake in streaming video company SyncTV

HTC has added streaming video to its recent lineup of investments.

In an effort to expand its mobile offerings for consumers, the handset maker has bought a 20 percent chunk of SyncTV, a unit owned by Intertrust. SyncTV is a cloud-based service that can stream video over the Internet to a variety of platforms, such as iOS, Android, Windows Phone, Xbox, and Internet-enabled TVs.

As part of the deal, HTC has also licensed several of Intertrust's patents, mostly in the area of digital rights management. SyncTV uses an open-source DRM called Marlin that lets manufacturers include the service in … Read more

Add-on sync comes to Firefox 11

Add-on sync and two new developer tools are the hallmarks of today's update to Firefox.

The stable version of the browser that you can download now, Firefox 11 (download for Windows | Mac | Linux) allows you to mirror the same add-ons across multiple desktops. While it's true that Google Chrome has been able to sync add-ons since late 2010, its implementation has been notably uneven. It'll be interesting to see how well Firefox handles it. You can toggle add-on synchronization from the Sync tab in the Options window.

A Mozilla representative told CNET that there would be no … Read more

Samsung's AllShare Play pushes pictures from phone to cloud and TV

Here at Samsung's product showcase in New York, multimedia connectivity played a big role. The company talked up its rebranded AllShare Play technology, not to be confused with Google Play, which was previously called AllShare.

Essentially AllShare Play allows owners of Samsung tablets and smartphones, Samsung Galaxy Tabs and Galaxy Nexus devices for instance, to push media files such as pictures to servers in the cloud. Samsung says it will save up to 5GB of data for users of the free AllShare Play service. … Read more

Ford ushers in era of software upgradable car (video)

Very few people change the performance software on sport cars, but today Ford showed people that upgrading a car's software can be as routine as installing computer updates. The company is shipping owners of its cars with the MyFord Touch infotainment system a USB drive that changes the look and performance of the screens that access navigation, entertainment, climate control, and communications.

CNET got an exclusive look at this update when Ford's Director of Electronic Systems Engineering Jim Buczkowski stopped by to show us how it is done. After plugging in the USB drive, the car's infotainment … Read more

SugarSync for Android gets better at sharing

As one of Dropbox's primary competitors, it's no surprise that SugarSync is pushing hard to step it's game up. Announced yesterday, the popular file-syncing service in the cloud has upgraded its Android app with a few sharing and file-management enhancements that are certainly worth a look.

First, users can now share files or even entire folders through Facebook and Twitter. Previously SugarSync was only able to share to your contacts, but now the app makes it easy to create a link and post it directly to your social networks. While it is a welcome addition to SugarSync'… Read more