The Download Blog

Someone in Japan plays Mozart and you are there!

Smule has quickly become my favorite iPhone app developer.

It's not that their apps have been particularly useful, but they're the ones I get the most excited about. From Sonic Lighter to Sonic Boom and Sonic Vox, these guys are IMO currently the masters of fun, cool, quirky iPhone apps.

Now they're going completely bohemian with their latest release, Ocarina. According to Smule, this is the first true musical instrument for the iPhone with no precompiled riffs.

By simply blowing into your iPhone's mic you'll create sound, and by holding the "holes" on the screen you'll be able to create music. After some practice, that is.

You have the option of choosing between modes including Dorian, Lydian, or my personal favorite--Zeldarian. With Zeldarian, you'll be able to play the Zelda theme from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Smule's site teaches the basics, from how to hold your new instrument to how to lightly blow. It even has an online score generator that lets you translate music into Smule's Ocarina language by telling you the proper fingering to create the song you want.

By far my favorite feature, though, is the ability to listen to other people playing all over the world in real time. There's just something really cool about being able to hear a guy in Japan play Mozart from a world away.

Ocarina is available from the App Store for 99 cents.

This simple executable will sound an alarm through your laptop's speakers when certain activities occur, helping to thwart laptop theft. Laptop Alarm's four-check-box interface takes seconds to set. An option pop-up is as easily set to control mouse sensitivity and set a program password.

Operating Laptop Alarm is a snap. Users merely run the executable and set the alarm to sound if the laptop loses power, the system is shut down or logged off, if the USB mouse is unplugged, or if the mouse moved. Testers found the program accurate with no false alarms. There's no method to alter the alarm sound, and users aren't given the opportunity to enter the program password before the alarm goes off.

Laptop Alarm performs well and as expected, but it doesn't run in the background and must be reset each time you want to use it. Leaving your computer is not an action we'd recommend, but this freeware may at least hurt the ears of a potential laptop thief.

The popular Outlook extension Xobni is getting hooks into additional data sources. The service, which to date has given users historial detail about the people they communicate with in e-mail, is now extending its lookup to more social networks and other data sources.

Now, when a user is viewing a person's record, in addition to showing the user the Outlook history, it will also look up communications with that person on Yahoo Mail, and let you connect with them on Skype.

More interesting, I think, is its expanding hooks into social networks: In addition to its previous LinkedIn support, it will now troll through Facebook and return information about a highlighted user, such as their recent status message and picture.

The product can also look up the company the contact is affiliated with on Hoovers, and display that info in your sidebar.

Although Xobni now grabs data from more sources, it is still only a tool for users of Outlook. I've heard that support for Web e-mail (Google and Yahoo) is coming.

Read previous Xobni coverage.

Xobni will now look up data on your contacts' employers.

It will also give you their e-mail history from Yahoo Mail as well as Outlook.

Last week I learned of mobile video-broadcasting application Bambuser. Since then, I've compared it side-by-side with its direct competitor, Qik. The similarities between the two are more than skin deep: both turn the cell phone's camera into a live recorder and stream the video online, both allow viewers to chat with the videographer by flashing the message on the screen, and both are currently in development mode.

While Qik, in beta, comes out the clear winner in interface, features, privacy, and performance, Bambuser, in alpha, offers three reasons to keep paying attention: geotagging, support for Web cams, and social network tie-ins.

Qik on BlackBerry.

(Credit: Qik)

Qik's more sophisticated application does let you ping Twitter when you record, but the jury is out on additional networks. In contrast, Bambuser's online settings already let you integrate with Jaiku, Pownce, Tumblr, Friendfeed, and Identica. Bambuser can also automatically geotag videos from Symbian phones or manually place you on a map online if you're using Windows Mobile.

In addition to harnessing the phone's camera, Bambuser can also configure your Web cam to stream your video live if your subject or stage is stationary--a litter of puppies, for instance, or your own face.

Qik has the better product and handset reach, but it could stand to learn from Bambuser's flexibility and warmer social skills. They could both work on expanding their mobile applications to make it easier to publish videos to a variety of outside sources, and to add greater context both before and after streaming the video.

I'm thinking of something along the lines of Juicecaster's rich photo- and video-sharing service, which wouldn't stray from the livecasting that makes these apps so ripe for generating instant newscasts and fly-on-the-wall videos.

Want to try Bambuser or Qik for yourself? Check your phone's compatibility here with Qik or Bambuser.

Updated at 6:15 p.m. PST with Microsoft and McAfee comment, at 5:30 p.m. with Sophos comment, and at 4:40 p.m. with customer comment.

Windows Live OneCare logo

(Credit: Microsoft)

Microsoft on Tuesday said it is changing its strategy for offering PC antivirus software, with plans to discontinue its subscription-based consumer security suite and instead offer individuals free software to protect their PCs.

Code-named Morro, the new offering will be available in the second half of 2009 and will protect against viruses, spyware, rootkits, and Trojans, the company said in a statement.

With the arrival of Morro, Microsoft plans to stop selling the Windows Live OneCare service, although the two services are not identical. Morro lacks OneCare's non-security features, such as printer sharing and automated PC tuneup. Morro will, however, use fewer resources than the subscription-based offering, making it better suited to low-bandwith systems and less powerful PCs.

Microsoft decided to switch to a free product because there are still so many PCs out there that lack any antivirus software.

"Because they're not concerned about malware, the number of people who don't have antivirus software or don't keep it up to date exceeds 50 percent in developed markets, and it's worse in emerging markets," Amy Barzdukas, senior director of product management for the Online Services and Windows Division at Microsoft, said in an interview. "Live OneCare was tailored for developed markets with broadband...and it's not meeting the needs of a lot of customers."

Asked why the company wouldn't just offer both the free and subscription versions, Barzdukas said: "Having core anti-malware at no charge for consumers, we believe, we will protect more consumers that way." Consumers who want more than the features Morro will offer have "fine alternatives from third parties" to buy, she added.

Despite the fact that McAfee stands to lose paying customers to Microsoft's new free software, McAfee spokesman Joris Evers said the news signaled a defeat for Microsoft.

"Consumers have voted; OneCare, in its two years on the market, has achieved less than 2 percent market share," he said in an interview. "Microsoft is giving up and has defaulted to a dressed-down freeware model that does not meet consumer security needs. This is good news for McAfee."

Barzdukas dismissed the notion that Microsoft was responding to market share or competitive pressures. "If the current approach isn't working... (as far as protecting consumers broadly) we need to go with a new approach," she said.

Asked if Microsoft would ever consider bundling the security features into Windows, Barzdukas said: "I can't foresee such a time."

Representatives from Symantec could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos, said the news doesn't impact his security firm because it focuses on the enterprise market.

"I think this announcement may cause some sleepless nights for the chiefs at McAfee and Symantec--they've always done well out of the consumer anti-virus market, and with tougher financial times ahead of them (they) won't be pleased to see the possibility of that evaporating further," he wrote in an e-mail response to questions.

Microsoft had been selling Windows Live OneCare for $49.95 per year, which covered up to three PCs and offered centralized backup and optimization features in addition to security capabilities.

Windows Live OneCare will continue to be sold for Windows XP and Vista via retailers through June 30, 2009, and direct sales will be gradually phased out as Morro becomes available. "Microsoft will ensure that all current customers remain protected through the life of their subscriptions," the statement said.

Morro, which will be available for download over the Internet, will work on Windows XP, Windows Vista, and the upcoming Windows 7.

The news frustrated OneCare customer Cas Purdy who complained on Facebook: "I just paid for OneCare. I'm kind of bitter."

Purdy, who heads up public relations at security firm Websense, said in a follow-up phone interview that he paid for his OneCare subscription a few weeks ago for his home laptop. Websense does not compete with Microsoft on consumer software.

"I'm all for a free tool but given that I just paid for it...we'll see," he added.

Microsoft's Barzdukas said customers can get refunds if they feel they are owed them. "We will absolutely do the right thing by our customers, and if the customer wants to call our free phone support line we'll make sure they are happy," she said.

A posting on the Windows Live OneCare Team Blog has a detailed FAQ for customers.

Microsoft started selling OneCare in May 2006, three years after signaling its intent to enter the security software market with its purchase of Romania's GeCad.

Although OneCare received only mixed reviews, it significantly shook up the security software market, resulting in generally lower prices.

The software maker has also started selling its Forefront line of security software for businesses and indicated at its Microsoft Online launch on Monday that it plans to expand its lineup of hosted security services.

CNET News' Ina Fried contributed to this report.

The new version of Safari, which was largely a security update and released last week, includes a new configuration option saying: "Warn when visiting a fraudulent website". It is configured to be on by default. So far, Apple is not talking about the enhancement, nor is there any documentation on the Safari site.

CNET tested the updated Safari 3.2 for Windows on various newly reported phish sites listed on DSLreports and PhishTank, and found none produced a warning. It could be that the phish sites being tested were not yet reported to the Google database or that the antiphishing update hadn't made it locally to our Safari browser for blocking.

According to Ryan Naraine at ZDNet, the alert displays standard language. It also includes two links, one to Google's explanation of a phishing site, the other to a Google Report an Error page.

Apple uses standard language when blocking a suspected phishing site.

(Credit: ZDNet)

Apple is the last of the major browser vendors to offer antiphishing protection.

Microsoft uses its own antiphishing and anti-malware tool for Internet Explorer; Mozilla uses a combination of tools, including Google, for Firefox; Opera uses Haute Secure to provide bogus site warnings to end users; and Google uses its own antiphishing technology within its Chrome browser.

A new Firefox extension aptly named "Flash Game Maximizer" is a must-have for any Flash game enthusiast. It does one thing, and does it well: letting you toggle between standard- and full-screen modes on any game--regardless of whether it has been coded with such an option.

Considering that Flash games are hosted all over the place, and rarely with a ubiquitous user interface, you're likely to run into a good number of them that must be played in whatever space they've been given on a Web page. With Flash Game Maximizer, however, you don't have to worry about this at all.

Once the extension has been installed, you'll get a new button on the bottom-right corner of your browser that turns yellow when it detects Flash. Clicking it resizes the game to fit your browser window. A slight caveat here is that it completely restarts whatever Flash module is on the page, which on most games means losing any progress.

Because Flash Game Maximizer is an "experimental" extension, you will need to log in to Mozilla's add-on site to download it.

If you're a Flash game enthusiast, I wholeheartedly recommend giving this a go. It works on my personal favorite, Totem Destroyer, as well as on Desktop Tower Defense.

Flash Game Maximizer turns almost any Flash game window into a full-screen affair, regardless of whether the developer made it an option. (click to enlarge)

(Credit: CNET Networks)

You and your geek friends may love trolling the Mozilla site for Firefox add-ons, but the lineup on the site can be overwhelming. To simplify the add-on market, Mozilla has just launched Fashion Your Firefox, a tightly edited version of the add-on library with a very simple installer.

The catalog contains nine categories, such as "Finder and Seeker" and "News Junkie," each with fewer than five add-ons. If you want products in the list, you can select several. When you're done making choices, you can install them all at once, instead of one at a time as you have to do with the standard add-on directory.

Add-ons for the Fashion Your Firefox lineup are chosen by Mozilla staffers, based on their evaluations of functionality and ease of use, taking into account proven popularity.

I found the Fashion Your Firefox store extremely easy to use, but far too limited. On the other hand, the default add-on directory is a bit overwhelming for newbies. I hope to someday see a mama bear directory that is more comprehensive yet still easy to use.

And as long as I'm on the topic, I propose that Mozilla allow add-on developers to charge for their products through the Mozilla store. According to the announcement for Fashion Your Firefox, over 1 billion add-ons have been downloaded. If downloads continue apace, and even if only a small percentage of the add-ons are paid, that's a lot of potential revenue for developers.

No time to shop for add-ons? Use this edited selection.

See also: Foxiewire, and Download.com's Add-on directory.

USB drives are simple to carry, but easy to misplace, and that can be risky when it comes to sensitive information. Rohos Mini Drive is a freeware app that safeguards personal documents by creating a password-protected partition on your flash drive. The download actually installs two programs: one, Rohos Mini Drive, is the partition manager that self-installs as a portable app on the drive when you create the partition; the second, Rohos Disk Browser, is a portable file manager, which can be useful when the encrypted partition can't be read by the host computer.

Operating Rohos Mini Drive is fairly straightforward. Plug in your portable drive and start the program. You should see three choices: Set up USB flash drive, Change password, and Options. Setting up the drive requires choosing a password--that's it. Depending on the size of the drive, creating the partition should happen reasonably quickly. Once the partition has been created, you can change the disk size and partition drive letter. The Rohos Disk Browser displays and manipulates items in the protected partition. Single-click functions include opening, saving, deleting, and displaying file properties. Searching and opening the partition is also easily selected from a short pull-down menu.

Rohos Mini Drive includes features to open the protected drive on systems where the user doesn't have administrator rights. That makes this app easy to use anywhere, from public library labs to your best friend's system.

Not bad. Thanks, Google.

The new voice-activated Google Mobile app for the iPhone is finally here. Whatever the reason for the delay, it was worth the wait. As we wrote last week, the search app knows when you bring the phone to your face to speak into it. It beeps, you talk, and it executes a Google search on what you said. (If you're using a headset, you have to press a button. You can type in your queries, too, if you want.)

It is freakishly accurate. It's not perfect, but it's extremely good. Good enough to be used frequently, I'd say, although this review is based on only 15 minutes of experimentation.

I searched for names of people I know, businesses nearby, airline information, and other miscellaneous data. The service bungled one nearby restaurant, but got everything else right. It uses the phone's location data to narrow down results. Try searching for "sushi" and you'll get your closest sushi restaurants at the top of your search results.

The Google Mobile app gives you its answers in text, which makes for a very quick experience. If your result returns phone numbers, you can dial the phone by clicking on one. But if you're driving in your car and need a quick connection, use Goog411 instead, which is a full voice-in, voice-out experience.

As others have noted, Google Mobile doesn't let you do voice dialing from your own contact list. It's frustrating to be able to search the entire Web with your voice but not be able to search your own phone. But it's still a useful and very cool little service.

To get the app, go to this link or visit the iTunes Application Store and search for "Google Mobile App." As I write this, the description for the page is old, but the app you get is the new one.