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Microsoft hopes to alleviate one of the oldest PC afflictions known to man: finding and installing printer drivers.

Getting drivers to work properly has always been a daunting task for many. A seemingly straightforward procedure can turn ugly in an instant.

And while driver installation has generally gotten better with each iteration of Windows, printer manufacturers always seem to find a way to gum up the works.

Enter Windows 8. In a blog post today titled Simplifying Printing in Windows 8, Microsoft said it is "reimagining" the print system for Windows 8.

All of that reimagining is incorporated … Read more

A couple of years ago, we had 40 movies on this list. But as new releases have arrived, we've gradually pruned the list, and today we're down to a mere 15 top movies that aren't out yet on Blu-ray.

Yes, there are several other great movies that still haven't gotten the Blu-ray treatment. But like I say with the top 40 must-have Blu-rays list, feel free to express your opinions, and if you have a legitimate case, I'll update the list with new picks.

For the latest round we've dropped "The Sting" and "Chariots of Fire," and several other movies, including "Jaws," "Titanic," and the "Indiana Jones Trilogy," are due to come off the list in the coming months because they're already available for preorder, so stay tuned for a big revamp of the list this fall.

… Read more

Congrats to David B. of Manchester, Conn., for winning a Swann MP3 DJ Doorbell in last week's giveaway. This week winner's gets a twofer: a CD by hit U.K. pop/soul recording artist Emeli Sande, and a stylish pair of Bowers & Wilkins headphones for listening to it.

A legendary name in British hi-fi, Bowers & Wilkins is known for making speakers used in many of the world's top studios, including the Beatles' favorite, Abbey Road. You'll be getting a pair of fancy Bowers & Wilkins' P5 noise-isolating headphones, which CNET's Steve Guttenberg, aka The Audiophiliac, loves for their warm, rich, and clear sound (he recently called them out in a post on three awesome-sounding on-ear headphones).

Emeli Sande's debut album, "Our Version of Events," topped the charts across the pond and has gotten raves from reviewers. It hit the U.S. last month, and you'll be getting a signed copy. … Read more

Google has come a long way since the early days when it struggled to convince the world that its friendly green extraterrestrial could make applesauce of the revolutionary iPhone.

In truth, Google's first Android phone, the HTC-made T-Mobile G1, wasn't much to look at when it debuted in October 2008, with its trough for a keyboard and its bizarrely jutting chin. HTC was hardly a known brand, and we weren't even sure if we were getting a single Google Phone or an entire operating system. Yet the humble G1, with its ugly design and few apps, kicked off an Android avalanche just the same.

Fast-forward to 2012, when the now-mature Android operating system is neck and neck with the iPhone around the globe. Android is everywhere.… Read more

Android smartphone and tablet browsers sometimes load mobile versions of Web sites. On native Android browsers, you can try the about:debug trick to change the user agent to force desktop sites to load. You can also use an alternative browser, like Dolphin Browser HD, which lets you easily change the user agent in its settings.

If you're a Firefox for Android user, you can change the user agent with a simple Firefox add-on called Phony. It works with the new Firefox beta for Android as well, which was released a couple of days ago.

To set up Phony, … Read more

Amazon released a small software update for the Kindle Fire, but it does have something a lot of people have been demanding: the ability to enable password-protection for purchases, a feature the iPad has always offered.

On top of that, the update has additional parental controls, including the ability to disable access to specific content libraries and block access to the Silk Web browser.

You can manually update you Fire's software by following the instructions on this page or wait for your Kindle to automatically update itself in the next few days when you log onto a Wi-Fi network. … Read more

Amazon has updated the firmware for the Kindle Touch to version 5.1 and it actually has a few significant feature enhancements, including one that a lot of folks have been clamoring for: a landscape reading mode.

When Amazon first released the Kindle Touch, some people were upset you couldn't turn the device horizontally and read with more words on a line (for people who read with larger font sizes, landscape reading makes a lot of sense). Landscape mode was available in the $79 non-touch Kindle but not the touch-screen step-up model, which starts at $99. … Read more

SUMo is short for Software Updates Monitor. It's a handy, free tool that scans all your programs and automatically checks online for program updates. It can help you find the updates, too, though you have to install them individually since each is different.

SUMo's simple, list-style interface and controls make it very easy to use. The Scan button scanned our PC for installed software, though we could also drag and drop executables directly into SUMo as well as use Add and Remove buttons and configure an Ignore list. SUMo displayed all our programs listed alphabetically or by program … Read more

While Amazon's 5.0.3 software update for the Kindle Touch may seem relatively minor on the surface, it may help put to rest some complaints about the generally zippiness of the device compared with its non-touch sibling, which Amazon simply calls the Kindle.

Amazon has quietly released the update without making any reference to what it exactly it fixes. "This update features general software improvements for Kindle Touch," the update page reads.

Some users also were upset that Kindle Touch couldn't switch into landscape mode (yes, the non-touch Kindle can do that). That doesn't … Read more