transfer

If you own and use an iPod or iPhone for storing music, you've probably run into the frustration of being unable to easily copy these songs to your PC. While there are manual workarounds (like Houdini 3) that can accomplish this task, they often leave the file name formatting illegible. For easy copying while ensuring your music folder remains neat and tidy, use Sharepod, a free and lightweight tool that can access, change, and copy the music from your iPod or iPhone.

First you'll need to download Sharepod (no installation required).

Step 1: Close iTunes (if open), plug … Read more

Amazon's $199 Kindle Fire tablet is an outstanding portable video player.

With it, you can purchase movies and TV shows from Amazon's video store, stream movies from Netflix, and dig through a trove of free movie and TV content during your one-month trial membership to Amazon Prime.

But what about loading up your own movies and playing them even when there's no Internet connection to be found? Well, it's easier than you think, but the process does seem to throw people--especially if you're new to Android.

In this CNET How To, I show you how … Read more

People frustrated by the upgrade and setup process in prior versions of Windows may find a more user-friendly experience in Windows 8.

Ensuring that Windows installs properly across a variety of hardware and software configurations has always been a major challenge, and one that Microsoft has never solved to the satisfaction of all users.

Microsoft has already taken some big steps forward in this respect with Windows 7. Its next version of Windows promises further improvements, as described in the latest edition of the Building Windows 8 blog by Christa St. Pierre from Microsoft's setup and deployment team:

Fetch is one of the oldest and most well-loved FTP clients, whose cute fetching-dog animation has been running--literally--on Macs since 1989. Fetch can handle all your basic FTP needs, including SFTP and FTP with TLS/SSL, along with support for AppleScript and one-click remote file editing (with any kind of file and any kind of application). In addition to a fairly minimal and intuitive visual interface, Fetch saves you time with extras like Quick Look previews (optimized for OS X), easy drag and drop (including droplet shortcuts that save you from having to retype connection information), progress-tracking Dashboard widgets (shaped … Read more

Some of your friends use Dropbox, some use AIM, others use GTalk, and you're tired of keeping track of these preferences when you want to send them something.

Now you can use a service that works within both your Web browser and theirs. There's no wondering if you're both using the same file-sharing client because it's done through a peer-to-peer (P2P) connection right inside the browser. Here's how to get started sharing your files much faster:

Step 1: Open up http://www.justbeamit.com in your Web browser.

Step 2: Drag … Read more

iOS 5 and iCloud have just been released and MobileMe users are finally allowed to transition their accounts from MobileMe to iCloud. The process is easy, but there are some steps along the way.

The slideshow takes you through Apple's MobileMe migration wizard, which is really just a few Web pages of warnings and information regarding the change. Before you begin the move, make sure you have all of your computers updated to OS X 10.7.2 as well as any iOS devices updated to iOS 5. Once everything is updated, visit mobileme.com/move from your computer.… Read more

After a healthy 10-year run, Windows XP may finally be losing its overwhelming grip on computer users.

Though it's still the most heavily used version of the Windows operating system, XP's market share among all operating systems finally dipped just below the 50 percent mark last month, according to stats out today from Net Applications.

The aging OS has gradually been shedding market share a bit each month over the past few years, touching 62 percent a year ago and 51 percent in June before its latest dip in July, according to Net Applications.

At the same time, … Read more

The number of consumers paying for items via their mobile devices will shoot past 141 million this year, says new data out today from Gartner.

That figure is a 38.2 percent increase over 2010, when mobile-payment users hit 102.1 million. The amount of money generated via mobile payments is expected to reach $86.1 billion this year, up almost 76 percent from the $48.9 million seen last year.

The surge in mobile payments will come despite the slow adoption of mobile-payment technologies.

The mobile, retail, and financial industries have been rushing to roll out near-field communication (NFC) … Read more

In the future you could selectively transfer files from one iOS device to another as easily as pouring out a tall beverage on your phone, a vision that's been detailed in a new Apple patent application that was published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office today.

The application, dubbed "Intuitive, gesture-based communications with physics metaphors," was unearthed by blog Patently Apple, and outlines a system for transferring data between iOS devices with the use of a "physical gesture."

Sound familiar? Perhaps you've used or heard of Bump from Bump Technologies, a service … Read more