Macs

Scotland seems to have cornered the YouTube market for singing wonder.

After Susan Boyle's hair and talent exploded on YouTube, may I introduce you to Brendan MacFarlane.

Brendan, from Perth, Scotland, is 11. He is a very sweet little boy. He likes to sing Ray Charles songs. Oh, and he's taking his mother to court.

Brendan, you see, has been invited to appear on "Maury's Most Talented Kids." This is a show which has, until now, escaped my attention.

But I am assuming that it is a show on which small, talented people do large, … Read more

Radioshift is an application for listening to and recording Internet radio, providing a Radio Guide with listings for more than 50,000 stations and programs. The Radio Guide and a slick scheduling interface are the main advantages that Radioshift offers over lower-priced apps with slimmer feature sets. Radioshift makes it very easy to schedule the shows you want to record (whether on a one-time basis or with recurring subscriptions), so you can time-shift your shows to listen whenever you want and fast-forward through commercials.

The Radio Guide also makes it easy--and even entertaining--to explore and find new shows and stations … Read more

Through its Laptop Hunter campaign, Microsoft has proved there are so many people in Los Angeles looking for a laptop that I am surprised Apple has not responded with an exclusively LA version of its own ads.

You know, 60 seconds of people just talking about themselves and eating wheatgrass, while Justin Long looks on, mesmerized.

So let us celebrate Redmond's takeover of America's cleanest-living city by meeting another Lauren.

Yes, there is more than one Lauren in LA who needs a laptop and scours Craigslist for acting opportunities. This Lauren is about to be a law student. … Read more

Most people who read The Download Blog are probably familiar with the coming release of Windows 7. For a full rundown of new features, check out Seth Rosenblatt's hands on post here, but there's plenty of Windows 7 content to pore over.

Judging from many of the comments, people who have used Windows 7 are saying it's the OS everyone hoped Vista would be. So when I read this week that you can easily setup and run Windows 7 in a virtual environment on an Intel Mac, I had to try it out. I can't advise … Read more

I hear an excited rumbling in the tummies of the Responsible in Redmond.

I see the tiniest glint in their eyes that is not caused by tree pollen. For Apple has decided to address the Microsoft "Laptop Hunters" campaign, albeit in its usual laconic manner.

John Hodgman, the actor behind the PC guy, has the human version of most of Best Buy with him, as a laptop huntress called Megan declares she wants a big screen with a fast processor.

One by one, the suitors are dismissed as being unsuitable. Their failings? Small screens. Slow processors. Oh, and … Read more

Wilson Tang is back in the house today, along with the lovely and ever-gracious Natali Del Conte. She's just come back from her vacation, and we find out how she stalked Tom Hanks from the film "Angels & Demons" (check out her Loaded piece this Thursday). And Justin disappears from his first ever hate-on during the show.

On today's show, we've got Wilson Tang backers calling to defend the man. Lots of e-mails as well from supporters, who think finding out Tyler Perry is in a movie is about as much of a non-spoiler as you can get. But if you really want spoilers, check out Wilson's lastest Tumblr post, where he finds many faults in the new "Star Trek."

In more stories from the Interwebs, Craigslist has finally acquiesced to state attorneys general, who wanted the erotic service section taken down. Now, a new section will appear, which will be moderated by Craigslist employees. We think it's too bad that all it took was one bad apple to ruin it for everyone. Now, Jeff has to find a new side job.

Speaking of bad apples, Microsoft has been running these "Laptop Hunter" ads on television, and Apple comes back with its own "Megan" ad. We just think it's hilarious that these customers end up buying a 10-pound monster with a 22-inch screen. Wilson thinks it's even funnier that a "filmmaker" would buy a PC to edit her film on. What's she going to use? Windows Movie Maker? Come on, if you can afford Avid, the price difference between a Mac and a PC is trivial.

Natali's best contribution to the show today is that she says the words "penis phone" on air and teaches us the Spanish slang for "schlong." Apparently, Venezuela's leftist president Hugo Chavez is releasing a government-subsidized cell phone named after a certain male body part. It's because of the vibration function we suspect.

Finally, "404" shows up in some of the most random places. Check this out. It's a demolished building with a 404 sign. Be sure to send in your favorite 404 signs around the world at the404 (at) cnet (dot) com. Or drop us a voice mail with more Wilson love at 1-866-404-CNET (2638).

The Apple World Wide Developers Conference will kick off at 10 a.m. June 8 in San Francisco with Vice President of Marketing Phil Schiller at the podium.

In a press release issued Wednesday morning, Apple stated that Schiller will give the keynote address, but will be part of "a team of executives" who will address the crowd gathered in San Francisco's Moscone Center.

As expected, Apple promises that developers and media in attendance will hear about the company's newest operating systems, iPhone OS 3.0 and Mac OS X Snow Leopard.

There is no mention … Read more

If you've spent any time on the Web you've inevitably registered for various sites, signed up for e-mail accounts, and are probably doing your banking online. But how safe are your passwords? The problem is, a lot of people use the same passwords all the time. Needless to say, especially when banking and personal information are concerned, this can be a very real danger. If someone cracks your password, they'll have access to everything.

1Password, which just received a recent update, remembers all your passwords so you don't have to. Simply come up with a secure … Read more

Today's stories:

GE to make heavy-duty batteries in New York

Microsoft patches critical PowerPoint hole

Survey: Consumers prefer DVDs to downloads

Adobe beams up new Strobe video framework

Chrome-on-Mac precursor rough but workable

Spore variations grow on Nintendo

SF Giants bring new tech out to the ballpark… Read more