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The hardware and HD capabilities behind the iPhone's video camera are impressive, but its built-in controls for shooting video are frustratingly primitive for more-experienced filmmakers, and the iPhone isn't always smart about handling factors like exposure and white balance. Filmic Pro gives your camera a new front-end for shooting higher-quality video, with professional tools for controlling exposure, focal point, and more.

Filmic Pro offers an interface that is clean and simple, and all of its controls run along the bottom of screen, making it perfect for keeping a steady thumb grip on your camera. On the left, you … Read more

Mail-order game disc renter GameFly Inc. has announced that it will acquire Direct2Drive, the PC game digital distributor service owned by News Corp. subsidiary IGN Entertainment. The announcement, first reported by Gamefly-owned gaming news site Shacknews, confirms rumors about the acquisition that surfaced earlier in the week.

The two companies seem like a reasonable fit. GameFly is essentially the Netflix of video games, renting out discs for game consoles through the mail. Direct2Drive is a competitor to Valve Software's market-dominating Steam PC gaming download service. Market data on digital distribution services is scarce since the companies don't share … Read more

Twitter is now giving its users more control and clarity over what information third-party apps are allowed to access.

As defined in a recent blog, third-party apps are those that "automatically share your tweets on other networks, connect you to players on gaming platforms, or instantly tweet whenever you update your blog."

Common examples include third-party Twitter apps such as TweetBot, TweetDeck, and Twitterific. But they can include any Web site or service that taps into your tweets.

Such third-party apps need your permission to access certain information about your account. But in an effort to be more … Read more

Gilbert Fiorentino, head of Systemax's technology products group, has resigned in the face of undisclosed allegations, the company announced today.

Systemax, which sells computers and electronics online via the TigerDirect, CompUSA, and Circuit City sites, put Fiorentino on administrative leave last month. At the time, the company said that it was determining whether to terminate Fiorentino after completing an investigation into "anonymous whistleblower allegations" related to the company's Miami operations. The company's audit committee, which handles the financial side of the operation, conducted the investigation, according to a 10-K reported filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission in March.

Systemax has not divulged the exact nature of the allegations or whether its investigation turned up anything. … Read more

At the 2011 New York auto show, Mazda unveiled the revised and slightly reshaped Mazda3. You'd have to do a double take to spot any of the subtle cosmetic differences between the new 2012 model and the outgoing 2011, but pop the hood and you you'll find yourself staring at an entirely new drive train. Actually, you'll find yourself staring at a bright blue cosmetic engine cover, but beneath that is an all new drive train that uses Mazda's SkyActiv efficiency technologies.

Starting with the power plant, the 2.0-liter SkyActiv-G engine uses gasoline direct injection … Read more

Google today said that it will invest about $100 million in the very large Shepherd's Flat wind project in Oregon, its second direct investment in renewable energy in two weeks.

Shepherds Flat is projected to be the largest wind farm in the world, able to generate 845 megawatts and supply enough energy for 235,000 average U.S. homes when it is online next year. GE Energy Financial Services and Caithness Energy are existing owners of the project near Arlington, Ore., which will take up about 30 square miles.

Last week, Google said it invested $186 million in the Ivanpah solar power plant … Read more

A Democratic senator is preparing to introduce legislation that aims to end the golden era of tax-free Internet shopping.

The proposal--expected to be made public soon after Tax Day--would rewrite the ground rules for Internet and mail order sales by eliminating the ability of Americans to shop at Web sites like Amazon.com and Overstock.com without paying state sales taxes.

Dick Durbin of Illinois, the second most senior Senate Democrat, will introduce the bill after the Easter recess, a Democratic aide told CNET.

"Why should out-of-state companies that sell their products online have an unfair advantage over … Read more

It's no secret that Kia and its parent company, Hyundai, have been making almost quantum leaps in the quality of their vehicles in the last generation or two. Comparing, for example, the 2011 Kia Optima to its 2010 iteration is almost like comparing apples to oranges. The new model is larger in nearly every dimension, but thanks to its sportier proportions, it looks much more menacing than its pudgy predecessor. While both examples offer 2.4-liter engines, the 2011 Optima's gasoline direct-injection system gives it a 24-horsepower advantage while also gaining 2 mpg in both city and highway … Read more

Updated 10.40 p.m. PT with comment from Direct TV

Culture is a strange thing. Elements that appear normal in one culture--say, drinking a beer on the street when you're as old as 20--are reviled in another.

So one has to accept that pockets of humanity see the world in their own way.

However, a promotion by Radio Shack in Hamilton, Mont., might move one or two people to move there just to benefit from its full-bore imaginative core.

For the Ravalli Republic reports that the Radio Shack Super Store in Hamilton has a very fine sign of … Read more