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Social-gaming company Zynga staked its claim with FarmVille. And now -- when Zynga has been reaping more than sowing -- the company will rely on that same title to restore its ailing operation.

In a Reuters interview published Monday, Pincus said his company is relying on FarmVille 2 to rebuild. The company's revenue jumped to $1.2 billion in 2012, but losses continue to pile up.

A key component to the turnaround plan is to give FarmVille players the same experience on mobile as on desktop.

"The ideal is to make that one seamless experience between Web and … Read more

Users may want to change preferences in their Quicktime player without having to do it every time the program opens. Quicktime X Preferences for Mac's options window allows changes to a number of default settings, which is a welcome feature for some users.

After startup, this freeware application installs easily as an additional preference pane in the system preferences menu. There did not appear to be any technical support available, but there was a basic readme file that explained the various options present and how changing each impacted the Quicktime program. Some of the options include automatically playing movies, … Read more

The computer's cooling fan typically operates on default presets, but for those who want to customize, Fan Control for Mac is an easy-to-use application that adds the ability to control fan operation from the user's preferences menu.

The free application has no restrictions. Download completed quickly, but the program's installed location was difficult to find. The program, itself, is easy to use and installs an extra option on the computer's overall preferences menu. Once this is selected, an easy-to-read but dated menu appears. There are no user instructions, but they aren't really needed either. It … Read more

SAN FRANCISCO--What I'm about to tell you is 100 percent true, no matter how much you will want to tell me I'm full of it: there are American adults who have never seen "Star Wars."

The 1977 George Lucas film is a timeless global phenomenon and may be one of the most embedded of all our cultural artifacts. It spawned an empire that Disney ended up buying for $4 billion, in large part because of the passion and commitment of its worldwide audience. But still some people, even those who watch other movies, and are part of mainstream society, managed to make it to 2013 without ever seeing it.

For one group of "Star Wars" newbies, though, their lifelong exclusion from one of the biggest clubs on Earth is over. … Read more

It was once described as a "glorified crane," but was so much more than that.

Tireless cargo handler, astronaut platform, and critical inspection tool, the Canadarm was an essential component of NASA's space shuttle fleet from 1981 to 2011.

This past week, it became a permanent exhibit at the Canadian Aviation and Space Museum in Ottawa.

"This exhibit commemorates an important part of our history in space," Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore said at a ceremony to unveil the exhibit. "The Canadarm is a symbol of our country's ingenuity and expertise in space robotics. It has positioned Canada as a leader in space." … Read more

Sid Meier is not a fan of "freemium."

The model of giving a game away only to charge for extras such as new levels, features, or power-ups, has swept up the mobile gaming industry, much to the chagrin of gamers who would prefer to pay once for the complete experience.

Meier, a legend in the gaming business thanks to his beloved "Civilization" franchise, couldn't agree more.

"It's about designing unhappiness," Meier told CNET in an interview on Friday. "You have to design a game so not fun that people will pay … Read more

News updates and information are coming out every second on the Web and it's becoming substantially harder to keep up with everything. If you are someone who wants or needs to be on top of every news item, try using Shrook for Mac to ensure you never miss a beat. This news reader allows you to subscribe to and manage multiple news feeds so you are always notified about the latest updates.

Installation of Shrook for Mac is an easy drag-and-drop process which should only take a few seconds. Upon launching this application you'll notice that it looks … Read more

Whether you want to increase your screen space, enable a secondary display, or just mirror your desktop to other mobile devices, this app can help you out. With the ability to support up to 36 devices connected to your computer, the iDisplay Desktop for Mac promises and delivers an extremely powerful desktop enhancement. However, the app is quite difficult to set up and requires a high level of computer literacy.

The installation of this application appeared to be easy. The app even comes with its own uninstaller so you can remove it effortlessly if you no longer need it. During … Read more

When important dates are around the corner, some users need a way to track their approach. Countdown X for Mac performs this function well, but has few other features.

Download completed quickly and the program directly installed as a widget in the dashboard. The only user interaction required is to add the program to the active dashboard for viewing, which was easy. The application, itself, is just a small widget window where the name of the upcoming event is visible, along with a countdown timer with the days, hours, minutes, and seconds remaining until it takes place. Countdown X for … Read more