Draw Something: Celebrity quiz

With more than 35 million users, the Pictionary-like app has taken smartphone and tablet users by storm. Some play up to 50 games at once, taking hundreds of turns with each opponent.

Whether you play the game or not, it's fun to look at all the different ways clues are portrayed and try to guess the correct answers. So we've put together this quiz to test your skills: 20 celebrities, 20 portraits, all straight from Draw Something. How many can you guess? Click through the gallery above (don't forget to hit the double arrow to go to the second page) and find out.

Click here to check it out: http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/27/tech/gaming-gadgets/draw-something-celebrity-quiz-ireport/index.html

http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/20/tech/web/tech-check-podcast/index.html

This week, the Tech Check podcast hurtles its way through the internet's series of tubes for the final time.

Doug Gross, John Sutter and Stephanie Goldberg do their best to give their weekly digital gabfest a proper send-off, taking a look back at just a few of the significant changes that have taken place in the tech and Web worlds since the podcast started about a year and a half ago.

Whether it was the the way social networking exploded, the expanding popularity, definition and goals of video-gaming or mobile technology's increasing influence, it's been a paradigm-shifting time in the tech world and it's been a blast getting to sit down and try to make sense of (and sometimes make light of) it all.

Click here to continue reading: http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/20/tech/web/tech-check-podcast/index.html

'Draw Something' update adds chat, photo capturing, sharing

When Zynga purchased Draw Something from creator OMGPOP a few weeks ago, the two companies promised that the acquisition would bring new features to the game, and today they delivered.

As promised, the popular pictionary-style game has been updated to add commenting, the ability to save drawings to your photo library, and the ability to share drawings on Facebook or Twitter directly through the app.

"There are more features people want in the game, and there's no way we could scale enough people fast enough," OMGPOP CEO Dan Porter told Mashable shortly after the acquisition. "The game is so large that you need a really big scale."

At the time, Porter told Mashable that the company was looking at adding photo sharing, saving and chat in the future. Chat was one of the most desired features the company was looking at adding, but also one of the most difficult.

"Chat is a big part of the plan, but tricky because you don't want to break the guessing cycle of the game," Porter said. The chat feature now shows up on the "Drawsome!" page after you've completed guessing a word in the game.

Click here to continue reading: http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/19/tech/mobile/draw-something-app-updated/index.html

Apple: Update will fix Mac 'Flashback' virus

Apple says a new software update provides tools to get rid of the so-called "Flashback" virus that has infected hundreds of thousands of Mac computers.

In a post on its support forums, Apple said the update to the Java software platform "removes the most common variants" of the Flashback malware.

Last week, a Russian security company reported that as many as 600,000 Macs, most of them in the United States and Canada, had been infected by Flashback, a Trojan horse virus that infiltrates computers, secretly giving someone else remote access to them.

Flashback was first discovered in September, disguising itself as an Adobe Flash Player installer.

Apple recommended the new update to all Mac users who have Java installed.

Throughout their history, Macs have been relatively free from most of the viruses and other malware that have targeted PCs, with cybercriminals preferring to go after the larger number of computer users on that system.

But the rise of Macs has also seen an uptick in the number of Mac users targeted.

"Malware authors have targeted the Mac OS for quite some time; however, the recent OSX.Flashback.K infections indicate a very significant shift to the current threat landscape, which is dominated by malware on the Windows operating system," Web security firm Symantec posted on its blog.

Click here to continue reading: http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/13/tech/web/apple-mac-virus-fix/index.html

Virus found in fake Android version of 'Angry Birds: Space'

Android users beware. Download the wrong version of your favorite pig-killing game and the birds won't be the only ones who are angry.

"Angry Birds: Space," the latest installment of the insanely popular mobile game, is being used to mask some fairly nasty malware, according to security experts and Rovio, the maker of "Angry Birds."

Graham Cluley, an analyst with Web security firm Sophos, wrote on the company's blog Thursday that they had discovered fake versions of the game on unofficial app stores. The fake games contain a "Trojan horse" virus.

A post on Rovio's blog on Thursday also warned fans to watch out for fake versions of the game, urging them to download the new title from their official store.

According to Sophos, the Trojan horse, which it identified in a file called Andr/KongFu-L, appears to be a fully functional version of the game, but instead installs a virus on the user's smartphone or tablet.

From there, the code tries to install more malware that essentially puts the phone or tablet computer under the control of the cybercriminals behind it, Cluley wrote.

"It feels like we have to keep reminding Android users to be on their guard against malware risks, and to be very careful, especially when downloading applications from unofficial Android markets," he said.

click here to continue reading: http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/12/tech/gaming-gadgets/angry-birds-virus-android/index.html

Hey Bravo, Silicon Valley is too boring for TV

The tech world has been up in arms this past week about "Silicon Valley," an upcoming Bravo reality show documenting the lives of five aspiring entrepreneurs making their way in the world of Bay Area startups.

The TV show is co-produced by Randi Zuckerberg, former marketing director of Facebook and sister of its founder, Mark Zuckerberg. Its brief preview showcases the glamorous life of a tech startup founder: Lots of parties, alcohol, attractive women and a social scene that is like "high school, but it's only the smart kids."

The problem: The tech industry isn't like that at all.

Here's how tech-company founders usually succeed in Silicon Valley: They spend endless hours in front of a computer building products people want to use. Alas, this doesn't make for interesting TV.

Hence all the Hollywood cliches. Computers on TV shows and in movies beep when a button is pressed. Characters seem able to type at a frenetic pace. Passwords can always be guessed within three attempts -- and always just in time to prevent a disaster.

Click here to continue reading: http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/10/tech/innovation/silicon-valley-tv-cashmore/index.html

Instagram now available for Android devices

After 18 months of waiting, users of Android phones and tablets can finally crash the Instagram party.

On Tuesday the fast-growing, photo-sharing network for the iPhone and iPad finally launched an app for Android devices. The free application works with Android version 2.2 and higher and is available for download at Google Play, Google's new online store for digital media.

"We've been meticulous about translating the Instagram experience to the Android platform," said a post Tuesday on Instagram's blog.

"The Android app offers an extremely familiar Instagram experience when compared to the iOS app. You'll find all the same exact filters and community as our iOS version."

Instagram lets users enhance their mobile photos with filters, share them with their friends or other people and comment on friends' pictures. Like Twitter, Instagram also allows people to follow other users.

Click here to check it out: http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/03/tech/mobile/instagram-android/index.html

Ashton Kutcher to play Steve Jobs in movie

Actor Ashton Kutcher, who got his break on "That '70s Show," will go back to the 1970s to play tech visionary Steve Jobs in an indie film about Jobs' early life and the founding of Apple.

Production on the film, "Jobs," is scheduled to begin in May while Kutcher is on hiatus from his hit CBS series "Two and a Half Men,"reports Variety, the film-industry trade publication. It will be directed by Joshua Michael Stern ("Swing Vote") and "will chronicle Steve Jobs from wayward hippie to co-founder of Apple," according to Variety.

The timing of the story, which was published Sunday on Variety's website, combined with Kutcher's well-known love of pranks, led some to dismiss it as an April Fools' joke. But CNN confirmed Monday through a representative for Kutcher that the actor has signed on for the role.

Jeff Sneider, the reporter who wrote the Variety article, said on Twitter on Sunday that the movie will follow Jobs from when he and Steve Wozniak founded Apple in 1976 to when Jobs returned to the company in the late 1990s after being forced out. It won't cover Jobs' later years, he said.

 Jobs, who died in October after a struggle with cancer, dropped out of college and backpacked across India before launching the company that would make him one of the world's most acclaimed entrepreneurs.

Click here to continue reading: http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/02/tech/innovation/kutcher-steve-jobs-movie/index.html

Google launches monthly user-activity feature

Weeks after a policy change that sparked privacy concerns, Google has rolled out a new feature that will give users a monthly update to help them keep track of their activity across Google's multiple sites and tools.

It's called Account Activity, and users can receive it via e-mail with a link to a password-protected personal page. The feature was announced Wednesday in a post on Google's official blog.

"Every day, we aim to make technology so simple and intuitive that you stop thinking about it -- we want Google to work so well it just blends into your life," Andreas Tuerk, a product manager for Google, wrote in the post. "But sometimes it's helpful to step back and take stock of what you're doing online."

The report is not automatic, meaning users will have to sign up to receive it.

Based on a sample report, information such as your number of Google searches, your most popular search topics and the number of e-mails sent and received will be included.

It also will show locations where your account was used and the devices that were used to sign into it, which Tuerk called an extra layer of security.

Click here to continue reading:http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/28/tech/web/google-account-activity/index.html