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Soon there will be more than just one way to contact 911.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski announced today that the four largest wireless carriers in the U.S. have agreed to fast track a service that will let people text the emergency 911 line.

AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Sprint, and T-Mobile have all signed on and major deployments are planned to roll out in 2013 and the service should be fully available nationwide by May 15, 2014.

"Access to 911 must catch up with how consumers communicate in the 21st century -- and today, we are … Read more

Free farm sims are some of the most popular games in any format. Millions play them online, and more and more users are also playing them on the go, thanks to compact versions optimized for smartphone displays and controls. TeamLava's Story series includes the hugely popular Farm Story, now updated with a Halloween-themed edition, Farm Story: Halloween. Despite the Halloween decorations, your job as a farmer remains the same as it is in the basic game, or for real farmers, for that matter: Grow produce, tend your livestock, and improve your property. But your animals are wearing Halloween costumes, … Read more

Minecraft Plus is not a version of the popular Minecraft game, but a standalone guide to the Minecraft world for the iPhone and iPad. Minecraft Plus is available from iTunes and several other Web sites, and is easy to install.

At its heart, Minecraft Plus is a reference guide. Every item and potion, armor, mob, or construction tool in the game is referenced in Minecraft Plus. You can enter what you're looking for in the search engine and pull up all references to that item in the guide. This is not a replacement for the game, but an add-on … Read more

The efficiency of USB Reverse Tethering lies in the fact that wireless may not be the most available form of Web communication at all times. If you need to update your device and there are only DSL connections around, for example, USB Reverse Tethering can provide the much-needed connection.

The interface of USB Reverse Tethering looks simple, since there are only the status graphics and connectivity buttons in the home area. The process of making it work is quite complex, though. First you'll have to configure the app properly to the PC, and the target PC must also be … Read more

The Matroska Multimedia Container format (MKV) derives its name from the famous Matryoshka Russian nesting dolls, in which one doll contains many other dolls. Like other container formats, MKV files can contain any kind of multimedia: audio, video, images, and data like subtitle tracks and commentary. Unlike many popular (and common) multimedia container formats, MKV is entirely open source. Zoltan Nemeth's EasyBrake is a free tool that converts just about any digital media format you can name into MKV or MP4 (MPEG-4) files using the HandBrake conversion engine. Among many other updates, the latest EasyBrake version uses less memory. … Read more

Life in the tablet category used to be simple. There were 7-inchers and 10-inchers and comparisons only occurred within each tablet's size category. This year however, Apple, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble have successfully muddied the once-clear waters by respectfully releasing 7.9-inch, 8.9-inch, and 9-inch tablets.

So how do they compare? Let's find out.

Screen The iPad Mini's 7.9-inch, 1,024x768-pixel screen has wide viewing angles and good color reproduction, but when it comes to resolution, it can't hold a candle to either the Kindle Fire HD 8.9 nor the Barnes & Noble Nook HD+. … Read more

Fans of the Facebook social-media site can stay in touch on their mobile devices with the free Facebook app for Android. Having everything geared toward the Android operating system differentiates it from the standard mobile Web version.

The differences are subtle, but the interface and options are a bit more streamlined, so navigation was smoother and easier. We also didn't need to worry about screen size incompatibilities, a problem we've had using the mobile version. The differences extend to the layout, and again they're positive. The main menu on the right doesn't hijack the screen, but … Read more

Mac OS X 10.9 could be dubbed "Lynx," says blog site AppleScoop.

The rumor sounds plausible. It would continue Apple's trend of naming its OS after ferocious felines. Over the past few years, OS X has leaped from Leopard to Snow Leopard to Lion and then to Mountain Lion.

However, the intel is decidedly second-hand.

The information comes from a "reliable source" who claims to have talked to someone inside Apple. The person reportedly saw some internal papers that indicated Apple was finalizing the name of OS X 10.9. But the source couldn'… Read more

Apple's next major release of its desktop and notebook operating system is once again expected to gain additional features from iOS devices, according to Apple blog 9to5mac.

Citing trusted sources, the blog today says Apple plans to add full-on integration with Siri, the voice assistant that can be found on Apple's iPhones, iPods and iPads.

Apple already took the first step in that direction earlier this year by adding dictation to OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, which was released in July. The dictation feature lets users talk into their microphone and transcribe into text, but it does … Read more