online

Yelp is taking aim at business owners that try to artificially inflate their reviews on the site.

The user-reviews site today announced today that it has launched a new initiative to root out companies that have made "significant attempts to pay for reviews." In the event it finds such attempts, Yelp will post a "consumer alert" on a company posting alerting users to the violation.

"We caught someone red-handed trying to buy reviews for this business," the alert reads. "We weren't fooled, but wanted you to know because buying reviews not only … Read more

Download managers can make it much easier to grab and save video from the Internet. There's a lot of them, both freeware and shareware; but then, there's a lot of video clips to download, and not just from YouTube but hundreds of other sites. Nuclear Coffee's VideoGet is shareware that's designed to make downloading video files and clips as easy as possible. While it's not much different from other tools of its type, it has enough options to satisfy a wide range of users. It's free to try with a 20-download limit.

VideoGet's … Read more

So you Skype; do you OoVoo too? Because OoVoo is a free HD video, voice, and IM chat app that lets you chat with up to 12 friends at once (6 via video and 6 on the phone). It records voice and video on your hard drive, not an online account, so file size is unlimited. You can use OoVoo to share large files (up to 25MB) as well as make phone calls to landlines, text chat, record video messages up to 1 minute long, and do a whole lot of other cool things. Mobile and tablet users have a … Read more

Regular readers will know that my love life is akin to that of Elizabeth Taylor -- without the joy or the marriages.

For example, the last one -- no, wait. You'll cry at the serendipity, the love, the miscommunication, the emotional blindness, the stuffed toys on the window sill, and the cruel, cruel end. Tears are not good for a Saturday.

I have tried online dating and met some very peculiar people -- though, luckily, just the one stalker.

So I am unremittingly fascinated by a new dating site called Tandem.

Tandem, you see, offers protection from some of … Read more

Windows Firewall and other free firewalls do a pretty good job of keeping threats away from your computer, but many users prefer the extra security and support of a premium firewall. Emsisoft's Online Armor is a shareware firewall suite that offers strong protection against malicious programs, hacker attacks, and other privacy and security threats, but it's also designed to be as unobtrusive as possible while doing it. Its real-time protection means no lengthy scans; instead, Online Armor evaluates each program as it runs. The program has plenty of configuration options, especially in its Advanced Mode. For instance, you … Read more

Apple's online store is down at this hour, which is typically indicative of a new product release on the horizon.

However, what that might portend is a bit of mystery. With the iPhone 5's launch and new iPods already in Apple's rear-view mirror and the unannounced but much-rumored iPad Mini still apparently further down the road, it leaves one to wonder what Apple is adding to the store.

Might Apple have some last-minute changes in store for the Mac line before the holiday shopping season kicks in to full gear next month? It's anyone's guess … Read more

For those who were amused by tonight's presidential debate, there will have been either the audacity of hope or the fright of despair.

But I cannot sit and wait to hear what the pundits think. For I have real data about what real people are really thinking.

It comes from a survey conducted on behalf of SOASTA, a cloud and mobile testing company that helped NASA prepare for its curious Mars landing.

SOASTA wanted to look ahead to see how real people see the holiday shopping season, given the economic uncertainty that is lashing at our fleshy parts.

And … Read more

One of the creators of Skype has announced a new addition to his digital music service Rdio.

Janus Friis says the Rdio Artist Program is designed to give musicians a better alternative to iTunes Match or Spotify, where some complain that commission rates based on the number of times a song is streamed leaves an artist with almost nothing.

With Rdio, uploaders earn $10 for every new subscriber they lure to the service. The platform pays artists to share both music and recommendations on social-networking sites including Facebook and Twitter -- promoting the company as well as themselves.

San Francisco-based … Read more