Although there are downsides to the latest version of iOS 6, it’s mostly a welcome improvement, with of course the notable exception of the new maps feature that is a poor substitute for the Google app it replaced.

If you’re unhappy with the poor-quality cartography, incorrect place names and dodgy and potentially dangerous driving directions that seem to be the app’s stock-in-trade, don’t worry -- there’s a quick fix available that should tide you over until Google releases its sorely needed-new Maps application.

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Every PC user would like their system to run a little faster, but making that happen yourself usually requires time, effort, and a detailed low-level knowledge of how Windows really works.

But if that sounds too much like hard work then you could always just install a copy of AVG PC TuneUp, which the authors say can restore “over 50% of speed and free space” on cluttered PCs, while improving “battery life by up to 30 percent”, and for the most part without you having to do anything at all.

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Today, Android virtualization company BlueStacks announced it has optimized its Android App Player for all existent and upcoming AMD GPUs and APUs under the name "AMD AppZone." AMD AppZone includes a Web-based Android app store, and the AMD AppZone Player for Windows 7 and Windows 8. This announcement highlights AMD's rather precarious position ahead of the launch of Windows 8.

Earlier in September, Citigroup analyst Glen Yeung downgraded Intel, AMD, and Nvidia on the basis that the consumer PC market has fully matured, and is no longer the growth segment it used to be, and that the real growth is in the "post-PC" businesses of mobile devices and cloud-based services.

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Most smartphone users wouldn't know if their device packs an ARM or Intel processor. They would care, perhaps, if software doesn't run, particularly as the first Intel-powered devices reach the mass-market.

Google has updated Chrome for Android, to run on x86 processors, paving way for its own subsidiary, Motorola, to release Razr i, which packs a 2GHz Intel Atom powerhouse.

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This afternoon, I received email with subject line: "The iPhone 5 is available on eBay -- now!" Oh, yeah? I thought the device is pretty much sold out. So I took a peak.

Twenty-two are listed from the link that eBay provides -- to 64GB models, which by far cost the most. Bargain price: Black Sprint model for $750 new, from a seller in Florham Park, NJ. But wait! The price was too good, and the item sold while I wrote this paragraph. For the big spender, a seller from Newark, Del. offers the black Verizon for $3,500. Say, does that come with free AppleCare+ warranty? And a car to drive it home?

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The recently-revealed security exploit on Samsung Android phones running the TouchWiz interface appears to have already been fixed, Samsung said in a statement to the media Wednesday.

The exploit, which allowed maliciously-crafted sites to remotely wipe Android phones, was shown publicly at a conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina last week. Samsung on Wednesday said the software build which contained the exploitable loophole was an early production version, and the public should not be at a significant risk because it was already patched.

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You might have a great video camera, and be very skilled at using it, but it won’t make any difference: your raw footage will generally still be rubbish. That’s just the way it is.

Having a good video editor to hand, though, can give you the power to solve most problems. And CyberLink’s PowerDirector 11 Ultimate is the latest candidate for your attention, being packed with high-end features -- a 100-track timeline, fine keyframe control, advanced video effects, disc authoring and online video sharing -- yet also simple enough for beginners to use.

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Some companies really know how to maximize marketing, and drive up their share price in the process. In March, Apple used a countdown clock to boast about 25 billion App Store downloads. Google's mobile store reached the same number this week, announced with little fanfare today.

Apple shares traded for about $531 then, but rose sharply following the app milestone and thereafter fairly consistently in the wake of a series of well-marketing managed announcements or product releases, topping $700 this month. There are daily reports across the InterWebs about record share price. Meanwhile, more meager marketer Google, which share price also flies record high this month -- above Apple, at $764.89 peak -- is largely ignored. Perhaps pro-Apple bias contributes to the silence? Whatever, Google has big numbers of its own.

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Spring Design, the company that made headlines two years ago for its a dual-screen Android-powered e-reader, is keeping its dual-screen Android tradition alive with a new app that launched in public beta today called ScreenShare.

ScreenShare is an application that lets you connect your Android tablet with your Android-powered smartphone via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, so you can utilize the tablet's screen to access data on the smartphone. In a roundabout sort of way, it is a way to connect your Wi-Fi-only tablet such as the Nexus 7 to a mobile data connection.

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Like baseball, the iPhone 5 has been all about numbers and stats, beginning with the two million pre-orders in 24 hours, 5 million units sold in the first weekend and the rumored $207 it costs to build the 16GB variant of Apple's latest smartphone, the latter of these numbers makes us crave more. Specifically, we want to know what the iPhone 5 is packing to make up that cost.

The answer was provided by the teardown experts at iFixit, which has thoroughly examined the iPhone 5, dismantling it so we don't have to.

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The desktop client for the ever-popular cloud storage service Dropbox has been updated with a new experimental build. There are a number of new features to explore in this latest release, but the most obvious is the newly redesigned menu. This is a neater affair than in previous versions, providing an overview of the latest activity as well as access to additional options.

These extra features include pausing files transfers, as well as sharing and restoring files. The new menu is only available to OS X and Windows users -- anyone running Linux misses out for the time being -- and Mac users also benefit from new Retina Display support as well as a new batch of great-looking icons.

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Update: Or was it mine? I read the support document to mean "download" as "open" rather than "save". If that's the case I stand corrected, not something you see often in my stories. Damn, who's the jackass now? :)

Some days feel like I live in a parallel universe. How did I miss this? On October 1, Google Apps drops support for Office 2003-07 formats. That means no way to download .doc, .ppt or .xls documents. Am I the only person thinking this ranks among the mothers of jackass ideas?

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Great news for Verizon Wireless Samsung Galaxy Nexus owners -- Google posted the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean factory image for the "forgotten" users of the big red.

The LTE Galaxy Nexus can be updated to Android 4.1.1 Jelly Bean, build number JRO03O using the factory image posted on Google Developers website. The recent development comes almost two months after the Mountain View, Calif.-based corporation released the factory images for the Samsung/Google Galaxy Nexus HSPA+ model, and represents a significant delay for the update to reach the LTE model.

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Google has released Chrome 22 FINAL, with the promise of improvements for Windows 8 users, gamers and those using HiDPI and Retina screens.

Chrome’s gaming enhancements revolve around support for the Pointer Lock JavaScript API. Otherwise known as "mouse lock", it allows sites to “capture” the mouse and provide the user with an immersive experience that isn’t constrained by the mouse cursor’s position relative to the edges of the browser window.

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Lavasoft has announced the availability of Ad-Aware 10.3, an incremental update to the classic antivirus tool that delivers small but still worthwhile improvements all across the package.

Installation is now faster and more straightforward, for instance.

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