AV-Comparatives.org ran a series of real-world tests running through common scenarios like downloading, extracting, copying, and encoding files, installing and launching applications, and they also ran through an automated testing suite as well. Once the dust had settled, it became clear that not only is MSE one of only three products that both blocks and removes malware well, but it's also very light on system resources.

Out of all the products tested, Microsoft Security Essentials was the best-performing free antivirus solution, and one of only two that received "very fast" on each of the real-world tests, earning it their top award: an "advanced+" ranking. We've been telling you for a while that you don't need to pay for Windows security, and now with MSE ranked alongside the top paid apps in both malware removal and performance, you might want to consider making the switch.

Hit the AV-Comparatives link for the full report in PDF form, or check out the PC Mag story for the overview—if you can deal with some irritating in-text ads.

After Dragon Dictation, this is the second app that Nuance has released gratis for a limited time this month. The only thing stopping Dragon Search from being a must-have is that voice search with your Google app will bring up largely the same top results, so for casual surfing it's a bit redundant. If you're looking for a deeper dive, though, the scrolling Search Carousel UI is actually a useful tool. Dragon Search also acts as a nice cheat to use voice search for the iTunes store, which might save your thumbs some damage in the long run. [iTunes]

A lot of these apps will be familiar to anyone who's checked out our Essential iPhone Apps directory before, and yeah, there is a lot of overlap. What we've done, basically, is strip out the dollar signs from list, then fill in the gaps with more free.

With the new list, you can turn a fresh, untouched iPhone or iPod Touch into a decked-out powerhouse without spending a single dollar.

(To view the following gallery as a single page, click here.)

What counts as an essential iPhone app changes all the time, and so should our guide: If we've missed anything huge, or you've got a much better suggestion for a particular type of app, let us know, or say so in the comments. We'll be updating this thing pretty frequently, and a million Gizmodo readers can do a better job at sorting through the app mess than a single Gizmodo editor. Enjoy!

Lifehacker says there aren't a lot of new features since their first look at the software, but it is a free antivirus app, albeit one that might not be great enough to get you to switch from your current app. After all, AVG is still free for individuals, but for small businesses that need to install one on every machine, this might free up a good deal more budget for a fancy Xmas party. [Microsoft via Lifehacker]

When your concerned friends and family insist that you have to back your data up (as anyone who's seen my atrociously beaten-down laptop in the last few months has done to me) they're effectively telling you two things: That backing up your data will save you a massive headache in the future, because more likely the not, your hard drive will fail; and, less bluntly, that you need to buy a hard drive. And who wants to do that? It's hard to lay out the cash for a backup hard drive, since the payoff is uncertain, and (hopefully) far away. It's a good investment—not an easy one.

The good news is, most of us cheapskates can still keep our most important files safe without spending a dime, or wasting more than a few minutes. Here how:

Note: These methods don't give you traditional, full backups—they are ways to keep copies of the files that matter most to you, like your documents, photos, music and videos.

Share

Do you live with someone else? Do you share a network with someone else? Then hey, you've got an ready-built backup system right there! There are a few ways to deal with this setup, from stupid-simple to moderately complex.

First, you need permission. Whoever your networked buddy is, sit them down and have a talk. Give them a glass of milk, and explain to them how important data backup is. Persuade them. Coax them. Scare them. Offer to store their backups in exchange for them storing yours. Great! Now you have a partner in data safety. Congratulations.

The easiest, most direct and least intimidating way to get free backups is to set up simple file sharing on your PC or Mac. On the PC, it's just a matter of ticking a few boxes and setting a few parameters (Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7) and on Mac, it's not much harder (To another Mac, to a PC, courtesy of Lifehacker).

Now you need to decide what to back up, and how to do it. If privacy isn't an issue, like in a scenario where you're just syncing files between two open access family computers, you can simple copy your documents, photos, video and audio to opposing computers' shared folders, and voila. If privacy is an issue, like if you're trying to back up sensitive documents or embarrassing photos, you can simply create a password-protected archive of some or all of your data, then copy that over to the backup folder.

But this is all a little manual for my taste—for a longer term solution, I'd recommend something a little more automated. All we need with such a simple setup is a basic backup utility. For Windows, I've been happy with IdleBackup, a free little utility that'll copy selected folders to any destination you want—including network folders—while your computer isn't working. For Mac, Lacie's SilverKeeper is as simple and powerful a tool as you'll need, syncing folders locally or over a network on a set schedule—also free.

Go Online

Again, short of purchasing a whole lot of online space especially designed for the purpose of storing full backups, this'll be a scenario in which you're picking a choosing what you save and what you don't; your intention here is to save and recover the files that matter most, not restore your entire operating system. Luckily, with increasingly generous offers from online storage companies, you can put quite a bit of your stuff on someone else's servers for nothing. A few of the best:

Windows Live Skydrive: This one really deserves more publicity that it seems to get, because it hands you 25GB of no-strings-attached storage, for free. The 50MB filesize limit is a little low considering how large the online disk is, but for document, photo, and even music backup, it's hard to beat this.

File Factory: 100GB of free storage with a 300MB file limit. The catch? It can be a little slow, so this much data isn't necessarily that usable.

Dropbox: This is more than just a backup service—it has plenty of nifty file syncing and features, too—but it's a super-simple way to store 2GB of data online, with well-designed clients on every major platform

Mozy: Gives you 2GB of storage for free, or an unlimited amount for $5 a month. Comes with an extremely handy Windows utility that makes it easy to specify what gets uploaded, and what doesn't.

Orbit Files: Offers 6GB of space, but with fewer options available for non-paying customers, and no software client.

Scatter Yourself In the Cloud

The bad news is, this is the most time-consuming way to skirt proper backups, both in terms of setup and recovery. The good news is, you're probably already doing this, to an extent.

If my laptop died right now, I'd lose my settings, a little bit of music, a few day's worth of documents, and well, that's about it. That's because so, so much of my data lives in various online services, just by nature of how I work. Rather than undertaking a day-long effort to upload all your files to myriad websites, just consider changing your habits a little, and easing into a cloud over time. That these services provide useful backups is incidental—usually they're intended as web apps—but that doesn't mean they don't serve the purpose beautifully. Use them for their intended purposes-be it document editing, photo sharing, or music streaming—and you'll soon realize that, without even trying, you've create a wonderful, distributed backup of your most-used media across the internet.

Documents:

Google Docs: This one's a no-brainer, since a lot of you probably already use Gmail, with which Docs is tightly integrated. It can sometimes break formatting in files, but at least you won't lose important data.

Office Live: Microsoft's take on the online office suite comes with a free 5GB, which, let's be honest, is an awful lot of Word documents.

Zoho: As an online office suite, Zoho offers a few little features that Google and Microsoft don't. As a storage service, though, they only offer 1GB. Still!

Photos:

Flickr: The obvious choice for photography geeks, Flickr give you unlimited storage for free, at a rate of 100MB a month.

Snapfish: With fewer options for enthusiasts, Snapfish's draw is its unlimited storage and orderable photo prints.

Picasa: 1GB of Google's storage space for free out of the box, with a nice client to boot.

Photobucket: Another 1GB of free storage, but this one takes video as well.

Facebook: This might seem like an unlikely recommendation, but they've got one of the best deals going, in a way. If you're not concerned about the quality of your photo uploads—like, you just want them for onscreen viewing—you can upload unlimited photos here, 200 at a time. And in any case, a medium-quality JPEG is better than no photo at all.

Music:

MP3Tunes: Puts your music library everywhere, with a bevy of client apps for various platforms, including the iPhone. 2GB of free storage isn't much, but it's something.

File Factory: Mentioned above in the general storage section, FileFactory also has a web interface for music. 100GB is quite possibly enough to store your whole library.

Deezer: A French music streaming service that also lets you upload as much music as you'd like, for personal use.

Video:

This is the most hackish of the bunch, but YouTube, Vimeo, Viddler and the like usually support private or invite-only videos, which means they can act as last resort backup solutions, though the loss of quality and long upload times might make these plans a little unwieldy.

So that's about it! Please add in your experiences in the comments—your feedback is a huge benefit to our Saturday guides. Happy data-hoarding, and have a great weekend!

Zune is throwing an epic party for our Snowmodo event on Saturday April 4th at Northstar. They've lined up Grammy nominated Morgan Page to play some music and there will also be food and drinks available for all of our attendees. Zune has also made custom Snowmodo Zunes just for our event , which we'll be giving out as prizes in our raffle!

Zune Party Details
Where: TC's Pub in Northstar's Village. The pub is located right next our event room. For location details please refer to Northstar's site. [LINK]
When: Party starts at 3 pm with Morgan Page starting his set around 3:30 pm.
How To Get In: Only Snowmodo attendees who have Snowmodo wristbands will be allowed in. That means you'll have to stop by our event room at-least once during the day to pay the $5 admission fee and receive a wristband and raffle tickets.

On a music related note, Giz's own musicphile Adrian Covert has compiled an Official Snowmodo Soundtrack filled with three different playlists of riding music. Most of these songs will be pre-loaded on the demo Zunes available at our event. So if you don't want to load up our playlists on your own player, stop by the Zune table at Snowmodo, grab a demo Zune and go hit the mountain. I personally suggest Pheonix - 1901, need I say more...

Night Runs - Uptempo - Hip Hop

• Black Star - Respiration [amazon] [zune]
• Camp Lo - Luchini (This Is It) [amazon] [zune]
• Clipse - Keys Open Doors [amazon] [zune]
• Busy Signal - These Are The Days [amazon] [zune]
• Benga and Coki - Night [amazon] [zune]
• The Bug - Poison Dart [amazon] [zune]
• Souls of Mischief - 93 til Infinity [amazon] [zune]
• Wu-Tang Clan - C.R.E.A.M. [amazon] [zune]
• Outkast - B.O.B. [amazon] [zune]
• The Knux - F!re [amazon] [zune]
• J Dilla - Two Can Win [amazon] [zune]
• The Cool Kids - One Two [amazon] [zune
• The Streets - Blinded By The Lights [amazon] [zune]
• Madvillain - America's Most Blunted [amazon] [zune]
• Cypress Hill - I ain't goin out like that [amazon] [zune]
• JayLib - Raw Shit [amazon] [zune] [zune]
• Pharoahe Monch - Simon Says [amazon] [zune
• El-P - Delorean [amazon] [zune
• Company Flow - Lune TNS [amazon] [zune
• Beastie Boys - Sabotage [amazon] [zune] [zune]
• Cannibal Ox - Iron Galaxy [amazon] {zune]
• Zion I - Critical [amazon] [zune]
• Dilated Peoples - Worst Comes to Worst [amazon] [zune]
• Talib Kweli - The Blast [amazon] [zune
• Ghostface Killah - Run [amazon] [zune

Short Runs - Agressive - Rock

Cursive - Red Handed Slight of Hand [amazon] [zune]
• K-Os - Born to Run [amazon] []
• RJD2 - The Horror [amazon] [zune]
• M83 - America [amazon] [zune]
• Bloc Party - Banquet [amazon] [zune
• Birdy Nam Nam - Trans Boulogne Express [amazon] [zune]
• Phoenix - 1901 [amazon] [zune]
• Peter, Bjorn and John - Lay It Down [amazon] [zune]
• Wavves - Beach Demon [amazon] [zune]
• The Walkmen - The Rat [amazon] []
• Digitalism - Pogo [amazon] [zune]
• Studio - Self Service [amazon] []
• The Faint - In Concert [amazon] []
• Black Flag - Rise Above [amazon] [zune]
• Bad Brains - Sacred Love [amazon] [zune]
• Sex Pistols - Holidays in the Sun [amazon] [zune
• DFA 1979 - 1979 [zune]
• Red Hot Chili Peppers - Give it Away/Under The Bridge [amazon1 amazon 2] [zune]
• Nirvana - In Bloom [amazon] [zune]
• TV on the Radio - Wolf Like Me [amazon] [zune

Longer Runs - Mellow - Electronic

• Skream - Summer Dreams [amazon] [zune
• Daft Punk - Voyager [amazon] [zune]
• Burial - Raver [amazon] [zune]
• CFCF - Arctic [amazon] [zune]
• Kanye West - Coldest Winter [amazon] [zune]
• Junior Boys - Double Shadow [amazon] [zune]
• Dan Deacon - Of the Mountains [amazon] [zune]
• LCD Soundsystem - Someone Great [amazon] [zune]
• Cut Copy - Out There on the Ice [amazon] [zune]
• M83 - Run into Flowers [amazon] [zune]
• Royksopp - Eple [amazon] [zune
• Animal Collective - My Girls [amazon] [zune]
• The Zombies - Beechwood Park [amazon] [zune
• Boards of Canada - Roygbiv [amazon] [zune
• Ellen Allien and Apparat - Way Out [amazon] [zune
• Black Moth Super Rainbow - Don't You Wanna Be in a Cult? [amazon] [zune]
• Zomby - U Are My Fantasy (Street Fighter II Theme Remix) [amazon] [zune]
• Booka Shade - Night Moves [amazon] [zune
• The Avalanches - Since I Met You [amazon]

For complete Snowmodo event details please head over to our Snowmodo Event Information post.

This may sound strange unbelievable to you, but it is real and it is true.

Snowmodo Event Information Below!

Location:
Northstar's Basque Room. Located adjacent to TC's Pub and directly across the walk way from Earthly Delights. For exact location please refer to Northstar's Village map [LINK] and search Basque or refer to the blue image on the map below.
For driving directions to Northstar-at-Tahoe please refer Northstar's site. [LINK]

When:
Saturday April 4th. Event room opens to the public at 8:30 am and closes at 4 pm.

Zune Party:
Party will start at 4pm, all information will be available at the event.

Instructions:
Upon arriving at Northstar, please head over to our event room to pay the $5 attendance fee. In return for your $5 you will receive a wristband and a raffle ticket. You're wristband will not only show you paid the attendance fee but will also grant you discounted lift tickets at Northstar's Season Pass Office and Copper Lane Ticketing Office.

Raffle:
Upon paying the $5 attendance fee you will receive one raffle ticket, which will be valid for our event prize raffle held later in the day. More information regarding the raffle will be available at the event.
Once your attendance fee is paid you are eligible to buy more raffle tickets at $5 per additional ticket and there is no limit on the amount of tickets you can buy.

Product Demos:
The companies in attendance will be offering various product demos that you can take out on the mountain for testing. You will be required to leave some form of ID or Credit Card in return for a demoed product. More information regarding product demos will be available at the event.

Lift Tickets:
All Snowmodo attendees are eligible for discounted Northstar lift tickets. To receive these discounts you must first pay the $5 attendance fee at our event room to receive a wristband. Once you have a wristband you will be able to purchase a discounted lift ticket form Northstar's Season Pass Office and Copper Lane Ticketing Office. Ticket information will be available at the event.

Friday Night Drinks:
We have not yet decided on where or when we'll be sitting down for drinks on Friday night. We'll be announcing details on Friday, so please check back then.

Appreciation for investment will return high yield, just sending fully insured money order to vacation residence in Gabon. I hope to hear from you in no distant time through the email address below.
jjsos@amerivas.tur.br

Thanks to all the companies that are participating in Snowmodo we are able to offer all this stuff, and then some, to our readers who attend.

Want to see exactly what you could win, well here you go:

Zune: Zune Players.
AKG: AKG hooded sweaters. AKG earbuds and the demoed AKG headphones.
Nokia: Three Nokia N96s.
North Face: 10 Flyweight Rucksack packs. 10 Khumbu Jackets.
OtterBox: Five OtterBox Defender Series for iPhone 3G cases.
Vudu: VUDU box.
Ardica: Mountain Hardwear jacket with an Ardica Moshi system.
Nixon: Headphones.
Griffin: 25 AeroSport armband for Zune. 25 Streamline armband for iPhone. 20 AeroSport armband for iPod classic. 20 AeroSport armband for iPod nano.96 TuneBuds.
GoPro: 2 GoPro Helmet HERO Wide camera kits.
LibTech: Mystery Item.
Casio: EXILIM EX-FH20 Camera.

For more information regarding our Snowmodo event you can check here. If you're planning on attending and haven't already illed out the RSVP form below, please do. Thanks!

What is a jailbreak?

Jailbreaking is the process required to install applications in your iPhone or iPod touch. It is a very easy procedure. It's also safe: There are no risks in this operation*, as you can easily use iTunes to restore your iPhone or iPod touch to the default factory settings. When you do that, the iPhone will be like new.

Why jailbreak your iPhone or iPod touch from Apple's iron fist?

You should jailbreak your iPhone or iPod if you want to install really cool and useful applications that are not in the iTunes App Store. Many of these apps are a complete must for any iPhone user but are not allowed by Apple in their iTunes App Store.

This is what you can do with a phone that has been jailbroken:

• Use your iPhone as a 3G modem with your laptop.
• Record video using Cycorder.
• Unlock your iPhone installing a simple program, so you can use a pre-paid card when you go out on vacation instead of paying outrageous roaming charges.
• Follow speech turn-by-turn directions in a GPS program.
• Copy and paste (yes, copy and paste).
• Play Nintendo Entertainment System games and other emulated classic cames (like Monkey Island!)

In other words: Do it.

*WARNING* Of course, the usual do this at your own risk and we are not responsible caveats still apply, but this process is really fool proof thanks to Apple's iTunes factory reset. If you are looking to unlock your iPhone now or in the future, DON'T USE THESE INSTRUCTIONS or you won't be able to unlock it. You will need a different process, which we will explain in another How To.

Opening the backdoor (Mac Users only)

The first thing you need to do to install free apps in your iPhone or iPod is putting it into DFU mode, or Device Firmware Update mode. Don't worry, this isn't anything weird: It's what your device goes through every time you update the operating system in it. With this step, you will be making the iPhone go into this state.

This is the only long part of this tutorial because—since the 10.5.6 update—Apple has made it difficult to easily connect your Mac to a manually DFU'ed iPhone or iPod. This can be solved by replacing some USB drivers from a previous version of Mac OS X. If you have 10.5.6 installed, follow these instructions:

Step 1. To do this, you need to get yourself a free Apple Developer Connection account. Since you are using iTunes with your device, you are already almost there: Just log in with your Apple ID from here. The form will ask you to answer a couple of questions (just answer whatever you want), and you'll be done as soon as you click the Accept button.

Step 2. Now you need to download and install the drivers. Go to this page and look for this file:

IOUSBFamily-315.4-log.dmg" for Mac OS X10.5.5 Build 9F33

Once it's downloaded, disconnect ALL USB peripherals except for your Apple keyboard and Apple mouse and install the package included in the disk image.

Once you restart after the installation, you will be ready to run QuickPwn, the program that will allow you to install the applications.

Important: Once you complete the jailbreaking process, you have to restore the previous USB drivers. Go to to this page and download IOUSBFamily-327.4.0-log.dmg" for Mac OS X 10.5.6 Build 9G55, then repeat the same operation. Once you restart, Mac OS X 10.5.6 will be restored to its original state.

Freeing your iPhone or iPod touch (all users)

Here's the easiest part: Running QuickPwn. QuickPwn is a program that will easily "jailbreak" your iPhone or iPod touch. Jailbreak, as the name says, just means breaking Apple's limitations on accessing your device, allowing you put anything you want in it. This means installing any application you want, and not only the ones that Apple allows you to install.

Step 1. Download QuickPwn for Mac OS X or Windows from any of the following links:

Windows
• QuickPwn 2.2.5 for Windows: Get the official release via Torrent here.

Unofficial mirrors
• http://miphone.ca/iphone-dev/QuickPwn225-2.zip
• http://foskarulla.com/QuickPwn-225-2.zip
• http://downloads2.touch-mania.com/QuickPwn-225-2.zip
• http://www.applei.ph/devteam/QuickPwn-225-2.zip
• http://phonenews.com/phones/gsm/apple/QuickPwn225-2.zip
• http://rabstalk.bplaced.net/mirrors/QuickPwn-225-2.zip
• http://www.evil-crew.de/QuickPwn-225-2.zip
• http://daniel14.com/QuickPwn-225-2.zip

Mac OS X
• QuickPwn 2.2.5: Get the official release via Torrent here.

Unofficial mirrors
• http://iphone-dev.fgv6.net/QuickPwn_2.2.5.dmg
• http://iphone.schwarzmetall.cn/QuickPwn_2.2.5.dmg
• http://rabstalk.bplaced.net/mirrors/QuickPwn_2.2.5.dmg
• http://jmcoon.net/QuickPwn_2.2.5.dmg
• http://www.iphone-storage.de/QuickPwn_2.2.5.dmg
• http://downloads2.ipod.backshot.eu/QuickPwn_2.2.5.dmg
• http://miphone.ca/iphone-dev/QuickPwn_2.2.5.dmg

Step 2. Run QuickPwn and pick the kind of device you have: iPhone, iPhone 3G, or iPod Touch.

Step 3. Follow the instructions on the screen. QuickPwn is completely automated:

• Firstly, it will download all the necessary components from Apple on its own.

• Then the software will build a custom iPhone operating system, which includes Installer and Cydia, the two programs that will allow you to install the iPhone applications outside of the iTunes Apps Store microsystem.

• When QuickPwn asks you to enter your system password, do it. It's not malicious. It just needs this to work.

• Finally, follow the precisely timed instructions on the screen to put your device on DFU (Device Firmware Update) mode. QuickPwn will do the rest.

If something doesn't work, don't worry. Start the process again. If your device gets a bit nutty, restore it to default factory settings using iTunes, and you will be back to square one, no harm done.

Step 4. Be patient as your iPhone restarts. Once it's done, you are done too. It's fun time.

Installing the applications

This is where the fun starts. You will notice two new icons in your iPhone or iPod touch's springboard: One says "Installer" and the other says "Cydia". These are the two competing systems for installation of software. It doesn't really matter what you use to install your software. Most applications can be installed from both—there are exceptions, like xGPS, which can only be installed on Cydia—and both allow you to browse and install software from a a variety of sources.

• Browsing the catalogs. Whatever system you choose, installing applications is as easy as going through the available catalogs and picking the application you want.

• Manually adding applications. There will be times in which you will discover applications on the web which are not in the default catalogs in Cydia or Installer. Fortunately, you can add these by just entering the URL provided by the developer in the web page, a process that is referred to as "Adding a source". Here's how to do it:

In Cydia

• Click on "Manage."
• Click on "Sources."
• Click on "Edit" and then "Add."
• Enter the address in the dialog field.
• Click on "Add source."

In Installer

• Click on "Sources."
• Click on "Edit" and then "Add."
• Enter the address in the field.
• Click "Done" and get back to sources by clicking on "Sources."

And that's it. Now you can install any application you want using either program. Have fun!

To be fair, there's actually some useful stuff in this kit. The included keyboard overlays can remind you of Gmail shortcuts (the perfect excuse to score your fix of adhesive unicorn and glitter paraphernalia). To order your stickers, send a self-addressed envelope (we're not joking) to:

Send me some Gmail stickers already
P.O. Box 391420
Mountain View, CA 94039-1420

Supplies seem to be limited, so avid sticker collectors best move quickly. [Google]

So, you'd better download these files fast before they're taken down (they'll most likely pop up again elsewhere though, with a day or two's delay). The instructions are here, complete with photos of the process. If you want to unlock, hit that up now rather than pay $30-$50 to some guy to unlock your phone for you. [Sw box via ZonaBlackBerry via Into Mobile]

The box would eventually cost you $120 over the year of service, so it's a pretty sizable deal, but there's a caveat, as always. Don't mention that you know it's procedure, don't mention that it's a promotion, hell, don't even mention that you were reading Gizmodo. Just casually say that the monthly pricing is too much for you, and you'll be "immediately offered the free box." And hey, uh, if anybody asks, you didn't get this from me. Capiche? [Thanks, Anonymous!]

The movie follows a 60-city tour across 20 battleground states to promote voting with the objective of changing the color of the current administration. It has appearances by REM, Joan Baez (Steve Jobs' former girlfriend, for those of you who are not as old as myself), Eddie Vedder (Pearl Jam), Tom Morello (Rage Against the Machine), Viggo Mortensen, Roseanne Barr, and of course, Michael Moore himself, as well as a bunch of extras. Quite honestly, while I personally agree—looking from outside the US—with the need for change, I would have preferred to get the Dark Knight free in HD. [Slacker Uprising]

You can spend up to $100 a month for various cable and satellite services to watch the new season of programming that began this week. Or, if you've got an internet connection and are willing to be a little more creative than buying episodes for $2 off Amazon Unbox or iTunes, you can view most of it for free. There are limitations, of course, but after digging through each channel's website, I found the sheer amount of cost free (and often commercial free) content to be staggering—even for the traditional "cable" channels.

So here's how you get it.

Network Shows (HD) Grade: A+
We're going to knock out a big "duh" point right off the bat. If you have an HDTV with an integrated HD tuner, there's a good chance you can get all of the major networks (ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX and even PBS) in HD for no cost at all. How? Over the air (OTA) HD via antenna—a signal that probably has less compression than cable or satellite. Stick it to the man by purchasing any UHF/VHF antenna. If you don't have the time/money for a roof mounted antenna, we've had success with the flat (non rabbit eared) RCA ANT1500. It runs about $30. To find the OTA channels offered in your area, go here.

Network Shows (Runner Up Options) Grade: Mostly Honor Roll
For NBC and Fox/FX programs including 30 Rock, The Office, Heroes, and House, Hulu is your best runner-up resource to OTA HD (full show list here). The quality isn't quite as good as you'd get in a standard def broadcast, but the shows are available commercial free online and play instantly in full screen mode. ABC.com is superb as well, offering their highest rated shows like Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy and even 4 seasons of Lost in HD streaming. CBS.com is the most disappointing with somewhat random, limited offerings of their programming, and no episodes of their top-rated CSI shows available online.

Bravo Grade: F

Our first cable channel starts with a strike-out. Bravo has a huge thumb print online, all of their content is chopped into tiny clips, as if sliced and diced by Top Chef contestants into a mocking plate of amuse bouche. Bravo's site lacks any full episodes of their big shows; Hulu lacks them too (which is a bit surprising because NBC owns both entities). Moving on...

Cartoon Network/Adult Swim Grade B+
Both Cartoon Network and its after dark Adult Swim alter-ego offer substantial content online. It's standard streaming quality, but the embedded video goes full screen and quite a few original shows (like The Boondocks) as well as syndicated shows (like Family Guy) are available in constantly rotating episodes.

Comedy Central Grade: A+
Sometimes it seems like Comedy Central plays nothing but The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. Luckily, both of these programs are available in full online dating back several weeks (the price is that you have to put up with a few commercials). A huge amount of South Park's back catalog is available as well. But don't go to Comedy Central's main site. Instead, hit up the links that we cleverly hid in each show's title.

Discovery Networks (Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet, etc) Grade: F-
This is where you take a blow for being cheap. The only programs currently offered online from Discovery Networks are Meerkat Manor, Flip That House, Smash Lab and Project Earth. Plus, you'll also have to download their player (ick) to watch these programs. One of, if not the highest rated show on Discovery Networks is What Not To Wear. Needless to say, it's not part of their online lineup. But kudos to Discovery for not compressing Sunrise Earth to YouTube sizes.

ESPN Grade: A for Effort, C- for Execution
It's not HD. It's not even SD. But while the true sports fan might feel slighted by ESPN360's resolution, no one can question the content. Quite simply, there's more on ESPN360 than the real ESPN and ESPN2 combined. At any time, you can watch a multitude of live major sports games—over 10 while we're writing this. And if you forget to tune in, ESPN360 keeps the content online for 24-48 hours. The big catch: ESPN360 won't work with all internet providers (depending who your ISP is, you may not be able to access the player).

FX Grade: B- and Improving
On their site, FX promises complete shows "coming soon." But until then, we have an alternative. In case you didn't see the note above, many FX shows are available on Hulu. Their complete show listing is here. (Note: Hulu claims to have The Shield, but its links come up dead.)

MTV Grade: B+
MTV is now shoved full of so many advertisements that nobody should pay for it. Luckily (depending on your definition of the word), most (if not all) of their content appears to be available through their website. Music videos along with their top-rated show The Hills are available, as are many of their other shows including gems like True Life and Made. Aside from the commercials, the main catch is the spastic, often unorganized presentation of MTV.com.

SpikeTV Grade: Incomplete
Good news and bad news. The good news is that SpikeTV has an excellent, high quality video player that offers most of their shows commercial-free, and shows are easy to find in straightforward episode lists. The bad news is that if you watch SpikeTV for Ultimate Fighter—their biggest show—you'll still have to tune in the old-fashioned way.

Travel Channel Grade: FF
Complete miss here. But if you enjoy one-minute clips of Samantha Brown, live it up. Their site is chock full of 'em. Otherwise you have to subscribe (!) to the channel or buy episodes through Unbox etc.

USA Grade: B- for Execution
Does anyone watch USA anymore? If so, Monk, Psyche, Burn Notice and In Plain Sight are available on their site. Streaming is fast and quality is somewhere around SD widescreen. About three episodes of each show are available at a time in rotation and a pretty annoying DirecTV logo knocks the full screen player off center. If you're not satisfied with the USA website, Hulu has a nice selection of USA content as well.

When It's Worth Paying For
If you don't have a media PC, then the convenience of watching television on your television may be worth the large premium for cable/satellite. Then again, a few hundred dollars can buy you a powerful media PC that will not only allow you to watch streaming content, but record OTA HD with a tuner. How much is your cable bill per month?

If you watch niche interest channels like TLC, Bravo or Travel Channel, you'll find that only limited content is available at all online (through services like Amazon Unbox) and, of course, it costs money. Still, if you only use Bravo for, say, Top Chef, buying a season through Unbox for $23 isn't the worst alternative to a multi-month cable subscription.

But most of all, if you want to watch non-network content in HD, cable and satellite are both, by far, your best options. Even with as much as Comcast and DirecTV compress HD signals, you'll be looking at a picture that's far more beautiful than streaming web content or what you can buy from Amazon or iTunes (at the time of this writing). But if your service provider still doesn't offer the smaller cable channels in HD, then just why are you renting that box again?

Chicago, Illinois, September 3, 2008 — NAVIGON, one of the world's leading and fastest growing providers of navigation products and solutions, today unveiled its feature-rich NAVIGON 2200T GPS Navigator. The NAVIGON 2200T offers a best-in-class navigation experience characterized by NAVIGON’s roster of trademark features—including free real-time traffic updates for the life of the product.
The NAVIGON 2200T—“T” for Traffic—is based on NAVIGON’s next generation software which makes route calculation fast and entering a destination easy, requiring fewer clicks than any other GPS product to enter a destination. With high-end features such as Reality View Pro™, Free Real-Time Traffic Updates for Life and text-to-speech, the 3.5” NAVIGON 2200T is the marvel of its price class, selling for $229 (MSRP).
“As competitors try to match the unique features that we first introduced last year we continue to enhance our offering, maintaining our position as the lead innovator in the industry,” says Andreas Hecht, NAVIGON’s president for the America’s. “Our vision for the NAVIGON 2200T was to take the NAVIGON experience to a new level in a stylish, highly portable package. This device delivers a navigation experience that exceeds that of any high-end device on the market today at an attractive price point.”

Features that Set it Apart
Real-time traffic, good for the life of the product, provides traffic updates and flow information that guides users around congestion and shortens the drive time. Reality View Pro™, the next generation of NAVIGON’s exclusive Reality View feature, adds 3D images for highway exits as well as complex interchanges. Lane Assistant Pro™ provides clear lane guidance to help drivers prepare for upcoming turns.

NAVIGON 2200T features include:
Free Real-Time Traffic Updates for Life. Users can easily route around traffic congestion to reach their destinations faster. NAVIGON delivers traffic in a unique way—it’s ready to go, for the life of the product, right out of the box. No subscriptions, trial periods or additional hardware to buy. Using simple color coding, the NAVIGON 2200T will show the severity of congestion, what and where the problem is, and (most importantly) how to get around it. Plus, with coverage in 95 markets in both U.S. and Canada, users are covered wherever their travels take them.

Reality View Pro™. NAVIGON takes its trademark feature one-step further with the second generation of Reality View—Reality View Pro™. Reality View Pro provides 3D images and actual road sign text for virtually every highway interchange and exit you will encounter —so you’ll never miss your exit again.

Lane Assistant Pro™. Helps drivers prepare to make an upcoming exit or turn by providing clear visual lane guidance. NAVIGON’s second generation of Lane Assistant provides a lane map complete with arrows and actual road geometry.

Fast Destination Entry. The latest generation of NAVIGON software makes entering and finding information fast and simple with, on average, fewer clicks than any competitor product. NAVIGON’s SmartSpeller feature helps guiding through the entry process.

Advanced Text-to-speech. Spoken Directions with Street Names lets drivers keep their hands on the wheel and eyes on the road with advanced phonetic text-to-speech technology that ensures proper pronunciation of streets.

DirectHelp™. Help is a click away with DirectHelp, providing instant driving directions to and contact information for nearby hospitals, police stations, roadside assistance, and pharmacies.

High Performance. NAVIGON’s new software platform delivers our most responsive interface to date with dramatically improved route calculation times.

Instant Fix GPS. With NAVIGON’s new Instant Fix GPS receiver (SIRF InstantFixII Receiver), the NAVIGON 2200T triangulates global position in a matter of seconds and is minimally affected by urban canyons and tall trees.

Ultra-thin and portable. Less than ¾” thick, the NAVIGON 2200T is compact enough to take users anywhere whether traveling the world or the local neighborhood.

Favorites as POI: Shows stored addresses with name on the map marked with flags.

NAVIGON FreshMaps: Keep your 2200T as up-to-date in three years as it was on the day you bought it with NAVIGON‘s FreshMaps accessory, providing up to 12 map updates for three years for $79.99 (MSRP).

Also with:
Speed Assistant
Multi-Destination Trip Planning
Automatic Standby Feature
Auto Day/Night Mode