Ramu Nagappan

Back in May, Comcast teased its subscribers with an iOS app that would turn the iPhone and iPad into a remote and possibly a one-stop entertainment center. Well, the Xfinity TV app has finally arrived for iOS devices--right now, though, it's largely a remote that lets you search for content, change channels, and program your DVR.

The browsing and search functions do much what you would expect: you can scroll through listings, tap on a show, and watch it on your TV; you can also sort content by genre or search by keyword. In addition, the app lets you browse Comcast's On Demand programming and bring it up on your TV.

As the holiday season approaches, the bundles start to fly. And so The Mac Bundles is doing its thing, providing a package of 12 apps for just 50 bucks. Some of these apps may be more appealing than others, so the site also lets you Build Your Own Bundle (BYOB), ordering apps à la carte for $5 (if you pick 10 altogether) or $6 (if you pick 5).

The menu of apps for November includes: BookMacster (a browser bookmark app), Clean Text (a text formatting tool), HoudahSpot (a file searcher), IconBox (an icon customizer), iMedia Converter (a DVD ripper and video converter), MenuEverywhere (a menu-bar add-on), PrintMagic (a print utility), RingTone Studio (what else but an iPhone ringtone creator?), Screen Mimic (a screen recorder), Simon Bronze (a site monitoring tool), StockMarket Eye (an investment tracker), and WebsitePainter (a web editor).

With the brisk autumn winds on their way, maybe you're thinking of unpacking your cold-weather gear. Well, if you're wondering how in the world you can use your iOS device's touchscreen while wearing those bulky mittens, Etre has just the gloves for you.

The UK company's Touchy gloves have the thumb and index fingers cut off, leaving those digits free to tap, slide, and swipe. The gloves, which come in small, medium, and large, are made of lamb's wool, so they should be soft and toasty warm. Nine color combinations, some of which include stripes and leather trim, means there's plenty of choice to find the pair that's right for you.

Teachers, students, and U.S. history buffs take note: the National Archives has a new site for exploring its rich holdings. DocsTeach.org brings to life thousands of primary source documents like maps, photographs, letters, charts, audio, and video. You can browse the material, or use customizable, interactive learning tools to deepen the experience.

The Documents pages are organized by historical era from the mid-eighteenth century to the present. With a click or two you can find an inventory of Robert E. Lee's property or a childhood photograph of Franklin D. Roosevelt–no need to go to Washington or delve into musty stacks.

On Monday, music-subscription service Napster launched an iPhone app that streams 10 million tracks from its catalog. The app lets you save songs and playlists for listening offline, and offers access to the Billboard charts going back to 1955.

Reborn as a pay service after its late 1990s heyday as a music pirate's best friend, Napster's a solid subscription service, although it's been slow to release an iPhone app.

Apple's new 27-inch LED Cinema Display is at last officially on sale. First unveiled in July, the monitor sports the goodies you'd expect if you're familiar with the 27-inch iMac: a 2560-by-1440 resolution, a 178-degree viewing angle, and a built-in iSight camera.

The new LED backlit display replaces both the 24- and 30-inch models in Apple's lineup. Other highlights of this aluminum-and-glass creature include built-in speakers and three USB ports. There's a handy Mini DisplayPort cable to connect a MacBook, Mac Pro, or Mac mini, and even a MagSafe connector to charge your notebook.

Jumsoft has updated its selection of free themes for Keynote. The latest batch includes ten lively designs that are part of its Goodies bundle.

Offered since 2008, Jumsoft's freebies showcase the company's design cred. Each Keynote theme includes 20 master slides that accommodate photo and table layouts as well as traditional bulleted text. The themes include "Glacier" (with a photo of what else but a giant white glacier), "Vintage" (which features old photos), and "Network Pro" (with a clean, corporate look).

If you're looking for another way to hang your iPad prominently on the wall, the newly announced PadTab might be worth a look. It works on any flat surface, and lets you easily mount and remove your iPad.

The kit includes one PadTab mount that sticks to the back of your iPad. You also get two wall tabs that bond to a wall or fridge. No tools are necessary for the installation. Unlike the recently released Wallport, which has an aluminum frame, the PadTab is literally a hanger for the iPad, so you don't see the mount. The wall tabs themselves are clear so they're relatively inconspicuous if your iPad isn't mounted there.

Boxee, the much loved media center software, is out with a new beta version. Boxee Beta 0.9.22 now includes an expanded movie library with loads of indie flicks, an indicator that alerts you when you're offline, support for Google Buzz, and hardware accelerated video-decoding for Snow Leopard.

The Boxee media center application offers access to TV shows, music, and other multimedia on your computer and on the Web. Boxee now has partnerships with providers like Mubi, EZTakes, Indie Movies Online Openfilm, YouTube, and Hulu. Much of the new fare consists of little-known films, but there's plenty of room for exploration. Boxee's VP of marketing Andrew Kippen told GigaOm that the company hopes to add more premium movie content later in 2010.

If you're looking for a personal finance app for the iPhone, you might give PaperFinance 2 a whirl. IdealSky Software has announced that the latest version, which offers a budget manager, an improved user interface, support for iOS 4, and eye candy like pie charts.

There's no shortage of finance apps out there, and PaperFinance tries to distinguish itself with its simplicity and its "fun" swiping interface. Like many finance apps, this one lets you set up various accounts; you can then track those accounts and add transactions and categories. The reporting feature offers bar graphs and pie charts; you can also export your data in CSV format or as PDFs. Version 2 also offers some bug fixes and faster performance. You can now backup your finances by e-mailing yourself the data file.

There's yet another contender if you're looking for an online backup solution. Haystack Software has released Arq, a backup application that uses Amazon's Simple Storage Service (S3). Arq offers encrypted backups, flexible scheduling, and the ability to select and exclude files as you see fit.

As access to faster bandwidth has increased while storage costs have come down, online backup services have become more appealing. Arq joins a slew of backup options available to Mac users. All of them aim to complement a local backup plan, and, for most Mac users, Time Machine does the trick. But as we all know (and we do all know, don't we?) that if something really bad happens--your computer and backup drive suffer a horrible fate at the same time--then you need offsite storage.

There's a new music subscription service on the block, and its name is Rdio. Previously in private beta, Rdio has flung open its doors and is now open to anyone in the U.S. and Canada. The Web-based service is accessible via your Mac or Windows PC thanks to a cross-platform Adobe AIR application, and there are also apps for iPhone, Android, and BlackBerry--all of which allow you to stream music from a library of seven million tracks.

Rdio (pronounced "ar-dee-o") comes with a worthy pedigree, having been developed by Janus Friis with Niklas Zennström, the co-founders of Skype and Kaazaa. The service can scan your iTunes library and give you access to those tracks you and it share, and suggest music you'd like, relying on social media functionality and picking up recommendations from your friends. The company also says it has just inked deals with major independent aggregators, giving you access to music that you've never heard of.