Yearly Archives: 2012

The Best Free Android Launchers For Home Screen Replacement

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What makes Android different from many of its competitors is the degree of customization it offers its users, which goes to the extent of even letting users choose what is essentially the primary user interface of any operating system – the home screen Launcher! With Android, you can choose from a plethora of available launchers offering a diverse user experience range, and it’s just as simple as installing the launcher like any other app. In what follows, we will take you on a feature tour of some of the best Android launchers available, to help you choose the one that’s right for you. Read More

The Caddie + For Nokia Lumia: View Stats Of Fellow Golfers In Augmented Reality!

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Golf might appear to be a rather simple game if you are watching it on TV, but if you've ever been to the greens yourself, you probably know that it isn't as simple as hitting the ball with the club. Plus, you have to find some golfing buddies, someone has to keep the scores, and, if the course is unfamiliar to you, finding your way across all 18 holes can be a real headache. This is the reason there are many apps in the Windows Phone 7 Marketplace that can help you with all this, and leave you free to concentrate on your game. The best among such WP7 apps is The Caddie +, and although the app has been around for quite a while for Mango phones, a Lumia version of the app has recently been released. The Nokia app is pretty similar to the original one, but it has some really fantastic augmented reality features that make it a cut above the rest. With the app’s Golfscope feature, you just have to point your device at anyone playing against you, and the app with display their stats and score right on your screen! Intrigued? Read of past the jump for more. Read More

DeEgger Embedder: Hide Private Files Within Images, Videos Or Audio (Media Steganography)

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If you are oblivious of the term Steganography, you might be missing on one of the most widely used methods of securing important data. It is a technique that allows you to embed one file into another. The purpose of which, is to hide the original file, make it devious to an unintended recipient by concealing it within a fake one. If a certain sensitive information you consider is yours prerogative only, then using a steganography application is advisable to keep it away from others. There are various Windows application at your disposal (both paid and free) that does this job and back in 2010, Aatif reviewed SilentEye, which uses the steganography technique to hide confidential data. We have another similar application for you labeled as Deegger Embedder,  which offers the same facility, but with support for additional media formats. This free steganography software is designed to merge two or more files together, supports a wide range of file extensions you can hide and lets you create the bogus file in AVI, JPEG, MP3, MP4, PDF, PNG and other formats. Read More

Twitter Pulse: View & Filter Most Tweeted Content For Any Website [Chrome]

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Only a few days ago, we covered Plus Comments, a Chrome extension that let you view what others are saying about a particular website on Google+. Twitter Pulse is a similar tool that displays up to 10 URLs that have been tweeted the most for the domain you are currently viewing. Moreover, these tweets and articles can then be filtered by different time intervals, such as Now, 24Hours, 7Days, Month and All. Twitter Pulse lets you find popular social content and gives you the ability to see the latest Twitter buzz for your favorite websites. The extension adds a button in the URL bar, which you can click to view articles that have been retweeted the most for the currently-viewed page. Twitter Pulse collects and organizes tweets for popular articles and arranges them in a pop-up, with multiple options. Read More

SonicShare: Wireless Data Sharing Among Multiple Nearby Android Devices

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Looking back at some of the previously reviewed Android apps that let users wirelessly and simultaneously share files in bulk with multiple Android devices, we find that SPRiiD and X-Link are perhaps the only noteworthy options, which not only require the least amount of user intervention, but also support sharing almost any file format at blazing speed. While both said apps were pretty impressive with their functionality, they sported abysmal looks, to be honest. Same could be said of SonicShare – the latest arrival in the Google Play Store that lets you share virtually anything existing on Android device with as many other app users as you like. Sporting a cartoon UI, SonicShare allows you to simultaneously share business cards, contacts, installed apps, webpages from your web history, received text messages, SD card content (files only), system files (without requiring root access), downloaded content, photos, music files, videos, clipboard content, bookmarks, audio recordings, custom text messages and sketches with multiple app users over the internet. Each file that you wish to share first gets uploaded to the SonicShare servers, from where it is downloaded directly to the all the selected recipients’ devices. Read More

The Grim Tab Reaper Automatically Bookmarks & Closes Inactive Tabs In Firefox

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One problem with working with a large number of tabs, is the fact that we often forget to close the inactive ones, despite having exhausted their need a long while back. Sifting through numerous tabs cannot only be a difficult task, but they also increase the memory usage (especially on Firefox). The Grim Tab Reaper is a clever Firefox add-on that will automatically bookmark inactive tabs and close them after a certain time interval has elapsed. By default, the time to automatically close inactive tabs is set to 48 hours, but users can increase/decrease the time from the add-on's options. Note that this tool will never close web app tabs, or the active ones. Tabs that are reaped get a tabreaper tag associated with them, so you can easily find them by clicking the Recent Tags option in the Bookmarks menu. Read More

Photo Sharing Network SmugMug Releases Official App For Windows Phone 7

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SmugMug might not be as popular as Instagram, but it is a service that is used by professional photographers and is not limited to just mobile platforms. The photos available on SmugMug are generally high in quality, because the user base of the service consists of people who don’t share photos just for fun. Rather than predefined, one-touch filters and photo effects, SmugMug allows its users to make adjustments they want to their photos. If you are a Windows Phone 7 user, and admire SmugMug, you'll be delighted to know that the official mobile client of the service has just hit the Marketplace. The app lets you control every aspect of your SmugMug account, and even if you don’t have one, you can browse through public galleries and share photos from the app. Read More

Batch-Convert PDF Files To PowerPoint Presentations via Hot Folders

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A while back, we reviewed 3DPageFlip PDF to Flash, a handy tool to easily convert your PDF files to SWF format, so you may embed your PDF documents (as flash) into HTML pages. Today, we came across a similar tool from the same developer that helps you convert most PDF files to PPT (MS PowerPoint) format. PageFlip Free PDF to PowerPoint is quite useful in situations where you want to present your important PDF files as a PowerPoint presentation, whether for a class project or to give a demonstration during a meeting with your boss. Like PDF to SWF tool, this utility also provides three different ways to convert your documents, i.e. Batch, Hot Directories and Command Line. Read past the jump for more details. Read More

Converber: Convert Between 2000+ Units From 53 Different Categories

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Unit conversion can get a bit confusing, especially with the Standard System being used in the US and Metric System being used elsewhere. Whether the US should adopt the Metric System has been the topic of debate since a long time, but as long as the our friends there continue to use the Standard System, all the rest of the world will have to bear with it. Due to these different systems for unit conversion being used in the world, having a good unit converter is necessary at times. The default calculator included with Windows allows you to convert between some basic units, but if you want a tool to help you in converting a wide range of complex units, try Converber. It is an application for Windows that allows you to convert between 2072 units, divided into 53 different categories. More on Converber after the jump. Read More

Zootool: Create Visual Bookmarks With Actual Content Snippets [Chrome]

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Zootool is a web application that lets you collect, organize and share your favorite images, videos, documents and links from all over the web. It offers visual bookmarking that can specially come in handy when you’ve got loads of bookmarks and can’t remember a particular website. Zootool uses images to bookmark content, so you can access it in an easier way. Signing up for the service requires only a few simple steps, after which you can bookmark images, videos, documents or pages from any website. The Chrome extension for the service speeds up the whole process by letting you bookmark content from any website directly from the toolbar. Zootool allows you to save not only URLs, but actual content snippets, so you can quickly locate or find them at a later time. Read More

Masatu For Android & iOS: Create Photo Time Capsules At A Location & View In Augmented Reality

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Fresh to the Google Play Store and iOS App Store, Masatu is an innovative and fun-filled social photo-sharing app based on the concept of sharing location-based time capsules. A time capsule created via Masatu can be filled with photos as well as personal messages, and shared publicly, privately or just with selected friends. You can create multiple time capsules, and the content modification privileges of each individual one can be altered to allow or disallow anyone to add their own personal messages or photos to it. In either case, all the content within a capsule can be opened by the selected audience only at the time specified by the creator. Once a time capsule is unlocked, users can view the hidden content in a simple list, or enjoy shared moments through an interactive augmented reality view, provided they are present at the location of sharing at that very instance. Read More

How To Enable/Disable Fast User Switching In Windows 8 [Tip]

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Like previous versions of Windows, the Log Off and Lock functions in Windows 8 enable users to quickly switch between all the available user accounts without having to restart or shutdown the PC. When you lock the screen, it shows you a back navigation button on the logon screen to let you quickly switch to any user account without having to quit background processes. Often, when users switch to other accounts via Lock function, the background processes become unstable, and in some cases, Windows forcibly closes conflicting system processes. If you don't want to allow switching between user accounts on your PC, you can use the Microsoft Management Console snap-in called Local Group Policy Editor to change the Fast User Switching policy setting. In what follows, we will guide you through the process of disabling Fast User Switching in Windows 8. Read More

How To Enable Hidden Explorer UI Animations In Windows 7 & Windows 8 [Tip]

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Sometimes developers keep hidden features on their software, some, due to unfinished codes are left within or others, for reasons unknown. Windows 7 and Windows 8 are also no exception, and their integrated Explorer have some hidden animations that cannot be enabled via Control Panel or Registry Editor. Why Microsoft has chosen not to include them in Windows settings is still a mystery, but as curious as people are, things like these cannot stay hidden for a long time, as people are always up to find new things in the OS, no matter what's it related to. Earlier, there was a method for enabling the hidden animations in Windows Explorer that required you to replace the Explorer Frame file, namely ExplorerFrame.dll, with a customized library file, but most users find replacing system files quite a tedious process, as it includes changing the ownership of the files (and some just don't understand the technical jargon, anyway) Today, we have found a miniscule application called AniExplorer, which makes the job easier for you in enabling the hidden animations in Windows 7 and Windows 8 Explorer without having to manually remove or replace system files. Pertaining details after the jump. Read More

BurnNote: Send Private Messages That Are Auto-Deleted After A Defined Time [Web]

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Not long ago, we covered DUE.IM, a text message service that allowed you to send one-time readable, private messages to others. BurnNote is a similar web application that offers you the same functionality, but with additional options. The service lets you send private messages to others that can only be viewed once and are deleted after a set amount of time. Deleted burn notes are completely erased from the BurnNote servers, so it is impossible for anyone to retrieve them. All you have to do is enter your message (password, number, link, note etc), and the service will instantly generate a private URL that you can share with your buddies. Once the message has been read by the recipient, BurnNote will automatically ‘burn’ it, ensuring that it remains private. That’s how simple it is! Read More

Find Files Based On Size Using Windows Explorer Search Filters [Tip]

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Not a long time ago, a hard disk of a personal computer with 1 Terabyte of available storage space was unheard of. Nowadays, it is considered to be the standard hard drive space for a personal computer, and we can easily fill it up, since we've stopped deleting large files after their use is over. For instance, most of us do not bother to delete HD movies, even after watching them. To help our readers analyze disk space usage and manage data on the hard drive, we have covered a lot of useful disk space management applications in the past; OverDisk (reviewed here), Disk Space Fan (reviewed here) and RidNacs (reviewed here), just to name a few. Disk space analyzers allow you to view the files and folders stored on your hard drive with respect to their size and provides you with the option to delete them. There is no question about their usefulness, but what if you can view all the files bigger than a particular size without installing any third party application? In this post, we will explain how you can use the Windows Explorer Search to find files bigger than a defined size. Read More

Hojoki Goes Mobile; Now Monitor All Your Cloud Apps On Andorid, iPhone & iPad

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With the multitude of online web and cloud services available at the users’ disposal these days, it can easily become a monstrous task for one to keep abreast with the activities from each individual account in a timely manner. Additionally, the time and effort that it takes to log in and sift through all the various services to check the latest updates can prove to be quite tiresome. This is where all the mighty helpful online data aggregators come into play. Previously reviewed Hojoki is one such very helpful web app that vows to boost your productivity by letting you bring your various social and cloud services under one umbrella. Hojoki presents users with a unified real-time feed of all the ongoing activities across their various online accounts. In addition, it lets you create personal workspaces, invite collaborators, share instant messages and notes with others, and keep up-to-date with all your ongoing projects. Read More

WinSchedular: Automate Routine Windows Tasks By Recording Macros

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Macros provide an easy way to quickly perform routine tasks without having to manually follow the required steps involved. It's basically a set of actions, steps or tasks to perform a particular operation, such as opening a form, printing a report, applying effects & formatting etc. WinScheduler is an application for Windows that enables you to automate repetitive tasks by letting you create macros. The macros can be initiated at a specific time or when a specific event occurs. The application contains both a macro recorder and a macro editor to let you easily record keyboard strokes, mouse clicks, and edit recorded commands, respectively. Read More

HashMask Helps You Avoid Mistyping Passwords In Chrome

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Setting up long passwords has its own advantage, in that it makes your accounts more secure and difficult to crack. On the other hand, such passwords increase the chance of entering the wrong combination, as it's likely you would press an adjacent key rather than the original one. This problem becomes more pronounced with those login forms where you have a limit to number of attempts. HashMask is a Chrome extension that turns your passwords into a colored sparkline, so you can instantly detect any mistyped passwords. After you’ve installed this handy utility, you’ll be able to see a spark line in every password field, which will change colors as you type. You can think of the hash as being your password’s fingerprint. With time, you will be able to remember the color or shape of the hash, which will allow you to see whether you’ve typed passwords correctly or not. HashMask seamlessly integrates with websites and basically helps you in making sure that you do not enter a wrong password for your online accounts. Read More

Downloader Elite: Perhaps The Best, Most Feature-Rich Download Manager For iPhone & iPad

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Downloader Elite is the sort of app you can’t really consign to just a single category. Most people will call it a simple download manager or a web browser for iPhone and iPad, but it is actually much more than that. The app includes a decent audio player, can handle a vast variety of video formats (including FLV and HTML5), has a PDF reader, and comes complete with a nice text editor. With support for so many file formats, the app makes everything convenient for users by providing them with a neat download manager. The app is Downloader Elite has AirPlay support, lets you play videos in the background and can be used to open ZIP or Office files. The list of offered features goes on and on, past the break. Read More

VoiceBase Brings Its Online Audio Transcription Search & Upload App To Android

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VoiceBase is an online audio/video transcription service, sporting its own native search engine, that lets users upload their recorded material and search for the required multimedia (audio/video) content across the expanded VoiceBase database by providing the relevant keyword(s). Simply put, anyone looking to search the internet for audio content – interviews, debates, conferences, podcasts and webinars etc – can resort to VoiceBase in order to find adequate helpful material. The service also sports a little social network of its own, wherein people can share the required audio bits with others, comment on the shared content, and upload their own data. Read More