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Adobe Photoshop Express Now Available On Windows 8 And RT

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Photoshop is like air to professional image editors but with its Pandora’s box of options and features, it can be quite gushing for novice users. Usually what I’m looking for in an image editor are a few Instagram-esque filters accompanied by some basic styling and editing tools - nothing with a steep learning curve. Adobe Photoshop Express for iOS and Android has been around for quite a while, but now Adobe feels it’s time to up the ante and bring it to Windows 8 and RT. Though many would consider the free software 'infantile', here’s still a good opportunity to size it up against your favorite image editors, and see if it earns a place at your editing table. Read More

Keep Track Of Time Spent On Tasks With ‘Whatcha Doing?’ For Windows

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Computers and technology is meant to make our lives easier and if there's one thing most of us need assistance with, it’s task management. There are countless task management apps available across desktop, mobile and the web designed to aid people in finishing their work in a timely fashion, each boasting their own features and functionality. While most of the task management apps let you set alarms or reminders of some sort for your important chores and assignments, what if all you want to do is to track the time you've spent on a particular task? Whatcha Doing? is a desktop app that can be of great help in this regard. Let's take a look at it to find out more. Read More

Winfy Brings A Compact, Floating Mini-Player For Spotify To Windows

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Spotify has earned tremendous success and popularity among music fans lately, thanks to its huge songs library, multi-platform support, gorgeous interface and top-notch streaming quality. Whether you like pop, hip-hop, rock, metal or jazz, this freemium music service has you all covered. Those who use Spotify’s Windows variant must be aware that they cannot control its playback without opening the application window itself. This can cause quite an annoyance and disrupt your workflow, as you’d need to launch Spotify each time from the system tray whenever you wish to switch songs or adjust volume. Applications like Winfy can come really handy in such scenarios. It is an open-source mini player that acts as add-on/plugin for navigating Spotify, and lets you control its playback without opening the app itself. This way, Spotify keeps quietly running in the background, while you can control its playback in a separate minuscule window. Read More

iTunes 11.0.3 Brings Revamped MiniPlayer & Better Album Management

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Forget its status as the iOS management suite; iTunes is among the most popular music players on desktops. After all, not many players let you purchase songs and albums from right within them. When it comes to features, iTunes is good enough to hold its own against any competitor. The only area where it was slightly lacking was the interface, but that issue was addressed pretty efficiently in the iTunes 11 visual overhaul. The MiniPlayer was among the features that got a complete makeover in the November update, and people liked it so much that there have even been attempts to emulate MiniPlayer view on iPhone and iPod touch devices. Apparently, even the existing MiniPlayer wasn’t good enough for Apple, despite its popularity, and that is why it has been tweaked a little more in the latest iTunes update. There can be no denying the fact that MiniPlayer changes constitute a large part of the iTunes 11.0.3 change log, but there are other changes as well, including more efficient management for albums with multiple disks and and a ‘Song View’ that looks better than ever. Read More

MP3 Cover Finder Is A Complete Music Album Art Search Tool For Windows

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Having album cover art for your music library has many advantages. Besides the obvious aesthetic appeal, album covers that show up as thumbnail icons make is easier to find the right songs at the right time. If you are looking for a desktop application that lets you find free album covers of your favorite songs online, try Ashampoo MP3 Cover Finder. The application can instantly search and add covers to your songs from sources like Amazon, Google and iTunes. Speaking of iTunes, it also allows you to browse your iTunes library and insert missing covers with just a single click. The application sports a really gorgeous, minimal interface. Details to follow. Read More

Extract Image Files From Apps & Documents Using deJPEG For Windows

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deJPEG is a desktop application for Windows that lets you extract images from applications or documents, and save them as separate items. The tool mainly supports Microsoft Word files (DOC and DOCX) and EXE files, though it may (or may not) work with other files that generally have image resources embedded into them, as long as the images originally inserted into these files/documents by their developers or editors were in JPEG format. This means if the developer or the person composing the document used PNG or some other format for these images, deJPEG will not be able to extract them for you. The output files are stored as JPEG.  The application can prove extremely useful for those who need to use images found in a certain files or apps that can't be easily found elsewhere, and they would rather not waste their time by individually taking a screenshot of each image and go through the hassle of cropping it properly. The tool can analyze and extract all images it finds in one go, making the process simple and streamlined. Read More

Get A Tiled, Option-Stacked & Customizable Start Menu In Windows 8

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Whether you like it or not, the new Start Screen in Windows 8 is here to stay. But if you’re having a hard time getting used to it and prefer to get things done the old way such as accessing applications, shortcuts and files, you just need to install a Start Menu replacement app. We've already covered a handful of Start Menu apps and Start Screen modifiers for our readers, including the likes of Pokki, Classic Shell and Start8. Today, we’re bringing to you yet another similar application called Start Menu Reviver. It’s a great option for those avid Start Menu users who think that the Start Screen simply slows them down. It offers almost all the features of Start Screen and lets you access your programs and favorite websites right from the desktop. Read More

Bundle Multiple JPEG Images As A PDF Album With JPGasPDF

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If there's one problem with picture albums, they are comprised of multiple files and between transferring them or editing their copies, one can end up missing out on a few. While there is still no standard or universal format for photo albums, PDF files support image content and can be perfect for the purpose, since most of us have access to PDF viewers on our computers and mobile devices. Though not many of us would want to use a PDF editor just for this purpose. Fret not - compiling your JPG/JPEG images into PDF albums is now as easy as it gets, thanks to the quick and nimble JPGasPNG. Although I would've liked to see a couple more options included, such as support for other popular image formats such as PNG (after automatic conversion to JPG to keep the file size in check), the software is quite flawless in its execution, and leaves little to gripe about. Not convinced? Take a closer look after the jump. Read More

Create & Share Rich Photo-Music Slideshows On Windows 8 Using Whip

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If you like to share your photos with friends, family or others in general, you should really consider trying out Whip. It’s a Windows 8 and RT app - with mobile versions available for iOS and Android - that enables you to create slideshow-style photo presentations spiced up with music, varying background styles and templates, depending on your preferences. These meticulously curated  photo albums can then be shared with other Whip users. It’s a fascinating app that - despite not bringing something unique or groundbreaking to the table - holds on to a fun factor of its own. Lets see how it works. Read More

Set System Clock To Move Faster For App Testing With Accelerify

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Testing time-based software or app features can be quite painstaking, because, well, it takes time. Like when you’re not sure if your alarm will ring when it’s supposed to, your backup will launch when it’s expected, or what will happen when a trial software you’re using expires. You could manually change your PC’s time and find out, but what about those programs that have a little more complex relationship with time – say an app that auto-adjusts your screen’s brightness multiple times throughout the day, or your calendar app that holds all your appointments for many months ahead? Well, you can now Accelerify time to test them! It’s a tiny app with a fully automated approach towards incrementing your system clock at regular intervals; all you need to do is set the acceleration rate and see what happens. Read More

Quickly Launch A File Type With An Alternative Or Portable App Using Coffee

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Often when you hear the word coffee, what exactly does come to your mind? Is it that energizing warmth of winters, or the refreshing aroma you simply find irresistible? Whatever it may be, the app we're about to review has nothing to do with your daily dose of caffeine. Coffee is an open-source portable application for Windows that allow you to associate different applications with a single file type (based on its extension), so that you can easily open any file of that type with either of those applications without having to use the 'Open with' entry of the right-click context menu. To keep things simple, you can assign two different apps to a single file type, allowing you to open a file in secondary app whenever needed by holding the ALT key while double-clicking it. This can be extremely useful if you have a set of portable applications that you want to use for opening files on the go; you can simply carry Coffee on the same flash drive as those apps and run it first on the computer you're using, and it will open your configured file types in the apps you have associated with those files in Coffee. Read More

Sys Toolbox Pro Displays Essential PC Information In One Window

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Recently, a friend of mine started experiencing overheating issues with his computer’s motherboard, that made him quite pissed due to the fact that he had purchased it quite recently (not more a than a couple of months ago) as part of his gaming computer upgrade. So, he just gave me a call to see if I could fix that. Nevertheless, it was still under warranty, so we just called the manufacturer to demand an RMA for the board, and sent it for replacement. Everything went smooth and steady until the support person asked us about the serial number of the board, and we didn't have the box handy. That's when I decided to look for a solution online and came across Sys Toolbox Pro, which not only helped us look for the right serial number without removing the motherboard from the case, but also showed us loads of additional system-related information at a glance. Read More

This Notepad2 Mod Sports Code Folding, Word Auto-Complete & More

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Usually when we talk about text editing or word processing apps, we often get a mixed bag of opinions from people. Some like minimalistic, Notepad-like utilities that provide distraction free editing, while others favor apps that come packed with a horde of features and options. If you’re a programmer or a web developer, you probably already have your own favorite text editor. Though in terms of choice, there are a bunch of text editing tools available for Windows on the internet, both free and paid. Notepad2-mod is a Windows app inspired by Notepad2, which itself builds upon the minimalism of Notepad while adding certain useful features from other, more advanced text editors. The application provides a full-featured text editing workspace optimized for writing code, whether you require some basic HTML editing or do some advance coding with syntax highlighting. The application has a ton of advance features that you won’t find in Notepad, and many that aren't there in Notepad2. Read More

Unreal Commander Is The Swiss Army Knife Of File Managers For Windows

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Poor file management can lead to poor performance of your system, and can cause a lot of problems in finding the right files at the right time. Although, Windows comes with its native File Explorer out of the box, it’s not the most comprehensive solution around. This is where third-party tools like Unreal Commander step in to the game. It’s a feature-laden desktop application for Windows that acts as Swiss Army Knife for handling your folders and files. First and foremost, its dual pane support makes file management a breeze by letting you view and transfer files between multiple folder under one window. Secondly, it boasts a plethora of settings and options that you aren't likely to come across in any other single file management app. Read More

Set Custom Screen Zones For Window Snapping With Expi Desktop Manager

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The Snap feature in Windows 8 (called Aero Snap in Windows 7) comes handy for repositioning windows in equally spaced side-by-side panes. This feature gives a productivity boost to everyday computer tasks and saves a lot of time, especially if your work involve working with multiple windows on large, high resolution displays or multiple ones. The only caveat with AeroSnap, however, is that it doesn't give much much flexibility and control over the windows. In November 2012, we covered an excellent tool called WindowManager that allows users to quickly position windows using hotkeys as well as specify their own regions for custom snapped window sizes and positions. Expi Desktop Manager is another such desktop app that does a marvelous job in positioning windows over a set of predefined zones. The application fully supports multi-monitor setups and lets you specify a different zone template for each display. Read More

Easily Find Words Or Snippets In Text Files On Your PC With Infile Seeker

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Have you ever jotted down someone’s contact details on a text file, only to forget that file's name or the location where you saved when you later needed that information? Or perhaps you want to locate a particular phrase or word that's a part of a file's content, and you don’t remember which file it exactly was? Windows comes with a built-in search feature that takes care of it for files in indexed locations, but what if you want something with more flexibility and control over your search? A handy little app called Infile Seeker aims to take care of just that. This tiny Windows tool does a lot more than its size, and can easily help you pinpoint the file containing your required phrase, sentence, number, or pretty much any string of text no matter where it’s stored on your computer. The application can find the text in a multitude of file types, including but not limited to TXT, PHP, HTML, HTML, XML. JS, CSS, ASP, ASPX, CPP and more. Read More

Batch-Capture Screenshots Of Entire Webpages, Select Regions Or HTML Tags

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While browsing the internet, we often come across information that we want to save or share. If it's just text or individual images, one can simply copy them directly. Though if you want to save whole web pages as images, URL2JPEG saves you the hassle of using your screenshot tool for the purpose, meaning you don't have to edit the image to remove parts of the browser itself from it. The tool can save a whole webpage, an HTML block or a manually-selected portion within it to a file or your clipboard. It works in three simple steps: enter the URL of your desired page, select what part of it you want, and save it to your PC. You can also capture multiple webpages simultaneously in a batch with URL2JPEG’s helpful Scripting option. To top it off, there's also the option to capture screenshots of multiple sites by specifying a whole IP range. More details after the jump. Read More

Check5 Is A Folder Monitor, Batch File Renamer & Attribute Changer All In One

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At times, we come across applications that offer a bunch of features in one small package that otherwise require installing multiple applications. Check5 is one such app for Windows that puts several related options on the table. It can monitor user-specified folders in real time and automatically notify you when any changes are made to the files in those folders, or to those folders themselves, by using event logs. It also houses a built-in batch file renamer and a file attributes changer, both of which work like a charm. The application enables you to monitor multiple folders at the same time. Read More

Hide Your Real IP Location & Browse Anonymously On Windows With SafeIP

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The internet is a vast and growing community, but without the necessary measures, it can prove to be dangerous territory too, where instances of identity theft, child molestation, pornography, phishing scams and hacking occur on a frequent basis. As adults, it is our duty to keep our children as well as ourselves safe from any such malicious cyber activates. One way is stop using the internet, which isn't an appropriate measure since the medium brings with it loads advantages and benefits for us, and has become an integral part of our professional, educational and social lives. Another way is to use apps like SafeIP to protect your internet identity. The application lets you hide your real IP address and browse the web anonymously. Users can choose the fake IP location according to their liking, and switch between original and fake IP address on the fly. Read More

Easily Create A Panning & Zooming Video Animation From A Still Image

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Back in April, we reviewed Motion Time Lapser - a Windows application that allows creating a time lapse video from images in a folder. If you like what Motion Time Lapser has to offer, and are a fan of applications that let you create videos from images, you should give KenSentMe a try. The application lets you apply the Ken Burns Effect to an image of choice, which basically involves the zooming into a particular portion of the image and panning around along a user-defined path. In addition, you can add realistic camera shaking and dynamic exposure to compliment the effect. Read More