Reviews for Software
Adobe Premiere Elements 3.0
Review:
Adobe's easy but powerful video editor/DVD maker has the home prosumer in mind. It's more polished than many of the video tools included in suites like Roxio and Nero, and it focuses on one task and does it very well. Premiere Elements 3.0 has a clean and concise interface that keeps you in the same window for film editing and DVD making but uses tabs and icons to swap in different types of...
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Trimble Outdoors AllSportGPS
Review:
Unique among mobile applications, Trimble Outdoors' AllSportGPS turns your phone into a remarkably powerful and compact stopwatch, trail mapper, GPS tracker, and exercise log all in one. The program is targeted toward the outdoor enthusiast, and it has specific modes for runners, bikers, walkers, and even skiers. It requires a GPS-enabled handset, we used a RAZR on the Sprint Network. Select...
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Steganos Secure Traveler
Review:
Steganos knows that these days it's all about traveling safely. To that end, the recently released Secure Traveler suite helps road warriors protect their notebooks' data from unauthorized access, loss, or theft. We downloaded the suite to find a main menu of the six programs: Steganos Secure VPN, Safe, Portable Safe, Shredder, Password-Manager, and AntiTheft. After playing around with the...
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Corel Snapfire Plus
Review:
With free photo organizers/editors like Google's Picasa and Kodak EasyShare on the market, it's hard to see where a $39.99 me-too from Corel earns its price tag. It almost doesn't. Most of the organization, editing, print, and sharing functions are good but pedestrian. Snapfire Plus tries to win you over with its attractive interface, which includes telescoping blades that let you move from an...
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PC Decrapifier 1.8.3
Review:
If ever there were an application we hoped for on a new laptop, it would be one that would get rid of the free trials of AOL, Quickbooks, Napster, and the load of other preinstalled crap (hence the name 'crapware'). Even virus software, which you need anyway, is a royal pain when you first get a notebook, because it's constantly reminding you to buy it. PC Decrapifier lets you save some time...
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iolo Technologies System Mechanic 7 Professional
Review:
The makers of the veteran System Mechanic fixer for Windows provide an excellent and accessible suite of performance enhancers and problem fixers in System Mechanic 7 Professional. The program scans every nook and cranny of your PC at startup and offers to plug security holes, start firewalls and antivirus programs, clean unnecessary system files, and much, much more. This is the most...
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Pandora
Review: Pandora uses the Music Genome Project--a massive web of data about songs and artists--to let you create custom radio stations based on what your favorite music actually sounds like, not just metadata. That means recommendations are based on the work of humans and not just algorithms, making for some surprising and enjoyable recommendations. Getting the free tunes fast couldn't be easier. At the... (Continue)
MindApp
Review: MindApp is like the Microsoft Works of mind-mapping software, It has all the tools you need to create a project map but doesn't have the extras of the more pricey options out there. We had no problem creating a simple chart with arrows and connectors of our choice. The tabs allowed us to have multiple projects open, and the side toolbar offers simple shortcut menus. What MindApp doesn't have... (Continue)
Trimble Geocache Navigator
Review:
The high-tech treasure hunt called geocaching-using GPS devices to find hidden objects-has been around since 2000, and while the rise of automotive GPS navigators has made people more interested in GPS activities, car devices aren't well suited for geocaching. A new program from Trimble Navigation called Geocache Navigator, however, makes GPS-enabled phones ideal geocaching partners. Getting...
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Digsby (Beta)
Review:
Web 2.0 has given rise to plenty of useful social networking sites and communications tools, but it has also cluttered screens with extra browser windows and software clients. Digsby condenses all your instant-messaging, e-mail, Facebook, and MySpace accounts into a single window. Not only does this software have a negligible learning curve, but it also looks seriously sleek with its Google...
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