Posted by Samer on July 12, 2011 in Featured, News, Opinion |
I have installed and tested many hundreds of software titles since (and before) I started publishing this blog more than five years ago, and have a few observations that puzzle me that I wanted to share.
For example, I see an excellent, polished program that talented developers have spent many hours working on, but that nonetheless lacks a feature that seems obvious or even essential. What is stranger, however, is that it frequently happens that most of the similar titles in the same genre will miss the same feature as well.
And although this post might seem like a whiny list of complaints (guilty as charged); to my defense I will claim, and those of you who frequent this blog can probably confirm, that generally speaking I try to be upbeat and to emphasize the positive features of the software I write about. My main goal here is merely to present an interesting list of observations.
Continue reading ..
Posted by Samer on July 11, 2011 in Android, Ebooks, iPhone / iPad, Kindle, PDF, PDF Editors & Convertors |
Ebooks are here to stay. Since I bought my Kindle I have not bought a single, non-electronic book. But there is a dizzying range of ebook formats out there, and a definite need for a simple tool that can convert across these.
Enter Hamster Free Ebook Converter, a small, free tool that can take a wide array of ebook formats as input, and convert them into a similarly wide array of output ebook formats.
Users can select the output ebook format specifically, or they can browse by device make and type, selecting the ebook formats that are compatible with their specific device via a dropdown. Continue reading ..
Posted by Samer on July 7, 2011 in Best of, Drivers, Freewaregenius Picks, System, Utilities |
If you’ve every had to reinstall Windows on a computer, you know what a hassle it can be to find and update all of your PC’s drivers. And while Windows might install some generic drivers that may work with some of the devices on your machines, you will invariably need to check your drivers and update them, which in most cases means that you will have to do a lot of researching, downloading, and installing of individual drivers. Wouldn’t it be great of there was a tool that can install and update all of the drivers for you, in a single click?
That, is a nutshell, is what this free software does, and it does it extremely well. DriverPack Solution works with both 32 bit and 64 bit windows and automatically installs all the drivers in one step. Unlike other programs, however, it does not save your drivers first or download them one by one, but rather refers to a driver database that is actually stored on the DVD ROM, so you don’t even have to be connected to the internet. Continue reading ..
Posted by Samer on July 6, 2011 in Ebooks, PDF, Web Apps, Web2.0 | Tagged ebooks |
Most people consume ad-supported TV and Radio, so why not ad-supported ebooks? That’s the basic model behind 24Symbols, a service which seeks to deliver all sorts of ebooks to PCs and smartphones. In a word, to be for ebooks what Spotify is for music.
As of this writing the service is up and running. You can log in from any browser, peruse their collection of ebooks, and enjoy for free. More info below. Continue reading ..
Posted by Samer on July 5, 2011 in Instant Messaging, Internet |
With the proliferation of instant messaging protocols and social media networks, wouldn’t it be great if you could communicate with all of your friends and associates from a single desktop client? This is exactly what Instantbird can do.
And while it is one of a string of similar all-in-one free communication software (e.g Pidgin, Digsby, Miranda, etc), it is notable in that it is extensible, browser style, via plugins that tweak its behavior and appearance and add a wide range of functions, such as dictionaries, language packs, and plugins to view media and documents within the Instantbird app itself.
This software is multiplatform (Windows, Mac, Linux) and open source, and offers support for a wide range of instant messaging platforms (AIM, Facebook Chat, Gadu-Gadu, Google Talk, Groupwise, ICQ, IRC, MSN, MySpaceIM, Netsoul, QQ, Simple, Twitter, XMPP, Yahoo and Yahoo JAPAN). Support for others can also be added via plugins. Continue reading ..
I have installed and tested many hundreds of software titles since (and before) I started publishing this blog more than five years ago, and have a few observations that puzzle me that I wanted to share.
