Archives (page 115 of 199)

April 11, 2011

10 Essential Apps (6 Free) For Mac Newbies

A few months ago, I took the plunge, headfirst, into Apple’s world. I bought a MacBook Air and, for the first time since my family’s Apple IIe 25 years ago, I was regularly using something other than a Windows machine. While there were several apps that I installed that are also available on Windows, it was fun to discover some Mac-only applications. Here are the first 10 such apps that I installed. This list doesn’t include apps that were pre-installed on the Air, like iMovie or iPhoto. It also doesn’t include apps that can be found on Windows, which I’ll cover some other day.

April 10, 2011

[Reader Survey] How Many Tweets By One User Are Too Many?

We’ve been getting some great feedback from you over the last few weeks, from how many devices you have connected to your network, to how many email addresses you use, to whether you cross post on Facebook and Twitter. Now we’re looking for your input again. We’d like to know at what point you say “enough already!” when you see a wall of tweets from the same user.

April 8, 2011

Use Jolicloud for a Web App Dashboard in Firefox, Safari (or Chrome)

Use Jolicloud for a Web App Dashboard in Firefox, Safari (or Chrome) | 40Tech

One of Google Chrome’s best features is the Apps Dashboard. With the current push toward cloud computing, it sometimes seems that a new web app surfaces almost daily. When used in conjunction with the Chrome Web Store, it’s easy to sort through the multitudes of services out there, get a quick review, and have your favourites at your fingertips. Sometimes the buttons are nothing more than spiffy bookmarks, and others integrate with the browser, adding context menu functionality and other things that make your life easier. The ability to sync your apps between machines is an added bonus, bringing us one step closer to Google’s dream of us all living in the almighty Browser [see ChromeOS].

Unfortunately, if you are a Firefox user, even with the recent leaps forward in Firefox 4, there is no native service that offers what the Apps Dashboard does in Chrome. You could use specialized start page plugins or services and put together your favourite quick-links, but you would still be missing out on the best feature: discoverability. Unless you use Jolicloud, that is.

Jolicloud started as a specialized Linux OS for netbooks, attempting to give those small screens an easy and visual user experience. Because netbooks are small and built mostly for web browsing, it made sense for Jolicloud to focus on web apps, and while they did offer native software installs, they were much more cloud-based (hence the name). They added a social component to their OS, allowing you to connect with and share your favourite web app recommendations with other users, and you could log in on any Jolicloud machine and sync your apps over to it, too! This might sound a lot like Google ChromeOS, but Jolicloud was doing all of this actively before ChromeOS was even out of the gate.

These days, Jolicloud still exists as an OS, but has changed its name to JoliOS. What Jolicloud is now is a very pretty web app itself that functions as a dashboard that can be opened in any Firefox 4 or Safari 5 browser. It can also be opened in Google Chrome — and is actually an app in the Google Web Store. Jolicloud has built up a decent list of web apps in its directory, and though it doesn’t have the ability to integrate its apps into your browser, it does a few things that the Google Chrome App Dashboard can’t do. Like look pretty — or be multi-page.

Jolicloud has many different wallpapers that can be applied to it, and has several pages for you to organize your apps. The pages function very much like iOS in that you can drag the app icons around and move them from page to page by pushing them against the right or left edge of the screen. Combined with the fact that the apps are always in the same position you left them in, no matter what computer you open them on — as opposed to Google Chrome missing some in syncs, or occasionally reordering them on you — and you end up with a very good experience.

Another thing that actually gives Jolicloud a leg up over Chrome’s App Dashboard is the ability to add whatever site you like by URL, using the Add New App button on the bottom of the web apps category list, which you get to by pressing the big green plus button. Essentially, you could use Jolicloud as your web app library and as your speed-dial to your favourite sites — very handy! If that’s not enough for you to give it a shot, then click on the folder tab in the top left — you can actually connect Dropbox and Google Docs right into the app, with available space reports, and in-app previews and editing, which makes for all kinds of convenience.

I’ve found only two annoying things about Jolicloud:

That the site has experienced the occasional weird 400 error, and made it seem that my apps were wiped out. That can usually be fixed by restarting the browser, sometimes with a clean cache, and logging in again.
That the sync with the actual OS will bring over apps — or offer apps in the list — that are actually for installed software. Generally, these are just greyed out if you are using them in JoliOS, but there are times they can be made to work. I got Skype to launch from Jolicloud, for example.

If you want to use Jolicloud with your Firefox 4 or Safari 5 install (Opera is not supported, and IE only works — sometimes — with Chrome Frame), just head to Jolicloud.com and create an account, then click on My Jolicloud. The rest is pretty self-explanatory. Once you have your apps in place, either set Jolicloud as a pinned tab, or have it open as your start page. The are reports of the devs working to create a Firefox extension for Jolicloud to make it an even better experience for FF users. They are also apparently working on Android compatibility, and already have experimental iPad support.

If you like Jolicloud a bunch, you might want to go the whole way and install JoliOS — it can be installed and removed in Windows and configures your system for dual boot. You could also buy the cute little Jolibook computer, if you have some spare cash and are in the UK.

Have you tried Jolicloud? What did you think?

April 8, 2011

[Sponsored Post] Is the Desktop Dying Out?

computers dying

This is a sponsored post written by the sponsor, Expansys. Please click here for more information on sponsored posts on 40Tech.

These days over 80% of households in the UK own at least one computer and in many homes it is the laptop computer that we will notice more often than desktop PCs . Smaller, more portable, more stylish and oh so 21st century, laptops have fast become one of the must have gadgets around the house. So does this mean the end of the desktop computer?

There are many positives and negatives with both types of computer and it largely depends what you want to do with it whether you will be better off with one or the other.

In general laptops are more expensive than desktop computers if you match the specifications exactly, so depending on your budget you should be able to get higher specification and more powerful desktop computers for the same money as bottom of the range laptops.

Desktop PCs also tend to have more cutting edge technology packed inside as it can take some time for new features to be made small enough for the laptop market, so if you tend to use your computer for lots of gaming, music creation, photo or video editing or anything else requiring high processor speeds and outstanding graphics capabilities, you may find that a desktop is more capable than a laptop.

One of the biggest advantages of a laptop is, of course, its portability. Unfortunately this is also its biggest downfall too, as millions of laptop computers are stolen every year from homes, public places and offices. Consider if you really need the computer to be portable and think about how often you will really use it outside of the home. University students often buy laptops thinking they will take them to lecture theatres with them, but in reality they never do and University halls of residence are one of the worst places for laptop theft.

Another major difference is the ability to upgrade components of the computer as your needs change or technology advances. Laptops can have their memory upgraded, the hard drive can be replaced and the CD/DVD drive can be changed, but that’s about it. This means there is little that can be done to upgrade the overall performance of a laptop, particularly in terms of gaming and graphics upgrades.

Desktop computers however, can be infinitely upgraded with as many new components as you can fit into your case. Even if you run out of space in your case you can always transfer your hard drive into a bigger one! The downside is that desktops do not hold any resale value, although if you have upgraded sound cards, graphics cards and memory you might be able to sell on these individual components to get some money back.

As the situation is currently it is unlikely that we will see the end of desktop PCs. Until there is a way to increase the longevity of laptops by enabling more plug and play upgrading, serious gamers, designers, musicians and photographers will always have a need for the highly customisable desktop computer.

April 7, 2011

7 Useful, Free, Programs That Make Computer-Life Easier

7 Useful, Free, Programs That Make Computer-Life Easier | 40Tech

Today, 40Tech is pleased to present a guest post by Dan from Test Freak, a technology review and price compilation site.

Across the internet there are pages and pages of documents, photo’s, applications and more. Within all of this it can often be hard to find the gems that can brighten your day or make the day easier. Because of this, I’ve compiled for you a list of useful programs that you may have missed when roaming through the vast web space. Not only are they useful but all of the below programs are also completely free!

Avast!

Everyone’s computer needs protecting from the vast amounts of malicious viruses that have turned up over the past years created only to cause harm and distress to other users on the internet. In order to protect yourself, a good antivirus program should be the first thing you head for once a computer is up and running.

Thankfully there is a large market for antivirus products leaving users with a wide choice of what’s best for them. For me and many others, the best choices are those that require no outlay of money — and surprisingly, there are still many varied options available that are completely free such as AVG, Avira, Avast! and more.

One of the best of these is arguably Avast! which is currently protecting my system and many others. Avast! is favoured by many due to the features provided and its solid ability to lock out malicious content. The application features a variety of real time shields which are actively protecting your use of the computer. For example the web shield is able to protect you whilst surfing the web by checking the connections you are making. If it finds a website containing harmful content the connection is instantly blocked, stopping viruses from reaching your computer.

Free Antivirus Software | Avast!

However if problems do crop up on your system, Avast! is equipped with a scanner to check over your whole computer in order to root out and eliminate any viruses that are present.

Another very useful feature of Avast! is its self-maintenance, it is able to update its virus database without user interaction and does so on an almost daily basis making it very useful for those not completely clued up on IT systems.

Process Blocker

One of the most annoying things about these viruses is their ability to continually restart themselves, much to the user’s annoyance. However it’s not just viruses that have picked up this trait; many programs can be found which start of their own accord and continually start even when told not to, particularly things such as program updaters.

This is where Process Blocker (beta) comes in, a tool which is able to automatically block programs from starting as soon as it detects their arrival; handy for stopping unwanted programs and saving precious memory space.

Stop Unwanted Programs with Process Blocker for Windows (Beta)

It’s also incredibly simple to use, with users simply having to direct Process Blocker to the unwanted program file and it to the block list. From here it will be blocked every time that program’s start-up is detected. An option can even be set to allow the blocking of a process if it has been renamed, making this a very handy little tool.

7-Zip

7-Zip is another program that is great for those of us who like to save cash. Many files today are sent in a compressed format, and groups of files are often archived into a zipped file before being sent to others, making them easier to keep track of and smaller to transfer.

However when they get to their destination they need to be unzipped and so need a program to do this. Often, people will pay for these programs such as WinRAR or WinZip but there is no need. 7-Zip is capable of unpacking many of these file formats without the need for you to part with a penny.

It is also capable of packing files itself using its own format of .7z, meaning that this free piece of software has you completely covered when you need to unzip files, work on them, and then package them back up to go elsewhere.

Recuva

I’m sure we’ve all done it in the past: deleted something only to regret it a few moments or even weeks later. Thankfully another one of our top free internet applications has you covered. That application is Recuva.

Recuva is a piece of data-recovery software capable of retrieving information even when it has been permanently deleted and reallocated as free space, up until the point that the free space is over-written with new data.

The application itself is very easy to operate. Simply open it up and follow the on-screen wizard. You’ll first be tasked with selecting the type of file you are looking for and then where to look for it. For files you are unsure about, the option to search everywhere is available.

Recuva | Recover Lost Files, Deleted Files for Free Recuva | Free Data Recovery Tool

After this short wizard, Recuva zooms off, searching your drives for the specified file-type and returns a full list of everything it has found. From here, you simply select the files you want, click recover and hey, presto! Your files are back, saving you from a potentially disastrous situation!

Paint.NET

Paint.NET, as the name implies, is an image-editing program and works surprisingly well as an alternative to some of the larger software packages in the genre, such as Adobe’s Photoshop collection. Whilst it does lack many of the features present in Photoshop, it is still a fully competent photo-editing application that provides a substantial upgrade from the basic Paint program bundled in with Windows.

Paint.net provides a good blend between the two scales of drawing packages, maintaining the ease of use and clear layout found within paint whilst providing several of the advanced features found in Photoshop. These features include layer-based editing, allowing you to manipulate one part of the image without risking the whole project, along with artistic adjustment tools in order to affect colours, levels and image effects.

Audacity

Once you’re done with editing images, why not try your hand at editing sound with Audacity. Audacity allows you to very simply edit pieces of music by cutting, pasting, and remixing the track. This can be done through music files already stored on your computer but can also be done through your own music played by yourself. Audacity features a built in recording function allowing you to capture your music before bringing it into the editing stage.

The editing section is also very easy to use due to its simple nature, with the interface providing direct access to the basic controls whilst hiding more complicated and advanced features away within sub menus. Basic controls include tools that allow you to select certain sections of the track, move them around, delete them entirely or copy them for later, repeated use.

Along with these, more advanced tools are also available in the effects menu, which allows you to change things such as the speed, tempo, pitch and more. These tools should allow you to easily and quickly enter the world of audio editing and provide a great deal of fun. If nothing else, everybody likes taking their favourite track and turning it into a chipmunk version, right?

VLC

Once you have finished with your audio track, why not play it back to friends and family with VLC. VLC is a media player capable of playing many different file formats, from files stored on both hard drives and physical media. It features the ability to decode and play many different codecs, and is able to play many files that other players simply cannot, allowing it to become your one-stop-shop for playing video and audio files. I’ve yet to find a single file that it can’t play, which is why it has earned its place on this list of useful programs.

As with most programs on this list, it also earns bonus points for being incredibly easy to use, with the initial interface only offering the most basic controls and making the program nearly incapable of confusing any of its many users. However it also features a few more advanced functions that improve its usefulness even more — such as allowing content to be streamed, the video to be cropped and resized, and audio re-synched. A few more fun features can also be found in the effects and features menu such as options to invert the colours, turn the video into a cartoon or even make the video into a puzzle game that needs to be reorganised in order to watch the film normally.

While this list provides a few great – and free — programs that you may have missed, it is by no means all-inclusive. If you’ve found a great free program, pop it into the comments below and tell us why you think it should be here!