iPhone: Ever thought about using your iPhone as a musical instrument? Well, now you can thanks to MiniPiano. The app includes just one octave of a keyboard, which you can play simply by touching the keys on the screen. The keys have been gorgeously recreated and the full-screen keyboard is very easy to play (in the sense that the keys are touch-friendly, not that it will make you sound like Beethoven).
Mac: Tools like iPhoto and Picasa have their place but they are somewhat bloated, and can slow down your viewing experience. CocoaSlideShow is a simple, free and fast program for viewing your photos on Mac. Simply fire it up, enter a time interval you want between each slide and sit back to enjoy your photos. You can watch slideshows in full screen and also edit EXIF and IPTC metadata.
Windows: Armalyte is a great update of an old Commodore 64 shoot ‘em up. Sideways scrolling through space, facing an onslaught of enemy wave, punctuated by boss fights. It’s been done hundreds of times before, but Armalyte is a particularly good example of the genre. May make older gamers seriously nostalgic!
iPhone: If you’re a fan of console soccer games and have been waiting for a decent one to come to iPhone then get straight to the App Store because X2 Football 2009 is here. This excellent football game looks and plays a lot like Pro Evolution Soccer and FIFA. It contains loads of international teams, all with real players, and a control system that is as intuitive as a console.
Windows: Being safe online requires a few different applications: anti-virus, firewall, email filter and more. But you can also have them all together in a single app with Norton 360. This comprehensive security suite protects youfrom any possible online threats, while keeping your system fully optimized and your data safe thanks to automatic backup copies.
Mac: Fed up of trying to bring all your video content together? Miro (formerly known as Democracy Player and now updated to version 2.0.5) is one of the best internet TV apps out there aggregating content from Hulu to YouTube. Miro means you don’t have to visit separate sites to keep-up with your favorite content.
Mac: As the popularity of the Mac platform increases, so too does the risk of malicious attacks. Doorstop X offers a reliable solution, providing an extra layer of protection for your Mac. The firewall has been specifically designed with Leopard users in mind, and features an easy-to-use interface, which displays security information and settings in a series of window panes.
iPhone: TweetDeck is one of the most popular desktop Twitter clients out there - and at long last an iPhone version of the app has arrived. It hasn’t half bad either. TweetDeck for iPhone displays everything that’s going on on Twitter in a highly organized way. As with the PC and Mac versions, TweetDeck for iPhone uses a system of columns to make it easy for you to track who’s doing what.
Windows: Singing along to your favorite bands is fun, provided you know the lyrics. And if you don’t, let LyricsFetcher do the hard work for you. This app scans your music library in iTunes or Windows Media Player, finds the lyrics to all your songs in the blink of an eye, and pastes the information directly into the files’s ID tags.
Symbian: Whatever you think of the limited overs format, I defy you not to enjoy Cricket 20-20, one of the slickest mobile simulations of the sport I’ve ever seen. Cricket 20-20 allows you to play one-off limited overs matches and 20-20 tournaments. You can choose to play as any of the so-called ‘test playing’ international teams, and have total control over batting, bowling, and fielding.
Mac: The DivX Corporation was the pioneer of DivX and has always produced sleek and effective video players. DivX Web Player lets you watch DivX videos directly in your web browser without resorting to the standalone player. DivX Web Player allows you to play videos in full screen with navigation controls, or in a separate window so you can continue browsing other sites without losing the video.
Windows: If laziness is the only reason why don’t back up, here’s a way to avoid it: install PureSync and you’ll be able to create backup copies of your important data and sync content between different folders in a snap. You can manage multiple syncing tasks and schedule them to work automatically, according to a specific period of time.
BlackBerry: Not all of us have the memory of an elephant, and if you’re the kind of person who always forgets what you should be doing or where you’re supposed to be going then it’s high time you did something about it. Evernote is an application and web service that lets you capture, store and synchronize all manner of information on your BlackBerry, PC and online, all at the same time.
Mac: If you’re a fan of stunt car games then Crash3D widget provides a good fix of dare-devil fun directly on your Dashboard. Crash3D sees you take control of a stunt car as you race around a desert landscape hitting as many ramps and loop-the-loops as possible in an attempt to get your name on the high score table. You can play just for fun, or compete with players across the net and it’s 100% free.
Windows: As we reported yesterday, Opera’s latest build features Unite, a new technology that lets you turn your browser into a content server, sharing whichever files you like with other clients. Designed so that even novice users can enjoy it, Opera beta build 10.0.1589 has been the buzz of the week on software blogs. Give it a spin today!
According to Opera, today is the day the Web changes. Its new Unite service promises to radically extend what we do online. The basis of the new platform, which is built into the latest build of Opera 10, is to do away with Web servers owned by strangers and instead connect people on a computer-to-computer basis. The developer’s vague advert ( a candidate for the list of worst tech ads ever) fails to convey any of the real benefits of Unite, of which there are many.
Unite is designed to allow you to easily share you data, such as photos, music, notes - in fact, any file you have on your computer. You can share just with yourself (to access your work computer and home, for instance); with selected friends, family or colleagues; or with the whole world. What’s more, Unite works across any browser and even supports mobile browsers. This concept itself isn’t a new one - services such as LogMeIn and Laplink have been enabling remote PC access for years. In the case of Opera Unite it’s the way the service is implemented that makes it so special.
Opera Unite can be accessed from a tab on the side panel in the browser. The first thing you’ll need to do is create a free account with Unite. Once you’ve done this, you can start using the Unite ’services’, which are like mini-apps that allow you to perform certain tasks. There are six services pre-installed into the latest Opera 10 build, though obviously the company hopes that developers will embrace Unite and frantically start churning out new services. Here’s a look at what you get at the moment though: Read the rest of this entry »
Pocket PC: Generally speaking, tennis sims for mobile devices are pretty lame. Fiddly controls and jerky animation are often the main culprits in the failings of these titles. Not so in VT Pocket Tennis though, which proves to be one the most enjoyable games of its kind on the Pocket PC. It has a wonderfully realistic feel to it, with well-rendered 3D players, authentic shadow effects and motion blur.
Mac: If you’ve gone crazy for the iPhone then why not bring the iPhone look to your Mac? Spiffy Icon Pack provides over 50 iPhone style icons that give your Mac a unique flavor. All of the icons are beautifully illustrated featuring most major Mac program icons including Adobe Dreamweaver, Excel, iChat, iDVD, iTunes and Skype to name just a few.
Windows: After a short invite-only beta stage, Trillian has now launched as an open beta, which means you can freely download this powerful, sleek multi-platform IM client and give it a try. The new Trillian Astra Beta 4.0.0.109 features support for a dozen IM protocols and has an extensive settings menu to fully customize it.
One of the highlights of the summer for me will be getting my grubby mitts on the new DJ Hero and Scratch The Ultimate DJ turntables for PlayStation. If you too can’t contain your excitement then why not pass the time to the release dates by playing free online virtual DJ games. Granted, you won’t find anything as complex as the new console titles, and you won’t get to mess around with virtual decks, but there are some genuinely fun games out there where you can perfect the art of mixing, scratching, and sampling before DJ Hero and Ultimate DJ come out. Here are some of my favorites:
DJ Mixer - Take to the studio in this fun game featuring two mixmaster aliens who rap in Romanian. There are 12 loops to choose from and you can scratch tracks by clicking a button on the decks. Weird spacey effects will play if you hit the red buttons at the top of the screen.
Coolio DJ Rock Out - I’m not sure if crazy-haired gangster rapper Coolio actually had anything to do with this game, but if he was involved then hats off to him. Coolio DJ Rock Out is an addictive game in which you must spin the decks to match the patterns that appear in the circles. It’s harder than it looks, especially when your brain’s caught in the grip of hardcore techno. Read the rest of this entry »
I’m more than a little excited about the launch of the Palm Pre this weekend. However, I’ve just watched the commercial for the new wonder phone and it’s almost made me not want to buy the device on principle. It’s got to be one of the corniest ads I’ve ever seen - it says nothing of the benefits of the Palm Pre and looks more like a shampoo advert than a pitch for a piece of cutting-edge technology. Then I started thinking though, that this isn’t the first awful commercial for a tech product. In fact, there’s been some real doozies throughout history, and many that were far worse than the wishy washy Palm Pre spot. Here are some of the worst:
10. Pole Position - I suspect Atari’s ad for its cutting edge racer from 1982 was a designed to be a little tongue-in-cheek. But it took some guts for them to mix in-game footage with shots of a family racing around a go-kart track. See if you can spot which is real and which is computerized:
9. X-Box 360 Rock Band 2 - Truly one of the strangest adverts I’ve ever seen, I’m not sure what the thinking was behind this one. We see a shot of a woman with a moronic grin spread across her face then the camera pans around to reveal the back of her head has been hollowed out and a band is playing rock in her brain. Very weird. See it (and loads more) after the jump… Read the rest of this entry »
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BlackBerry: If you like puzzle games and own a BlackBerry then be sure to try out Crazysoft Paintball II. Your goal is to join three or more balls of the same colour and ensure they are next to a pipe. Once in place, you select them then splat them with paint using the action key. The balls will then change colour and get sucked into the pipe, leaving more space on the board for you to make your next batch.
Windows: If you’d like to use the extensive iTunes library on your home PC while you’re somewhere else, you can either carry your entire music collection with you or simply use pulpTunes. This easy tool lets you remotely access your iTunes library via a web browser, and listen to your favorite music wherever you are.
Mac: With broadband speeds and processing power increasing all the time, desktop sharing is becoming an increasingly competitive area in the software field. Mikogo has been available on Windows for well over a year but only now has it finally been released for Mac. It’s a free, simple and extremely easy to use application that allows you to switch from host to presenter in a click.
BlackBerry: Did you know that BlackBerrys can help you lose weight? Or at least they can if you install Health & Diet Manager on them. This app allows you to take control of your nutrition and overall health, to help you lose weight and give you more energy. Health & Diet Manager helps you manage all kinds of aspects of your daily life, from tracking your health related stats (pulse, blood pressure, hours slept, etc.), to creating an action plan for your eating and exercise.
Mac: Nowadays, having a Mac doesn’t mean you have to do without Windows. In fact, you can use both at the same time if you run one in a virtual environment like VirtualBox (now updated to version 2.2.4). With VirtualBox, you can install any version of Windows (as long as you have the boot disk), Linux, Solaris and just about any other operating system you can think of. Best of all, it’s absolutely free to use!
Windows: Whenever you use any application on your computer, you leave certain traces on the system that not only compromise your privacy but also take up valuable disk space. With Wipe you can easily get rid of those usage traces, deleting history items, auto-complete entries and recent document lists in just two clicks.
Windows: If you live abroad and make lots of long distance calls maybe you should consider start using VoIP technology. The most popular VoIP app, Skype, has just hit version 4.1 Beta and offers some really interesting new features: built-in screen sharing, ability to send contacts, birthday reminder, and improvements in audio and video quality.
Mac: Are you a Windows Winamp fan? MPLAY Multimedia Player is very similar as an extremely simple media player that makes it as easy as possible to mix and match your favourite music. MPLAY was originally designed as an easy-to-use MP3 player but has grown to become an MP3 mixer, audio/midi player, video player and even an image viewer. You can even add things onto it such as an MP3 to AIFF converter and more.
Symbian: If you’ve been piling on the pounds and want to get those thighs in shape for bikini season then look no further than your Nokia phone for help. Install Nokia Step Counter on your device and you’ll be able to see how many calories you’re shedding with every step you take. The app works by utilizing the accelerometer in your handset, recording the number of steps you make, time in motion, distance traveled, and calories expended.
iPhone: What’s the point of spending years of your life training to be a doctor when it’s so easy to practice medicine illegally in backstreets? In Amateur Surgeon Lite you play the role of Alan Probe, a pizza delivery guy who stumbles into the world of backstreet medicine. Your task is to perform surgery on a variety of patients using whatever tools you have to hand, including pizza cutters, salad tongs and staplers. Hilarious fun!
Mac: Just because Macs are normally virus free doesn’t mean you never have to scan yours. Leopard Cache Cleaner (now updated to version 4.0.24) is a solid application to scan and clean your Mac of alls sorts of unwanted files. You’ll easily remove cache, language localization files and other unnecessary data in just a few easy clicks.
Windows: Decorating your house is not always as easy as it seems, but luckily Envisioneer Express (updated to version 5.0) can lend you a hand. This free interior design app lets you create a detailed floor plan of any room or a complete flat and decorate it with lots of detail, in both 2D and 3D rendering.
Nokia launched its new mobile app store yesterday, Ovi Store, to howls of derision from users. The general hoo-hah centred around the speed of the service, which in the eyes of many, made the launch a total disaster. Yes, it was very, very slow for a while, but that’s par for the course given the amount of hype the app store had received before. It’s worth bearing in mind also that the worldwide release actually took place ahead of schedule. The hole-picking has continued in the first 24-hours of Ovi Store’s life - not enough content, no trial versions, flawed category system, users can only give programs ratings of between one and three stars, etc. True, these glitches and oversights give Ovi Store a less-than polished feel, but is it really all that bad?
Ever the optimist, I wouldn’t regard the Ovi Store as an unmitigated disaster and managed to find some things about it that I actually quite like. For instance, it’s a lot more open than the walled iPhone App Store. You can get download links sent directly to your phone from any computer, send to a friend, or install it directly on the device. Once downloaded you can launch the app immediately without leaving the browser (of course iPhone users wouldn’t understand the concept of running multiple apps simultaneously). The fact that Ovi Store supports operator billing with many networks means buying apps is much less hassle than with an iTunes account. The user interface isn’t as bad as many people are making out. I like the fact that screenshots are displayed for all programs and the ‘related programs’ section is useful too.
Let’s not forget that Ovi Store has only been going for a day, so we shouldn’t condemn it to death just yet, especially when it shows signs of promise. Given time, glitches will be ironed out and big-name mobile developers like Google and Yahoo! will come on board. In terms of being a disaster, I think the Ovi Store is more like falling off a lilo than the sinking of the Titanic.
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