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Keeping items organized within a Finder window is obviously useful and is a reason why Apple has made the Finder simple and straightforward with options to show items in lists, columns, and snapped to a grid in icon views. While these various views should keep items so you can quickly access them, sometimes items may jump around and change locations.

When this happens, it usually is because of a combination of view settings. If you show items in any view, you have the option to arrange or sort them by various file attributes. The default is to use the file … Read more

Time management software has exploded in popularity over the last few years, and some people may argue that it's become too complex for its own good; you end up spending more time managing your tasks than actually completing them. My Checklist is an extremely simple task manager that has only slightly more features than a pen-and-paper to-do list. For some people, that might be a welcome change.

The program's interface is plain and intuitive, with buttons for adding and removing items, checking off items that are complete, reordering items, and printing the list of tasks. That is the … Read more

Download.com is jam-packed with to-do list programs, and most of them are more or less the same. To-Do DeskList surprised us by delivering a fresh, unusual design and just the right number of features. If you're in the market for an unobtrusive but flexible task manager, this just might be the one.

To-Do DeskList's interface is sleek and attractive. The program appears as an icon in the system tray, and when you're ready to create a new task, you simply right-click on the icon and select Add To-Do from the menu. The program lets you set … Read more

Each year around this time I do a roundup of the most-anticipated products of the coming year. Last year I had 18; this year I'm going with 12.

Since many companies like to keep future new releases under tight wraps so they don't short-circuit sales of their current products, we can't predict what all the new hot gadgets will be. But we did see a fair amount of intriguing stuff at this year's CES in Vegas, and we know that plenty of sequels to today's popular products are on the way--whether the company wants you … Read more

Like many free applications, The Hat from Harmony Hollow Software uses software to do something usually done "the hard way." In this case, it's drawing names from a hat, the time-honored method for randomly selecting individual entries from a group. The app can randomize a list of names so no one can complain about who goes first and who goes last. It can also draw individual names or pairs of names for raffles, sweepstakes, and ongoing contests. It does this all without requiring you to actually write down names, cut up the list, and throw it all … Read more

The late author Stieg Larsson can posthumously claim another victory: His "Millennium Trilogy" of thrillers topped both the print and e-book categories on Amazon this year. "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" was Amazon's best-selling Kindle e-book, and "The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest" was the online marketplace's top seller in printed books, according to a year-end list released Thursday.

Those two books also topped those categories when it came to the most appearances on Amazon users' wish lists, but perhaps because of their gory subject matter were not the … Read more

If you're not careful, Firefox's built-in download manager can leave a long trail of evidence about your Internet activities. Whether you've been downloading cheesy songs or snagging photos and videos of a more adult nature, sometimes it's a good idea to cover your tracks. Fortunately, Firefox has this capability built into its download manager in the form a button labeled "Clear List," which does reliably clear the contents of the download list. Clean And Close is an add-on for Firefox that does more or less the same thing, with one extra step built in.… Read more

I had been looking forward to multitasking on the iPad for a long, long time.

Back when iOS 4 was first detailed, the potential for iPad users was clear. However, while iPhone and iPod Touch owners got to flaunt multitasking, the delay until the final release of iOS 4.2 on the iPad was agonizing. Now the day has come and gone, and for an iPad owner such as myself, the rewards of the iOS update have been somewhat worth the wait.

Having folders to organize the endless grids of apps is a long overdue welcome addition. Background streaming of Internet radio on an iPad is a great add for anyone, and I've found it great for simultaneous radio news and newspaper browsing. AirPlay is intriguing, although you'd need an Apple TV to take advantage of its potential. Threaded, unified mail inboxes are, needless to say, time-saving.

And yet, there's a lot I wish the iPad version of iOS still had.

For one, the whole OS feels entirely too similar to the iPhone edition. The multitasking bar, folder system, and functionality are nearly identical. Most features translate well, but for anyone hoping an iPad can transform into something a little more like a computer, most of these features don't cut it.

My wish list from months ago has only been halfway met. Here's what I'd like to see...in iOS 5.… Read more

Efigio is a free personal organizer that keeps it simple. It has one job, essentially: prioritize your tasks. You enter what you need to do, a deadline, a category, and a color-coded priority, plus any notes you want to jot down. It generates a simple list, ranking your tasks by priority and due date. You can enter tasks far in advance and be reminded of them as they move up Efigio's rankings. It shows you, at a glance, what's on your plate, what's on deck, and what's on the horizon.

Efigio is fully draggable and expandable … Read more