run

When I started brainstorming this week's series of blogs dedicated to my most favorite cars that I've never owned, I drifted back to my childhood. I remembered watching "Magnum P.I.," and while I never cared for the show (or Tom Selleck's porn-stache, for that matter), I did think he had a hot car to chase the bad guys in. Then I also remembered the '80s flick "Cannonball Run," and how Dean Martin and Sammy Davis, Jr. sped across the country in a fire-engine-red Ferrari with T-Tops while dressed like priests. So I … Read more

Raise My Rights is a free program that is supposed to give users administrator access to most applications. But thanks to an overall lack of direction, the only thing that this program raised was our level of frustration with its poor performance.

The program has an extremely vague user interface. It requires that you enter the account details for creating a shortcut. We entered our username and domain info, but once we got to the password part, we weren't sure what to enter. The program's Help feature merely gives you copyright information, so it was trial and error … Read more

When you're traveling, it's easy to come up with excuses not to exercise, like, "There's nowhere to run near this hotel." The new WalkJogRun Routes app leverages your iPhone's geolocation skills to find routes near you.

How? By tapping WalkJogRun.net's repository of 350,000-plus user-created routes. Just run the app, wait a few seconds for it to hone in on your location, then choose a distance (1 mile, 2 miles, all distances, etc.) to see the routes in your neck of the woods.

The subsequent list tells you the name, length, and … Read more

The big news in iPhone software this week is Silicon Valley start-up Booyah announced yesterday they had raised $4.5 million in Series A funding from Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield, & Byers (KPCB) iFund for a new mystery iPhone product. The "iFund" is a $100 million venture capital fund that was set up specifically to fund exceptional iPhone software development.

So, how did this obscure start-up secure this kind of iFunding? Booyah was started by Keith Lee, Brian Morrisroe, and Sam Christiansen who had worked previously at Blizzard Entertainment, Activision, and Insomniac Games, respectively. This group of industry heavyweights … Read more

In the wake of the Conficker worm spreading via removable storage devices among other methods, Microsoft said on Tuesday it is making a change to the way Windows 7 handles USB drives.

As a result of the change, most USB drives will not be able to automatically launch a program using a Windows feature known as AutoRun, Microsoft said in a post on its Security Research & Defense Blog.

So, if an infected USB drive is inserted on a machine then the AutoRun task will not be displayed, Microsoft said.

Fixed removable media, such as CDs and DVDs will still … Read more

As an semiregular jogger, I'm gonna make a bold statement: The iPod Shuffle is the single best MP3 player for runners. I'll explain why in a minute, but for now, here's the deal: Apple has refurbished iPod Shuffles for $29 shipped.

That's for the 1GB silver model only. A blue one will run you $39, which has been the price on these refurbs for as long as I can remember.

The Shuffle comes with earphones, a dock, and everything else you'd find in a brand-new model--including Apple's one-year warranty. (The only thing you don'… Read more

This free program's interface is a great example of how not to use tabs, because they only added to the cluttered and overwhelming user interface. But despite that, AutoRuns did give us a good picture of the programs configured to run during start-up.

From the get-go, we were overwhelmed by AutoRuns' interface. The tabs indicating our PC's different programs were scrunched together and the tiny icons on each tab made them difficult to read. The same could be said for the actual information within each tab. Resizing the window only marginally helped the view. A tree-menu style interface … Read more

Launching programs, running commands, and opening documents are a piece of cake thanks to this free launcher's easy to navigate user interface.

Our first impression of Advanced Run's intuitive interface was a good one. The design is very no-nonsense. All you have to do is either type the name of the program, folder, or file you want to launch, or you can select it from the extensive drop-down list. A browse option also is included. The program employs command shortcuts and templates for quickly launching frequently used programs and files. Once we entered our command and clicked the … Read more

Running used to be a solitary sport. MapMyRun changes this.

MapMyRun is a Web service that enables users to track their miles run by mapping out their route. It then allows you to calculate calories burned, among other things. I'm in London this week and have been planning all my runs using the service, figuring out in advance my six, 10, and 13-mile runs.

That, however, is not the most interesting use of MapMyRun. Despite its name (MapMyRun), the service becomes more useful as you share your runs with others, and share in others'. It makes it easy to … Read more