Ad: See the powerful new Nokia Lumia 928
ie8 fix

1.10

Standard image editing

Photo-editing programs are a dime a dozen these days, and it takes a really special piece of software to stand out from the crowd. Unfortunately, PhotoPlus SE is not that special. Although there is nothing functionally wrong with the program, there is also nothing that differentiates it from the competition.

The program's interface is inoffensive and fairly easy to navigate. The layout is similar to that of many other photo editors, with tools on the left, panels on the right, and a selection of menus across the top. We liked that the program enables you to edit in layers, … Read more

Remarkable resizer

We have to admit that we are somewhat impatient by nature, and we absolutely hate photo editing of any sort. It just seems so tedious to us, even when it comes to basic tasks like resizing images. For that reason, we love Prish Image Resizer. Now, instead of opening a separate program, loading our image, and tinkering with the dimensions, we can resize images with a couple of mouse clicks.

The program doesn't have an interface per se; instead, it appears in the context menu whenever you right-click on an image in Windows Explorer. It adds two options to … Read more

Disappointing dominoes

We have to admit that as kids we spent more time setting up dominoes and knocking them down than actually playing games with them, but the real game can actually be a lot of fun. An electronic version of dominoes seems as if it would be a nice complement to other computerized pastimes like solitaire and Sudoku, but, unfortunately, Dominoes Game does not deliver.

The first problem we ran into with this program was that we didn't entirely remember how to play dominoes, and Dominoes Game has no help file or other guidance. We found a quick online refresher … Read more

Take files with you

Who says you can't take it with you? Dropbox for BlackBerry taps into the Dropbox.com cloud storage service to let you view uploaded files on your smartphone, including streaming music and videos. It's a two-way street--you're also able to upload files, like photos, to your Dropbox account. You can snap a new one or dig into your media gallery on the phone. If you're so inclined to share, a menu option will generate a link for you to e-mail to friends. That's nice and all, but come on, Dropbox, dip into BlackBerry's other … Read more

ID Broken Windows

Microsoft Windows Product Key Viewer is freeware from Daniel Sage Developing that does just one thing: It displays the Product Key Code for your copy of Windows. Why do you need it? You can just right-click Computer and read the code off the system properties dialog--assuming Windows is working normally. But suppose every effort to recover your operating system has failed, and you're resigned to a total reinstallation of Windows. You'll need your Product Key Code to re-activate your reinstalled software, since you probably don't want to pay for it again. But Windows won't start, and … Read more

Search, the Microsoft way

While currently limited to phones on the Verizon network, Microsoft's Bing for Android is a worthy search app. Similar to Bing on other mobile platforms, the app overlays a striking photograph of the day with a pop-up menu to search by images, movies, maps, news, or what's nearby. There's also an option to search for directions--walking and driving. In addition, a search field sits at the top, next to a voice search button. Bing for Android tucks your history, settings, and favorites in the phone's hard-coded Menu button.

Bing also integrates maps, and the touchable hot … Read more

Basic PDF tool

Unlike with text documents, combining multiple PDF files is more than a matter of just copying and pasting. Fortunately, you don't have to drop a big chunk of change on Adobe Acrobat to be able to merge or split PDF files. Arduo PDF Merger is a simple program that can handle basic splitting and merging tasks. It's not the most sophisticated program we've ever seen, but it works fine for what it is.

The program's interface is plain and intuitive, with commonsense buttons for adding and removing files. To merge PDF files, users simply select the … Read more

Bare-bones cropper

We've seen a lot of image-editing software in our day, ranging from one-trick ponies to programs we couldn't even begin to figure out how to use. Image Cropper is one of the former, with a feature list that is exactly two items long. Still, if you're looking for a no-frills way to crop and rotate images--and do absolutely nothing else--it works just fine.

Image Cropper's interface is plain and intuitive, and we were amused to see that it comes with various skins that give it the look of different versions of Microsoft Office. This seemed like … Read more

Cubism

We love a good puzzle game, and Cuber Extreme, though simple in design, definitely delivers. Don't be surprised if this fun and challenging game keeps you playing for way longer than you had intended.

The object of Cuber Extreme is to push colored cubes around a board, matching like colors and types so that the cubes disappear and the board is cleared. The rendering of the board is in a 3D style, and the player is represented by a little person who can walk around the board and push the cubes. The cubes come in different colors and different … Read more