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7.1

Explore your system

System Explorer is a free, portable application that scans your system and displays a large amount of useful information in an easy-to-navigate tree view. It also gives you access to online resources that can help you diagnose problems, such as a searchable File Database that includes user-contributed reviews, a forum, and tech support. Since it's totally portable, it can be run from a wide range of devices on any Windows system. It even handles plugins.

System Explorer's scan includes a security check, which identified no vulnerabilities in our system. Hovering the cursor over the program's system tray … Read more

Does home theater need more than 5.1 channels?

Multichannel movie sound dates back to Disney's "Fantasia." When the film was first released in 1940, the number of speakers used was scaled to the size of the individual theater; 30 to 80 speakers were installed behind the screen and around the perimeter of the ceiling.

Home theater multichannel sound arrived many decades later, and quickly settled on a 5.1 channel system, which is just a scaled-down version of the current movie theater system. The home system uses three front speakers--left, center, right--and two surround speakers placed on the sides of the room. The subwoofer supplies … Read more

CES: Turtle Beach brings wireless 7.1 surround to Xbox 360, PS3

Turtle Beach is at CES 2011 to show off the company's spotlight product, the PX5. A successor to the X41 headset, the PX5 improves on the original design in many ways, most notably being the first headset to bring wireless surround sound and chat to the PS3. Two on-board wireless radios (Bluetooth and 2.4Ghz) allow for the headset to play nicely with both Xbox 360 and PS3 consoles, and the Bluetooth capability can even be utilized as a cell phone headset or wireless speakers for AD2P music playback.

But perhaps the most impressive feature of the PX5 is … Read more

Block that app!

Java is aptly named. Like coffee, Java stimulates and enhances in the right amount, but too much of either can give you the jitters. QuickJava is a free Firefox add-on that lets you quickly enable and disable Java and similar content from the Firefox toolbar or statusbar. It can stop Java, JavaScript, Flash, Silverlight, and even image content from loading without having to open any dialogs.

We downloaded and installed QuickJava and restarted Firefox. QuickJava placed six blue icons in the statusbar at the far right edge along the bottom of our Firefox interface, labeled Js, J, F, SL, and … Read more

A side of wikis from Firefox to Google

The Google Toolbar for Firefox is a free add-on for Mozilla's Firefox browser. It adds a toolbar to the Firefox interface that includes a field for Google searches as well as icons for quickly launching Google Mail, Google Earth, and a variety of other useful features.

The Google Toolbar for Firefox is easy to install, and most users will simply need to download and run the program and restart Firefox, though some may need to enable it in the browser's add-on manager. We restarted Firefox and clicked Tools/Add-Ons to open the Add-On manager. We clicked Options on … Read more

Camtasia 7.1 offers useful new features

Anyone interested in producing professional-looking movies and demos from the computer screen needs some quality screencasting software, and TechSmith's Camtasia definitely fits the bill. This app strikes the perfect balance between powerful tools and ease of use.

Considering the relatively minor boost in version number, Camtasia offers quite a few feature updates. The program now includes the capability to record system audio, as well as automatically resize windows during recording. Plus, you get the option to "smartfocus" on key frames and add closed captions to your presentation. Additonally, the app offers speech-to-text with a voice training feature; … Read more

Get it together, Google

A dedicated Google Search app has made its way in one form or another on every smartphone platform, and that's no different for Windows Phone 7. As on other operating systems, Google Search uses the phone's GPS to localize searches--this is purely optional if you'd rather switch it off. The app also hands out search suggestions as you type, but only if you type slowly, we found. Fleety fingers zipped past the time it took the app to produce suggestions on our test phone.

Google Search also keeps track of your previous searches, a boon for anyone … Read more

Screencast gold

When it comes to producing professional-looking movies and demos from your computer screen, TechSmith's Camtasia Studio continues to strike the right balance between a powerful toolset and ease of use. Version 7.1 adds even more features without making the app any more complex to use.

The feature-packed screencast app--which includes HD production settings--does have a learning curve, but the user-friendly interface and front-and-center icons for most-used tools go a long way toward lowering the intimidation factor a notch. Plus, TechSmith povides a useful online help center that includes several video tutorials that do a nice job walking users … Read more