portable

Mouse gestures can automate tedious tasks. With the click of a button and a flick of the wrist, you can fill in your shipping address, insert a long string of text you have to type over and over again, display the weather, or launch any program. StrokesPlus is a free mouse gestures application that's easy to configure and use but also highly flexible. It's available in separate downloads for 32-bit and 64-bit versions of the Windows operating system. It's also available in fully portable versions of each. While most users will probably benefit from the fully installed … Read more

Moo0's FileMonitor is a free tool that monitors and displays all the file activity on your PC. More than a mere process monitor or event viewer, it displays all running processes and activities, including those that run in the background. It can show you when a program opens a file or initiates a process, which can be useful information if it's something you haven't authorized, such as a virus. But it can also tell you what's going on in your system, such as when the disk is busy; FileMonitor can tell you what's writing to … Read more

ManicTime is personal time-tracking software from a developer called Finkit d.o.o. ManicTime's Standard version is free for personal use, though there's a Professional version that adds more features, if you should need them. Most users will find the free version more than up to the task. That task is to track how and when you use your computer: when you're at it and when you're away, which apps you used and for how long, and lots of other data. Time-tagging lets you see exactly what you were doing and when. With your data, ManicTime … Read more

UltraDefrag is a free, open-source file defragmentation utility for Windows. It can defragment any system file, including the Registry. It's fast and powerful by design, in part because it skips fancy data optimization strategies in favor of speed and reliability. UltraDefrag Portable is a fully portable, fully functional release based on UltraDefrag's source code. It has three operating modes: a GUI mode, with a standard user interface; a console mode; and a native mode for advanced users. We tried the GUI mode, in part because we like to see a cluster map when we defrag our drives.

You'… Read more

Some "portable" headphone amplifiers aren't all that small, but the Firestone Audio Fireye Mini is downright tiny.

It's just 1.5 inches by 1 inch by 0.5 inch, and the soft-rubber-shelled amp weighs almost nothing, so you can hang it off your iPod, iPad, iPhone or any device with a 3.5mm headphone output. Plugging in a headphone turns the Mini on and lights a bright blue LED, unplugging turns the amp off. Charge the Mini via the USB connection and it'll play for up to 24 hours. It's available in green, gray, purple, red, and white.

The Mini is no giant-killer, but it definitely bumped up the detail and resolution of my Monster Turbine Copper, Ultimate Ears UE-4, and vPulse in-ear headphones.… Read more

Heads up, Google. Apple may be eyeing its own "portable heads-up display" that could one day give Google Glass devices some competition.

Outlined in a filing published by the U.S. Patent and Trade Office yesterday, Apple's patent application refers to a technology that increases the resolution on a display without increasing the number of pixels. Such technology could be used in a portable heads-up display, Apple explained, where limiting the number of pixels is especially useful.

"In particular, a portable heads-up display may be size and weight constrained such that addition of physical pixels may … Read more

Every month, it seems, another audio manufacturer debuts a new monolithic speaker dock that boasts the latest and greatest in acoustics and connectivity.

While some portable speakers push the bar in design, however, few offer the conversation-sparking aesthetics of this miniature toilet-shaped speaker out of Japan. … Read more

Iron Portable from PortableApps is a fully functional browser that its makers tout as the browser of the future. The browser is based on the same Chromium source code as the Google Chrome browser, but it doesn't have the unique IDs, time stamps, and other components that allow user tracking and other privacy-compromising functionality.

The browser presents a simple no-nonsense interface and is used just like any other browser. Chrome users will note the obvious similarities between the two browsers. In fact, since they're based on the same code, they have compatible add-ons and extensions as well as … Read more

Countdown timer, egg timer, kitchen timer; whatever you call it, this simple gadget has applications ranging from "handy" to "essential." Since the beginning of the computer age, software versions of this common object have been keeping scientists, chefs, and busy parents on schedule; like their hardware counterparts, they employ some sort of bell or alarm signaling "time's up!" Comfort Software's Free Countdown Timer Portable is exactly what it claims to be: it's freeware that lets you set countdown timers, as many as you need, for events ranging from your next break … Read more