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On Center's On-Screen Takeoff (OST) is a sophisticated electronic plan viewer and onscreen takeoff tool that can help users in the construction trade quickly prepare accurate bids. You can use it to view, annotate, and measure electronic plans as well as obtain quick and easy calculations of areas, volumes, and other specifications, even curved surfaces and areas. It integrates tools for calculating, preparing, and submitting bids for a wide range of construction-related trades, including concrete, flooring, roofing, and landscaping. It can be used with plotters and digitizers as well as the developer's proprietary interactive pen.

OST's zipped … Read more

Gmail has become pretty ubiquitous, and it's not uncommon for people to have more than one Gmail account. We have several: a personal one, a professional one, and at least one related to a blog we maintain. Keeping track of multiple Gmail accounts can be a hassle, but Gmail Manager, a handy add-on for Firefox, makes this task a breeze.

Gmail Manager appears in Firefox's status bar, showing the name of each configured account and how many unread messages there are in each. Mousing over each account name also shows how many spam messages there are and what … Read more

Weather Watcher is a sleek application that gives users detailed weather information on their desktops. With an attractive interface and plenty of features, Weather Watcher is a great tool for users who enjoy keeping tabs on the weather.

The program's interface is intuitive and easy to navigate, with its major features organized in tabs. When the program is running it displays the current temperature in the system tray; mousing over it displays detailed information about the current weather conditions, the day's forecast, sunrise and sunset, moon phase, and more. Double clicking on the temperature pulls up the program'… Read more

Apple has quickly released an update to OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, less than two weeks after its release on the 28th of August. The update addresses a number of small problems with the 10.6.0 release, and is recommended for all Snow Leopard users.… Read more

Memory Improve Master Free Version brings together several computer settings aimed at improving its performance. This tool is best suited for people familiar with Windows performance management.

Like most memory optimizers, the program operates on the debatable principle that the greater the amount of free RAM, the more efficiently applications will operate and the lower the chances your application or system will crash. Using Memory Improve Master, you can ensure free RAM by manually forcing memory release, "deep compressing" system memory, and setting thresholds and letting the application run in the background. A real-time graph displays the effects … Read more

We appreciated this program's wizard-like approach to converting PDFs to Word and Excel files. Though it ultimately converted several PDFs to Word, Excel, Image, and PostScript files, we did hit a few bumps along the way.

Docsmartz PDF Converter Pro has a very easy-to-use interface. Simply browse for the PDF (or multiple PDFs), select the destination folder, and click on the file format command button. The program comes with several conversion modes that allow you to convert the PDF as is, text only, and images only. Similar programs give you the ability to select specific text, but unfortunately, Docsmartz … Read more

In its latest beta release last week, Skype received a much more ambitious feature than it did in its most recent major Windows update, Skype 4.0. In addition to bringing back birthday reminders, Skype 4.1 beta introduced screen sharing.

While choppy transmission and the limitations of broadcasting your screen to one contact at a time makes the feature best for casual desktop demonstrations rather than for serious collaboration or intense troubleshooting, screen sharing in Skype's free VoIP application is nevertheless one more engaging way to connect to friends and colleagues across the miles. Since the application is … Read more