2.2

Child's play

Anyone who's ever been around small children can tell you that they love to imitate Mom and Dad. If this tendency is endangering your computer with Junior's indiscriminate keyboard banging, Baby Kids Keyboard Free Edition might be the program for you. This simple software provides kid-friendly images and sounds while protecting your computer from potentially problematic keyboard inputs.

The program comes with five themes: the default theme (an assortment of random objects), cartoon animals, keyboard, piano, and an editable theme that you can customize. Each touch of the keyboard changes the image displayed and, depending on the theme, … Read more

Bogus bug protection

We love you, Download.com users, but we don't love you enough to take our laptop outside and see if Anti Mosquito actually works. Oh, we would if we thought there was a chance that it might actually keep mosquitoes away; they are the bane of our existence during the summer, and even as we write this we are trying to avoid scratching the multiple bites that we currently have. But do even the most basic research on this topic and you'll find that there's no evidence that programs or devices that emit sound do anything to … Read more

Animals accessorized

We've reviewed quite a few puzzle games, and in particular, the match-three games seem to be quite popular. In these games, players must match three items of the same color to clear them from the board and earn points. Diamond Drop 2 is a fun variation on this theme that we hadn't seen before. It takes the basic premise of match-three and adds a story featuring various kinds of anthropomorphic wildlife and an assortment of fun twists. We found it charming and fun.

Users should be aware that in order to play Diamond Drop 2, they must first … Read more

Mediocre manager

There are all sorts of options for keeping your portable information organized. Some are online, some are integrated into e-mail accounts, and some live on our phones. Some are full suites of tools and others are standalone programs. SSuite Office's CleverNote PIM Portable is a surprisingly feature-filled program that's small enough to fit on a USB drive and keep your schedule, contacts, and other information at your fingertips. Unfortunately, some of its features work better in theory than in practice.

The program's interface is attractive and easy to navigate, with tabs representing its major features. It provides … Read more

Dear Diary

Journaling is a great idea, whether you're keeping track of your daily goings-on at work or recording your most intimate thoughts. My Daily Digital Journal is a portable program that makes keeping a journal fun, easy, and secure. We can imagine anyone from tweens to executives using this program.

The journal's interface is plain and intuitive, resembling a mini word processor. There's a formatting toolbar across the top, and the program comes with a full complement of formatting features. You can change the font style and color, set the background color, and create bulleted lists. You can … Read more

Samsung Gravity Smart review: The Gravity grows up

The words "Samsung Gravity phone" immediately conjure images of tall feature phones with funky-shaped keys, QWERTY sliders, and pronounced accents in flame or neon colors. Take the Samsung Gravity Smart, then, as the mature member of this fun-loving family for T-Mobile. It's brainier, running Android 2.2 Froyo instead of Samsung's own feature phone OS. It also veers away from electric blue and blow-your-eyes lime with color options that tend toward the more subdued--a lush berry is this handset's most pulse-quickening hue (don't worry, even the lunar gray color still has its bright elements.)… Read more

Wardrobe organizer

HomyFads Wardrobe Manager is freeware that can make it easier to view and manage your wardrobe and accessories. Although we found a glitch in the program's tutorials and one of its features didn't work, an uncluttered and easy-to-use menu made it a snap to organize and browse our apparel and accessories collections.

Installing Wardrobe Manager is tricky. The download process tried to sneak in an optional download for another program called Facemoods. Wardrobe Manager's functionality is limited and its interface elementary, but a quick launch button got us up and running in a matter of seconds. While … Read more

HTC Merge review: Rare CDMA world phone

In most respects, the HTC Merge for U.S. Cellular is a fairly standard Android 2.2 Froyo smartphone. It's got a decent but standard touch screen, a nice but not superlative 5-megapixel camera (with 720p HD video capture and playback, we might add,) and an unremarkable keyboard that's nevertheless sufficient.

The phone's primary point of difference lurks below the back cover, a SIM card slot that international travelers can use while taking the phone abroad. Even if you never step foot outside the continent, there are plenty of other features to keep you handy and connected. … Read more

The 404 831: Where Tupac Shakur will not cameo in 'The Hangover 3' (podcast)

We're back from the holiday weekend and we all had a good time--until "The Hangover 2" happened. The movie itself wasn't as awful as expected, so tune into a spoiler-free review on today's episode before you rush out and give Zach Galifianakis another $14 bucks.

The 404 Digest for Episode 831

PBS Hacked, claims 'Tupac alive' in New Zealand. " Literally Unbelievable" is a blog dedicated to Facebook posts that don't know The Onion is satirical. It's official: iOS 5, OS X Lion, and iCloud. Jeff show and tell: LightDims.

Episode 831 Subscribe in iTunes (audio) | Subscribe in iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more