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ie8 fix

1.6

Name that tune

If you're having trouble naming that tune, just fire up SoundHound to speak, sing, hum, type, or record a song for the music-identification service to identify. It will return a song, complete with artist bios, video links, and links to an online music store. SoundHound will also, crucially, pull in song lyrics where available or link you to a lyrics search where they're not. Trend charts show you how popular a song is vis a vis the publisher's online and mobile network, and you can see which songs other users have identified. A free version of SoundHound … Read more

Samsung Behold II will get only Android 1.6

We've got some good news and bad news for Samsung Behold II owners. We'll start with the good first: you're getting an update to Android 1.6. The bad? You won't be getting anything beyond Android 1.6.

Samsung dropped the bomb late Thursday evening via its Twitter account, and its official statement reads:

Samsung Mobile and T-Mobile USA are planning to update the Behold II to Android 1.6 which provides access to Google Maps Navigation, Google Voice Search capability and quick search box for Android.

The update will also supply additional benefits including Swype, … Read more

Fox 4 friend

Firefox developer SpewBoy's Strata40 theme offers a look at the style and features that Mozilla's long-awaited, often-delayed Firefox 4 Web browser will bring to a stale browser scene. SpewBoy's StrataBuddy is a companion add-on that enables some of the graphics, animation, and display effects that are designed to give Firefox 4 a new and unique look and feel. It's specifically designed to be used with Strata40, but it can also be used by itself with other themes in current versions of Firefox. However, most of its options, such as aero glass effects and the Firefox 3.… Read more

Bandwidth blaster

BitTorrents have washed away the ancient ways of file hosting, leaving a few isolated islands in a sea of peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing networks. With the sea change has come another flood, that of free BitTorrent clients and the inevitable raft of follow-on software designed to wring every drop of performance and capacity out of your bandwidth. Foxmediatools' BoostMachine is just such an app, a "universal BitTorrent downloading optimization tool" that works like a PC plumber's helper to open up your pipes and let the torrents flow freely. It's about as simple a tool, too, since it'… Read more

Just a pretty face

We really wanted to like 5 Star MP4 Video Joiner. The interface was intuitive, and we liked the idea of a program that could join videos of different types into one file. Unfortunately, the program is more attractive than it is functional; the resulting video files were a disaster.

At first glance, 5 Star MP4 Video Joiner seems like a great program. It's easy to add files, reorder them, and select the output format and destination folder. We were quite impressed with the program--until we viewed the result. Our attempt at joining an MPG and WMV failed miserably, with … Read more

Impressive FLV converter

We've seen a lot of bad file converters, and we must admit that when it came time to download Leawo FLV Converter, we were in no mood to test drive yet another one. Much to our relief, Leawo FLV Converter was a breath of fresh air: well designed, easy to use, and full of features. Hooray!

The program's interface is sleek and intuitive, and we had no trouble getting started. We liked that the application supports batch processing and that it includes a small viewer for previewing files. What impressed us most, however, was the huge variety of … Read more

Reliably unimpressive

Reliable Task Timer is an extremely basic program that allows users to track the time spent on specific tasks in a CSV spreadsheet. Although the program works, we've seen similar applications that offer many more features.

Reliable Task Timer's interface is extremely plain, consisting of a single screen with four labeled steps. Users first select a destination and file name for the CSV spreadsheet, enter a title and description for the task to be tracked, and then click Start Timer. When users have completed the task, clicking Stop Timer records the entry on the spreadsheet. Or at least … Read more

Google Maps Navigation arrives for Android 1.6

One of the highlights of Android 2.0 has been the Google Maps Navigation app that delivers voice-guided turn-by-turn navigation on your phone for free. Until now, only Motorola Droid owners could take advantage of this sweet perk, but times they are a-changing.

On Monday, Google announced that its navigation app is now available for devices running Android 1.6 and higher, including the T-Mobile G1 and T-Mobile MyTouch 3G. While still in beta, the app provides voice-guided directions between two points, traffic information, and business searches.

This release also includes a new Layers feature that lets you overlay more … Read more

Simple slideshow maker

Aleo Flash Slideshow Gallery Maker provides easy tools for making slideshows.

The program's interface is a breeze to manage, due in part to a Wizard that walks you through every step of the process. We never needed to consult the Help file, because the onscreen directions are so strong. You can coordinate the speed and effects of your slideshow by clicking a handful of options on the first screen. From there, you choose either photos, videos, or both to include in the show, and arrange them to your liking. You can save your slideshow as a simple Flash file … Read more