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Back-In-Time is a helper app for Time Machine that gives you more detailed access into--and more options for manipulating--backed-up data.

While Time Machine has an elegant built-in interface, it can be limiting for users who want more control and flexibility. Back-In-Time offers an interface similar to Time Machine's, but in an easy-to-browse, two-pane view that lets you access data from multiple Macs, get Quick Look previews (including comprehensive version history, date, and size info), and even drag and drop to recover individual files and folders. You can also compare two versions of the same file, with a graphical view … Read more

Wednesday is tax day, so I thought you might be able to use some free music. I don't mean questionably legal file trades or streams or random MP3s delivered via Seeqpod or some other search engine--I'm talking about the Free Music Archive, which launched in beta over the weekend.

Often, sites with tons of free music have a low-quality bar--either they cater to beginning bands, or they're used to promote leftovers and outtakes that artists couldn't otherwise sell. But at first glance, FMA appears to be different.

It's curated by serious music fans, including New … Read more

Recently, Warner announced its new DVD-on-demand program. Dubbed "Warner Archive," it's a Web site that allows the company to market more obscure titles from its back catalog. Consumers choose the specific titles they want, and Warner manufactures them as needed and mails them directly to the consumer in under a week.

At least two of the debut movies caught my eye, so I decided to give it a try. My test movies were "Countdown" and "The D.I." The former is a 1968 movie with James Caan as an astronaut scrambling to beat a Soviet space mission to the moon. In addition to a pre-"Godfather" pairing of Caan and costar Robert Duvall, it's of interest to me as an early Robert Altman film (years before his better known 70s hits "M.A.S.H." and "Nashville"). "The D.I.," meanwhile, is a 1957 flick directed by and starring Jack Webb as a tough-as-nails Marine drill instructor. This one is a gift for my father, who's been searching for this old favorite for years.

Both movies arrived in a padded envelope less then a week after my order. They're packaged in standard DVD keepcases, and I appreciated the lack of cellophane and other redundant packing materials. The front and back covers are obviously based on a template, but they are customized with photos, blurbs, cast lists--it certainly has a budget feel, but it's a step-up from some of the truly no-frills custom DVDs I've ordered in the past.

The disc itself also has a professional looking label. According to The Digital Bits, "the discs will be burned rather than pressed which raises obvious concerns over longevity, although a proprietary burn technology is being used that Warners feels is much more reliable than what one can do at home on one's own computer." Indeed, the case includes the warning "This disc is expected to play back in DVD video 'play only' devices, and may not play back in other DVD devices, including recorders and PC drives." That said, we had no trouble playing it in several Blu-ray players, Windows PC DVD drives, or Xbox 360s. Only some PS3 models balked: the original 60GB PlayStation 3 didn't recognize the disc, but newer 40GB and 80GB models did. … Read more

Hott Notes offers users an opportunity to keep themselves organized with a virtual pad of yellow sticky notes. This program offers a simple set of tools to create notes, but does not live up to all its promised potential.

This freeware pops up instantly and allows users to quickly sketch down a note and paste it to their desktop. This is much like any note-making program on the market. However, what makes Hott Notes enjoyable is how it handles its added features. Where many programs are cluttered and sometimes confusing, four simple tabs allow users to customize their notes. Note … Read more

Last week, somebody contacted me about a problem they were having with Outlook:

"I work for a general contractor and have multiple projects going on. When I get e-mails pertaining to particular jobs, I place them in Personal Folders that I name with the job name. When the project is completed, I would like to move the folder onto my hard drive without losing the date.

"I have over 242 e-mails for one job alone. When I move them, they all come up with the date that I transferred them and the subject matter is gone. There has … Read more

AUSTIN, Texas--Someone blogged that South by Southwest Interactive is just like the Internet itself: disjointed, decentralized, scattered, fast, aggressive, random, fragmented, and so on.

In fact, the main commonality between the two may be that the number of attributes to describe them is infinite. Like the Internet, the annual tech conference here is an echo chamber of an echo chamber, a place where original thought and commentary get mixed up and mashed up in a highly self-referential meta conversation.

That was already the case before Twitter entered the scene at SXSW two years ago, but the microblogging service has certainly amplified the effect. It was both comical and frightening to see the uber-individualistic geeksters at SXSW captivated by the invisible rules of an ostentatious behavioral uniformity: within 1 mile of the convention center, you could observe the strange ritual of groups of people standing or sitting together, chained to their iPhones, twittering instead of talking: "SXSW. Twittering about SXSW."

The real conversation was often limited to a quick "What's your name?" or "Where's the next party?" just to have some input for the next tweet. It is indeed a read-write generation that is coming of age in the wake of an all-dominant present, with no particular loyalty to the past and maybe not even an interest in the future (see Peggy Orenstein's recent piece on "Growing up on Facebook" in The New York Times Magazine).

Yet the rise of the social digerati is unstoppable. New data by Nielsen Online shows that social-networking sites (which encompass social networks and blogs, by Nielsen's definition) are experiencing growth rates of twice as much as any of the main destination sites (search, portals, PC software sites, and e-mail). The time spent on social networks and blogging sites is growing at more than three times the rate of overall Internet growth. Furthermore, social networks are gaining traction among new audiences. … Read more

If Windows Explorer is a bit clunky or slow for what you need to do each day, this lite-featured widget may help speed your productivity with its built-in file compression options and ease of use.

MiniFM launches a nicely designed interface similar to a three-paned e-mail client and resembling older versions of Windows Explorer. A few command buttons along its top toolbar offer handy features, but most of this free file manager's functionality is accessed through mouse clicks.

This utility performed very well in our tests. We liked that we could select from three compression formats--ZIP, bzip, and gzip--just … Read more

If you find yourself needing to share sensitive data with other users by e-mail or on a portable device, this easy-to-use app provides a handy solution.

Silver Key launches a three-paned interface similar to many e-mail clients. However, using this app is so easy you can perform all your encrypting tasks without opening the interface, as we proved in our tests. Quick context-menu access and drag-and-drop functionality made encrypting files a simple process. We also liked that we could choose not to include a self-extracting executable with the encrypted output file, and that recipients didn't need to have Silver … Read more

OAKLAND, Calif.--The phrase is probably about as familiar to anyone who lived through the '60s as any other: "Turn on, tune in, and drop out."

That, of course, was Timothy Leary's exhortation to the world to embrace counterculture, and more specifically, to embrace the many benefits he saw of LSD, or acid.

Leary, as you probably know, was famous for his decades of experimental research into and promotion of the effects of hallucinogens, and over the years became as well known as many of the celebrity artists, writers, thinkers, and performers he hung out with.

Less … Read more