organization

You don't have to own a Mac to use FileMaker's new Bento for iPad, but if you do, wireless sync adds extra incentive to take your personal databases on the go.

Bento offers iPad users a portable personal database for storing everything from birthdays and home expenses to recipes and an exercise log, with 25 templates to get you started. Integration with the address book, dialer, Safari browser, e-mail inbox, and Google Maps make Bento a useful iPhone app offering that could become a master storehouse for your separate lists; and one that quickly facilitates calls, mapping, and … Read more

Tinderbox is a professional-grade information-management tool for creating, organizing, using, and sharing notes--especially large or complex sets of data, whether you're composing a novel, drafting a presentation, or performing academic research. Tinderbox has a very visual interface that provides a lot of flexibility, giving you multiple options for viewing notes (in map, outline, timeline, chart, treemap, or explorer windows), which you can drag and drop into hierarchical "containers" along with various contextual properties and links. A powerful, open-ended system of "agents"--basically, persistent searches--scans your notes continuously, identifying patterns or attributes and then executing macro-like … Read more

Konarka said today that it has achieved a record in organic solar cell efficiency but its products are still seeking a viable commercial niche.

The Lowell, Mass.-based company said the National Renewable Energy Laboratory has certified that Konarka's plastic solar cells have achieved an efficiency of 8.3 percent, the highest that NREL has recorded for organic photovoltaic cells.

Founded in 2001, Konarka has a facility to make flexible solar cells using plastic in a roll-to-roll manufacturing process. It's one of a handful of companies pursuing organic photovoltaics and other so-called third-generation solar cell technologies, which also … Read more

Winstep Xtreme is a customizable Windows interface suite that combines enhanced functionality and attractive effects with a wide variety of widgets, utilities, task managers, and power tools, all designed to work together seamlessly. It bundles the NeXuS Ultimate dock system; WorkShelf, a versatile tabbed dock; NextStart, an enhanced system taskbar; Winstep Start Menu Organizer; FontBrowser; and more. Not to mention a wide variety of desktop widgets such as weather monitors, system meters, and time/date displays.

We opened Winstep Xtreme, and first to appear was NextStart, a skinnable, totally customizable taskbar replacement that basically lets you park anything you want … Read more

Editors' note: This article originally stated in error that ClearContext Professional was released this week. The content below has been updated to correct this mistake.

As evidenced by this article on NudgeMail, e-mail organization is of personal interest to me--and I know I'm not the only inbox control freak structured individual in existence. Certainly, ClearContext was counting on that when it developed ClearContext Professional, a plug-in for Microsoft Outlook.

The goal of ClearContext Professional is to help you stay in control of your inbox by providing organizational tools and rules for e-mails, tasks, appointments, and projects. Adding it to … Read more

Virtual desktop managers have been common third-party Windows accessories at least since the days of Windows 98, and they're even more common for Unix users, for whom they're essential productivity features. Virtual desktops add capabilities to the Windows desktop by creating copies of your desktop that you can customize for specific uses--work, e-mail, and gaming, for example--and rapidly switch between. It's almost like having separate computers, except with all your files and settings on each. Portable VirtuaWin is a free and totally portable version of VirtuaWin, a free virtual desktop manager. It's compact and runs from … Read more

For better or worse, we often find ourselves using our e-mail accounts to store information that we're likely to forget, such as Christmas gift ideas and passwords for infrequently used accounts. AllMyNotes Organizer Free Edition provides an alternative to such practices, letting you easily save and organize numerous notes to yourself.

The program's interface is well-designed and intuitive, and we liked that it walks you through the program setup with a wizard. This is where you can specify what you plan to use the program for; the options include Personal, Professional & Business, School, Family Records, and Passwords &… Read more

Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization tomorrow plans to unveil a breakthrough in wireless technology that will allow multiple users to upload content at the same time while maintaining a data transfer rate of 12 megabits per second (Mbps), all over their old analog TV aerial.

The technology, named Ngara, allows up to six users to occupy the equivalent spectrum space of one television channel (7 megahertz) and has a spectral efficiency of 20 bits per second per hertz. Ngara can handle up to three times that of similar technology and maintains a data rate more than 10 … Read more

Bare Bones Software's Yojimbo provides a fast, intuitive way to collect and store all kinds of information--from text and images to bookmarks, software serial numbers, passwords, and complete Web page archives that you can read offline. Yojimbo also lets you sync up with your iPad.

Yojimbo makes it extremely easy to add new bits of info: You can scan something directly using TWAIN plug-ins, you can drag and drop almost anything onto Yojimbo's Drop Dock (a tab that sits at the edge of the screen and holds all your "Collections"), or you can hit F8 to … Read more