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When Google gave Talk a stylish makeover to bring you Hangouts, it added free video chat and a new messaging style to an already powerful messaging app. It keeps all of the look and feel of Talk while adding great Google+ integration. It's a must-download if your Android gadget doesn't already have it.

If you already have Google Talk, this app will install itself the next time you update. It lets you chat with any of your friends that have a Google account. You can send them a message or invite them to video chat with you a … Read more

Num Fun - Addition teaches children addition concepts through the use of a fun yet basic game. It's an intuitive app with solid production qualities that is fun to use, though ultimately limited in features. The trial restrictions also present some issues for anyone looking for free educational apps for their children.

Num Fun - Addition, for the most part, does everything a children's educational app should do, correctly. It looks pretty, it has fun music that is pleasant to listen to, and the interface is very easy for a young child to pick up and use almost … Read more

Daminion specializes in LAN-based digital image management systems optimized for small teams, but their standalone Windows client is available for free. Daminion catalogs your image assets. It can import, export, and manage image data in a wide range of formats; import and export Tags and Filter data; store data inside files; and integrate with a variety of other systems. Daminion is a complex tool that can handle professional duties, not a quick fix for users who simply want to tag their digital snapshots--and it takes a little effort to learn its ways.

Daminion's interface has a familiar layout, with … Read more

Jelly Bean Launcher makes your home screen look and feel like you have Android 4.1 instead of an older version. There are a few weird issues with the execution, but Jelly Bean Launcher is a nice compromise if you don't want to root.

You can make this launcher your full-time home screen by making it the default app. The launcher grabs a few widgets from your current app's menu to paste on your home screen. It doesn't check your current home screen layout, though, so you'll be stuck rearranging things to make them match. Since … Read more

Notes & Tags attempts to provide a unique experience that builds on the platform used by note-taking apps like Evernote. Unfortunately, it does not offer enough new features or tools to go above and beyond Evernote, and because both are free, it's hard to recommend this new app over the former if you are already using it.

The app is very basic. It opens to a note-taking screen where you title and create a note. You can add tags for each note that will then be used for searching and organizing your notes. Each note can be e-mailed or … Read more

It's entirely too easy to end up with multiple contacts for the same people on your smartphone, and a huge pain to go through them all and weed out the discards. It's worse when up-to-date data is spread over more than one saved contact. Merge+ for Android is a free app that can find and merge multiple contacts on your Android phone or tablet. With a super-easy, three-step process, Merge+ makes it easy to merge and update redundant contacts across multiple apps, accounts, and archives. Merge+ is compatible with Android 2.3.3 and above; we tried it … Read more

PicChar Lite is a unique app in many ways. Designed as a photo editing tool, it serves only a single function: transforming your photos into text-based images. The effect is very cool, but the actual use of the app will vary depending on how much you need images consisting of thousands of tiny letters.

The idea is simple. Take a photo (or grab one from your photo library) and PicChar will transform the image into a collection of different colored text that forms a mosaic of your image. The animation of this happening is mesmerizing and the final effect is … Read more

Those who often host events or create scrapbooks may desire ways to create and personalize invitations and photo collages on a computer. Smilebox for Mac functions well and has many features one would expect of a card creation program, but it seems to be aimed at the novice.

The file's small size allowed for a quick download, and the native installer placed the program directly in the applications folder. Startup did require the acceptance of a lengthy user agreement. The program first prompts the user to create a free online account to enable more sharing options, but this can … Read more

Many users watch their favorite TV shows on their mobile devices using apps such as Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, and Crackle. XFINITY TV Player, designed for use by Comcast subscribers, is the latest addition to the premium video-streaming genre. It makes a great attempt at being a valuable experience but lacks many key features that make both cable and mobile video great.

At 12MB the player is not excessively large for an application of its magnitude but nevertheless users should be cautioned if they are on a limited data plan and are not connected to Wi-Fi. The installation progresses smoothly and … Read more