6.3

An all-new Apple iTunes? No need to tempt us: We'll bite! The look is pure Apple, but the new iTunes 11 is also lighter, sleeker, and faster than the old app. It also comes with many new features and refinements, such as improved iCloud integration that lets you play your iTunes purchases right away on all your devices or pause play on one device and pick it right up on another. New Library Views clean up media collection clutter. Expanded views display album notes in place so you don't have to click back and forth. The new MiniPlayer … Read more

It may not appeal to gamers looking only for action, but Big Win Football strikes a nice balance between the game and team management.

Big Win Football offers a simple interface with straightforward menus and options that are, for the most part, easy to navigate. The player management menu was somewhat daunting initially, but it was easier than we expected to figure it out. We liked the idea that you can build and strengthen your team using a certain player rosters which makes it a tiny bit more realistic. And, since player stats are also involved in each game, each … Read more

VZOChat is a high-quality video chat and messaging utility that supports simultaneous sessions with up to 120 people. A small download, VZOChat installs easily. VZOChat uses a proprietary protocol for video that is claimed to be optimized for slower connection speeds, and there are several language packs available.

The VZOChat interface is clean and simple. There's a pane for all the video chats in progress (up to six displayed on the pane at the same time) and controls for audio and microphone volumes, as well as some extra icons to control other aspects such as text and inviting new … Read more

Acala DVD Ripper Professional Free Copy is a free DVD ripper. It's an easy-to-use program for ripping some DVD videos and converting them into a number of video formats, as well as ripping the audio into popular audio formats.

The interface is good, though very simple in appearance. We were able to understand the layout and navigate it easily, but getting started was a little difficult without the tutorial video. The tutorial video doesn't completely match the free version we downloaded, but the steps are pretty much the same. Without it, we probably wouldn't have known how … Read more

Let's face it: virtual face-to-face conversations with people from Antarctica to Zanzibar make video chat the most intimate form of telecommunications yet. Free video chat apps like Camshare's Camfrog Video Chat let you meet and chat with far-flung friends; there's just no way text messages can substitute for two people actually talking to each other, no matter how many emoticons you use.

While Camfrog is optimized for video chat, it's a full-featured chat client that also handles audio and text messaging, file swapping, and other functions. Camfrog isn't the largest chat network, which isn't … Read more

Let's face it: virtual face-to-face conversations with people from Antarctica to Zanzibar make video chat the most intimate form of telecommunications yet. Free video chat apps like Camshare's Camfrog Video Chat let you meet and chat with far-flung friends; there's just no way text messages can substitute for two people actually talking to each other, no matter how many emoticons you use.

While Camfrog is optimized for video chat, it's a full-featured chat client that also handles audio and text messaging, file swapping, and other functions. Camfrog isn't the largest chat network, which isn't … Read more

CD Archiver is a free program for cataloging your disk collection. Data and music CDs and DVDs, rewritable disks...if it fits in your tray and runs in Windows, CD Archiver can probably handle its files, and system folders, too. It supports more than a dozen archive file formats, including ZIP, 7z, RAR, and TAR; more than two dozen audio formats ranging from APE to WMA; and dozens and dozens of video, image, and other formats. CD Archiver packs some interesting features, such as links for images containing GPS data. It also finds information about disks online from sources such … Read more

Apple's 3D Map app for iOS 6 may have received a sneak peek, courtesy of Boy Genius Report.

Obtaining details and photos of the new app from a "trusted source," BGR said that Apple's new in-house Map program is currently being tested in the latest build of iOS 6.

The main photo on BGR's site is mostly a mockup based on the information received from the source. Additional photos that are large but blurry show different screens of the app. But one in particular reveals an option to switch to 3D mode.

To jump into … Read more

Amazon released a small software update for the Kindle Fire, but it does have something a lot of people have been demanding: the ability to enable password-protection for purchases, a feature the iPad has always offered.

On top of that, the update has additional parental controls, including the ability to disable access to specific content libraries and block access to the Silk Web browser.

You can manually update you Fire's software by following the instructions on this page or wait for your Kindle to automatically update itself in the next few days when you log onto a Wi-Fi network. … Read more