Month: February 2007

Anybody who has an iPod knows that it’s much more than a simple MP3 player. The new models let you watch movies or store your photos and you can make use of the space to store and carry with you your documents.

When you first buy an iPod, Apple recommends installing iTunes on your PC, to be able to manage and transfer your music library onto your mobile device. Sure, iTunes is a great app, at least it’s where I keep all my tracks and download all my podcasts, but it isn’t the only program that works with your iPod. There are many applications out there to make use of all the possibilities that your mobile device offers.

We’ve compiled a list of 10 Windows programs to diversify the way you use your iPod. Manage your content, convert video files, or transfer and read media files thanks to the following programs:

1. Anapod Explorer : Organize your iPod contents
2. Yamipod : Copy music from your iPod to your PC
3. Xilisoft iPod Video Converter : Convert any video file to the iPod format
4. River Past Crazi Video for iPod: Convert videos to play on your mobile devices
5. iPod Media Studio : Transfer DVDs to your iPod
6. Juice : Transfer podcasts to your iPod
7. Tubehunter : Download online videos to your iPod
8. Pod2Go : Read the news on your iPod
9. Virtual iPod : Transfer your music from your iPod to your PC
10. PodPlus : Use your iPod as a storage device

The PDF format has become the de-facto standard in graphical document distribution and it looks like Adobe is shaping up to enhance its grip on the market. The company has announced that it intends to release the PDF 1.7 specification for publication by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), aiming to make PDFs the ‘du jour’ standard for distributing documents electronically.

There’s no question that PDF is a compact yet high-quality publishing format which can be transferred and accessed very easily. However, with prices starting at $299 for Acrobat 8, Adobe is seemingly holding users to ransom when it comes to creating documents in PDF format. It seems only fair that by making the PDF the standard protocol for digital documents that the company provides a means of making files in this format for free. That said, this is a huge software firm that has earned its crust on the back of charging users a small fortune, knowing that they won’t find the same quality applications elsewhere.

The good news is that there is a free alternative to Acrobat that allows you to create PDF files without any hassle. PrimoPDF allows you to convert to PDF from virtually any format, including Word, PowerPoint, Excel and almost any other printable file type. Just like Acrobat, PrimoPDF can be optimised for output to print, screen, eBook or pre-press. Best of all, the app is completely free, without so much as a pop-up ad to prevent you from authoring PDF files.

Do you know how safe your PC really is? Tests such as those carried out by the BBC show that a computer’s security can be compromised literally within seconds of going online. They set-up a PC as a “honeypot” for potential attackers and watched in amazement as trojans, worms and other nasty beasts converged on it within seconds like a cloud of flies. It found that such attacks happened on average every 15 minutes with Windows Messenger found to be the biggest culprit.

One of the best ways to prevent such a situation is to make sure that your router ports are secure. Programs such as Portslock can help you do exactly this by taking control of your TCP/IP connections. According to the developers, 80% of attacks specifically try to exploit vulnerabilities in your ports which many firewalls fail to protect properly. Programs specifically tailored to port protection such as Portslock circumvent firewalls by going straight to the source of any potential holes.

Another alternative is Atelier Web Ports Traffic Analyzer. Whilst this program does not protect your network ports, it constantly monitors traffic for any unusual activity. Via a simple graphical interface, you can see the real-time flow of traffic through your router and identify attacks whilst they are happening.

Whilst protecting your ports can never replace a professional-standard firewall, these simple and free programs can dramatically reduce the chance of unwelcome attacks on your system.

One of the most outstanding features in Firefox is its built-in search engine from which you can conveniently search many websites, depending on how you configure it. Yes, there’s more to this search tool than just asking Google. Try clicking on the “G” logo beside the input field and you’ll see quite a complete search engine menu to choose from: Yahoo!, Amazon, Answers… Just select any of them and enter your keywords to search that site right away.

If this list is not enough, you can always add new search engines to it. Click on the logo again and select “Manage Search Engines” from the context menu. Firefox will display a window with all the search engines available in your browser, which you can arrange them in any order you like. Click on the “Get more search engines” option and you’ll be taken to the Mozilla Add-ons site to download new engines. Also, if you happen to visit a website that has developed its own search plug-in for Firefox, the search bar logo will blink and the new search engine will be then automatically added to the list.

But what if your favorite website is not featured in this search engine menu, nor on the Mozilla site? Well, we still have an ace up our sleeve and it’s called OpenSearchFox. This neat extension allows you to create custom search engines from virtually any website, just by right-clicking on its search field and selecting “Add OpenSearch plugin”. You’ll be able to have search engines just about for anything!

If you have trouble getting your kids to learn their geography or you just want to test your knowledge, World of Where may be of interest to you. The program is extremely easy to use. Once you launch it, a world map appears and you can choose which continent you want to be quizzed on. Good to know however, the trial version only lets you navigate to Europe.

There are three types of quizzes: cities, countries and flags. You have no time limit and can skip a question if you don’t know the answer. And if you’re feeling really smart, you can decide to take on the world and have questions coming from any continent. World of Where seems particularly directed for US users as it can also quiz you on American States. Try it out and see how much you know about geography.

To extract and compress your files, 7-Zip is a perfectly viable alternative to the better known WinZip or WinRAR. The application works exactly like its main competitors yet manages to mix in WinZip’s selection of tools with WinRAR’s versatility.

The 7-Zip interface is similar to that of its competitors, with a main file manager and a command line to search and select files to extract or compress. The control panel is comprised of the essential buttons like extract, add and test, but also features copy, move and delete functions to allow you to manage your files. 7-Zip extracts and compresses files as fast as WinZip and WinRAR and handles the main archive formats like ZIP, TAR, RAR and ISO.

Continue reading “7-Zip: a quality file compressor”

These days, travelling for business or pleasure can often mean that you speak English all the way because so many people understand it. However, you’ll often find that making an effort to use the local language, whether to seal the deal or just to order a coffee, can make a big difference in the way people welcome you.

The Concise Oxford English Dictionary from Mobile Systems is a tool that can help you if you’ve already made the effort to learn some Spanish beforehand. It’s not a traveller’s phrase-book but it does contain precise translations for more than 170,000 words and phrases, all in a simple and easy-to-use interface which guarantees instant results.

The way that the dictionary is presented makes it easy to locate the info you’re looking for. Its default start-up screen is a list of the first half-dozen or so words beginning with ‘A’, and a text box which allows you to start searching for words immediately. We weren’t sure about displaying the full list of words as a default view: how many times will you choose to scroll through the full list rather than searching for your term? But as we typed, the dictionary filtered the words on-screen, narrowing down the choices until there were just a handful to pick from. In the end, we felt that this method of displaying information could well serve as a time-saver, and it’s therefore a must-have feature on any business dictionary.
Continue reading “A1 Spanish wherever you go”

When playing multiplayer online games you usually need to communicate with your friends for various different reasons: to design a strategy for your next assault or just to have some fun, relaxing chit-chat while mercilessly killing enemies. Many games feature a chat tool that allows you to exchange messages with other players but typing a sentence while trying to stay alive in the game can be really annoying. The only solution then is using voice communication. It’s easier, faster and far more comfortable than writing messages on a tiny chat window. And one of the best options for voice communications in multiplayer online games is TeamSpeak.
Continue reading “Voice chat made easy for online games”