Month: September 2008

One of the most eye-catching features in Apple’s iPhone and iPod Touch is the implementation of Cover Flow, the iTunes file user interface that enables you to browse the music library by simply flipping album covers. It really looks nice both on your computer and your device… that is, provided you have all the covers for your music collection, because as soon as there are some of them missing, Cover Flow suddenly loses all of its attractive.

Luckily for you, finding those lost album covers is quite easy. I’m sure there a few ways to retrieve them, but I’ll explain a couple of tricks I’ve used on my personal music library and have worked fine for me. The first one requires an iTunes Store account, which you can create straight from iTunes. Once you’re logged in, all you have to do is right click on the file you want to search the album cover for and select the Get Album Artwork option. iTunes will find and download the cover for you, as long as the file’s tags are properly filled in. Continue reading “Pimp your music library with fresh album covers”

Windows: so you just got an iPhone and you’re desperately looking for a video? Koyote Free Video Converter is what you need: a free, easy video converter with support for all multimedia portable devices (PSP, Zune, iPod, iPhone…) so that you can enjoy your favorite movies on the go without struggling with a complicated converting tool.

Mac: You may have gotten used to Spotlight and set up your Dock with your favorite apps and folders, but are you still finding it hard to keep your Mac organized? Together quickly and easily stores anything and lets you keep files organized thanks to smart lists, labels, groups and notes. You can drag and drop elements between folders and make use of Spotlight at any time. Use it too much and you might not need the Finder ever again!

Symbian/Java phones: Bored of the same old default ringtones on your mobile phone? Then do something about it by using Create-Ringtone to make your own melodies. The software lets you change any of your WMA, MP3, WAV or Ogg files into a tone for your phone. You can make unlimited ringtones using Create-Ringtone!

School would be pretty impossible without the ability to read, write and speak. So after already regaling you with details about top Maths and Geography software this week, I suddenly realised you may not be have been able to understand what I wrote if, for example, you’re very young or are a non-English speaker. Luckily, I’ve come up with a collection of language apps for all levels to help improve your understanding of words and their meanings.

Primary: The comprehension of a language is always formed at a very early age and primary schoolers must master the basics of reading, speaking and writing before they can go on and do anything else. A good place for a kid to start is Make Me Smart, a PC application that aims to do just that. It features a series of games designed to help little ones put names to the things they see. It boasts more than 400 pictures with pronunciation and labels, interactive typing games, plus 17 animal noises for the slower ones. For those who have already mastered the basics of reading and want to improve their speeds, try AceReader Pro. The application is designed to help you pace your reading to become more efficient.

Secondary: By the time you reach high school you should have pretty much mastered your mother tongue. However, it’s always wise to boost your vocab somewhat so you can construct witty and intelligent retorts to would-be bullies. WordPal is perfect for this, using a series of quizzes to help you learn new words. To achieve knowledge integration, the program uses six different quiz types, which are antonyms, definitions, odd man out, sentence completion, synonyms, and word order. By now, you should be thinking about learning a new language altogether. Amigos Spanish Puzzles and Conjuga are great tools for learning Spanish, while Recite French Words and easy French Dialogs offer a prefect introduction to French.

College: There are plenty of ways you can further your language knowledge after secondary education. Perhaps you want to learn about the history of words, in which case I can recommend Diogenes. This translation assistant allows you to look up words in classical Latin or Greek, providing very detailed answers including meaning, example of usage and other important informative elements that can be very useful when translating classical writers. If you’re studying Chinese at a higher level then check out the H&H English-Chinese Talking Dictionary. On the other hand, if you want to start getting creative with the English language then get hold of Rhymesaurus, which helps you construct poetry by offering a vast database of rhyming words.

After yesterday’s maths lesson, today I thought I’d show you the World. Unfortunately for you, that doesn’t mean I’m taking you on holiday with me, rather I’m going to tell you about a bunch of computer programs that will help you learn about geography. The applications cover aspects of both physical and political geography, and again, I’ve categorised them based on level of education.

Primary – If you’re a six year-old kid you don’t want to start learning about stuff like rock formations or gross national product. No, your journey to geographical enlightenment should begin with a general understanding of how our planet looks. Install World of Where (or get your Mum to do it) on your computer and you’ll be able to play a guessing game that will help you learn the position of cities and countries on the World map. Likewise, Seterra and The National Geographic’s online game, GeoSpy, will help you put names to those blobs you see on the globe.

Secondary – As amazing as it may sound to you youngsters, we didn’t have Google Earth when I was at school, and had to rely on ancient tomes known as Atlases to figure out the lay of the land. Of course, Google’s product is excellent for studying the location of countries, topography and the oceans, and installing it on your home computer will instantly boost your grades. Earth’s Core is a lesser-known geographical application, that lets you find out what’s beneath our feet. It’s a comprehensive encyclopedia and research base offering just about everything there is to know about rocks, minerals and gems in an easy to search format with in depth descriptions and attractive image. If it’s meteorology that floats your boat then have a look at Earth3D. The program lets you view the planet in a real-time 3D perspective, so you can track changes in the weather.

College – Now to those of you who are studying geography at a higher level. By this stage I’m sure you’ve got to the stage where you’re creating maps of your own. If you’re on the look out for a decent tool to do help with this then try MapCreator. It’s a free application that allows you to create high quality physical maps to emphasize natural features of the Earth’s surface, such as mountains, valleys, vegetation, water, etc. QuikGrid is perhaps an even more advanced software, allowing you to render 3D surfaces based on a series of scattered data points, making it perfect for plotting land formations.