2.8

If you've always dreamed of living in a tropical paradise, Tap Paradise Cove can make your dreams a virtual reality. The downside is that you may have to wait to wait longer to reach paradise unless you spend some cash.

Tap Paradise Cove is a city-building game set in the tropics. The interface is well-designed and draws you in from the beginning. There are plenty of areas to explore and new places to conquer as you begin life on an overgrown island and try to start a civilization of your own. If you love to explore, conquer, and build, … Read more

MP3 Free Downloader is a program for safely finding songs online and downloading them for free so you can enjoy them any time offline.

The general layout and design of this program is sleek and easy to navigate. We had a major issue with the performance of the program, however. While it easily found song results in a matter of seconds, when trying to listen to or download a song, it simply did not work. This might have been because we tried the free version; allegedly, the paid version of the program is faster. That should have meant that some … Read more

Lots of things can scramble your PC's Internet settings -- even good things like removing viruses, updating software, or simply surfing online. Datum's Complete Internet Repair is a free tool that can reset or repair your Internet Protocol, Winsock, and other crucial settings that hook you up to the wider world. Complete Internet Repair is portable freeware, so grab it now and keep it on your USB drive or hard drive. It's easy to use, but you have to have it to use it, so we're telling you about it now since you can't download … Read more

GIMP is a well-known open-source image editor that is renown for its powerful features. GIMP Portable is a version of this program that can be taken on the go via installation on removable devices. Although for serious users GIMP likely will not knock Photoshop off the throne, but it's still a great option for anyone who's looking for a freeware alternative that offers a full complement of photo-editing tools.

GIMP Portable's interface will be familiar to anyone who's used Photoshop or similar image-editing programs; the image is placed in the center, with a toolbar down the … Read more

Lensmaker Tamron announced a new 24-70mm F2.8 zoom lens today, beating Nikon and Canon with a model that brings image stabilization to this premium lens category.

The SP 24-70mm F/2.8 Di VC USD lens includes Tamron's vibration compensation technology, which can counteract camera shake to stabilize photos. It's a feature that Canon and Nikon haven't added to their 24-70mm F2.8 lenses.

Such lenses don't have a huge zoom range, but they're popular among photo pros and enthusiasts, in particular because their wide aperture is good for low-light shooting with smoothly blurred … Read more

We approach most digital photo software with a healthy dose of skepticism, because many of these programs end up being more trouble than they're worth, with confusing interfaces and mediocre results. We're pleased to announce that that is not the case with HTTPhotos. This is one of the easiest ways we've come across to create attractive, professional-looking slideshows, and users can host their slideshows--of up to 100 images--on the Internet for free. What's not to love?

HTTPhotos has a sleek and intuitive interface, with each step in the slideshow process arranged in tabs. In the first … Read more

Few things worry parents like the Internet. Kids need it for their studies (sometimes it's required) yet it often seems like they're walking to the library through the red-light district. Software programs promise to protect children from online predators, scam artists, and "adult" sites, but they're often too complicated to be effective and end up failing both to protect kids and to allow adults normal, unrestricted access. BlockSmart may be the answer to many parents' pleas. This free tool uses online resources to help parents block broad categories of sites such as gambling and pornography. … Read more

Text editors are, by design, lacking in features; they're meant to be lightweight programs that are used to handle text that doesn't require much formatting or other fanciness. Dolphin Text Editor Menu is an innovative utility that adds some useful features not only to traditional text editors but also word processors, browsers, e-mail clients, and any other program that handles text. It's unobtrusive and extremely handy to have around.

The program appears as an icon in the system tray, and right clicking it lets users access the options menu. The only real option the program has is … Read more

Over time, the Windows Registry becomes a tangled jungle as programs are installed and removed and the debris of daily computing piles up. A good registry cleaner can scan your registry for invalid, orphaned, and corrupted entries and take out the trash, which typically makes your PC run a bit faster, more smoothly, and more safely. Registry Cleaner Free promises to analyze, clean, and optimize your registry. However, we found that the "free" part only goes so far.

Registry Cleaner Free has the stylish dark background, white fonts, and large, sleek, 3D buttons typical of the breed. The … Read more