quick

We like the idea of QWave in theory; it's an extremely lightweight media player that lets users instantly play audio files instead of waiting for a program like Windows Media Player or iTunes to load. Unfortunately, the program's lack of documentation and virtually nonexistent interface make it confusing to use.

We installed the program and then attempted to launch it. This produced a dialogue that asked if we wanted to "Add QPlay to menu." We weren't sure exactly what menu it meant, but we clicked yes. Because the publisher's description mentions an icon in … Read more

Apple makes extracting your music from your iPod unnecessarily difficult, which is where SharePod comes in. This fast freeware tool efficiently transfers your music collection to your hard drive, making it easy to back up or restore your music, videos, and photos. It also transfers playlists, album art, and ratings, both to your hard drive and directly into iTunes.

SharePod comes with features that many competitors lack. Not only can you transfer your files, you can also perform some basic editing. You can use it to delete art, playlists, music, and videos from your iPod, edit tags, and you can … Read more

Some people are calling the new tweaks to AT&T and Verizon Wireless' pricing plans the start of a mobile price war, but for many wireless consumers, they'll actually be paying more each month.

The companies each revised pricing late last week in separate announcements. The price cuts follow new aggressive pricing from Sprint Nextel, which last year introduced plans that allow customers to call any cell phone in the U.S. for free.

AT&T's and Verizon's new plans were supposed to simplify pricing for consumers. But the fact is that the new plans … Read more

A vast improvement on its BlackBerry predecessor, Google Mobile App is primarily a search app that also serves as a portal to other Google Web apps. It's anchored by a search bar, with a string of icons marching along the top. Click one to download or launch native Google apps like Gmail and maps, or to jump to mobile Web sites for the panoply of Google apps.

Warmly welcomed are autocomplete search suggestions, the capability to scroll through search history, and the capability to edit a misspelled search term and begin a new search. A My Location feature that … Read more

Was 2009 the year of the smartphone? Or will it be 2010? Either way, a new Forrester report confirmed a surge in smartphone ownership last year and expects more growth and more competition this year.

Around 17 percent of mobile phone subscribers now own smartphones, up from 11 percent at the end of 2008 and 7 percent at the end of 2007. Those numbers are even more impressive than they sound, Forrester said Monday, because new technologies typically enjoy a growth spurt in their first year and then trail off in subsequent years. Smartphones are doing the reverse.

In 2009, … Read more

If you've got a third-party file manager, you can go through menu screens to uninstall an app. But you could also open up the Android Market to achieve the same banishing results. Quick Uninstaller is a much more direct route. The free, ad-supported app replicates your program window to show you your app icons. You can also view in List form instead. Menu options let you sort by name, date, and size to help you more quickly zero in on your prey. Then, simply tap one of the app icons to select it, and tap again to uninstall. The … Read more

Increasingly, iPhone users have replaced their point-and-shoot cameras with the iPhones' built-in shooter. If you find yourself frequently reaching for your iPhone to capture a fleeting moment, you may want to reassign your buttons to make launching the camera faster. Here's how:

1. Launch the Settings app on your iPhone by tapping its icon. 2. Tap General. 3. Tap Home. 4. Tap Camera. 5. Turn Off iPod Controls.

Note: Step 5 prevents the display of iPod controls while music plays when you double-tap the home button.

Now, when you double-tap the Home button, you will go straight to the … Read more

Update (2x): VideoLAN has issued some clarification on this development (read below)

VideoLAN Client, or VLC, has been a popular media player for OS X that has developed and progressed over the years. It has been a great alternative to QuickTime because of its support for a vast array of codecs and robust capability to play even corrupt videos. If a file has been damaged or improperly encoded, when QuickTime displays errors and does not play the file, VLC may be able to work. Unfortunately, at this point because of the lack of Mac developers helping the project, support for OS X is nearly dead.… Read more

Google introduced two search features Friday that focus on delivering search results without having to visit the search results page.

Universal search features such as weather, time, and flight-tracking information can now be found in the Google Suggest drop-down list of possible results for relevant queries, such as "weather San Francisco." In addition, Google has released an extension for its Chrome browser called Quick Scroll that is essentially Google's take on the Control-F (or Command-F for you other folks) basic search function.

Google has offered image-based answers to simple questions such as "What time is it … Read more