buildings

Collages are a fun way to combine multiple images into one, and they have many potential uses, from greeting cards and scrapbooks to social networking profiles. CollageIt enables you to create good-looking collages without a lot of hassle.

The program's interface can be a little confusing at first glance--there are multiple menus and sliders--but if you focus on the Getting Started pane in the middle, you'll be fine. To create a collage, you simply select the images you want to use, adjust the settings, generate a preview, and save the collage when it's done. The program automatically … Read more

We have to admit that we are somewhat impatient by nature, and we absolutely hate photo editing of any sort. It just seems so tedious to us, even when it comes to basic tasks like resizing images. For that reason, we love Prish Image Resizer. Now, instead of opening a separate program, loading our image, and tinkering with the dimensions, we can resize images with a couple of mouse clicks.

The program doesn't have an interface per se; instead, it appears in the context menu whenever you right-click on an image in Windows Explorer. It adds two options to … Read more

Since so many of us spend so much time on our computers now, it makes sense to have a quick and easy way to take notes there, whether we're recording a great idea or just a reminder to buy milk. Efficient Notes Free gives peoplea way to write themselves notes, but it's not as useful as some similar programs we've seen.

The program's interface reminds us very much of Microsoft Outlook. The screen is split horizontally into two panes, with the top pane displaying each note's title and the bottom pane displaying the selected note'… Read more

Apple has released a new version of its operating system, Mac OS X 10.6.5 (Build 10H548), to developers for testing. This version focuses on AirPrint compatibility, 3D graphics, QuickTime, and USB devices.

AirPrint allows iOS devices like iPhones, iPads, and iPod touches to interface with printers connected to Macs and shared on a Wi-Fi network. Developers are asked to focus on connectivity and compatibility of the AirPrint features as well as improvements to Time Machine software.

AppleInsider reports that other improvements expected to be included in Mac OS X 10.6.5 are:

Several printing issues including delays … Read more

One of the tallest buildings in the world, New York's iconic Empire State Building, hopes to once again lead the world by example.

It was announced today that the window phase of the iconic skyscraper's sweeping energy retrofit has been completed.

Does this mean the beloved Art Deco landmark will now be sporting all new windows or a different look? No, not even close.

Instead, 96 percent of the Empire State Building's 6,514 windows, which includes the original frames, and 26,000 panes of glass were reused.

A workshop set up by Serious Materials, a tech … Read more

Microsoft Word's AutoText feature got a serious face-lift with the debut of Building Blocks in Word 2007 and 2010. (The Microsoft Office Support site offers a basic primer on creating and using Word 2003's AutoText feature.)

In a nutshell, you create AutoText entries by selecting the material you want to reuse and clicking Insert > AutoText > New (or simply press Alt-F3). You then enter a name for the entry that's between 4 and 32 characters long and press Enter. This adds the entry to the Normal.dot template and makes it available to all documents. To … Read more

We review a lot of free software, and most of it, though decent, isn't really anything to write home about. But every now and then we come across a program like EfficientPIM Free. Even though the word "free" is in the program's name, we actually had to go back and make sure that the program really didn't cost anything. We found it hard to believe that such a feature-packed program could really be had gratis.

The program's interface is attractive and intuitive, with a variety of color schemes to choose from. EfficientPIM's layout … Read more

It used to be that creating PDFs required a big, expensive program like Adobe Acrobat. Nowadays, PDF creators are a dime a dozen, and they range from the bare bones to the feature-packed. 7-PDF Maker is a simple program that makes quick work of PDF creation, but we can't say that anything about it really sets it apart from the crowd.

The program's interface is quite plain, just a big gray box with tabs for settings and security. Most file conversion programs follow a certain series of steps; typically you choose the file you want to convert, adjust … Read more

Batch File Modifier from PMCC is a handy, free, portable program for Windows that can quickly modify files singly or in batches. It offers a robust delete method and the ability to replace date, time, and other attributes in multiple files as well as compile HTML Help files. It has several useful file-renaming options, too, including the ability to preview and roll back changes.

This compact tool is a standalone C# program; like all the developer's wares, it can be installed on your PC or on a USB drive. It doesn't modify the Registry in any way and … Read more