1.3

Photo fun

Add word bubbles, word art titles, and clip art graphics to a snap and suddenly your picture is worth a heck of a lot more words than a thousand. PicSay's free, fun app also handles photo-editing basics like color temperature, contrast, and funky effects, though it does lack other tools like cropping and sharpening, which you would expect to be shoo-ins. Sharing your creations through e-mail and social networking sites is a big draw; choosing from multiple picture resolutions makes it practical.

Seesmic tweeting

We have to hand it to Seesmic: its Twitter app for BlackBerry has grown since an unimpressive first attempt that did little more to replicate the product's desktop glory than sketch out a basic Twitter client. Now, Seesmic is filling its app in with some Twitter power features that have become mandatory for serious third-party Twitter apps.

Chief among these is retweeting (two ways) and support for up to 10 Twitter accounts. The app supports your Twitter searches and lists, and hooks into Ping.fm, so you can broadcast your tweet to dozens of social networks. Like Ubertwitter, Seesmic … Read more

Seesmic updates Blackberry, Windows Twitter apps

Seesmic has seen a flurry of development on the Web, desktop, and mobile phones lately. Last week, the third-party developer of Twitter apps released an update to its Web-based Twitter manager that outmaneuvered its downloadable Windows apps.

Seesmic also issued a version bump for its BlackBerry app. The new Seesmic for BlackBerry 1.3 now supports posting messages on up to 10 Twitter accounts versus just one default account. You view only one account at a time, and switch accounts from the bottom of the context menu. It's not a seamless transfer, but it works. Seesmic for BlackBerry also … Read more

Small business helper

Nebula Business Suite provides an impressive collection of tools for operating a small business office. While overwhelming at first, the program's results are worth the effort.

We felt the program's packed interface was its weakest element, though not for lack of direction. The various commands and options took a few minutes to sort out, but with guidance from the Help file we found a wealth of tools for monitoring expenses, creating quotes, writing checks, creating an invoice, and managing inventory. Creating these items was no more difficult than filling out an online order form. The longer we tinkered … Read more

Ad annihilator

Oh, sweet, sweet Adblock. We loved you in Firefox, and Adblock for Chrome is just as wonderful. Who knew that one little browser add-on could make surfing the Internet so much more enjoyable?

Adblock does exactly what its name implies: it blocks ads. Pretty much all of them. Banner ads? Yes. Those crazy annoying Flash ads that seem to be popping up everywhere? You bet. Facebook ads, Google ads, pop-up ads? Check, check, and check. Using the Internet with Adblock is oddly peaceful; all you see is the content you're looking for, and not all the distracting clutter that … Read more

iPhone OS 3.1.3 battery and sync problems reported

Since Apple introduced iPhone OS 3.1.3 last week, we've found a number of complaints about two issues with the firmware update.

Battery life

Although the update was supposed to address issues with iPhone 3GS battery life, it appears to have caused battery problems for some users. According to users on Apple Discussions under the topic iPhone 3GS OS 3.1.3 battery percentage fail?, the iPhone's battery indicator can rapidly swing between 7 and 25 percent before suddenly going back up to 24 percent after the point upgrade.

Some users also complain that battery life is … Read more

Apple releases iPhone OS SDK 3.1.3

Apple has released an update for the iPhone SDK, bringing the current version of the SDK to 3.1.3.

The new SDK 3.1.3 includes Xcode, which is available in versions that are compatible with Leopard and Snow Leopard for iPhone and iPod Touch developers.

The SDK update, according to information we received from a developer, is required if you plan on developing apps for devices running iPhone OS 3.1.3. According to Apple, the corresponding iPhone OS 3.1.3 update contains important bug fixes and security patches.

If you are interested in developing for the … Read more

P2P boost

Recent versions of Windows have greatly improved a download experience that once left much to be desired. However, many of the third-party apps that came about to address deficiencies in Windows are still around in the form of specialized, often free utilities that promise to improve on the specific functionality of certain features. One of these is Goforsharing's Xcelerator 1.3, a free download accelerator patch that offers enhanced downloading algorithms and architecture that improves upon Windows' built-in capabilities. It's based upon peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing network technology. To use Xcelerator, you need a P2P client such as BitTorrent … Read more

Confusing virus reverser

Virus Effect Remover offers the intriguing capability to erase the harmful effects of a virus. While we were excited about this program's possibilities, we were completely turned off by its puzzling layout, which makes it all but impenetrable for most users.

The program's interface equally impressed and baffled us. While it looks very professional, it was so full of options, commands, and visuals that we never felt comfortable or in control with it, even when we were following the Help file's instructions to the letter. This program's main function is not to eliminate viruses from your … Read more

Mediocre movie maker

FoxArc Movie Editor allows users to create video presentations using still images, videos, and audio files. Although the program works, we found it to be somewhat inflexible and not as powerful as we had hoped.

The program's interface is sleek and fairly intuitive; users import the files they want to use, arrange them on the timeline, and then add special effects as desired. However, unlike similar programs we've seen, FoxArc Movie Editor does not support drag-and-drop placement of files. That means that rearranging files on the timeline is a matter of right-clicking them and then moving them one … Read more