2.1

Media player mate

Leawo Free DVD to MP4 Converter converts DVDs and MP4 files for playback on portable media players or your computer. It also converts DVD files to MP3, WAV, and M4A files. You can save files in the AVI, MP4, MPEG-4, or MOV-Quick Time format.

Leawo's interface is well designed and easy to use. You can adjust settings such as audio and video quality. It's handy to have the high-quality options for playback on portable devices or TV monitors and low-quality choices for online playback and low-bandwidth uses. This program's standout feature is its customizable options. For example, … Read more

Android 2.1 coming to Sprint HTC Hero, Samsung Moment

On Thursday, Sprint revised a tweet it sent out last week regarding an Android update for the Samsung Moment and HTC Hero. Both smartphones won't be getting an Android 2.0 update; instead, they will get Android 2.1. (Pause for applause.)

The carrier made the announcement via its Twitter account, but unfortunately didn't provide any more specific details as to when the updates might be rolled out other than it would be sometime in the first half of 2010.

Currently, only the Nexus One is running Android 2.1. While features of this version of the operating … Read more

Photogene for iPhone: Pros and cons (video)

We've long been fans of Photogene, a $2.99 image editor for iPhone and iPod Touch that faces heavy rivalry from apps like the free Photoshop Mobile for iPhone. We figured it's time to take a closer look.

While Photogene offers a lot to like, there's still room for improvement. We outline the pros and cons in this First Look video.

Mediocre organizer

Dolphinity Organiser is a sleek program for organizing both personal and business projects. It's not particularly intuitive, especially if you haven't already used similar programs, but it functions well enough as a basic organizer.

The program's interface is quite attractive and is reminiscent of Microsoft Office 2007 products. While Dolphinity Organiser is fairly easy to navigate, it wasn't immediately obvious what the program did. Terms like "group," "todo," and "task" seem simple on the surface but are actually somewhat vague. It turns out that users create groups and subgroups; for … Read more

Password keeper

Password managers on the iPhone don't work as seamlessly as they do on the desktop, but 1Password Pro gets close. The all-in-one data store contains two security levels and an option to keep passwords hidden from sight even when you're viewing the record on the iPhone. We like that option a whole heck of a lot more than we do opening the record and seeing our passwords staring back. Call us paranoid.

The app stores both log-ins and individual passwords, which you can use to surf to a site from within the application's built-in browser. Browsing this … Read more

Toolbox for simplifying Boolean equations

Tutors and students for logic and computer programming will find this application for minimizing, simplifying and reducing Boolean equations and digital logic circuits a handy box of tools for increasing understanding.

Simple Solver launches a rather plain but functional interface. The large, mostly empty window includes a selection of buttons and check boxes accompanying two medium-size panes or sections, depending on the process being performed. The two panes or sections serve as an editor for inputting equations or criteria and for displaying output from the processes performed on the specified equations. The lack of clutter on the interface provides clarity … Read more

21st century filing cabinet

"If anything happens to us, everything you need is in the filing cabinet in the basement," our parents would always remind us before leaving on a trip. MyInfosafe is the 21st century version of that filing cabinet, a repository for all your most important--and sensitive--personal information.

The program's interface is sleek and fairly intuitive, and we found it very easy to use. We were also impressed with its many features. Sure, it can keep track of important documents like wills and powers of attorney (even allowing you to attach scanned copies of them), but the program also … Read more

Simple poker game

Poker Mania offers a single game of draw poker, but leaves a lot to be desired. While it was easy to pick up, we quickly grew bored with the program's lack of variety.

Even though we are not regular poker players, we felt instantly at home with this simple interface. The program's onscreen instructions were great and the Help file's list of winning hands clarified a lot. Poker has countless variations and we were expecting to find at least a few to choose from. Instead, we were quickly disappointed to find that the program only consisted of … Read more

Challenging numbers puzzle

JsiSudoku offers challenges for sudoku players of all skill levels. Simple gameplay and even simpler graphics equate to a challenging experience you could spend hours on.

The game's intuitive interface and gameplay was easy for us to learn, though we did need to visit the Help file's instructions to clarify a few of the rules of sudoku. This was the program's first correct step, since we've often tested games without directions on how to actually play. The program functioned just like the paper version of this game, where we had to input numbers into a grid … Read more