quick

Get quick Google Earth access with Quick Earth

Anyone who's ever played around with Google Earth knows exactly how addictive it can be, jumping via satellite from your house to the Grand Canyon to your old elementary school to the pyramids of Giza. Quick Earth is an extension for Google Chrome that puts Google Earth at your fingertips, launching the popular satellite map service within your browser. It's a must-have for geography nerds, travel buffs, and anyone else who enjoys flying around the world from the comfort of home.

Like most Chrome extensions, Quick Earth installs without issues, but it does require the Google Earth plug-in … Read more

Translate on the fly with your voice

SayHi Translate is a surprisingly accurate voice translation app that could be the tool world travelers have been looking for quick translations. Using the app is easy. Simply touch the wrench icon to choose your language, then the language you want something translated to, then return to the main interface. From there you can either touch your language button to speak or touch the smaller keyboard icon to type a sentence and SayHi Translate will translate the sentence and speak it back to you (or whomever your trying to communicate with). It doesn't get everything right, but if you … Read more

Will Apple ever make another camera?

Back before Steve Jobs returned to Apple, the company had strayed a bit from its core products. One of those misfit toys was the QuickTake digital camera.

Released in May 1994 for $749, the first model, the QuickTake 100, was made jointly with Kodak and worked only with Apple computers. The fully automatic digital camera was one of the first available for consumers. It was followed by the QuickTake 150 that added Windows support, and the 200 (made by Fujifilm), which added focus and aperture control as well as removable storage.

The QuickTake was killed in 1997, and while the … Read more

Broken Windows? Click 7 Quick Fix

Lots of free fixes are available for common Windows problems, most of them either built into Windows (but in out-of-the-way corners) or freely available from Microsoft or other developers. We've seen (and used) several freeware collections of these tools, including 7 Quick Fix from leelu soft. It packs 108 different Windows 7 fixes and tweaks, everything from enabling or disabling common features to opening the Registry Editor or Task Manager when your system is under duress. This portable freeware tips the scales at a mere 1.1 MB.

We opened 7 Quick Fix when the installer finished, but a … Read more

How to create a quote bank

Keeping track of the awesome quotes you come across can be a tedious process. You could write them down and try to keep track of where you wrote them; or you could start a Word document dedicated to being a quote bank. While both of these options are possible, they're not as useful as Quick Quote. This open-source app will allow you to input the quotes you love and easily search through them when it's time to use one.

Step 1: Download Quick Quote from Sourceforge and extract the RAR file to a convenient location.

Tip: You can … Read more

Quick Take: Sharp LC-70LE735U

Although CNET did not review the Sharp LC-70LE735U, we did review the Sharp LC-70LE732U.

Comparing the two on Sharp's web site, the major difference is that the 735U is 3D compatible while the 732U is not. The 735U uses active 3D technology and compatible 3D glasses are not included.

In terms of 2D the only picture quality difference is a 240Hz refresh rate o the 735U compared to a 120Hz refresh rate on the 732U. We don't expect this difference to have a major impact (more info).

As far as we can tell there are no other major … Read more

Quick Take: Sharp LC-60LE633U

Although CNET did not review the Sharp LC-60LE633U, we did review the LC-60LE830U.

Comparing the two on Sharp's Web site, the 830U has a slightly higher contrast ratio and Sharp's Quattron technology. In our testing of the 830U, Quattron provided no benefit to color accuracy.

Meanwhile the 633U has a 240Hz refresh rate compared with a 120Hz refresh rate on the 830U.

We doubt any of these differences will have a discernible impact on picture quality (more info). The 832U also has a slightly different design, with squared-off edges and somewhat larger dimensions and weight. It includes a … Read more

Quick Take: Sharp LC-70LE632U

Although CNET did not review the Sharp LC-70LE632U, we did review the LC-70LE732U.

Comparing the two 70-inch full-array LED LCD TVs on Sharp's Web site, the 732U has Sharp's Quattron quad-pixel technology while the 632U does not. In our experience with the 732U Quattron has little effect on picture quality in and of itself because the TV's picture settings allow viewers to prioritize color accuracy by essentially disabling the feature.

With Quattron disabled on the 732U we expect their picture quality to be very similar. Both have identical contrast ratios, LED lighting systems, and 120Hz refresh rates, … Read more

Fixing Quick Look issues in OS X

Apple's Quick Look feature in OS X is a convenient way to preview a document without needing to launch any applications to do so.

Just select a document and press the spacebar, and if the system has a plug-in for handling the document type then the Quick Look server will generate and display the document preview.

Quick Look is intended to be a lightweight option, so the document preview may not be accurately formatted, but it should be enough to show you what the document contains. However, there may be times when this does not work correctly: you might … Read more