tools

Facebook is in flux, or let's say, full epic swing.

On the eve of F8, Facebook's annual developer conference, the world's busiest social network is expected to undergo its most radical change yet.

Facebook, now 7 years old, appears on the verge of becoming a full-on consumer brand powerhouse--where entire industries like publishing, film, and television will live and conduct commerce at an unprecedented rate and scale, industry watchers say. As Facebook grows and evolves, it's also becoming a more complex platform to understand and navigate. That's why Platlas, the world's first social-networking "… Read more

Windows has its own built-in search utility, but people often find that it's not good for more than the most basic searches. Hidden File Tool is a simple utility with which you can search for hidden files as well as a variety of other file types. It's not much to look at, but it does a good job of finding files that might otherwise be inaccessible.

The program's interface is plain and utilitarian, with all of its features displayed on one screen. From drop-down menus you select the drive you want to search and the file type; … Read more

The hassle of rotating, resizing, renaming, and otherwise adjusting digital images before sharing them online is sometimes enough to make us leave our images languishing on our memory cards. Fortunately, there are plenty of free programs that can simplify this process. Digital Image Tool is a sleek application that lets you make basic formatting changes to your images and looks good doing it.

The program's interface is done in attractive shades of gray, with an intuitive and contemporary layout. You can select batches of images to work with, and the program's major features--resize, watermark, tag images, and rename--are … Read more

Apple has reportedly completed a diagnostics solution for iOS that will enable users to send reports to Apple about their device remotely, obtaining useful tips and repair information when needed.

French Web site Hardmac reports that Apple has made the announcement of this new tool internally. According to Hardmac, the iOS device will connect to Apple via a special link (sent over e-mail or entered manually) and served in Mobile Safari as well as a connection to your phone service.

Apple will check your phone's reports and offer a solution based on any software or hardware malfunctions it detects. … Read more

CDs and DVDs can store a lot of data, but over time they have a tendency to get lost or damaged. When either of these tragic events happens the data on the disc becomes unusable or impossible to recover. Follow these steps to create a digital archive of all of your software discs and never have to worry about these issues again.

First you'll need to download and install Daemon Tools. For general use the Lite version will provide all the options you'll need--and it's free! However, there is also a Pro version&… Read more

I get a fair number of promo CDs in the mail, but don't be jealous, most of them are instantly forgettable or just awful, and only a few are worth a second listen. Greg Garing's self-titled CD was an immediate standout, and its rootsy, blues-infected grooves hit me hard. The music has a lot of soul, and sounds like it was made by a group of really talented players who were having a good time together. That happens so rarely nowadays I had to learn about how the record was created.

The Garing CD was produced by Lower East Side Records, … Read more

In this day and age, there is so much talk about the cloud solution and how you can share files in a snap. Well, that's great and all and I'm a huge fan, but what if you don't want to share your files in the cloud? For example, my mom loves to send me photos of her outings with her friends and my adorable nephews and niece--except that she literally sends out 10 e-mails with at least 10 photos attached to them. So, how can I help her help me, so I don't have 100 pictures, … Read more

TransTools, or Translator Tools, adds a useful set of free translation-related utilities to Microsoft Word, Excel, and Visio and Autodesk AutoCAD. It speeds up translations, checks to see that translations are complete, localizes numbers, and performs other useful functions from inside these powerful applications.

TransTools installed itself in our copy of Word by default, but we could check boxes to install it inside Excel, Visio, and AutoCAD. We clicked Add-Ins on Word's toolbar and selected the TransTools menu. From this menu, we could perform a Language Check, including finding and removing highlighted words. We could also replace multiple items … Read more

The browser wars used to be a superpower slugfest, but these days it's more like a free-for-all. Ironically, more browser choices doesn't necessarily mean a lot of different browsers to choose from, due in part to an emerging commonality in design and features. Tabs, integrated address bars, sidebars, extensions, add-ons, and widgets add useful features and let users customize their browsing experience. Element Browser offers most of what the others do, but with some unique features, chief of which is shelves, which are like souped-up tabs that display open content in thumbnails, and the Personal Hub feature that … Read more