General

Need a way to organize your photo library? Even better, do you need tools for tweaking your photos, tools that go beyond what the typical entry-level image editor (I'm looking at you, Picasa) has to offer?

Through tomorrow, our very own CNET is offering Cyberlink PhotoDirector 3 (Windows) absolutely free. It normally sells for $149.95.

That's a mighty big freebie, so you're no doubt wondering what the catch is. No catch! You'll need to supply your e-mail address so you can receive your license key, and then you'll need to enter that license key … Read more

Most of the software bundles I see these days fall into one of two categories: games or Mac apps.

Finally, some Windows love! PCBundler is offering seven Windows tools and utilities for $25. Combined value if purchased separately: $228.

Sounds good, but is there anything here you'd actually want? I'm not going to break down the entire list, which you can review for yourself, but I will hit the highlights:

DVD Ranger This is arguably the star of the bundle, a versatile DVD/Blu-ray-copying, ripping, and authoring tool. You can do everything from converting a Blu-ray movie to … Read more

First it was an unusually cheap deal on MacBook Airs (since expired, alas). Now there's a solid savings to be had on the new iPod Touch.

And I mean new, not refurbished. For a limited time, you can get the 5th-gen iPod Touch (32GB) for $249 shipped. Just click on over to your local ShopRite.

Wait, what? ShopRite? The East Coast grocery-store chain? Oooookay.

I have no idea why ShopRite has the single best price on iPod Touches anywhere on the planet, but I'm not complaining. And I don't think it's a price mistake, as this … Read more

I don't know about you, but I never seem to have enough HDMI cables. Maybe Obviously it's because I live in a gear-heavy household (Roku boxes everywhere!), so I'm always looking to pad my supply.

Today's deal ought to last me awhile. Today only, and while supplies last, 1SaleADay has a six-pack of 10-foot gold-tip HDMI cables for $12.99 shipped. That works out to about $2.16 per cable, which is less than what you'd typically pay for a single 6-footer.

By now I suspect that most people (or at least most CNET readers) … Read more

What's the best way to draw people to a new Web site? Give them something for free.

What's the best way to tick them off? Run a server that can't handle the load.

Deal Fisher is in the process of learning both these lessons. The just-launched deal wrangler is offering a free "feather" stylus for touch-screen devices, a $9.99 value. They'll even cover the shipping; all you have to do is register on the site and like Deal Fisher on Facebook.

A couple of problems, though. First, there appears to be no direct … Read more

You've got your eye on a solid-state hard drive. Or a MacBook Air. Or one of those cool Star Wars Force FX Lightsabers. Just one problem: you haven't saved up quite enough cash.

Sure, you can keep checking to see if the price has dropped, but that's a time-consuming hassle. What you need is a tool that will notify you when an item goes on sale.

Wishful thinking? Not if you sign up for WishPlz, a free service that tracks your favorite items and tells you when their prices drop.

WishPlz works a bit differently than other … Read more

Talk about an inconvenient truth: right around the 12-month mark, your iPhone battery will start to wear out. You'll notice that it doesn't last quite so long between charges, a problem that just gets worse as more time passes. By 18 months or two years, you'll be lucky to get half a day of run time.

Apple famously (make that infamously) engineers iPhones without a battery door, so you can't just swap in a new power pack. However, you can indeed replace your iPhone's battery, and it's cheaper and easier than you might think.… Read more

For the past several nights, my son and I have been battling orcs, wizards, wargs, and cave trolls -- and having a blast doing it.

Want to get in on that action? Ending today, Steam has LEGO Lord of the Rings (PC) for $14.99. That's half the regular price, and way less than half what I paid for the Xbox version just last month (grumble, grumble).

The LEGO games are all kinds of awesome. They're fun, funny, and challenging, with at least as many puzzles to solve as foes to dispatch. And there's not a trace … Read more

In a recent column, PC World editor Jon Phillips tackled this provocative topic: "Why PC users hate Microsoft."

Noting that few users would admit to anything like fondness for the company, Phillips suggests that because we're effectively stuck with Windows when we buy a new PC, Microsoft is the obvious scapegoat when things go wrong. "When Windows fails [users]," he writes, "they elevate Microsoft to boogeyman status: a craven, profit-hungry monopoly that runs an unreliable service."

True, but I think there's more to it than that. Much, much more. I say this … Read more