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Opera continues updating the "Mini" version of its mobile browser for Android phones with some noticeable tweaks and enhancements.

The Wednesday release of Opera Mini 5.1 for Android brings sundry features such as setting Opera Mini as the default browser, and seeing the entire screen when you switch to full-screen mode.

The best addition is that Opera Mini can save your session within an hour of starting it, if the browser accidentally closes while working in the background. This is a similar provision to the session restore in Opera Mini for the iPhone.

Opera Mini 5.1 … Read more

Personal computers have become mini entertainment centers, useful for listening to CDs, watching DVDs, playing games, and much more. Optical drives can get worn out with a lot of use, though, and CDs and DVDs are subject to wear and tear as well. A disc image is exactly what it sounds like: a virtual copy of a disc's contents that's stored on the computer, eliminating the need for physical media and the use of the optical drive. The average media player, however, can't handle disc images, and that's where Phantom CD comes in.

First, a word … Read more

The detective story is one of literature's most popular and versatile genres, with sleuths ranging from the mild-mannered Miss Marple to hard-boiled private eyes like Sam Spade. Jim Novak, the reluctant hero of the "Hollywood Murders" by Michael Zerbo, is the latter type, a 1950s style gumshoe straight out of Central Casting. The case involves a scandalous murder and the usual array of slinky dames, shady characters, and assorted thugs and snitches typical of film noir mysteries. It features photo-realistic graphics, sound effects, and an Infocom-style parser.

The software aspect of The Hollywood Murders is easy to … Read more

The Galaxy Spica has officially joined a handful of other Google Android handsets on Rogers Wireless. For as low as 79 Canadian dollars ($77) and a three-year commitment, customers can grab the latest Android-powered smartphone from Samsung. Featuring an 800MHz processor, a 3.2-inch 320x480-pixel AMOLED display, a 3.2 megapixel camera, GPS, and Wi-Fi, the Galaxy Spica fits in nicely with other midrange smartphones.

Keeping in line with other Samsung smartphones, the Spica, aka the i5700, offers DivX support for video playback. On the downside, the Spica is light on internal memory, leaving users up to 82MB for loading … Read more

Software maker Nero is known for its media tools. Nero Move It is a multimedia utility that can share, synch, and transfer image, music, and video files between more than 200 mobile devices. It also automatically converts media files into compatible types for each supported device, which greatly simplifies transferring files to several different devices. It works with cell phones, MP3 players, Apple iPhones and iPods, PDAs and Blackberries, digital cameras, and many other gizmos. It's fully optimized for Nvidia GPU video acceleration, which greatly improves performance and reduces the drain on system resources, especially for high-definition content, if … Read more

Computers use checksums to check for data transmission errors; basically, they count the bits in a block of data and compare the number to a previously generated sum. If the two match, all is well; if not, something's gone wrong and it's time to look for data errors. Checksum verifiers are handy utilities that can scan software to verify its integrity. Marxio File Checksum Verifier calculates and verifies the checksums of programs downloaded from the Internet. It's free, compact, and portable, making it especially useful to system administrators and others who manage more than one machine.

This … Read more

AntiVirus Defender scans computers for viruses and unwanted applications. You can choose a fast scan for a quick checkup or a full scan to thoroughly check your computer. AntiVirus Defender will also check your computer's memory for problems, and it can even detect broken executable files.

This program's colorful interface has big, easy-to-read icons. There's a Help button that leads you to the program's Web site where there are step-by-step instructions illustrated with screenshots that should help even the most novice of users. Being able to choose between fast scan and full scan is a common … Read more

YouRecorder provides a simple set of controls for recording all desktop action on a computer. With its incredibly simple controls and impressive results, this is a great tool for documenting your work.

YouRecorder's iPhone-mimicking interface is easy to operate and understand from the start. We never felt lost or confused since its commands are so intuitive. The program provides four distinct functions, all of which operate in basically the same manner. Whether you want to record your entire desktop, part of the screen, a small window, a video game, or a Webcam, the controls are a simple RECORD and … Read more

AsdGraph3D Pro Excel Addin gives you the capability to create three-dimensional graphs with data from Excel spreadsheets. These 3D graphs can also plot ActiveX controls that can be used in programs such as Microsoft Office and Internet Explorer.

The 3D graphs this add-in produces aren't flashy and would be best used for programming purposes rather than for design or illustrations. Graphic design experience left us unimpressed with the look of the graphs that the program produces; however, from a programming perspective, they're quite sufficient. There's a good built-in Help file that explains the program's controls and … Read more