4.0

WriteMonkey is one of our favorite writing tools. For starters, it's portable freeware. Free is good, and portability adds flexibility: You can take WriteMonkey along with you on a USB drive and run it on any handy Windows machine. Zenware notes that WriteMonkey has "an extremely stripped-down user interface," but that's what sets it apart from other word processors and notekeepers. That "stripped-down," full-screen interface replicates the inspirational purity of a blank piece of paper. But WriteMonkey is also a full-featured writing tool that doesn't cut corners and even packs lots of cool … Read more

Screen AVI CAM takes the humble screenshot to new levels by letting you capture an interactive, on-screen video. It's a little demanding and sometimes glitchy, but users who want to do a step-by-step tutorial will like it a lot.

This program comes with a 30-day trial while the full version costs $29 to unlock. When you're using the trial, it drops a screenshot on the final video. When testing, the program had to run at a reduced resolution and at Windows' basic color scheme. When it didn't, it caused the program to leave weird, white traces along … Read more

Last week Google announced a revamped Gmail experience across both its Web and mobile services. The Web version rolled out later on that same day. We already covered how to activate the new tabs feature, and how to use it once you do, but Android version 4.5 was said to begin rolling out in the coming weeks.

Thanks to Android Police, who happened to grab the Gmail APK, you can download and install the revamped version of Gmail for your Android device right now.

You'll need to download the APK from one of the mirrors on the Android … Read more

SugarSync attempts to do what other services before it have done well--provide an extended storage solution for the iOS platform. However, due to limited upgrade options, it will only work for a certain group of people. While the focus on video and image backup is good on a device with a camera and far too little built-in storage, it doesn't offer more than its competitors to truly stand out.

SugarSync is very much like other cloud storage tools like Dropbox and Box.net. Sign up for a free account and you receive 5GB of storage that you can use … Read more

SketchUp Light combines multiple filters designed to turn your existing photos into hand-drawn variants on your iOS device; but because of slow load times and at times frustrating feature layouts, the app never delivers fully on its promise.

The opening screen for SketchUp is actually very attractive. It shows what pencil sketching can look like, though it may be misleading in that it is almost certainly a unique sketch, not a converted photo from the app. After you open an image and start converting it, the app's issues start to surface. While there are numerous sketch filters, from hand … Read more

Sweet Home 3D Portable is a free interior design tool from eTeks that lets you make as many changes as you want to your home before so much as moving a chair--and not just furniture placement but the stuff you really, truly don't want to do over, like painting the kitchen. Sweet Home 3D Portable is just like the regular version of Sweet Home 3D, only it's fully portable so it runs without having to be installed in Windows. Recent updates include custom furniture materials, new wall textures, and improved photo angles.

The program's main display is … Read more

ResizeIt for Mac successfully modifies large numbers of photos with different sizes and formats. The interface is rather dated but the program performs all of its functions well.

As people take more digital photos, the differing sizes and perspectives make organizing them into albums difficult. ResizeIt for Mac permits users to change these images so that they match in size. The program's menu was dated and had no graphics or animations for easier identification of functions, but the readme file offered some basic instructions. With just a drag and drop, files can be imported into the program. Options exist … Read more

There's busy, and then there's Super Mom (or Dad) busy, which brings us to Cozi's free Android app. Cozi's motto is "Family life. Simplified." Cozi lets you share common messages, calendars, shopping lists, and anything else you need to keep your family organized and informed. And where better to do it from than your smartphone? Cozi's app is free but ad-supported, which means ever-changing banner ads. But some of the ads we saw offered coupons and discounts on products that actually might be of interest to the resident decision maker, so maybe it'… Read more

Need to develop LaTex documents? TeXMaker for Mac combines a lot of features and tools in just one easy-to-use application. The app is well designed and offers many built-in shortcuts that you can use to improve your productivity.

The app comes in a 40 MB zip file and could take a bit longer to download. Once unzipped, TeXMaker for Mac weighs around 115MB. This app was made specifically for developing documents with LaTeX and would be a welcome tool for any LaTex developer. It comes with a lot of useful features such as spell checking, a unicode editor, an integrated … Read more