6.0

If you provide cell phones to your kids, employees, or anyone else you're responsible for, you can understand that it's in your best interest to have a reliable, accessible record of when, where, and how they're used, and, at times, even recordings of calls. Even if you're the only one responsible for your cell phone, you'd probably like a complete accounting and backup of everything on it, in case it's lost, stolen, dropped on concrete, eaten by the dog, or accidentally hurled at the TV screen. HelloSPY can handle that. HelloSPY hides in your … Read more

WizMouse from Antibody Software takes care of an annoying issue in Windows that has only gotten worse as PC screens have grown bigger: the need to click each window before you can use your mouse in it. With WizMouse running, any visible window is active; just mouse over it to activate menus, commands, and links for clicking. Whether windows overlap or are separated by space, WizMouse treats them the same. And not just buttons, either: WizMouse also enables scrolling, even in applications lacking mouse wheel support (though that's an experimental option that can cause "strange behavior" in … Read more

Before Apple made "Find My iPhone" free for all users, there were quite a few security apps on the App Store designed to protect your personal information and make it possible to find your phone if it were ever stolen. Released around the time that that transition was happening, Alarm Lock was designed to provide extra features for any users concerned about the security of their iPhone. Should your device become lost, it is designed to help you find it fast.

While Alarm Lock has far more features than Find My iPhone at first glance, the interface makes … Read more

Editing PDF files by adding or correcting text, signatures, or images requires specialized software. PDFpen for Mac allows users to modify PDFs in a simple but efficient program.

Downloading PDFpen for Mac took much longer than expected on a high-speed connection, but installation completed quickly. The program has extensive instructions and tutorials to walk the user through its functions. This is a welcome addition to such a unique and comprehensive program, and better yet technical support does appear to be available. The program immediately brings up a menu where the user can select PDF files with which to work. A … Read more

In "Monty Python and the Holy Grail," answering three questions correctly got you safely across the Bridge of Death, but a wrong answer meant, well, death. Small business owners can relate. They cross many such chasms with few safe bridges. But when it comes to cutting paychecks, help is as close as Excel with Basics Payroll 2013. This free Excel workbook simplifies the payroll process for small and medium-size businesses. It's compatible with Microsoft Excel 2007 and later; we tried it in Excel version 14 in Office 2010. While Basics Payroll 2013 is free, you must activate … Read more

This app takes your home PC and turns it into personal cloud storage. While this idea may sound interesting, in reality xCloud doesn't offer a real cloud-based service, but rather enables you to connect your mobile device to your PC remotely. This app has many issues that need to be addressed: security is weak and the execution leaves much to be desired.

Downloading the application seems easy enough, but the whole setup takes time. In addition to a mobile client, you must also download a companion server to your PC and register both pieces of software. xCloud requires a … Read more

Text-to-speech (TTS) and voice synthesis technology have come a long way since the days of choppy monotones and "computer speech." Today's TTS tools can be customized in so many ways that they can be hard to distinguish from natural speech in some applications. "Balabolka" means "chatterer" in Russian, and that's where Ilya Morozov's freeware TTS tool takes its name. Balabolka is based on Microsoft's Speech API (SAPI) but with changes designed to improve the clarity and articulation of the artificial speech generated by speech platforms such as the nearly ubiquitous … Read more

With FLV in use as a popular format for streaming videos, not having a player capable of working with these files is problematic for many Mac users. 4Media FLV to MP4 Converter for Mac allows users to convert these files into more common types, albeit with a fairly high price tag for its limited functionality.

We tested the free trial version of 4Media FLV to MP4 Converter; those who want to convert more than three minutes of video will need to pay $29.99. 4Media FLV to MP4 Converter for Mac downloads quickly and installs well. It also has good … Read more

For anyone craving some gory arcade-style action, this app might be a good choice. The overall look and feel of Vikings vs Zombies Free is good and the gameplay is fast and fun. However, you can only play one level with the free version.

A very light and quick download begins the action. Vikings vs Zombies Free loads easily. The level that the free version permits you to play consists of an overhead view of a map and Viking figures you may place. Once the game begins, waves of zombies begin pushing through the map and it is up to … Read more