Software

One of the great things about "smartphones" is that they are awfully hard to lose. In fact, there are countless apps that will help locate your phone from Timbuktu to Tippecanoe County. (And oh, how many times have I wished I could call my keys or wallet to find them?) However, if your ringer is on mute, finding it when it's wedged down in the couch cushions requires a keen ear for the buzz of vibrate mode.

Or, if you are a rational Android user, you will download and install the free Android app SMSAlarm, which offers … Read more

A couple weeks back I suggested that Kingsoft Office Free 2013 might just be the best Microsoft Office alternative you can get, especially if you need only the core elements: word processing, spreadsheets, and presentations.

Kingsoft offers a Pro version, of course, one that includes more goodies. A one-year license normally sells for $29.95, but today only, Giveaway of the Day has Kingsoft Office Professional 2013 (Win) absolutely free.

Let me note right here that this version has just a few key benefits over its free counterpart: a Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) editor, support for macros in the … Read more

In the movie "Iron Man 3," the titular hero struggles in what appears to be a rinky-dink backwater town to find an Internet connection fast enough and big enough to crunch data to find the terrorist villain. The town looks to be Nowhere, U.S.A., but we're told, it is actually Chattanooga, Tenn.

Known to some as "Gig City," the real Chattanooga would have posed less of a problem for Tony Stark's heroic data-analyzing needs. The modest city of half a million has more than 150,000 homes wired for affordable Gigabit Ethernet. … Read more

Keeping a clean computer is akin to keeping a clean house. It takes a bit of elbow grease and time to tidy up. Having MaxiDisk from Uniblue (developer of PowerSuite) is like having a personal housekeeper for your PC. You may know what needs cleaning but it's always easier to have someone else do it for you. MaxiDisk helps save time by analyzing your hard drive for unnecessary junk files to be deleted, getting rid of outdated backups, and compressing large files to reclaim valuable storage space. If you're worried about what should and shouldn't be discarded, … Read more

TweetDeck, the popular Twitter application for power users, has been updated with a completely new design for Mac users.

Twitter, which owns TweetDeck, revealed the changes on Friday. Version 3.0.2 of the software comes with the same column-based design users are accustomed to, but adds a new sidebar on the left for more quickly navigating across columns. The new version also includes drag-and-drop rearrangement for columns and the ability to translate tweets.

TweetDeck for Mac also includes improved filtering for mentions, retweets, and other features.

The new and improved TweetDeck is available now in Apple's Mac App … Read more

SAN FRANCISCO -- After eight years as director of engineering for iPhone, iPod, and iPad accessories at Apple, Jesse Dorogusker could have gone just about anywhere he wanted for his next gig.

He chose Square, the mobile payments company that, among other things, gives away its signature credit card reader for free.

By Dorogusker's own admission, that's a "terrible hardware business" model. So what inspired someone with a solid gold resume to leave a company that makes billions on hardware for a place that gives away his work for nothing?

For Dorogusker, it was the opportunity … Read more

Recently I splurged on a Samsung Series 9 Ultrabook, which I absolutely love. It's a svelte, speedy marvel of modern computing, and almost certainly my favorite laptop of all time.

Which is why I'm especially fearful of losing it. Laptop thieves are everywhere. If they're not breaking into your car or home, they're snatching and grabbing from offices, coffee shops, airport security lines, and so on.

Arguably the only thing worse than your laptop getting stolen is knowing there's no way to get it back. After all, it's not like it can "phone … Read more

Using a GoPro to capture your first bungee jump, a skydiving experience, or a 5K race is a fun way to document your experience. With the latest of the GoPro line, the Hero 3, there's a free software update that brings the ability to remotely control your camera using the iOS or Android version of the GoPro app.

Get started with the software update by syncing all photos and videos off of your memory card. Or if you're using a memory card you haven't used with your GoPro yet, take a photo with your GoPro to format … Read more

IT spending is likely to be even lower this year than initially expected but should start to revive in 2014, according to JPMorgan Chase.

An new estimate in a report released Thursday by JPMorgan Chase analyst Mark Moskowitz calls for growth in IT spending of just 0.6 percent this year. That's down from the previous forecast of 1.2 percent.

Moskowitz expects businesses to spend less on IT hardware, which accounts for a huge part of the lower estimate. Companies have been shifting more of their cash away from traditional computers toward mobile devices.

Moskowitz now expects spending … Read more