enhance

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- What happened when NYU students discovered they could e-mail 40,000 people at once.

- Trotify kit puts Monty Python horse coconuts on your bike.

- Why is Slate defending your right to name your kid Hashtag?

- Why people spend so many hours stitching footage into YouTube collages.

- Access Main Computer File: Exploring graphical user interfaces in movies.

- Brave Robotics offers 3D-printed 1/12 scale mecha transformer at Maker Faire.… Read more

It's easier than you might guess to customize your PC's icons with IconPackager. As the name suggests, IconPackager packages icons together so you can replace them all at once instead of the usual way, one by one. It's shareware that you can try for free for 30 days. The trial version only comes with a few icon packages, but more are available to registered users.

IconPackager's unique interface combines some of the look of the Appearance and Personalization tool in Windows with browser-like touches such as tabs. IconPackager sorts its main features by function into tabs … Read more

Apple's iTunes software takes a lot of criticism from CNET readers. It's a gigantic memory hog of a program that attempts to do everything from downloading iBooks (e-books) to synchronizing apps with your iPad. For a piece of software named for its music playback capability, that feature seems to be a diminishing part of iTunes' appeal.

But groan all you want, iTunes is still one of the most popular ways to play music on your computer.

If you're one of the millions who get your daily music fix through Apple's ubiquitous software, here are a few … Read more

Windows 7 has quite a few built-in enhancements and tweaks, and it enables still more. Most of these tools are scattered throughout Windows or just aren't convenient to use. We've tried many programs that bundle a variety of Windows 7 tools, tweaks, and cleaners into a "one-stop" solution. SeriousBit's EnhanceMySe7en Free offers most of the features of a premium Pro tool, including Registry and security cleaners, and customizations. It omits the Most Used Tweaks features, context menu integration, and hard-drive monitor. But we were surprised to see that the freeware also omits access to many … Read more

Are you a fan of Facebook? Twitter? Instagram? Shazam? Nike+?

Would you be interested in a service that essentially combines the functionality of all these mobile apps into one sleek and simple-to-use program? Then perhaps you should give Path a try.

After its most recent update (see my colleague, Paul Sloan's take here), Path could become a major player in the social networking game, expanding its existing 2 million user base. All these enhancements take the brain-child of former Facebook platform manager, angel investor Dave Morin, to a whole new level.

The major integration win for Path comes in … Read more

I was talking to a friend and tech enthusiast the other day--let's call him "Chuck"--and he sheepishly admitted that he'd taken the iPad plunge.

I was shocked. Not so much because Chuck had never bought an Apple product before (take note, Android fanboys), but because he'd bought an iPad 2 with the iPad 3 just around the corner (if the rumors are to be believed).

I told him he was crazy. In buying his first Apple product, he'd not only broken the cardinal rule of buying Apple products (don't buy within six … Read more

If you've ever tried to open an unfamiliar file or program in Windows, you've seen the Open With dialog, which lets you open it from a list of available programs or browse to the appropriate application. OpenWith Enhanced replaces the built-in Windows feature with an enhanced dialog that not only lists installed programs but offers recommendations based on other users' experiences with similar files. OpenWith Enhanced downloads the latest metadata from an online database. It not only suggests appropriate programs on your system but also uninstalled ones that can do the job, with download links and even purchase … Read more

Right Click Enhancer Portable combines two of our favorite things: context menu enhancements and portable freeware. This simple tool lets you customize the menus that appear when you right-click things in Windows. It adds a variety of menu items, including cascading menus with as many submenus as you need as well as custom items you create and configure. This version is completely portable, running from a USB drive or other portable media without having to be installed. You don't need to restart the application every time you reboot, though; the changes it makes persist until you change them back.… Read more

By sifting through oil and natural gas drilling data, a Google-funded study found that geothermal power in the U.S. could produce ten times the capacity of coal plants today.

The Geothermal Laboratory at Southern Methodist University yesterday revised estimates for the country's potential to use underground heat to make electricity. Drawing on geological data from some 35,000 sites as deep as 31,000 feet, the study concludes that geothermal could supply a large portion of U.S. electricity needs in the future.

Most geothermal power plants are located in western states where underground temperatures are higher. But … Read more