Archive for: October 2, 2007

Trend Micro Internet Security 2008 combines award winning antivirus security and a personal firewall for comprehensive protection against viruses worms Trojans and hackers It also detects and removes spyware and blocks spam It even guards against identity theft by blocking phishing and pharming attacks Plus Trend Micro protects your wireless network with Wi Fi Intrusion Detection an innovative security feature that alerts you when an intruder uses your Wi Fi connection

Maxthon is a powerful web browser with a highly customizable interface It is based on the Internet Explorer engine which means that what works in IE works the same in Maxthon but with many additional efficient features like Tabbed Browsing Interface Mouse Gestures Super Drag amp Drop Privacy Protection AD Hunter Google Bar Support External Utility Bar and Skinning

When you make a screenshot smaller, the text tends to get lost. And when you resize a portrait, you lose the nuances of the person's face. Rsizr is a new tool that allows you to resize your photos and images without losing the perspective and detail that you want to preserve. It uses a new technique called seam carving to examine the image and then resize it without making it look squished.

Rsizr is available in a number of forms. There's a Flash-based Web application that you can upload a photo to. You can also download a Rsizr plugin for apps like GIMP, or simply grab the source code and generate your own tool that uses seam carving. When I used the Web app, I found it took a little getting used to, but once I got the hang of it, the results were startling. Dragging the sliders around the image to a certain width and height, the app scans the image for points of interest and builds a kind of map of the image as it scans. Once it's finished, you can resize the image within the height and width that you selected and Rsizr will attempt to retain the scale and detail of the images as you change the proportions.

Simply upload your image using the site's upload tool, and let Rsizr scan it to develop its map. After the map has been generated, you'll be presented with lines you can use to drag and resize the image as you like, or you can use the tools in the ...

Google, Zoho, and even Microsoft are all want a slice of the Web-based office app pie. Google and Zoho have solutions available already, and Microsoft is hurrying to make a version of Office 2007 available on the Web, in which docs can be saved and shared with multiple people. Now Adobe is in the game too. The company launched Buzzword, a Flash-based word processor and document sharing service last week, and it looks good.

Adobe didn't engineer Buzzword from the ground up. They purchased a company called Virtual Ubiquity, who developed the product before Adobe came along. Buzzword already uses Adobe's Flex environment, which means that it's completely Flash-based and platform independent. It'll run just as well in IE as it does in Firefox--the same goes for Windows, Linux, and MacOS. I'm still curious as to why Adobe chose to use Flash as the base for its service instead of AIR or another one of its new platforms, but the Flash-based service works well enough and has broad appeal, which may be the reason.

Buzzword has all of the features that you would expect from a word processor. You can play with the fonts and type sizes, tables, and even embed images into documents. Buzzword alone doesn't have any capability for document sharing, which is a drawback compared to other Web-based office solutions, but Adobe will likely open that up shortly.

The interface is sleek and attractive, and keeps all of the most often used tools together in one place. Toolbars for font ...

As a software blog, we always love to see politicians embracing new technologies to help spread their message. Thanks to sites like YouTube and Myspace, candidates in the 2008 presidential race have been able to reach out to voters in ways never before possible. Of course that doesn't mean that every implementation of Web 2.0 technologies is necessarily positive. Surely we all remember that remarkable anti-Hillary up on YouTube that spoofed the classic Apple "1984" ad.

When Mitt Romney's campaign introduced a build-you-own ad contest in Late August, surely nothing could have possibly gone wrong, right? Then again, what if someone like someone like Democratic strategist Bruce Reed decided to enter the contest? Well, you'd probably get something like this. Reed's entry, which was by most accounts a joke (though, judging from some of the comments on the video, not all accounts) made a splash of its own.

At one point, the video in question raked up more hits than all of the legit finalists, combined. TechDirt has a good take on how open source collective project like this tend to go wrong.

As far as multimedia suites go, Adobe's Creative Suite 3 is top dog, the perfect choice for serious professionals. But few of us can shell out $2,400 for creative software like the pros can. For Mac users looking for an easy way to make and share beautiful multimedia, the PC Magazine Software team can give you the full scoop on iLife '08. This updated version offers the quality media editing tools you'd aspect from Apple with a price that won't burn a hole in your wallet.

iLife '08 features five top-notch, yet consumer friendly, apps for only $79. It combines iPhoto, the best program out there for organizing and ordering prints of your photos; iMovie, a basic but almost unbelievably easy video editor; iWeb, a template-based Web design program; iDVD, which turns iPhotos and iMovies into slick, attractive DVDs; and GarageBand, which lets you record podcasts and assemble basic soundtracks from musical loops. Apple stepped up the integration for this multimedia suite, making it easy to manipulate content across the different programs. Learn more about iLife '08 in this in-depth review.

Come check out more reviews from the PC Magazine Software team after the jump.

Adobe Photoshop Elements 6: The photo editor of choice for photo editors who run Windows. It offers comprehensive features that are relatively easy to use.

OpenOffice.org 2.3: This enterprise-level open-source Microsoft Office alternative is powerful and highly compatible with Office-format files (through Office 2003), but it's marred by a dreary and complex interface.

IBM Lotus Symphony: This free productivity application suite is based ...

VMware Server is a robust yet easy to use product for users new to server virtualization technology VMware Server enables companies to partition a physical server into multiple virtual machines and to start experiencing the benefits of virtualization

ACDSee the worlds 1 digital imaging software ACDSee Photo Manager is a comprehensive application ideal for acquiring organizing viewing enhancing and sharing your images With the image browser you can find organize and preview images and media files on your computer and you can efficiently acquire images from digital cameras scanners and other devices A full featured image viewer and media player quickly generates high quality displays of your images and media files You can run slide shows play embedded audio and display multiple page images ACDSee supports over 100 image and multimedia file formats Also ACDSee includes a wide variety of image editing tools you can use to create edit and touch up your digital images
Use tools such as red eye reduction crop sharpen blur and embos to enhance or correct your images Image management tools such as exposure adjustment convert resize rename and rotate can be performed on multiple files at the same time The new user interface is completely customizable and provides quick access to tools and features You can customize the screen layout the order of images toolbar display and many other options to suit your preferences ACDSee Photo Manager is a fast powerful and easy to use image management system that everyone from novices to professionals can use and enjoy

If you want to view organize find and share images quickly ACDSee 10 is the perfect solution Use keywords categories and your own Windows reg filing system to instantly locate the right image Easily correct or improve those less than perfect photos Share your favorites by email on your free online album or as high quality prints

Instant Viewing
With ACDSee you rsquo ll never wait for another image to open Get instant access to your photos with the ...

ACDSee the worlds 1 digital imaging software ACDSee Photo Manager is a comprehensive application ideal for acquiring organizing viewing enhancing and sharing your images With the image browser you can find organize and preview images and media files on your computer and you can efficiently acquire images from digital cameras scanners and other devices A full featured image viewer and media player quickly generates high quality displays of your images and media files You can run slide shows play embedded audio and display multiple page images ACDSee supports over 100 image and multimedia file formats Also ACDSee includes a wide variety of image editing tools you can use to create edit and touch up your digital images
Use tools such as red eye reduction crop sharpen blur and embos to enhance or correct your images Image management tools such as exposure adjustment convert resize rename and rotate can be performed on multiple files at the same time The new user interface is completely customizable and provides quick access to tools and features You can customize the screen layout the order of images toolbar display and many other options to suit your preferences ACDSee Photo Manager is a fast powerful and easy to use image management system that everyone from novices to professionals can use and enjoy

If you want to view organize find and share images quickly ACDSee 10 is the perfect solution Use keywords categories and your own Windows reg filing system to instantly locate the right image Easily correct or improve those less than perfect photos Share your favorites by email on your free online album or as high quality prints

Instant Viewing
With ACDSee you rsquo ll never wait for another image to open Get instant access to your photos with the ...

Serv U is a powerful easy to use award winning FTP server created by Rob Beckers An FTP server uses the FTP protocol to share files across the Internet Serv U is not only 100 compliant with the current FTP standard but also includes numerous features unique to Serv U that make it a perfect file sharing solution for virtually everyone Regardless of the purpose behind your FTP server everyone will benefit from the numerous security features Serv U incorporates

Internet Download Manager IDM is a tool to increase download speeds by up to 500 percent resume and schedule downloads IDM has a smart download logic accelerator that features intelligent dynamic file segmentation and safe multipart downloading technology to accelerate your downloads Simple graphic user interface makes IDM user friendly and easy to use

Are you still using traditional telephone networks to make calls? Well there's a cheaper hi-tech alternative to typical analog telephones you should check out. Using a Voice Over IP(VoIP) service can save you big bucks on local and long-distance calls with terms as low as $16.66 a month for unlimited domestic calling.

You don't have to be an IT expert to hook up your home with internet phone service. All you'll need is a broadband connection (dial-up probably won't cut it) and a special adapter that bridges the gap between your modem and your phone. Vendors usually provide this piece of hardware for a reasonable fee. For a thorough run down of our five favorite VoIP providers check out this roundup from the PC Magazine software team.