Reviews

In this article you’ll find brief reviews, screenshots and download locations for 10 different Windows application launchers. If you can’t find one you like in this list, I’ve also included links to 5 6 (thanks Vince!) more at the very bottom.
 

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Since moving back to Canada, I haven’t been able to get my music fix with Pandora (listeners located outside of the U.S. can’t use Pandora). I’ve never been a huge Last.fm fan - the catalog of streamable music doesn’t include a lot of my favorite bands. In general, I’m just not a huge fan of online music services. Until now. Spotify, a lightweight Windows and OS X client, connects you to a vast collection of music. And it works outside of the US. Keep reading for my brief overview. [click to continue...]

The first public beta of 360desktop was made available today. I downloaded it, played around, and uninstalled it. Neat concept, not even close to ready for daily usage.

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Recently a former co-worker of mine contacted me to tell me about his new startup - BackBlaze. I gave the service a try, and I have to admit - this is by far the easiest backup service I’ve ever used. Keep reading for the full review and a link to give the service a try. [click to continue...]

Using the new service Hellotree.com, you can quickly and easily create a family tree. Now I know what some of you might be thinking - booooooring. Well as it happens I agree. But I have to tell you - my mom, grandmother and aunt absolutely love this service. They’ve created a family tree that goes back 7 generations and includes relatives in 8 different countries. And the very best part is that Hellotree is so easy to use, they don’t constantly bother me to “help”. Keep reading for an overview with screenshots etc. Note: this review/overview was not paid for, sponsored or endorsed by Hellotree. I just thought that if my family gets such a kick out of it, yours might too. [click to continue...]

Another possible name for this post could be “SmartToolkit review with a tour of its features and lots of screenshots”, because that’s essentially what it is. Though I’ve only had a Smartphone for about a month and a half now, SmartToolkit is by far the best piece of (free) software I’ve found for Windows Mobile devices.

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John Boxall and Igor Faletski of Handi Mobility (a local British Columbia company) are about to release Live Vote - a free SMS voting system similar to the one used in “American Idol”.

Live Vote was recently demonstrated at DemoCampVancouver, and was well received. I requested a beta invite a couple of days ago and have been playing with the service ever since.

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I’ve been using Joost on and off for about 4 months now. More off than on. It’s not that I didn’t like the app - it was pretty slick and quite solid for an early beta. It’s that there wasn’t a heck of a lot to watch. At some point over the last few weeks, they’ve added a lot of channels/content, and the latest version (beta 1) is even slicker than before.

Note: Invites aren’t required any more - Joost is now open to anyone who wants to sign up. Just head over to joost.com and sign up.

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Delicious Library has been out for a while. I know this. I’ve had their site bookmarked for months, and during my last ‘bookmark cleanup’, I decided it was time to finally time to download and install it. The following article is part tutorial, part overview, and has lots of screenshots. If you’re a serious DVD, book or CD collector, you may want to take it for a spin. [click to continue...]

Mailplane is a stand-alone Gmail client for OS X. Besides including all of the great features of Gmail, Mailplane adds extras such as built-in drag-and-drop attachments, quick import from iPhoto and iTunes, Growl notifications when you get new messages and much more.

Update: All 5 of my invites have been given away. If you’d like to sign up for an invitation to the beta program please visit http://mailplaneapp.com/beta/request_invitation.php. If you’d like an invite to the beta program, leave a comment. I have 5 invites to give away to the first 5 commenters. [click to continue...]

Update: all 3 invites gone. I’ll update again if/when I have more.

I havehad 3 invites to the beta service Jango. My initial thoughts on Jango are very positive. It has the social aspect of Last.FM and the streaming and ’suggest similar artists’ features of Pandora. Big plus - it works in Canada (Pandora does not).

Leave a comment below and I’ll send invites to the first 3 people. Cheers!

If you’re a fan of the ‘Netvibes style” home page, and find yourself spending more and more time on Facebook, 360Gadget might be your new favorite Facebook app. The recently launched 360Gadget allows you to subscribe to RSS feeds, quickly access your POP mail account, search the web, watch YouTube from inside news feeds - all from within one Facebook page.

360Gadget	Add a Feed
With maps and notes	Expanded view

ShellEnhancer is a great little (free) program that significantly improves (if nothing else) the Windows user interface. Continue reading for an overview of some of its features… [click to continue...]

Hi digg visitors. I have recently moved from shared hosting to dedicated hosting, and it would appear that I picked a server that doesn’t have enough memory and a fast enough CPU. I’ll be upgrading later this weekend. Sorry for the inconvience, I assure you this is frustrating me more than you

In October of last year I wrote 15 Windows Explorer alternatives compared and reviewed - which was quite popular. To this day I get people emailing me or leaving comments on the original post suggesting I try out other Windows Explorer/file managers alternatives. So here’s a roundup of 10 other alternatives that have since been suggested to me.

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