Software
Opera Mobile 9.5 Beta - Free!
August 10, 2008
Opera recently released a new beta of their mobile phone internet browser called Opera Mobile 9.5 replacing their current Opera Mini browser which costs around £15.
I’ve had a HTC Tytn II Windows Mobile based smartphone for around 3 months now and I find it’s really useful being able to install free applications such as Google Maps and Google Mail which work great. However, my Internet browsing has been severely limited, mainly due to the poor performance of Internet Explorer Mobile which has real difficultly in displaying most of the websites that I visit on daily basis.
Couple this with all the media coverage surrounding the browsing abilities of the iPhone 3G and you can start to feel like you’re missing out, especially when you’ve got a data plan not being used that’s burning a hole in your pocket so to speak!
Continue reading »Dell Dock
July 9, 2008
The Dell Dock is a new piece of software that is being installed on new Dell computer systems which provides a customisable navigational ‘shortcut bar’ to help tidy up your desktop and speed up your day-to-day tasks by making it easier to get to where you need to go on your Dell computer.
I had a bit of a play with the Dell Dock when I was at the Dell Studio Laptop launch a couple of weeks ago at a Silverstone Formula 1 testing day. I must say that it seemed very similar to the other ‘dock’ software that you can download and install yourself, not that it’s a bad thing if something works well.
Dell are obviously trying to enhance their customers’ experience of using their newly launched Dell Studio 15 and 17 ranges of laptops with this new feature which will likely be implemented onto other Dell models soon as well. Click the image below to see a more detailed view of the Dell Dock in action.
Continue reading »Sandisk Cruzer Titanium Review
July 3, 2008
It took me a while to decide upon getting a Sandisk Cruzer Titanium 4GB USB memory stick after my previous Corsair Voyager died on me after around 3 years of loyal service. This was mainly because there are so many USB memory stick out there to choose from, it took a while research what exactly was worth spending you money on, but I believe I’ve managed to find one!
It’s encased in a very solid-feeling titanium casing which not only seems robust, but also looks rather smart too. I found the rather innovative sliding mechanism of the actual USB interface to be a really good feature because it means you’re not going to (inevitably) lose the cap as with many other standard USB memory sticks. However, I don’t know about you, but give me something like this and I will tend to fidget with it all day - which I often do if it’s sat on my desk and not plugged into the computer! 
Google Maps for Blackberry / Mobile Phone
June 10, 2008
I recently installed the latest version of the Google Maps download for a mobile phone / Blackberry onto my new HTC Tytn II Windows Mobile handset and have been further impressed by how well this free piece of software works and how useful it actually can be.
I previously had an Orange E650 (a branded HTC S710 Vox handset) which ran Windows Mobile 6 and as such I installed Google Maps on that, however I must admit that I never really used it due to a combination of slow data speeds (it wasn’t a 3G device) and the fact that the data usage charges on my tariff were quite expensive.
Continue reading »PDF Creator Free
May 15, 2007
I think you’ll find that PDF Creator free very useful, I’ve found in the past that you end up doing quite a bit of unnecessary printing whilst browsing online whether it’s taking a copy of invoices or order confirmation screens or just temporary pages to work from, I kind of started feeling a bit guilty about this, just because of the waste factor of it all.
I then came across this rather useful alternative, it’s called PDF Creator free and all you need to do is download and install the file found at the link below and will then appear in your Windows list of printers.
Continue reading »PC Wizard 2007
May 3, 2007
PC Wizard 2007 is a system information program that I’ve just seen a really useful post about over at Brown Thoughts. PC Wizard 2007 is a piece of software I’ve not come across until now, however, I’ve now had a play around with it and seen that it’s a very useful piece of software for finding out detailed information about your computer system, it can even give you your serial numbers etc.
You’ve always been able to find out quite a bit of information if you go to Control Panel -> System -> Hardware -> Device Manager. Unfortunately it isn’t always as detailed as you may require.
Continue reading »Playstation 3 Doubles Folding@Home Output!
April 26, 2007
I recently wrote about how you could put your spare computer time to good use by taking part in the Folding@Home project and that Playstation 3 owners could now harness the idle computing power of their new “beast” of a console by running Folding@Home software.
PS3s may not be selling as well as expected, but many of those PS3’s sold have now joined in this project, GameDailyBiz have reported that
Improve Firefox Performance
April 17, 2007
I recently wrote about poor, sluggish performance from Firefox (which is a great program by the way, especially given it’s free) that was causing me problems with my computer as a whole. If you haven’t already got it, then I suggest you download and try it today!
That may sound odd, but like I said, it is one of the best examples of freeware programs available today, however it can become rather cumbersome (in a sense mainly as a result of how good it is, due to it’s flexibility) and slow in operation if you don’t keep things in check. Problems may occur from doing things such as having lots of tabs open at once (I often find myself around the 50-80 tabs level!) or by installing lots of extensions which may become redundant over time, but still use up vital memory.
Filehippo Updater
April 6, 2007
The software download site filehippo.com has released a small program called Filehippo Updater which is a standalone .exe file and as such requires no installation and as such could be kept on a memory stick.
When you run the Filehippo Updater file, it then scans your computer for installed programs and brings up a webpage telling you if there are newer versions available, then all you have to do is click on the displayed ‘green arrow’ link and it will download the update program install file for you to then update your software with.
Continue reading »Sluggish Firefox
March 27, 2007
One of the best things about Firefox in my opinion is all the different “extensions” you can install into it to add additional functionality. However, over the past month or so I’ve been experiencing a very frustrating time using Firefox - the whole program seemed to be running on a general go-slow.
I’d have problems with just simple things like typing something and then waiting a few seconds for it to catch up with me. Add into that, regular freezing and very slow scrolling through my tabs, it’s really been annoying the hell out of me.
I’d reduced some of the large number of extensions I had installed, but to no avail. I’d been looking at potential background processes which could be sucking up resources and choosing to un-install some, however this didn’t resolve matters neither.
Continue reading »
