Applications

Subtitle Editor: Handy for Captioning but Lacking Instructions
January 02, 2013

Subtitle Editor is a capable video editing tool kit to transform, edit, correct, create or refine existing subtitles on GNU/Linux/*BSD. Based on GTK+2, It also shows sound waves, which makes it easier to synchronize subtitles to voices. You will not find too many capable applications in Linux that specialize in adding or editing subtitles.

Frequency Tunes Out the Noise When Tuning In to Videos
December 27, 2012

One of the most irritating things about enjoying videos, movies and TV shows online is the sheer number of places you must navigate to in order to get the content. Each of the major television networks has its own channel, some of which serve up some full episodes some of the time, while others just serve up teaser clips and ongoing snippets, like the opening monologues for "The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson."

Listen: A Great Audio Manager - If You Can Install It
December 19, 2012

Unless you are an atypical Linux user, you tend to accept the default apps featured in your distro of choice. After all, if what you use works just fine, why scavenge around for a replacement? If saying yes to that question means you miss out on adding the Listen audio player to your desktop tools, you might change your answer after trying it.

Raspberry Pi Launches App Store to Sweeten Its Ecosystem
December 18, 2012

The Raspberry Pi project launched an app store Monday to support its eponymous $35 Linux PC, which hit the market in February. The store will carry both free and paid apps. Its launch has stirred mixed reactions among Raspberry Pi enthusiasts, with some criticizing plans to offer paid apps and others defending the move.

Evernote 5.0 Combines Smoother Navigation With Dashing Looks
December 11, 2012

Evernote is the perfect program for a paranoiac like me. As the owner of a desktop computer in its golden years, I never know if its next reboot will be its last. With Evernote, I have some insurance in the cloud that I'll be able to continue working should disaster strike.

Is Something Rotten in the State of Freiburg?
December 10, 2012

You win some, you lose some," as the old saying goes, but rarely do the two occur nearly simultaneously. Sure enough, however, that's just what happened to open source software in Germany recently: It was being celebrated in Munich even as it was dumped in Freiburg.

User Photos Are Collateral Damage in Instagram-Twitter Fight
December 05, 2012

Instagram has changed the way photographs on its site display in tweets, the latest salvo in its ongoing feud with Twitter. Instagram photos viewed on Twitter appear cropped or otherwise changed because Instagram has disabled its integration with Twitter Cards, Twitter said. Trouble between the two has built following the purchase of Instagram by Facebook in April.

MyNotex Would Be Perfect With Cloud Sync
December 05, 2012

MyNotex is a handy note-taking app that helps you rat-pack all of your scraps of information and images into a searchable database. It is easy to use and takes almost no time to learn. MyNotex is a bit different from traditional tree-form note-taking systems. It handles more than plain text notations, but it is an old-school technology that is easily replaced with mobile apps and cloud-based note-keeping systems.

MonoPhix Creates Monochrome Effects on the Cheap
December 04, 2012

For many digital shutterbugs, the simple black-and-white filter included with most cameras these days meets their needs for dabbling with monochrome photography. For those who find that a tepid option, there are always the more sophisticated offerings found in high-end post-capture programs like Photoshop and Aperture. MonoPhix offers an alternative to those extremes, though.

The End of the Printing Press?
November 28, 2012

Electronic communications are reshaping personal life, and may right now be causing the rapid demise of print. Media academics know well the theories of Marshall McLuhan. He came up with the phrase "the medium is the message," and the term "global village," among other juicy contributions to our comprehension of media.

FocusWriter Rich in Features, Poor in Some Important Ones
November 28, 2012

FocusWriter uses an intriguing concept that makes you wonder why other word-processing tools do not offer the same hide-away tool panels to eliminate distractions. It offers a set of writing tools with the ease and speed of unencumbered text editors. Focuswriter is a full-screen writing program. It has no option to resize or minimize.

Google Play Takes Away Reviewers' Mask of Anonymity
November 27, 2012

Those who want to post reviews on Google Play will be required to use a Google+ account, the parent company of both announced on Tuesday. The new rules will be implemented with the latest version of Google Play, which the company is now introducing for Android devices. They have already been implemented in the online store.

Firefox 17 Gets Friendly With Facebook, Wary of iFrames
November 21, 2012

Mozilla has made its Web browser more social -- and more secure -- with the release of Firefox 17. The latest version of the foundation's popular browser includes a plug-in that displays notifications and instant messages from Facebook in a sidebar. The plug-in is the first implementation of the Social API introduced by Mozilla in July.

KMyMoney Is as Simple to Use as Quicken
November 21, 2012

KMyMoney is a comprehensive finance-tracking application that does not require an accounting degree to use effectively. Linux provides several hearty checkbook and banking programs. Among the more well-known are GNUCash, Grisbi, Skrooge and MoneyDance. Each of these contenders for your attention have their own unique look and feel.

All Things Appy: Top 5 Chrome Office Productivity Tools
November 14, 2012

If you haven't already, dump archaic email for projects. It doesn't work. The idea of having a stream of emails gathered chronologically -- and stuffed with uncollaborative attachments rather than fluid conversations organized by project -- is asking for confusion and delays.

Microsoft to Kill the Messenger, Supplant It With Skype
November 07, 2012

Microsoft will phase out Windows Live Messenger, its consumer instant messaging platform, over the next several months as its users are moved to Skype, the company announced this week. Microsoft hopes to smooth the transition to Skype for Live Messenger users by allowing them to log in to Skype with their Microsoft ID so that contacts in one program will automatically transfer to the other.

Pocket Stretches to the Mac
October 29, 2012

The single feature I like most about Pocket, an app and online service that lets you snag articles online and save them for reading later, is speed. I've been using Pocket for iOS on my iPhone and iPad for months, and the interface is clean and the action is all fast. Idea Shower has created a native Mac OS X version of Pocket, thereby extending the Pocket-accessible universe.

Google's Neverending Big Adventure
October 25, 2012

In its ongoing effort to create the perfect map of the world at ground level, Google took a trek into the Grand Canyon this week. Earlier this month, Google announced that it had doubled the number of special collections in its Street View catalog and updated its images along 250,000 miles of roads. Yet Google was hardly done -- it was heading next to Arizona for its descent into the Grand Canyon.

AOL's Alto Aims to Tidy Up Email Clutter
October 19, 2012

AOL is rolling out a cloud-based service, Alto, designed to help email users de-clutter their messy in-boxes. AOL, which offered one of the first email clients adopted by the mainstream, isn't trying to draw customers away from popular services like Gmail or Yahoo Mail. Instead, it is offering an application that focuses on organization by design.

Freeplane: Solid Mind Mapping but You May Need a Map
October 17, 2012

Freeplane is an application for creating mind maps. A mind map is the doodling you draw with shapes and other symbols around words connected with lines to make charts representing your thoughts and ideas on a particular topic or project.It's not often that productivity software makes the task at hand more difficult than old-fashioned methods, but in this case it might be easier to draw a mind map on paper than to do so using Freeplane.