All posts by Kathryn »
[Chrome] Expand your vocabulary and make your writing more impactful with Thesaurus
Thesauruses are fantastic things. They can help you expand your vocabulary and ensure that you don’t sound like every other person writing about your chosen topic. On the flip side, used incorrectly, they can make you sound verbose and overbearing. However, that doesn’t stop them from being useful. When I [...]
[iPad] Share your location in many languages with Addr2u Lite
The concept behind Addr2u Lite is fairly simple. In this internet age, we make friends all around the globe – friends in some cases who don’t even share our same native language. Addr2u Lite offers the ability to share an address in a different language, letting your penpal in Korea [...]
[iPad] Edit your photos with flare using Ultimate Photo Editor
If you’re looking for an easy way to edit the photos you take on your iPad without having to send them to your desktop first, Ultimate Photo Editor is a good choice. It allows you to take photos right from within the application, and then immediately go into edit mode [...]
[iPad] Live The Hunger Games story with The Hunger Games Adventures
I admit – before the movie came out, I’d only vaguely heard of The Hunger Games. I recognized the covers of the books in stores, though “I should probably read that, some time,” and then moved on to get whatever book I’d gone in for. Then the movie came out, [...]
[Firefox] Find out where a website is located with Flagfox
Every website exists on a server, somewhere in the world. I like to know where my websites are located – mostly because that indicates when I can expect responses to my support requests, among other things. Until I found Flagfox for Firefox, finding this information meant doing a lot of [...]
[Opera] View the weather on Speed Dial screen with The Weather
I like to know the temperature is outside. Weather add ons and apps are something that I’m very fond of for that reason. However, I was a bit disappointed in The Weather extension for Opera.
It’s a simple enough install, and places a square on your Speed Dial that tells [...]
Read More »[Chrome] Check your typing speed with Typing Test
I don’t get the concept of an add on that is nothing but a redirect to a website. When I installed Typing Test by KeyHero to my Chrome browser, I was expecting a button with a dropdown that would give me the typing test. Instead, what I got was no [...]
Read More »[Chrome] Be warned of dangerous websites before you visit them with Web Of Trust
If you’ve ever ended up with a virus on your machine because of a Google search gone wrong, then you probably wish you had some way to know whether or not that site that seems so perfect for what you’re looking for actually is what it claims to be before[...]
[Chrome] Play a game of 3D chess, online or off, with SparkChess
Sometimes it’s the simple things that make you smile. As much of a product of the digital gaming age as I am, I still love a good game of chess. Yes, Windows has a built-in 3D chess game, but I’ll admit – I never passed much beyond the beginner aspects [...]
[Chrome] Hootsuite Hootlet allows users to share open websites with social networks… too bad it doesn’t work
I’d been lucky so far to be able to give you reviews on add-ons and extensions that I’ve really liked. That changed today. I haven’t used Hootsuite before, and I honestly didn’t know much about it. However, Hootlet bills itself as being “sharing made easy,” and will supposedly share whatever [...]
[iPad] Hungry? Find places to eat and have fun while doing it with Urbanspoon
If there’s one thing I hate: when I’m so hungry that I don’t know what it is that I actually want. This happens to me and my fiancee all the time – and for awhile, it resulted in us frequenting what became “our place” simply by virtue of the fact [...]
[iPad] Play all your favorite online flash games with Photon browser
I’ve made no secret of my love for the iPad version of Dolphin Browser. However, there are some things it can’t do – albeit they were things that, until recently, I thought no iPad browser could do. And then my fiancee turned me on to Photon.
Photon browser uses their [...]
Read More »[iPad] Turn your iPad into a sketchbook with Paper
Though it may not seem like it, since you know me from tech blogging, I am an artist. I’ve been creating art for my own pleasure and for others for years. So naturally, when I gained access to an iPad and it’s incredibly sensitive touch screen technology, the first thing [...]
Dive into the web with Dolphin Browser HD, an excellent third-party browser [iPad]
I love browsing the internet on my iPad. Surfing the web is one of the iPad’s primary functions, as far as I’m concerned – much more adaptable (and reliable) than my cellphone, and definitely more professional looking than squinting at a phone screen when you’re trying to show something to [...]
Bring document writing to a new level with Pages, an excellent word processor app [iPad]
I’m a writer. Whether I’m blogging or working on a non-fiction project, or busting my tail to get my November novel to 50,000 words in one month for National Novel Writing Month, it can’t be denied that the written word is my home turf. As a result, on every piece [...]
Outrun an angry bear on your iPad with ‘Temple Run: Brave’ [iPad]
![Outrun an angry bear on your iPad with ‘Temple Run: Brave’ [iPad]](http://cdn.dottech.org/media/2012/09/temple_run_brave_screenshot_1-290x160.jpg)
I am a huge fan of Disney. Living less than 10 minutes from Disneyland has only intensified that love. So when I went looking for what iPad app to do my first review on, the answer seemed obvious — Temple Run: Brave, a 3D platform runner for the iPad.
Ever [...]
Read More »DownThemAll makes batch downloading faster, easier [Firefox]
I do a lot of graphic design on the side. When downloading a massive amount of stock images, it’s usually an annoying one-at-a-time process. Not so since I found DownThemAll.
DownThemAll takes the annoyance of mass-downloading and makes it simpler. With DownThemAll you can download all the files with a [...]
Read More »Have a theater experience on your home computer with Turn Off The Lights [Firefox]
For awhile, I was watching Hulu.com all the time. It was much more convenient than setting aside time to watch TV on the actual television. One of my favorite features of the site was the ability to “turn off lights”, fading the entire browser window around the video into darkness [...]
Fill out your website design work with placeholder text using Lorem Ipsum Generator [Opera]
For those who design their own WordPress themes, or simply want to see how things look with a “wall-o-text” in place, there are a bunch of free Lorem Ipsum generators for use around the web. However, who wants to tab off of their design work in order to grab a [...]
Forgot password or security questions? Apple will say too bad, wipe iTunes account, and lock you out
Last month when Wired‘s Mat Honan was hacked thanks to Apple’s password reset protocol, it scared the pants off Apple. It was frightening the ease with which the hack was accomplished and horrifying what was destroyed in the process. However, Apple’s response has sent them flying too far in [...]
Read More »Microsoft keen to bring us into Star Trek era with 3D, real-life, whole-room display gaming
“Computer? Halo.”
The previously dark room lights up; what was formerly your living room is transformed through light and sound (and who knows! Maybe even scent!) into a battlefield. You pick up your “gun,” holding your hands as if holding the actual prop. The gun on the main screen in [...]
Read More »Chrome for Android is updated, touts better stability and other improvements
I love Chrome. I love it so very much. It’s fast, it’s reliable, it’s secure, and, even when I’m playing Flash games on Facebook, it hardly ever crashes.
Of course, I’m referring to the desktop version of Google’s popular browser. The Chrome on my phone… well, let’s just say that [...]
Read More »Integrate SkyDrive with Gmail using Attachements.me [Chrome, Firefox]
I’ve never been a big fan of mail applications. Don’t get me wrong – I’ve tried them all. Outlook, Eudora, Thunderbird, even a little known one called Incredimail (just because my boss at an old job was obsessed with it for awhile). While I don’t doubt that they’re effective for [...]
Read More »Microsoft debuts Visual Studio 2012, the only (free) way to create Windows applications
I’m not a coder. I don’t develop applications. I almost flunked the only programming class I ever took. So obviously, Microsoft’s announced new software absolutely does NOT have me in mind, but that isn’t a problem – I’m a reporter, not their intended audience. However, details about the new Windows [...]
Read More »Blackberry is going extinct, sales drop to 0 in a “meaningful number” of stores according to analyst
In my time writing for dotTech, I’ve written quite a few articles on iOS, many on Android, and a lot on Microsoft. However, there’s been one smartphone maker that’s been curiously absent, despite my daily research. Today, in an interview with All Things Digital, a Pacific Crest analyst may [...]
Read More »Study shows 90% of all app downloads are free while in-app purchases soar to new heights [iOS, Android, Windows Phone]
I play Facebook games. I also play games on my phone. In both cases, most of the time the games are free to download. In that vein, I’m right in line with 90% of all app downloaders, a new Gartner study says. Gartner reports that free apps will represent 89% [...]
Read More »Windows Store now accepts app submissions from individuals (not just companies)
With the launch of Windows 8 fast approaching (come on, October 26th!), Microsoft has made an interesting decision about the Windows Store. The corporation has opened up the submission ability to include individuals unconnected to Microsoft itself. Before this semi-surprising change, only people with company accounts with Microsoft were able [...]
Read More »Flash vulnerability fix for Internet Explorer 10 is on the way, says Microsoft [Windows 8]
The version of Internet Explorer 10 that comes bundled with Windows 8 has a vulnerability that has been traced to it’s integrated specific version of Adobe Flash. At first, Microsoft claimed that they wouldn’t be providing security patches for the bundled software until October; now they’ve changed their tune amid [...]
Read More »Google releases new YouTube app for iPhone, adds thousands of new videos and more
With Apple’s announcement that iOS 6 won’t come bundled with a YouTube app, it’s been obvious that something had to give otherwise iDevice owners would be out of YouTube. What give-ed is Google; today Google announced their own iOS app for the popular streaming personal video service. However, this new [...]
Read More »FBI was not hacked by AntiSec/Anonymous for iOS UDIDs — BlueToad, a software publisher, was
AntiSec may have frog in throat over FBI hacking claims.
When hacking group AntiSec claimed last week that they’d hacked into an FBI agent’s computer and stolen millions of iOS unique device identifyers (UDIDs), the FBI immediately denied ever having the information in question:
The FBI is aware of published
[...]
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Sony engineer takes apart Sony Xperia Tablet S, a 9.4-inch Android tablet starting at $400
For those who love Android and are looking forward to the future of tablet computing, the Sony Xperia Tablet S is highly anticipated. But what exactly does it hold within the thinnest shell that the company has ever produced? Tiny hamsters running on tinier wheels, black magic wrapped around glowing [...]
Read More »Western Digital is working on an extremely thin (5mm) and fast hybrid hard drive
A 500GB hard drive that’s only 5mm thick? About as easy to believe as me telling you there are unicorns grazing on your front lawn, right? Well, Western Digital announced today that they’ve started working with that very creature (the hard drive, not the unicorn). The tiny drives use a [...]
Read More »Google Drive for iOS and Android gets comprehensive update, many new features
Since it was leaked some time last week, the update to the Google Drive app for Android has finally been released, as has an update to Google Drive for iOS. Available through the Google Play Store and Apple App Store respectively, this updated app includes all sorts of functionality that [...]
Read More »Cloud streaming of console-type video games is coming to Windows 8 with Agawi
Formerly known as “iSwifter”, Agawi has made a deal with Microsoft to push out their cloud-based game streaming service along with Windows 8 this October.
Already very popular on the iPad, where it offers “more than 12,000″ Facebook games, Agawi is focused more toward what the company calls “mid-core” and [...]
Read More »Toys R Us debuts $150 7-inch Tabeo, an Android tablet for kids
For parents tired of their kids wanting to play with their iPads and other tablet PCs, Toys R Us has posted a new listing for an intriguing alternative: Tabeo.
The Tabeo is a 7-inch Android-based tablet designed specifically for children, going on sale at the first of October. It’s sleek [...]
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