Posts

Review: Take a visual city tour with PicsAround

CNET staff — Thu, 23 May 2013 22:16:00 PDT

PicsAround is a unique app that lets you explore an area of town using pictures. We were skeptical of what it could produce, but were pleasantly surprised by the historical landmarks it found.

Unsurprisingly, PicsAround needs to use your current location data to pull up pictures. Once we allowed the app to pull our data, it went to work finding fun places. We were actually out of town when we tested the app, and not in the most vibrant part of the city. We were curious to see what the app could find, and were surprised to find that it located two historical landmarks not too far from where we were. We tapped each picture and the app displayed each landmark's coordinates, the building's architectural style, the date it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places, and other details pulled from Wikipedia. In a sea of chain restaurants and hotels, it was nice to find two historic spots that we'd actually want to visit. If the results are a little too narrow for you, you can adjust the search radius in the Settings menu. The only feature that was disappointing was the Compass, which lets you turn your phone to explore nearby pics. The app didn't produce any pics, but we're guessing it was because of our location; a busier location would probably produce more pictures to view. However, you can add your own pictures for others to see.

If you're a fan of exploring historic landmarks, PicsAround is a great app to have on hand. We recommend it for all users.

Review: Add practical touches to your pics with PhotoCap

CNET staff — Thu, 23 May 2013 22:06:00 PDT

There are a ton of photo editing apps out there to add all kinds of crazy effects to your iPhone's pictures, but this is the first that we've come across that actually lets you add more practical touches. PhotoCap is a unique app in that it lets users add a timestamp and caption to their phone pics. It's super-easy to use and effective, and for that we recommend it.

PhotoCap doesn't waste time: It opens with the camera ready to go. The timestamp appears in the right corner of the screen, waiting for you to snap the picture. But before you do, you'll need to add a caption first, which involves tapping the caption bar at the bottom of the screen, typing your caption, and then positioning the caption by dragging and dropping it. All that was left for us to do was snap our picture. The app gave us the option of retaking the picture if we weren't happy, saving it, e-mailing it, or texting it as an MMS. Our only complaint with PhotoCap is that we wish it gave us the option to remove the timestamp rather than adding it by default. That way, we could use the app simply as a caption tool if we wanted.

That's really all there is to PhotoCap and, really, that's fine by us. You won't find a Help file of any kind, but it's so easy to navigate that you shouldn't need one. We highly recommend this app for all users.

Review: Times Tables Game offers a colorful if limited multiplication learning tool

Ben Markton — Thu, 23 May 2013 22:00:00 PDT

Times Tables Game does a good job of tapping into many of the things that make a good educational app for the iPad, but it is missing some very important components. Due to a limited trial, sometimes messy interface, and convoluted menu system, it works best when a parent directly oversees play by the child.

Times Tables Game is designed to help children learn their times tables in a colorful, easy-to-use interface. With animals, lots of bright colors, and flowers onscreen, combined with light animations, the app is pleasant to look at, though it can get busy and the directions are not always immediately apparent on most screens. Difficulty level can be set from any screen and the games do a good job of scaling based on the level selected by your child. Combined with high scorekeeping, a challenge mode, and even an online hall of fame to see the highest scores in the game, Times Tables Game is an ambitious creation.

The free version of Times Tables Game only provides challenges from 1-6. The paid version is needed to unlock all the way up to 12; but for young children just learning their times tables, this is a good place to start, offering a number of options and fun ways to start learning those times tables.

Review: Funny Movie Maker - Replace Your Face is short on features

CNET staff — Thu, 23 May 2013 21:55:00 PDT

Funny Movie Maker - Replace Your Face lets you create funny videos by replacing or adding your own mouth and voice to pictures. The app was put on this earth to entertain and it succeeds; however, you're limited to only three pictures and certain features in the free version. To unlock the other faces and features, you'll have to pay.

Funny Movie Maker opens with three unlocked faces: a blonde who is missing a face, a strawberry with eyes, and a picture of Benjamin Franklin. Like we mentioned earlier, if you want to use another template, you'll have to pony up the change to unlock the images. Luckily, though, you can add your own pictures by snapping a new picture or pulling one from your Camera Roll. We selected the picture of the blonde and, using the scissors tool, cut out a circle where her blurred face was. We tried to add music from our iTunes library and special effects, but were told that we'd have to pay to get those features. So, without anything else to add, we tapped the check mark. From there, the app tapped into our iPhone's video capability and our face appeared in the circle we cut out earlier. After making a few funny faces, we previewed our masterpiece. We're probably not ready for an open mic night at the comedy club, but the final result was pretty funny. If you like what you see, you can choose to save the photo, upload it to YouTube or Facebook, or send it to a friend via e-mail.

Funny Movie Maker - Replace Your Face is a fun app, but we just wish it offered more features in the free version. Still, we recommend it for anyone looking for a silly app to entertain friends.

Review: Cover Photo Maker for Facebook Free customizes your cover photo

CNET staff — Thu, 23 May 2013 21:51:00 PDT

Cover Photo Maker for Facebook Free lets users easily create their own custom Facebook cover photos. While a few features were off limits in the free version we tested, we were still pleased by the number of tools available to us and their ease of use.

First, to get started with Cover Photo Maker for Facebook, you'll need to choose a layout from a pretty large menu. We opted for the three blocks, side by side. Tapping each block gave us access to our iPhone's albums, where we selected a picture. With just the touch of your fingertip, you can drag each picture to position it, as well as zoom in and out. If you're not happy with the frame, sliders let you adjust the width and round off the corners. Other edit features let you remove the outer frame altogether and flip through the images. Want to add a few words? The app makes it super easy to do so. Just tap the Add Text (be careful not to accidentally tap the banner ad close by), type your text in the field, select the typeface you want to use (some are only available in the Pro version), add a drop shadow if you like, and voila! From there, you can drag the text to where you want it to appear, and adjust the color using the picker or by entering specific HSV, RGB, or HEX codes. The app let us easily upload it to our Facebook profile where we were able to update our cover photo.

If you would like a little more input regarding your Facebook cover photo, you can't go wrong with Cover Photo Maker for Facebook Free.

Review: Zombie Piano delivers a fun concept in a not-quite functional package

Ben Markton — Thu, 23 May 2013 21:45:00 PDT

In Zombie Piano, tap the keys on the onscreen piano and zombie sounds will emanate from your iPad in an approximation of that tone. The concept is funny to a degree, and while it almost certainly is an attempt to capitalize on the current popularity of zombies in pop culture, it fails to provide enough of an engaging experience to hit the mark.

To be certain, Zombie Piano is not a serious app. You are not supposed to be able to make music with this app and it's not surprising that the zombie sounds barely sound different from each other when hitting different keys onscreen. But there is something inherently limiting about how this app is constructed and ultimately how it works. The keys have a bit of lag between them, for example. Hit one key and it takes a half second or so before you can tap the next key. There are four different types of zombies you can play, but changing between them has the same lag, and there is no option to record or share what you create in this app.

Zombie Piano is a one-note toy that will be funny in certain situations but is almost certainly not something that you open and use more than once. The app is free, of course, and there is no paid upgrade, so this is the full app, but even still, it lacks enough to be worth the download unless you are a big zombie fan.

Review: Create, edit, and publish multimedia presentations with Lyrebird

CNET staff — Thu, 23 May 2013 14:07:00 PDT

Kazo Vision's Lyrebird is a powerful multimedia publishing solution that lets you create, edit, and distribute custom multimedia content, incorporating a huge range of file and document types to a variety of devices employing LCD screens and projection technology. It's composed of two parts, an Editor and a Player, though they're one and the same in the free Standalone Edition. The free version lets you master Lyrebird's many options and steps, and schedule multimedia presentations to play on your own PC, once or multiple times, always on top (or not) and with effects such as text overlays and background screens. Presentations can cycle through and repeat multiple windows, each with different content. Lyrebird packs many extras, such as an LCD screen testing tool that can help you diagnose bad pixels and other issues.

Lyrebird's main interface, the Editor, resembles an e-mail client in some ways, though that makes for both a familiar layout and a logical one, too, starting with the navigation sidebar's tree view. Although Lyrebird isn't difficult to learn, it does things its own way. But following the reasonably clear and copious assistance the program offers, we were able to pick up the basics. Step one is to configure the software and device, which involves some significant options, though the process is much easier in the Standalone version since no remote devices are involved. After that, it's a simple matter of creating and programming one or more display windows, adding content, and scheduling playback. That's the condensed version, but we were able to create a brief presentation within a few minutes of opening the tool's Editor.

We barely brushed the surface of this impressive tool's capabilities, not to mention its many extras such as the aforementioned LED screen tester and the ability to detect and import LED screen settings from software already installed in our system. Lyrebird's free standalone Edition is a great way to interview a top prospect.

Review: Apply effects to sound clips with Moo0 Audio Effect

CNET staff — Thu, 23 May 2013 14:02:00 PDT

Moo0 Audio Effect is easy-to-use freeware that applies basic special effects to audio clips. Audio Effect can alter the volume, pitch, bass, treble, and other tonal aspects of MP3 and WAV files. It's a very basic tool, which means you can finish a job in less time than it takes to learn which buttons to press on that "full-featured" audio editor. Moo0 Audio Effect is suitable for Windows XP to 8.

We could resize Moo0 Audio Effect's compact user interface by dragging the corner, or we could toggle between Minimum and Advanced Options views. A Language menu offers a huge range of interface language options. While some are partial sets, we noted the regular addition of new language files in the release notes on the program's Web page. Other than a Keep on Top checkbox on the interface and additional options such as Right-Click Transform and Easy Drag on the View menu, Audio Effect has few settings beyond those offered with each transformation effect on the Convert to menu; for example, Volume Up and Volume Down let us select the Boost Level in 10 percent increments; while the pitch controls shifted the pitch between one key (a half tone) to 12 keys (a full octave) with four levels of sound quality. We could also choose Vocal and Instrumental Boost; Bass Boost, Bass Suppress, and Bass Only; and Middle and High tone options, too. We could browse and add files from the File menu, but the easiest way to use Audio Effect is to drag files into the Drop Box. That's what we did, after selecting a destination. Dragging a file into the drop box automatically triggers the processing. The finished clip played normally in our media player, although with effects applied. Some experimentation may be required to achieve the desired effect. But Moo0 Audio Effect made do-overs quick and easy, too.

So, what's Moo0 Audio Effect for? Anything that requires audio clips, especially short sound clips, like ringtones, custom notifications, sound effects for video productions, or whatever your imagination suggests. Moo0 Audio Effect makes it easy to make it happen.

Review: Take out the trash on boot or on demand with Moo0 Disk Cleaner.

CNET staff — Thu, 23 May 2013 13:59:00 PDT

Disk cleaners earn their keep by taking out the trash: deleting temporary files, clearing caches, emptying the Recycle Bin, and purging other space-hogging, system-slowing junk before it can accumulate into the data processing equivalent of clogged arteries. Moo0 Disk Cleaner 1.19 is fast, lightweight, and easy to use, and it can clean on boot or on demand. It targets those places where junk files accumulate, such as your browser, program caches, and Windows temporary and log files, though you can add custom targets and exclude any location from cleaning. In fact, you need to check each item's box to clean it, which helps eliminate one of the biggest issues with system cleaners; namely, the tendency of users to simply click "Select All" and run the tool like a lawnmower over their data, with predictable results. Moo0 Disk Cleaner is freeware that works in Windows XP to 8.

As soon as we opened Moo0 Disk Cleaner, the program scanned our system and began returning results in a compact user interface with an expandable list view, displaying column headings for Title, Size, and Found; the latter indicating both the number of files to be cleaned and their type. Unchecking a box labeled Show Only Related greatly expanded the offerings with a number of program caches as well as additional Windows data such as Prefetch and Memory Dump Files. Clicking Add Custom Target opened a tool for adding multiple targets at once, with a menu of cleaning options to apply and a Description field. This tool let us group together several programs for specific cleaning, such as all files with one extension, or only those files on a certain level. We could also set Disk Cleaner to run when our system booted.

We made our selection and pressed Clean Now. Disk Cleaner quickly processed our files and returned a brief report describing what was cleaned and what would be cleaned when we rebooted. We've found that cleaners that reboot often do a more thorough job than those that don't. Moo0 Disk Cleaner seems an ideal choice for a custom-configured cleaner that runs on startup or when you need it.

Review: Enjoy pre-built playlists on the go with Tunigo Play

Ben Markton — Thu, 23 May 2013 13:52:00 PDT

Tunigo Play is a clever extension of the Spotify technology, combining many of the benefits of endless streaming music with prebuilt playlists for any mood. It's not a perfect app, but it manages to take the music discovery concept of similar apps to a new level that works quite well.

Tunigo Play is a collection of playlists that are based on specific themes. For any one playlist, you can see the number of subscribers, when it was last updated, and how long it will play for. When the playlist is up, you can swipe left or right to quickly change songs, and there are more than 20 different categories for playlists, each with dozens of options. While you do need to have a Spotify account (or create one) to use Tunigo Play, it provides a unique and engaging alternative to other music discovery apps, all of it for free.

If you are interested in finding a new music discovery tool that is free, loaded with pre-built playlists, and customizable to your needs, check out Tunigo Play. While it lacks many of the features of some other tools in the same category, especially those with paid options, it is a well constructed app that will keep you constantly looking for and engaging with new music for as long as you are using it.