Nothing plain about these Fences

Jessica Dolcourt — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 16:01:00 PST

Fences Pro builds many requested features on top of the publisher's free version, Fences. The original helps you corral your desktop icons into tidy, organized spaces on your desktop, and then rename, resize, and move them around at will. This premium version now lets you name a default folder in which all newly installed icons should appear--not just the Desktop. In addition, Fences Pro showcases a list of rules you can configure to deposit specific types of icons (images, music videos, etc.) into any "fences" you created. The icon installation rules worked well in our tests, saving pictures we downloaded from the Web to our specified "Pics" fence, and application shortcuts to "Programs."

Other features include creating your own custom rules--a bit trickier than it looks--and sorting a fence's constituent icons by criteria such as date and how often you've used it. Fences Pro also automatically snaps restore point pictures at intervals, and can fade a fence until you mouse over it.

Apart from a pesky download requirement (that you use Stardock's Impulse app), the only reason to picket this version of Fences is the price. It's commensurate with the program's feature set and with this class of desktop customization app, but it's also aimed squarely at power users who have found the freeware version indispensable and itch for more control.

Surprisingly stylish

Jessica Dolcourt — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 14:10:00 PST

It's no surprise that Microsoft's Bing app includes voice search, maps, directions, search suggestions, and location awareness. Besides these being features common to Bing.com and to the Bing application on other mobile platforms, they're also necessary to compete with Google Mobile App for iPhone.

More surprising is Bing's stylish layout, which opens on the image of the day in the background (this doesn't appear to be customizable); a rounded, six-panel grid of buttons to jump you to movie listings, maps, directions, and more; and a drop-down menu on the search bar lets you filter your searches in all those categories, save directions. Bing dispenses walking and driving directions, but doesn't yet include directions using public transit, as the Google Mobile App does. You can, however, advance through the turn-by-turn directions one at a time by swiping your finger.

Bing for iPhone lacks some of the extras of other mobile Bing apps, like the capability to lay down pushpins on the map and save locations, and the capability to view multiple locations on the map. The absent features in the iPhone app indicate the direction of Microsoft's plans for Bing's growth on iPhone. Overall, though, Bing for iPhone is a viable alternative to Google's 1-2 combination of the Mobile App and the iPhone's default, Google-driven Maps app.

Instant thumbnails

CNET staff — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 12:14:12 PST

Moo0 Image Thumbnailer offers to take any photo and make it into an HTML thumbnail shot. By trimming the process down into the simplest possible form, it saves you time. You can finish a task in less time than it takes some big graphic apps to load their credits screens.

This program impressed us with its user friendliness. Its interface is intuitive and easy to navigate from the moment you open it. The onscreen instructions and limited commands made us feel like experts after about 30 seconds. We were also impressed with how simple the conversion process was. The hardest part was dragging a file into the thumbnailer's main screen, and that was child's play. It takes any jpeg, gif, png, or bmp image and instantly converts into an HTML thumbnail. The entire process takes less than a minute from start to finish. The image doesn't lose much clarity or content in the change; it's just smaller. Moo0 Image Thumbnailer would be perfect for bloggers and Web designers who work extensively with HTML. The program is light on features, though it offers the capability customize the size of your thumbnails, which is certainly useful.

Moo0 Image Thumbnailer is freeware. It leaves behind Start Menu items and a folder after uninstalling.

Hazzardous poker

CNET staff — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 11:50:48 PST

NowStat Texas Holdem Poker is a simple but strange game of five-card draw. Its basic play and easy opponents make it a great game for new players, but it might disappoint experienced card handlers. Unless, of course, they're Jessica Simpson fans.

The program's interface is simple to operate but very odd to view. There's a nice poker tutorial that runs through the rules, and all the command buttons were easy to understand. However, the game's theme is based on the "Dukes of Hazzard" movie and features one of the film's stars, Jessica Simpson, who plays Daisy Duke, often scantily clad in her namesake outfits. The game uses a simple set of buttons for betting, calling, and folding. Our opponent was an easily defeated Daisy Duke, and each time she lost her money we unlocked a new deck of Daisy-centric cards. We found that the more cards we unlocked, the better an opponent she became, but she was still cautious and predictable. The program offers no special features, but we obviously would have liked an ability to adjust the skill level. While the game's design feels slightly misguided, its simple play and beatable opponent made this a great learning tool for new poker players.

NowStat Texas Holdem Poker is freeware. It installs desktop icons without permission. While its "Dukes of Hazzard" theme proved distracting, its a great game for learning, and we recommend it.

Civilizing game

CNET staff — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 11:49:02 PST

Catan - Cities and Knights offers all of the challenge of the original board game with several exciting digital twists. This program's simple operation and surprising elements kept us engaged throughout.

The game's interface was a pleasure to operate, thanks to its layout and professional graphics. We never felt confused while playing; excellent tutorials are included that teach you the ropes. The game's objectives are reminiscent of the highly successful Age of Empires series, which revolved around building a medieval civilization from the ground up. You start off with a small village, collecting local supplies based on dice rolls in order to build yourself up, all while trading and competing with rival towns. Eventually the stakes rise to controlling armies and pirates, all with simple mouse clicks, until one victorious community dominates the landscape. The gameplay is basic but still manages to be addictive, which was a pleasant surprise. The program also provides an exciting feature that lets you compete against online opponents. This is a great way to keep the play challenging. Overall, this game is well designed and fun to play.

Catan - Cities and Knights has a seven-victory point trial limit. It installs desktop icons without permission. Its fun layout and challenging play make it a program we recommend.

IE TV is A-OK

CNET staff — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 11:29:57 PST

TV Toolbar is an add-on for Internet Explorer that provides links to legitimate, high-quality TV shows, movies, and more. Although the toolbar doesn't give you access to anything you couldn't find yourself, having the links in one well-organized place is an advantage.

The toolbar's interface is attractive and integrates well with Internet Explorer. Mouseover tooltips explain each of the icons representing the toolbar's major features. Users can select from lists of television channels, shows, and movies, and the toolbar will link to legitimate content hosted on the networks' Web sites or on sites like Hulu. You won't find low-quality, pirated content here, which may or may not be a good thing, depending on what you're into. The toolbar also contains links to plenty of other types of online resources, including social-networking sites, medical information, shopping links, weather, and more. There's even an Internet radio player with a variety of stations. The toolbar's online Help file is well written and thorough, and we enjoyed having quality, functional links to so much online entertainment all in one place. Users who don't have cable or just want to watch TV on the go will find this a very enjoyable gadget, and parents will appreciate the fact that the toolbar doesn't provide links to content that's inappropriate for kids.

TV Toolbar is free to download and use, and it installs and uninstalls without issues. Overall, we found it to be a handy IE add-on, and we recommend it to all TV lovers.

Quick barcode designer

CNET staff — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 10:55:39 PST

GS1 DataBar Barcode Image Generator provides all the elements you need to create barcodes on a home printer. With a simple layout and great results, this is a perfect addition to a small business.

The program's interface was welcoming from the start, keeping all operations on a single page and providing visual cues for all our choices. This tool was fast and helpful. It was so easy to use that we never felt the need to read the Help file. Our favorite aspect of the program was the way it constantly displayed a sample of your barcode onscreen. As you change the code's numbers or alter its color scheme and size, the barcode display changes, and you instantly see what your changes look like. The end product is a professional-looking barcode that is ready to be printed off on labels and applied to your product, or to whatever items you want to keep track of with barcodes, for that matter, although small business owners will find GS1 especially useful. The program is light on features since it's focused so heavily on its primary function; however, you can save your barcode as a jpeg, GIF, or a half-dozen other file types, which is a helpful option.

GS1 DataBar Barcode Image Generator leaves a watermark on barcodes during its trial period. It comes as a compressed file and installs desktop icons without permission. We love the program's simplicity and its great results, and we definitely recommend it.

Attachment tool

CNET staff — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 10:45:25 PST

YouSendit Microsoft Office add-on claims to help speed the process of e-mailing documents. Though the program is incredibly easy to use, its trial limits kept us from really putting it to the test.

The program's interface reminded us of e-mail setups found with Gmail, Hotmail, and others. Help file instructions were unnecessary since its mimicry of e-mail made its layout very intuitive. However, we were never convinced that it offered a better way to send attachments than through your regular e-mail account. It's easy to use: inserting delivery e-mail addresses, creating subjects, adding messages, and including attachments are all very simple. However, the program soon began to disappoint. The trial version of the software limits you to one file attachment, so we were unable to test its speed with large amounts of data. And though it sent our single document in a matter of seconds, its delivery was also disappointing. The e-mail arrived quickly, but instead of opening the attachment directly, we had to click a link and go to a Web site to retrieve our document. These added steps really soured us on YouSendit. It has a few notable features, such as delivery confirmation and password protection, though you have to pay extra for them. In the end, we couldn't tell if it was faster than e-mailing attachments.

YouSendit Microsoft Office add-on contains the previously mentioned trial limit. It comes as a compressed file. Its inability to prove itself better than traditional e-mail limits its appeal.

Document-sharing tool

CNET staff — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 10:43:39 PST

Zapr offers to help you share documents and data without having to use slow-moving e-mail attachments. The program's simplicity and accessibility make it a gem for those who share documents regularly.

Zapr's interface is clearly labeled and its commands familiar and easy to operate. We were able to hit the ground running and never needed to look at the Help file's instructions. The program lets you select any document from your hard drive and assign it a Web link. This took mere moments and operated much like creating and saving a new document. We were pleased to see that no data or imagery was lost in the transfer. The program also offered a smart feature that lets you protect your data with a password, thus keeping sensitive information confidential to outside eyes. Zapr is smooth and usable and feels like it would save you a great deal of headaches in the long run. It seems ideal for attaching large documents that can be slow to send or too big to open.

Zapr is freeware. Its ease of use and practicality give it the ability to save you time, and it makes this a highly recommended program.

Quick file converter

CNET staff — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 10:26:44 PST

Moo0 Image Type Converter provides a simple set of tools for changing a digital picture's file type in a matter of seconds. Its sharply focused functionality makes this program a big success.

The program's interface instantly impressed us with its simplicity. We were able to understand the ins and outs of this program within seconds and never felt lost or uncomfortable. We were able to convert our files into jpeg, bmp, gif, png, or icon types using a simple pull-down menu. To convert our file we only needed to drag an image into the converter's main screen. The file conversion happened in a matter of seconds. Our new image retained all of the original's content and clarity but with a new file type. This tool is a great way to convert images when time is of the essence, since you can do a lot with it in a short time. The program also offered a feature that lets you adjust your new file's clarity, which is a great way to monitor the size of the image and make sure it's still clear without getting too big to use. This is a great tool for image file conversion, and we were pleased with every aspect of its operation.

Moo0 Image Type Converter is a free program. It leaves Start Menu items and folders behind after uninstalling.