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Rainlendar Lite 64-bit beats widgets and PIMs as a desktop calendar

If your idea of a desktop calendar is a stack of paper you can write notes on as opposed to a trifold organizer or day book, Rainy's Rainlendar Lite is probably your calendar. It's largely unobtrusive and transparent, like a widget, though you can customize its look. But unlike a simple calendar widget or gadget, Rainlendar Lite is also a personal manager that can remind you of tasks and important events. It's fully compatible with most other iCalendar apps, so you can import and export data such as events. You can back up your calendar and even … Read more

Search the registry with RegScanner 64-bit

NirSoft's RegScanner is a lightweight, portable tool that searches the Windows registry for specific values, displaying its findings in a simple list view that lets you quickly access specific results. You can view the properties of registry values, open items in their containing folder, or double-click items to open them directly in the Windows Registry Editor (RegEdit). RegScanner is easy to use, even for beginners, but our usual caution about changing things in the registry applies to RegScanner since it's perfectly capable of deleting keys as well as copying, saving, and exporting them. We recommend utmost caution when … Read more

Search more accurately with SearchMyFiles (64-bit)

Windows has to be all things to all users, which leads to enduring compromises like the built-in Search Files and Folders module. Many third-party developers offer improved search tools for Windows. NirSoft's SearchMyFiles is a portable freeware search tool that lets you scour your system with greater accuracy and specificity than the built-in Search tool. You can search by wild card and the usual attributes as well as by content (text or binary). SearchMyFiles is a compact application that is frequently updated. The latest version we saw added a new feature, a Recent Config Files menu that lets users … Read more

Automate tasks with mouse gestures with StrokesPlus Portable 64-bit

Mouse gestures can automate some of your most repetitive tasks. With a mere click and a flick, you can do everything from close your browser to initiate long strings of commands. StrokesPlus is a free mouse gestures application that lets you easily draw gestures to set actions for the program to trigger. StrokesPlus is free, but there are separate downloads for 32-bit and 64-bit Windows. We tried StrokesPlus for 64-bit Windows in Windows 7 Home Premium.

StrokesPlus is a work in progress (what cutting-edge app isn't?) and improvements mean you no longer need to run the program as an … Read more

Take your programmed mouse gestures on the road with StrokesPlus Portable (64-bit)

Mouse gestures can automate tedious tasks. With the click of a button and a flick of the wrist, you can fill in your shipping address, insert a long string of text you have to type over and over again, display the weather, or launch any program. StrokesPlus is a free mouse gestures application that's easy to configure and use but also highly flexible. It's available in separate downloads for 32-bit and 64-bit versions of the Windows operating system. It's also available in fully portable versions of each. While most users will probably benefit from the fully installed … Read more

Change your Windows log-on screen as easily as your desktop wallpaper with InstantLogonChanger

It's easy to change your Windows log-on screen to match your desktop wallpaper or display any image you like with InstantLogonChanger from ArturDev. Designed to display corporate logos on a company's computers, this simple freeware lets you apply your own image as your Windows log-on background. It can handle JPEGs, BMPs, PNGs, GIFs, and TIFFs. But it does more than simply change the log-on screen's background image: It can also fit images to your screen or your taste using the familiar Fit, Fill, Stretch, Center, and Tile controls, as well as change the background color to enhance … Read more

Q&A: MacFixIt Answers

MacFixIt Answers is a feature in which we answer questions e-mailed in by our readers.

This week readers wrote in with questions about switching between 32- and 64-bit mode in OS X, using Target Disk Mode via Thunderbolt connections, how long Snow Leopard will be supported now that Mountain Lion is released, the best route to take for upgrading to Mountain Lion, and options for adding RAM to an older iMac system. We welcome views from readers, so if you have any suggestions or alternative approaches to these problems, post them in the comments!

Question: Switching between 32- and 64-bit … Read more

OS X Mountain Lion can run on unsupported Intel Mac Pros

A new procedure has surfaced that may allow owners of the older and unsupported Mac Pro 1,1 and 2,1 machines to run Mountain Lion natively on their systems.

When Apple initially released OS X Mountain Lion developer previews to testers and its development community, word spread that the OS would leave out some of Apple's earlier Intel-based Macs, including the first Mac Pro systems that still pack a decent amount of computing power. Apple made these requirements official more recently on its OS X up-to-date Web page for Mountain Lion.

The reason for these limitations revolved around … Read more

littleBits goes big, closes $3.65 million funding round

littleBits, makers of the eponymous educational circuitry kits, has announced the close of its series A funding round this morning, having taken in $3.65 million from various investors. True Ventures, funder of companies like MakerBot and FitBit, leads the group, with Khosla Ventures, O'Reilly AlphaTech Ventures, and Lerer Ventures pitching in.

Along with the funding, littleBits has also announced that supply chain and manufacturing firm PCH International will be helping to scale up production.

littleBits kits are made up of a series of electronic modules that connect together with magnets, with a color-coding system to guide assembly. Each … Read more

Episode 5: We get physical!

Hello Internet. Eileen here, Supervising Producer for Always On. Molly is on vacation, so I'm filling in to give you a little background on this week's episode!

This week we get physical! Molly is in the best shape of her life and was inspired by her road test of both the Nike+ FuelBand and Fit Bit Ultra to enter her first half-marathon! She said to me, "I think we need to stay true to the extreme nature of the show. How about I sign up for a half-marathon?!?"

At first I thought she was crazy to … Read more