Evernote is giving its Windows desktop application a huge face-lift on Thursday. The new version of the writing and archiving tool has more in common with its Mac counterpart, borrowing features like thumbnail previews and a three-pane view that lets users quickly hop through notes they have saved in one of their Evernote notebooks.
The change may be jarring for some longtime Evernote users who have only used the Windows version, but for people like me, who use clients on both platforms--on a daily basis, the unification is welcome.
Old versus new versions of Evernote compared. Note that the new version has a thumbnail view. (Click to see full size.)
(Credit: CNET)There are some peculiarities though. At first glance the already anemic text editor is missing a few buttons that were found on the old one. Options such as indenting, or adding a bulleted list are still there, but now they're nestled into a right-click contextual menu instead of being buttons as they were before (and still are on the Mac and Web versions). In their place are the simple, but screen real estate-sucking, buttons for printing, e-mailing and deleting any note you're working on. Though unlike on the Mac, this group of options cannot be minimized. On a big, wide-screen monitor this isn't a big deal, but on smaller screens it means you have less room to view your work.
What makes up for that, is spell check--a long-overdue inclusion. Whatever you're writing gets the spell check treatment as you type, just as it does in versions of the program on other platforms. This may seem like a really minor addition, but if you're using Evernote as a primary text editor, this is important.
Evernote's Ink feature lets users draw out notes.
(Credit: CNET)Also quite cool, is a more easily accessible canvas mode made exclusively for Windows users with tablet PCs, which lets them more easily create hand-drawn notes. Users who don't have tablets could previously also access the feature by holding Ctrl+9 when in any note, although now it's its own type of note. Worth noting is that these notes cannot be seen on the current version of the Mac software, something that will be added in a future update.
All in all, this is a good update with some big changes that may take some getting used to for folks who haven't used the Mac version. Because of the many changes in this version, the Evernote 3.5 update is being released in beta, instead of an automatic update within the software. Windows users of the current version can download it from Evernote's site.
Correction: This article originally misstated the newness of the ink writing feature as well as the software's capability to index handwritten notes. Users who don't have tablets could previously also access the feature by holding Ctrl+9 when in any note, although now it's its own type of note.
Sure, you're all jazzed about Barack Obama and looking forward to a brighter 2009, but what about the catastrophes of 2008? I'm not talking about the financial meltdown, Sarah Palin, or The Love Guru, I'm talking about the worst downloads of the year.
Every three months, Tom Merritt (of CNET TV renown) and I collaborate on a lighthearted tribute to the software failures that stick out among the many excellent programs on Download.com worse than John McCain supporters at the Inauguration Day gala.
To qualify, these downloads have to meet the minimum requirements specified by Download.com in our software policies. That excludes all spyware, adware, and rogue software--which disqualifies public enemy No. 1, the notoriously annoying Antivirus XP 2008 and its many variants, which continue to plague Google ads.
Without any further introduction, here are my picks for the most inept, most impractical, and outright goofiest Windows software downloads of last year. If you missed them all the first time, consider yourself lucky.
No. 5. SKAT
In all honestly, this unusually unappealing card game makes my top five worst of 2008 mostly because it's German and named "SKAT." Are you kidding me! That sort of "blue" material might be golden for bawdy comedians, but what about the casual gamer? Unless you're well versed in German and enjoy human-size mice sitting around a photo of an old-timey saloon, you're best passing this diversion by.
The basic card game pits you against Speedy and Jerry, two suspicious and ill-drawn rodents. The rules conveniently list topics in English like "Game Introduction" and "The Deck and The Suits." However, clicking on any topic only gets you more explanations in German. You can pick up on the rules of the game by playing a few with Speedy and Jerry, but if the lame graphics and retro (yet very polite) rodents don't scare you off, the tedium of the action should put you to sleep in a few minutes.
No. 4. MB Free Psychic Color Test
It's one thing to exploit users' belief in their own supernatural abilities, but why does pseudoscience have to be so doggone boring?
The free psychic "game" MB Free Psychic Color Test is based on using your psychic abilities to select the color secretly chosen by the computer. The Beginner level starts with five colors; Intermediate brings 10 colors to the mix; and Expert kicks up the fun to 20 colors.
Close your eyes, take a deep breath, and think hard. Then open your eyes and select a color. If you're right, you'll get a "correct" message; an errant response receives an uplifting "incorrect" salvo: "Don't lose hope! Relax, take a deep breath, keep a calm mind, and guess again." Wait a minute...guess? There's no guessing involved in psychic color testing. I call shenanigans!
To top if all off, exiting the test brings up a shameless donate page from mysticboard.com, the publishers of this crock of software. Mystic Board keeps skirting the very lowest level of our quality threshold, with a number of ridiculously simple programs related to astrology, the occult, and the supernatural.
No. 3. Alien Communicator
While I must give this ridiculous program props for winning the unofficial contest for most mind-boggling software program of 2008, it also doesn't do very much of anything remotely useful, aside from randomly generate letters and numbers.
According to "The Story" that comes with this download, the Alien Communicator "translates alien psycho-kinetic control of the random number generation capability of a PC computer into readable letters." Apparently, thoughts travel much faster than the speed of light in spatial dimensions that are scaled smaller than "the four we are familiar with."
If you actually believe that aliens are trying to communicate with us via random numerals sent through the fifth dimension, I might suggest that you undergo some psychiatric analysis. However, what I wouldn't recommend would be the next piece of software on the list.
No. 2. Psychiatric Diagnosis Suite
When you or someone you care about may have a serious psychiatric problem, the last thing you likely need is a poorly programmed set of canned questions in an interface that's horrible enough to push you over the edge, but that's exactly what you get from Psychiatric Diagnosis Suite. While much of the information in this program is accurate and semicurrent, it's nearly impossible for anyone to use it.
After you are done answering a set of seemingly random psychiatric questions in the standard screen, a series of pop-up windows suggest possible diagnoses: "Please consider Panic Disorder," "Please consider Agoraphobia," "Please consider Alcohol/Drug Abuse" (that popped up twice for me, uh-oh!), "Please consider Generalized Anxiety Disorder," "Error on line 6933 ... Object Required," perhaps we should "Please consider another software program."
Constant spelling mistakes only reinforce the amateur presentation, and to top it all off the program costs $100 and only allows one trial use. If you ever end up with a psychiatrist who uses this ridiculous software, run away!
No. 1. Automatic Print Email
In a year of "change" where many scientists and concerned citizens believe that our environment is reaching the tipping point when it comes to natural resources, there's no reason to waste paper unnecessarily, yet that's exactly what this software does. For the low, low price of $50, this program will print all of the e-mail from your in-box, creating pages after pages of YouTube links, Viagra spam, Evite invitations, and other minutiae from your friends, relatives, and random strangers.
In my option, you're much better off using an actual e-mail program to, you know, read your messages, and then print out the images and letters for which you want hard copies after your preview your messages. For those responsible members of Spaceship Earth, a free program called GreenPrint takes on the notion of paper waste from an opposite approach. It lets you remove items from computer printouts to avoid wasting paper unnecessarily. Now there's an idea for 2009!
The Electric Sheep screensaver can turn your desktop into a psychedelic wonderland.
(Credit: Chris_Ursitti/Electric Sheep)We all know what fractals are, even if we can't explain them very well (myself included). In simplest terms, fractals are geometric shapes that can be split into increasingly smaller, yet identical, fragments.
In 2002, Scott Draves created something called "fractal flares," which are a class of fractals that use nonlinear transformations and color in a way to create spectacular images. His work was put into a free, open-source fractal-flame called Apophysis.
I've been playing a bit with Apophysis this week, and be warned: once you get started, you may find yourself spending hours creating increasingly impressive artwork and tweaking your inventions. The learning curve for Apophysis is fairly steep, but there are plenty of tutorials online to get you started.
Once you get comfortable with two-dimensional creation using Apophysis (and your computer can handle a somewhat intense processing demand), you can take the fractal madness up a notch with the "experimental" 3D version of the software, one of several beta versions of Apophysis.
For lower-maintenance fractal flames on your desktop, Scott Draves also created an open-source screensaver called Electric Sheep. This most excellent software uses your computer's down cycles to generate fractal flames and share them with the community at large.
You can even vote for other users' creations, or "sheep," to increase their lifespan and ensure that they "mate" with other sheep to create beautiful children. You can also create sheep using scripts built into Apophysis and then submit them to the Electric Sheep Web site. A gallery of the user-generated fractal flames displays all sorts of images, as well as useful and trivial data about both living and dead sheep.
What other software do you use to create cool-looking fractals or any other digital art? Tell me about it in the comments.
Mp3tag makes it simple to edit batches of MP3 files.
According to a recent New York Times article, 80 percent of people who make New Year's resolutions abandon them before Valentine's Day. But we can all beat the odds, right?
This year, I'm hoping to make some sense of my digital music collection. I'm a big fan of the audio-tracking site Last.fm (my username is "field_day" if you want to friend me), but I'll often get an error when trying to "scrobble" a song because my ID3 information is missing or erroneous.
ID3 is a metadata format within MP3 files that can store a song's title, artist, album, track number, genre, year, and other useful data. And editing that info song by song in iTunes, Winamp, MediaMonkey, or other music players can be a real pain in the butt.
Enter the batch taggers. These software programs make it much easier to edit multiple MP3 files at once. One of the most popular, Mp3tag, was a Featured Freeware selection back in August 2008, and TagScanner is another top-rated and popular freeware option. Among the shareware solutions, TagTuner offers a full 30-day trial and includes one unique and critical feature: the ability to roll back any batch changes.
Will 2009 be the year I finally get my MP3 act together? I certainly hope so. If you have any expert advice on organizing digital music or cleaning up my ID3 tags, tell me about it in the comments.
American Thanksgiving represents a cornucopia of traditional activities and fare, all centered around the celebration of giving thanks for our bountiful resources. Turkeys, falling leaves, pumpkin pie, NFL football, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, and crazy Uncle Joe are all a part of the seasonal festivities. Get in the fall holiday spirit with a collection of seven screensavers designed for the Thanksgiving season.
Turkey Thanksgiving screensaver
What could be cuter than turkeys dressed up like Pilgrims and Native Americans? Well, how about turkeys dressed up like Pilgrims and Native Americans who are celebrating the first Thanksgiving? The first turkey Pilgrims set the table and bring the cranberry sauce, the Native Americans supply maize and bread, and the last Pilgrim group completes the feast with muffins and mashed potatoes.
Astro Gemini Software's Harvest Time Farms is a place that exemplifies the many themes and traditions of the Thanksgiving holiday. At this imaginary, animated farm, plump turkeys waddle around the barn, a collection of fall vegetables and fruits sits in a wheelbarrow, and the entire rural scene resonates with the spirit of the season.
Thanksgiving dinner is dominated by the fruits of the fall harvest, and this free screensaver pays homage to those delicious treats with a slide show of images embellished with Thanksgiving messages. Images include turkey dinner, pumpkin pie, a bowl full of apples, and a bouquet of fall roses.
Thanksgiving Forest screensaver
Summer gives way to fall quickly, as this animated free screensaver can attest. In a cartoon autumn scene, trees turn red and orange, a flock of turkeys pecks around the forest for food, and a trio of cute, little squirrels assemble en masse on a fence, as if to provide us with a Thanksgiving serenade.
There are many ways to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving, and this free screensaver takes a polished, artful approach. As yellow, orange, and red leaves falling from above onto the white screen, the message "Happy Thanksgiving" appears in a variety of fonts and styles.
In this wacky free screensaver, a bevy of cartoon turkeys stages an impromptu protest against eating turkey on Thanksgiving. With their slanted Pilgram hats and funny protest signs with phrases like "Vegans Rule," "Eat Crow," and "Beef! It's What's For Thanksgiving," these fine-feathered friends are likely to charm.
The Dallas Cowboys ScreenServer
The Dallas Cowboys (formerly the Texans) have been playing football on Thanksgiving day for more than 50 years. You might think there's a typo in the title of this desktop app, but you'd be wrong. The "ScreenServer" provides news, events, statistics, trivia, player and cheerleader photos, and video features. If you're a fan of "America's Team," check it out.
The are good programs and bad programs, and then there are the horror shows. Every three months or so, we take a playful look at some of the least impressive software programs to come down the pike.
From Canadian Rock Radio to telepathic communication with aliens, there's a lot not to like about this oddball crew. Just in time for Halloween, CNET TV's Tom Merritt counts down the five scariest downloads of fall 2008.
You don't have to be a werewolf or vampire to get excited about Halloween. What other holiday lets you dress up as a triceratops and snort at passersby or flashback to your grade-school years with a pretty pink ballerina tutu? Your Halloween festivities don't have to stop at the front door. Slap a virtual holiday jack-o-lantern or spooky scenes on your Windows desktop with this collection of Halloween screensavers.
If your idea of magic is a spell that turns a painting of an ugly old crone into a vivacious, attractive, young woman, this screensaver has the trickery that you're looking for. After bursting from the prison painting, the buxom beauty points out her window to a witch performing somersaults, then kisses you a very magical Halloween message. Her winking eye turns into the full moon, and the scenario is repeated.
Cascading Candy Corn screensaver
Some find it delicious; others think it tastes atrocious. Regardless of your personal taste for the colorful confectionary, Halloween is the only time of year when it's acceptable to eat this seasonal treat. Put the high-fructose delight on your desktop en masse with a 3D collection of falling, twirling candy corn pieces.
Haunted House Horrors Screen Saver
I'm not sure that I'd take my trick-or-treating activities toward this creepy domicile. Floating ghosts, bats, and a screeching cat are just a few of the scares that you'll find in and about this classic haunted mansion. Sound effects add an extra spooky dimension, and you'll never know what you'll find around the next corner.
Jack-O-Lantern.com Screen Saver
Using actual pumpkins carved by experts and community members, this free screensaver from Jack-O-Lantern.com offers up a cornucopia of jack-o-lantern delights. The shareware version is free to use and distribute; e-mail registration allows you to disable image-label tags and enable or turn off the music.
A spooky cemetery is the setting for this ghostly scene. Specters and wraiths appear from tombs and mausoleums while creepy music ensues. Various customization options let you change the color of the scene or the number of apparitions.
This young enchantress hasn't tucked herself away in a forest cottage or creepy cave--she's showing off her style in the city as she walks her pet spiders. As the city witch strolls through the urban environment, the city backdrop scrolls behind her. A pesky black cat scares her and her spiders away from the scene in a hurry, but don't worry. She'll be back.
If the City Witch screensaver doesn't tickle your aesthetic bone, you may prefer the calm, quiet, peacefulness--and pure creepiness--of the country. In this spooky pastoral scene, a haunted farmhouse is visited at dusk by bats, jack-o-lanterns, and a black cat. A mysterious white specter appears from time to time, performing a mysterious ritual.
This free animated screensaver from American Greetings shows a variety of cartoon jack-o-lanterns in the process of creation. Eyes, nose, and mouth all pop out, accompanied by seasonal music, to create spooky, goofy, or terrifying pumpkin faces.
(Credit:
CNET Networks)
Some cats are known to be skittish, but not this big, black fellow. He'll quickly take over your whole desktop with his furry, dark face, and his yellow, beady eyeballs that seem to follow you whenever you leave the computer. If you're looking for something creepily unique, Mr. Cat In Your Face might do the trick.
Accompanying the All Saints Day and All Souls Day Catholic holy days following Halloween, this primarily Mexican holiday known as the Day of the Dead in English honors family and friends who have passed away. Believing that communication with the dead is enhanced at this time, participants build shrines, pray, and visit graves. This screensaver uses symbols from ancient Aztec rituals to create a graveyard celebration.
IrfanView packs some mighty editing features in its tiny download.
(Credit: CNET Networks)For making color corrections, printing, managing photo albums, or any of 100 other routine image-editing tasks associated with digital photography, commercial programs like Adobe Photoshop or Corel Paint Shop Pro are great solutions. But if you just need to resize and crop your personalized South Park character image to fit on your Facebook or MySpace page, a simpler option is in order.
Luckily, there are a variety of free and easy ways to crop and resize your digital photographs. One of the quickest and easy downloads for doing so is IrfanView, a longtime favorite image viewer that has added more and more editing functionality through the years.
The tiny download weighs in at 1.24MB and literally can be installed in seconds. Once you've got it running, open the image that you want to edit and select Image > Resize/Resample to edit the size of your photo. To crop, click your cursor in the top left corner of the area you want to crop, then drag the cursor to create a rectangle. Select Edit > Crop Selection, and voila!
Another free application I've become a big fan of recently is Resizr, created by Matt Miller back in 2006. Resizr is a free online tool that lets you upload an image from your hard drive or via a URL. You can then rotate, crop, and resize your image, as well as make edits to brightness and contrast. I was impressed to recently discover that I could even adjust levels and convert PNG files to JPEGs.
Resizr's space interface holds several quick and valuable options for editing images.
(Credit: CNET Networks/CBS)What do you use to quickly resize and crop digital images? Tell me about it in the comments.
Everything puts your entire Windows file system (NTFS) at your fingertips.
(Credit: CNET Networks)Let's be honest. There's a lot to like about Microsoft Windows, and there's a lot that doesn't measure up. Local search can be filed in the latter category.
Too long have we been forced to endure slow and painful Windows Explorer searches or install a resource hog like Google Desktop to make up for what Windows lacks. A simple program called Everything, from small software publisher voidtools, aims to change all that.
With a simple interface and blazing speed, Everything does mostly one thing, and it does it extremely well. It creates a near-instant index of your files and directory names, then provides near-real-time results for any search term. The installer weighs just 300K, and RAM usage is minimal.
It's important to note, however, that Everything only works on NTFS file systems, and resource usage will go up quite a bit with large (1 million+) numbers of files.
Everything is one of those little, free applications that simply make using a Windows PC easier. It reminds me (just a little) of Tiny Watcher, another free tool that monitors your PC for any file changes since your last restart.
What itty bitty Windows programs do you depend on? Tell me about it in the comments.
Launchy
(Credit: CNET Networks)If you're familiar with Windows application launchers (aside from the "Run" button), you probably already know about Launchy, a simple utility that finds and runs/opens programs, file, music, Web searches, and bookmarks. Launchy has earned a big fan base because of its simplicity and efficiency. However, two new free launchers have their sights set on Launchy's user base.
Executor is slick and endlessly keywordable.
(Credit: CNET Networks)Yesterday, the tech site Lifehacker featured Executor, a free release from Martin Bressman that expands upon Launchy's run functionality. Executor has a slick interface and is a no-brainer for keyboard maniacs. All of your favorite software, movies, and music can be started with easily customizable keywords.
FARR looks simple, but works quickly.
(Credit: CNET Networks)Another popular program on the rise is the Find and Run Robot (or FARR) from DonationCoder.com. Although FARR is styled more like a search tool than a launcher, once you find what you're looking for, FARR lets you start applications, send e-mail, and perform quick Web searches. It uses adaptive caching to learn which programs and files you use most, and it's also been extended with free add-ons for services like Google Maps and compatibility with alternative browsers like Opera.
Do you use a launching application, or is the good old Windows Start button and Run functionality good enough? Tell me about it in the comments.
