Field Agent is an app that pays you to do different tasks.

Since the introduction of the iPhone, developers have rushed to come up with all kind of apps that cover the whole rainbow from the very useful to the very silly and useless. Some are free and will probably remain so for lack of a market willing to pay for it, and some cost a fee to download.
Now enters a new app called Field Agent that is free to download but even more, promess to pay you as you use it. Well, sorta, since the pay is not tied to the use of the app per say.
What the app does, is to pull some location based tasks that willing users can sign up to do and get paid for their efforts.
According to the New York Times, they are not even worth doing unless you find yourself in or near the location where the task in hand is to be performed. Generally the tasks consist of filing out a survey, checking the prices of certain products in a store, or taking the picture of products on store' shelves and the pay is around $2 in most cases.

For more, see NYTimes.com

Movie Recipe gives food and movie lovers a chance to cook their favorites.

Foods and movie lovers who have always stared at that dish shown in a movie and wandered how they could could their hand on that recipe, wander no more. A new site called Movie Recipes.net has a stated goal to be the place for movie lovers to find the recipe of that dish seen in a movie.
To be more exact, the recipes in Movie Recipes database are inspired by dishes in some notable movies and not the official ones endorsed by the movies themselves.
For instance, there are the cheese quesadillas from Napoleon Dynamite, or the spicy chili from the Wild Hogs etc.

For more, see appscout.com

How to transfer e-mails from an overflown Gmail account.

If you find yourself maxed out on your free Gmail account seven gigabytes of space, there are ways to free some or all space from that old account into a new one, following a few steps.
The first step would be obviously to sign-up for a new Gmail account and make note of the new address and password and then log into your original account and start the transfer process.
That process is a little bit long and time consuming specially if you do not want to get rid of all your old mails but instead want to search through and save a few.
Another solution would be to opt for more space by moving to one of Gmail various paid accounts which start at $5 a year for 20 GB.


For more, see NYTimes.com

Factors to consider when thinking about security software.

With the release of Windows 7, Microsoft has improved a lot its operating system with a built-in firewall and an upgraded anti-virus protection. Given the fact that this represent a big improvement compared to what Windows has offered in the past, some people may feel secure enough already to the point of not thinking about adding anothher layer of protection to their investment. Unfortunately, in the world of computing, someone will always need a security software unless your computer get never plugged or connected to the Internet.
The good news is when it comes to security software, the choice is vast and can be a bit confusing. Fortunately, today's software security world is dominated by the so called security suites which almost take the work out of having one protect your computer. Once installed and configured, they run in the background requiring little or no human intervention.
But with the choice so dizzying, a little guidance to help navigate the choppy waters, will go a long way.
When considering a software security suite, there are a few things to keep in mind: the assurance that it is designed to take care of all your security needs (firewall protection, anti viruses, spywares and all kind of malicious software etc) and even some extra like parental control or spam filtering. Also very important is the fact that the security suite runs in integration or play nice with the rest of your computer system, eliminating any chance that it may slow down your machine.

For more, see pcmagazine.com

MLB releases At Bat phone app for the 2010 season.

At Bat, the official app of the MLB.com has been released and it is a comprehensive source of news for the 2010 season. According to the New York Times, " in addition to complete box scores, At Bat provides, schedules, articles and videos from Major League Baseball's staff and live streaming audio of games."
With these features, the app costs $14.99 and for the possibility to watch live games, it will cost you an additional $100 a year or $120 for a premium version. But despite the extra money spent to upgrade, the games are still subject to blackout.
The At Bat app has versions for the iPone, the Blackberry Storm and Storm2, and Android phones.

For more, see NYTimes.com

Getting rid of junk files using CCleaner

As many owners may testify, over time, computers will show performance and handling issues, becoming sluggish and slow to respond. One of the main culprit of computers' slowdown may be the accumulation of junk files (downloaded program files, temporary Internet files and others) on your disk. The good news is that all Windows based computers come with a built-in utility program that can do the job of keeping your disk cleaned and free for more space. For people who know something about that function and how to use it, that may be all they need to keep their machines running smoothly.
But the true of the matter is that the Windows built-in cleaning program does not touch certain files who may built up considerably over time and start to be of an issue.
Fortunately, there are some programs designed to do the job that Windows utility program would not do, and some of them like CCleaner utility cleaning software by Piriform.com, are free to use. Although the doftware is free for anyone to use, a donation is welcomed to help support it and people who choose to do so, will receive a priority update every time one is available and before it is for the general public. Wikipedia has more information concerning CCleaner for people wanting to learn more.
According to pcworld which reviewed it, "CCleaner searches through a number of programs and removes useless files. It's highly configurable, allowing you to select which problems to look for and which items to ignore."
And while many file cleaners just scrub your browser cache or your temporary file folder, CCleaner is credited by pcworld to go further by cleaning temporary files from common third-party applications like Adobe, Firefox, Google toolbar, Norton anti-virus, to name a few.

For more, see pcworld.com

Ways to display pictures on iPad.

With its 9.7 inch, 1024-by-768 resolution, 132 pixels per inch, backlit LED display, Apple's iPad is an appealing platform for displaying photos. There is an array of apps in the iPad apps store that help do that.
The iPad itself comes with Photos app which is a tool that among others functions, helps display your pictures stored inside the iPad as well as some from elsewhere in an album fashion when you choose Album view.
A way to display photos from somewhere else as an album on iPad, is to sync the device with a feature called Smart Album from Aperture or iPhoto that collects all your best pictures. Once you do that, any time you launch the Photos app on iPad, all those photos will appear as un album if you are in album view.
There are a lot more that you can do with your photos using the iPad, like selecting pictures from a thumbnail and email them to someone or view them in a slideshow.

For more, see Pcworld.com

New updated WordPad progrom is available for Windows 7.

For people who do not own Microsoft Word, it is good news to hear that Microsoft has updated its WordPad program for Windows 7 operating system.
The new WordPad program will let you add your most-used commands to the Quick Access toolbar located on top of the page by right clicking on the command or button and choosing the "Add to Quick Access Toolbar" option from the menu.
According to the New York Times, "the program can also open and save files in both the .docx and the .odt (Open Document Text) formats."

For more, see Microsoft.com

















For more, see NYTimes.com

Solutions for printing and browsing files on iPad.

Despite all the hype surrounding the conception and launch of the iPad, there are still a few things Apple's newly released gadget cannot do; among them are the lack of a centralized files browser in the device and direct printing.
All the files created or stored in the iPad are accessible only from wherever particular app they were created from like mail app, pictures files, texts app etc; but there are different ways to get around this issue. One would be to use Pages Export to export or import files from another computer to the iPad via iTunes.
Another solution would be to use iWork which is Apple service for sharing documents Online.It is currently in beta form and allow users who sign for it, to share any document saved in the iPad using that format
Another work around to the lack of a centralized browser for file sharing in the iPad, is the use of apps. For that, a number of third-party apps for iPad will let you share files between your computer and your iPad. These generally work over the air, syncing files via an outside Website or over your Wi-Fi network.
One of those apps is one called Print n Share which as its name indicates, will let you print and share documents. Created by a company called EuroSmartz, it costs $7 on iTunes.


For more, see pcworld.com

Ways to stay safe while using a public Wi-Fi.

For most people who do not have a paid Wireless Internet access through an ISP, any chance that they get to access the Internet on the go for free is welcomed news, be it at the local coffee shop or at the airport during a long delay or at the local library branch.
But as tempting as that may sounds, some words of caution will go a long way. The rule of thumb is to use a public Wi-Fi only for mundane Web browsing, nothing that requires to log in via a password like checking emails or accessing bank accounts etc.
The reasons for that is because even if you are using an encrypted public Wi-Fi, your information is only hidden from people outside the network; all others that are able to log in in the same network, can see them.
Even people using a prepaid Wireless access card are not absolutely immune from snoopers, surprisingly. Here is why: the paid Wi-Fi service provider may use encryption at the very moment when you log in if it is prepaid, or when you enter your credit card number if is pay as you go, as to protect your data. But usually, once you are in, any data you send or view, is not encrypted therefore can be seen by other people in the network unless you only visit sites that use the secure HTTPS delivery system.

If you do a lot of work outside the physical bondaries of the company you work for, it may be a good idea for the company to offer what is called a VPN or virtual private network in which all Intenet traffic are highly encrypted regardless of what type of connection you are using: public or private. If not, you still still almost as much safe using one of the VPN products offered by various providers, some free, like the HotSpot Shield from AnchorFree.


For more, see pcworld.com

Mint.com and Personal Assistant.com are two financial apps that help track spendings.

When it comes to personal finances, for a lot of people, the common complaint used to be that they lacked the tools or the time to do a good job at monitoring all their different accounts or every single one of their spending. Those days seem over with the development of personal financial sites with most of them offering free basic products on their Web sites and now almost the same products in the form of apps for mobile phones.
The pool of such tools to choose from, is deap and ever expanding. The new York Times just reviewed a few of them and found that Mint.com owned by Intuit and Personal Assistant.com from parent company Pageonce.com, stand out of the crowd.
Mint.com is available free on iPhone and soon on Androit while Pageonce Personsal Assistan.com offers free ads supported versions on more platforms like iPhone, Blackberry, Windows Mobile and Android and ads free versions for $7.
To use either service, you will have to give them your login and passwords information for all your financial accounts that you want them to track like credit cards, mortgage, utilities etc. And among other things, they will send you a S.M.S. or e-mail alert when a bill is due or when your balance on your credit card hit a certain level for instance. Both services work almost the same way by offering you a summary of as many accounts or activities that you want to track, and they refer you to some financial products that may be worthwhile for you.
The way they are able to do all that is by linking to thousand of financial institutions.
Beside Mint.com and Personal Assistant.com, there are two other services worth taking a look; BillTracker.com and BillMinder.com.
According to the New York Times, the main atttraction of those two services is the fact that they are minimalistic in the sense that only the user can actually see what information is contained in their accounts. But on the other hand, they require more work since the users have to manually enter all the data to the different accounts that they want to track.

For more, see the NewYorkTimes.com

Adobe Creative Suite version 5 is a complete package with nice new features

The popular design and editing software Photo shop from Adobe has underwent a much needed make over with the new version 5 or CS5 to be released April 30. According to pcworld, Adobe Creative Suite 5 or CS5 "is Adobe's comprehensive package of applications for creating both online and offline content. It includes software for photo and video editing, illustration, page layout and design, and the creation of animated snippets for the Web." The new version is in response to the ever expanding needs in Web design and animation. Adobe Creative Suite 5 seems to address those concerns right from the bat with a 64 bit format for both Mac and Microsoft systems.
It also include more than 250 new features spread over the different applications that can be purchased separately or as part of a CS5 bundle.
For instance the Master collection includes Photoshop CS5, Illustrator CS5, InDesign CS5, Flash Catalyst CS5, Flash CS5 Professional, Dreamweaver CS5, Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 and After Effects CS5. The master collection is set to sell for $2599 while the standard edition will go on sale for $1299

For more, see pcworld.com

Vodafone Sure Signal helps business boost their wireless signals.

Cell phone users in the UK have now a new way to boost their indoor mobile phones signal thanks to a device called Vodafone Sure Signal, by the technology company Vodafone. The device works by rerouting mobile telephone calls through the broadband wired connection in places where cellphone receptions are very poor. It allow up to thirty two mobile phones to be registered with the device but only four at a time can be in use in connection with it and they all have to be Vodafone 3G branded phones.
It sells for 50 to 120 euros depending on the plan you are in and no indication is given that the Vodafone Sure Signal will be available in the U.S.

For more, see Broadbandexpert.com

Whittings Internet conected body scale will shout your weight to the world.

Nowadays, with a lot of people being self conscious about their weights and most of them being in some form of weight management program, some companies are trying to cash-in on the the fade. They come up with all sorts of products and devices that cater to that audience and a French company called Whitings is no different than the rest of them. One of its creations is a Wi-Fi connected body scale called Whitings Internet body scale that can help track and manage the weight of a maximum of to eight people. The scale works as a weight management tool by recording not just your weight, but other information like your lean and mass fat and your body mass index or BMI and automatically send it to different outlets like a free Web site, Google Health, Microsoft Health Vault, Twiteer, an free iPhone app, among others. But if you don't elect to, the flow of information can be restricted to only the people you want to see it like your health care provider.

Each one of the eight people that can be tracked by the Whitings Internet scale, are identified by their weights. The Whithings Internet scale sells for $159 and is available at the company Web site, and at Amazon.com.

For more, see NYTimes.com

Skype deal with Verizon to make it available on the carrier's 3G network.

Back in February, Skype signed a deal with Verizon Wireless that will make the former VoIP telephone service available on the latter 3G network.
With Verizon Wireless, Skype mobile is now available in two carriers' networks in the U.S.
Until now, Skype was only available on Apple's iPhone over AT&T Wi-Fi service.
But the deal with Verizon comes with some strings attached: "Skype users will have to buy voice and data plans from Verizon Wireless and also one of nine smartphones sold by the operator. Also, any Skype calls placed to United States residents who do not have Skype accounts will be deducted from the caller’s package of Verizon voice minutes" said the New York Times.
Outside the U.S., Skype mobile is available in certain European countries.

For more, see the NYTimes.com

Redbox iPhone app allows you to see what movies are available at your location.

Quietly, the Redbox DVD dispenser machines are becoming part of the landscape at many retail stores across the nation and a lot of people have found them very convenient. To add to that convenience, now imagine being able to surf the content of those Redboxes near your location in search of that particular one movie that you want to watch. That is possible thanks to the Internet connection of those boxes which allows you to go Online and survey their contents from the comfort of your home or better yet, your iPhone. Yep! There is an app for that.

Sorting through the titles is simplified by the Redbox iPhone app so called "search-by-genre" feature which is said to let you only see "Hit Movies" or genres like Action & Adventure, Comedy and Drama, according to the New York Times. Also making the search easier, is the movies' listing by release date instead of alphabetic order.

For more, see NYTimes.com

Cortado Workplace is a free app that let you print from your smartphone.

Blackberry and iPhone owners now have the possibilities to print files right from their devices by using a free app called Cortado Workplace from a company named Thin Print AG.
Imagine being on the road with your smartphone as the only device with you and be able to print e-mails, computer files, photos or documents from your phone and onto a networked printer. All that is possible after you download the free app; from there, you will be using the company's cloud server to store for free files up to 1 gigabyte with a maximum of 3 megabytes per file, according to the New York Times.

For more, see NYTimes.com

Health messages for expectant mothers sent over the phone via texts. .

Expectant mothers who find themselves needing a little coaching to carry their pregnancy can now find that help in the form of timely text messages sent to their cell phones. The free service is from Voixiva a Washington based health non profit group who specialise in using technologies to solve complex medical issues.
The way the service works is very straightforward according to the New York Times: you send in a text message to the service with the word "baby" or "bebe" in Spanish to 511-411 then wait for the service to prompt you for for zip code and due date. From there and until a year after your due date, you will be getting reminders for things like taking your vitamins, going see your OBYG for a regular check up, etc.

For more, see NYTimes.com

Cisco's Valet wireless router makes home networking easy.

Last week, a new wireless router called Valet -The Valet.com- made by network equipment maker Cisco, hit the market with less fanfare than the launch of Apple's iPad. Not to compare apple and orange, -no pun intended-, a lot of people may benefit more from Cisco' Valet wireless router than from Apple's iPad. But that is a mute point given the fact that they both serve different purposes and may respectively fall in the need and want categories, therefore their "sexiness" greatly varies. Well, speaking of the Valet wireless router, it is really a user friendly device that almost anyone can set up and operate. All the people who reviewed it, have come to that conclusion, including TMC.net. According to the reviewers, setting up Valet wireless network takes about 10 minutes on average thanks to its USB Easy Set Up Key that plugs into your computer and almost auto-installs, requiring only very little action from the user. It can be configured with a parental control to restrict teens Web access or usage, or to accommodate guest logging, or to add on other computers and devices like mobile phones etc. The Valet wireless router retails for $100 and is available from various outlets like Staples, Amazon.com, Target, and Wal-Mart. And for those looking for something with more range, there is the Valet Plus, a $150 version that with 20% more Wi-Fi coverage.

For more, see TMC.net

Apple's iPad set to go on sale Saturday April 3 rd.

On Wednesday, Apple confirmed to its customers by e-mail, the commercial debut of the iPad tablet as being Saturday April 3rd at 9 AM.
To better showcase all the possibilities touted about the new device, Apple is positioning its Apple stores as the place to experience it. It is planning to have its specialists available to demonstrate all the bells and whistles of the iPad and even help potential buyers with the set-up of their devices for free. But the device can also be purchased at Apple's Web site.
The iPad that will go on sale this Saturday will be available in the Wi-Fi format only with prices ranging from $499 to $699 for the 16 GB and the 64 GB while the 32 GB will cost $599.
Apple is planning to release Wi-Fi+3G versions in later April with prices ranging from $629 to $829.

Foe more, see Informationweek.com

Greeting Card Companies offer new video greeting cards service.

People who want to send greeting cards but don't want to deal with the hassle associated with it, (buy the actual card, scribe something on it and take it to the post office for mailing etc), there is a new option in the form of mobile video. The new services being pushed by greeting card companies, try to capitalize on two things: the ubiquitous nature of mobile phones and the popularity of videos. And with more and more videos being tailored to the mobile medium, it was just a matter of time before someone try to capitalize on that. The fact that an industry like the greeting cards' is jumping on the fray, makes perfect sense giving the facts that more and more people communicate via mobile phone and that texting recently surpassed talking as the favorite choice.
According to the New York Times, video greeting cards as proposed by some in the industry, "deliver a brief video with sound and music as quickly and often as cheaply as sending a text."
American Greetings is one of those greeting card companies that offer the new services and it service "transmits a video card chosen from its Web site directly to handsets of nearly all major mobile carriers", according to the New York Times.
Right now the service is free for the four million customers already registered on its Web site or for premium users who pay $15.99 a year, the New York Times said.
Another greeting cards company in the mix, is Hallmark, whose so called Web-to-mobile cards cost 99 cents each.

For more, see NYTimes.com