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Episode 11: Digital Photography
It seems like digital cameras have taken over the picture-takling world. Which cameras give you the best value? Charlie and Stephen pick their favorites, and tell you what to look for when buying that digital camera. Are the number of pixels telling you the whole story? Find out in this week's episode. Your hosts also talk about the fastest personal computers in the world, and a problem that's cropped up for the new iPod nano. Plus, don't miss the Coolness Roundup Rapid-Fire Roundup® of cool products, where this week Stephen and Charlie tell you about the Top 10 free applications, some of which you can find on the Web and some are lurking right there under your nose on your own PC.
Rapid-Fire Roundup® of Cool Products
Talk about rapid fire, today we have for you fabulous freebies! Here are the top 10 free applications available on the Web. If you have the chance, do yourself a favor and check out each one of these, some of which we've talked about on Coolness Roundup, some not. So, are you ready? Here goes:
Firefox
If you haven't tried Firefox yet, stop everything and go download it now. Just go. We'll wait until you get back to continue.
GSpot Codec Information Appliance
If you've ever tried to play back a video clip and it's just not working, or if you can see the video and audio is not working, download this powerful tool and it will tell you exactly what's going on.
Icon Restore
Having your icons in disarray is like having your brain scrambled. Icon Restore can bring things back exactly the way you had them before, with one click. It's one of those little applets that I really couldn't live without.
Skype
The more people there are on a network, the more powerful that network is, and now there are literally millions and millions of people using Skype. What is it? It's a free Internet telephone service that lets you talk to anyone, anywhere in the world.
Time and Chaos
Here's a little secret I'll let you in on, or maybe it's not a secret: Microsoft Outlook is vulnerable to every virus, spyware, scumware and trojan that you can imagine. Dump it for Time and Chaos. Even though its latest iteration is version 6, I think, oddly enough, that version 5 is better and you can get a fully functional copy of it absolutely free.
iTunes
Certainly you've tried this. It's the best music download service, bar none. Search iTunes, get it, betcha you can’t download just one.
DVD Decrypter/Auto Gordian Knot
These two applications let you do things the greedy movie studios don't want you to do. No, I'm not going to tell you how to use DVD Decrypter and Auto Gordian Knot, or even tell you where to get them (free on the Web by searching for them on Google), but suffice to say that if you'd like to rip the movies off your DVDs and compress them into compact movie clips that you can take with you anywhere, these two applications can help you get that done.
Google Earth
Here’s one of those applications that makes you wonder how on earth it could be free. The wizards of Google have taken their exquisite Google Map (now called Google Local) application and slapped it onto a 3D globe, allowing you to virtually fly from any place on the earth to any other.
Celestia
If you're interested in astronomy, this is a Google Earth for the universe. Sit down with your kids and fly from planet to planet in full 3D, or see what our sun looks like from zillions of miles away. For the ultimate jaw dropper, this application will give you a sense of just how big the universe is.
Internet Backgammon
Here's a little applet that you probably already have if you’re using Windows XP. Look on your Start menu, and you'll see Internet Backgammon, a tiny little application that sits you across a virtual table from backgammon players all over the world. Even if you're not a backgammon player, this is a great place to learn.
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