AltDrag

AltDrag allows you to move and resize windows much easier. When you have it running you can simply hold down the Alt key and then use your mouse to drag any window, and it doesn't matter where in the window you click. This is especially useful in netbooks, with respect to the small screen and touchpad. It simply allows you to do more with less mouse movements.

AltDrag is unobtrusive, consumes very little resources and never bothers you. An additional feature is the ability to snap windows to each other. Just press the shift key while moving a window and it will automatically attach itself to other windows that are near.

Note: This program is donationware. It is free to use, but the author accepts and encourages donations towards further development.

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Sizer

As a technical writer and software blogger, an important part of my job is taking screenshots. I need to do this every day, and they often need to be in very specific sizes. To make that happen, I find myself reaching for Sizer multiple times every day.

Sizer is incredibly lean. You can get it as an MSI installer, or as a simple ZIP package containing two files, weighing just 16KB in total. In this case, we recommend the ZIP package. It hooks into Windows so that when you right-click any window border, you get a small pop-up menu with preset window sizes. Click one of the entries in the menu, and Sizer instantly resizes the window.

You can also pop up Sizer’s menu by clicking each window’s icon (in the top-left corner). This will cause the default window menu to be shown, but with a new entry called Resize/reposition, offering access to Sizer’s presets.

When you’re not using it, Sizer quietly sits in the system tray, taking up just under 2MB of RAM. You can right-click its icon and open its single-pane configuration interface, where you can create as many size presets as you need. You can name your presets with words (Medium Size for Manual), but for a large list you may want to go with simple numbers, such as “720x400.”

Another Sizer feature I like is the tooltip that’s shown when you resize any window. This is optional, but if you keep it on (as I like to do), you get instant height and width information while resizing. Very useful for ad-hoc resizing when you don’t have a ready preset, but still need the window at a specific size. It can even be used as a simple on-screen ruler in a pinch, by grabbing a Notepad window and resizing it to measure distances between different website or screen elements.

The only slight issue I had with Sizer was when trying out its MSI installer. For some reason, the installer wouldn’t run correctly on my Windows 7 x64 test PC. I ended up downloading the ZIP package and manually extracting the application, and then everything worked just fine. The developer states that you must uninstall any .msi version of Sizer before installing a fresh copy, and that the program is only partially supported on 64-bit. I’ve been using it with Windows 7 x64 for about a year, and did not notice any issues.

Using Sizer, I was able to document a large application over the course of many weeks, always keeping my screenshots neat and consistent. If you take screenshots for a living, you probably need Sizer.

--Erez Zukerman

Sizer is a freeware utility that allows you to resize any window to an exact, predefined size. This is extremely useful when designing web pages, as it allows you to see how the page will look when viewed at a smaller size. The utility is also handy when compiling screen-shots for documentation, using Sizer allows you to easily maintain the same window size across screen grabs.

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DisplayFusion

The free version of DisplayFusion makes it easy to customize your desktop wallpaper with your own images. Select pictures from your own hard drive or pull them down from Flickr with this freebie. You can search for and preview shots from Flickr from within the program, and there are nice options for those with multiple monitors.

The straightforward progam window displays your monitor(s) in the top section, and you can click each one in turn to select an image for that monitor, or choose to have the background span both monitors. You can browse your own hard drive for pictures, but it's a good deal more fun to click the "Load from Flickr" button.

Doing so brings up another window where you can search for images based on keywords, particular Flickr Groups or a specific person. You can hunt for a person's shared images based on their name, or (a better bet) their e-mail address. Click any of the resulting thumbnail previews to select it as a background.

This fun utility is a free download, but a $20 Pro version gives you a nifty extra feature. The Pro version allows for randomly wallpaper changes using images selected either from your PC or from Flickr.

It's a cinch to use DisplayFusion, and the Flickr tie-in makes it much faster to pull down an online picture than going to the site and saving the image yourself. It used about 3mb of memory in my tests.

--Erik Larkin

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Spotify

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CyberGhost VPN Free

Worried that Web sites are snooping on you as you surf? Concerned that when you're at a public Hot Spot, such as at a café, a hacker can intercept everything you send and receive--including passwords and other personal information? Then you should give CyberGhost VPN Free a try. It creates a virtual private network (VPN) connection when you're on the Internet, so that you can be safe when you go online.

Install the program, then restart your computer, and run CyberGhost VPN F9ee. During setup, it's best to have CyberGhost VPN select your anonymization server for you, unless you know how to do it yourself. For increased security, you can have CyberGhost VPN delete cookies and your browser history after you disconnect, although it does that only in Microsoft Internet Explorer.

Behind the scenes, CyberGhost VPN Free replaces your normal IP address with a CyberGhost IP address shared with many users. In addition, you're connected to anonymization servers, which further protect you. Once you connect, you're anonymous online. Just use the Internet as you would normally. It's that simple.

That's not to say it's free of issues. First is that this free version of CyberGhost VPN will work for only six hours at a time or 1GB of downloads at a time, whichever comes first. You get disconnected after that, although you can then relaunch it again. If you want more uninterrupted time and a larger download amount, you'll have to subscribe to a premium version, which costs from 4 Euros to 10 Euros a month, depending on the download limit you want. That means that the free version is best suited for individual Internet sessions, such as when you take your laptop to a Hot Spot, rather than for all-day use.

In addition, you'll be connected using a foreign IP address, so you may notice some oddities. For example, my home page is Google.com, but when I clicked the home button on my browser, I was sent to the German version of Google. And when I tried to go to Google manually, by typing in google.com into my browser, I was sent to the German version of Google as well.

If you're willing to put up with a few quirks, you'll find CyberGhost VPN a great, free program for keeping you save online. And you can always pay if you want more time and bandwidth.

--Preston Gralla

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Presented By: Prepare for Tomorrow, Today, with Cisco

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PrimoPDF

PrimoPDF is a printer driver that creates PDF files from your documents, rather than printing them to paper. After install, whenever you choose the print option from an application, PrimoPDF will be listed along with your physical printers, print to file, etc. It's extremely easy to use and produces excellent PDFs--without the watermarks that some programs add.

Probably the best feature of PrimoPDF is the selection of templates for optimizing PDF output. Simply choose your output destination: the screen, a printer, ebook, or prepress (print with full image resolution) and PrimoPDF will create the PDF with that in mind. You may also enter tag information, referred to as document properties, such as the title, author, subject, and whatever keywords you specify.

PrimoPDF also allows you to secure your document. Unlike in older versions, you don't select the level of encryption; everything is 128-bit. You can specify a password to open the document, as well as a separate password to administer the document, i.e., change the password. You may specifically allow copying of text from a protected document, but this option is disabled by default.

Unusually, the setup routine offers to install a reminder app from the ASPCA--a nice break from the usual Google or Ask toolbars. PrimoPDF is a leader for the company's Nitro PDF Professional, so you'll see ads in the PrimoPDF dialog. If you want something effective without ads, try BioPDF PDF Writer or Nitro PDF Reader.

--Jon L. Jacobi

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AquaSnap

If you’re still using Windows XP or Windows Vista, you may have seen friends or coworkers snapping windows around with Windows 7’s newfangled hotkeys, and longed for the same functionality for your aging system. AquaSnap delivers this, and more.

AquaSnap essentially lets you snap windows into place either by dragging them around, or by using predefined hotkeys. When you use it with the mouse, you need only drag a window to one of the screen edges or corners. A large icon then appears, showing what would happen to the window once you let go of the mouse. Much like Aero Snap, touching the window against the screens left or right edges would make the window resize to occupy that half of the screen. But if you touch one of the corners, AquaSnap will resize the window to occupy that quarter of the screen--something Aero Snap doesn’t do.

If accurate window snapping is all you need, you may want to try out another free utility called WinSplit Revolution. WSR supports fine-grained control over the position and size of each of your windows, as well as the hotkeys used to place them.

AquaSnap has a few more tricks up its sleeves, such as a feature called “AquaShake,” which is supposed to be an improved version of the Windows 7 Aero Shake. Aero Shake lets you grab a window’s title bar and “shake” it so that all other windows are minimized. AquaShake lets you do the same, but you can also use it to make the window semi-transparent and pin it so it stays always on top. In its default configuration, AquaShake was a bit too enthusiastic: I was innocently trying to move a window somewhere on my screen, when it decided I was “shaking” it and made it transparent. This may vary according to your input device and caffeine consumption. Fortunately, the sensitivity can be customized, to reduce the number of false positives.

One drawback is that while AquaSnap hooks onto Windows 7’s default hotkeys for moving windows (Win+arrow keys), it won’t let you use those keys for moving windows across multiple monitors, making AquaSnap’s hotkeys less functional than the ones built into Windows.

By default, Windows 7 uses Win+up to maximize a window. AquaSnap modifies this hotkey so that when you press it, the window just takes the upper half of the screen. To maximize the window, you’ll have to press Win+Enter or Win+numpad 5, at which time AquaSnap will indeed maximize the window, but will also snap it back onto your primary monitor if it happened to be on another screen. A true deal breaker for multi-monitor users.

If you don’t use multiple monitors, AquaSnap may make it easier for you to move windows around. Then again, WinSplit Revolution is also free, and is much more powerful. You may want to give each a try before settling on just one.

--Erez Zukerman

AquaSnap is free software that greatly enhances the way you can arrange windows on your Desktop. It gives you the possibility to snap windows to the edges or to the corners of the desktop simply by dragging and dropping them where you want.

AquaSnap is a great replacement for the Aero Snap and Aero Shake features of Windows 7 and is compatible with every Windows versions and consumes very little memory and CPU.

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VirtuaWin

VirtuaWin is a virtual desktop manager for the Windows operating system (Win9x/ME/NT/Win2K/XP/Win2003/Vista/Win7). A virtual desktop manager lets you organize applications over several virtual desktops (also called 'workspaces'). Virtual desktops are very common in Unix/Linux, and once you get accustomed to using them, they become an essential part of a productive workflow.

VirtuaWin is designed to be simple and elegant to use yet mstill be highly configurable and extensible.

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Tracks Eraser Pro

Tracks Eraser Pro is designed to protect you by cleaning up all the unwanted history data on your computer. With only one click, Tracks Eraser Pro allows you to erase the cache,cookies,typed URLs,autocomplete memory,index.dat form your browser, and window's temp folder, run history, search history, open/save history, recent documents,etc. With Tracks Eraser's free plugins, you can easily erase the tracks of up to nearly unlimited applications,such as playlist of Realplayer, Mediaplayer, QuickTime,recent files of Office, Acrobat ,Winzip,etc. Tracks Eraser can also let you customize what file(s) and registry entry(s) to be erased With Tracks Eraser's Securely Erasing feature, you can erase the files completely, which can not be recovered by others.

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Plug-In Prius Isn’t a Car, It’s an Appliance

The Toyota Prius plug-in hybrid is, like its iconic sibling, an excellent hybrid but a remarkably bland car. Oh sure, it will carry you all over creation on miniscule quantities of gas in reasonable comfort. But it does so with no style or excitement.

Driving dynamics aren’t the point. This car’s raison d’être is exceptional fuel economy, and it delivers.

That’s to be expected, because we’re talking about a teched-out Prius, a car that’s always been as thrilling as a shopping cart. The plug-in gets an extension cord and a lithium-ion battery that lets you cruise on electrons alone for 13 miles. But in every other way that matters, the plug-in Prius is identical to the car that’s dominated the hybrid market since, well, forever. It looks, feels and, alas, drives the same.

But then, driving dynamics aren’t the point. This car’s raison d’être is exceptional fuel economy, and it delivers. I spent 10 days with a beta version of the car we’ll see in early 2012 and averaged 62.6 mpg. Yes, you can achieve that in a regular Prius if you drive like your dear aunt Edna, but I accomplished that without giving the slightest thought to efficiency. I even went so far as to skip charging the battery a couple of times to see what it would do to my fuel economy and still did no worse than 48.4 mpg. On those days when I did drive with a measure of restraint, I easily got into the 70s and even 80s.

Clearly this is a big step forward, even for a notorious miser like the Prius. Much of the credit for the added thriftiness goes to the 5 kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery under the cargo floor. It is considerably bigger than the 1.3 kilowatt-hour nickel-metal hydride pack in the regular Prius, with higher voltage (350 versus 200) as well. Plug into a 110-volt outlet like your TV uses and you’re good to go in three hours. A 220-volt line cuts that in half.

The extra electrical oomph provides the Prius with a proper EV mode. You’ll whir along smoothly and — almost — silently for 13 miles. The motor is equally meager at just 80 horsepower, peak, but it’s got decent torque and feels peppier than you’d expect. Go faster than 62 mph, though, and the 1.8-liter gasoline engine takes over.

No, 13 miles isn’t much range at all, especially against that other famous plug-in hybrid, the Chevrolet Volt. But a bigger battery costs more and weighs more, and Toyota argues it balanced range and cost.

Go beyond 13 miles and the four-banger wakes with a moan, a transition that is jarring given the smoothness of Toyota’s competitors. It is by no means a deal-breaker, but you’d think Toyota would have sorted that out by now. The 98-horsepower engine and regenerative brakes keep the pack juiced in hybrid mode.

Acceleration is, um, relaxed in “eco” mode. Even “power” mode, which is useful for passing maneuvers and merging with freeway traffic, is relative. The plug-in Prius trundles to 60 mph in anywhere from 10.5 to 11.3 seconds, depending upon which glossy magazine is doing the testing. That’s a second or more behind its sibling, due largely to the 358 pounds the battery, electronics and so forth add to the car.

The driving dynamics are equally uninspiring. The steering is vague, the brakes provide zero feedback and the suspension is mushy. No one buys a car like this to carve corners, though, so these aren’t complaints, just observations.

Inside you’ll find acres of thin fabric and plastic. The interior of the car I drove was awash in beige, and while that helps keep the interior cool, minimizing the need for energy-sucking air conditioning, it does nothing to mitigate the “meh” factor. That said, I’ve always thought the flying buttress center console is cool, and the vaguely space-age vibe of dashboard compliments the car’s advanced drivetrain.

The simple yet effective energy management system does a fine job telling you how much energy you’ve got, how much you’re using and what kind of fuel economy you’re getting. It isn’t as detailed as the systems in the Volt or Nissan Leaf, but it gets the job done.

And that may be the best that can be said about the Prius plug-in: It gets the job done. Frankly, the Volt is a better car — faster and smoother, with better range and a more attractive look. I mention that only because the Volt is the only other mass-market plug-in hybrid available right now, so the comparison is inevitable. But the plug-in Prius is a comfortable, capable commuter that gets exceptional fuel economy. Ask nothing more from it and you’ll be happy.

WIRED Fantastic fuel economy. Comfortable, capable commuter.

TIRED Meager range. About as much fun as reading the phone book.

Photos courtesy Toyota

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iPhone-Driven Bike Computer Is Data Center for Pedalphiles

Short of bolting a sidecar to your bike, iBike’s Dash CC Deluxe cycling computer is as close as you can get to taking a personal navigator along for a ride.

Actually, its computing brains are supplied by your iPhone, which is sort of like a personal navigator anyway. So let’s just call the device a sidecar for your little Apple buddy.

The Dash CC Deluxe system has a few components: a case that mounts on your bike, various sensors (also included) that attach to your bike and your body, and a free iPhone application that turns your iPhone into a detailed bike computer. It’s compatible with the iPhone 4, 3Gs/3G, and the iPod Touch generations 1, 2 and 3.

The case, called the Phone Booth, is sturdy enough. It bolts to your crossbars with some minor wrenching, and the case itself slides in and out securely. iBike may as well have allowed you to bolt the whole thing on, since the Phone Booth is too bulky to be used as a regular case off of the bike. There’s no way you’re getting that thing into your jeans. On the bike, though, it proved solid — it survived a few laydowns and is completely waterproof, which is great news if you get caught in a downpour.

When your phone is in the case, it’s able to communicate wirelessly with the included sensors. The list of ride data the Dash is able to collect is too long to run through in full, but it covers the basic cycling computer mainstays: cadence, heart rate (included a strap/monitor combo), speed, distance traveled and hours logged.

But your iPhone is much more than a bike computer, so the Dash goes well beyond the basics.

Since your iPhone is rocking GPS, you can use the maps feature to track your location wherever you go. Forget about getting lost. You can map out your route and follow your charted course, keeping an eye on your progress, and even the weather, as you ride.

It’s also easy to stare at the thing for too long. I almost drifted into traffic on more than one occasion when mesmerized by the screen in front of me. Keep those eyes up, cowboy. However, that’s also one of the Dash’s stronger suits: Your iPhone screen is huge compared to most bike computers, and that big color display makes glancing down at your current stats when you’re cranking on your bike a lot easier.

The GPS function drains your battery, though, so iBike did the smart thing and included a rechargeable lithium-ion battery to bolster your phone’s running time. During longer rides, the battery held out for two hours before going to the iPhone’s internal battery.

While you’re riding, your iPhone retains all of its functionality. You can listen to music, check your e-mail, update your Facebook status and make phone calls on a Bluetooth headset. All at your own risk, of course.

Once you get home, you can e-mail the ride’s data to your computer, where you can track your stats — ride time, cadence, speed, heart rate and elevation, including averages and high points — using the matching desktop software. You can mail it to anyone else who has the free desktop app, like your coach or your training buddies.

Speaking of your buddies, you can also plug your data into Google Earth to revisit your ride and rub it in their faces. It was a blast to go back and retrace every switchback of a good, long mountain bike ride.

While the stat-tracking and trip data (and lap tracking and cumulative readings) are meant to appeal to the harder-core cycling geeks, its weight might not — if you’ve just dropped a few grand on a Campagnolo Super Record groupset, the Dash’s 11 ounces (including the iPhone) might be a turn-off.

Since I’m not a gram-counter, I didn’t mind the weight. I did mind that I had to take my iPhone out of my everyday case and put it in the Phone Booth every time I wanted to use it. In a perfect world, the Dash’s Phone Booth would be small enough to take off the bike and put it in your pocket.

Also, it doesn’t have a power sensor, which is another potential turn-off for the hardcore athletes. But it does have the ability to connect to ANT+ DFPM power sensors like PowerTap hubs, as well as any other ANT+ sensor you may have strapped to your steed.

All different types of cyclists can appreciate the Dash’s wealth of data: messengers, mountain bikers, long-haul tourists. Even commuters — if you’re schlepping your iPhone to work anyway, it gives you something to geek out on once you get to the office.

WIRED Easy setup and use. Display on the iPhone is better than any dedicated computer. GPS keeps you from getting lost. Google Earth tracking lets you relive your two-wheeled glory. Dashboard is customizable. Piggyback battery is a nice addition.

TIRED Too heavy for the weight-conscious. Phone Booth too bulky for off-bike use. $300 is a lot of cheese, but simpler, cheaper versions are available.

Photo by Jim Merithew

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New Roku Streaming Box Gets Smaller, Angrier

From its humble beginnings as the Netflix box to its current status as one of the pre-eminent media streamers, Roku has come a long way in just two years. And while the new Roku 2 XS doesn’t really move things forward much, it does just enough to retain that title.

If you’re keeping track, the XS usurps the XDS as the new king of the new series, with the XD and HD following in its path. I’ll just go ahead and say it at the outset: Ff you already own a previous gen, 1080p-capable Roku, this is probably not the box for you. Like the XDS, you get ethernet support and a USB port. The UI also remains relatively unchanged, with the standard horizontal scrolling “channels.”

In fact, the only differences I could find was the addition of Bluetooth support, an SD card slot, and — wait for it — a shiny little Wii-like motion controller that doubles as your system remote. Yes, it appears Roku wants to join the casual games party. And its first gift to customers is something everyone’s already sick of: Angry Birds. For free! The company promises to have more games — including Angry Birds Rio and Angry Birds Seasons (sigh) — soon, which presumably explains the SD-card slot. Still, none of this is enough to justify dropping another 100 bones.

The other obvious difference here is the look of these new boxes. This XS, along with the rest of the series, has been sufficiently shrink-rayed so it now beats even the Apple TV in terms of footprint. The tiny box virtually disappears when you place it next to your TV, which was great considering all the other multicolored junk I have attached to mine.

Roku has always done a fine job of offering a satisfying mix of big-name streaming options like Rdio, Pandora, Netflix, Amazon Instant Video and Hulu Plus, with more esoteric choices like, say, Crunchyroll. That trend continues here.

What hasn’t happened is any attempt to make the box useful to media hoarders with separate video libraries. Once again, the XS’s limited media file support casts a great big ol’ bummer cloud over what is otherwise a solid device.

Officially, the XS only supports MP4 (H.264), AAC, MP3, JPG and PNG, which, for me, meant more than half of the videos and music sitting on my external drive were useless — unless I wanted to do some converting, which I didn’t.

It’s a strange deficiency, considering the Roku’s main strength is the hefty helping of internet video it serves up to its customers. Offering a USB port and then throttling what it can play just seems, well, dumb. Still, this isn’t anything new to previous Roku owners. And the fact remains there just aren’t many media streamers out there that can offer all the things the XS does at this price.

WIRED Netflix channel now has 1080p streaming, 5.1 surround and subtitles — if your bandwidth supports it. Big, beautiful HD content on some channels like Vimeo.

TIRED Lengthy setup time. Forget about playing your MKV and other high-bitrate files, unless you convert. RF Bluetooth motion controller feature is limited to playing games, provides no navigation or UI functionality.

Photo courtesy Roku

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Hit the Hills and Highways on Hungary’s $35,000 Hybrid Hyperbike

The M55 Terminus is certainly not a bike for wallflowers. It will turn heads.

When it comes to awesome technology from the movie Aliens, it’s hard to beat Ellen Ripley’s duct-taped assembly of flamethrower, pulse rifle and motion sensor, which she puts to excellent use against the alien queen. But it’s another piece of gear used in her epic fight which makes a more lasting impact on the imagination: the exosuit powerloader she weaponizes aboard the warship Sulaco.

Machines which augment the human body in strength, speed and dexterity as seamless extensions of the nervous system are a long-held fantasy of both humans and armies. And it was in a rather unlikely place — M55’s headquarters, an artisanal bicycle workshop in the Budapest suburb of Üröm — that I first came across a machine which I instantly recognized as one of these extensions.

M55’s Terminus is an imposing, uncanny $35,000 contraption which looks and works unlike any bike I’ve ever seen. It’s heavier, too, at 65 pounds, which is offset by the output of an electric motor built into its CNC-milled aluminum frame. Engine power is mashed with your pedaling via a system of sprockets and chains which connect to the crankset. The motor is powered by lithium-ion cells which give it a range of 62 miles.

It was with the ungainly movements of piloting someone else’s ludicrously expensive, very heavy bike that I set off, pedaling as if on eggshells. The dirt road outside M55’s headquarters picks up a slight uphill grade and this is where I first noticed the big bike shedding its weight. In-house software blends the engine’s power with the rider’s, using an rpm-probe to meter output. The production model will have a torque probe for even smoother titration of power.

The effect is incredibly smooth. Juggling ruts, pedaling in the midday sun, I felt as if a year’s worth of quadriceps workouts had suddenly flowed into my legs. The bike was fitted with chunky offroad rubber, but a stretch of mostly flat highway beckoned for a speed run. In top gear, the engine boosting my burning muscles, I felt wildly alive, riding at very decent speeds in the light traffic, in no way a mobile chicane. A downshift which gives a kick of ’80s-style turbo-power deals with hills: I rode a 20 percent slope in second gear with ease. It was an exhilirating, superhuman ride, and it was only when I stopped for a violet-blueberry mousse that I realized I was laughing with delight the whole way.

It’s taken M55 five years and eight prototypes to arrive at this stage, financed by the company’s owner, private investors, and a $400,000 grant from the New Hungary Development Plan. The final prototype, which I rode, was rolled out at this year’s Top Marques show in Monaco. At the time of my visit to the factory in July, three deposits had already been placed. The company is planning to sell 200 bicycles a year. It’s an all-Hungarian affair: The frame is CNC-milled in Budapest, the carbon fiber body panels are molded in Gyor — the home of Audi’s engine plant — and the bikes are assembled at M55’s Üröm factory, finished off with a selection of high-end bicycle parts, including Brembo disk brakes more commonly found on sports cars.

The Terminus is a wonderful machine, a giddy robotic candyland in carbon fiber, aluminum and titanium, but there’s a $35,000 elephant in the room. That’s only slightly less than a brand-new 2012 Mustang Boss 302. You can see where the money is spent, but a price tag like that removes the Terminus from the land of bicycles and places it squarely into the domain of millionaire playthings. The company plans to be a regular at shows like Top Marques, targeting the bike at people who already own Ferraris, Ducatis and such. It’s hard to think of the Terminus as a bicycle, but considered as an oversized dopamine syringe, it suddenly makes a ton of sense. Well, 65 pounds.

WIRED Delightful, invisible power from nowhere. Very capable both on- and off-road. Will make you feel like Ellen Ripley.

TIRED Run out of batteries and you have a dirt-heavy regular bike. Terrifying price tag. Won’t work as city bike.

All photos: Peter Orosz/Wired.com

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Third Rail’s Powered iPhone Case Is Shockingly Clever

The high-voltage third rail that runs next to a set of train tracks is, of course, something to be avoided. The Third Rail System for the iPhone 4, however, is to be welcomed.

This friendly breed of Third Rail combines a skin-tight phone case and a surprisingly light battery pack you attach to your phone when you need a recharge.

We’ve seen charging cases before, but most have problems. Powered phone cases usually add too much extra heft and bulk to a cell phone. If you need extra battery life, you have to turn your svelte, five-ounce iPhone 4 into a pocket-stretching doorstop that adds a half inch to the phone’s length and almost doubles the weight.

Third Rail’s system is comprised of two parts — a bantamweight (0.8 ounce) black case that’s slim and comfortable, and a backup battery that snaps onto the case, but only when the phone needs extra juice.

As a bonus, the battery can do more than power up a flagging iPhone. With its pair of mini-USB charging ports (and included cables) it can charge multiple devices simultaneously. The Third Rail battery can also be piggybacked, so you can stack additional batteries on top of the primary battery for more power.

There are trade-offs, of course. For starters, you’re stuck having to sync the phone only with its included USB cable. Also, if you have any iPhone-ready music-playback appliances, you need to remove the case to use them. I ultimately found this to be a minor distraction, since the phone slides in and out of the two-part case pretty easily.

The battery practically glides on to the back of the case. While attaching the battery gave me immediate juice to continue phone calls and use of my apps, with non-use of the phone, the Third Rail topped off 50 percent of the iPhone battery in a couple of hours. After the phone went from 50 percent remaining to 100 percent, the Third Rail was practically drained. The Third Rail has a power gauge, but it’s only five LED lights, so it’s not as precise as I’d like. But I got a good enough estimate at what the auxiliary battery’s juice levels were like at the start and finish of the charging.

Recharging the Third Rail’s battery for its next use took less than two hours. Then, using the included USB cable, I filled my half-depleted iPod Nano with Third Rail juice in 55 minutes.

There’s another popular case out there with a snap-in battery, the myPower case from Tekkeon, but it doesn’t let you charge additional devices or piggyback the batteries. So, I can safely say the Third Rail System is unmatched when it comes to weight, ease of use, and versatility.

But all of this does not come cheaply: The case alone is $40, and each battery is $60. Purchased together, the set is $90. But after using it just a few times, I’d recommend you get one. If you’re short on cash, maybe just, um… charge it?

WIRED Innovative iPhone 4 case that’s protective, but thin and light. Detachable battery recharges the phone as well as other devices via a mini-USB port. Eliminates the need for the large and heavy all-in-one power cases.

TIRED Proprietary case designs requires use of its own USB cable for connected charging and syncing. Convenience comes with a high price tag.

Photos courtesy of Third Rail Mobility

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Scion iQ Is Like a Smart Car, Only Smarter

This fall, Toyota’s Scion division will be rolling out its latest ride, the iQ, into dealer showrooms on the West coast.

With the small, extremely fuel efficient and feature-laden iQ, Scion is aiming for the same sweet spot as other undersized city cars — the Smart ForTwo, Mini Cooper and Fiat 500 — but it’s doing so with a much more affordable, and, it hopes, hipper package.

With a starting list price at a little under $16,000, the iQ continues Scion’s reputation for making inexpensive, funky-looking cars for young urbanites.

Cleverly dubbing the car a “3+1 seater,” Scion has massaged the overall design so the front passenger seat can be slid very far forward, allowing an adult to occupy the back seat immediately behind it without sacrificing leg room for either passenger.

This blunt little box seems like a knock off of the two-seater Smart ForTwo, but it’s actually a four-seater. Cleverly dubbing the car a “3+1 seater,” Scion has massaged the overall design so the front passenger seat can be slid very far forward, allowing an adult to occupy the back seat immediately behind it without sacrificing leg room for either passenger (though the seat behind the driver is still a very tight squeeze). Scion bought the extra room by relocating things that normally occupy the area in and around the front seat passenger to other parts of the car. The glove box has been moved under the seat, and the heater/air conditioner unit has been miniaturized and moved to the center console. The airbag and dash remain the same.

And speaking of airbags, the iQ features eleven of them — a record for any car, and a feat made all the more impressive considering the iQ’s minuscule size. There are separate airbags for the head and knees of both the driver and the front passenger, side-curtain airbags, seat-cushion airbags, and even an airbag for rear window, which is a first.

Just how small is the Scion iQ? A tenth of an inch over ten feet long. That’s a little more than a foot longer than a ForTwo, and a full 20 inches shorter than a Fiat 500. It definitely makes the Mini look anything but. The iQ also tips the scales at a flyweight 2,127 pounds, or about as much as a first-gen Miata.

Speaking of Miatas, although the upcoming iQ is not sports car, nor does it possess handling that would make Colin Chapman smile, it does have an amazingly small turning radius. The front wheels can be spun to nearly 45 degrees, giving the iQ a turning radius of an astonishingly low 13 feet, or about the length of a Miata. Ergo, maneuvering this little guy through inner-city traffic and hanging a quick U-turn to snag that last parking spot is a snap.

The iQ is motivated by a 1.3 liter inline four. Nothing fancy, no turbos or superchargers. And no, there won’t be a hybrid version — lord knows where they’d put the batteries and other hybrid gear. To keep the length down, Toyota did some rather ingenious things like push the wheels and suspension bits way, way out to the corners of the car, much like Mini and Fiat have done. The 8.5 gallon gas tank has also been relocated so it resides under the drivers seat. Yes, that gave me a rather disconcerting feeling when I was tooling around Seattle in the iQ, but I eventually got past it.

With that little size and weight, and that small of an engine, the mileage numbers are very, very impressive for a non-hybrid car. Scion’s iQ returns 36 MPG city, 37 MPG highway and a combined figure of 37 MPG. These numbers make the little iQ the current record-holder when it comes to combined figures for internal combustion engine cars. Toyota is holding off on trumpeting that last fact until the EPA confirms it, though.

The iQ’s four-cylinder engine produces 94 horsepower and 89 pound-feet of torque. No, you won’t be walking away with any drag trophies from the local strip with this thing, but that’s more than enough juice to get you out of your own way when driving around town. Also making city driving easier is the iQ’s Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT), and the iQ is rated an Ultra Low Emission Vehicle (ULEV-II), which is nice.

The tech and gadgetry extends to the interior appointments, where the top of the center console houses the Scion Drive Monitor. It’s a small screen that displays information like outside temperature, average MPG, and an ECO-drive indicator that helps the driver maximize the iQ’s fuel efficiency.

Hipsters need music, so the iQ comes standard with a 160-watt, four-speaker Pioneer audio system with an AM/FM radio, CD player, a USB port, HD radio and a built-in hands-free phone connection with streaming audio capability. The audio system also features an organic electroluminescent (OEL) screen, and an RCA output for hooking up an aftermarket subwoofer.

There’s an optional “premium” audio system that has the same features as the standard unit, but ups the output to 200 watts and includes extras like a 5.8-inch LCD touch-screen display that allows iTunes tagging, Pandora radio (connected through your iPhone), and six RCA outputs to add external amplifiers. Plunk down even more cash and upgrade to the top-tier Scion Navigation package. You get all the goodies in the 200-watt audio system, plus a navigation system and DVD player — all accessible through a seven-inch touch-screen LCD display.

All in all, it’s a great city car, and it should hit a bulls-eye on price, performance and interior features with a certain demographic.

WIRED Tight turning. Great MPGs. No muss, no fuss CVT tranny. Comes with hipster cred.

TIRED 100 MPH speed limiter. That +1 seat is for pee-wees only. Hipster cred.

Photos courtesy of Toyota Motor Corporation

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Where It’s At: I Got Two Plastic Platters and a USB Port

I’m a vinyl guy. I’ve been a vinyl guy ever since I started DJing on the radio and at local parties when I was 19.

I’m not anti-digital, it’s just that vinyl was the only choice in the mid-1990s when MP3s weren’t yet commonplace and those CD-DJ decks were still prohibitively expensive. Vinyl was king, and the king’s word was law.

Of course, laptops finally conquered the DJ booth. With them came dozens of software apps and USB devices made for digital mixing. I dipped my toe in. I played around with Traktor through a Kontrol interface. I tried Scratch Pro 2. I used a Vestax Typhoon at one of my gigs when the other DJ left it connected for me to try out. It all leaves me cold. The addition of hefty technology never made DJing more fun for me, just more complicated.

So when the Gemini FirstMix showed up on my desk, I felt like it was some sort of personal challenge, a hurdle I needed to clear. Call it a growth exercise. My terabyte drive runneth over with MP3s, so why not?

Besides, this thing makes it easy. Being an entry-level, $100 device, the Gemini is dead simple — there are two plastic platters that spin like records for cueing your tracks, and a mixer in the middle with the absolute minimum of knobs and controls. Gemini has been making solid DJ equipment for eons (and has some higher-end offerings) so it’s designed to closely resemble the real deal.

The FirstMix comes with MixVibes Cross LE — the “LE” always signals you’re getting something less than the big business, which is to be expected at this price point.

I loaded up the software with a bunch of different tracks and had at it. You do all of your selecting on the FirstMix with the big “Browse” knob in the middle, and you assign tracks to deck A or B (left or right) by pressing one of the buttons right under the big knob. Each bank has a gain control, a two-band EQ and a knob for dialing in effects like phasing and echo. The only problem I had with the hardware is that the jog wheels spin too easily — since all the controls are so close together, it’s too easy to knock one of them with a pinky-knuckle and cause your song to skip forward or back a couple of seconds.

No, my problem wasn’t with the hardware, it was with the software. MixVibes Cross LE was fine while I was in “selector” mode and just fading between tracks as each one ran out. But as soon as I started trying to match beats, sync tracks and do longer fades, the app had trouble guessing the BPM and finding the “one.” I was feeding it funk, soul and R&B with some clean four-on-the-floor stomping, but it didn’t know what to do with any of it. Glitchy techno? Afro-beat? Forget it. Reggae and Dub? Oh, honey. The only tunes it could analyze accurately were disco and house tracks. Sorry, but that makes for a pretty boring set. I had to resort to using my instincts, and I fumbled quite a bit trying to beatmatch with the 5-inch plastic jog wheels.

Luckily, the FirstMix works with several popular DJing apps. I hooked it up to Traktor and things suddenly got easier.

So the hardware is legit. Be aware that it’s cheap, lightweight plastic (about one and a half pounds), but that’s fine because it doesn’t require coddling. I spilled half a Tecate on it and just wiped it clean with no issues. Also, it’s only $100 in a game where the pro gear can run as high as $1,000. But after you spend that $100, you’ll have to pony up another stack of bills on some better software.

WIRED Great entry-level hardware device for budding laptop DJs. Intuitive and easy enough for vinyl snobs to grasp. Price is right. USB-powered, no batteries. Minimal controls light up so you can party in the dark.

TIRED Bundled beginner’s software causes headaches. Knobs are a little too close to the platters, bumps and knocks result. Cheap plastic construction makes Baby Ford cry.

Photo by Jim Merithew/Wired.com

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It’s Hip to Be Square

Acura 2011 TSX Sport WagonAutomotive· $30,960 base, $31,820 as tested · AcuraReviewed by Sam Smith   ·  August 5, 2011

There is a problem with wagons, and that problem is this: For most of America, they are Dork Central.

Some of us — those raised on old Chevy Nomads and five-door BMW M5s — take issue with this. Some people take so much issue, in fact, that they embrace the dorkiness with both arms, driving wagons as a low-level form of civil disobedience. (A friend of mine in San Francisco is currently stuffing a Ford V-8 into his Volvo 245 simply because he thinks it’s funny. He is not wrong.)

Regardless, wagons make sense. For most people, sense-making is not cool. Sense-making is the IKEA parking lot and two car seats in back, and no one ever got laid because their cam-lock furniture screamed rebel hellion. (Side note: This is an injustice. Am I the only one who thinks Billy the Bookcase is a sexy mother?)

Blame the moms of the pre-SUV world, many of whom carted their brood around in sensible, dead-eyed land yachts. But the last generation to grow up in wagons — the children of the Reagan administration — is now in its car-buying twenties. The SUV has essentially displaced the wagon as family transport of choice. Into this high-riding, four-wheel-drive fray dives the low-slung 2011 Acura TSX Sport Wagon. And it is most decidedly cool.

As Honda — Acura’s parent company — tells it, this is an experiment. Wagons haven’t sold well in America for years, and the Big H expects to move just 4,000 TSX Sport Wagons here annually. For perspective, consider that Acura sold 3,824 examples of its MDX SUV in May of 2011 alone. The goal, it seems, is to figure out whether or not Americans will actually pony up for a premium, European-style sport hauler. Because the TSX is essentially a rebadged version of the European Honda Accord, this can be done cheaply, without racking up huge development costs. And because most journalists love wagons — insert obligatory 550-hp Cadillac shout-out here — Acura was virtually guaranteed positive press.

Good-looking, fun-to-drive wagons are thin on the ground in this country, and we should be glad the TSX five-door exists.

The best part is, the TSX wagon deserves it. For $31,820, you get a good-looking hauler that offers a spacious, modern interior and a strong, efficient powertrain. The TSX sedan’s 2.3-liter, 201-hp four is the only engine choice. It comes bolted to a five-speed automatic and cranks out a respectable 22/30 mpg city/highway. As with the TSX four-door, the back seat is comfortable for full-size adults and the chassis is a nimble, corner-dancing companion on winding roads. You tend to forget that the TSX’s ample rump is there, so willingly does the car bound and leap over twisty pavement.

Still, every wagon is defined by its wayback, and this one is no exception. The rear cargo area will swallow 61 cubic feet of stuff with the seats folded, 26 with them up. The rear load floor is flat, and there are tie-down points out the wazoo. Thanks to all the rear glass, visibility is even decent. You could ask for more than this, but you’d probably be asking too much.

There are negatives: You don’t get access to the TSX sedan’s excellent 3.5-liter, 280-hp V-6. This pays off in fuel economy, but sometimes leaves you wanting for low-end grunt. For cost reasons, there is no manual-transmission option, no available all-wheel drive. And if you live outside a major metro area, you will probably have to special order a car; with just a few thousand Sport Wagons allocated for U.S. consumption, rural dealers are unlikely to stock them.

All in all, though, none of that really matters. Good-looking, fun-to-drive wagons are thin on the ground in this country, and we should be glad the TSX five-door exists. Honda’s grand experiment will likely fail — crossovers and small SUVs are too hip now to be replaced by such a subtle beast — but that’s beside the point. Several thousand people are going to buy these things, forgetting what wagons once were and dwelling instead on what they could be. If the rest of the country doesn’t get it, that’s just their loss.

WIRED An affordable, thoroughly modern hauler that doesn’t make you feel like Clark Griswold. Chassis dances. Looks the business. Just $1,350 more than its sedan counterpart.

TIRED No manual transmission. Nav system is frustratingly unintuitive. Your mother will probably like it.

All Photos: Sam Smith/Wired

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Backyard Theater-in-a-Box Is a Pricey Delight

The warm summer breeze, the starry night sky, the relative privacy of your own backyard. Time to wake the neighbors with a raucous outdoor screening of True Grit.

Actually, just try keeping them away when they peep your bitchin’ CineBox Home setup. This soup-to-nuts kit provides everything you need to recreate the drive-in right on your lawn: speakers, projector, Blu-ray player, even a big inflatable screen. Weather permitting, the results are nothing short of spectacular — but you’ll need a movie-studio budget to afford it.

Open Air Cinema makes the CineBox as portable as possible, packing a Samsung BD-C8000 Blu-ray player and Rolls MX122 MiniMix Pro audio mixer — prewired together, conveniently, so they’re ready for action — into a plastic carrying case. Optoma’s blazingly bright TX615 projector comes in a case as well, no different than if you’d purchased it separately.

Everything else, well, you’ll need a wheelbarrow. A big drawstring bag stows the towering inflatable, which provides 12 by 7 feet of widescreen viewing goodness. As for the bundled Behringer Eurolive B208D speakers, they have no case, only a pair of cardboard boxes. Open Air Cinema also supplies four heavy-duty metal stakes for the screen, a pair of heavy-gauge cords for connecting the speakers to the mixer, and various other accessories. Again: wheelbarrow.

Power is this rig’s problem. You’ll need a six-outlet strip, with one extension cord long enough to reach your house, one long enough to reach the blower, and two for each of the speakers. All these items: not included. So much for everything plus the kitchen sink.

No matter. Once it’s up and running, the CineBox rocks. Watching Gnomeo and Juliet with the kids and The King’s Speech with the grown-ups, I thought sure my eyes were seeing 1080p. Only later did I learn that Optoma’s projector tops out at 1,600 by 1,200. I guess Blu-ray shines even at lower resolutions, though, because the movies looked razor-sharp. They sounded even better; Behringer’s boom-boxes were loud enough to fill an open field, let alone a backyard. The whole experience was simply exquisite.

Movies under the stars are one of the joys of summer. If you can swing it, the CineBox Home will make your backyard a joyful place indeed.

WIRED Ultrabright projector lets you start the show at dusk instead of waiting for dark. Ultraloud speakers will blow your hair back at five on the mixer dial, let alone 11. Bundled mini-flashlight helps you break down the gear after dark — and eject rowdy teens during the show.

TIRED No setup instructions, a potential problem for those not handy with A/V gear. Inflatable screen gets ripply when the wind blows. You could buy most of the same components separately for less. Power strip and extension cords not included.

Photo courtesy Open Air Cinema

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Earth to Toshiba: Come In, Toshiba

It’s kind of amazing what $880 will get you these days: 15.6 inches of laptop, with a Core i5 CPU, 6GB of RAM, a 750 GB hard drive and high-end Nvidia GeForce GT 540M graphics. Laptop buyers looking for all the basics and beyond couldn’t go wrong with specs like this, and Toshiba aims to give it to them with the new Satellite P755.

Performance is decidedly mixed. While you may spend years filling that monstrous hard drive, the P755 is on the sluggish side when it comes to general application capabilities. It’s good enough for its price class but it pales in comparison to other machines that come equipped with this round of Intel Core CPUs. The exception, however, lies in the P755’s graphics capabilities. While some of its gaming scores were just average (Far Cry 2, Call of Juarez), on one older game (Doom 3) it turned in the all-time highest framerates we’ve seen to date.

Those high-end components and gaming performance, alas, come at a troubling price. Not one of coinage but of quality. Plastic from top to bottom, to call the P755 flimsy would be charitable. The rickety chassis feels like it would shatter into oblivion were it to fall off the desk, a worry uncountered by the iffy fit and finish of things like the power socket, within which the AC adapter’s plug wobbles around like straw in a Coke bottle. The keyboard is also mushy and cheap. Typing on it is about as pleasurable as punching in your PIN at the ATM.

Other hardware issues cropped up in my testing, too. While I love all the lights on the device — the bar of backlight above the trackpad and in the array of touch-sensitive buttons along the top of the keyboard — it’s unclear why the keyboard isn’t backlit as well. Those buttons themselves are a little muddy, too. There’s no indication whether the audio is muted or the Wi-Fi is on; the buttons are always lit up in the same color either way.

Finally there’s a larger complaint to consider. The battery life of 1 hour, 44 minutes is paltry. But when it died, the P755 indicated it had over an hour of running time left. That adds up to a lot of troubling stuff to think about when it comes time to decide whether to invest in this laptop. My hunch is that its issues won’t extend to every Satellite, which means that $880 amounts to a big roll of the dice.

WIRED Big hard-drive. Some amazing gaming performance for a relative budget machine. The price is certainly right.

TIRED Cheap build, with lots of unfinished elements. Horrible keyboard. Extremely dim screen. Major concerns about battery capacity and reliability.

Photo:y Jim Merithew/Wired.com

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YoWindow Free

The big room with the blue ceiling can be a scary place. Free screensaver YoWindow 2.0 shows you what it's like out there from the comfort of your cubicle or mancave.

YoWindow is a combination screensaver and weather reporting tool. By default, it presents an image of a simple farmhouse in a field, just as it did in the previous version. The weather conditions are overlaid on top of it, so rain will thunder down, trees will blow in the wind, and snowflakes will drift downward, as appropriate. Sunrise and sunset occur on schedule, based on the location you have provided. The moon is shown in its proper phase and position in the sky. A grazing horse may wander onto the screen, and clouds (if called for by the forecast) sail across the scene. The $10 YoWindow Unlimited YoWindow Unlimited offers two more such "animated" screenscapes, an airport and a tropical beach, with more promised.

In addition to the stock image, any picture with a sky component can be used. Users have contributed dozens of such images, all prepared for use with YoWindow. I liked one called Cabrera, a ruined castle on a rocky hill; others include cityscapes from New York or Hong Kong, or various outdoor locations. When one of these images is chosen, the same sky effects occur--darkening, lighting, storms, and so on--but there is obviously no animation. I found I liked the static image + weather effects better than the animated screens. Tastes may differ, of course.

YoWindow allows you to select several locations, so you can check the weather in many places. Here's where I found some problems--the default "Add Location" menu item did not work for me (Repkasoft is looking into the bug), and using the "Manage Locations" dialog, while it did work and I was able to add several places, from Anchorage to Tokyo, had some odd glitches with items sometimes duplicating.

You can slide YoWindow's timer back and forth to see earlier weather or to look ahead at forecasted conditions (3 days in the free version, 6-9 days in Unlimited), and choose your own local weather provider if you don't like the default. YoWindow gets current weather from METAR, a network of weather stations primarily located at airports, and uses the National Weather Service for forecasts.

YoWindow is free, and while it may not have all the features (tornado alerts, and so on) that some other weather tools have, it's more of a screen saver with benefits than a serious tool for Weather Channel addicts. Check it out, and upgrade to Unlimited if you want additional animated images.

--Ian Harac

A beautiful landscape changes along with the weather. You will see the actual cloud cover, rain, snow, fog, even thunderstorms. You don't have to look out of the window to check the weather. Look out of YoWindow! Sunrise and sunset happen at the same time they do at your place. The moon phase and location are real. All the weather information you need displayed on the screen. Temperature, pressure, wind speed, etc. Very beautiful. Super easy. Watch the weather with pleasure!

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WinSplit Revolution

Ever since the dawn of Windows, a big part of the appeal was… well, windows. Being able to give each application its own area on the screen and run multiple applications at the same time completely transformed computing. But that’s old news; today, many of us have 24” monitors (sometimes more than one), and the challenge is how to use all of that screen space effectively. With WinSplit Revolution, you can make sure every inch of your monitor or monitors is displaying valuable information.

If you use a desktop computer or a large notebook, you probably have a keypad. WinSplit Revolution lets you use the pad (or any other hotkey you choose, if your keyboard lacks a number pad) for positioning windows in a very intuitive way. Want to snap a window to the top-right corner of the screen? Just hit Alt+Ctrl+9, and there goes the window. You can grab another window and snap it next to the first one using Alt+Ctrl+7 (for top-left corner). The same goes for every other number pad button; they all correspond to intuitive monitor positions.

While being able to quickly snap a window to every screen corner, you don’t necessarily want each such window to take up 50% of your monitor width. Tap 9 again, and the window you just snapped to the top-right corner becomes narrower, taking up 33% of the screen. Tap 9 once more, and the window grows wider, taking up 66% of the screen. So with a few quick keyboard taps, you can have a beautifully tiled desktop, with three narrow windows stacked on top of each other on the right (for reference material, for example), and one wide window taking up two-thirds of the screen width and its full height, for your main work area. All without reaching for your mouse.

If you do like to drag windows using the mouse (or have a laptop with no number pad), WinSplit Revolution offers a feature called Drag’N’Go. Hold down Ctrl+Alt while dragging any window, and the different “target areas” will be highlighted as you hover over them. Drop the window over any area, and it instantly snaps to size.

WinSplit Revolution also lets you fine-tune the window sizes: If the 33%/50%/66% dimensions don’t work for you, you can easily configure different window sizes for each screen area. You can also save any given window’s location, and snap it back to that exact location and size using a quick tap of Alt+Ctrl+0.

I’ve been using this monitor utility for over a year now, with my dual-monitor system. Using its hotkeys has become second nature, and I rarely find myself reaching for the mouse to drag a window anywhere. If you’re looking to get the maximum out of every pixel on your screen, WinSplit Revolution is one great tool.

--Erez Zukerman

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Watermelon

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TeraCopy Pro

The last time I took a look a TeraCopy Pro I loved it, but it crashed during one copy test. It didn't take any data with it, however, for a task as critical as copying and moving files failure is not an option. Thankfully, this more recent 2.1 version of the program performs as happily and accurately as a trained seal.

TeraCopy replaces the Windows file handling functions with its own, which appear on the right-click context menu or simply when you copy or move files. The pause function alone is worth its weight in gold if you do a lot of copying. Windows only lets you cancel--not pause--which makes it difficult to ascertain exactly where you left off. You may also choose up front whether you want to overwrite all files, older ones only, skip files that already exist, or rename the file being copied to avoid overwriting the existing files. Vista and Windows 7 provide the same choices, but only when the conflicts occur after the copy process has begun. Anyone who's ever started a large copy operation, gone to lunch, and come back to discover that Windows is only two files into the process and wants attention can appreciate Code Sector's approach.

You may also invoke TeraCopy Pro as a standalone so you can select files from diverse locations and copy them to a single location. You may also create favorite destinations to cut down on your browsing time to them. Checksums are generated for verification--a great safeguard, especially when you're copying files to less-reliable removable media.

TeraCopy Pro adds a few very handy perqs lacking in the free TeraCopy Home: letting you select all files with the same extension, and letting you remove files from the copy queue. It includes free updates (though it seems you get those with the free version as well). Without a help file it took me a few minutes to realize that the selection options apply only to files already added to the queue and that it didn't gather more files from a location.

All told, TeraCopy Pro is a nice replacement for Windows' reliable, but singularly under-powered, copying and moving routines. As I said earlier, if you do a lot of copying, it's worth it, though it might be more worth it at $10.

--Jon L. Jacobi

TeraCopy is a compact program designed to copy and move files at the maximum possible speed, also providing you with a lot of features. Pause and resume file transfers. Error recovery. Shell integration.

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Teambox

Teambox is a useful, online project management tool well-suited for small to medium-sized companies that want to handle projects without going through a significant learning curve. It's simple enough that you'll be able to get up to speed on it quickly, yet still offers solid tools for people to collaborate on projects.

The Teambox site includes the tools you would expect in a straightforward project manager, including those for creating tasks, communicating with one another, tracking people's time, sharing documents, and more. Especially useful is the "People & Permissions" area, in which you invite people to participate in the project, and assign roles for them. So some people, for example, can be given read-only access, other people can participate, but not invite others, and still other people can be given full administrative controls, including inviting people and deleting comments.

Teambox can be used for multiple projects, and if you use the for-pay version, you'll be able to search across all projects as well. The free version allows you to manage three projects and have up to 50MB of storage for files. There are various for-pay plans, ranging from six projects and 200 MB of storage for $12 a month, all the way up to 100 projects and 50 GB of storage for $99 a month.

Teambox is simpler to use and less costly than a similar online project management tool, LiquidPlanner. However, it doesn't have some of the more high-end features, either, such as collating tasks and timelines to show conflicts.

Small and medium-sized businesses that don't have exceptionally complex projects would do well to give Teambox a try. It's not nearly as sophisticated as Microsoft Project--it doesn't handle dependencies, for example--but for most straightforward projects, it's quite useful.

Note: This link takes you to the vendor's site, where you use this Web-based software. This is available in various pricing plans. Up three projects and 50MB of storage space can be had for free; fees go up to $99 per month for more projects and storage.

--Preston Gralla

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Security Task Manager

If your PC is sluggish, there's a good chance you've got far too many programs and services running--many without your knowledge. And for all you know, some of them may be malicious. Running the Windows Task Manager helps, but only slightly, because although it shows you what's running, it doesn't show many details about what's there.

This program gives a wealth of detail about each program and process, including whether the program is likely malicious or not, and it lets you delete any program and process with a single click. You'll get an enormous amount of detail about what's running, including the manufacturer, type of program, how it started (for example upon startup or from within Windows Explorer), and the file name. It also rates files according to how harmless or malicious they may be. To stop a program, highlight it and click remove, and you're done.

--Preston Gralla

Security Task Manager is an enhanced process viewer, that provides detailed information about programs and processes running on the computer. It displays all the standard information, including file name, directory path, description, CPU usage etc. as well as a unique security risk rating. The security risk rating is based on an analysis that takes different aspects of the process into consideration, and indicates the likelihood of the process being potential spyware, malware or a Trojan or keylogger. This indicator is purely based on generic analysis, and does not use any signature files, so it is open to interpretation by the (advanced) user. Security Task Manager also displays the start time, the icon of the process, hidden functions and more. That process viewer recognizes virtual driver software, services, BHOs and stealth processes hidden from the Windows Task Manager. You can choose to terminate any process, delete it, or alternately quarantine it, which will disable it from running again without actually deleting it. Additional information is provided via context sensitive Google results, and you can customize risk ratings by adding your own comments. If you buy Security Task Manager you get the software SpyProtector for free. SpyProtector contains tools to protect your computer from keylogger, spyware and trojans. SpyProtector deletes traces of your Internet and computer activity and prevents keyboard input monitoring. Furthermore SpyProtector warns you when the registry is changed. Snapfiles.com wrote: "Overall, a very useful TaskManager for novice and advanced users alike, that provides many unique features."

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nfsLondonMetroMap3

Mind the gap! The nfsLondonMetroMap3 screen saver puts the London Underground on your desktop. It's a great way to familiarize yourself with the Tube before traveling to London, or to reminisce after a trip to the city. The map includes information on station closures and other important details that are valid through 2011.

The screen saver is a quick download and runs smoothly. It's animated, with green blips representing trains moving through the stations. And it's quiet, so it would be appropriate for use in an office. My only quibble is the transparent NewFreenScreensavers.com logo that floats over a small bit of the map--but the screen saver is free, so it's hard to complain too loudly.

If you're traveling to London or want to commemorate a trip, load up nfsLondonMetroMap3 and enjoy.

Note: This updated version of the screen saver contains the current metro map as of August 2011.

--Kim Saccio-Kent

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Firefox

Note: This review addresses v4.0 of the software.

Much has changed since the Firefox 3.0 browser launched in June 2008. Google Chrome burst onto the scene, and has undergone frequent updates. Microsoft released IE8 and IE9. Safari advanced from version 3 to version 5. While Mozilla made some performance improvements and bolstered the feature set, Firefox started to feel like it was falling behind the curve. Firefox 4 makes Firefox competitive again, with its updated interface and better performance. The Mozilla designers did a good job simplifying the browser while maintaining the flexibility that Firefox is known for.

By default, Firefox 4 shows the address bar, a search field, the typical back/forward/reload/home buttons, the tab bar, and an orange "Firefox" button in the upper-left corner. Clicking the orange Firefox button brings up a single menu that contains most--if not all--of the menu items you're accustomed to using in older Firefox versions. If you're a Firefox power user--or just prefer the old menu bar--you can bring back the classic menu bar by clicking the Firefox button, mousing over "Options," then selecting "Menu Bar" from the drop-down.

One Chrome-inspired feature in Firefox 4 is the ability to "pin" Web apps to the tab bar. Open any Web app or Web page in a new tab, right-click the tab, then select "Pin as App Tab." This adds a tab showing only that page's icon to the far left edge of the tab bar. When you close then re-open Firefox, the pinned tabs will remain. Whenever something in your pinned Web app updates--say, you get a new message in your Gmail inbox--the pinned tab turns blue to notify you.

Like IE9, Firefox 4 includes a feature to prevent sites from tracking what you do online. This is a welcome addition, but it's flawed. When you enable tracking protection in FF4, it uses what are called HTTP headers to tell the site that you don't want to be tracked. The problem is that Websites don't have to honor this request, which renders the tracking protection feature useless. Mozilla is working to make this feature an industry standard, so I hope things will improve in time.

Firefox 4 also sports a number of new features designed to improve page loading and rendering performance. Firefox 4 can take better advantage of your graphics card than Firefox 3.x could; using it to play videos, for example. FF4 also includes an updated JavaScript engine.

We haven't done in-depth speed testing of Firefox 4, but we did test its JavaScript performance using the SunSpider 0.91 benchmark. Firefox 4 completes the test in 363 ms on average, making it competitive with other current browsers. In my testing, all browsers averaged between 329 and 439 ms. Your mileage may vary based on your hardware, OS, and other factors, but there's no denying the fact that Firefox 4 is much faster at handling JavaScript than Firefox 3.6.

New in Firefox 4 is Firefox Sync, which lets you sync your bookmarks, browsing history, passwords, and other data with your other computers running Firefox. (This was previously available via an extension called Mozilla Weave Sync).

Firefox 4 is a must-have upgrade if you're running Firefox 3.x. If you've switched from Firefox to Chrome, however, Firefox 4 may not lure you back, as many of the new features--at least on the user interface end--are clearly influenced by Chrome. But no matter what, it may be worth downloading and taking for a spin.

Note: This link takes you to the vendor's site, where you can download the latest version of the software.

--Nick Mediati

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FastStone Image Viewer

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Dominions 3: The Awakening

They are returning. Awakening from a slumber beyond comprehension to mortals. Awakening to a world they once tried to claim. They promise much to their followers, and to their enemies they will deliver blood, fire, and death.

The coming chaos is a rebirth of a fire long thought quenched. The Akashic records recall the Age when the world was ripe with pretenders, a legion claiming divinity. Then the antokrator ascended to true godhood. Bearing dominion over all, from the Heavens down to the deepest recesses of the ocean, the Pantokrator hunted down the false pretenders, casting them into eternal imprisonment. Not all pretenders were vanquished though; indeed, a great many managed to hide away and bide their time.

Now a new Age has dawned. The Pantokrator is gone. And now the pretenders who cowered beneath the Pantokrator's rule all those long years dare to show themselves again. Moreso, their newly remembered hubris has led once more to a war for true ascension to godhood. But they are not alone.

The ancient ones banished by the Pantokrator have broken their shackles. They are awakening.

There can only be one. A new chapter in the Akashic records is about to be written in the tattered flesh of the fallen...

Dominions 3: The Awakening, is the followup to the acclaimed fantasy strategy game, Dominions 2: The Ascension Wars. While that game set the bar for rich, engrossing turn-based fantasy strategy gaming, Dominions 3: The Awakening seeks to raise it once more.

Leading one of over fifty possible nations in three different Ages, it is your goal to ascend to true godhood using all the power at your disposal. In a world of magic and steel the options to attain victory are as numerous as the cries of mercy from your vanquished foes. Whether you use military might, eldritch power, or subterfuge (or more likely, a combination of all three) every turn is about options. Recruit troops (more than 1500 units found in the game), assassinate the enemy, scout territory, research magic (600+ spells and 300+ magic items), perform rituals, do a blood hunt, storm a castle, construct, pray, forge - the list goes on.

New pop-ups, an in-depth manual written by industry veteran Bruce Geryk, and less micromanagement all makes Dominions 3: The Awakening easy to get into. Lush maps, vividly depicted battles, and an ethereal musical score by Erik Ask Uppmark and Anna Rynefors, both awarded the title of Musicians of the Realm by the Swedish Zornmärkeskommité, contribute to turning the fantasy on the screen into your reality. Up to twenty-one players can participate in a single game, and with a simultaneous turn structure even a large game never gets unwieldy.

Dominions 3: The Awakening is very mod-friendly, and in fact has been designed from the very beginning with mod-making in mind. Any image can be turned into a map, opening up a wealth of possibilities. Even use your favorite Dominions 2 maps!

For many games "ultimate" is nothing more than hyperbole. For Dominions 3: The Awakening it may very well be an understatement. With hundreds of gameplay combinations, a challenging AI, strong multiplayer capabilities, mod-friendliness, this is very well the ultimate turn-based fantasy title for any platform.

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Digital Janitor

My Downloads folder can get messy. Before I started testing Digital Janitor, it contained over 150 different files, weighing in at over 700MB--and this is after a recent cleaning. Digital Janitor’s promise is to sort and tidy up any random bunch of files you throw at it, so my Downloads folder seemed like an ideal candidate.

When launching Digital Janitor, the first thing you do is select the folder you’d like to sort. Then, you set up “rules” for the sorting process. Each rule can match files per extension, “keyword” (a wildcard within the filename), or size. Once you set up your criteria, select a destination for those files. This can either be another folder (“Large ZIP Files”) or the Recycle Bin.

And then, before you click the “Add rule” button, pause for a moment and carefully consider what you’ve just configured. You need to do this, because once you add a rule, there’s no way to edit it--you can only delete it and write a new one instead, which would be added to the end of the list.  Also, I should point out extensions are case-sensitive, so if your rule specifies what to do with “PDF” files, it will not apply to any “pdf” files.

What makes the rule-based system even trickier is that there is no way to sort the rules. If you’ve ever played with a rule-based system before (such as Windows’ built-in user permissions system), you may know that the order by which rules are applied is very important. For example, if I have one rule specifying “Delete all files over 100MB” and another rule specifying “Move all ZIP files to the Archives folder” and Folder Janitor meets a 150MB ZIP file--what will it do with it?

I tested this, and Digital Janitor was not quite ready to handle such a scenario: It prompted me with a dialog showing the conflicting file (the large ZIP) and offered me to replace or rename it. The message wasn’t about a rule conflict (which was the real issue), but about a naming conflict--it said the file already existed, when it didn’t. Then, no matter what I selected, it deleted the file, probably because the deletion rule came first on the list. That’s a sensible thing to do; but since there’s no way for you to sort the list or edit your existing rules, you must carefully plan ahead and avoid any conflicts.

Once you have a solid set of rules, Digital Janitor works as you would expect. Click Sort, and all the files neatly go where they belong. The result can be a satisfying list of subfolders--“Large ZIPs,” “Installers,” “PDFs,” etc. If you’re happy with your rule set after trying it out, you can save it and then load it next time you run the app, and just click Sort to repeat the same operation again.

Digital Janitor is also supposed to have scheduling support for running profiles automatically, but this failed abysmally on my test system. Setting up this feature required elevation (but failed to prompt for it), and once set, the schedule would run, but Digital Janitor would crash right after executing it. The developer was unable to replicate the error.

Digital Janitor has several other tricks up its sleeve, including sorting your MP3 files (but only if they’re well-tagged, perhaps with MusicBrainz Picard). With editable and sortable rules, it could be a real powerhouse.

--Erez Zukerman

Digital Janitor is an application specialized in sorting files. To use it, you have to insert the rules on which the sort will be performed and press a button. Within seconds the folder that you wanted to sort is clean, and all the files are in the right place.

Example: You have the following files in a folder: "Text File.txt", "Another Text File.txt", "Word Document.doc", "Another Document.otd", "Image.jpg".
You set the following rules:
All text files (*.txt) go to C:\Text Files
All files that contain "Document" in their description go to C:\Documents
All images (*jpg) go to C:\Images

After selecting the folder that you want to sort, press the "Sort" button and the files will be automaticaly moved to their place!

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Adblock Plus

Note: This review addresses v1.1.3 of the software.

If you're bugged by Web ads, then Adblock Plus is for you. The well-designed Firefox add-on quickly and easily blocks the vast majority of online ads.

The Adblock Plus add-on consists of two parts: a utility to block images, scripts, and Flash; and a subscription component that automatically updates its list of what to block. When you first install the add-on you're prompted to choose a subscription source based on your home country. Choosing a source doesn't require providing any information from you, personal or otherwise-- it's there only to pull down a list of online ad sources.

You're prompted to choose a subscription when you first install Adblock Plus, but for most users that will likely be the only choice you have to make. After that, it largely just works.

If Adblock Plus does happen to miss an ad, or if there's a non-advertising image you don't want to see, you can right-click the image display to a new "Adblock Plus: Block image" option to add it to Adblock's list. By default the add-on will block everything coming from the same particular Web location (such as http://images.pcworld.com/images/common/), but you can instead choose to block just that one image or everything from that entire domain.

Since you only get a menu for Flash when you right-click on a Flash object, Adblock Plus will display a small tab on the upper-right of any such item when you move your mouse over it. Clicking the tab offers the same block options as right-clicking an image.

A red stop-sign icon icon on the right side of the Firefox navigation toolbar offers a route to other nice options. A left-click displays a list of all the blockable items on your current page, with blocked items listed in red. Right-clicking the stop sign allows for turning off Adblock Plus for the currently viewed site or page, or disabling it entirely.

Adblock Plus does its job very well. It works smoothly right away with no work required, and also offers advanced customization options for those who want to dig in. If you want to stop seeing ads in Firefox, this is all you need.

Note: This link takes you to the add-on's page at Mozilla.org, where you can automatically install the file into your Firefox browser. This program is donationware. It is free to try, but the author accepts and encourages donations towards further development.

--Erik Larkin

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LAN Speed Test

Note: This file addresses v1.1.5 of the software.

How fast is your network connection? No, I don't mean how fast you think it is, or how fast your network provider says it is--I mean how fast is it in real-world conditions? LAN Speed Test is an excellent, free way to find out.

Using LAN Speed Test couldn't be simpler. Load the program, click Start Test, and it will ask where you want to store a temporary file it uses to test network speed. Don't worry about clogging your PC; it deletes the file after it performs the test. Once you've done that, click again, and after a few seconds, it shows results for both writing to your disk (essentially the equivalent of download speed), and reading from your disk (essentially the equivalent of upload speed). That's all it takes. Once you've got the results, you can print them.

Don't run LAN Speed Test test a single time and expect to get highly accurate results. From one moment to the next, there may be network traffic condition, and changing circumstances. I found that on several occasions there would be "outlier" results, results that were very different from the vast majority of other results. Run the test multiple times for a realistic picture of your connection speed.

It's also a good idea to run the tests at different times of the day, again to get the truest picture of network speed. If you're a network administrator, that will help you see when network congestion is highest. You may also want to run the tests on different PCs, to see whether certain computers or parts of your network have network issues.

LAN Speed Test would be more useful if it could save results to disk, or even average the results for you. But given that this program is free for business use as well as for personal use, that's a minor quibble. Whether you're a network administrator, or just an ordinary user who would like to know your true network speed, you'll find this a useful tool.

--Preston Gralla

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PC Wizard

Contrary to the implications of its moniker, there's really no wizardry involved with PC Wizard. Unless of course you consider a comprehensive querying and report on your system's hardware magic. This free utility from CPUID relays a lot, and I mean a lot, of info. Much of said info may be found in Windows Device Manager, but a lot of it can't.

In addition to the usual processor info, PC Wizard reports on the motherboard chipset, exact CPU model (mostly) and cache sizes, voltages, etc. hard drive spindle speed (5400, 7200, etc.), facts that Microsoft doesn't consider useful to the average user.  Microsoft  is correct; however, the more granular info is very handy to more technical types, repair people, and--dare I say it?--reviewers.

Installing PC Wizard is easy. However, it does want to install the Ask toolbar so don't blindly click through if you don't want that particular piece of software. PC Wizard takes from 5 to 15 seconds to gather basic information about your system when it first runs, and 5 to 10 seconds to gather UPnP info when you select that icon. Network device info requires scanning IP addresses so that of course will take a little while as well. PC Wizard also offers a stability test and benchmarking of various components.

My only gripe about PC Wizard is that it isn't as up-to-date with new hardware as its sister program, CPU-Z, which I've used for years to confirm vendor claims. For instance, it reported that a laptop CPU was a Core i5, but not the 2410M model number which CPU-Z reported. Unfortunately, neither program correctly reported the Radeon GPU used in tandem with the Intel HD graphics on the same laptop.

Despite those oversights, PC Wizard is a must-have for any tech's toolbox. The zipped version may be run without installation from a thumb drive. Here's hoping they set it to look for dual-graphics implementations soon.

Note: This program is donationware. It is free to use, but the author accepts and encourages donations towards further development.

--Jon L. Jacobi

It's hard to keep up with all the hardware on your PC--just ask your PC. If you want it to have the right answers, install PC Wizard 2005. This utility detects all kinds of hardware, from the obvious Bluetooth devices to the boards in the guts of your PC. PC Wizard 2005 updates its lists monthly to make sure your PC recognizes the newest devices. Not only does PC Wizard tell you about your peripherals components, it can benchmark your system so you see how it's doing with all that hardware.

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Windows Tools

III. A. Windows Tools – Command Prompt

There are a few ways on how to start the command prompt:

• Start Menu > Programs > Accessories > Command Prompt
• Start Menu > Run… > type “cmd”
• Win+R (“Windows” key + “R” key) > type “cmd”

Commands: (add /? to see the switches and how they’re used)

• “dir” – lists directory contents or searches for a specific file/directory
• cd / md / rd – change/make/remove directory
• del – delete file
• attrib – change the attributes of files/directories

III. B. Windows Tools - Registry Editor

• C:\Windows\regedit.exe
• Run… > “regedit”

III. C. Windows Tools – Group Policy Management

• C:\Windows\system32\gpedit.msc
• Run… > “gpedit.msc”

Tackling Side Effects

IV. A. Tackling Side Effects – Disabled Command Prompt

• gpedit.msc > User Configuration > Administrative Templates > System > “Prevent access to the command prompt” > “Disabled”

IV. B. Tackling Side Effects – Disabled Task Manager

• gpedit.msc > User Configuration > Administrative Templates > System > Ctrl + Alt + Del Options > “Remove Task Manager” > “Disabled”
• cmd > “reg add HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System /v DisableTaskMgr /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

IV. C. Tackling Side Effects – Disabled Registry Editor

• gpedit.msc > User Configuration > Administrative Templates > System > “Prevent access to registry editing tools” > “Disabled”
• cmd > “reg add HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System /v DisableRegistryTools /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

IV. D. Tackling Side Effects – Missing “Folder Options”

• gpedit.msc > User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Explorer > “Removes the Folder Options menu item from the Tools menu” > “Disabled”

IV. E. Tackling Side Effects – Shutdown on “cmd”

• C:\Windows\regedit.exe
• HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor > “AutoRun” > delete value (will usually contain “pc-off.bat”
• After the above, you can now use your command prompt.
• cmd > search for “pc-off.bat” and delete the file

IV. F. Tackling Side Effects – Traces of “autorun.inf”

Search every drive and every folder for instances of “autorun.inf” including normal, hidden, and system file attributes. Malicious “autorun.inf” files are usually found in root drives other than Drive C: and have hidden and/or system file attributes by nature. Don’t delete all the “autorun.inf” files you see because there are legitimate programs that use this file for automatically running upon detection (like the Microsoft Office CD, for example).

IV. G. Tackilng Side Effects – Suspicious Processes in the Task Manager