Tips, guides, and reviews about software, web apps, technology, mobile phones, and computers.

  • Add Amazing Visual Effects to Ubuntu with Compiz

    Compiz is a compositing window manager, a program that beautifies the desktop with unique animations and special effects. It can make windows wobble when they are moved, and either explode into pieces or burst into flame and disappear when they are closed. Compiz uses your computer’s video card to manage the behavior of windows and…

  • How to Stretch a Menu Control to the Width of a Window in WPF

    If you’ve ever created a Menu in WPF, you’ve probably noticed something peculiar: A Menu will not stretch to fill the entire width of its parent container. If you set the Menu’s width to ‘auto’ or delete the width property altogether, the Menu will shrink to the maximum width needed by its MenuItem elements (so…

  • Midweek Fun! Test Your Puzzle Mettle In ‘The Heist’ For iOS

    What could possibly be better than buying a single high quality puzzle game for just $0.99? If you answered, “two high quality puzzle games for just $0.99,” you are in luck. However, there is a small catch. The good folks over at MacHeist have partnered with iOS developer tap tap tap to bring us The…

  • Firefox 5 Beta is Now Available

    In case you missed it, the development team behind Firefox recently decided to dramatically increase the rate at which new versions of the browser are released. Coinciding with their statement that Firefox 4, 5, 6, and 7 should all be released in the 2011 calendar year, Mozilla recently released the first beta version of Firefox…

  • How to Remove the Start Button from Secondary Display Taskbars in DisplayFusion 3.3.1

    If you’re like me and use multiple monitors as part of your computer setup, DisplayFusion is one of the best ways to take advantage of that extra screen space. Simple features like adding a taskbar to your secondary displays – a feature that Microsoft has glaringly neglected to include in Windows – make extra displays…

  • Greplin: Your Personal Search Engine

    Greplin: Your Personal Search Engine

    If you use more than a couple of web applications, you know how difficult it can be to find things in those applications. Sure, services like Google Docs and Gmail have great built-in search, but services like Dropbox and Twitter … well, not so much. With Greplin, you can search a number of popular web…

  • How to Make Launchy Find ClickOnce Application Shortcuts

    If you’ve never heard of Launchy, let me do you a favor by quickly explaining it. Launchy is a simple application launcher for Windows, Mac, and Linux that makes it easy to open any application installed on your computer just by using your keyboard. After installing Launchy, you’ll basically never have to open your Start…

  • Banish In-Browser Advertisments On Your Android Phone With AdFree

    Browser advertisements – the bane of every Internet user’s existence. Sure, there are plenty of sites that aren’t overzealous with advertisements, but for every site that tucks a small ad into the corner, there are ten that present you with giant flashing sidebars and bombard you with full-page ads that demand your attention. All of…

  • Free Online Sites that Help You Get Organized

    Since everything is online and available through our phones, USB flash drives and pens may as well be obsolete.  There are hundreds of online services nowadays available for free to help you productively organize, access, and share aspects your life.  Here are just a few that you may find useful: Mint: Organize your finances I’ve…

  • How to Restore Aero Effects if the Windows Desktop Window Manager Crashes

    “Aero” is the graphical user interface that Microsoft introduced with Windows Vista and Windows 7. It includes many productivity features for managing your windowed desktop environment, but one of the most noticeable features is the glass-like transparency effect that is typically present on the borders of windows. At times, the Desktop Window Manager (DWM) service…