Freeware World

If you’ve tried any of my suggestions for Mac alternatives to Microsoft OneNote but still aren’t impressed, then I should add that Curio should definitely have made the list.

Curio is an incredibly detailed and rich brainstorming and note taking application that helps map-out your ideas in stunning detail. Curio’s features a free form interface and tool kit that allow you to place items anywhere you want including notes, pictures, audio and even video. The only limits are your imagination as you can place elements in any position which gives it a distinct advantage over similar programs that restrict you to text boxes or certain areas. You can even give your brainstorm plans or notes their own unique look thanks to a variety of backgrounds and styles such as note paper, graph paper style and linen paper texture for example.

Even better, we’ve got 2 free licenses worth $149 for Curio Professional version to give away.

All you have to do is tell us how you would use Curio to help you. Don’t forget to leave your e-mail address in the comment e-mail address field so that we can contact you.

Good luck!

This morning I saw the name Tab Candy on a couple of blogs and I became curious. What was all the fuss about? Wasn’t it just a new Firefox extension? Now after trying it for a while, I can only say I hope this gets implemented in the new version of Firefox!

Tab Candy helps you manage your tasks in a more efficient way. It transforms the linear, often cluttered tab bar into a visual interface where tabs are represented by thumbnails. You can resize and rearrange these thumbnails on the interface as you wish, keeping all of your tabs visible at a glance, without losing important information.

But that’s not all. The best thing about Tab Candy is that you can organize your tabs in groups, by simple dragging and dropping one thumbnail on top of another – just like the new folders in iOS 4. In this way you can organize tabs according to topic, and even rename groups to describe the content of the tabs included in them.

Tab Candy groups can also be resized, which means you can easily organize your space in different sizes and areas, according to their topic: a big, main area for work related tasks, a smaller group for procrastination sites, a long, thing group to save tabs you want to read later…

Tab Candy is still at a very early stage of development, but it works surprisingly well. Unfortunately, it’s not really a Firefox extension and the only way to test it so far is by downloading an early version of Firefox with the Tab Candy feature built-in. If you’re the lazy type, you can just see all the beauty of Tab Candy in this video:

Microsoft OneNote is an information gathering and collaboration application that many Windows users miss when they switch to Mac. For some it may even stop them from switching they rely on it so much. Of course, you can always run it in Parallels instead but this soon becomes annoying if you use it regularly. OneNote doesn’t come with Microsoft Office for Mac but the good news is there are some very good alternatives instead.

Here are 5 of the best Mac alternatives to OneNote you can try.

OmniOutliner

A simple and easy to use note taking application that is flexible for creating, collecting, and organizing information. It’s ideal for student wanting to take-down lecture notes in a clear and organized manner or those who simply want to map their ideas and notes in a convenient way. OmniOutliner allows you to create hierarchies of main headings and sub-points that can be expanded and collapsed. This makes it ideal for brainstorming tasks, drawing-up plan of actions and mapping out ideas. However, OmniOutliner isn’t limited to hierarchies - it also supports multiple columns, smart check boxes and customizable popup lists that make your notes and plans look really professional.

Journler

Journler is a daily notebook and entry based information manager. It will mainly appeal to scholars, teachers, students, professors, scientists that need to connect the written word with the media most important to them. Journler features iLife integration, audio and video entries, extensive document importing and instantaneous searching and filtering, plus Mail, iWeb and Address Book integration, some blog platform integration and Spotlight support.

MacJournal

MacJournal started life as a simple diary entry application but now its a fully featured note taker and organizer that provides a decent alternative to OneNote. MacJournal organizes all your important information and helps chronicle your life faster and easier than ever before. MacJournal allows users to add any kind of content, PDFs, QuickTime movies, images, text and has most recently been updated with Smart Journals which allows specific criteria to be searched upon. The handy thing about MacJournal is that it even allows you to blog video to blogs on Blogger, WordPress, LiveJournal, MobileMe and more - ideal if you need to share your notes with others.

Evernote

The big plus of Evernote is that not only does it offer almost everything that OneNote does, but it also allows you to sync your data and notes over multiple devices including mobiles. EverNote is a simple application that allows you to copy and paste anything onto a clipboard that can handle almost everything you throw at it. This includes everything from simple text, to photos taken on your iPhone. If you see something you’d like to keep or read later, simple select it and then go to the EverNote icon in your toolbar and select “Paste to Evernote”. The only slight drawback is that you can’t add attachments to Evernote.

Circus Ponies Notebook

This is probably a last resort option as it is rather limited compared to OneNote but if you only need the most basic of note taking apps, the bizarrely named Circus Ponies Notebook might be of interest. Using a simple organizational tool such as Circus Ponies NoteBook can help you keep on top of tasks through a simple and easy to use notebook format. As you enter entries into NoteBook, much as you would in a real notebook, you can clip memos, add an attachment, check it or add flags to remind you when it’s due.

Circus Ponies NoteBook uses a system patented by the developer called “Multidex” which makes it easy to view all of your to do tasks in a glance. You can view them all in one go, separately, by category or by importance. You’re encouraged at all times to give context to your notes so that they mean a bit more than just “complete project assignment”. However, you’ll probably find it very inflexible compared to OneNote with how it will let you place items on a page.

The complete Microsoft Office suite is quite expensive (with suggested retail prices starting at $149.99) and not everyone can afford it. However, being the most widespread productivity suite, Office apps have become almost an industry standard – which means we’re all forced either to use it or at least to use a program that’s compatible with Microsoft’s file formats.

In the case of DOC and DOCX files, you should know there are a few interesting alternatives that let you work with them without having to buy Microsoft Word. Here’s a selection of free apps for text processing that can meet your needs without costing you a cent. Ad if you use Mac, don’t forget to check also our list of Word alternatives on Mac!

Writer

Writer is the text processor included in the OpenOffice.org suite. It’s probably the most used alternative to Word, though its interface is quite different from that of Word 2007 and may be a bit off-putting for some users.

Writer clearly has fewer features than Word, but it includes all the main tools and functions that most users need in a word processing tool. Plus, it supports both DOC and DOCX files.

Abiword

Like OpenOffice.org, Abiword is also open source. As it’s just a word processor it’s lighter than a complete productivity suite, and it’s the perfect solution if you only need a tool to work with text documents in Word format. Abiword includes all the basic text editing tools, as well as support for tables, headings and footers.

Abiword also supports plug-ins, which means you can extend its functionality to suit your needs: ability to import data from other tools, built-in translators and search engines, etc.

Google Docs

Google Docs is the online text processor from Google. All you need to start using it is a Gmail account, and then you’re free to start writing right on your web browser, without having to download anything or worrying about saving the file – Google does it automatically for you. Being an online suite, you obviously need an Internet connection to use it.

Besides creating and editing DOC files, and also sharing them with other users, Google Docs also lets you work with other standard industry formats such as PDF, TXT, RTF or HTML.

[via OnSoftware FR]

A couple of weeks ago I had a first look at Office Web Apps, the online version of Microsoft Office 2010. Today I’m going to compare this newly launched service with another online productivity suite that’s been in the business for quite some time now: Google Docs.

To begin with, the main interface in Google Docs looks much better than the one in Office Web Apps, ruined by the presence of a huge, highly distracting banner. Google Docs is clearer and simpler, just like Google’s style.

Both suites have a similar structure on this main page, with document categories on the left and a list of all the files you’ve created so far. The list on Google Docs lets you select multiple documents at the same time to perform bulk operations such as deleting, hiding, starring or exporting. The list on Office Web Apps, however, only lets you manage files one by one, and doesn’t let you delete files – you have to click More > Properties, and then select Delete.

Now, let’s create a file. Google Docs offers five possibilities (document, spreadsheet, presentation, form and drawing) while Office Web Apps works with four programs (Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote). You can create a file easily in both suites, using a drop-down menu. In Office Web Apps, however, you’ll need to name the file right after creating it. Notice also that Office files have the most recent file extension (DOCX, XLSX and PPTX).

Once inside the application (in this example, I’m working on a spreadsheet) the differences are more obvious. Google Docs features the classic interface structure with a top toolbar and drop-down menus, while Office Web Apps is completely based on the Office ribbon interface.

As for the tools included in each program, I have to say Google Docs is more powerful and feature-rich than Office Web Apps. The text processor in Google Docs, for instance, lets you insert tables, images, comments, headers and footnotes, and has also built-in translator, spell checker, word count and dictionary. Meanwhile, the online version of Word only supports tables, images and links, and only features a spell checker.

Similarly, Spreadsheets in Google Docs can work with charts, scripts and simple formulas, while the online Excel is limited to basic text formatting. As for Google Docs Presentations, you can insert images, tables and videos among other elements, whereas the online version of PowerPoint is only ready for images and links. One positive point for Microsoft, however, is presentation themes. They’re easier to use and better organized than the templates in Google Docs – though there aren’t that many of them.

One of the features I love most about Google Docs is its support for sharing and exporting files. You can easily share any document with family and friends, granting them permission to just view, or view and edit. You can also export files to numerous formats, including HTML, TXT, PDF and CSV – besides the standard DOC, XLS and PPT. Office Web Apps, on the other hand, also includes similar sharing capabilities, but falls short of expectations when it comes to exporting files: you can only download them as their original formats, that is, DOCX, XLSX and PPTX.

Regarding file importing, both suites are ready to open files from your local drive, though in Office Web Apps you need to upload them to your Skydrive storage service first. The good thing is that Skydrive offers up to 25 GB of free space with your Windows Live account, while Google Docs only includes 1 GB for free, with paid plans starting at $5 per year for 20 GB of extra space.

Generally speaking, Google Docs has more features, more options and more tools to work on your documents online. Office Web Apps is just a light, stripped-down version of Microsoft Office, with less than 10% of the original suite’s features, and a much less intuitive interface. The only thing I really liked about Office Web Apps was its seamless integration with the desktop version of Office, as well as the 25-GB Skydrive storage space. On balance, I still prefer Google Docs for my online document editing.

When Microsoft presented Office 2010 last summer, they had already revealed their intention to develop an online version of the popular suite. Today this idea has come true and Office Web Apps is already up and running.

Microsoft’s online suite can be found at Office Live, where after entering your Windows Live ID login details you’ll get access to four app: Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote. To start any of them, simply click the correspondent icon.

Office Web Apps are very similar to the latest Microsoft Office 2010. They’re a kind of stripped-down version of the desktop suite, with less tools and options. However they work perfectly fine for basic tasks, those that most of us need on a daily basis.

This online version of Microsoft Office features a simpler variety of the ribbon-style interface, and also saves documents with the latest Microsoft extensions (that is DOCX, XLSX and PPTX). Files are saved to your personal SkyDrive, the 25-GB free storage space Microsoft provides with your Windows Live account.

Office Web Apps let you create new documents, invite other people to see and edit them, download a copy to your hard drive and print the document right from your browser. There’s also the possibility to open local files in Office Web Apps, but you need to upload them to your SkyDrive first. And if you have the latest version of Microsoft Office, you can also open the file directly in the desktop application.

It’s a fact: the more you use your computer, the more unnecessary apps and processes are listed in the system’s boot-up sequence – and the longer it takes to boot up. And there are few things more irritating than having to wait 5 minutes to be able to use your computer.

The good news is that there are programs that can help you clean the mess, get rid of useless programs and leave only those which really need to be run on the system’s start. Soluto is one of them: an excellent start-up analyzer that calculates the time it takes your computer to boot up and helps you improve very easily.

Soluto is really simple. All you need to do is install it on your computer and then reboot it. Soluto calculates the time it takes the system to completely start up, and then shows you a nice graph with the results. Programs are divided into those that can’t be removed (usually because they’re system core components), programs that can be easily get rid of and those which could be potentially removed – but which you’ll probably need to check before.

Soluto can also help you decide if you should remove a program or not. It displays detailed information about each process – when available –, together with technical data such as how much memory it uses or how much time it adds to the total boot sequence. If the information is not available, you can add it yourself like in an online wiki, and thus contribute to Soluto’s user community.

Despite being still at a beta stage, Soluto already looks really promising. With a clear interface, nice animation effects and lots of interesting data, it makes system optimization much easier for everyone.

Windows: Give your artistic inspiration free reins with MyPaint, an excellent drawing editor with which you can paint on your computer. MyPaint includes dozens of different brushes with very realist results, and works great with pressure-sensitive graphic tablets. Create drawings and sketches with pencils, watercolors or oil painting, just like the real thing!

iPhone: Business Card Reader allows you to quickly add new contacts to your phone just by taking a photo of their business card. The application is ideal for anyone who regularly attends conferences, exhibitions, and the like, because it means business card details don’t need to be entered manually. With Business Card Reader, you just snap a photo of the card and the program will scan it to retrieve the details.

Mac: New to FTP and a bit intimidated by the whole file transfer process? Transmit is a highly flexible and intuitive FTP client for Mac that may well be your answer. Now updated with an even slicker and clearer interface, Transmit is easier to use than ever. Need to send and receive files over the internet and don’t want to get entangled in difficult settings? No problem - Transmit offers a very simple interface, perfect for anybody new to FT.

Jumplists are one of my favorite features in Windows 7. They make apps easier to use by providing direct access to their most frequently used tasks and files. Unfortunately, jumplists are not available for all programs, which is why I’ve been searching for a way to add them to my favorite software - until I found Jumplist Extender.

With Jumplist Extender you can easily create custom Windows 7 jumplists for any program, with the commands and files you use most. I have to say the program is a bit rough around the edges - meaning sometimes it takes a while to make the jumplist work - but in general terms it’s exactly what I was looking for.

Configuring Jumplist Extender is very easy. Launch the program and click “Start a new jumplist“. Then select the executable file of the application you want to create the jumplist for. Jumplist Extender will ask you to click on its window, and will then let you start adding commands to your custom jumplist.

When you’re done, go to File > Save and Apply to Taskbar and the jumplist should appear right on top of your app’s icon in the taskbar, whenever you right click on it.

Now, I found a few glitches while testing the program. Creating a jumplist from scratch works fine, but editing it is a completely different story. Most of the times changes won’t be saved until you “reset” the list by disabling and enabling it again. Besides those bugs, however, it’s still a very useful app for all of us who miss jumplists everywhere!

Windows: Microsoft has released a new trial version of its popular productivity suite, aimed at professionals. The new Microsoft Office 2010 Professional Plus includes all the Office apps (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Access, Publisher, InfoPath, Communicator, SharePoint Workspace and Outlook), which you can try for 60 days.

iPhone: Looking for an iPhone game with a bit more depth than the norm? Dark Raider is a top-down action adventure game, where you play an outcast scientist searching a dangerous fantasy world for the key to immortality. The story may be clichéd, but Dark Raider is an enjoyable title, and unusually long for the iPhone, which has tons of casual and lightweight games.

Mac: eBay is one of the best trading sites on the net but keeping track of items can be a full time job. AuctionSieve helps you rapidly filter through auctions in eBay searches or categories. AuctionSieve is ideal for collectors of a particular item or topic that needs to get past all the small worthless items and target items of major value. You can monitor as many search terms as you want and instantly organize them for a quick overview.