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MyNotex is a handy note-taking app that helps you rat-pack all of your scraps of information and images into a searchable database. It is easy to use and takes almost no time to learn. MyNotex is a bit different from traditional tree-form note-taking systems. It handles more than plain text notation...

It's the holidays, and if your Android smartphone is feeling a bit neglected, I've got the perfect gift for it. Forget automating your life with remote-controlled garage door openers, motorized big-screen TV mounts, and electrically driven drapes -- that's all so last-century. Controlling your phone...

FocusWriter uses an intriguing concept that makes you wonder why other word-processing tools do not offer the same hide-away tool panels to eliminate distractions. It offers a set of writing tools with the ease and speed of unencumbered text editors. Focuswriter is a full-screen writing program. It ...

The latest release of Canonical's innovative open source operating system, Ubuntu 12.10, maintains its twice-annual upgrade pattern. Even though the last few releases have generated a steady chorus of cries for longer release schedules, Canonical's leadership stands by the schedule and the rationale...

KMyMoney is a comprehensive finance-tracking application that does not require an accounting degree to use effectively. Linux provides several hearty checkbook and banking programs. Among the more well-known are GNUCash, Grisbi, Skrooge and MoneyDance. Each of these contenders for your attention hav...

For the installed user base of the former Sun Microsystems' OpenSolaris OS, questions about its continued support and development remain largely unanswered. When Oracle bought Sun Microsystems, it raised fees for its technical help and halted further development on OpenSolaris, replacing it with its...

iMap Weather Radio from Weather Decision Technologies may be the first Android app- style weather-warning push product that accurately parses public safety announcements. It delivers timely alerts only to those within a geo warning box, rather than to everyone within a broad-brush area. I've been l...

Gnumeric is a lightweight spreadsheet program that is fast and feature complete. Much like its chief open source competitors OpenOffice and LibreOffice, its graphical user interface is nothing fancy. What it lacks in colorful design or exciting visual menu displays, however, it surpasses with its fo...

I've gone a bit mad for smartphone GPS and everything that goes with it, including back country topo maps, tablet mounts and in-car mode screen assistant widgets. If you've been reading some of my TechNewsWorld and LinuxInsider columns lately, you already know that. I've also been kitting out my ph...

The recent release of Ubuntu 12.10, aka Quantal Quetzal, is a more palatable version of the open source OS built around the Unity desktop environment. Perhaps I am growing more accustomed to Unity, or maybe Canonical's developers are succeeding in refining the graphical user interface, so it seems l...

Developer Alex Gavrishev's free, widget-oriented app lets you assign home screens specifically to be used in the car, and it lets you create large, easy-to-punch buttons for six shortcuts per screen. The buttons render well at tablet-strength high resolutions, unlike other car apps I've tried. One ...

OCRFeeder is a document layout analysis and optical character recognition application. It is a type of software that leaves much to be desired on the Linux desktop. OCR software is a companion tool to scanning a document. The scanner software creates a photo-like image of the scanned document. The ...

Darhon Finance is a comprehensive personal finance program packed with features to manage finances and bank accounts, track credit cards and investments and plan for expenses. It goes far beyond serving as a typical electronic check or bank book register. That leap to being full financial package pu...

The tide of software piracy in China may be ebbing. With the clear support of the Chinese government, several software organizations and computer firms based in Europe and the U.S. are conducting events focusing on growing open source in China. The push toward China's active participation in the ope...

Consider how far we have come as a communications-driven society since the days of the messenger pigeon and telegraph. It's about 150 years since the Pony Express rode in the West. From horses to microwave, one of life's mysteries is that battery technology is still dead-ending us. Portable power c...