texting

Converting PDFs to Word-compatible formats while not paying for the privilege nor getting scammed can feel a bit like herding cats. Free PDF to Word Doc Converter gets a few things wrong, but eventually will land you the DOC output you want.

Impressively, it offers one of the cleanest and most accurate free PDF-to-DOC conversions around. Users can change the output path and name, convert an entire document or just specific pages, and ditch images in the source PDF if need be. From there, it goes a bit downhill. The option to open the output DOC in WordPad didn't … Read more

Discover an alternative to Microsoft's Notepad: BDV Notepad. This Text file composition app offers users improved options on the traditionally simple program, but sacrifices some of the original's sleekness.

BDV Notepad provides many improvements upon normal word processors that save as txt. files. In an attempt to combine some of Microsoft Word's options with Notepad, users can click a button to undo previous work. In addition, users can send documents directly to a recipient in an e-mail, choose background and font colors, and even create URLs automatically as they are typed. This unlimited trial also offers an … Read more

Despite the many accolades the Peek received last year, we ragged on it for offering too little for too much, and we still stand by that original claim. Twenty dollars a month for only e-mail just did not seem worth it.

However, Peek has now released the Peek Pronto, which offers way more than just e-mail. Not only do you get push e-mail delivery, you also get Microsoft Exchange support, texting, PDF, and Word doc support, Search, and e-mail apps like weather, news, and maps. Other improvements include a larger font set and faster software speed. It also now allows … Read more

TextFlow, the Adobe AIR application that lets users collaboratively edit documents, is now available in the browser. Users can group together multiple versions of the same document and selectively pick which edits they want to keep--just like they would on the desktop version, but now without software.

Along with the move to the browser, the service now hosts your documents so you can access and begin editing them from any computer. The company has also lifted the file size limit, meaning you can finally upload and edit documents more than 10 pages in length--not being able to do so was … Read more

E-marketing firm SmartReply has acquired mobile-advertising specialist MSnap in an effort to increase its presence on wireless devices.

SmartReply, which distributes advertisements via voice messages, e-mail, and text messages, is seeking to create the largest U.S. mobile-messaging ad network through the acquisition, according to a post on MSnap's Web site.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, and MSnap and SmartReply were not immediately available for comment, but according to a report in The Wall Street Journal, MSnap's shareholders will receive a minority stake in SmartReply.

MSnap, founded in 2006, has received investments from Partech International and … Read more

Magic Lens Max offers visually impaired users a virtual screen magnifier. We found it very easy to navigate, but the numerous configuration options might be confusing to some.

When activated, the main user interface appears on your desktop, and it's packed with a number of settings to show or hide the magnifier, change the lens shape, pick the color mode, adjust the zoom percentage, color levels, and the lens size and border, among other things. Also from the interface, you can create hot-key combinations for zooming, rotating, and more. We certainly appreciate all of the options, but would have … Read more

It won't grab headlines like the newest version of the iPhone operating system, but a Palo Alto, Calif., nonprofit today announced a suite of open-source applications that aids in communications and collaboration for humanitarian workers dealing with diseases and disasters.

InSTEDD (Innovative Support to Emergencies, Diseases and Disasters) has released three applications to empower aid workers to use inexpensive, off-the-shelf mobile phones to better detect and respond to disasters, diseases, and economic catastrophes.

The organization currently runs projects in Southeast Asia, including the Mekong Basin Disease Surveillance project and the Phnom Penh Innovation Lab.

One of the new programs, … Read more

In an emergency, communications can mean the difference between life and death. But, in much of the world, traditional emergency communications infrastructure simply doesn't exist. Even where it does, such as in the United States, we've seen breakdowns between agencies with incompatible radio systems.

Dr. Eric Rasmussen, CEO of InSTEDD (Innovative Support to Emergencies, Diseases and Disasters) tells Larry Magid about his organization's new software suite that helps to improve early detection, preparedness and response capabilities against global threats.

Podcast runs 10 minutes

Whenever a next-generation version of a product is launched, inevitably you get comparisons to the previous model--and what the older model did better. Well, in the case of the Kindle 2, the nitpicking is in full swing as several blogs have taken up the debate over whether the Kindle 2's text is lighter than the original Kindle's.

On Joe Wikert's Kindleville blog, one reader lodged the following complaint:

Side-by-side, the K1 text is bolder and jumps out at you. It's as if the low fidelity, dot-matrix-like typeface of the K1 is better suited for the reading experience than the feathered, crisp, 16-shades of gray of the K2. After 30 minutes of reading on the K2, my eyes get tired and I actually experience mild dizziness, headaches. Never experienced that with the K1.

In the Mobileread forums, a reader posted that he had decided to return the Kindle 2 after he noticed "low contrast on text as compared to kindle 1...text on kindle 1 is really good it is dark and somewhat thicker than kindle 2 at the same font size, menu is normal on kindle 2." He said he spoke to a Kindle representative (we assume a customer service person), who said he'd heard complaints from other Kindle 2 users as well.

On Amazon, there's a thread titled, "Amazon: Please make the text darker on Kindle 2!"

The thread's starter, BMK, is calling for an e-mail campaign to encourage Amazon to update the firmware on the Kindle 2 to fix the alleged problem.

"Kindle 2 is capable of producing darker text than the default setting, which is light, thin, and difficult to read for many people. Customer Service has reportedly told at least one person that the standard text could have been a darker shade of gray/black than the one that was chosen."

So, what's the deal? Are people imagining things or is there really an issue? … Read more