find

Find the Difference Game is a challenging puzzle game in which players must identify 12 differences between two similar images. The game is basic and suitable for young children, but contains cute, attractive graphics.

The program's interface is simple, with two similar images displayed side-by-side. Each puzzle is done in a cartoon style, and we liked that the characters depicted in the images were both white and brown. Each time users locate a difference, they simply click on the spot on either image. A tracker at the top of the screen keeps track of how many differences have been … Read more

X-Ripper is an intuitive program that lets users extract and save files of a particular type from a specific directory. There's not a lot to it, but it does work as advertised.

The program's interface is simple and easy to understand. Users select the source and destination folders they want to use and then select the file type(s) they're looking for. Users can select graphics, video, or audio files only, or hand-pick from among 19 file types. Once the desired file types are selected, the program goes to work searching for them in the specified location. … Read more

TextSoap is a powerful utility with a single purpose: to quickly clean up text from any source, so that you can reuse it in other applications. A godsend for software developers and Web designers who have to frequently work with a motley variety of text, TextSoap can almost instantly remove extra spaces and "garbage characters" while still maintaining text formatting--and it can also automatically convert formatting like bold and italics into its HTML equivalent by inserting tags.

The app's clean interface looks much like any simple text editor, but you'll find most of its power in … Read more

Apple has updated MobileMe's Find My iPhone service for iPhone OS 3.1 to include a feature appropriately named Remote Lock. The new feature provides another way to protect data on a lost or stolen iPhone. Remote Lock lets you add a passcode or change your existing one, locking your missing iPhone's screen from afar. The new feature resolves some of the Find My iPhone's previous shortcomings.

MobileMe subscribers can go the control panel for Find My iPhone after logging into their MobileMe account. Once there, users can protect the information on their missing iPhone by remotely … Read more

Find My iPhone, a service Apple provides to MobileMe subscribers, is certainly paying off for one Pittsburgh-area man. According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the man was robbed at gunpoint in the Shadyside area of east Pittsburgh by two men who demanded his credit cards and their PINs.

The local Pittsburgh police reported that the victim, who was not identified, handed over his wallet, PINs, and iPhone to robbers. He later used a computer to locate his iPhone using the MobileMe service, which eventually led the police to the suspects at a local gas station. Officers arrested the two suspects plus … Read more

CloneSpy provides users with an incredibly fast way of checking their computers for duplicate files that may be taking up valuable space. With speed, ease, and results, this is a fantastic choice for users.

The program's single-screen interface is so simple, most users will not have to look at the Help file for direction. With its actions clearly spelled out on screen, users will be checking their computers for duplicates in no time. Users select folders from a file tree. Once the folders are chosen, users can select a radio button to determine which pool of folders to compare, … Read more

Among the bevy of problems--some large, some small--reported by iPhone users following the release of iPhone OS 3.0 and the iPhone 3GS lurked a bug I encountered in Find My iPhone on Apple's MobileMe service.

Find My iPhone remembers all your devices, including any old iPhones turned off or sold after you upgraded to the iPhone 3GS. Until now, there was no way to make Find My iPhone forget that old iPhone.

Apple has quietly released an updated Apple support document, "MobileMe, iPhone OS 3.0: Troubleshooting Find My iPhone and Remote Wipe," which now states:… Read more

Duplicate Remover for Microsoft Excel does exactly what its name suggests: it finds and removes duplicate entries and formatting in Excel spreadsheets. Thanks to its wizard-style approach, users of all skill levels will find it worthwhile.

The program operates through an extra tab that it adds to Excel's interface. Clicking on it activates a wizard that makes it incredibly easy to configure the program. Using a tip from the wizard, we first selected a large cell range to search. The program gives you the option of searching a single table or comparing two tables. We appreciated the time-saving step … Read more

Over the weekend, Livejournal blogger HappyWaffle (real name Kevin), posted a great story about how he purportedly used Apple's MobileMe service to track down his iPhone, which was stolen while he was at a bar. By using a laptop with a Sprint EVDO wireless data card, he and his friends figured out where it was and managed to get it back from the person who had taken it. They even used Google Translate to alert the thief (in multiple languages) that they would call the police if the device was not returned.

As good as the story is, a lot of it relies on iPhone owners having certain settings flipped on, as well as the person who has the phone not knowing the right ones to turn off. For one, they can disable all of the MobileMe features by simply yanking the SIM card out or deleting the MobileMe account from the phone. They can also perform a software wipe right on the phone, which means your data gets erased, however that means you can no longer track where it is without carrier intervention.

This isn't the main thing to worry about though; it's that… Read more