1.2.5

Review: Create magazine-style photos with InstaMag - Magazine Collage

This app gives you the chance to be the star of a magazine--a really poor magazine, but a magazine nonetheless! InstaMag - Magazine Collage automatically organizes a few of your pictures into a spread, but it looks terrible. You won't want to share anything this collage app makes.

This app is designed to present your photos as if they were in a magazine spread. InstaMag - Magazine Collage only supports collages with four photos-- you can't have more or less. You can't move where the photos sit on the digital page, either. In fact, the only thing … Read more

Review: EagleEyes(Lite+) lets you monitor your business, remotely

EagleEyes(Lite+) lets you monitor your business remotely, but it's really limited in its reach. EagleEyes won't let you view cameras from any old manufacturer, but it's a decent app to have if you use a specific type of surveillance software.

EagleEyes only works with AVTech surveillance equipment, so look for another app if you don't use that. If you do use AVTech, this app gives you enough features and seamless operation in the free version. If you want full control, you'll need to pay $5 for the pro version. Either way, setup is easy. … Read more

Download your Picasa albums to your Android device with Picasa Downloader

Google's Picasa makes it easy to store, share, and edit your photos and other images. While it's great to be able to access your Picasa images on the go, you probably don't want to store all your albums on your smartphone. Picasa Downloader by Andrei Markovits is a free app that makes it quick and easy to download your Picasa albums so that you can access them offline or when you need them. Even large albums download quickly -- depending on your connection speed, that is! With a 4G or Wi-Fi signal, your Picasa albums download so … Read more

Learn new words with Lingoversity

Building a vocabulary is an important part of learning a foreign language (or learning more about your own language) yet it can be difficult for students to get the practice and reinforcement they need to make new words stick. Lingoversity is a language-learning tool that focuses on building vocabularies. It uses nontraditional learning methods designed to stimulate students into learning instead of simply repeating lessons. It can create voice-supported personal vocabularies, lessons, and podcasts. While its technology is unique, it's also somewhat less than intuitive to use, which compromises its effectiveness.

Lingoversity's startup procedure could use some work; … Read more

Strategy game pack

Strategic board games let players test their generalship in wars of conquest. TripleA is a free, open-source, Java-based pack containing several strategy games with single-player, multiplayer, and online modes, with more available online. Players manage vast armies of men and weapons, including ships, planes, tanks, and transports, supplies, and other resources. Rolling virtual dice simulates the random element in battle, but different values for various elements mean that strategy trumps chance, at least for skillful generals.

TripleA downloads and installs normally but requires the JRE (Java Runtime Environment) to open, but that's free, too, and easy to install. TripleA'… Read more

Turn iPhone into a scanner

Problem: You've just been handed a stack of papers that needs to be signed and returned, and there's no fax machine in sight. You have a pocketful of receipts you're tired of carrying around, and no place to file them. You need to convert a printed document into a PDF.

The solution for all these predicaments is Scanner Pro, which turns your iPhone into a mobile scanner that connects to everything from Dropbox to Evernote to MobileMe. Find the most well-lit setting you possibly can, run the app, then point your iPhone's camera at a document. … Read more