5.2

The sheer volume of options and tools in SoundHound is impressive, if nothing else because it really does its best to immerse you in your music as people tend to listen to it now--live and socially. The tool, itself, is designed to recognize tracks playing in the background and help you find the artist or album in its database; but it goes beyond that, providing music headlines, a list of the recent charts, popular music from its users, and a Twitter stream of top songs.

If you love music, you will love SoundHound. The app is designed to be as … Read more

The iPhone and iPad are increasingly becoming a part of many people's everyday work tools. However, there are very few built-in tools for editing documents and the iWork applications are not very compatible with Microsoft Office, which is used by more than 80 percent of offices and their workers. So a third-party app is needed, and Office Plus touts itself as one of the most popular. But is it a good replacement for iWork or other office suites?

When you first open Office Plus, it isn't immediately obvious what you should do, a major issue for a lot … Read more

With Evernote being the 800-pound gorilla of online notes, there isn't much space for a new app to compete. Catch Notes takes a novel approach by giving you a simpler experience with tons of control over its features. It's worth trying, but might not be enough to get you to switch from your current favorite note-taking app.

Since the app syncs your notes over the Web, it requires an account to use. You can log in to it through Facebook or Google for an easy setup, though. If you do, your notes stay private and aren't shared … Read more

Being a DJ is cool, but the cost of equipment is not. PCDJ DEX 2 for Mac is a mixing program for music and video that is fully loaded with features and possibilities offered at a reasonable price.

PCDJ DEX 2 for Mac allows the user to mix music and video and even make karaoke files. The program automatically loads existing music and video files into the interface. You can add additional sound elements using external microphones, CD players and turntables. The media files are easily accessible and can be transferred to the mixing decks by dragging and dropping. The … Read more

AnVir Task Manager Free Portable bundles together some powerful system maintenance tools in one portable package controlled by a single interface. It replaces Windows Task Manager, managing your startup menu, scanning for and removing viruses and malware, and even tweaking Windows settings by disabling unneeded processes and regularly cleaning up unnecessary files. Recent updates include improved traffic monitoring.

AnVir Task Manager is a substantial bundle with a 271MB download, which nevertheless would fit easily on nearly every portable storage device in use. Clicking the program's extracted executable file produced a dialog box offering two options, Run As Administrator (recommended) … Read more

File management tools are among the most popular downloaded apps for Android users. Packed with many useful features, an intuitive interface and complete support for encrypted ZIP files, AndroZip File Manager enables users to fully control their files. It offers all the features of expensive file management tools free of charge.

This app installs directly to your SD card. The installation itself takes very little time and is easy. AndroZip File Manager does not require extra root permission to view the root file structure, and these files are instantly viewable after installation. With a black background and white text, most … Read more

Experts are divided on the threat that viruses and malware pose to Android devices. Some say you basically have to deliberately install malware to infect your device. Others point out that "operator error" is common and that millions of users have little idea of what their phones do behind the scenes. We say that the cutting edge of Android virus detection is no place to be; we'd rather take what steps we can. Which brings us to NetQin's NQ Mobile Security suite. This free Android app works much like your home PC's antivirus solution, scanning … Read more

Kik Messenger is a popular cross-platform chat app. OK, so that describes a lot of tools. But Kik's kicker is speed: It boasts some of the fastest notification and messaging hookups in the chat universe. Like similar apps, Kik Messenger makes it easy to find and add friends, share photos, and set up Group Chat sessions. We tried Kik Messenger's free Android app.

It's easy to install and set up Kik Messenger, even if you need to create a new account, though the ability to sign up via your Facebook account (as some other chat apps have) … Read more

Renamerox for Mac is, as the name implies, a tool for bulk renaming of files and folders on your Mac OS X system. Renamerox for Mac is not available through the App Store but can be downloaded from several locations, and installs quickly and easily. The demo version of Renamerox for Mac works without limitation, but adds letters to the name of the files it renames. The full version, priced at $9.95, removes these extra letters.

The Renamerox for Mac interface is simple. You can drag and drop files or folders on top of the Renamerox for Mac icon, … Read more