backgrounds

Do you like my new desktop background?

If you have 2 minutes to spare, you can create such a background, too. From Stamen Design, a San Francisco-based design and technology studio, comes Map-->Image. It's a free Web utility that lets you create an image from an area on a map.

Plug in a city and state or zip code in the Find a Place box, choose a map style, set the image size, and click the Make button. Once you have found a place, you can use the "+" and "-" buttons on the … Read more

Themes in Gmail are a good way to quickly differentiate between multiple Gmail accounts, as well as adding a little flair to your account. Until now, you were limited to the selection of themes provided by Google. Within the next few days, Google will have completed rolling out the capability to create custom Gmail themes, using your own background photos.

To check if the new themes have been pushed out to your account, go to your Gmail settings and select themes. If the feature's been pushed to your account, you'll see the Light and Dark themes in a … Read more

First things first, I'm referring to soft-to-loud dynamic range compression, not MP3 or other types of lossy data compression. Dynamic range compression has been around for almost as long as recorded music has existed, but over the last decade or so the public has demanded ever higher levels of dynamic range compression. The so-called lowest common denominator approach to mixing and mastering music boosts all of the softer/quieter passages to be loud all the time. That process obliterates all of the original details, subtleties, and nuances of the instruments and vocalists. Once the mix has been compressed, it … Read more

My Living Desktop is an enhancement for your Mac that lets you show a moving video loop as your desktop background (or screensaver) and it's gotten a lot of new features in recent updates.

Once the program is installed on your Mac, you can choose from 28 high-definition video scenes (six scenes in the trial) to either play as a screensaver or as a moving background while you work. The app comes with audio as well so you can immerse yourself into the widely varied living environments from snowy scenes to calming beach views. If you want more variety … Read more

Like something out of George Orwell's "Nineteen Eighty-Four" where "Big Brother is watching you," Google is trying to patent technology that could pick up on background noise during mobile-phone calls and then promote related ads.

The title of the patent application is "Advertising Based on Environmental Conditions," and it was first reported today by tech-news site The Next Web. Apparently, the technology will be able to listen in on background noise, like rain, music, or a baseball game, and then serve related ads, such as a spot for an umbrella, a new album, … Read more

The clock that's built into Windows does a decent enough job of telling you what time it is, but it doesn't have any of the extra features that can make clocks exceptionally useful. Alarm Clock-7 is a desktop clock that promises to bring useful features to your desktop, including--of course--alarms. The only problem is that the alarm feature doesn't seem to work.

The program's interface is nothing to get excited about, but it was at least inoffensive, displaying a traditional-style digital clock on our desktop. The clock can be moved and resized, and users can change … Read more

Call us old-fashioned, but we don't typically get into desktop customizations. We're not opposed to tweaks that are useful--or even just plain fun--but it seems that much of the time these programs are more trouble than they're worth. So it goes with Folder Background Changer. This program promises to let users customize the background images within their folders, but it doesn't work reliably.

The program required a registration code during installation, which confused us until we realized that it was contained in a text file that came with the download. Once we had the program installed, … Read more

When you think you've seen every variation on music management software, along comes a new one like Songview. It's a free "worship song display" program, though you provide the songs. It includes a slideshow and PowerPoint presentation maker, and a built-in Bible feature that can access a wide range of texts. It automatically produces a song use history for CCL licensing and offers congregation alerts, fade in and out, and slide editing during live displays, making it ideal for clergy and lay users who prepare worship services and programs. It's easy to learn and free, … Read more

We are still finding hidden features in iOS 5. … Read more