Love music? Hate iTunes? Here’s the perfect solution..

iStick

iStick

For a change to win a copy of iStick click here to enter our competition.

For as long as there has been an iPod (2001) there has been iTunes.. Starting out life as iTunes digital jukebox software, it truly has decided the masses. Some users love everything it’s about, others believe it was Satans doing..  It’s fair to say it has had its up’s and downs, 6 times out of 10 iTunes updates (on Windows) tend to go haywire causing countless hours of headache for music lovers the world over.

Well luckily the clever developers over at Softorino Inc have come to the rescue of the iTunes suffers with their latest Windows software offering – iStick

iStick Description:

iStick has been developed to reduce the need for iTunes when transferring media to Apple devices..

“iStick is the beginning of something really revolutionary,” said Peter Bondarevsky, Softorino’s co-founder. “We love Apple. We love iPhone, but iTunes, is just too outdated and did not reach its full potential, especially for Windows users.”

Now with iStick installed all you have to do to transfer stuff is mount it as a drive, and copy and paste… No, seriously.. That’s all! Check out this youtube video and see for yourself just how easy it is..

iStick Screenshots:

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iStick Features:

  • Upload Music, Videos, Books & Ringtones to Device
  • Transfer Media (Music, Photos, Videos, Books & Ringtones) from iOS device to any PC
  • Multiple iOS device management (i.e. transfer music directly between two iPhones)
  • Access the uploaded media immediately after the transfer.
  • No need to install iTunes.
  • Mount iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch as a USB Stick.
  • AFC2 access, the app can read & write to the iOS device real root. *Jailbreak required.
  • Simplistic Interface (Copy & Paste | Drag & Drop compatible)

Download:

You can grab a FREE copy of iStick from Softorino’s website using the following direct download link

Rating:

As a (primarily) OS X user I, generally don’t suffer with the iTunes issues I know my Windows friends do, but apart from my affinity to Apple and iTunes – this application seems flawless. iTunes for Windows users rejoice, a pain-free method of data transfer!

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CleanMyPC from MacPaw hands on review

CleanMyPCFrom the makers of the amazingly powerful CleanMyMac comes CleanMyPC! Now not only can you keep your OS X running in much like a ‘fresh install’ state – but you can also declutter your Microsoft Windows installation too.

MacPaw are an independent software development company with offices in the United States and Ukraine

CleanMyPC Description:

CleanMyPC is an application designed for Windows 7 and 8 with one goal in mind, that is to keep your PC running as good as new. PC’s get clogged up with temporary files and application install remnants which surge no purpose and simply slow your machine down. Although some of the tasks the application completes automatically could technically be done manually, CleanMyPC takes the admin burden out of the tasks. What’s more it’s capable of doing all the tasks at the same time, with little to no user interaction at all.

This is perfect if you’ve more important things to focus on.

MacPaw are constantly improving their software, and updates to the CleanMyPC app come thick and fast, meaning the software you are using is always up to date, and aware of installed applications and critical systems files. This means CleanMyPC is the safest way possible to remove system files, without the risk of damaging your operating system install.

CleanMyPC Screenshots:

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CleanMyPC Features:

  • My Computer Cleanup Capable of clearing down Caches & Logs, Trash and Junk files, including system restore data and windows error reports.
  • Registry Maintenance – The registry is a pretty unruly place, especially if you are constantly installing and uninstalling software. There are many applications on the market which claim to clear down the registry. However, none seem as thorough as CleanMyPC.
  • Complete Application Uninstaller – Some application uninstallation executables are poorly designed, and often leave hidden system files, folders and registry entries behind. You can avoid that by using CleanMyPC to remove the application for you.
  • Gadgets and Extensions Manager – Applications to add functionality to things like Windows Explorer and Internet Explorer generally do so via extensions, this is a pain-free way of managing and removing old and unused extensions. Doing so can often speed up the application.
  • Autorun manager – Some applications automatically insert themselves in Windows startup locations, sometimes this is useful, sometimes all this achieves is a longer boot time for your Windows device. This section of CleanMyPC helps remove the no longer needed or value added auto run entries.
  • Privacy Guard – Privacy is of grave concern, so protecting your privacy is paramount. Applications such as Internet Explorer collect cookies from sites you visit. The built-in Privacy Guard helps clean down cookies and other files containing identifiable information. 
  • Secure Erase – A normal file delete leaves remnants of the old file behind, thus making it possible to actually recover the file. Which can both be handy and a potential security issue. Should you have a file you know you want to securely delete, you can use the built-in facility to not only delete but make sure recovery is impossible.

Download:

You can grab a trial version of CleanMyPC absolutely free of charge from MacPaw’s website, once you’ve downloaded the trial and seen just how powerful it is, you can purchase a copy for just £29.95 which is at least £40 cheaper then professional IT services would charge to do the same thing!

Rating:

CleanMyPC gets the full 5 star rating for me, I’ve been a big fan of MacPaw’s CleanMyMac since day of release.. The ability to keep my windows VM’s clean in the same way is perfect!
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SPB TV Comes to Desktop

January 13th, 2011 – SPB Software, a leading mobile software developer has announced that its major solution SPB TV is now also available for desktop. As the best in class TV for mobile devices SPB TV has already gained popularity among the smartphone owners. The numbers confirm this: this month SPB TV has reached the 3 million users milestone, and it doesn’t include the subscribers of 4 mobile operators worldwide that have already deployed SPB TV based mobile TV solutions. With the launch of the desktop version, it becomes possible to have the same user experience on desktop, tablets and smartphones. And the users may choose which way of watching SPB TV is the most convenient for them.

SPB TV for desktop is available in several modes. It’s enough to type http://tv.spb.com in the address bar to start watching it online. SPB TV can be accessed in all major browsers: Firefox, IE, Chrome, Opera and Safari. The browser mode allows to switch between channels, browse the integrated TV guide to see the current and upcoming TV programs, switch to the full-screen mode and control the volume level. It also shows the channels of the user’s previous choice. It is possible to install SPB TV on Windows PC or Mac and enjoy the convenient and easy-to-use interface launching it on the desktop in the out-of-browser mode.

Out-of-browser mode allows the user to switch to the compact mode and to the full screen mode. The compact mode is an on-screen window that can be chosen to stay always on top of the windows so that the user could combine watching the favorite TV shows with browsing in the Internet or working. The full screen mode is on the contrary for those who want to be fully engaged in the TV-watching process and have a real TV experience. Video-on-demand channels are another option in addition to the live streaming.

Mobile Operators will now have an opportunity to provide the full-service solution including not only SPB TV for mobile devices on Android, iPhone/iPad, Symbian, Windows Mobile, BlackBerry, bada, Maemo and WebOS platforms but also SPB TV for tablets, Macs, Windows PCs and netbooks

Main Features:

  • TV Everywhere: desktop, mobile, tablet
  • Windows and Mac compatible
  • In and Out of Browser modes
  • Updates automatically
  • Compact view

Pricing and Availability

The SPB TV Desktop requires Silverlight 4 and is compatible with Mac OS X and Windows. SPB TV Desktop is free of charge and can be watched in most popular browsers or installed on the desktop.

Further Information

Watch SPB TV Desktop
SPB TV product page
SPB TV Desktop description page

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Review: Microsoft My Phone

Microsoft My PhoneMicrosoft have recently opened up their ‘mobile cloud’ service to BETA testers. Microsoft My Phone is basically a sync service for the items on your phone. However, where this one differs is it stores items such as your contacts, calendar, tasks, text messages, photos, videos, music and documents all in one password protected online location.

The service syncs with Windows Mobile devices using a small sync client. The sync client works a little like ActiveSync in such a way that in can either be set up on a schedule or sync’s can be performed manually. Allowing you 200.00 MB’s worth of online storage space, all linked to your Windows Live account.

There are some downsides to the solution. Especially if you already sync with an exchange server. This unfortunatly prevents you from syncing your calendar, contacts, and tasks etc with the service. You can however continue to sync the other items on your phone.

I can see the service being used as a backup in case of lost or stolen phones, or simply as a way to easily access the documents stored on your phone in situations where you are unable to connect your phone to a PC. Like in a cyber cafe perhaps?

One of the benefits of this service over some of the others, is it’s ability to backup files stored on a storage card!

You can find more information about Microsoft My Phone over at it’s official website http://myphone.microsoft.com

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