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As long as smartphones have been able to snap pictures, there has been a crowded crop of photo editors. This one slims down a lot of the bigger offerings into a few neat features. The only problem is that some of the features in BeautyCamera don't work like you'd expect them to. The app gives cool results when they do, though.

Like many photo-editing apps, this one lets you pull photos from your hard drive or snap from within the app. You can preview filters that way, but the app's camera lacks top-tier quality. The filters themselves … Read more

Music and how we listen to it has evolved rapidly in recent years. From the day the first music sharing service went live in the 90's to the online services now running on every phone and tablet on the planet, music is changing. Rdio takes many of the changes we've seen in recent years and compiles them into a single, easy to use interface that offers a bit of everything for different types of music lovers.

The basic idea of Rdio is simple. Subscribe and gain instant access to 20 million songs. Create playlists, download other playlists or … Read more

The first thing most people will think of when they see an index card is studying for a test. But the genius of the Index Card Magic app from Evergreen Ruby LLC is that it is open ended. The format and layout of this app is perfect for creating to do lists, flash cards, or project boards on which you can visualize data fairly easily.

The basic interface for Index Card Magic is fairly simple and will take some time for students to get used to. You must create categories and then projects to fit into those categories before creating … Read more

There are hundreds of productivity apps on the App Store ranging wildly in terms of quality and cost. From basic to-do lists for free to expensive multi-device GTD software, there is something for everyone. Date Matter attempts to fill the low-cost end of the spectrum by providing a clean event and task creation and management tool. For the most part it succeeds but not without a few glaring omissions.

Date Matter looks clean when first opened, albeit with some odd design choices and font placements. Creation of a new event takes only a couple taps and there are multiple options … Read more

Boulder Happy Hours is a very useful--though fairly rudimentary--app that alerts users to happy hours in their fair city. If you live anywhere near Boulder, it is definitely worth a download.

The Boulder Happy Hours app is designed to show the happy hour information for every bar and restaurant in the Boulder area. When you open it, you'll find three menus: one for featured happy hours (usually showing only one), one for every location in the database, and one to call a cab, which is a very nice addition for any app focused on drinking. For each location, you … Read more

VideoUpLink for Mac helps users who take frequent videos for sharing with friends to quickly upload them. While it allows the user to save some steps required for this process, it is of little additional value.

VideoUpLink for Mac provides a free trial version, which restricts the uploads to personal Facebook pages. The unrestricted version costs $9.99. The program downloaded quickly and its installation was seamless. The application did have technical support available, and a basic Help menu provided initial user instructions. The main interface is sparse, but easy to navigate, with buttons on the top for uploading and … Read more

Available from Verizon for $79.99, the LG Revere 2 sports a sophisticated brushed-metal look and a familiar clamshell construction. It's aimed at customers looking for something simple and low-maintenance.

However, even with these somewhat attractive features, the device has enough shortcomings to make me doubt its viability. For instance, the browser is so tedious to use (and trust me, I've used my fair share of rudimentary mobile browsers), I wondered if it was even worth the effort to put it on there in the first place.

Indeed, if you need to make calls and send texts, this … Read more

Hewlett-Packard has a newfound affinity for Android.

After announcing the Slate 7 in February, HP announced Tuesday that it is adding a second Android tablet, the SlateBook x2.

The SlateBook takes its well-received Envy x2 design and loads Android 4.2.2 and Nvidia's brand-new Tegra 4 chip inside a sleek 10.1-inch tablet that can double as a laptop.

An Android laptop, mind you, not a Chromebook.

"With an advanced magnetic hinge design and dual battery system -- one battery in the base and one in the tablet -- users can easily switch from notebook to tablet … Read more

If nothing else, HP's second try at an Android tablet is a bit more promising than its first. The SlateBook x2 has a 10.1-inch, 1,920x1,200 resolution screen and ships with Android 4.2.2. It will be one of the first tablets to house Nvidia's Tegra 4 processor when it debuts in August for $480.

Design-wise, the SlateBook x2 looks not unlike HP's Windows 8 tablet, the Envy x2, with power and volume buttons located on the back, near the left and right edges. However, instead of brushed aluminum, the SlateBook features a plastic … Read more