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BARCELONA, Spain--Samsung's tablet spotlight is on the flashy Galaxy Note 10.1 this Mobile World Congress, but after putting down the stylus, I picked up both new versions of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2.

If you've ever seen the original Galaxy Tab 10.1 and Galaxy Tab 7 Plus, you'll find similar-looking devices, with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich preinstalled. Instead of making these tablets top of the line, Samsung says it'll introduce them at lower price points than the original, in an effort to compete with dedicated e-readers.

Both devices were on display at … Read more

Face Software is Facebook software. In essence, it's a "free-to-use" desktop app integrating Facebook access with a variety of tracking and activity-monitoring tools. These so-called Spy Tools include spying on your so-called loved ones, tracking crushes, monitoring friends, seeing who has unfriended you, and others. Unfortunately, we couldn't access these interesting features, or some fairly basic ones, for that matter, without buying the premium version of the software. So, while the download is free and the software works, the most interesting and unique features are disabled in this so-called freeware.

We downloaded and installed the free … Read more

When you see the word "toolbar" in something other than Windows, do you tend to look on it with suspicion? Unasked-for, ad-supported toolbars that are difficult to remove are common annoyances, so Gizmo Toolbar raised flags at first. However, it's actually a surprisingly flexible and easy-to-use desktop customization utility. You can use it to create multiple customized toolbars that you can access quickly from the system tray, customize the look of your layout and themes, add plug-ins, and more. It's free and works in 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows from XP to 7. For Windows … Read more

Core Temp Gadget is a free Windows gadget that displays the temperature and load of your CPU's cores as well as basic information about your processor and platform. To use it, you must have ALCPU's Core Temp installed and running. Core Temp is a small, free application that extracts critical data from sensors and displays it in a compact interface. Core Temp Gadget simply displays data from Core Temp in an unobtrusive desktop gadget.

Core Temp doesn't have to be running to download and install Core Temp Gadget, but the utility must be running to port data … Read more

Qedoc Quiz Player works in conjunction with Qedoc Quiz Maker. Its purpose is to play modules, or quizzes, created in the quiz maker program. But we had poor results in testing Qedoc Quiz Maker; in fact, we were unable to create a single quiz to play in Qedoc Quiz Player, so we were unable to test it. However, we'll offer some brief observations.

At first glance, Qedoc Quiz Player's user interface looked simple to navigate, but it's just as vague as its quiz-maker companion. A menu runs across the top of the window with options for opening … Read more

Quizzes are a great way to help students retain the information they learn. Qedoc Quiz Maker offers users a way to create their own custom quizzes. Unfortunately, the program's vague and never-ending user interface made it extremely unappealing to use.

A welcome screen greets you at the start of the program. It gives you options for getting started, but the program has its own language, so the options are vague. In terms of help, the program offers what it calls a "Help system," but when we clicked on it, nothing happened. The Online documentation and support feature … Read more

Just as our houses require regular cleaning to get rid of the messes of daily living, so, too, do computers require cleaning to get rid of the messes of downloading, installing, uninstalling, and Internet surfing. System Boost Elite is a full-featured program that can tidy up your Registry, junk files, and more. Unfortunately, the free version can only fix three problems at a time, which could be a drawback if you haven't been staying on top of your housekeeping.

The program's interface is attractive and easy to navigate, with check boxes that let users select Registry Clean, Privacy … Read more

There are many instances in which a virtual keyboard can come in handy. You might be using a touch screen, typing in a foreign language, or just wanting an emergency backup in case your physical keyboard goes kaput. Free Virtual Keyboard is a simple program that provides an onscreen keyboard in a portable package.

The keyboard's interface is plain and utilitarian, with a standard QWERTY layout. A slider in the bottom right corner adjusts the keyboard's transparency. We had read that the program had a few other features, but it took us a while to figure out how … Read more

ViewSonic is set to unveil the industry's first 7-inch Android Honeycomb tablet at month's end, according to sources cited by tech site Pocket-Lint.

The ViewPad 7x will debut on May 31 at the Computex computer show in Taipei, Taiwan, Pocket-Lint reported, and will be a follow-up rather than a replacement to ViewSonic's existing ViewPad 7 tablet, which runs Android 2.2, aka Froyo. Following its late May unveiling, the device should reach consumers in June.

Details are scarce, but according to Pocket-Lint, the ViewPad 7x will sport an Nvidia Tegra 2 dual-core processor, cameras in front and back, and support for the high-speed HSPA+ networks offered by AT&T and T-Mobile. The tablet would also include both HDMI and DLNA ports to pipe content through a TV or media center device.… Read more