presentations

Though it's not the only portable projector on the market, Brookstone's Pocket Projector for iPhone 4 seems to be one of the more elegant options for portable large-format viewing.

The slide-on docking case includes the projector unit, which makes setting up a presentation or video-viewing session quite easy when you're on the go. The 15-lumen LED lamp will give you a crisp 640x360-pixel native resolution that will stay clean up to 50 inches.

Of course, your surroundings play a major role in how crisp the picture quality is with any projector, but especially with the less powerful, … Read more

We've encountered programs like ActivePresenter before, and to be quite honest, we weren't really looking forward to reviewing this one. Most of the software of this type that we've tried has been unintuitive and a huge hassle to use. So imagine our surprise when we opened ActivePresenter and successfully created a presentation almost without knowing it. If you're looking for a simple way to create tutorials, presentations, and anything else using video screen captures, look no further than ActivePresenter.

The program's interface is incredibly intuitive, with commonsense menus and buttons across the top. To get … Read more

Let's face it: PowerPoint presentations can be pretty boring, especially if the presenter reads directly from the slides, one by one. But with iSpring Free, you can take your PowerPoint presentations up a few notches by inserting Flash files directly into your slides and even publishing the presentations themselves as Flash videos.

If you're familiar with PowerPoint's user interface, then you'll have no trouble navigating iSpring Free as it integrates itself into the Ribbon as an extra tab. The menu options are few, but they get to the point: Publish and Insert. As its name suggests, … Read more

Depending on your point of view, Top Girl is either a harmless game about "girl stuff" (shopping, dating, trying to look "hot") or a thoroughly offensive app promoting a stupefying array of sexist stereotypes.

Whatever your take on Top Girl's social and moral merits, this app definitely falls more under the category of time-waster (and freemium money-waster) than game. You start by choosing an impossibly curvy, underwear-wearing avatar, and then trick her out with clothes with varying "hotness" ratings (divided into "daytime chic" and "club" wear). You then go … Read more

Later this month I'll be canceling my subscription to a leading security suite that runs on two of my home-office PCs. I'll replace it with Microsoft's free Security Essentials, which I've been using on my notebook since I bought it two years ago. I realized several months ago that I simply no longer needed to spend money for the convenience of an all-in-one security app.

That got me thinking: Is there any software that the average PC user needs to pay for? Most of us bought our current operating system--usually Windows or Mac OS X--as … Read more

Office 365, announced today, gives professionals and small businesses a subscription service that lets them work from anywhere using familiar-feeling Web-enabled applications. Combined with hosted versions of Exchange, SharePoint, and Lync, Office 365 is designed to enable users to share, collaborate, and communicate in the cloud. In our testing during the beta, we found that the tools worked well across the board (with some hiccups), and expect that many people who use Office on desktop Macs and PCs will appreciate the familiar look and feel, which should help them get up and running quickly.

Obviously, Office 365 is going to … Read more

One of the coolest features of RIM's BlackBerry PlayBook tablet is how well the device works as a multimedia presentation tool. With its integrated HDMI output and suite of Documents To Go apps, you can deliver high-resolution presentations with ease.

RIM also added a few tweaks to give the PlayBook an advantage over the iPad, such as the capability of selectively locking presentation content to the HDMI output while freeing up the tablet screen for private use and shuffling elements behind the scenes.

For those who want to learn more, I've put together this video and slideshow to … Read more

MetroPCS is violating the FCC's recently approved Net neutrality rules by blocking certain Internet content, say several public interest groups.

A letter (PDF) sent Monday to the Federal Communications Commission from Free Press, Center for Media Justice, Media Access Project, New America Foundation Open Technology Institute, and Presente.org accuse the wireless carrier of playing fast and loose with Net neutrality by apparently blocking services such as Skype and Netflix under certain lower-cost data plans.

MetroPCS is offering a new 4G plan that promises unlimited talk, text, Web browsing, and YouTube access for $40 a month. But another category … Read more

This week's post is a special edition of the iPhone apps of the week. Black Friday is the biggest shopping day of the year, and though I can't help you beat the lines or navigate through the crowds, I've rounded up a couple of apps that might make your holiday shopping a bit easier. These apps are made for price-checking on the go, so you can make sure you're getting the lowest price for the item in front of you.

Amazon Mobile needs little in the way of introduction as the mobile companion to the popular shopping site, with a huge database of products so you can compare prices on the go. But I would also like to introduce you to TheFind, a new iPhone app with a unique set of shopping tools that help you get the most bang for your buck by working in tandem with TheFind.com. With these apps in your arsenal and a little luck, you might get exactly what you're looking for at prices that won't break the bank.

This week's apps are both tools for holiday shopping. Get quick access to a huge database of products and prices along with some helpful shopping tools to make your shopping experience easier.… Read more