killers

Killer Download is a new feature on Download.com in which we'll present a new program each week. Most will be free, but some might be good enough that paying a low registration fee is well worth the cost. If you find you have a better option than the software featured, let us know in the comments!

What method do you use to get the news? For a long time, I used my Web browser and grabbed bookmarks when I found good news sites. But before long those bookmarks multiplied, making it difficult to find particular sites; I realized I had to find a way to organize them all. The most obvious method was to continue with a regular Internet browser and put similar sites into folders, calling them "News" and "Blogs" and "Software," or whatever category fit the bill. This method worked fairly well, but I never knew when any of the sites updated without actually going to the site and checking. Naturally, all sites don't update according to a schedule, so I quickly figured out that I needed to try something else.… Read more

Dance Dance Revolution may very well be the future of working out.

Case in point: the MX9 Workout Master by Motivatrix is a full-body workout machine in which sensors on a platform and in a ring above detect a user's movements and input them into a monitor. There are a variety of games, exercises and choices of music to choose from, and the display will keep track of the user's performance. Sound like a video game? Well, that's the point.

"Your body is a joystick...this is a way to take those Nintendo kids and give … Read more

Once again, technology finds inspiration in nature. This Orca-like craft is actually a catamaran.

Paritet Boat, the Moscow-based boat manufacturer, has released a successor to the glass-bottom Looker. The Looker is a hydrofoil boat--a boat with two wing-like struts mounted to the bottom of the hull. When you pick up enough speed, the hydrofoils raise the entire hull out of the water and you're essentially riding on the hydrofoils. This provides less drag and, therefore, less fuel needed for going fast.

Paritet's newest boat, the Ellips, has the same whale-shaped design, but is actually a catamaran. This means … Read more

Meet the latest contender to plunge into the deep end of the YouTube-killer pool. Say it five times fast: Next New Networks. The bloggers are all talking about this recently-announced Web video endeavor today, and most of them are pretty cynical--especially since Next New Networks is not the brainchild of some ambitious entrepreneurs, but rather a bevy of big-media veterans, led by former Nickelodeon president and MTV Networks vice chairman Herb Scannell. After all, when the broadcast TV networks announced a plan to team up, Captain Planet-style, on a YouTube rival, bloggers were skeptical. (They're more optimistic about … Read more

So maybe you think living in a building inspired by a certain ubiquitous digital audio player--or, let's be real, ANY sort of gadget--sounds silly. We don't blame you.

But check out the new pics of the iPad anyway--they're actually kind of fantastic.

The budget for the 23-story Dubai apartment/office building, announced last week, is $800 million (or 3 billion Dirhams), and developers plan to open the iPad's doors in 2009.

And, yes, that is a "docking station" the building will be resting on at an alarmingly accurate 6-degree angle.

Not feeling Denise Richards-style laptop rage? Not down for paying to promote a TLC show on your tech? Here's how to give your laptop some custom love thanks to Craft magazine's blog.

I'm dying to try this, but sadly, I don't think I'll be able to find any Sharpie color that will show up against my old-school black IBM laptop. White (read: Apple) laptop owners only need apply. (Did anyone else think they were hip enough, anyway?)