BACK, AND BETTER THAN EVER

The classic use of Photoshop is for editing photos. Though there are lots of programs for doing this, Photoshop does it better. The new version goes well beyond editing photos. Of course, you have to pay for that.

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A LITTLE MUSIC, PLEASE

Cakewalk has a new Studio Instruments program that is just plain fun to use and a steal at $50.

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HOLD THE PHONE

Hold the phone. No, we don’t mean Apple’s iPhone, which has received enough publicity to qualify as a galactic event. It’s a cell phone for making phone calls. What a radical thought.

With no more suspense, it’s Samsung’s Jitterbug.

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WE SEE STARS — TOO MANY

We spent a couple of nights trying out the new Sky Scout from Celestron, a leading maker of telescopes. It’s a beautifully made piece of optical and electronic equipment for scouting the nighttime sky.

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NOW THAT’S FAST

Someday, wishful thinkers say, we’ll all have desktop computers as fast as a Cray Supercomputer. How about next year?

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CAPTURE THE MOTION

The latest version of “ALLCapture” has a new memory manager that allows you to capture computer screens in real time, without slowing the computer’s operation.

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FREE ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE

Last year when we wrote about QuickBooks “Simple Start” accounting software, it cost $100. Now it’s free if you don’t need an extensive customer list.

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A WASHABLE MOUSE

Who needs a rat that can cook (new Disney movie) when you have a mouse you can wash?

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A REAL NICE DATABASE

Out favorite database, Alpha Five, is just out in Version 8. It has been our favorite for many years because it’s easy to use and at least as powerful as the offerings from Microsoft and others.

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THE REALLY SCARY NUMBERS REPORT

As if you weren’t worried enough, we saw a study that reported a scary 20 percent of drivers send text messages on their cell phones or Blackberries while driving.

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