Launchy, ManicTime, Dropbox, PicPick
Windows Start menu on steroids
When I first heard about Launchy I thought it was just a third party tool that offered what was basically already provided in the Windows Start menu search. Let me tell you, I was wrong – very wrong. Launchy is everything the Start menu search should be, and more. From the get-go, Launchy runs behind the scenes and is displayed by tapping alt+space (hotkey is customizable). By default the app catalogs your Start menu and quick launch programs, and allows you to include additional directories. It doesn’t stop there.The vanilla installation includes several plug-ins which add another layer of functionality, among them is Weby, which indexes your Firefox and Internet Explorer bookmarks. It also allows you to bind a Web address to a keyword. So for instance, I am able to bring up my Gmail inbox in Firefox by typing “gmail” into Launchy. In truth, I only have to enter “g” and Launchy automatically knows what I’m looking for. There is quite a selection of user submitted plug-ins as well, so you’ll undoubtedly find more substance to this program than can be captured in a few paragraphs.
Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty Review
Traditional and fresh in all the right ways, this strategy sequel is an absolute joy for veterans and newcomers alike.
The Video Review
Kevin VanOrd threatens the Dominion in this video review for Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty.
The Good
- Campaign offers a lot of variety
- Awesome cinematics and great voice acting get you involved in the story
- Element of choice gives campaign lots of replay value
- Excellent online play featuring three disparate but balanced factions
- Challenges and practice league ease neophytes into competitive play.
The Bad
- Some Battlenet inconveniences
- Only one campaign.
The campaign is the first of many of these delights. You may have heard that Starcraft II features only a single campaign: that of the human faction known as the Terrans. One of the game's few disappointments is that the other two factions--the Protoss and the Zerg--don't get their day in the sun, so if you're a newcomer who wants to prove your superiority (or inferiority) online, don't expect the campaign to prepare you for the potential onslaught. But the campaign is hardly a one-note wonder, offering loads of variety, including an entire set of missions that divulges important story elements from an entirely different perspective. Yet even outside of those devious missions, you accomplish diverse and interesting tasks throughout the story. In one early mission, lava periodically rises onto the mainland, posing a threat to any units not positioned on high ground. In another, an exploding sun causes a deadly wall of flame to steadily push you across the map. From one mission to the next, there's an intriguing new development that keeps you devoted to seeing what surprise is waiting for you next.
Many of these missions are RTS staples: Lead these small groups of units down this linear path, defend this specific structure, and so on. Yet Starcraft II gives these tasks meaningful context. Take the very first mission, for example. It's a very easy training mission, but one side objective has you take down holograms displaying emperor Arcturus Mengsk's political propaganda. After destroying these displays and arriving at your objective, the citizens rise up and join you, and you get a sense of the Terran dominion's heavy hand, as well as the peoples' desire to be freed from tyranny. A later mission puts you in control of an enormous mech and sends you off on a fiery rampage. Controlling a single unit in an RTS for any period of time isn't always fun, but because of how the mission is presented and its meaning within the story, this simple single-unit romp feels completely satisfying.
Of course, the story plays out in more ways than simple mission objectives. You closely follow brooding freedom fighter Jim Raynor as he struggles to fight off the threat of the alien Zerg race, topple the manipulative Emperor Mengsk from his throne, and come to terms with his own guilt over the fate of Sarah Kerrigan. If you're headed into this sequel without any knowledge of prior events, you need not worry that you'll be in the dark: the campaign does an excellent job of filling in backstory even as the current narrative unfolds. The plot is uncomplicated, and the dialogue is action-movie simple, but Starcraft II's excellent cinematics, evocative soundtrack, and top-notch voice acting have a way of keeping you glued to the screen. Hero Jim Raynor is a strong but troubled man. You hear it in his resolute drawl, and the way the soundtrack signals his presence with its telltale twangs; you see it in the dark, moody way he's so often lit. The game punctuates its most poignant and thrilling moments with fantastic prerendered cutscenes, but even the in-engine cutscenes pull you in, thanks to expressive facial animations and plenty of humorous winks and nods scattered about.
You do more than just watch cutscenes in between missions, however. This downtime is your chance to get to know the crew of Raynor's battlecruiser, the Hyperion. In a style similar to that of an adventure game, when you click on various characters and items on the screen, you might be rewarded with a short cutscene, a clever quip from a nerdy scientist, or a broadcast from a not-so-fair-and-balanced news agency. But these interludes aren't just for clicking and watching: You also upgrade and enhance your units and structures in important ways. By spending research points you earn on particular missions, you will gain access to permanent upgrades and new units normally associated with the Zerg and Protoss factions. However, these are either/or propositions: choosing one research option will lock you out of the other choice offered. You also earn currency to spend on other permanent upgrades or on mercenary units you can immediately summon to the battlefield. By their very nature, these options give the campaign replay value--value that's further elevated by a few occasions on which you must make a choice during the campaign that determines the course of minor story elements. These decisions don't just bring narrative consequences, however; they also determine which of two or more potential missions you must complete and have further impact on what units you might have access to or the enemy units you will face.
And so the campaign is certainly not an incomplete game, in spite of the focus on a single faction. The structure of the campaign provides a strong argument for playing the entire thing from the beginning all over again or, at least, from an early save game. Furthermore, the campaign is of a goodly length, lasting 15 hours or more depending on how quickly you blow through missions, how much time you spend tooling around on the Hyperion, and what difficulty level you choose. But there's also another factor that will keep you coming back: an entire metagame in which you earn in-game achievements for accomplishing very specific tasks. Of course, such achievements are nothing new; Xbox Live, the PlayStation Network, Steam, and even Blizzard's own World of Warcraft have made good use of abstract rewards to keep players dedicated. But these achievements are woven through every aspect of the game, from the campaign to the multiplayer, and in turn, these achievements are broadcast to your in-game friends on the all-important Battle.net online service that serves as Starcraft II's primary interface
Super Meat Boy Review
This sublime platformer provides tons of challenge, precise controls, and incredible level design that will keep you glued to the screen.
The Good
- Precise controls ensure you're always in command
- Amazing level design is always varied and entertaining
- Smooth difficulty curve gives you a chance to learn the ropes before the difficulty ramps up
- Tons of unlockable characters and levels
- Catchy music and goofy story add to the appeal.
The Bad
- No way to view leaderboard replays.
Everything in Super Meat Boy begins with the controls. Within seconds of diving into the first few levels of this daunting adventure, it's clear that your onscreen movement is amazingly responsive. The titular hero jumps with such precision that you're always in complete command of your actions. Wall jumping is particularly impressive. The extreme nimbleness of your character makes it a cinch to quickly leap straight up one wall, bounce smoothly between two adjacent ones, and even contort your trajectory in midair to avoid an obstacle while you make your ascent. Super Meat Boy can sprint with the best of them, and though it might seem crazy to hurl yourself at breakneck speeds through these deadly traps, it's not a problem here. Because he responds to your every command immediately, you can tear through levels as fast as Meat can run without worrying about the controls slowing you down. Just be warned: Using the keyboard will throw a hurdle in your path to victory. A controller is the preferred option here because the keyboard does not offer the exactness needed to overcome these daunting obstacles.
And you need ultraprecise controls to get through the deadly dangers that await you. Super Meat Boy is one of the most difficult games around, but it starts out innocently enough. You learn your basic moves in punishment-free levels to get accustomed to how your movement feels before the real trouble begins. The difficulty curve is incredibly smooth, giving you a taste of upcoming dangers early on but making sure you can pass these stages without much trouble. The execution is brilliant because it introduces you to everything you need to know while giving you the confidence to overcome any obstacle that stands in your path. If Super Meat Boy started out harder, or if the difficulty spiked rapidly, it would serve as a slap in the face to all but the most determined players. But because the game holds your hand early on, you build up the skills you need to tackle anything the tricky later levels throw at you. And for those who want to get smacked down to reality from the get go, there are optional bandages to collect, warp zones to enter, and dark world twists to attempt if you don't want to follow the easy learning curve the standard levels follow.
Call of Duty: Black Ops GPU & CPU Performance In-depth
Besides the fact that it's coming from the same development team, Black Ops essentially uses the older Call of Duty 4 game engine. To be precise the game runs on an enhanced World at War engine, which is in itself an improved version of what Call of Duty 4 used back in 2008. This new revision of the engine features a streaming texture technology also supported in Modern Warfare 2 that allows for larger levels, for example the "Payback" level where the player controls a helicopter. Additionally, lighting effects have been improved and the game supports 3D imaging rendered when using the correct hardware.
Dropbox
Sync data seamlessly across all your PCs
Dropbox is an easy-to-use cross-platform utility which runs silently in the background of your system. The program creates a dedicated folder on your system, which you can interact with in the usual manner. By placing a file within your Dropbox folder, it is automatically synced over the Internet to other designated computers running the software. Data is displayed with a checkmark and arrows to indicate synchronization status.
The entire process requires no intervention and is a real breeze. Data within your Dropbox folder is securely stored online and file changes are saved incrementally so you’re able to access previous versions of your data. While Dropbox is free, it’s limited to 2GB of storage, which should be enough for conventional office or personal use.
