Tech Blog

As an early Christmas present, Adobe has released their third generation of the photo editing and photo management software, Lightroom. And it can be yours for free. Well, Adobe isn't exactly doing this because of a sudden case of Santa Claus. There is a catch, the software company has released Lightroom 3 in a public beta for anyone to download. Currently, the beta is set to expire on April 30 next year. Still, that's more than four months of the best photo editing software for absolutely free. Not a bad deal! Read more...

Remember when if you learned about a news item from the morning during the evening news it wasn't a big deal? Remember when interrupting TV programing for a new bulletin meant that something really important had happened? Yes, it was a long time ago now, or so it seems. Today we want/need/crave our news and information constantly and having news that is hours old is stale news. Since Twitter has risen to the top as a news source that can out scoop even CNN, we've been turning to Twitter for breaking news. Google, has been feeling pretty out in the cold about this. Until today. Read more...

Shopping for laptops is not an easy task, especially if you've never owned one before. With the vast selection out there, how do you pick the best laptop for your needs? If you take the time in advance to answer a few key questions, you can ensure that you get the right laptop for now, and for later. Read more...

ZOMG! It's a phrase the internet coined and one that nobody is quite sure of the origins or what exactly it means. Needless to say it's open to interpretation. I fall into the camp who believe the acronym stands for "Zombies, oh my god!" and that's exactly what I exclaimed several times during my play through of Valve's latest zombie apocalypse thriller Left 4 Dead 2. Read more...

This time of year many of us travel home to visit family. If you're the least bit of a techie, you'll likely be called in to help someone diagnose some sort of computer problem -- hopefully not very serious. But if Uncle Billy's computer 'just stopped working' and you know you're going to be spending an evening there, you can bet you'll be asked to 'just take a look at it, you're so good with computers it won't take you long to figure it out.' The next thing you know you're plopped in front of the system, waiting for it to go through a virus laden bootup while wistfully remembering that hot rum toddy you left by the fireplace. Read more...

For a while now the Toronto-based design team has been trailing an upcoming, er, "thing". They really didn't describe what it was, only that it would signify "a time of miracles" and (eventually) dribbled out the information that not only would it feature their work, but the input of Toronto superstar indie game developers Capybara Games (of Critter Crunch , and the just released Nintendo DS puzzler Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes , which I'm overdue covering) and Toronto superstar musician Jim Guthrie. They've now announced it's a project called the Sword & Sworcery EP . Read more...

The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks is out now, and is the latest installment in the "Wind Waker" Zelda timeline, preceeded by The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker and The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass . As has become traditional in the Legend of Zelda games, the game is a combination of world and dungeon exploration with a combination of puzzle solving and battling with monsters, but as has become specifically traditional to the Wind Waker timeline, the game features a unique travel mechanic and subtly improves on its predecessors. Read more...

There are many iPhone and iPod touch games out there and working out which are worth the money is a challenge, so here I am again with another round-up of reviews, weighing in on Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor, Sweep Man, Canabalt and Topple 2 . Read more...

Video games. They're a $40 billion dollar industry and arguably today's dominant form of entertainment even as other industries contract in the recession. They're bigger than the music industry and Hollywood box office. And Spike isn't afraid to flaunt it in a big way in the latest television commercial for their 2009 Video Game Awards. Read more...