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Reader Kevin has this question: “Is there a way to have Firefox refresh automatically, without hitting the refresh button? It would be very nice when Woot.com is having a ‘Woot off’ or when watching an item on eBay.”

You know what, Kevin? That would be nice! All you need is a handy Firefox extension called ReloadEvery, which can automatically reload a browser tab at designated intervals.

Once you’ve installed it and restarted

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Originally published at New Software. Please leave any comments there.

Google on Tuesday released an SDK for Android 2.0, revealing some new features that will come with the upgraded mobile operating system.

The news comes a day before a Verizon event in New York City that will introduce the operator’s first Android phone, which will run Android 2.0. However, the upgrade path for existing Android phones, and some that are soon to go on sale, is uncertain.

Android 2.0 includes a number of new features,

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Originally published at New Software. Please leave any comments there.

Genie Timeline (about $35, list) is a continuous data protection (CDP) program for your PC that employs a time-based metaphor (à la Apple’s Time Machine) for restoring files. It’s a bit of a tweener operationally; it hooks into the operating system and notes which files have changed in real time, but backs them up only on the half hour. When you want to restore something, you scroll through your backed-up files by date with a slider control much

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Originally published at New Software. Please leave any comments there.

It’s been a long time coming, but after promises, previews, and unexpected leaks, BlackBerry officially released the desktop Mac client for its popular smartphone platform on Friday.

Prior to this application, Mac BlackBerry owners had to rely on third-party software such as Mark/Space’s The Missing Sync for BlackBerry, or PocketMac for BlackBerry, which RIM had included along with its handsets.

BlackBerry Desktop Manager for

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Originally published at New Software. Please leave any comments there.

Well, gang, it’s official: Verizon’s Motorola Droid smartphone is on its way into the world. The Droid, unveiled Wednesday, will hit store shelves on November 6 with a $199.99 price tag, after a $100 mail-in rebate and with a new two-year contract.

The phone is the first to run Google’s brand new Android 2.0 operating system, and it packs plenty of punch not previously seen on the smartphone market. Not surprisingly, plenty of people are

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Originally published at New Software. Please leave any comments there.

Although I’ve been playing with Windows 7 for a couple months now, I’m not quite ready to dive in. I want to make gradual move, keeping my Vista-based PC up and running while I transition to the new OS. Why? I have my reasons. For one thing, I don’t want any driver- or software-related surprises–or worse. Early upgraders are already reporting issues; read “Windows 7 Upgrade Woes Mount: Endless Reboots and Product Key Problems” for a look at what’s

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Originally published at New Software. Please leave any comments there.

A convenient feature of Mac OS X is its built-in spell checker, used by most Apple programs and accessible to any developer that wants to include the feature in their software. For example, BBEdit provides a number of spelling features based on OS X’s spell checker.

You can add words to OS X’s built-in dictionaries (or, described more accurately, add words to a supplemental custom dictionary that OS X will also reference when checking spelling),

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Originally published at New Software. Please leave any comments there.

A few years ago, I covered SMARTReporter, a simple, free utility for monitoring your drives’ Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology (SMART) status. As I explained at the time, SMART is technology built into all modern hard drives that monitors various parameters of a drive’s performance–temperature, error rates, and more–warning you if any of them is out of the normal range.

The problem with SMART is that it requires software

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Originally published at New Software. Please leave any comments there.

As a writer and editor, I couldn’t be nearly as productive as I am without a multiple-Clipboard utility–a program that stores multiple recent contents of the Clipboard, letting you paste any of them quickly and easily. In addition to the productivity gains such utilities offer, they also protect you from losing important content because you copied or cut it, then absentmindedly copied or cut something else, replacing that content, before you had

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Originally published at New Software. Please leave any comments there.

Oh, Psystar. We know you. We lov–well, we put up with you. But still, you continue to let the dream of Mac cloning live on, EULAs, sketchy products, and pending trials be damned.

The company’s latest invention is Rebel EFI, a product sold exclusively through Psystar’s company store for the “special price” of $50. It claims to offer the ability to run up to six operating systems (including Mac OS X Snow Leopard) on six different hard drives

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Originally published at New Software. Please leave any comments there.

True Image Home 2010 is as effective and easy to use as any imaging/backup program you’re likely to find. That’s right: I just called True Image “easy to use.”

Would You Buy This?0Yes0NoAcronis True Image Home 2010 Test ScoresOverall92Performance90Features95Design90Got a Hot Tip?Seen news about this product? Send us a link.

Acronis has stepped up its interface game not only with an improved, Vista-like look, but with more-logical placement

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Originally published at New Software. Please leave any comments there.

If you’re one of those folks whose collection of USB devices is slowly creeping throughout your home like a glacier of gadgetry, then, well, we can’t really help you–you may want to consider running for your life. But we also have some good news in the form of a new and updated version of that essential utility for dealing with those myriad devices, Alessandro Levi Montalcini’s USB Overdrive–now in 3.0!

USB Overdrive is a venerable piece

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Originally published at New Software. Please leave any comments there.

Tidy Up, the duplicate finder and disk-tidying utility from Hyperbolic Software, is now compatible with Apple’s latest software releases after an update on Thursday.

Tidy Up 2.1 adds full compatibility with Snow Leopard, the Mac OS X update released last month, and iTunes 9, a new version of Apple’s all-purpose music software released last week.

Tidy Up finds duplicate files on your hard drive using a fast algorithm to scan any

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Originally published at New Software. Please leave any comments there.

I want to be Nathan Drake, a sniper on a tightrope, fingertips that grip better than steel claws, a modern swashbuckler who’s parlayed the half-tuck from design band-aid to video game vogue. He’s wittier than I’ll ever be, far better looking without a shave, and the playable linchpin in Naughty Dog’s Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, the PS3-exclusive sequel to acclaimed 2007 action-adventure Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune.

Uncharted

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Originally published at New Software. Please leave any comments there.

For many Mac users, Apple’s own iCal application is sufficient when it comes to scheduling their lives, but for those irked by its limitations, there are alternatives. BusyMac’s new BusyCal 1.0, released on Tuseday, is a dedicated calendaring program that aims to exploit the opening left by iCal’s own shortcomings for power users–BusyMac even goes so far as to bill it “iCal Pro.”

We last saw a pre-release version of BusyCal at Macworld

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Originally published at New Software. Please leave any comments there.

Being the operator of your computer is like being the captain of a ship:you need to be aware of what’s happening on your boat in order to steer it right. Well, that and you always need to keep an eye out for pirates. Growl helps you stay informed: it’s a notification framework that many of the applications you run today can use to display messages about what they’re doing.

Growl’s worked somewhat since the release of Snow Leopard, but messages

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Originally published at New Software. Please leave any comments there.

Popular online retailer Newegg divulged details today on the OEM pricing of Microsoft’s upcoming Windows 7.

For those of you looking to grab an OEM license of the admirable new operating system, you will be happy to know that Windows 7 comes in at a slightly cheaper price than its predecessor Vista. Newegg is offering the OEM Home Premium version of Windows 7 for only $99.99, whereas the full version is currently retailing for $199.99.

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Originally published at New Software. Please leave any comments there.

In my day-to-day Mac work, I frequently find myself positioning windows next to each other on the screen. For example, I often drag files between two or three Finder windows, and I frequently position two word-processing document windows–or BBEdit’s document window and Web preview window–side-by-side so I can compare their contents.

TwoUp and SizeUp are sibling utilities that aim to make such window arranging easier. The free TwoUp is

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Originally published at New Software. Please leave any comments there.

Microsoft Security Essentials, the company’s new anti-malware software, will be available Tuesday, according Bob Muglia, the president of Microsoft’s server and tools division.

Five fantastic open source tools for Windows admins

The release of the software, which was code-named Morro, has been rumored for days, but Muglia on Monday confirmed that the free software would be available for download Tuesday.

“The combination

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Originally published at New Software. Please leave any comments there.

It’s been a long time coming, but after promises, previews, and unexpected leaks, BlackBerry officially released the desktop Mac client for its popular smartphone platform on Friday.

Prior to this application, Mac BlackBerry owners had to rely on third-party software such as Mark/Space’s The Missing Sync for BlackBerry, or PocketMac for BlackBerry, which RIM had included along with its handsets.

BlackBerry Desktop Manager for

Read the rest of this entry »

Originally published at New Software. Please leave any comments there.