Cosmeo, a subscription site from Discovery Communications which marshals a mix of video, audio, photos, text articles and step-by-step math instruction, allows parents to help their kids — and learn a little bit more themselves.
Bix.com allows users to participate in contests that include singing, comedy photography and art, where members can vote using a thumbs-up or thumbs-down icon.
Like.com’s new visual search engine lets you find products similar to those worn by celebrities. It has a clean setup and makes great use of technology, but there are a few problems with it.
Myfamily.com serves as a place where members can upload photos, videos, news, recipes, family-tree entries and other data in a few steps. Its ace in the hole is its popular relative, Ancestry.com.
Video-sharing service SeeToo lets users watch videos along with the people with whom they’re sharing it and type comments to each other in real time. But SeeToo sounds too good to be true, and in many tests, it was.
The once-frustrating process of sharing digital photos and videos has improved over the past year, thanks to seamless Web-based programs. One such application, shwup, serves as a neat, artistic way to share photos quickly — when it works.
We tested Meebo, Adium and Digsby, free instant-messaging programs that work by being a one-stop shop for online communication. All three are straightforward and work without much effort or instruction.
With the holidays fast approaching, plenty of shoppers are heading toward their local Apple stores with plans to buy a new home computer. Amid all this excitement, it’s worth taking time to consider how to transfer content from the old Windows PC to a shiny new Mac.
Katie reviews Windows Live, Microsoft’s Web-based attempt to consolidate many of the regular activities you perform on the Internet: sharing photos on Flickr, emailing via Hotmail, posting status updates on Facebook, following tweets on Twitter, sending instant messages on Google Chat and keeping a calendar on Apple’s MobileMe.
There’s nothing more frustrating than a fruitless Web search — or one that returns results that distract you from your original goal. This week I tested two free tools that attempt to make your Web searches more relevant by learning from users’ reactions to search results.
RealPlayer SP grabs videos from the Web and converts and transfers them to over a dozen portable devices. While other software programs perform two or just one of these tasks, RealPlayer’s trio of talent make it like a digital Swiss army knife.
Seeking the best, and worst, of both worlds, BlackBerry and iPhone users switch products. The Mossberg Solution takes a look at what they like and don’t like about their new toys.
Edited by Walt and written by Katie Boehret, this is a guide to gadgets, web services and other consumer technologies.
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