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Monthly Archive: June 2012

Aciqra

Software Reviews

Aciqra : Open Source Planetarium

Aciqra (Version: 2.2 tested) is an open source planetarium software. It is one of the more complete ones available. It features star catalogs and NGC and IC catalogs that include millions of stars and 1000s of deep sky objects such as galaxies. It offers corrections for atmospheric refraction and other enhancements to be as accurate as possible in tracking stars and other objects. It also provides extra information on objects such as asteroid and comets and events such as eclipses.

The interface of the program is not the best but it does try to stay true to the claim that

PDF To JPG

Software Reviews

PDF To JPG: Convert Your PDF Files (Free Until July 1!)

PDF To JPG is simple shareware. It does a task that is sometimes done to avoid using pdf readers and it does it well. The program interface and startup are as simple as the function it performs. When launched the program gives the user the option to choose the conversion type. The options, which are also available within the main window are pdf to jpg, pdf to tif (almost always referred to as tiff), pdf to bmp, pdf to png and pdf to gif.

Once open file(s) or folder of files can be added. The program will list the pdf

Software Reviews

EasyTournament: Freeware Multi-Platform Tournament Organizer

EasyTournament aims to automate and organize sports tournaments. It is free software made to make it easier to set up and calculate games and points.

Using EasyTournament, the user chooses a sport – soccer, football, basketball, hockey, floorball and handball are available – then defines tournament rules based on the presets made available depending on the sport chosen.

Tournament details is first and it is where general information such as name, description, picture or logo are added. Based on the sport being played duration, rules and events can be edited or left as they are. For example changing a soccer

BImageStudio

Software Reviews

BImageStudio: Freeware Simple Image Editor

BImageStudio (Version: 1.2.1 tested) is a freeware and simple image editor with some basic tools and an unusual method of working with images.

Features or tools that are included are edit, resize, crop, rotate, flip, watermark (image and text), rename and convert. BImageStudio can work in batch as well. What is somewhat different about BImageStudio is how this is done. One must add individual or folder of images using the add button or drag and drop them. The black and white interface and larger than usual interface of the program shows thumb previews of the image(s) and the buttons under

MyTetra

Software Reviews

MyTetra: Cross Platform Notes Organizer

MyTetra (Version: 1.30 tested) is an open source and cross platform note taker, notes organizer or PIM. It doesn’t have the most modern interface but it is a good option if looking for an organizer.

MyTetra is tree structured. Its structure is item (or sub item) with separate note(s) within each item or sub item (see image). It comes with a base item and sub items or siblings or other items can be added.  MyTetra has an unusual characteristic, it requires each item to be divided into notes, the nodes in the tree themselves don’t hold any text, just a

PicEdit

Software Reviews

Freeware, Useful Image Editor: PicEdit

PicEdit is a useful image editor with a ribbon like menu.

It features the typical brightness, contrast, hue and saturation sliders to the left of its interface. Also on the left are the image effects mosaic, blur, sharpen, noise, invert, and grayscale. Canvas resize, rotate, copy, paste (from file or clipboard), watermark (image) and stamp (an extensible clipart library) are the other options available.

Shapes such as polygon, rectangle, ellipse, arrow and line are also available along with others like fill and highlighted rectangular area. Each with their own relevant settings. For example if the line tool is chosen the