TechReviews Issue 1
Firefox to be the next dominating browser?
When we reviewed the latest release of Firefox, which is version 1.5, we
realized there is much more to Firefox than just having more security. You
could "upgrade" the browser with add-ons called "extensions". And if you
think the browser's look is a bit drab, simply make it look better by having
add-ons called "themes". Where to find the browser and add-ons, you ask?
Well, to download the browser, head on over to
getfirefox.com to grab your copy now!
The add-ons, well, are all over the web, but the single place you can go to
to get loads of extensions and themes is located at
addons.mozilla.org. Finally, despite a
few bugs, we found gargantuans of features to like in the browser that
finally is competing with IE, the king of all browsers.
Overall Rating: 9.1 out of 10.0
Adobe Photoshop: Really worth $600?
Is Photoshop really worth that frightening $600 price? Find out in this
review.
We took a look at Photoshop CS2 and saw all the hundreds of features that lay
within Adobe's very own graphics editing program. The gazillions of menu
choices may be a bit intense when you use Photoshop for the first time, but
sooner or later you should get used to it. One thing we particularly like
about Photoshop was that it could create graphics, not just edit them like
any other program. But one thing that we think needs more work on is the
interface. The menus are messy and aren't exactly what we call organized. We
are currently looking forward to the release of Photoshop CS3, which is
rumored that it will have a completely redesigned interface and more
organized menus. Once Adobe gets Photoshop straightened out, we'll be sure to
give this product even just a slightly better rating. And do we think the
price fits the program? We'd say yes, it certainly fits the price of 600
bucks.
Overall Rating: 7.7 out of 10.0
Beta of Windows Media Player does remarkably well
Our review of the new player (beta version) will not be exactly an article.
We will just list the program's pros and cons, a classic way of making
reviews short, simple, and clear.
Pros:
- Easy-to-use redesigned interface
- Stylized look resembles that of Windows Vista
- Supports many codecs, if not all
- Has very few glitches for a beta release
Cons:
- Slow, buggy installation of the player
- Bundled online music store feature adds junk to hard drive
- Occasionally stalls while playing a video
Overall Rating: 8.2 out of 10.0
Will Internet Explorer surpass the 2nd place browser, Firefox?
Even though we thought it would be bad, we reviewed the beta of Internet
Explorer 7.0, just to take a look at it. We found that IE ?copied? a bit of
Firefox, including the addition of tabs. Even more interesting, when we used
JavaScript "browser identification" code to look at some of its properties,
we discovered that it claimed its version was 4.0 (with 6.0 in parentheses)
and that its user agent was Mozilla/4.0! Perhaps this will help Firefox?s
share of usage, but we?re just alerting you about that. Hopefully IE would be
more supportive of the DOM (Document Object Model) and will stick to the
standards more in the final release. But otherwise, it?s good enough for average use, as long as you use version 7.0.
Overall Rating: 7.4 out of 10.0
A certain online encyclopedia is a good source for info
Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia, had scarcely any info when it opened to
the public 5 years ago. And you should have guessed also that not many people
knew about the site either. Well, 5 years later, that small site grew into a
humongous online encyclopedia just waiting to be filled with even more
information. And now we are finally going to tell you the pros and cons of
Wikipedia after that quick description. A good thing about the site is that,
like we mentioned above, there are a lot of articles that are chock-full of
info. Another good thing is that
anyone can edit it, even if you're
not a member (they record your IP address, though). And now, the cons of this
spectacular site.
- Commonly receives vandalism on many articles
- Quite a few articles don't have very accurate info
- Articles are not organized (due to the fact that anyone can edit
the information in almost any article)
Did we mention that looking at some articles can also start up a ton of popup
messages? Just kidding, you can stop panicking if you are.
Overall Rating: 7.1 out of 10.0
Reviews planned for the next issue...
Note: Planned reviews subject to change.
- A review on a particular web host
- Microsoft 2007 Office (yes, that's the real name) gets reviewed
- Netscape saved! Classic Netscape clone developed by Mozilla
Okay, that's all the reviews for this issue!
