The Red Ferret Journal

The Taga Trike Baby Stroller combines the clunky utility of an urban tricycle with the darn useful convertibility of a baby buggy. So now mum can ride to the shops, get off, do a quickie conversion and push baby round the store without having to break stride. Almost.

The video makes it look almost too easy (note how they make a strategic cut during the switch) but there’s no doubt that it’s got a whole load of usefulness packed into the concept there. You can even stealth it onto a train or bus. The only thing missing is a funky basket for all the shopping. Priced at £1,495.00 and available in a variety of colours.

T.E.D. – Torrent Episode Downloader – is a free program for TV junkies who need to keep up to date with their favourite programs. Missed an episode? No problem, just fire up TED, add the show and it will automatically hunt out and download the Torrent file so you can play catch up viewer later on. Marvellous.

TV-Browser is a free web browser based Electric Program Guide (EPG) which comes with all the smarts you need to track and manage your television viewing from day to day and month to month. To say it’s chock full of features is an understatement, from reminders to favourites to ratings and multi-lingual support. The only slight problem is the interface which feels as if it was born back when 8–bit was the state of the art. You almost expect the thing to go beep every so often.

Anyhoo, design is a very subjective matter as we all know, and that aside, there’s no doubt that this is just about the best free EPG out there at the moment. It installs your local/national channels faultlessly, offers a lovely set of customisations and really comes across as very useful indeed. Oh and it supports plugins too as the icing on the cake. If you’re feeling the need to take more control of your PVR viewing experience, then this software is definitely something you should download.

There’s no reason why maps should be boring, and Worldmapper proves it. The idea is to deliver a range of maps – over 700 in fact – which reflect interesting datasets, rather than just supplying bland generic information.

So for example there’s a map which focuses on population and has a bloated Asian section and a skinnier Europe and US to reflect the different population densities. It’s a clever way to grab a quick visual overview of a dataset. There are also animated maps on the site which are fascinating (click on the Income one for a bit of an eye-opener).

CouchSurfing is a super cool social network which takes social interaction off the computer monitor and returns it firmly back into the realm of real life. The non-profit works by helping travellers hook up with locals to share accommodation – or sometimes just a friendly chat and drink – on their journey, but it seems to go much further than just finding a cheap place to crash.

According to the site they’ve helped facilitate 1.25 million stays, 1.5 million new friends have been made (90,000 of those ‘close’ friends) and overall an impressive 99.6% of users have reported a positive experience. Beat that Facebook! This is all the more remarkable when you consider it’s based around one party opening up their home to a stranger, and a traveller trusting their rest-stop to a remote member of an online community.

The heart of the service lies in a system of references and verified profiles, both of which are designed to minimise the risks of coming up against a nutcase on your travels. People can only vouch for those they have met, and they can give references to indicate honesty and people appeal.

Overall this is such an excellent idea it makes you wonder why it’s not as well known as Facebook. Apart from the obvious benefits of cost efficient travel for those on a budget – and we’ll leave aside the ecological issues of the global travel industry for now, shall we? – it has to be a force for good when people from 231 countries and over 67,000 cities can come together both online and face to face to share experiences and cultural differences in such a fabulous way. Great stuff.

[Photo from Flickr]

USB SuperCharger is a brilliant little bit of software that will transform the way you use your USB flash drive by improving its performance by some 300% and more. If you move lots of small files around or you’re a heavy user of Portable Apps, then you’ll definitely want to read what it can do. For once the hype is actually matched by reality!

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Dropresize is a fab little freeware tool which adds drag and drop simplicity to resizing photos and image files. Just fire it up (no install needed), set it to watch a folder of your choice and every time you drag or copy an image into that folder it will automatically be resized to the dimensions and quality you set. This could revolutionise your life if you do a lot of photo forwarding by email or embed images in things like websites, newsletters and such. A veritable keeper.

PC Decrapifier is one awesome bit of freeware which removes multiple programs from your Windows Vista or XP computer all in one go. You know what that means? Yes, you don’t have to sit there in Control Panel laboriously clicking on each program you want to remove. It’s a superb uninstaller in other words.

The only hassle is when it fails to trap the program uninstalls that require a re-start, but it’s a small price to pay for this kind of convenience. Definitely one of the most useful tools ever (especially if you spend your life reviewing software eh?)

Rapid Typing Tutor is a free program designed to help you type faster and more accurately to impress friends, family and the occasional passing stranger. Mavis Beacon is the one to beat here of course, but she costs money.

The interface for this program is certainly cute, with a fish tank motif, but I’m not sure how much it adds to the value of the tuition. And the music kinda sucks. Still, this is definitely a worthwhile option to consider if you’re looking to improve your speeds and are reluctant to hand out cold hard cash.

Screenjelly. Simple, fast, free public or private screencasting app. Nice big red shiny button. What more to say?

One of the big hassles with upgrading the Firefox web browser if you’ve got a bunch of add-ons installed is finding out which ones work and which don’t. Which is where this free new Add-on Compatibility Reporter should come in real handy.

By using this tool to rate your plugins as working/not working, you’re helping the whole community to learn which ones need updating, which is a good thing all round. You also encourage the developers to get cracking with an update so your fave browser can once again do its proper job. It also works the other way round, so add-ons that are working but marked as incompatible can be correctly identified through your testing. Win:Win.

The Texture & Reference Library contains over 12,000 free images covering an eclectic mix of categories, from textures to vehicles and animals. They’re all free to use in commercial and non-commercial settings, although you’re not allowed to sell them, ‘natch. Cool.