Definitely worth a check.
We live our lives attached to pieces of technology. Whether it’s our phone, MP3, laptop, or some other hardware, we want it working and charged. However, there are some places where an outlet isn’t available. Have you ever been tailgating, camping or at a weekend-long music festival? Outlets are not only far away, they’re all but non-existent.
If you’re like a lot of people, you’ve probably got more than one Skype Internet telephone account. Most people have their own private account, plus one for work, or another one for family members only and so on. The problem is you can only run one instance of Skype at a time on your PC, unless you have some clever software to help you out.
![Multi-Skype Launcher lets you run multiple Skype accounts simultaneously [Freeware]](https://www.redferret.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/multiskypelauncher2.jpg)
Adobe is turning off the authentication servers used with its Creative Suite 2 (CS2) software of several many years ago. The upshot is they’re handing out the software and the serial numbers in case anyone is still using it. This isn’t the 30 day free trial, it’s the whole shebang; Photoshop, Acrobat, Premiere, GoLive everything. Yes it’s old and it probably only runs on OS/2 XP but if your boss won’t spring for Photoshop or Premiere and you’re in a…
![Adobe offering complete CS2 software suite…FOR FREE! [Freeware]](https://www.redferret.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/adobe-photoshop-cs2.jpg)
Love it or hate it, crowdfunding seems here to stay, along with all the controversy as well as applause. Sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo are the major players in the sector, but smaller services such as Quirky, AppsFunder and RocketHub are also adding to the mix. But where do you go to try and keep track of these projects?
How important is the information on your computer? Is that the place that you store all of your photos, videos, and works in progress? If you want to make sure your memories never get deleted by accident or by force of nature, then you’re going to need something better than any ole external hard drive.
If you fancied the idea of going to New York City to see the ball drop on New Year’s, then you’re likely going to take the metro a time or two. The subway system can be a bit confusing for those who don’t know it well, but you don’t want to look too much like a tourist who constantly has their face buried in a map. There is a more inconspicuous way to go about finding your way hither and…
Children have a miraculous way of stashing things in odd places. Blankets are in the bathroom cabinet, toys are in the cupboard, and pans are all over the living room. It’s a wonder that you can find a whole outfit for them to wear to school on a regular basis. Possibly the most difficult things to find though, are their shoes.
There’s no doubt that we can end up carrying a lot of expensive stuff around with us if we’re not careful. Forget about things like thousand dollar phones and ultra expensive footwear, if you start adding in enthusiast gear for something like photography, the numbers can get crazy.
One of the really cool things you can do with the new higher resolution smartphone cameras is use them as a very handy portable scanner. Often when I’m on a flight or hanging around reading a magazine somewhere I’ll find something interesting that I want to keep, and bring out the phone to take a photo for reading later. It’s quick and produces surprisingly great (i.e. readable) results.
![FreeOCRtoWord – converts images to Word editable text with impressive results [Freeware]](https://www.redferret.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/freeocrtoword3.jpg)
The folks at ByPeople.com are launching a ‘curated network of useful content for web ninjas’ next year, and as part of their pre-launch promotion, they’re giving away a full 5 GB of downloadable design elements for completely free. The ByPeople Bundle includes themes, icons, backgrounds, buttons, sliders, boxes, business cards…in general a sample of just about everything you might need if you were looking for design help.
![By People Bundle – 5GB of completely free themes, icons and other design elements for download [Freeware]](https://www.redferret.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/bypeople2.jpg)
When you travel a lot, the one thing you’re conscious of most is space, because there’s never have enough room to pack in everything you need. So when you find a gadget that combines several functions in one, and also does it quite well, you tend to take notice. Which is why we decided to take a close look at a small rugged portable speaker which does a lot more than you’d expect for the money.
![Braven 625s – the tough, versatile portable speaker that also charges your phone and lights your life [Review]](https://www.redferret.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/braven625s3.jpg)
At this time of year you’ll find a whole bunch of elves running around, tying up parcels and helping out in the frozen North. But one elf you’ll find in warmer climes has very little to do with children’s toys and everything to do with making transport a more ecologically friendly affair.
If you’ve ever hunted around to try and find out what fonts you have on your Windows PC, you’ll know that it’s not that easy to do. Most of the time you’ll end up firing up a word-processor to see if you can put in a phrase and run through the font options from the top menu. It’s cumbersome and annoying.
![Nexus Font – a neat tools to manage your computer and printer fonts [Freeware]](https://www.redferret.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/nexusfiles-2.jpg)
There are folks for whom small is never enough. They’re the people who think microSD is too clunky for life, while most of the rest of us are searching under the couch for that crucial missing 32GB. So for those ultra miniature freaks, they will be pleased to hear that work is underway to make USB flash drives even smaller than ever.
While there are a lot of us who like to travel, not all of us end up in places that have a washer and dryer readily available. Of course, you want to have clean clothes handy, but that means you need to find a way to clean them without dunking them in the nearest puddle. There are lots of mini washing machines out there, but how many are portable?
