Gentledraw is software that will make the creation of 3D model fun for the user. The functions are quite easy to use even by a person who only basic knowledge about computers. It enables the user to create simple drawing images, animations and 3D images. The software starts with a ‘Quick Start’ dialog box that gives an idea about how to use the software and what does it do. Essentially the Quick Start as a good learning guide when it comes to creating 3D images.

Easy in downloading this software also gets installed in fewer seconds. Images can be formed with the toolbar shown on the left side having pencil, eraser, brush, etc. The images can be transformed to 3D images instantaneously. The controls allows for easy navigation ease of selecting stored images. The best part involves the ease with which the 3D images can be turned to animations. Simple image diagrams have just two colours black and white. When they are converted into 3D or animation the colour can be readily adjusted according to the choice. The options like ‘Canvas color’ along with ‘Model surface color’ and ‘Border color’ options on the toolbar effectively serve the purpose. The Border dialog’s ‘enable border’ and ‘border editor’ features help to bring changes in the structure of the image. The texture can be adjusted and the canvas image can be set. X Y Z level are available for neatly adjusting size, scalability, and to turn the image as desired.

For creating animations, the color of canvas and background can be changed as per the animation scheme. The place and size can be changed and the image can be rotated as well through the Route dialog options on the toolbar. The timing and size of the animation can also be set. The software does a very decent job of what set itself for doing and has practical utility.

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If you are looking for creating great ring tones for your cell phones; look no further than RingtonEditor. This small piece of software achieves what most users look forward to while creating customised ring tones. Though the software lacks bells and whistles; it does effectively create various kinds of ring tones.

Installation of RingtonEditor is smooth and navigation is quite easy. To start with it gives you basically three qualities of ring tones to create. The software has a very basic interface though the editor has a very appealing look. Creating a ring tone is quite simple. Just select a music file using the file option and then use mouse cursor to choose to choose the part of the file which you wish to use as ring tone. The graphical editor is pretty neat and you can select sections to great detail. With a line bars showing the exact selection, very accurate segments can be selected. Next the loop function allows you make the section play in loop thus allowing you to create your favourite ring tone. Next choose the quality in which you want the ring tone to be created from the options present. Starting with low quality ring tones (32 kbps) through medium quality (64kbps) to high quality (126kbps) options are available. Once you have chosen the option, the corresponding file size is displayed in the editor. The editor takes the default low quality option by default. The output created can be saved in different formats like wav, midi etc.

The software does have drawbacks. It lacks many controls which ideally software like this should include as standard features. Also there is no help section and even some controls are not labelled which may cause difficulty for a basic user. In a nutshell the software is likely to find many takers for it simplicity while some may desire more improvements in it.

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Most guitar enthusiasts were waiting for software like MidiTabPlayer that allows them practise guitar correlating Midi files with guitar finger positions. So if you are just learning your guitar or even are a professional player; the software is definitely going to come in handy. The software allows you take great guitar lessons by yourself and is great boon for musicians.

The software has an effortless installation. The launch screen has an attractive appearance and the navigation is quite easy. The first feature that will instantly strike you is the option of USB footswitch that allows for hands-free practise. Next the software has extensive options for Midi setup and tuner functionality. It also contains web links for guitar players towards midi resources suitable to them. The main screen displays options such as track name, guitar select, mute and solo. With little effort one can easily learn to effectively use the software. To import a Midi file, Import Midi option from the File tab needs to be selected. Once a file is imported the editor displays the music instruments that are being used in the track. You can go on to select the guitar track and select the transcription setup option. It has customizable practise features for loop practise and tempo change. It also has useful features like auto- rew which allows for automatic rewinding and loop features to put the track into a continuous loop.

On the downside the software lack controls for synchronised multiplayer practise. It is also cumbersome to operate for novice users. Though it has a help section, it fails to meet up to all the guidance requirements warranted by this type of software. Also at times the instructions are little difficult to execute. However, in a nutshell the MidiTabPlayer is quite effective in achieving its desired goals. Irrespective of its drawbacks it is sure to gain currency amongst guitar enthusiasts.

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The Sybrex SpeedPDF numberer is a useful utility for people who do not have the Adobe Acrobat writer software. In case you want to insert a new pagination scheme in your document or want to make batch numbers while getting your PDF documents printed then this software can come in handy. Also if you wish to send some document over to a colleague, you can use this tool to place certain taglines in the PDF document.

The software has an easy installation process and a neat interface. It works easily on all contemporary versions of Windows. It has facility for giving passwords and also creating backup files. The font options are suitable for any normal use. You can choose your preferred font size along with font color.  A number of pagination styles are available. Depending upon your requirement you can choose the pagination style from the drop down list. There is a graphical control to set position on the page through margin units. You can select the horizontal as well as vertical margins and even the angles. Once you select the options and press on start button, the pagination process starts. Small PDF documents are instantly paginated. It works effortlessly on even large PDF documents with equal ease. You can also inset URL links on the pages if you so desire. The software also maintains a log of all documents that it has paginated including the destination drive.

On the downside the software is quite basic to hold the imagination of any professional user. Since it does not give any tangible text editing options, the software falls short of expectations of many users. It also lacks any help instructions that may be required by novice users. It is recommended in case you do not have Adobe Acrobat writer software and are frequent user of PDF documents.

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If you are a web designer looking for creating those stunning animated images for your website then you should definitely try out the Longtion Gif Animator. Loaded with interesting features this piece of creative software allows you create seamless animations for your website with effortless ease. It provides support for multiple file types and achieves a high degree of compression while creating the images; thus reducing files sizes and making your web pages load faster.

The software is a breeze to install and the navigation menu is quite neat. The software has an attractive look and feel.  With easy controls even an average user can create professional looking animations. You can make Slide Show style Gifs or even Text Style Gifs. One just needs to click on the New Gif tab and then select the frame sizes. Next just use the Add frame options to add all the pictures that you wish to put into different frames. In few moments your basic animated Gif file is ready. Now for getting the professional touch, the software has tabs like Frame property and competent image editing tools. You can easily set the frame properties including transparency options. It also has the options for placing time intervals between two successive frames used in the animation. Next with image editing tools you can crop images, draw lines and make host of other changes as required. The tool has decent features that are required for creating good Gif animations. It also comes in handy for novice users who may want to use it for creating animations for their profile homepages.

The software comes with a Help section which though lacks details. Also the software itself could do well with more animation styles and effects. Overall the software is worth a try if wish to quickly create Gif animations.

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The Sans Internet Storm Centre has warned of an email scam that lures users with the promise of a free iPhone.

One e-mail claims you have ‘won a new iPhone’. Clicking on the link however brings you to a page that attempts to exploit a number of well known Internet Explorer vulnerabilities and then downloads a malicious executable ‘sys—-.exe’. This executable installs itself as a service and upon review appears to be a spam bot.  Anti virus coverage was very spotty this morning but has improved during the day. 

Another scam aims to convince readers they need to go and buy an iPhone on what appears to be an Apple site (faked using a browser helper object). Naturally the site does not belong to Apple and you end up paying someone in Latvia. Sunbelt has a great writeup on this here. Thanks to roseman for the link.

(via Sans Internet Storm Centre)

PIM XP 1.21 is an excellent time management tool that can be efficiently used to plan your business and personal details. It aids in maintaining the address book, schedule tasks and make note for personal functioning.

PIM XP also has the utility of a blog wherein you can note down your ideas and even publish it as a blog. This software can be a very imperative tool for people who are very active with lots of ideas. PIM XP helps the user with the total control over all his tasks, projects and contacts. It provides an all-in-one solution as the user can perform tasks, contact address book and at the same time publish or maintain his blog.

PIM XP can be an excellent time saving tool as it will cut down your tasks by helping you to plan your tasks, schedule your personal affairs and appointments and can also remind all your tasks in time.

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Experts are warning of a bogus Microsoft security bulletin that contains malware designed to take control of the user’s PC.

The emails contain the header ‘Microsoft Security Bulletin MS07-0065’ and come with Microsoft logos and a layout very similar to the Microsoft web page.

Recipients are told that a zero-day flaw in Outlook has already been exploited to infect over 100,000 machines, and the email contains a link to the ‘patch’ for the problem.

“Security bulletins from Microsoft describing vulnerabilities in its software are a common occurrence, so it comes as no surprise to see hackers adopting this kind of disguise in their attempt to infect Windows PCs,” said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos.

“The irony is that, as awareness of computer security issues and the need for patching against vulnerabilities have risen, social engineering tricks which pose as critical software fixes are likely to succeed in conning the public.”

The link in fact downloads the Behav-112 Trojan, which allows the computer to be operated remotely to send spam or take part in distributed denial-of-service attacks.

The emails have been widely spammed out over the past few days. (more…)

Two ‘extremely critical’ vulnerabilities have been discovered in Yahoo Messenger that could be exploited by malicious users to compromise a system.

The boundary errors have been confirmed in version 8.1.0.249 of the messaging software, but other versions may also be affected.

Both flaws are based around the Yahoo Webcam facilities within the software. The problems occur in the ‘ywcupl.dll’ file that deals with the Webcam Upload, and the ‘ywcvwr.dll’ file which handles the Webcam Viewer.

Both ActiveX controls can be exploited to cause a stack-based buffer overflow by assigning an overly long string to the Server property and then using the ‘Send()’ or ‘Receive()’ actions.

A successful execution of the exploits could allow arbitrary code to be run on the affected machine.

Security firm Secunia rated the flaws at its highest ‘extremely critical’ level, and said that the problems can be blocked by changing the kill-bit settings for the affected ActiveX controls. (more…)

Think digital presentation – think Chimpfolio. Chimpfolio is basically an artist’s portfolio generator for the discerning artist who needs to make the transition to digital slides without knowing anything about computers. It is a program that generates cross-browser compatible web pages with valid xHTML and CSS. Web pages generated by Chimpfolio have a standard set of Introduction, Bio, Statement and Contact pages along with an indexed portfolio page that has individual pages for each image. Each individual page can have additional optional information like title, size, medium and date of creation of image. It can have a separate section for any other additional information.

This is one of those rare tools which make you feel that computing can be natural rather than robotic. A must –have program for image-portfolio generation.

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