Euler Math Toolbox is a versatile Matlab-like suite
We’ve revisited a few veteran applications recently, but nothing that quite competes with Euler Math Toolbox, which began life in 1988 as a program for the Atari ST. These days, and still being regularly updated, the package has become a versatile suite of tools for exploring real and complex numbers, vectors, matrices and symbolic algebra.
This is all powered from a Matlab-like matrix language, and can integrate with Povray, LaTEx, even custom Python and C code for the most efficient scripts.
Monitor your PC’s RAM use with Memory History Tool
Just about every memory optimizer around claims that freeing up RAM will speed up your PC, but this isn't necessarily true. It all depends on how your RAM is currently being used.
Memory History Tool logs the processes using your RAM and maintains a history of the main memory hogs, helping you understand where your resources are going.
Microsoft to keep free tag on Windows 10 Mobile upgrades after July 29
Windows 10 is currently available as a free upgrade if you are coming from Windows 7 or Windows 8.1, but this offer will not last for long. Just like everyone else, you will have to pay to get Microsoft's latest operating system after July 29. Question is, how does the free upgrade deadline impact Windows 10 Mobile?
While Windows 10 and Windows 10 Mobile did not launch at the same time, Microsoft positions the two operating systems as sister products. They have a shared core, many features in common, similar UI components, and even the build numbers are now the same as you probably know if you follow Windows Insider builds. So, understandably, there is some confusion over whether would-be Windows 10 Mobile users will have to pay for an upgrade after the Windows 10 deadline passes.
Microsoft introduces free Skype Meetings
Microsoft has launched Skype Meetings, a new and free version of its popular video and audio conferencing software designed with small businesses in mind.
The company’s latest release will feel quite similar for users already familiar with its Skype for Business solution, albeit stripped down. Whereas Skype for Business allows for meetings with up to 250 people, Skype Meetings limits the maximum participants to 10 people. However after the initial two months of using the product, that number drops down to three people.
Cut your browser's RAM usage with All Browsers Memory Zip
All Browsers Memory Zip is a free memory optimizer designed to cut your browser’s RAM usage. The program doesn’t just work with Chrome, IE or Firefox -- it recognizes and supports almost 40 browsers, out of the box.
Once installed, All Browsers Memory Zip monitors your running processes, looking out for supported browsers and checking their RAM usage.
LightZone: still a great image editor
If you’re looking for a free image editor then you’ll probably start with the big names, the latest updates, whatever’s made the headlines recently. But there’s also a whole world of mature software out there which doesn’t make the news, and isn’t updated often, yet could still deliver everything you need.
LightZone started life more than 10 years ago as a commercial RAW and JPEG processor, for example, but since going open source in 2013 the project has very quiet. There is some activity, though -- the last release was at the end of June, more on the way -- and there’s plenty of functionality to explore.
Monitor your CPU temperature with Core Temp
Core Temp is a powerful CPU temperature monitor which has been helping users watch their hardware since 2006.
The project seemed to have faded away in the past few years, but a series of updates in recent months has seen it roar back to life.
Icaros 3.0 extends and speeds up Windows Explorer thumbnailing
Icaros is a free FFmpeg-powered tool which extends Windows Explorer’s thumbnail support to just about any video format. The package can produce cover art thumbnails for Mkv, Flac, Ape, and Mpc files, and provides extended Windows Explorer properties for Mkv, Flv, Ogm, Ogv, Ogg, Flac, Ape, and Mpc.
Icaros was updated last month with the addition of its own cache, speeding up thumbnail display and ensuring you won’t be affected if Explorer deletes its own cache.
Straighten text in scanned documents with Deskew
Deskew is an open source package which can detect skewed text in scanned text documents, and output a straightened version. It’s a command line tool, which is, well, inconvenient, but don’t let that put you off entirely -- it’s still probably easier than you’d expect.
The program doesn’t force you to install Tesseract or any other bulky components, for instance. The single 4MB includes Windows, OS X and Linux binaries and you can run any of them right away.
Syncplify Notepad! is a polished plain text editor
Notepad! is a nicely balanced Notepad replacement, accessible to just about everyone but with plenty of bonus extra features when you need them.
The interface is an immediate plus, its Office-like ribbon organising the program’s main features across three tabs.
Track your web traffic around the world with Open Visual Traceroute
Open Visual Traceroute is a Java-based, cross-platform networking toolkit which displays the path of your web traffic on 3D world map.
Despite the "Traceroute" name, that's not all. Bonus features include a Whois tool, and a WinPcap-powered packet sniffer which shows exactly what your traffic contains.
Easily find genuine Windows and Office images with Windows ISO Downloader
Would you like to try out Windows 10 in a virtual machine, or maybe create a USB installer for Windows 7 or 8? Then you’ll probably have to track down an image of that particular build.
Everything you need should be on Microsoft.com, in theory, but if you’ve already wasted enough of your life there, you might prefer Windows ISO Downloader.
Watch 360 degree videos with GoPro VR Player
GoPro VR Player (formerly Kolor Eyes Desktop) is a free 360 degree video player for Windows and OS X. A stripped-back interface makes it very easy to use. There’s no button-packed toolbar or nested right-click menu, just drag and drop your video and it starts playing immediately.
The core controls are all very intuitive. You’ll click and drag to look around, spin the mouse wheel to zoom in and out, or tap and pinch on touch-enabled systems.
Transform pictures into LEGO mosaics with Legoaizer
Legoaizer is a mosaic builder with a twist. Point the program at a JPG and instead of just pixelating it, Legoaizer creates the mosaic from LEGO bricks. Getting started is easy: open a picture, click "Create Mosaic", and within a few seconds the LEGO-ized version appears.
Spin your mouse wheel over the picture to zoom in and see the individual bricks, then save the image as a JPG, BMP or PNG file.
Identify edited JPEGs with JPEGSnoop
It’s been a few years since we last looked at JPEGSnoop, a low-level tool for investigating images. Is it still useful today? Let’s take a look. The program is as convenient to use as ever. No installation, no adware, just unzip the download and run the single executable.
The interface is basic, a tiny toolbar and a few menus, but the first step is simple enough to understand: hit Open and choose an image.
Recent Headlines
BetaNews, your source for breaking tech news, reviews, and in-depth reporting since 1998.
© 1998-2025 BetaNews, Inc. All Rights Reserved. About Us - Privacy Policy - Cookie Policy - Sitemap.