Welcome to Dooba Reviews

Speed up your Internet Connection with OpenDNS

Author Thomas | 22.04.2008 | Category Freebies, Web

Many Internet surfers now enjoy “High Speed” Internet. However, many find that “High Speed” just isn’t a good description of the type of connection. Oh sure, today’s High Speed connections are faster than dial-up (for the most part), but many people find frustration in waiting for pages to load and videos to finish downloading.

There’s a tool that’s been around for a while that more and more, people are becoming aware of. OpenDNS is a free service that can help speed up your Internet connection while providing free content filtering. Simply follow the instructions to point your home computer or your home wireless (or regular) router to the OpenDNS servers.

Every time you enter a website to visit in your web browser, OpenDNS will route the traffic back to your computer most often much faster than your ISP can do. Create a free account at OpenDNS to enable the content filtering and block specific websites or groups of websites.

Stay Connected with Family Through Skype

Author Thomas | 21.04.2008 | Category Freebies, Software

Ever want to talk to a friend that was on a trip far, far away or reach out to a family member that lived “over the mountain and through the woods” but found the long distance costs too high?

You’re not alone. Even with the ubiquity of cell phones, it can still cost a lot to make long distance or international phone calls (especially if you’re over your cell phone minutes).

There is, however, a way to make long distance calls for free, and even make international calls for free. It’s done through a service called Skype (which is owned by eBay in case you were wondering).

Skype is a free software program that can run on a Mac or a Windows computer that enables you to talk to someone else that has the program anywhere in the world (providing they have an internet connection).  It all takes place over the Internet for free.

Use Skype to not only talk but to enjoy video conferences as well. I had a family member travel to Asia and we could see and talk to each other using Skype. It was great and easy to use.

You simply download and install Skype for free and then add your friend or family member to your contact list and you’re set.  Simply double-click on your contact’s name and their computer will start “ringing” just like a phone.  Your friend has the option to answer or pickup the call or not.

You and the person on the other end will need at least a microphone and speakers to be able to talk to each other.  Using a webcam, you can see and talk to each other.

Skype also lets you make long distance calls from your computer to a real phone number for a small fee, and most often, much less than regular long distance fees.  You can even buy a Skype-enabled phone to plug into your computer.

Audacity Sound Recording and mp3 Recording Software

Author Thomas | 14.04.2008 | Category Freebies, Software

Ever have the need to record and edit a little audio?  Perhaps you’re working on an audio book recording, music recording, or audio splicing project that requires a little more power than Sound Recorder but doesn’t warrant purchasing expensive software.

Audacity is the free alternative, and for being free, has a lot of great uses.  The program allows you to record and edit multiple tracks.  Play your record backward just for kicks, or really get into the editing by adding echoes, changing of pitch, tempo, and much more.

I recently purchased and read a great book but I wanted to have the book on mp3.  The only problem is that audio books tend to be fairly expensive, and I already spent money on the book.  We’ll with audacity, I’m making a recording of myself reading the book.  I can stop recording at any time, and then pickup where I left off and continue recording.  Reading the book again out-loud is fun because I enjoy the book.

The recording is just for myself, but like many people, I find it very weird to listen to a recording of my own voice.  With Audacity I can change the pitch of my voice without speeding up or slowing down the audio.

To do this simply highlight the audio segment you wish to change, select Effect from the top menu, and then select Change Pitch.

By doing this, I can listen to the recording I made as if it were read by the guy that does the announcements on movie trailers (well pretty close anyway).

The interface is pretty easy to use.  A big record button and stop button make it easy to use.  For the price, it’s a pretty good little value.

Remote Desktop Presentations

Author Thomas | 08.04.2008 | Category Freebies, Software, Web

Recently, we highlighted Logmein which allows a user to remotely control his or her Mac or PC from another Mac or PC.  However, to do so, the a user name and password for the remote computer must be provided.

To share the desktop only, say for an online presentation or online meeting, there are a couple great options out there that will let you share your desktop screen for free.

SharedView by Microsoft is a great, lightweight little tool that gets the job done.  You can use the tool to share your entire desktop, or just one application (e.g. Powerpoint or a web browser) at a time.

Installation and Getting Started - To initiate a session, you need to download and install the software, and log in using a Microsoft Passport (Live/Hotmail) account.

Security - According SharedView, the connections are encrypted.

Collaboration - You can allow the other participants to have mouse pointers on your shared screen and will be identified with their names on the mouse.

Easy to use - The application is very easy to use especially compared to some of the solutions out there that have too many confusing features.  If you want something quick and simple, SharedView is the way to go.

The software is easy to use and has an added feature of being able to preview what others are seeing.  When you initiate are sharing session, the window (highlighted above) provides login information that you can email or share with others that you want to participate.

LogMeIn Remote Login to your Computer

Author Thomas | 29.03.2008 | Category Freebies, Web

I came across LogMeIn while trying to help a family member edit a video on a Mac. I needed to find a program that allowed me to remotely control an Apple computer from a Windows-based PC. I had a hard time finding anything until I stumbled upon LogMeIn.

First thing I love about LogMeIn is that it’s free. There are more advanced versions that you can pay for, but it meets all my needs for a remote connection. In essence, I can see the desktop of the other computer, open programs, type, etc.

LogMeIn can be used to monitor servers, your computers at home, connect computers together through a VPN, and as a backup service.

I noticed that my connections are encrypted at 256 bit encryption which very reassuring. I’ve set up my account so that it sends me an email if someone tries to access my account (a fantastic feature).

Multiple computers can be added to your account.

You can essentially reach your home, work, and other computers remotely from anywhere.

All that is required is to create a free account, and follow the simple steps to install the java plug-in for your web browser.

I remote through FireFox, and it works great!

Hope you enjoy LogMeIn!