Oh, and the Kindle Fire is originally a US-only device – so if you’re outside of the States, this may be your best chance to get one. Let’s get started, shall we?

Introduction

The Kindle Fire is a 7-inch multi-touch tablet. It has a dual-core processor, a resolution of 1024×600 pixels, and 8GB of internal memory. It runs a custom build of the Android operating system – so heavily customized, you won’t feel it’s Android most of the time (more on that later). At $200, the Kindle Fire costs less than half of an iPad 2.

As noted above, Amazon has opted to make the Kindle Fire available only within the US. This means that if you’re outside of the US, many parts of the Kindle experience will not be accessible for you (for example, the App Store and movies). I tested the device in Israel, and this review reflects that user experience. There are ways to circumvent Amazon’s regional protections, but they tend to be convoluted, and since I wanted to keep the device in a pristine state for a lucky reader, I did not try them. So, this review is mainly about the hardware, and what you could expect from the Kindle as a hardware platform.

Initial Impressions

The Kindle Fire arrives in a sturdy no-frills box. In the spirit of the times, Amazon clearly made an effort to use as little packaging material as possible. If you’ve ever bought a “regular” Kindle, the Fire’s packaging should be familiar. Within the cardboard box you’ll find a molded “holder” for the Kindle. Under the Kindle you’ll find a power adaptor, and that’s about it:

Design

Above you can see the Kindle Fire sitting on a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. While the Fire has a smaller screen, it is significantly thicker than the Galaxy Tab:

This is a side-by-side view of the Kindle Fire and Galaxy Tab. The Tab is tapered so it feels even thinner along the edges, but even when you compare the base thickness, the Kindle is noticeably thicker.

For another size comparison, here’s the Kindle Fire next to a Kindle 3:

This is much more similar – in fact, the Kindle Fire is almost exactly the same size as the Kindle 3, only much thicker. Unlike the Kindle 3, the top of the Kindle Fire is completely unadorned – not even an Amazon logo in sight. No buttons, either. It’s just a bezel with a screen. You can find the Kindle logo embossed on the heavily rubberized back of the device:

The rubberized back, combined with the device’s compact width, make it easy to hold. But at 413 grams (14.6 ounces), the Kindle Fire is not a lightweight device, especially not when held with just one hand. So while size isn’t an issue when trying to grip it with just one hand, for prolonged use you will probably find yourself using both hands to hold the device, or propping it up against something.

Controls are bunched up at the bottom of the device, much like on “regular” Kindles:

There’s a headphone jack on the left, a Micro USB port, and a power button. Let’s compare that with the control layout on a Kindle 3:

Above is the Kindle 3, and below is the Kindle Fire. As you can see, Amazon has done away with the volume button on the Kindle Fire: It’s not located anywhere else – it’s just gone. Another significant change: The power button isn’t activated by sliding, but by a simple push. Both of these are actually big steps backwards for the Kindle. Changing the volume requires fiddling with the touch screen, and I’ve turned the screen off by accident many times just by holding the device. I hope Amazon improves the control layout on future revisions of the Fire, and makes it more similar to the Kindle’s proven layout.

The Kindle Fire also includes two speakers:

As you can see above, the speakers are lined up on the device’s “top” side – i.e, opposite of the controls. This is a very strange place for the speakers, given the fact that videos must be watched in landscape mode. When you turn the device over to watch a video, both speakers are on the same side. It’s also very easy to muffle the sound accidentally when holding the device. A much better position for the speakers would have been on the wide side of the device, for actual stereo when watching videos.

Using The Kindle Fire

This is what the Kindle’s main interface looks like in landscape orientation. At the very top is a heavily modified Android status bar. Directly underneath is the list of content types the device can display, and under that is a display of your recently viewed items. You can swipe between them in a CoverFlow-like display:

Under the recently used items you will find wooden “shelves” containing your favorite apps, books, and other content:

To place something on the shelf, simply grab it from the “recently viewed” display and drag it onto the shelf. Couldn’t be simpler, really. Now let’s look at the video store:

The Kindle Fire comes with a 1-month free Amazon Prime membership, which entitles you to view lots of content for free (if you’re in the US). If you’re outside of the States, you’ll have to make do with trailers:

My screenshot tool won’t show the video, but you can see the control interface. When you don’t touch the screen, the interface disappears, leaving nothing but the video you’re watching. The top-left button lets you rewind ten seconds back; on the top-right you can see the volume slider, and at the bottom is a scrubber. Very simple, really.

Now let’s look at reading a book with the Kindle Fire:

Amazon WhisperSync works pretty well, and the Kindle Fire usually syncs to the last page I’ve read in the book. The reading app interface looks like this:

This is in landscape mode. The app is virtually identical to the Kindle Android app, except that controls are laid across the bottom bar because the Kindle Fire doesn’t have a Menu hardware button. Tapping the screen’s right side flips to the next page, tapping its left side flips to the previous page. This is nice in theory, but it’s very easy to tap the screen edges by mistake when holding the device. Tapping the middle of the screen pops up the control interface you can see in the screenshot above. When you’re just reading, the app looks like this:

You can pick one of three different background colors and several fonts, and also change the font size. Pretty much what you would expect from a Kindle Android app, really.

Next, let’s look at reading a magazine on the Kindle Fire:

This is the January 2012 issue of Popular Science (you can buy magazines internationally in the Kindle Store). There’s a strip along the bottom for quickly scrubbing through the magazine. A spread looks like this:

This particular magazine is a perfect copy of its paper counterpart. If you were expecting crazy interactivity, embedded videos and other cool stuff, you won’t find it here. To be able to read anything, you’ll need to pinch to zoom and then pan around with your finger. The maximum zoom level isn’t very high, either. So while magazines can display well on the Kindle Fire, the small screen size makes them difficult to read.

Some magazines are offered in a “Kindle native” format, which looks more like an eBook than a magazine. Take Fantasy & Science Fiction for example:

As you can see, this is much like reading a Kindle book. This format works very well for text-heavy magazines, and is perfectly readable.

The Silk Browser

One of the Kindle’s main selling points is Amazon Silk, a “revolutionary cloud-accelerated” browser (Amazon’s words, not mine). The Silk browser uses Amazon’s cloud to make browsing faster. Amazon says: With each page request, Silk dynamically determines a division of labor between the mobile hardware and Amazon EC2 (i.e. which browser sub-components run where) that takes into consideration factors like network conditions, page complexity and the location of any cached content.

That sounds slick, and should translate to blazing-fast browsing times. Unfortunately, in regular use, I would be hard pressed to say that Silk made any noticeable difference. Gizmodo took around 15 seconds to fully render, and MakeUseOf took around 20-25 seconds. The page was usable before it completed rendering, but it didn’t feel blazing fast.

On a positive note, page rendering was spot-on perfect:

Flash content works silky-smooth, and the whole thing feels very solid. Pinch-to-zoom is highly responsive, too. All in all, browsing with the Kindle Fire is a lovely experience.

Living With the Kindle Fire

In my day-to-day life, I usually spend quality time with my Kindle in bed, right before I go to sleep. With a regular Kindle, this means I have my reading lamp on, and I read it like a book. When using the Fire, I didn’t need a reading lamp, which was nice. The downside was that after a couple of hours reading in the dark, my eyes hurt. This happened even when I used a black background.

Another annoyance was software-related. As I mentioned, there are no hardware buttons for controlling the sound volume. You can turn the volume down using the top control bar, which looks like this:

However, even with the volume muted, the Kindle sounded an audible alert when battery dropped below 15%. This was late at night, with my significant other lying in bed next to me, trying to sleep. Pretty irritating.

Due to the Kindle’s heft, I had to adapt a new reading posture. I couldn’t really lie on my back and hold the Kindle over my head; I also couldn’t hold it vertically because I kept turning it off by mistake. Eventually I was able to read by moving to landscape mode and gripping the Kindle with both hands.

Should You Buy It?

If you’re in the US, my answer would be an unequivocal YES. For $200, the Kindle Fire is a lot of tablet. The UI is very responsive, and with Amazon’s tempting content options (Kindle lending library, videos, etc.), the Kindle Fire would probably be a joy to use. I would not, however, buy it instead of an e-ink Kindle. For just reading books, the regular Kindle still wins.

If you’re outside of the US, the answer becomes more complicated. On its own, with its default Amazon firmware, the Kindle Fire is not such a great choice. The Amazon App Market doesn’t work outside the US, which means you won’t be able to install any apps (that’s why I didn’t review that part). You also won’t be able to watch videos. However, if you are interested in the Kindle strictly as a hardware platform, it is a lovely device. Alternative Android distribution CyanogenMod is available for the Kindle Fire, which means you can reflash your Kindle Fire, utterly void any sort of warranty, and have fun with a slick 7” tablet. Whether or not you choose to go down that path is up to you, of course.

We’re giving this Kindle Fire review unit away to one very lucky MakeUseOf reader. Here’s how to join the giveaway.

How do I win the Kindle Fire?

It’s simple, just follow the instructions.

Step 1: Fill in the giveaway form

Please fill in the form with your real name and email address so that we can get in touch if you are chosen as a winner. Click here if you can’t view the form.

The giveaway code required to activate the form is available from our Facebook page.

Step 2: Share!

You’re almost done. Now, all that’s left to do is to share the post. There are 2 options to choose from or you can do both!

This giveaway begins now and ends January 31st. The winner will be selected at random and informed via email.

Spread the word to your friends and have fun!

Interested in sponsoring a giveaway? We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with us via the form at the of this page.

This week, we’re giving away 25 free copies of PaintShop Pro X4 worth $2475 in total! Let’s take a quick stroll through some of its features!

Managing Your Photos

The image above is a bit small, but you can still see what the Manage view looks like. It lets you browse your system for photos, and add them to a tray for later editing. The Manage view features a tabbed interface, letting you work with several trays in parallel:

This screenshot also shows the Adjust and Edit tabs at the top of the window.

Adjusting Images

Once you’ve selected the images you want to work with, you can switch to the next step in the workflow by clicking the Adjust tab. Here’s a general view of what it looks like (we’ll be zooming in on the different parts in a moment):

At the bottom of the window you can see the tray, and at the top is the image you’re currently adjusting. You can also drag the try down to reduce its size, or even hide it completely. Now, let’s look at the toolbar:

The top of the toolbar shows a histogram of the current photo, as well as the camera settings in which it was taken. At the bottom are some simple settings you can adjust, as well as a “magic button” for suggesting ideal values. But in the buttons in the middle provide some interesting functionality; specifically, let’s look at the Makeover Tool:

This opens up several other tools, such as the “Toothbrush” tool for brightening teeth, the “Suntan” tool for improving skin tone, and others. Here you really start making changes to your photo, but don’t worry: By default, PaintShop Pro preserves an original copy of your photo (and of course, you can always undo your editing operations while you work):

Once you’re happy with your adjustments, it’s time to move on to the next step:

Editing Images

The third and final tab in the PaintShop Pro workflow is called Edit, and its interface looks like this:

There’s a lot to see here; let me take you on a quick tour of just a couple of its features. First is the awesome Time Machine:

I absolutely love this feature. At the bottom you see a timeline of photographic history, extending from 1839 all the way to 1980. Each thumbnail represents the typical look of photos from that era, and each even comes with a lovely explanation of the look’s history. The preview image updates as you select each look, and you can also control its intensity.

The last feature I will be showing is maybe the most important one: the Learning Center. One of the biggest challenges with most image editors is mastering them. PaintShop’s Learning Center helps you find the functions you need amidst the sea of options. It looks like this:

As you select each item, you don’t get a text document explaining it (although there is very good documentation); instead, you get the tool itself, ready to use.

PaintShop Pro is a huge product, and this isn’t even scratching the surface of what it can do. I hope I’ve managed to whet your appetite – if you have a passion for photography, this is one application you should definitely check out!

We’re giving 25 copies of Corel PaintShop Pro this week! Here’s how you can get your hands on a free copy.

How do I win a copy?

It’s simple, just follow the instructions.

Step 1: Fill in the giveaway form

Please fill in the form with your real name and email address so that we can get in touch if you are chosen as a winner. Click here if you can’t view the form.

The giveaway code required to activate the form is available from our Facebook page.

Step 2: Share!

You’re almost done. Now, all that’s left to do is to share the post. There are 2 options to choose from or you can do both!

This giveaway begins now and ends Friday, December 16th. The winners will be selected at random and informed via email.

Spread the word to your friends and have fun!

Interested in sponsoring a giveaway? We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with us via email.

Auslogics have been helping users clean up and boost their computers for quite a while now, and have a whole line of products up their sleeve. BoostSpeed is a general speeding-up tool which will scan your computer for errors, junk, and crippling system settings, and offer fixes. As usual, you should keep an eye on what you erase and make sure not to delete anything important by mistake.

This week, we’re giving away 25 licenses for Auslogics BoostSpeed PRO 5. Stick around to read more about what BoostSpeed can do and to find out how you can win your own free license!

Finding Trouble And Fixing It

After installation, BoostSpeed will prompt you to perform a full system scan for problems.

If you want to save time, or make sure things are not deleted automatically, you can tweak BoostSpeed to scan just certain things and decide what actions it will perform after the scan.

The scan itself is surprisingly fast. Within several minutes, BoostSpeed will show you exactly how many errors it found, where it found them and how they affect your computer’s speed. The interface is well thought out and gives you a general idea of what’s going on at a glance.

When the scan is complete, you can choose to either trust the program and click “Repair Now”, but you can also view details, see exactly what the problems are and choose how you’d like to handle them. One thing I’d like to see added is the ability to choose individual problems and exclude them from the repair process.

System Advisor

While you’re running the scan, you can head over to the “System Advisor” tab. This tool analyzes your system’s settings and advises you what you can change in order to speed up your computer.

After it scans everything, you’ll get a list of recommendations along with explanations as to why you’re getting them. You can then check the ones you’d like to fix and have the program fix them for you.

Advanced Tools

BoostSpeed also comes with a bundle of advanced tools you can use to tweak, polish and speed up your computer.

Here you’ll find everything from disk and registry maintenance and ways to free up disk space to recovery tools and privacy settings. Each of these links leads to a whole different tool, and it would take a much longer article than this to go over them all. In short, almost anything you could wish for regarding system maintenance is right here within BoostSpeed.

Rescue Center

Using a tool which deletes files from your system is always a concern. No matter how safe it is, you’re always bound to be worried whether you’re really deleting junk, or if these files might be important after all. Well, BoostSpeed comes with its own rescue center for just those cases.

In the settings, you can control exactly what will be backed up by the program.

Auslogics BoostSpeed PRO 5 can be purchased from their online store for $49.95. The license supports up to 3 PCs in a household and offers a year’s worth of updates. There are 25 copies of BoostSpeed waiting for you. Here is how you can win one.

How do I win a copy?

It’s simple, just follow the instructions.

Step 1: Fill in the giveaway form

Please fill in the form with your real name and email address so that we can get in touch if you are chosen as a winner. Click here if you can’t view the form.

The giveaway code required to activate the form is available from our Facebook page.

Step 2: Share!

You’re almost done. Now, all that’s left to do is to share the post. There are 2 options to choose from or you can do both!

This giveaway begins now and ends Friday, November 25th. The winners will be selected at random and informed via email.

Spread the word to your friends and have fun!

MakeUseOf would like to thank Auslogics for their generosity while participating in this giveaway. Interested in sponsoring? We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with us via email.

This week, we’re giving away 25 copies of BatchPhoto Home. Find out how you can win one right after the review.

Adding Photos

The first step is appropriately titled Add Photos. This is where you pick the images you’d like to process. You can add an entire folder, pick images one by one, or even add images according to a filename wildcard, even if they’re in subfolders (something most applications won’t let you do):

Once you’ve added all the photos you wish to process, BatchPhoto Home shows them in a handy grid, letting you quickly review them and see if there’s anything you want to remove from the set you will be processing. Then, it’s time for step 2 of the wizard:

Adding Filters

Any effect BatchPhoto Home can apply is called a filter. Filters are divided into several categories:

The “All Filters” category may seem overwhelming, but individual categories are often easier to manage. For example, the Touch-Up category lets you quickly apply color and contrast fixes en masse:

Some filters have configuration options. For example, if you want to tilt all of your images at a certain angle, you’d want to use the Rotate filter. Its configuration dialog looks like this:

You also get an instant preview of any modifications you make. You’re not limited to applying just one filter at a time, either. Here I’m fixing the color levels and resizing all images in a folder:

Available Filters

As the filters are at the heart of BatchPhoto Home, let’s take another moment to look at the available effects:

As you can see, not all effects are as simple as resizing or rotating. You can also blur all images, emboss them, or make them resemble an oil painting. There are even four different kinds of annotations:

I won’t exhaust you by going over the whole list of filters; suffice it to say that BatchPhoto Home can do a lot. Moving on!

Setting Up

Before processing all images, there’s one last step:

The Setup step lets you set where you want the processed images to go, what output format to use, and whether or not you want to keep the original images. The Destination drop-down offers some interesting choices:

For example, you could watermark an entire folder of beautiful vacation shots with the words “Taken by (your name), © 2011” and then upload it to Facebook via BatchPhoto itself.

Processing

Once you’ve set all the options, It’s time to stand back and let the computer do its thing:

BatchPhoto Home estimated it would take 49 seconds to process my 26-image folder, and it felt about right. It resized all images and applied a gentle automatic color correction filter to make them look better. As you can see above, it used both CPU cores on my system, for faster execution.

How do I win a copy?

It’s simple, just follow the instructions.

Step 1: Fill in the giveaway form

Please fill in the form with your real name and email address so that we can get in touch if you are chosen as a winner. Click here if you can’t view the form.

The giveaway code required to activate the form is available from our Facebook page.

Step 2: Share!

You’re almost done. Now, all that’s left to do is to share the post. There are 2 options to choose from or you can do both!

You can also check out and like BatchPhoto on Facebook to stay updated.

This giveaway begins now and ends Friday, November 18th. The winners will be selected at random and informed via email.

Spread the word to your friends and have fun!

MakeUseOf would like to thank Bits&Coffee for their generosity while participating in this giveaway. Interested in sponsoring? We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with us via email.

This week, we’re giving away 25 copies of MaxTo with 3 years’ worth of free updates! Read on to find out how you can win a copy.

MaxTo basically lets you carve up your monitor (or monitors) into predefined “slices”, which you can then maximize windows into. It features strong hotkey support, too, if you’re more of a keyboard person.

The main interface looks like this:

The reason text is so tiny in the screenshot is that the interface always takes up the full size of the screen. This surprised me at first, but then I realized it’s actually the perfect way to estimate how large each portion of the screen is going to be in real use. This way, you don’t end up carving the screen into slices that look nice in theory, but are too small for day-to-day use. Let’s zoom in on the controls at the center of each slice:

So, you can slice each slice horizontally, vertically, or complete eliminate it (in case you realize it’s just too small). You also get an exact measurement showing how large the slice is going to be. This can be useful for Web developers; for example, I can have a portion of my screen that is 1024×768 pixels large. Any window I maximize in that section will emulate the full screen area of many smaller monitors. There is no way to dial in an exact size for a section, so that sort of setup involves a little bit of fiddling with the borders, dragging and dropping repeatedly until the size is just so.

Profiles

MaxTo comes with several pre-made profiles you can pick from, for instant configuration. I like “Main with two-way right”:

Of course, you can also create and save your own profiles.

Hotkey Support

MaxTo features a rich selection of hotkeys. The handiest ones (in my opinion) are those used for moving a window between the different slices of the screen.

In case the default bindings are not to your liking, the configuration interface lets you easily change them, and even add new bindings for functions that don’t have hotkeys by default:

One notable omission, though, is a key that would let you send a window to the same position on another monitor. Perhaps in a future version?

The Alternate Layout

Many of us use the computer in several different settings. For example, you might want to arrange your screen one way when browsing the Web and reading content online, and in a totally different way when coding or working on graphics. MaxTo lets you configure an alternate setup that you can easily switch to at any time:

Video Introduction

The MaxTo website features a short (1:33) video that breezes through the app’s most important features. Since it is so informative, I’ve decided to share it below. Here goes:

We’re giving away 25 free copies of MaxTo with 3 years of free updates! Win one now!

How do I win a copy?

It’s simple, just follow the instructions.

Step 1: Fill in the giveaway form

Please fill in the form with your real name and email address so that we can get in touch if you are chosen as a winner. Click here if you can’t view the form.

The giveaway code required to activate the form is available from our Facebook page.

Step 2: Share!

You’re almost done. Now, all that’s left to do is to share the post. There are 2 options to choose from or you can do both!

This giveaway begins now and ends Friday, November 11th. The winners will be selected at random and informed via email.

Spread the word to your friends and have fun!

MakeUseOf would like to thank Digital Creations AS for their generosity while participating in this giveaway. Interested in sponsoring? We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with us via email.

This week, we’re giving away 25 6-month licenses for CleanMyPC. Read on to see what CleanMyPC is all about, and how you can win your own copy.

CleanMyPC is the Windows version of CleanMyMac, brought to us by MacPaw. It scans your computer for files you don’t really need, and also offers some useful utilities you can use to keep your PC running efficiently. As always with this type of software, keep an eye on what you’re erasing and on the preferences, so as to not erase something important by mistake.

Scanning And Cleaning

When you launch CleanMyPC, you will be immediately prompted to scan. You can start by running a complete scan which will look for things like caches & logs, help files, extra languages, etc.

The scan may take several minutes. If you don’t want to wait for a complete scan, you can choose one category by clicking on it, and perform a scan just for this type of files.

You can then view a list of the files CleanMyPC found, and choose what you want to erase. CleanMyPC doesn’t just delete everything automatically, though. As you can see, it found my system restore data, but did not check these files by default, so I would not have lost this data even if I had performed an automatic cleanup.

If you run a full scan, you will get an estimate of the wasted space you currently have, and will get the option to clean everything up at once.

CleanMyPC will show you exactly which category is being cleaned up, and how much space will be salvaged from each category.

Notice that by default, CleanMyPC will clean recycled data on connected devices. It can also automatically empty the recycle bin. Check out the preferences to control these things.

Utilities

CleanMyPC also comes with some handy utilities. Many of these are available on the paid version only (which you can win at the end of this post!), but you get to try the registry maintenance tool for free.

These utilities will also perform a scan, and detect registry issues which you can clean up, all your installed programs which you can uninstall through the program, all your plugins and extensions, and all the files that automatically run on startup. You can then manually decide what you want to do with these findings. For example, you can use the program to remove applications from your autorun list.

CleamMyPC also offers a Secure Erase option, to permanently delete files you don’t need anymore.

We have 25 copies of CleanMyPC (6-month licenses) to give away, here’s how you can win one.

How do I win a copy?

It’s simple, just follow the instructions.

Step 1: Fill in the giveaway form

Please fill in the form with your real name and email address so that we can get in touch if you are chosen as a winner. Click here if you can’t view the form.

The giveaway code required to activate the form is available from our Facebook page.

Step 2: Share!

You’re almost done. Now, all that’s left to do is to share the post. There are 2 options to choose from or you can do both!

This giveaway begins now and ends Friday, November 11th. The winners will be selected at random and informed via email.

Spread the word to your friends and have fun!

MakeUseOf would like to thank MacPaw for their generosity while participating in this giveaway. Interested in sponsoring? We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with us via email.

This week, we will be giving away an unlimited number of free upgrades from Wallpaper Wizard Lite to the full version. Join the giveaway and receive the activation instructions sent directly to you via email.

Wallpaper Wizard Lite is the free version of Wallpaper Wizard (which is currently on sale for $6.99). The free or lite version works in exactly the same way as Wallpaper Wizard, except that its database of wallpapers is limited to just 100 designs. Once the Lite version is activated with the key which we’ll be providing, it will gain you access to over 100,000 high definition background images.

Activating your copy of Wallpaper Wizard Lite

It’s very important that you follow the instructions below to activate your copy of Wallpaper Wizard Lite. Otherwise, it will just function as the regular, free version.

Download the app from the Mac App Store here, and launch it. You’ll be greeted by a welcome screen as seen below.

Click on the Click here to upgrade link.

After submitting your name and email address in the giveaway form below, we’ll send you the gift code which is required for this step. Enter it here and click Upgrade.

And there you go! Your version of Wallpaper Wizard Lite has been upgraded to the full version and you’ll be able to access the 100,000 desktop backgrounds!

Taking a look at Wallpaper Wizard

Wallpaper Wizard is a powerful application with a very simple user interface. On the surface, it may just appear to be a simple wallpaper-churning-and-rotating app but actually, it’s got a bit more up its sleeve.

To use Wallpaper Wizard to its full potential, you’ll need to create an account. The account will store your favourite backgrounds, allow you to add images to your selections, and upload new images to be shared with your family and friends (via connected accounts).

All of the backgrounds provided by Wallpaper Wizard are stored on their server and downloaded immediately whenever selected. So obviously, you’ll need an internet connection to use Wallpaper Wizard.

If you think that 100,000 desktop backgrounds is no big deal, think again. Browsing their database of images takes quite a while! Desktop images are sorted by category and arranged beautifully in stacks. Just keep on scrolling and more images will load from the bottom of the window. If you see any that tickles your fancy, just click on the green plus button to add them to your selection.

From my testing, I’ve found that the wallpapers are downloaded very quickly and look astonishing, even on a large display. They’re pretty much covered in just about every category — you’ll definitely be able to find backgrounds to suit your liking.

In the latest version of Wallpaper Wizard, the developers added support for Mac OS X Lion. They’ve also added the ability to block images and to view the category that the current background belongs to, all from the menu bar for easy access.

This week only, we’ll be providing a free gift code which will activate your copy of Wallpaper Wizard Lite to the full version. You’ll receive instructions via email after joining our giveaway below.

How do I win a copy?

It’s simple, just follow the instructions.

Step 1: Fill in the giveaway form

Please fill in the form with your real name and email address so that we can send you the activation instructions. Click here if you can’t view the form.

Step 2: Share!

You’re almost done. Now, all that’s left to do is to share the post. There are 2 options to choose from or you can do both!

This giveaway begins now and ends Friday, October 17th.

Spread the word to your friends and have fun!

MakeUseOf would like to thank Coppertino for their generosity while participating in this giveaway. Interesting in sponsoring? We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with us via email.

The Samsung Galaxy S II breaks all the boundaries. It is capable of full 1080p HD video recording; sports an 8 megapixel digital camera, integrated WiFi Direct, supports Near Field Communication, and runs Android OS. All this in a mobile phone that’s 0.33″ thick — it’s truly amazing.

We’ve only got one Samsung Galaxy S II (unlocked model) worth over $550 to give away in the following weeks and here’s how to enter:

How do I win?

It’s simple, just follow the instructions. This giveaway is open to all.

Step 1: Fill in the giveaway form

Please fill in the form with your real name and email address so that we can get in touch if you are chosen as a winner. Click here if you can’t view the form.

Step 2: Share!

You’re almost done. Now, all that’s left to do is to share the post. There are 2 options to choose from or you can do both!

This giveaway begins now and ends Friday, October 21th at 2100hrs PDT. The winners will be selected at random and informed via email.

Spread the word to your friends and have fun!

This week, we’ll be giving away 25 copies of Photoshop Elements 9: The Missing Manual by Barbara Brundage from O’Reilly Media. Jump in for a quick description of the book and join the giveaway!

Photoshop Elements 9: The Missing Manual is a great ebook that will take you through all of the basic features of the application and show you how to use just about all of its tools. If you’ve always been daunted by image editing software like Photoshop, you can easily pick this ebook up and learn how to master Photoshop Elements in no time.

This ebook will teach you to:

• Learn how to use Photoshop Elements quickly
• Master its basic functions
• Learn how to touch up your photos
• Add image effects, filters and frames to your images
• Learn to use layers, blend modes and advanced tools to achieve the effect you want

We’ve got 25 copies of Photoshop Elements 9: The Missing Manual to give away this week. Here’s how you can win your own.

How do I win a copy?

It’s simple, just follow the instructions.

Step 1: Fill in the giveaway form

Please fill in the form with your real name and email address so that we can get in touch if you are chosen as a winner. Click here if you can’t view the form.

The giveaway code required to activate the form is available from our Facebook page.

Step 2: Share!

You’re almost done. Now, all that’s left to do is to share the post. There are 2 options to choose from or you can do both!

This giveaway begins now and ends Friday, Sept 16 at 2100hrs PDT. The winners will be selected at random and informed via email.

Spread the word to your friends and have fun!

MakeUseOf would like to thank O’Reilly Media for their generosity while participating in this giveaway. Interesting in sponsoring? We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with us via email.