Foxit PDF Reader

What it does:

Foxit is a replacement for that unfortunate staple of every computer user's life: Adobe Reader. Foxit reads and even edits PDFs -- those files that look exactly like original documents -- without the slowdown and crashes associated with Adobe's product.

What we like about it:

Foxit is about as close to perfect as a piece software can get: it opens and operates faster than Adobe's Reader, uses much less RAM, and packs more features into a download about a tenth the size.

In addition to reading PDFs, Foxit can perform basic editing tasks and lets you add notes to documents -- features Adobe charges several hundred dollars for in its Acrobat platform. Foxit even has some features that Adobe's professional application lacks, such as tabs for opening several PDFs in one window, and support for multimedia so you can actually play back audio and video in multimedia e-books.

What we don't like:

Our only problem with Foxit is that the latest versions are Windows-only. Mac and Linux users need love too.

Bottom line:

The existence of the fast, stable, and user-friendly Foxit makes you wonder why anyone would continue to use Adobe's bloated, crash-prone program. Get Foxit now and clicking links to PDF files will no longer prompt panic and cursing.

Download Foxit PDF Reader

VLC Media Player

What it does: The VLC Media Player does just what its name implies, and so much more. In addition to playing back video and audio, VLC can even be used to rip DVDs or stream video over a home network to watch on another computer in the house, or across the Internet.

What we like about it: First and foremost this free and open source media player is incredibly lightweight, which means it's fast. VLC is perfect for playing back any unprotected video file or taking a quick listen to a song when firing up iTunes and searching through your library is too much trouble.

VLC also makes quick work of the maze of media formats out there. OGG, MP3, WAV, MP4, AAC, DivX, AVI, WMV, MOV, even Flash Video (FLV) like those used on YouTube -- VLC will play them all. No need to open Quick Time for MOV files, Windows Media for WMVs, and iTunes for AAC.

If you do feel like tinkering ,VLC has more optiona than you could possibly imagine, some of which are easily leveraged for legally questionable ends. For example you can easily save streaming media from the Web by pasting the URL into VLC and checking off the Stream/Save option.

What we don't like: VLC won't work with any DRM-protected files. So many songs purchased through iTunes or movies downloaded from Amazon's Unbox store won't be playable. VLC can also be a bit confusing for those used to the pretty and uncluttered options available to users of iTunes and Windows Media Player. We strongly recommend spending a few minutes wandering around the menus and options to get acquainted with the app before jumping in. Also, it won't handle Real Media (.rm) media files, the type you'll find on some online radio stations, and, of course Real.com.

Bottom line: VLC could use a little spit and polish, but is still an essential tool for anyone who watches a lot of video on their computer or listens to audio in a multitude of formats. This one stop shop for media playback is quicker and more versatile than the market leaders such as iTunes, Windows Media Player or RealPlayer. MusicMatch. That said, you'll still need one of those market leader programs if you have any purchased content from iTunes, mobile music stores, or any of the music services such as Napster or Rhapdsody. The point of VLC is to play everything else without slowing down your computer.

Download VLC Media Player

If high school students can get four-figure mileage figures from a gallon of gas, why do most cars sputter out before the 30-mile mark? PLUS: A pill-sized bulb outshines a street light, a man loses everything to a fake Craigslist ad and a (different) man accidentally kills his wife while installing satellite TV.

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Be among the first to hear the 'Switched Show' each week. Subscribe for Free with iTunes. (Or subscribe with your own podcast aggregator by using the Switched Show feed.)

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• Best HDTV Under $500
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We're callin' it -- HD-DVD has lost the format war against Blu-Ray -- but that doesn't mean now isn't a great time to get a sweet deal on an HD-DVD player.

Plus: How to extend the battery life of your cell phone, how to fend off attackers with your cell phone and a definitive answer to how many of your cell phone calls suck (in terms of sound quality). OH! And Hello Kitty!

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• Terrorism, the Internet and Robbing Target
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Now that everyone has declared BluRay the winner in the high-def war, what with Warner's announcement and Sony finally allowing adult films to be published on the format, I think it's important to take a look at HD-DVD's long walk back to the locker room after a game well-played.

It would be a mistake to say that HD-DVD will cease to exist tomorrow. In fact, expect to see just the opposite of that. HD-DVD continue on as an underground favorite format, much like Betamax did in the 70s and laser discs did in the 90s. Remember laser discs, the giant optical discs that came before DVD, the stuff of early home theater buffs who could tell you a thing or two about digital mastering way before half of Hollywood was even Bar Mitzvah'd? No? How about beta, the superior tape format that Sony wanted you to buy instead of VHS?

I originally thought HD-DVD was completely done for before the Consumer Electronics Show. Warner's Blu-Ray-exclusive announcement and the HD-DVD group's decision to back out of their keynote made it sound like they would go away with a whimper. On the final day of the conference, however, I took one last walk by the HD-DVD booth just to see what was up. After all, I'm a sucker for a good heartbreak story.

"So I looked on bestbuy.com this morning," began the booth attendant, speaking to three half-asleep attendees who, by my estimation, were there more for the chair rest than the presentation. "You can now buy an HD-DVD drive for $179. That also comes with ten free discs. Ten free discs! That easily makes HD-DVD the best deal in high definition."

The guy had a point. Think about it -- for $179, you can get a high-end HD-DVD player that will also upscale your regular DVDs to high-definition resolution. It will also play your Super-Audio CDs. You also get ten free HD-DVD discs. Go try to buy ten new regular-definition DVDs for $179 -- I dare you. That evening I was ordering an HD-DVD drive from bestbuy.com. Call me a vulture if you will, but I'll be enjoying this winter in high-def heaven. Heck - I might even cancel my Netflix account for a few months and save another $50 or so.

That closing value on the HD-DVD format really is hard to beat. Even if another HD-DVD title never comes out, the closing cost of the format -- along with its hardware -- is easily worth the cost to anyone with a high-definition television. Is it an investment for the far future? Not so much, but most of us who already have home theaters and high-definition televisions aren't exactly known for our electronics long-term investment acumen -- we'll all have new TVs, receivers, and speakers in a few years anyway.

Anyway, with Apple's new iTunes Movie Rentals and NetFlix opening up the "View It Now" service to unlimited views, disc-based movies' days are numbered.

Enjoy the fire sale. I know I will.

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It's the holiday season and we're all eating a bit more. Unfortunately, going to the gym is such a drag that the only way to make time pass (and exercise more bearable) is to blast some tunes while we work out. Unfortunately, many of the headphones we like to wear on the street (because they're stylish), at home (because they're audiophile-quality), or while we travel (because they block out airplane cabin noise) just don't cut it on the treadmill. Headphones have a tendency to fall off our heads while we jog, for example, or just hurt out ears. But have no fear: We put five highly-touted, gym-friendly headphones to the test by taking them with us on some recent workouts. Here's what we found.


H2O Sport Headphones

The only over-the-ear pair of headphones we tested, the H2O Sport is a pretty good option for budget-conscious athletes: For 30 bucks, these things actually provide decent bass response and get plenty loud. The neckwrap helps keep the headphones in place while you get your sweat on, and the coiled cord conveniently retracts to three feet (six feet when extended). That said, the plastic construction is a bit chintzy, and the cord feels like it might rip if you tug it too hard. The phones are a bit bulky and feel like they may give out after a year or so, but until then, they'll definitely get the job done whle you work out.

You know all of those extra megapixels you shelled out for when you bought your digital camera? Well, while the higher picture quality will certainly come in handy for running off prints of your more frame-worthy snaps, the bloated file sizes of your photos can be an e-mail killer. Most of the time, the photos coming off of our cameras are a few megabytes each, at least . Chain a couple of those together in an e-mail and it's likely your message will be too big to go through. If it does go through, you run the risk of annoying friends and family who are forced to spend time downloading the photos. What to do? Watch our simple tutorial on resizing photos for e-mail and you'll be spreading the memories in no time.

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We're asked all the time what constitutes a great, but affordable home theater package. Unfortunately, 'affordable' can mean very different things to different people. So, we've put together two excellent home theater set-ups for two different budgets, both of which are still firmly planted in the realm of reality. In other words, you probably won't need a winning lottery ticket to afford the payments on them.

For the budget-conscious buyer:

VIZIO VX37L 37-inch LCD TV
At just $799 for a top-notch LCD, you really can't beat VIZIO. Though you might not be familiar with the name, the company has been making some noise lately for offering high-quality sets priced with real people in mind. On this LCD, you get two HDMI inputs for connecting video sources with just one cable for picture and sound -- a nice feature at such a low price. The resolution tops out at 720p, but at this size that's all you'll need for HDTV broadcasts, DVDs and gaming. (More on 720p versus 1080p here.)


Panasonic SC-PT950 Wireless Home Theater
When putting together a home theater, hardcore audiophiles will tell you to handpick your components and speakers separately. But, that quickly gets expensive and time-consuming. All-in-one systems, or HTIBs (Home Theater In a Box), on the other hand, give you everything you need in one convenient package – like this Panasonic kit, which includes a receiver, amplifier, five-disc DVD changer and speakers. In addition to an included iPod dock and the ability to up-convert DVDs to true 1080p resolution, the $440 system also boasts the convenience and easy setup of a wireless back speaker.

TOTAL: $1,240

A reader writes: I'm getting ready to go on vacation, and I want to bring along a small point-and-shoot digital camera. Thing is, I want the thing to be able to do a little bit of everything, so I'm willing to spend around $300. I'm mostly concerned about picture quality, fast movement, and lots of flexibility in terms of lighting situations as I'll be taking pictures both during the day and at night, inside and outside.

Hey reader: There are plenty of $300 point-and-shoot digital cameras out there, so we understand your confusion. Sounds like you need a feature-packed camera that won't break the wallet -- or the fanny pack -- for your vacation.

We recently got to play around with Panasonic's new Lumix DMC-FX33 camera, and despite the crazy confusing name, it's a great little unit. It's super small, has a big 2.5-inch screen and has plenty of scene modes for all your vacation-taking needs.

One thing that really sets this one apart is how easy it is to use. If you want to turn off the flash, just push a button. If you want to take a picture inside and don't want to think about the flash and ISO settings, just put the camera in auto mode and it will adjust everything for you. All that said, if you're a bit of a camera geek like we are, you can manually set just about everything.

What makes this camera stand out is Panasonic's use of 28mm Leica optics, which are some of the best lenses in the biz. Typically, Leica lenses are only available in much more expensive cameras.

Outside of that, this camera has all the standard features you would want in this price range. It does 8.1 megapixels, has a wide 28mm lens, uses inexpensive SD cards, does 4x optical zoom, has a macro setting (for close-up pictures of flowers and what-not), a widescreen video mode and this it's pretty quick when you need to take multiple pictures. Finally, for fashionistas, the Lumix comes in an assortment of colors: black, silver, blue, and the brown seen above.

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Eat enough lunches at your desk and you're bound to spill something on your keyboard -- we know this all too well. Luckily, we also know how to fix this problem. Learn how to deal with anything from water to coffee or soda in the video above.

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You've just spilled your afternoon coffee all over your laptop. What you do in the next couple of seconds could be the difference between a speedy recovery and the laptop graveyard. In the above video, you'll find the emergency rescue steps you need to take right this moment.

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Not too long ago, all it took to put together the coolest room on your dormitory floor was a black light, a Led Zeppelin poster and one of those crappy 13-inch TV/VCR combos. But on the teched-out college campus of today, it'll take a lot more than those old relics to impress your new floormates. Luckily, we've but together a shopping list of the ultimate gadgets for pimping a dorm room. Some are designed for fun, some are for work, and some are for both. Most of our recommendations are priced to be kind to your bottom line, though we couldn't resist throwing in a couple of bigger ticket must-haves.

Lexmark Z1420 Wireless Printer

At only $79, the Z1420 is cheaper than most of the books you'll be required to shell out for this semester. And, it's got you covered whether you need to print out a text-heavy term paper you bought from the Internet or run off a dozen full color photos of your naked, passed out roommate to blanket the dorm hallways with. The best part is, no wires! The printer can join any wireless network you've created to allow you, and anyone else on your network, to print without being directly connected. Of course, if you're old school and don't happen to have a wireless network, the Z1420 can also function as a normal USB printer. That's assuming you're not so old school that you're still rocking the Brother word processor.

Now that you've shelled out for a nice new HDTV, it's time to learn how to get the best possible sound and video out of it. Switched explains just what all of those inputs on the back of your set are for, how to connect them, and which ones will maximize your home theater experience.

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Whether you're traveling for business or playing Solitaire on the beach, long lasting laptop life is a must. Here's how to squeeze the most juice out of your notebook's power store.

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Follow these easy tips to squeeze the most juice out of your iPhone's power cell.

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