Enhanced Image Search With Google Similar Images

Google has just enhanced its image search feature thanks to a new product called Google Similar Images.

As the name suggests, it's now possible to filter image searches by telling Google to display similar looking images - which can be a really great time saving feature.

Check out the video above for a full walk-through.

Turn Your Mac Into a Media Center With Plex

Back in January I reviewed Boxee which is a very slick application to manage music, videos and pictures.

If you're a Mac user, another strong contender in the media center world is Plex.

Plex boasts a stunning, highly visual interface and allows you to play a wide range of media from either your hard drive or from a Web-based sources such as YouTube and Netflix.

Check out my video review above for a full walk-through.

Play Your Music At A Consistent Volume

One of the drawbacks of having a wide variety of digital music is the wide variety of volume levels that different tracks play at.

There's nothing more jarring than when a a low-key folk song that requires full volume on your iPod is quickly followed by a hardcore rock number which rips out your eardrums with brutal efficiency.

If you use an iPod and iTunes this problem can be solved by using an in-built feature called Sound Check which - when enabled - plays back your entire music library at exactly the same volume.

In order to get the benefit of both, you'll need to switch-on Sound Check in both iTunes and on your iPod. Here's how to do it:

iTunes

1. Open iTunes
2. At the top of the screen go to iTunes>>Preferences (for Mac) or Edit>>Preferences (for PC)
3. In the pop-up window that appears, click on the "Playback" tab
4. Tick the box next to "Sound Check"

This will ensure that within iTunes all your music will play at approximately the same level.

iPod/iPhone

1. On the iPod main menu, choose "Settings"
2. Scroll down and select "Sound Check" to turn the feature on

You can now go to the gym with your iPod on "shuffle" without worrying about having to play with the volume control!

Turn Your iPhone Into a Portable Hard Drive With Air Sharing

Probably the best thing about the iPhone is its multi-skilled versatility. You can make calls, surf the web, check emails, send text messages, shoot pictures.....and the list goes on.

But one of the missing links was the ability to use your phone as a portable hard drive by moving files from your computer to your phone, and vice versa.

There are a few iPhone apps that you can download from the Apple App Store that solve this problem, but my particular favorite is Air Sharing.

It costs $4.99 to download and once installed will allow you to upload files to your iPhone from any Web browser, and download any files from your iPhone to your computer using the same method.

It's breathtakingly simple to use and works wirelessly - so no need for any messy USB cables. So if you need a quick way to carry around that important spreadsheet or presentation and you don't want to carry around an extra hard drive to do so, Air Sharing is definitely worth checking out.

Watch the video above for a full walk-through.

Read It Later: Your Reading List For The Web

The Internet is a big place and surfers who visit numerous sites daily will likely find plenty of content they want to digest.

But maybe a user doesn't have the time to read everything in a single sitting, and if that's the case what are the choices?

a) Bookmark the page and come back later to read it
b) Leave the Web page open on your computer and read it later
c) Try and remember all the pages you need to come back and visit later

All three of these options are unwieldy in their own way - so wouldn't it be nice if there was a way to build a temporary list of Web pages that you could access at any point during the day?

This - and more - is possible thanks to a nifty little service called Read It Later.

Simply install a small browser extension for Firefox and Flock and you're good to go. Whenever you visit a web page that you want to save for later, just click on a tick icon in your browser address bar and the site is added to your Read It Later list. Add as many sites as you want and view the full list anytime by clicking on the Read It Later icon on your browser.

Check out the video above for a full walk-through.

Hunch: Your Decision Making Assistant

Life is full of decisions and indecisive people. Mac or PC? Honda or Toyota? Merlot or Pinot Noir? Too many choices often leave us paralyzed by inaction - terrified of making the wrong choice.

Hunch is a new service that aims to leverage the power of community to help people with the decisions life throws at them. First browse through the numerous topics available in Hunch - and then pick a question you need to help with (let's say "Should I buy a Mac or PC?). Hunch then asks you a series of 5-10 questions and - based on your answers - recommends what you should do.

Each of the topics in Hunch is submitted by other users and are vetted and approved by the Hunch team. Hunch also claims to be smart - so the more the use it the more it understands you as a person and can offer more accurate and personalized decision making recommendations.

Hunch isn't available to the general public yet, but you can sign-up for an invitation. Check out the video above for a full walk-through.

Skype Hits the iPhone and Blackberry

Skype is one of the very few online services that I couldn't live without.

As a marble-mouthed Brit who suffers from occasional bouts of homesickness, Skype lets me stay in touch with friends and family for little or no cost. If you want to read more about some of the benefits of Skype, watch my video review for a full walk-through.

The only drawback with Skype is that you have to be tethered to your laptop or desktop computer to be able to use it. So if I had the urge while sitting on the train or bus to leave abusive voicemails to members my ever dwindling UK-based social group, I'd be forced to pay the near-criminal international rates from America's worst cell phone provider - AT&T.

But all that has now changed after Skype announced it's releasing both iPhone and Blackberry versions of its software. The iPhone application is available for download now, with the Blackberry version available in May.

So how does it work, I hear you cry? First you download the app and install it onto your phone. If you don't have a Skype account you can set one up, but if you're already registered simply log-on with your existing username and password.

Once signed-on, you can make calls to other Skype users for free or you can call mobile or landline phones using Skype Out credits at very low rates. So if you've got a friend in Australia who's signed-on to Skype, you can call him or her for free on your iPhone or Blackberry....and that's enough to get my shriveled little heart beating slightly faster.

But there is a catch. And surprise surprise, that catch is courtesy of - you guessed it - the beloved cell-phone companies. You can only use Skype via a Wi-Fi connection which means you need to be somewhere where there's a Wi-Fi hotspot. You can't simply make a Skype call over your phone's regular cell connection (you know, the one that you pay AT&T about 100 bucks a month for).

Services like Skype are theoretically a big threat to cell companies, so they're making sure to protect their core business. But even with this slightly annoying limitation, the Skype application is quick, easy, graceful and most importantly the call quality is excellent.

So if you have social circle that extends beyond the end of your block, Skype is worth checking out - and if you have an iPhone or Blackberry this should become a valuable feather in your communications bow.