Review: DeskSMS doesn't rise above the other desktop texting apps

DeskSMS is one of a number of services that lets Android phone users text from a PC or Mac. Unfortunately, its $5 per year price tag and its plain-vanilla interface make it hard to recommend.

To use DeskSMS, you must install the Android app on your phone and grant it permission to access your Google account. You then open a browser window on your computer and head to desksms.appspot.com. (Like BrowserTexting, DeskSMS is available as Web app that works in most browsers, and as an extension for Firefox and Chrome.) Here, you log in and grant the Web app the same permission to access your Google account. You can choose to sync your Google contacts, too.

Then, you're ready to begin texting—although that's not immediately apparent, due to DeskSMS's barren Web interface. You simply get a blank screen, with the DeskSMS logo, a login button, and a field for entering a name or number at the top. I kept trying to logi n, thinking that this button was displayed because my login hadn't worked. After several attempts, I decided to try entering a number in the available field instead, and was pleasantly surprised to see my contacts appear as soon as I began typing.

DeskSMS doesn't offer a conversation view; instead, it has you compose new messages (which are limited to 160 characters) in a field that appears on your computer screen.

Once you enter a number or contact name, DeskSMS displays a field on the site for entering your text message, which is limited to 160 characters. You can also call the number you've entered, but the phone call will be placed from your actual Android phone, not your computer. This could be a handy way to make calls if you're already wearing a headset, but beyond that, it's not terribly useful.

More useful is DeskSMS's integration with Google. It sends a copy of text messages that you've received to your Gmail or Google Talk accounts, if you'd like. This allows you to see and respond to your messages from yet another interface, which is handy if you're already using those services.

Still, DeskSMS has its limitations. It doesn't allow you to send MMS messages, and I wish that it offered a conversation view. It doesn't display your texting history, which would allow you to view past conversations. And even when you get a text in response to one you've sent via DeskSMS, the Web app only displays it in a pop-up notification, it never adds it to the texting field you use for composing messages. When you consider that these limitations come in an application that costs you $5 a year, well, that makes DeskSMS even harder to recommend.

Note: The Download button takes you to the vendor's site, where you can download the latest version of the software.

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HTC First and 6 Other Doomed Single-Purpose Phones

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Review: IFTTT connects social media, photo and other Web services

Think of social media—and the Web in general, really—as a game of dominoes: One action creates an entire range of reactions. That's what makes it so powerful...and so time-consuming, especially for those people who are trying to update a constant stream of information on multiple social media accounts. But IFTTT tries to make this easier by allowing you to link Web services, so doing something on one triggers the rest. It is a free service that's a lot like its name: a little bit confusing until you understand just how simple and useful it is.

IFTTT (it's pronounced like "gift" without the "g") stands for If This Then That. And that basically describes what IFTTT does: when one thing happens, IFTTT lets you create an automatic reaction. You could, for example, use IFTTT so that you'll receive a text message whenever someone posts a picture of you on Facebook. Or to receive an email if the weather forecast calls for rain. Or automatically save a copy of a photo to Dropbox whenever one is posted to Instagram.

IFTTT's neat, clean interface makes the service easy to use.

To use IFTTT, you simply create a free account with your email address. Then, you can get started building IFTTT recipes. IFTTT works on the basis of channels, which are what it calls the basic building blocks of its recipes. Channels are things like Facebook, Evernote, Email, Weather, Buffer, Craigslist, and more—there are 59 channels currently available.

To create a recipe, you select the first channel and then the trigger (the "this" part of IFTTT). Once the channel is selected, IFTTT displays applicable triggers. When I selected Etsy as my channel, available triggers were things like "new purchased item" or "new item in shop."

After selecting the trigger, you select the channel and the action (the "that"). The same 59 channels are available as the action channels; once you select one, you activate (if it's not already active) and then choose the action from the available choices.

Once you select the channel and the action, you can customize it using what IFTTT calls Ingredients. These ingredients are pieces of data from the trigger. For Etsy, the ingredients could be the Etsy URL and the price. For Facebook, the ingredients could be a photo caption and the image source. You use these ingredients to customize the resulting action, such as sending a text message or email, or posting a status update to Facebook.

IFTTT lets you customize any messages it sends or posts by adding "ingredients," which can be a bit confusing.

Once all the pieces are in place, you can save your recipe by giving it a name. Recipes can be kept private or shared with the entire IFTTT community—and IFTTT does have plenty of shared recipes to give you ideas or the building blocks for creating your own. (When you share a recipe, you're not sharing access to your personal data; anyone who accesses the recipe only gets the basic steps, and then fills in their own personal data to make it work for them.) When you select a channel, you'll have to give IFTTT access to your account, which usually involves either linking accounts or granting certain permissions. This process was simple and painless with all of the channels I tested.

Using IFTTT is actually a lot easier than explaining it, though the service is definitely not perfect. I was, for example, slightly disappointed with the result of one of my recipes. I set up a recipe where I would get a text message whenever a photo of me was tagged on Facebook. I set the action channel—the text message I'd receive—to include ingredients like caption, image source, upload date, and uploaded by. I was hoping to receive a detailed message with the photo and all of the data I'd requested. Instead, I got a link to view the photo online (not on Facebook)—and only the photo, not any of the other info I'd requested. The message format makes sense (given that it was an SMS, not MMS), but that SMS still could have included the additional details about the photo that I'd requested.

I was more impressed with my other IFTTT recipes, though, and I was definitely amused by some of the shared recipes available on the site. One user created a recipe that will alert him via SMS if the CDC reports a zombie outbreak, while another user created one that automatically uploads any photo he posts to Facebook to Picasa, too.  These two recipes sum up the appeal of IFTTT: it's fun and pretty darn useful, too.

Note: The Download button on the Product Information page takes you to the vendor's site, where you can use this Web-based software.

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Review: UnoDNS frees you to stream from other countries

Endlessly tweaking his workflow for comfort and efficiency, Erez is a freelance writer on a mission to discover the simplest, coolest, and most effective software and websites to make tomorrow happen today.
More by Erez Zukerman

I am writing these lines while listening to Pandora. If you're in the US, this probably doesn't sound very exciting. I, however, am not in the US–I'm in Israel, a country in which Pandora is not officially supported. I can also do all sorts of other US-only tricks, such as watch Hulu, enjoy Netflix video streaming, and jam to Rdio and Spotify. All of the computers on my home network can enjoy the same content, and I didn't have to install any software or flash my ADSL router with custom firmware for this to work. This is all thanks to innovative $5/month (eight-day free trial) service UnoDNS–and before you ask, no, it is not a VPN.

You see, circumventing geo-restriction is nothing new. For as long as content has been geographically restricted, there have been individuals determined to get at that content, even if they are in the "wrong" country. The usual solution is to use a VPN, which is a sort of a virtual tunnel your Internet connection goes through. You send all of your Internet traffic via a VPN server, and it goes out the other end from a server in the US, UK, or another country of your choice. The service you're talking to thinks you're in that country, and you get to enjoy the content.

That sounds like a nice solution, but in reality, it's cumbersome. For starters, most services and websites are not geo-restricted. If I just want to enjoy one or two specific sites, why should all of my Internet traffic go through a third party? Not only is this inefficient, but it can also slow things down. If I have a fast ADSL connection (100Mbps, for example), my VPN provider can easily become a bottleneck. Everything has to go via that one server, which has a hard time keeping up.

UnoDNS stops working whenever your ISP changes your IP address, but updating it for your new address takes just one click, and can be automated.

UnoDNS gets around this by doing something amazing–and that is not a word I use lightly. Instead of forcing all of your traffic through a VPN server, UnoDNS has you configure custom DNS servers on your computer. This is a simple operation that doesn't require installing any software. In fact, many routers let you configure your own DNS servers on the router itself, which is how I enabled UnoDNS for my entire home network in one fell swoop (Android and iOS devices included, as long as they're on WiFi). This saves you time spent individually configuring each device.

Without getting too technical, whenever your computer tries to access another host on the Internet, it goes through a DNS server. When you use UnoDNS as your DNS server, this means UnoDNS knows every time your computer tries to access Pandora, Rdio, or any of the numerous other supported services. UnoDNS then intercepts just those specific packets trying to access the georestricted service, and sends them from an allowed country. All of your other traffic goes through unfiltered, just as it normally would.

UnoDNS is surgically selective: It doesn't route all of your Pandora or Hulu traffic through their special servers. Instead, UnoDNS knows exactly what parts of the communication must be routed through American servers, and routes only those specific parts (just a fraction of the overall traffic between you and the service, usually). Everything else goes through your regular connection, at full speed.

UnoDNS has guides showing how to use the service on a wide range of devices.

If you've ever wanted to get around geographic restrictions and had to resort to a VPN with its bandwidth caps and slow speeds, you will appreciate just how simple and focused UnoDNS is. It's the most elegant solution I've seen to this problem yet, and has been working perfectly for the few weeks I've tried it out so far. Highly recommended.

Note: The Download button on the Product Information page takes you to the vendor's site, where you can use this Web-based software.

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Tested: How Much Hotter is the New iPad Versus Other Tablets?

In our third-generation iPad review, we noted that the bottom left side ran warm, but with all of the controversy and hype surrounding this subject we decided to take a closer look. We also wanted to see if the third-gen iPad was any hotter than its competitors. As it turns out, Apple’s latest tablet does run hotter, but is it really a big deal?

When we test laptops, we measure how hot they get after streaming a Hulu video at full screen for 15 minutes. We consider anything over 95 degrees Fahrenheit to be uncomfortable, and anything higher than 100 degrees to be cause for concern. An overly hot device can mean trouble for two reasons: If the components inside aren’t being cooled properly, then that could lead to decreased performance, as well as premature failure. Secondly, if the heat isn’t being dispersed properly, it can be uncomfortable–or even dangerous–to put that device in your lap. 

To get the bottom of all this, we tested the new iPad in three scenarios: streaming video, playing games, and web surfing, to see how hot it got during each task. We also tested the Motorola Xyboard 10.1, another LTE device, as well as the Wi-Fi only iPad 2 and ASUS Transformer Prime. 

For the tests, we set the screen brightness for each tablet at 100 percent. We then turned off Wi-Fi on the new iPad and the Xyboard. After each test, we measured the temperature of each tablet on its four corners as well as the center.  The data points below represent the hottest location on each tablet.

Streaming Video

For the first test, we streamed a high-def YouTube video (someone playing “Shogun 2-Total War”) at full screen for 15 minutes. 

The warmest spot on the new iPad was the bottom left corner, which reached 92 degrees Fahrenheit. The hottest spot on the Motorola Xyboard, also its bottom left, measured 89 degrees. 

Game Play

Next, we played “Riptide GP” for 15 minutes on all three tablets, to see how the slates could keep their cool on a more graphics-intensive task. 

Again, the new iPad was the hottest, reaching 100 degrees in the bottom left corner. Still, the iPad had company: The ASUS Transformer Prime hit 98 degrees in its top right corner.

Web Surfing

We then used our web surfing test, which visits 50 popular web sites in sequence. 

Here too, the new iPad ran the warmest, with its bottom left and center topping out at 94 degrees. The Motorola Xyboard was the next hottest, at 90 degrees in its bottom left corner.

But, Does it Feel Hot?

For the record, Apple said that the new iPad runs “within its thermal specifications.”  Yes, the device runs hotter than the tablet competition. But while we could feel the difference, we’d say that the third-gen iPad was only slightly uncomfortable to hold during extended periods–and mostly just in one location.

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