Microsoft's most monumental hits, misses, and moments of 2013

They say you don't move forward by standing still. In a frenzied grasp for relevance in the mobile age, Microsoft spent 2013 shaking things up at a cellular level.

Beyond major new releases for the Xbox, Windows, and Office brands this year, Microsoft spent billions to gobble up Nokia, revamped itself from head to toe as a device and services company, and said a bittersweet sayonara to its longtime chieftain—and those are just the major headlines.

With so much shakin' going on, it's hard to call any individual element a "hit" or a "miss," especially since several of Microsoft's moves contain elements of both. But hey, it's time to reflect, so let's give it a shot!

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9 Craziest Steve Ballmer Moments

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Review: Get those precious Facebook moments backed up sharpish with PhotoGrabber

Making backups of everything you put online is always a sound policy. You never know when a site is going to get hacked, shutter their virtual doors, or just decide to shut down your account for whatever reason. One site that makes data backups a really good idea is Facebook.

PhotoGrabber's list of Facebook friends and pages puts you first.

Although they are not likely to shut down their site anytime soon, Facebook has been known to shut down user accounts without warning for some perceived infraction of the rules. In instances like this, a free open-source app called Photograbber would be a good thing to have in your back pocket.

I prefer similar program fbDownloader because it feels easier to use and is a little more flexible as to what you can download. But PhotoGrabber still has its pros and is definitely worth looking at, especially if you have a soft spot for open source software.

Unlike fbDownloader, PhotoGrabber does not ask you to type in your password, and instead relies on an authentication token issued by Facebook's API. This means that you can revoke PhotoGrabber's access at any time by going to the list of approved apps in your Facebook account and deleting it. This is PhotoGrabber's first big plus, as I am always leery of entering my Facebook password anywhere but the official site.

PhotoGrabber then generates another "login token" which you must enter into the app for it to work. Unfortunately, you need a new login token for every download you want to do. If you want to download from several friends for example, then it shuts down each time and you have to restart it and enter a new login token again. It's rather annoying.

When you enter the login token, you will see a list of all your Facebook friends, Facebook Pages you have subscribed to, and you will be at the top of that list if you want to download your own stuff. FbDownloader doesn't include Pages, so this is a point in PhotoGrabber's favor. Simply choose the person or page you want to download from, specify what you want to download and off you go.

Every time you want to use the app, the developer's site generates an authentication token, which you must put into the app for it to work.

This is where I have to make one rather large caveat.  Even though some of the photos may be publicly viewable, you may not be able to download them using PhotoGrabber because a user has the ability to block apps, including PhotoGrabber, from viewing their data. So PhotoGrabber can only "grab" what it is allowed to. So if you see 300 photos on the page, but PhotoGrabber only gives you 200, then that's why.

The major reason I prefer fbDownloader over this app is because PhotoGrabber is rather restrictive when it comes to you specifying what you want to download. For example, it's either download "all the albums" or nothing. In fbDownloader, you could choose which albums you wanted. Here, you get the whole lot.

But the biggest plus for PhotoGrabber is that you can pull in all the comments and tags.  If you choose this option, then PhotoGrabber generates an HTML page so you can view this information alongside the photos. This in theory means that you could back these pages up to your own personal domain as another online backup.

PhotoGrabber is under active development.  If you make backing up something of a religion, then PhotoGrabber is a tool you should use on a continual basis, as well as keeping an eye on the project page over on Google Code.

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

Expatriate Scotsman now living in Wurzburg, Germany, freelance writer, frustrated future bestselling author, obsessed bibliophile. Other interests include trying to understand The Architect in the Matrix movies, decrypting codes and ciphers, and trying to persuade my landlord and my wife to let me have a Highland Cow for a pet.
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Review: MindMup is a free, effortless way to create mind maps in moments

Mind maps are fundamentally very simple. You can create one on the back of a napkin in mere seconds, so it follows that there should be an equally effortless way to do it online. And there is: MindMup, a free and lightweight service lets you throw together simple mindmaps without having to download anything, open an account, or do anything else. It's Web-based, too, so it works across Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux.

MindMup makes good use of the mind map format to explain how the product works.

When you go to MindMup.com, you first see a default map explaining how the service works. It goes over keyboard and mouse use, and includes notes on how open and frictionless the service is. And for once, it's no hyperbole: MindMup requires no registration to work, not even when you save your mind map. And if you're afraid of saving your work to the service, you can easily connect it with your Google Drive, or even save to the local browser storage using HTML5.

MindMup is JavaScript-based, so you don't need to have Flash installed to use it.The service works best for simple mind maps. You can nest nodes, change their color, expand or collapse them, and move them around using the mouse. Motion is accompanied by pleasingly smooth, bouncy animations.

MindMup lets you export your work as a PNG image, as well as in several other formats.

MindMup supports undo and redo operations, but doesn't have a fancy timeline interface like the one MindMeisteruses. Its interface consists of a top menu bar and a floating toolbar, both of which can be collapsed. In its barest form, only the mind map is visible. To access the menu once you've collapsed it, simply hover your mouse at the top of the screen, and the menu will become visible.

Once the time comes to share your work, you can export it to .png or FreeMind .mm formats, or you can simply share the link to MindMup. Anyone clicking on the link will see your mind maps and be able to make changes, but the changes will be saved in another copy. They can share that new copy with you, of course, but that's no substitute for real-time collaboration.

MindMup lets you zoom the mind map so that it's big enough to project and present.

MindMup is super-simple, lightweight, and generally a joy to use. The next time I need to jot down a quick mind map to explain a concept or make sure I cover all bases at a meeting, I may well use it.

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

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.
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