DC member brahman has posted a giant review on scanning using the software program VueScan:

"Since scanning became a minor hobby, I followed the development of VueScan for about 10 years -- occasionally (every couple of years) downloading the trial. This application has now reached a degree of maturity that I decided to do a deeper review for the DonationCoder community. Since VueScan in its expert mode can be quite daunting, some tutorial elements and walk throughs are included so that the reader can feel more at home even with some of the more obscure settings and get a very rich scanning experience out of VueScan. The more I worked on it the more I felt that the review should become even more holistic by also discussing selected software (like scanner utilities,  e-book post processing, and sharpening) and hardware (color calibration targets and monitor calibration devices) that I found over the years which really help a lot to produce great scans in the most effortless way. Then my review grew bigger and bigger - as is the nature of life - until I finally decided to split it in several parts, the first installment you will get to enjoy now."

Part I of the review tutorial deals with an introduction to VueScan, its features, document- and book scanning.

Part II to be published soon will discuss VueScan's color management, profiling, and raw scanning abilities plus more hints and tips and more great software that complements VueScan.

Introduction:

Atrise Golden section is a design grid for web, graphic, logo and user-interface design.

This program is designed as a tool to help artists, designers, programmers, photographers and others.
It allows the user to design something by applying those proportions defined as the golden section or golden ratio.
Various aspects of the golden section can be overlaid visually on whatever design software you are using in Windows.
See also the Wikipedia article on the golden ratio here.


For whom this app is designed:

Atrise Golden Section has potential for anyone designing a web site, or a user interface, constructing a newsletter, or indulging in digital photography, or a whole lot more.

In use, it positions an overlay grid that 'floats' above your work. Aligning elements to that grid is a quick and efficient way to ensure a layout that the human eye/brain combination will find appealing, often at a level below conscious thought. Without having to know a great deal about æsthetics, it is possible to make very worthwhile improvements to the layout of material at which we ourselves and others will be looking.

http://www.atrise.com/golden-section

Web Service Name	YourNextRead
URL	http://www.yournextread.com/us/#

Type in a book you've read and get related books whether it be books of the same author as your book or just related searches. As you can see from the screenshot, it also has a reading list.

The search is very powerful for one. I threw a rare book in it and it still discovered it (only it had no related books).

The interface is smart. Just the right clutter and options and the Amazon.com link is exactly where you want it, the Goodreads link is exactly where you want it... this is a testament of a site that may not be doing anything special with their lay-out but they understand where big buttons need to be, where the search size needs to be...it's all good. I can't verify if it's the best suggested book searching engine but it's crazy good.

Basic Info

App Name	ZumoDrive
App URL	http://www.zumodrive.com
App Version Reviewed	0.987
Test System Specs	Windows XP/iPhone 3GS
Supported OSes	Windows (XP/Vista/7), iPhone, Mac, Linux, Android, WebOS
Support Methods	Forum, Knowledge Base
Pricing Scheme	Free version (1GB + 1GB for completing tutorial) - Free.  10GB - $2.99/month, 25GB - $6.99/month, 50GB - $9.99/month, 100GB - $19.99/month, 200GB - $37.99/month.  500GB - 79.99/month.
Tour URL	https://www.zumodrive.com/tour/

App Name	Jungle Disk (Personal Desktop Edition)
App URL	http://www.jungledisk.com
App Version Reviewed	3.0.6
Test System Specs	Windows XP/iPhone 3GS
Supported OSes	Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7, Windows Server 2003/2008, iPhone, Mac OSX 10.5 or Later, Linux x86 with KDE or GNOME desktop (GTK2 libraries)
Support Methods	Forum, Knowledge Base, Ticket System
Pricing Scheme	$3/month + storage fees (see note below)
Other Notes	Also has a portable edition for all three desktop platforms

For a variety of reasons, I’m looking for a Cloud Storage Service.  At one time I was sure I would need two to satisfy my needs, as I need a service that syncs a local folder (preferably several) across machines.  I also need a online storage space for offsite backups- the ability to access it by WebDav is also a nice to have feature, so I can use my own backup software if I want.

Simply put. Quora is just a Q&A site like Ask MetaFilter and Yahoo Answers. It's addictive and well designed user interface is what's getting people excited.

http://www.quora.com

Unfortunately, Quora sounds less interesting compared to actually using it. The initial interface is like Twitter, your later reaction will think Facebook but eventually you'll realize it's like WikiAnswers.

However because of the design of the user interface it works surprisingly clear. You'll be surprised how fast you are jumping from question to question.

Who is this app designed for:

LinkedIn users who want to better represent their expertise.

Quora basically is very reputation based and this is a major part of how it separates itself from other Q&A service.

It also has some active Silicon Valley members already that provide some very insightful answers and really there's so little unhelpful answers as of now that it doesn't feel like a public service at all.

This review is a comparative look at two cloud synchronizers - SugarSync and DropBox.

With so many things moving to the cloud, and so many having more than one digital device, it becomes an issue to keep everything in sync, and to have access to everything when you need it.  Trying to satisfy these requirements are several cloud-based continuous backup services.

I became aware of Dropbox back when it was in beta, and was able to score an invite.  From the moment I did, I was hooked.  It became very much a part of my computing experience, and I was always looking for new ways to use it.  But for all of that, I never saw a reason to pay for it, figuring that I could keep the documents that I needed within the 2GB limit.  This became a bit harder when I purchased my iPhone, using DropBox as a way to supplement my storage on the device through their iPhone app.

One day I was listening to the AppSlappy podcast, and they reviewed SugarSync as an alternative to MobleMe.  I was intrigued, especially since SugarSync also had a free version.  So I tried it.  During my trial of SugarSync, I began to see DropBox in a new light.  SugarSync had many more features.  But when I started to really implement it, I began to see that it was give and take, so decided to write this comparative review...