When FeedDemon updated to version 3, it stepped in a snarling nest of controversy because the popular RSS and Atom feed catcher was abandoning its online synchronization Web site in favor of Google Reader. The new FeedDemon 3.1 is a good effort to move beyond that, introducing new multiple new features that mostly bring it into parity with Google Reader.

The two biggest new features include on-the-fly item translation via a translate button on the individual item toolbar. If the item is in a feed that you synchronize with Google Reader, the translation will occur in-line. If the feed isn't synced, then FeedDemon will open up a Reader page. There's also a new content filter that lets users create filters to automatically certain kinds of incoming items as read. For people who subscribe to tens or hundreds of feeds, this can potentially be a major time-saver.

There's a new "Shared by people I follow" option under Shared Items, which syncs shared Google Reader items. FeedDemon goes a step further and adds in a social component to find people to share with. You could type in "politicians in San Francisco" and, theoretically, get Mayor Gavin Newsom. Users can also now customize by feed the icons that appear on the item toolbar, and this includes adding a Google Reader-style "like" icon. It's not enabled by default.

The list of short URL previews that are supported has been expanded to include goo.gl, youtu.be, fb.me, flic.kr, ow.ly and clicky.me, and the Send To option now includes Twitter.

The official release notes indicate performance enhancements, but my experience with version 3.1 was that there was still plenty of room for improvement. Even 3GB of RAM didn't prevent occasional program hang-ups. However, FeedDemon creator Nick Bradbury pointed out that the database can be massaged into being quicker by regular compacting. This can be accessed under File, then Manage Cache, then Compact, but it's a cumbersome thing to have to do semi-regularly and without a scheduler.

The second permutation of Sharetones for Android 2.0 is here.

But what is it? If you're unfamiliar, Sharetones is an app that helps you coax ringtones out of songs you already own. At first blush, that sounds identical to Ringdroid, a free ringtone editor.

What's different here is that Sharetones caters to the lazy. Not everyone has the talent or time to make killer ringtones worth listening to time and again. Sharetones skirts the annoyance by comparing the songs you have on your phone with the songs it has in its user-generated online database. The Sharetones server then returns the ringtone's formula to your phone, and the app you downloaded follows the formula of where to snip your song to fashion a ringtone. It costs $1.49 for three ringtone formulas ("recipes"), $2.49 for unlimited use for a month, or $7.49 for unlimited use for a year.

Those for whom Sharetones 2.0 rings a bell will note that the updated version (still free to download) includes Ringdroid, the very same editor mentioned above. We had hoped for this after seeing the first versions of Sharetones and wishing we could create our own ringtones from the app itself and include them in the Sharetones database. There's also a search bar in version 2.0, several other interface tweaks, and a performance boost.

All in all, Sharetones 2.0 for Android is an improvement. Sharetones advances a concept that cleverly gets around the mess of logistics and legalities that the company would need to address to license ringtones. But will that translate into success? Without the capability to buy ringtones, the service amounts to paying a company to make a ringtone for you out of your own songs. For some people, that will do just fine, but others may prefer to keep their cash and make their own 'tones. Either way, we offer you a look at Sharetones in the First Look video above.

Originally posted at Android Atlas

On Tuesday, Corel updated two of its multimedia apps for enthusiasts. Both Corel PaintShop Photo Pro and Corel VideoStudio Pro have updated from version X2 to X3. You can try them, exclusive today from CNET Download.com.

What do the new version numbers mean for the consumer? Thanks to more users graduating from point and shoot cameras to higher-end digital SLR cameras, and from regular to high-definition (HD) videos and TVs, both of Corel's multimedia products for aficionados introduce HD support. Corel has also acknowledged an uptick in the popularity of social networks by baking in more sharing options, specifically for Facebook, Flickr, and YouTube.

Corel PaintShop Photo Pro X3

Corel PaintShop Photo Pro X3 (free to try, $99.99 to buy) adds a few significant enhancements and new features. Shutterbugs will appreciate the new RAW feature (called the RAW Lab), which is a specialized editor for processing RAW images. It's a feature similar to what can be found in Adobe's Photoshop Elements and Photoshop Lightroom.

In addition to sprinkling some new editing tools into PaintShop Photo Pro X3, Corel has also turned on the ability to import and export HD videos. The multimedia photo editor contains templates for photo projects like those in Corel Digital Studio 2010 (full review). Though the templates offer simple, visually exciting ways to get started on a photo book or a slideshow, those who dip into them often will find themselves limited to the same handful of designs.

As a bonus, Corel is optionally bundling its Painter Photo Essentials 4 app that applies a filter to photos to give them an artistic painterly quality.

Corel VideoStudio Pro X3

Corel's video editing and processing app, Corel VideoStudio Pro X3 (also $99.99 to buy after a free trial period), adds more advanced-level features to its midlevel tools. The app now sports a darker, sleeker-looking interface. In addition to a simpler menu for easy editing is now an advanced edit menu. Some menu items, feature arrangements, and tabs have been tweaked to improve the accessibility of certain tools. A project mode with built-in templates is also making its way into the app for the first time. The fresh ability to transfer the attributes from one video clip to another may not be monumental, but for many people editing videos, that type of instant copying will be instrumental, not to mention will smooth over a frustrating workflow snag.

HD is key to Corel's reworking. VideoStudio Pro X3 adds burning to Blu-ray in addition to the standard DVD format--you can do both with the bonus DVD Movie Factory Pro 2010 app that comes as part of the package. As with other Corel products, online sharing includes YouTube and Vimeo video upload sites, Facebook, and mobile phones. Corel boasts that version X3 of its VideoStudio Pro editor is 2.5 times faster than version X2.

All together now

As with other products in Corel's line, Corel PaintShop Photo Pro X3 and Corel VideoStudio Pro X3 present a straightforward design and useful editing tools that new users can pick up right away. Neither program is as strong as professional apps, which can also cost much more, but there are nice tools above basic levels for editing photo and video projects and outputting them to multiple formats, including print and video projects. If you're a midlevel (enthusiast) user who doesn't relish the fuss of pro software's many hidden (and sometimes obscure) filters and features, you should give these two multimedia apps a trial run.

Google's end run around Apple's App Store is complete: Google Voice is ready as a Web application.

Owners of the iPhone and Palm's WebOS devices can now get in on the mobile Google Voice experience with the Web app, which will run in the browsers of iPhones with the 3.0 software installed and all Palm WebOS devices, said Vincent Paquet, senior product manager at Google. The application should be available for current users of Google Voice--which is still an invitation-only service--as of Tuesday at m.google.com/voice.

Google Voice allows incoming calls to ring mobile phones, office phones, or desk phones depending on how the user sets their Google Voice profile. It also treats voice mail like e-mail, transcribing voice messages into an in-box where they can be read and deleted.

Last year Google submitted a native version of Google Voice to Apple in hopes of getting the software onto the iPhone. As most will recall, Apple and Google then entered into a semantic war of words over whether Apple rejected the application (Google's version) or merely continues to study it (Apple's version). Either way, the FCC got involved and Google Voice remains in App Store limbo, Paquet said.

"We haven't had any updates regarding our native app for the iPhone, unfortunately," Paquet said. However, now that the Web app is ready iPhone users will be able to get essentially the same experience that the native app would have delivered, although the user interface will be slightly different because the application will be running in the browser. Paquet declined to comment on whether Google plans to continue the App Store approval process with the native version.

The Web application is another sign of Google's strong desire to encourage people to think of Web-based applications as a ready alternative to native applications. The company has spoken about its plans for Web development at length, and even plans to develop a lightweight operating system based on its Chrome browser as a sort of proof-of-concept for the Web development mindset.

My colleague Rafe Needleman did a test-drive of the new application, which you can read here.

Originally posted at Relevant Results

Google Voice just got a little better on the iPhone, thanks a new Web site for iPhone users, google.com/voice/m. As iPhone users will painfully recall, Apple last year rejected Google's iPhone-native Google Voice app, leaving those who wanted to use Google Voice with what was at first a bare and limited Web-based app. But one of the big advantages of the new HTML 5 spec, which the iPhone's Safari browser supports, is that it lets Web developers bring more application-like functionality to Web apps. The new site is proof of that. (News story)

The new Web service works on iPhones running the 3.0 operating system. It also works on on Palm's WebOS for user with the Palm Pre.

The new mobile-specific Web site for Google Voice is app-like in key ways. It's fast and it can use local storage, so it doesn't have to load in your entire Google Voice inbox every time you launch it. There's a dialer and a directory (tied in to your Google account) for looking people up. And, finally, you don't have to deal with Google Voice's dial-around service (where, to make a connection, the Google Voice service dials both the person you are calling as well as your phone). Through some telco trickery, Google Voice dials out from your phone, and displays your Voice account's phone number as the caller ID the phone of the person you're calling.

The app does a nice job of displaying transcribed voicemails, missed calls, and SMS messages in one inbox. You can also send SMS messages from the app for free, which trumps AT&T and its ridiculous fees on text messages.

But even a great Web-based app still can't get deep into your iPhone the way you'll want it to. The new Google Voice app can't access your phone's native directory, for example. The Google Voice native apps available for Android and BlackBerry can also highlight words in transcribed voicemails as they play them back. On the iPhone mobile Web site, voicemails play through the browser's linked media player with no visual cues.

If you have a Google Voice account and an iPhone, this new site makes using Voice a much better experience than it was before. But Android and BlackBerry users still get much neater, better-integrated real apps. There remain some things that even good Web sites cannot do.

Originally posted at Rafe's Radar