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Best DVD-Ripping Tool: Handbrake [Hive Five Followup]

Posted on January 12, 2010
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It’s frustrating to not be able to get your DVDs onto your portable devices or media server. Last week we looked at the best tools for ripping your DVD collection and we’re back to announce the winner.

Handbrake led by a healthy margin and took home 34% of the vote and with good reason. It’s free, cross-platform, and has grown easier to use with each new release. Following Handbrake was DVD Shrink">DVD Shrink (23%) and DVD Fab">DVD Fab (15%). Rounding out the Hive Five was AnyDVD (11%) and DVD Decrypter (13%). It’s worth noting that as awesome as Handbrake is, it doesn’t include any tools for actually circumventing DVD encryption, so you’ll need to pair it with one of the other solutions in the Hive Five. Check out the full Hive for additional information about each contender.

Have a topic you’d love to see covered by the Hive Five? Send us an email at tips @ lifehacker.com with “Hive Five” in the subject line and we’ll add it to the list!






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Best Outlining Tool: Microsoft OneNote [Hive Five Followup]

Posted on December 8, 2009
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Last week we asked you to share your favorite outlining tool and then we rounded up the top five nominations for a vote. Now we’re back to share the results.

Leading the pack was Microsoft OneNote with 30% of the vote. Although not a dedicated outlining application, its outlining functionality combined with ease of use and ease of capture made it a strong contender. Following OneNote was FreeMind (22%) a mind-mapping application many readers have repurposed for use as an outlining and organization tool. Rounding out the top three was Microsoft Word with 13%—not the most sophisticated outliner in the world, but it's on millions of computers and it gets the job done.

For more information on the winner and the runners up, check out the full Hive Five. Have a topic you’d love to see covered in the Hive Five? Fire off an email to tips@lifehacker.com with “Hive Five” in the subject line.






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Best Virtual-Desktop Manager: Compiz [Hive Five Followup]

Posted on September 16, 2009
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Last week we asked you to share your favorite tool for managing virtual workspaces, we tallied the results, and you voted on your favorite among the top five. This week we’re back to share the results of the poll.

The top five contenders covered Windows, Mac, and Linux operating systems—there is something for nearly everyone in the Hive. Because of the diverse nature of the poll we asked you to vote on which virtual-desktop manager you could use if you weren't constrained by your operating system. With that direction in mind, you voted Linux-based Compiz into a landslide victory followed by Mac-based Spaces and rounding out the top three with VirtuaWin, a Windows-based manager.

For more information about the top five contenders, check out the full Hive Five.






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Best Disk Defragmenter: Defraggler [Hive Five Followup]

Posted on September 1, 2009
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Last week we asked you to share your favorite disk defragmenter, and after we rounded up the top contenders, you cast your votes to crown the most popular of the bunch.

Now we’re back to share the results of the rather tight race. At the top of the heap is Defraggler, followed by a neck-and-neck—less than a percentage point difference—race for second and third place for Auslogics Disk Defrag and MyDefrag, respectively.

For more information about the top five contenders, check out the full Hive Five.






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Best Apartment Search Tool: MyApartmentMap [Hive Five Followup]

Posted on August 18, 2009
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Looking for a new pad? Last week’s Hive Five offered a variety of tools to help you find a new apartment. The winner of the Best Apartment Search Tool vote was MyApartmentMap, an apartment search tool that also includes neighborhood data and comparison tools.

Following MyApartmentMap was the old-school "Pounding the Pavement"—sometimes the best apartments are the ones that never end up in a listing. Rounding out the top three, Craigslist with the excellent PadMapper front end that mashes up Craigslist listings and Google Maps.

For more information about the above tools and the other contenders, check out the full Hive Five.





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Best PDF Reader: PDF-XChange [Hive Five Followup]

Posted on August 4, 2009
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Last week we asked you to share your favorite PDF reader and then we rounded up the results and put it to a vote. Now we’re back to share the results.

Taking home more than half the votes and cementing a very solid lead, PDF-XChange garnered a lot of praise for speedy load times, tabbed files, and a variety of small but handy features—like its ability to place text outside of forms. Following PDF-XChange's strong lead was Foxit and the original itself, Adobe Reader.

For more information on the winners check out the full Hive Five.





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Best Instant Messenger: Trillian Astra* [Hive Five Followup]

Posted on July 28, 2009
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Last week we asked you to share your favorite instant messaging client with us, and then we rounded up the top five contenders and asked you to vote for your favorite. Now we’re back to share the results with you, though we are slightly dubious with how things turned out. Leading the vote by a wide margin was Trillian Astra, followed by Digsby, and then Pidgin. Why are we dubious?

Trillian Astra and Digsby are both packed with features that contributed to their inclusion in the original Call for Contenders fair and square, but we can't help but note—as sharp eyed readers also did—that both Digsby and Trillian sent IM alerts encouraging their entire user base to come vote in the Hive Five poll.

Many developers have written blog posts or notified their users in some way or another about the Hive Five, so neither company crossed any well laid-out lines, and while we don’t have strict rules about it, these IM alerts did seem to have a considerable impact on the direction of the voting. With that in mind, we’d encourage you to go check out the Hive Five and read about each of the five best IM tools to determine which one is the best fit for you.





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Hive Five Winner for Best Movie Cataloging Tool: Delicious Library [Hive Five Followup]

Posted on February 17, 2009
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Delicious Library—against the odds of being both commercial software and Mac only—took home the first place medal in this weekend's Hive Five Best Movie Cataloging Tools vote. Ease of use, beautiful interface, and the ability to catalog much more than just movies definitely weigh heavily in Delicious Library’s favor. Following closely behind Delicious Library was its Windows clone, Libra. A significant number of readers just aren’t happy with the available options, voting instead for Other and putting it solidly in third place. If you’re looking for a movie managing tool, read through the comments on both the call for contenders and the top tools in this weekend’s Hive Five to see what compromised the Other vote that so many readers logged.






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