Windows: Panoramic photos may seem quite difficult to create, but the truth is that if you have the right app, it’s easy as pie. Pos Panorama Pro is one of those apps, providing you with an easy, intuitive wizard-style interface where you can create your own panoramas in just a few clicks. Give it a try and show off your panoramic skills!

Mac: If you’re a developer, there’s nothing better than having all your tools in one place. Coda is an all in one tool for web developers. If you’re looking to simplify your web workflow, Coda incorporates a text editor, a previewer, a CSS editor, a terminal and some solid references. Quick and flexible, Coda has the power to harmonize the way you work.

iPhone: Getting bored of your iPhone wallpaper? Then get a load of them with this collection of Backgrounds. There are hundreds to choose from and all of them are neatly organized into categories so you can quickly pick one that suits your mood.  Simply browse to an image that you like, click ‘Save’ and it will be automatically downloaded to your photo library.

Windows: Photoshop is undoubtedly the industry standard in digital photo editing software. Its latest version, Photoshop CS4, includes a beautifully redesigned interface plus tons of new features, such as suppor for 3D object editing, new Adjustments and Masks panels, fluid canvas rotation, smoother pan/zoom and the amazing content aware resizing, among others.

iPhone: Do you often waste your time looking for new wallpapers for your iPhone? Download Background and save your time for something else. This app features a collection of hundreds of wallpapers for your iPhone or iPod Touch, all conveniently classified into categories and downloadable with just a simple tap.

Mac: Are you looking for a free alternative web suite? SeaMonkey is a web-browser, advanced e-mail and newsgroup client, IRC chat client, and HTML editor in one. The suite is divided into three tools - a navigator with tabbed browsing, mail and newsgroups with powerful spam filters and a composer for web design. It’s everything you need in one great suite!

ZoneAlarm is one of the world’s longest standing security and firewall solutions but a one year license for the pro version usually costs a hefty $40. Tomorrow however, developers Check Point will be giving away ZoneAlarm Pro 2009 absolutely free for one day only to celebrate their 15 year anniversary.

At the moment, the ZoneAlarm website displays a banner advertising the fact that there will be a new promotion in November without specifying exactly when it will be but sites such as IntelliAdmin are reporting it will be tomorrow. It also promises 50% discounts in Check Point’s online shop.

ZoneAlarm Pro certainly offers one of the most comprehensive security solutions available including firewall, anti-spyware, id theft protection, root and boot protection, wireless network protection and special security features for online gamers. Personally, I’ve always found it a rather intrusive and bloated security package that ends up blocking just about everything including traffic that you want to receive but it is at least effective.

If you find that the Check Point site is down tomorrow, then keep trying throughout the day as it will probably be overloaded by users taking advantage of the offer.

Windows: Do you miss having video in Google Talk? You can now have it in a couple of clicks! Simply install the Google Voice and Video Chat plug-in and you’ll be able to have video chats with family and friends right in Gmail’s interface. You’ll enjoy a high quality of image and crisp clear sound, with no need to go through painful configurations.

Mac: If you’re not a big TimeMachine fan then MimMac is a fast, easy-to-use, and comprehensive backup and cloning utility, designed to make backing up, synchronizing, merging, and cloning your data as painless as possible. With MimMac, there’s no need to set up complex scripts, or navigate a bloated interface just to do simple tasks such as running multiple simultaneous operations or excluding items from your backup operations.

iPhone: Things can really get difficult when it comes to transferring files from the computer to your iPhone. Install Discover and you’ll be able to access and browse contents in the iPhone through any web browser, and also transfer and share files from iPhone to iPhone in a very easy way. Discover uses WiFi so you’ll get a decent transfer rate.

Windows: Here again to ruin the lives of many an armchair soccer fan is Football Manager 2009. The latest release of the oh-so addictive football management simulation is the most in-depth ever. As well as updating the huge player and team database, the latest version adds a new 3D game view, improved transfer system, heightened media management features, and much more.

Pocket PC: Lost in the Pyramid recaptures the magic of those classics in the form of an imaginative quest in which you star as Indiana Bones, a famous archeologist who has a dream one night about a pyramid. After waking up, you must go to consult a psychic who reveals where to start your mission, then it’s off into the wild unknown to explore the mythical building of your dreams.

Mac: Need a smarter way to manage your iPod? Floola is a freeware application to efficiently manage your iPod or your Motorola mobile phone (any model supporting iTunes). It can be run directly from your iPod and needs no installation under Linux, Mac OS X and Windows. Floola supports all most common used features including podcasts!

A while ago, when Google Chrome came out, we found a way to add Chrome’s best features to Firefox by using certain add-ons that mimic Chrome’s new tab page, download manager and Incognito mode . But the truth is that this trick can be extended to other web browsers as well. That is, you can use Firefox extensions to get features from the competition without having to switch to a different browser.

The following extensions will enable you to have the best from each web browser (Opera, Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, Safari) while sticking with your dear old Firefox. Choose the ones you like best and tailor Firefox to your taste.

Opera

This is by far the browser with most features included by default, so you’ll need a bunch of extensions to put Firefox on the same level.

Fast Dial

This is Opera’s homepage, where you can set your favorite websites for quick access. You can have the same in Firefox with the Fast Dial or Speed Dial extensions, and also with online services such as Homepage Startup.

Sidebar

Firefox has already a sidebar where you can load Bookmarks and History, but the Opera Sidebar is much more functional. This difference can easily be solved with the All-in-One Sidebar extension.

Tab preview

Would you like to have a sneak preview of any opened tab just by hovering your mouse over it? You can have that in Opera… or install the correspondent Firefox extension, such as Tab Scope or Tab Popup.

Download Manager

You can have something similar to Opera’s download manager by gathering all your downloads under a single tab with Custom Download Manager or even transforming Firefox into a BitTorrent client with FoxTorrent.

Other features

• For a smoother scrolling, get SmoothWheel.
• Display useful info on the status bar with Extended Statusbar.
  
• Control Firefox with your mouse and FireGestures.

Google Chrome

The most recent newcomer to the so-called battle of the web browsers. You can now take advantage of all its features by adding the following extensions to Firefox.

Google Chrome Theme

Having a Chrome-based Firefox theme will grant you much more space for web browsing. The basic features are included in Chromifox, but if you want further functionality you can use Chrome Package (experimental).

New page

Unlike Opera’s Fast Dial, Chrome’s new page includes the most visited websites, not the ones you select by yourself. If you want to have this in Firefox too, simply download Auto Dial.

Download bar

Chrome’s download bar may seem an innovative feature, but the truth is that you could already have it in Firefox ages ago, just by installing the DownloadStatusbar extension.

Other features

• For more compact menus, get Tiny Menu.
• Have an Incognito mode in Firefox with Stealther.
• Want a Chrome-style new tab button? Use New Tab Button on Tab Right.

Read the rest of this entry »

Windows: Whether you’re a regular screencast producer or just need an easy tool to record video on your screen, Camtasia Studio is the perfect choice. This complete suite helps you record, edit, produce and share videos in a simple way. The latest version, Camtasia Studio 6, features support for HD video, MOV video editing, finer control over video effects and other features.

Mac: Do you want to share your iTunes collection with your friends? Mojo not only allows you to share iTunes library with others, but it will also let you download tracks from other people’s libraries. With an interface reminiscent of both iTunes and a messaging client, Mojo is easy to work with. It will display all libraries, that is if you have found others to connect with, in a list. So get sharing now!

Smartphone: Having a GPRS Internet connection on your phone is great, but the temptation of using it all the time can cause headaches when it comes to getting your phone bill through. A good way of keeping track of your data transfers is through Spb GPRS Monitor, which is actually able to give you a projection of the charges by calculating your GPRS usage.

Windows: If you want to be fully protected while browsing the web, either you install several different software tools or you choose Comodo Internet Security. This comprehensive application includes a firewall, an antivirus tool and a spyware monitor which will protect your privacy and your whole system from any online threat.

Mac: The developers claim the Opera browser is the most fully-featured Internet power tool on the market. Opera includes pop-up blocking, tabbed browsing, integrated searches, and advanced functions like Opera’s groundbreaking E-mail program, RSS Newsfeeds and IRC chat. And because users have different needs, you can customize the look and content of your Opera browser with a few clicks of the mouse.

Pocket PC: Hallelujah for YouTube and all the clips of old TV shows we can now enjoy! What’s more, it’s now possible to access video on the move using a program such as vTap. This smart app provides a means of searching several online video sites, previewing, then watching them from one environment. You can even use it to search Wikipedia more quickly.

Yesterday my father rang me wanting some help with opening a Microsoft Word document. He didn’t have Microsoft Office installed, there was no way he was going to pay up to $229 to buy it and to cap it all, he’d never even used a word processor before. I shuddered at the challenge that lay ahead of me but to my pleasant surprise, within 10 minutes I’d taught him how to open, edit, save and even send the document by e-mail - and all without having to have Microsoft Office or Word installed on his computer. If my dad can do it, anyone can and so here’s 3 ways that you can do the same:

1. Google Docs

If you’ve received the document by e-mail, download it, go to Google Docs and upload it. Note that you’ll need to sign-up for a Google Account first.

Simply browse to the file you want to upload and it will open automatically in Google Docs.

From there you can edit it in much the same way as you can in Word and send it by e-mail directly from your Gmail account. Read the rest of this entry »

When you see photo effects like the one accompanying this post you probably think it’s too complicated for you. But I bet you’ll be surprised to see how easy it was to apply this effect and,  by extension, all the effects offered in an amazing website called Photofunia.com

Whether you’re a skilled Photoshop user or you can’t draw a straight line with your mouse, this online tool will surely get you out of trouble more than once. You can choose between more than 50 different photo effects, some of them with a special face recognition technology, and apply it to your favorite photo in a couple of clicks.

Photofunia does it all: you only have to worry about selecing the one effect you like and then choosing the right picture in order to obtain the best results. Once the effect is applied you can save it directly to your hard drive, save it as avatar (which automatically crops and resizes the photo to a 100×100 pixels thumbnail) or publish it straight away to ImageShack.

However if you don’t like the way your photo montage comes out or you simply prefer to control the effect’s settings by yourself, you can also try any of these software tools. They’ve all been especially developed to assist you in the creation of funny photo montages and other effects, such as warping or morphing, in a very easy way

• Zeallsoft FunPhotor - Blend family portraits into funny templates
• FaceOnBody -Hilarious photo collages in a few easy steps
• ArcSoft FunHouse - Customizable photo montages with more than 150 templates
• FotoMorph - Create an amazing morphing effect between two pictures
• DeformerPro - Quick and easy warping effects for your photos

Windows: If you grow tired of your music library you should try Last.fm instead. And this little app, LastSharp, is the perfect complement. It enables you to download your favorite songs from Last.fm right to your hard drive, including the album cover and being conveniently normalized with mp3Gain. An easy way to add a bit more variety to your music collection!

Transmission is currently the best torrent client on Mac thanks to a beautiful interface and a simple set of intuitive features. This new version brings many more improvements to an already solid release. You can set different priority levels for torrents and establish stall limit times. The speed limit mode, represented by a turtle icon at the bottom of the interface, is extremely useful if you’re looking to control the amount of bandwidth you use for uploads and downloads.

Pocket PC: This season’s Formula One Championship was wrapped us this weekend with a victory for Lewis Hamiltion. Find out how the title was won by installing F1 Season 2008 on your PDA. This free app provides you with a wealth of information, including the calendar, tracks, cars, teams and drivers.

It wouldn’t be too daring to say that many Internet users have at least two computers. The most usual combinations are desktop and laptop, or home and school/office computer. With Firefox installed on each of these systems, how are we supposed to manage bookmarks across them?

The answer is Foxmarks Bookmark Synchronizer, a Firefox extension that syncs bookmarks between all your computers so that you can always have them at hand, whether you’re working with your laptop at home or you’re using your desktop PC at the office.

Foxmarks requires two important things: first, a free user account that can be created right after installation; second, it has to be installed on each computer where you want to have synced bookmarks. Once you meet these two simple requirements, you’re ready to create the first copy of your bookmarks and sync it later on with your other computers.

The best thing about this extension is that it keeps an eye on your bookmark collection, so that whenever you add a new link it automatically updates its copy with the changes and synchronizes all bookmarks across all your Firefox installations.

Oh, and for those concerned about privacy, don’t worry: Foxmarks Bookmark Synchronizer encrypts your bookmarks and also allows you to upload them to your own server for more security.

Drop the word ‘Eudora’ into a conversation with any computer user and a heartfelt smile will probably spread across their face. As one of the first mainstream email clients Eudora really captured the imagination of early Internet users and it became one of the most popular ways to communicate on both Windows and Mac. But how many people do you know who still use the client? Not many, I would imagine. Here I’ll attempt to set the record straight on the demise of this much-loved app.

The rise to fame

Eudora was born in 1988 from the brain Steve Dorner, an employee of the University of Illinois. The program was named after the author Eudora Welty, because of her short story, Why I Live at the Post Office. In 1991, Eudora was acquired by Qualcomm, who released the program as freeware, making it one of the first mail clients to be available as a free download. It was a big hit on both the Windows and Mac operating systems, and well as some early mobile systems, such as the Newton and Palm OS. Eudora enjoyed the best of its success during the early days of the Internet in the early Nineties, when it was generally regarded as the best solution for sending and receiving emails.

Why people liked it

Aside from the simple fact that it was one of the first mail clients to market, Eudora owed a lot of its success to its simple user interface and innovative features. Both PC and Mac versions of the client were very small, meaning it could be run pretty quickly, even with large numbers of messages and mailboxes. The Eudora client worked slightly differently to rivals such as Outlook in that email was stored in the “mbox” format, which uses plain text rather than databases, meaning users could back up just a portion of their messages rather than the entire database - another great time-saver.

Eudora was also famous for its ‘Stationery,’ which allowed users to create ready-made messages or replies that could be sent ahead of time. There were plenty of ways to customise your emails by fiddling with the “x-eudora-setting” URIs.
All of these factors served to make Eudora the king of email clients during the early-to-mid Nineties and it’s estimated that more than 20 million people used the app. Read the rest of this entry »

Windows: Have you ever thought of using all that generous Gmail space for online storage? Gspace is the FON friendly site that provides free online storage to access your files everywhere. Gspace turns the 2GB of your Gmail account into free online storage. With Gspace you can manage unlimited Gmail accounts to store all type of files within its simple, user friendly interface.

Blackberry: If you’re the kind of person who likes to keep up with the latest news then perhaps Journal Bar should be the next app to install on your Blackberry. The program automatically downloads the latest news, weather, and stock information for you to peruse whenever you like. As a result, you don’t need to pay for Internet charges just to read the news.

Mac: If you own a Mac, chances are that you’ve already discovered the simple joy of image organisation that is iPhoto. While not exactly built for the professional photographer, iPhoto’s packed with enough features to keep anyone from beginners to pro-amateurs happy, and all in a clear, easy-to-use interface. iPhoto 7.1.5 Update includes enhancements to the way iPhoto offers print services for books, cards and calendars ordered through the program.

Today, in case you hadn’t noticed, is the day of the United States general election. Many pundits are already calling today “historic”, so there are doubtless many people out there keen to keep up-to-date with the results as they come in. We’ve found some cool apps and widgets you can use to do just that on your PC, Mac or iPhone.

First up, check out this page at NPR, which is packed with links and tips for tracking the election. Our favourite suggestions are the BallotVox plugin which you can place on your own website or on your desktop, and the Engage 08 Budget Hero widget for websites, which allows your visitors to play the Budget Hero fiscal management game from your site.

Google has some cool apps available, including this .kmz file which you can use to see voting data by county for the last seven Presidential elections in Google Earth, as well this special map which will show election results, live as they come in (starting around 6pm EST). Google is also providing a special new mobile app for voters with directions to voting centres in your local precinct. Just go to (http://m.google.com/elections) in your mobile phone’s browser. If you’re an iPhone user, you should take a look at the US Election & World News app, which is available for download now from the AppStore.

Meanwhile, the best-looking interactive site for election results is probably Yahoo’s Political Dashboard. Though it doesn’t have any downloads available, it features some pretty cool interactive elements, including the ‘Create Your Scenario’ tool which allows you to become the pundit and predict the outcome of the election state by state. You can also share your predictions and check out some celebrity scenarios from observers like Arianna Huffington and Newt Gingrich.