Saturday, June 30, 2007

Google Talk

What is Google Talk?

Google Talk is Google's instant communications service. Like Gmail, Google's free webmail service, Google Talk uses Google's innovative technologies to help people communicate more effectively and efficiently. This means Google Talk is fast, intuitive and fun to use.

It also means you can start thinking about instant communications in a new way. Google Talk offers you different ways to integrate real time communications into your online experience. The Google Talk Gadget lets you see who's online and send instant messages from your Google Personalized Homepage, without installing any software. You can also add the same instant messaging capabilities to your own webpage or blog by cutting and pasting a single line of code. And by downloading the Google Talk Client, you can make voice calls and transfer files to your friends.

And if you use Gmail, Google Talk offers you even more. You'll find all of your Gmail contacts organized in your Talk contacts list. Gmail also archives all of your Google Talk chats and makes them searchable. And since Google Talk is integrated into Gmail, you'll be able to chat with all your Talk contacts there, too.
Fun features

Once you're up and chatting, check out the video preview feature. Just cut and paste a video URL from YouTube or Google Video into your chat, and send to your friend. You'll be able to watch the video right in the Gadget, and if your friends are using the Talk Gadget, they will too. You can share photos the same way by pasting a URL from Picasa Web Albums or Flickr.

BT Digital Vault


Keep what's precious to you online with
BT Digital Vault.
Sign up to BT Digital Vault for FREE (1GB storage)or sign up to BT Digital Vault Plus for only £4.99 a month.
BT Digital Vault Plus provides 20GB secure storage for your photos, music, video files and your personal files. You'll also get Automatic Backup Manager2 so your files will be backed up and protected. You can access your Digital Vault wherever you are. It's easy to use and lets you share your photos, files, and videos with your friends and family.

Friday, June 29, 2007

Wayfaring


Whether you enjoy traveling or not, there’s no doubt that you’re going to have to consult a map from time to time.Wayfaring does more than just tell you how to get somewhere - it gives you the capability to create maps documenting events in your life, trips that you have taken, and so on. You can even include pictures and video to make the experience more visual. These detailed maps can then be shared with friends, family, colleagues, and strangers through e-mail, your blog, or Wayfaring.

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

FastStone Image Viewer

FastStone Image Viewer is a fast, stable, user-friendly image browser, converter and editor. It has a nice array of features that include image viewing, management, comparison, red-eye removal, emailing, resizing, cropping and color adjustments. Its innovative but intuitive full-screen mode provides quick access to EXIF information, thumbnail browser and major functionalities via hidden toolbars that pop up when your mouse touches the four edges of the screen. Other features include a high quality magnifier and a musical slideshow with 150+ transitional effects, as well as lossless JPEG transitions, drop shadow effects, image annotation, scanner support, histogram and much more. It supports all major graphic formats (BMP, JPEG, JPEG 2000, animated GIF, PNG, PCX, TIFF, WMF, ICO and TGA) and popular digital camera RAW formats (CRW, CR2, NEF, PEF, RAF, MRW, ORF, SRF and DNG).

No Adware No Spyware
Free for Home Users

Sunday, June 24, 2007

Snap Shots


Introducing Snap Shots from Snap.com
I just installed a nice little tool on this site called Snap Shots that enhances links with visual previews of the destination site, interactive excerpts of Wikipedia articles, MySpace profiles, IMDb profiles and Amazon products, display inline videos, RSS, MP3s, photos, stock charts and more.

Sometimes Snap Shots bring you the information you need, without your having to leave the site, while other times it lets you "look ahead," before deciding if you want to follow a link or not.

Should you decide this is not for you, just click the Options icon in the upper right corner of the Snap Shot and opt-out.

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

BitComet

BitComet is a BitTorrent/HTTP/FTP download management software, which is powerful, fast, very easy-to-use, and completely free. It contains many advanced features for BitTorrent download and extends its leading BitTorrent technology to HTTP/FTP to accelerate downloading up to 5 - 10 times faster, or more.

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

CouchSurfing


This worldwide community connects travelers with residents that are ready and willing to lend their couch and sometimes even their spare bedroom for free to people who are traveling through the area. Sometimes you may even be able to stay for quite a few days at a time. CouchSurfing tries to keep everything safe by offering references from community members who know the person, and this should help to ease your fears. There have already been almost 70,000 successful connections, so if you want to have an adventurous trip on the cheap or are an adventurous host, CouchSurfing is the place for you.

JAlbum



JAlbum is a gallery software that makes web albums from your digital images. We aim to make it the easiest to use and most powerful tool in this category - and always keep it free! So far over 7 million photo albums have been published with JAlbum and the software is started every 5 seconds somewhere in the world. Try it out and download JAlbum here.

Endless personalization
You choose the look of the album: color themes, layouts, picture and thumbnail sizes, music, navigation and much more.

Share your photo albums anywhere
With JAlbum your pictures are not tied to one site. Publish your albums on any web page or share it straight from your computer.

Tell it in your language
Create albums with text and comments in any language. JAlbum itself speaks 31 languages.

Want to know more about JAlbum? See the full feature list.

Monday, June 18, 2007

Scratch


Scratch is a new programming language designed to help young people (ages 8 and up) develop 21st century learning skills. As they create Scratch projects, young people learn important mathematical and computational ideas, while also gaining a deeper understanding of the process of design.
clipped from scratch.mit.edu

Scratch is a new programming language that makes it easy to create your
own interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art -- and share
your creations on the web.

Scratch is designed to help young people (ages 8 and up) develop 21st century learning skills.
As they create Scratch projects, young people learn important mathematical
and computational ideas, while also gaining a deeper understanding of the process
of design.

Scratch is available free of charge, go to Download.
Currently available for Mac OSX and Windows (system requirements)

To find more about the educational ideas underlying Scratch, visit our page for Educators.

To learn how to use Scratch, go to Support.

To read research papers on Scratch, see Research.

To find out who is working on Scratch, see the Credits.

To read what people are saying about Scratch, see Quotes.

To hear the latest Scratch news stories, visit News.

imagine • program • share

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Sunday, June 17, 2007

Safari Web Browser


The big news over the last week was the release of the Safari Web Browser
for Windows. (www.apple.com/safari/download/). Apple's browser is touted as
being faster and more secure than any Windows-based browser, and according
to Apple there were over a million downloads of the Beta (almost final)
version in the first few days of release.

Saturday, June 16, 2007

BAKESPACE


OK and now for something completely different.

If any community deserves an online social network, then it’s BakeSpace BakeSpace is just like any other social networking service except for the fact that it’s geared for cooks.
Once you'r a part of this service, members can expect to be able to create a blog, customize their own virtual kitchen, meet other cooks, and find and share recipes. There is also hundreds of tasty recipes.

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

DVDVIDEOSOFT.com


Please Note
I have not as yet tried any of the programs on this site. However it does come recommended and according to McAfee Site advisor it is OK..
It is not easy to choose a right program for your task. On this site you can see results of our investigations. We hope it helps you to make the right choice!

Monday, June 11, 2007

fix8

Do you want to make cool animated video clips but don't have time to learn complicated video editing and animation software?

Are you looking for a new creative tool that includes free avatars and accessories so you can dress yourself up and make your own creative, hip, rich animated videos on the fly?

Look no further! fix8 IS HERE!

ooVoo

ooVoo is a free, standalone desktop chat application that has both a text and video chat capabilities. Its official launch is next week, but the beta has been available since mid April.
There are a ton of chat clients out there, so one of the things it has done to differentiate itself is multiperson video chat. ooVoo can handle as many as six people in one video conference, which is two more than what iChat is capable of. Users can drop in and out of conversations, and the video windows will scale with a similar effect to iChat's "swoop." Along with video, users can chat among themselves with their computer's microphone or a headset. There are volume controls for both speakers and the microphone right in the chat window, a handy addition.
You can ooVoo me on the top left link on this site.My id is uktony Go on>Why not be the first to try it?

DVD Shrink

It's your own personal on-disc therapist! No, actually it's a handy program for people who want to create backup copies of DVDs on their PC's hard drive. Later, they can use Windows Media Center or another DVD media player to play the DVDs on their computer. DVD Shrink lets you rip the DVD to your hard disk in various formats, including a lossless one that retains the original disc's image and audio quality. Other format options let you save hard-drive space. And you can customize the quality setting for any new DVD.

DVD Shrink preserves all of the original DVD's content, including menus, trailers, and subtitles. Or if you prefer, you can eliminate any such content. Best of all, the program is
free.

Express Burn Burning Software for Windows

Express Burn Burning Software for Windows
Burn Audio CDs and Data CDs, DVDs or Blu-ray Discs
Express Burn is a free cd burning program for Windows that lets you create and record audio and data CDs under Windows.

With Express Burn you can record a data or audio discs quickly and easily by dragging the files you want onto the icon and clicking Burn CD. The software then does the rest, including converting the files if required. Express Burn is also the fastest CD/DVD writing program in the world using proprietary optimizing systems. But don't believe us, try it for yourself. Click here to download now.

This CD recording software is free.

We make Express Burn free in the hope you will like it so much you will decide to upgrade to Express Burn Plus. Burn Plus includes the ability to burn Data DVDs, HD-DVDs and Blu-ray Discs. It also has more advanced features like the ability to create and record ISO images and support for many more file formats (the basic version only supports wav and mp3 for audio discs). You can download the Express Burn Plus demo or purchase Express Burn Plus online.

PLEASE NOTE The burning software is just ONE of many excellent products from this company and I feature it as it has a free version.However go to THE MAIN PAGE to see all they have to offer. I will list it once I have tested it.
Tony

Foxy Tunes

FoxyTunes for Your Browser

Do you listen to Music while surfing the Web? FoxyTunes lets you control almost any media player and find lyrics, covers, videos, bios and much more with a click right from your browser.
Though it runs as an unobtrusive toolbar in your system tray, it offers you a full set of media controls in the form of small clickable icons. The program identifies what's playing (including displaying the album art), is skinnable, and can be controlled via keyboard shortcuts. It supports more than 30 media players, and runs as a Firefox extension, though it also works in SeaMonkey and Flock browsers, as well as in Mozilla's Thunderbird e-mail client. A beta version of Foxy Tunes for Internet Explorer is in the works.

Saturday, June 09, 2007

Electrocity


Like a mini-version of SimCity, the Flash-based Web game Electrocity lets you develop your own metropolis from the ground up. Rather than existing solely as a entertaining Web diversion, however, Electrocity has a hidden agenda.

The sponsor of the game, Genesis Energy, is an energy provider and retailer in New Zealand. Electrocity was developed to increase public awareness about energy usage, its cost, and its effect on the environment.

Electrocity is a fairly simple, turn-based strategy game. You get 150 turns to create your masterpiece, but the challenge is to allocate resources wisely as you build. One-hundred and fifty turns may seem like an eternity, but many of these will be skipped in the process of gathering cash and natural resources, so it's essential to build infrastructure early. A full game at average speed takes about 30 minutes. It's also easy to save any game in the middle, then restart later using a personalized city code the game assigns you.

Played on a 5x5 grid, Electrocity starts you off with a small urban center, a population of 10,000, a 25 percent tax rate, and one wind farm that provides all the town's energy. Surrounding areas are randomly populated with forests, plains, mountains, rivers, or oceanfront property.

Each area may provide resources that can only be discovered by prospecting. Once you've discovered coal or gas, you can build plants and start selling energy on the open market. You can raise and lower taxes, and upgrade your wind, coal, and gas plants as you see fit. Once you amass enough cash, you can start building luxury items such as sports stadiums, ski resorts, or beaches to attract a larger population. If you grow your population too quickly, however, you'll get crunched on your energy usage and end up paying through the nose on the open market.

I previously thought that I was much better at turn-based rather than real-time strategy games, but after playing through Electrocity, it turns out that I stink equally at both. Aside from building coal plants where there was no coal, my addiction to alternative energy and campgrounds proved to be idiotic.

On my first try, I accidentally went bankrupt in round 68 after building a large geothermal plant that send me plummeting into the red. My population barely peaked above 30,000 people. The second time, I lasted the whole 150 turns, but I couldn't seem to maintain more than 40,000 residents or keep much more than $1,000 in the bank. Good thing I'm not the king!
Electrocity top city

The city of Heter provides massive energy and numerous tourist destinations for a top rating in the Finished Cities chart
(Credit: CNET Networks)

If you make it to the end of the game, you'll receive a score based on your energy management, popularity, population, and environmental prowess. I spent all of my time logging and planting forests, so it's no surprised my environmental grade was "A." My energy management (since it never advanced beyond large wind farms and small coal plants) also received an "A."

My popularity was about 90%, which only merits a "B+" grade, and I dropped the ball completely on population, averaging 34,150 citizens, which received a "C-." Oh well. My overall score wasn't much better: 76 for a "B-." After you've received your final score, you can submit your city to the Finished Cities page, which also enters you into a prize drawing.

The Finished Cities ranking on the Electrocity Web site is determined by final score, though maximum population seems to be a tie breaker. Currently the city of Heter by the player Rong is No. 1, with a whopping population of 3,897,182. Your strategy is determined slightly by the random environment you begin with, but it appears that Rong topped the list by building three large nuclear plants on the edge of town, along with oceanfront development to bring in the tourists. Your mileage will vary. My only advice is don't build a large geothermal plant without the scratch to back it up. Good luck, and happy urban planning!

Reclaim Your Brain Before It's Too Late


The brain is the engine that drives the thinking process. Like all parts of our body the brain also needs to be exercised to get the most out of it. Studies show that the human brain starts slowing down at around age 30. There are ways to keep the brain up to speed, and that's where Lumosity comes in. The site describes it as "the brain fitness program designed by neuroscientists that is scientifically demonstrated to improve your memory, attention and processing speed."

Lumos Labs have developed some quick and fun games to help stimulate the brain in those 3 areas. Find out how quickly you think, how well you remember, and how effectively you attend to the world around you. Play these IQ games to get your brain back up to speed and then brag about your scores in a comment. The best part is, it's very addictive!

Top 5 Most Addictive Games

WARNING: These flash games leave no time for anything else. Play at your own risk!
5. 3D Missile. Go through nine levels of obstacle-prone tunnels.
4. 3D Logic Cube. Connect the colored squares to complete the cube.
3. Disorientation. Move to the portal with the arrow keys and try not to die.
2. Desktop Defense. Stop the creeps from getting across the screen with gun towers.
1. ZWOK. Turn-based multiplayer online game with projectile weapons like Worms (or Scorched Earth).
With thanks to the thinking blog

Friday, June 08, 2007

AudioFlash

AudioFlash allows you to quickly and easily add audio to your website by creating MP3 compressed audio files and a set of Play, Pause and Stop buttons (SWF Flash) enabling visitors to have complete control over the audio.

Once your audio and buttons have been created, you can either copy and paste the generated HTML into another webpage or use the built-in FTP client to upload everything as-is to your server.

Here are just a few ways you can use this software:

* Use it to record information to help sell your product or service
* Create multiple answers to frequently asked questions
* You can create audio tutorials for school or college class
* Explain a problem more clearly for technical support
* Create online audio information products you can sell
* Use it to create podcasts on your chosen subject
* Record audio notes on new tricks and techniques for software programs and upload them to your server, so you never forget them

and these are the uses I've just thought up - I bet you can think of a lot more ...

AVG FREE

I KNOW that ALL of you who come to this site also have the knowledge NOT to surf the Internet without GOOD Virus protection running on there machines. HOWEVER ---Just in case you have forgotten, or your running Vista and therefor do not think you need it, PLEASE think again.THIS is the main page to download the FREE editions of AVG's Ant Virus and Anti spy ware programs together with their new Root Kit program (Its at the bottom of their page) AND of course its ALL FOR FREE. I would however suggest that you buy one of their programs even if its only as a thank you for protecting you on line?

Thursday, June 07, 2007

Answers.com - Online Dictionary, Encyclopedia and much more

Answers.com - Online Dictionary, Encyclopedia and much more

Get Answers faster! Get free downloads and add-ons now.

1-Click AnswersTM: Something for everyone
No matter who you are, what you like to do or what your favorite ice cream flavor is, our free 1-Click AnswersTM software will help you get definitions, facts and more in one click.
Download 1-Click Answers for Windows and Alt-Click on any word in any program on your screen to get instant definitions and facts in the form of a small, unobtrusive bubble called an AnswerTipTM. Learn more about it.
Mac user? 1-Click Answers is available for you, too. Get it here.
Firefox user? Make your browser AnswerTips-enabled: Add the Firefox 1-Click Answers extension.
Webmaster or blogger? You can enable AnswerTips on your own site. Find out how.

AllCDCovers

What is AllCDCovers?

More than just free download of the latest CD covers and DVD covers. AllCDCovers strives to bring you the ultimate user experience with a friendly interface and complete music and movies information. Browse our album art collection and download your favorite CD covers

The All-New Netscape Navigator 9.0

Speed, Flexibility, and Social Integration

Netscape Navigator 9 is available as a standalone installation for Windows, Mac OS, and Linux. The automatic update feature in your current Netscape browser will not upgrade to 9.0. Please download the new version now for the newest updates.
Get Navigator 9!ver 9.0b1 (Windows)

Netscape features one-click searching from the address bar; Quick Launch, which reduces the browser start-up time; Click-to-Search, which allows users to select a word within a Web page and search; improved instant messaging, including support for buddy icons, file transfers, and buddy alerts; and tabbed browsing, which allows users to view multiple Web pages in a single browser window.

Version 9.0b1 adds URL correction for common typos, in-browser voting on popular, a sidebar minibrowser, and compatibility with Firefox 2 extensions.

Wednesday, June 06, 2007

Desktop Tower Defense

Game Description

Desktop Tower Defense

Technorati Tags:
A live action puzzle game written for fun in flash. You have to stop your enemies, or “creeps,” from traveling all the way across the screen. Tower pieces can be purchased and placed on the map to kill the creeps before they make it across.
Game Instructions:

1-6 selects a Tower & 0 deselects. U upgrades the selected Tower. S sells the selected Tower. Holding down Shift allows you to place multiple Towers one after the other. Space to toggle pause.

Nymbler

 

Nymbler is the smart baby-name guide that responds to your personal taste. Just choose a few names that appeal to you or let Nymbler offer ideas. Then press "Find Names" and Nymbler will start using its expert knowledge to brainstorm names tailored to fit your style.

The Baby Name Wizard Nymbler makes name connections with insights from baby-naming expert Laura Wattenberg, author of The Baby Name Wizard.

Ready to find your perfect name?

Tuesday, June 05, 2007

Google Earth 4.1 Launched

Technorati Tags:

Google Earth 4.1 Launched

This month, we launched Google Earth 4.1. One thing to note on all client versions of Google Earth is the addition of start-up tips, which appear when first launching the application. These tips give new users an introduction to the tools and features of the product, while showing established users helpful tips they might have missed.

We've also launched in seven new languages: Dutch, Korean, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian, Czech, Arabic, and Polish, bringing the total number of supported languages to 13. (Versions of Google Earth in English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, and Japanese have been available for some time now.) In addition, we've enabled geocoding (or in simpler terms, the ability to locate an address on a map) in five new countries: Brazil, Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, and Portugal. This is a big step towards making Google Earth as global as our users!

Additional new features include a "view in Maps" button and improved support of Microsoft Vista.

Animator vs. Animation

clipped from www.deviantart.com

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Monday, June 04, 2007

Windows Live Writer Beta

Technorati Tags: ,

 

New version of Live Writer makes blogging easier
My blogging client of choice has been Windows Live Writer ever since I discovered an early beta. I'm happy to announce that it just got better, with the release of a new beta version that added several of the features I'd been wishing for - including the ability to "set and forget" publication dates for posts. You can also insert videos, emoticons and tables with one-click ease.

Saturday, June 02, 2007

Opera 9.2 Web browser

Ready for a revolution in the way you access the Web sites you can't live without? Try Speed Dial™ in Opera's newest Web browser, Opera 9.2.
It makes the fastest even faster. Oh and whilst your at it have a look at Opera for Archos