Invite thousands of friends with just one call

Phonevite - How it worksSummer is the time for big weddings and parties, so rather than spend those sunny evenings (or rainy, depending on where you’re reading this from) writing thousands of invitations why not try something a little different. Phonevite gives you the chance to call all your invitees by recording just one simple message.

The software works in two ways – either record a message on the Phonevite website using a microphone or enter your mobile number in the ‘record on phone’ option and the service calls you so you can leave the invite you want sent out after the beeeeeeeeep. Then add all the phone numbers of the people you want at your fiesta and set the time for the message to go out. Recipients then press 1 for a ‘yes I’m definitely coming’, 2 for a ‘wouldn’t be seen dead at your party’, and 3 for ‘I’ll see who else is going before I say yes or no’. Actually it’s just 1: yes, 2: no, 3: not sure, but you know what they really mean.

There are lots of other options too and it’s all free. However, you will need to keep checking the website to find out who’s accepted your invite. Seems a shame they can’t send responses to your mobile, but if you’ve got as many friends as me it’s probably just as well. If nothing else, it’s a good excuse to organise a party.

Easy audio file conversion with Switch

Switch audio converterWhen it comes to audio files, there’s a wide range of formats to choose from. This is why it’s important to have an efficient conversion tool like Switch, so that you can convert your favorite music from one format to another depending on what is most suitable for you. Switch is fast and easy to use, supports most popular formats and can convert hundreds of files at a time.

Become the richest pirate in Pirate Poppers

Pirate PoppersNo, Pirate Poppers doesn’t teach you how to pilfer treasures or sail the South seas on your sailing ship. This puzzle bobble game keeps you popping colored balls to collect all sorts of treasures and one day become the richest pirate. The game offers 3 game modes and has a total of 77 levels to keep you entertained this weekend.

Create an album for all those digital photos

Softonic MixbookIf you don’t know what to do with all those digital photos of you and your friends pulling funny faces on holiday why not create a beautiful online photo album. There’s a lot of software out there already to help you edit, save and manipulate your pics but Mixbook is a website with a bit of a difference. It follows the, and there’s no way round the phrase I’m afraid, ‘social networking’ formula.

The site allows all those invited to build online albums from a shared collection of photographs. So if like my brother’s friend Steve, you had a stag-do last weekend and walked around Barcelona in a swimsuit and a floppy hat, you can commemorate the humiliation with a special online album. Or order a professionally printed copy through the publishing page. With photo-sharing features on sites such as Facebook already, Mixbook might seem an unnecessary extra website to visit but all albums are available as widgets on blogs, MySpace and Facebook and that’ll probably keep everyone smiling.

BBC iPlayer faces open source protests

BBC iPlayerEarlier in the year we brought you news of the BBC’s iPlayer, which will spearhead the broadcaster’s revolution in on-demand programming. With the player launched today, the BBC is embroiled in controversy with disgruntled open source fans who are petitioning the British government to block it.

The first version of the iPlayer will only work with Windows and the open source community has presented an e-petition with 11,000 signatures to Downing Street demanding action on the issue. The BBC has assured that iPlayers for other platforms will be released in the near future but this has not appeased open source developers. Windows users have also kicked-back by launching their own petition in favour of the iPlayer.

Nevertheless, today the BBC has announced the launch but it has also reported the petition story. Once launched, the iPlayer will allow viewers to watch programs up to 7 days after their original broadcast. Some TV series and programs will be available for download and storage for up to 30 days.

I think the BBC should be given a break here. They’ve assured that other platforms will be catered for starting with a Mac version in Autumn. If Macs are not even supported yet, then Linux and other open source users can hardly complain too much. Besides, petitioning the government is not really the appropriate course of action. The British Government may appoint BBC governors but it has no effective control over BBC commercial policy.

As far as I’m concerned, the iPlayer is going to make it easier than ever to keep track of BBC programming – no more worries about setting the video! You can see a demo of it here.

Circlo, a Bubble Bobble round remake

Play CircloRemember Bubble Bobble? Sure you do. Many of us spent hours shooting colored balls and clearing stage after stage. Circlo is based on this same idea: you shoot balls and try to get at least three of the same color together, so that they disappear from the screen.

The difference is that now the ball structure is in continuous rotation and you have to move around it to find the most appropriate target.

It looks really easy at the beginning, but just wait until the rotation speed increases, and the mouse sensibility rises too, and an extra shooter appears to add more balls… that’s where the real fun starts!

Pocket apps to monitor your stock

There goes the stock marketBull or bear, market trends can change quickly, so it’s important to always have an eye on your portfolio, to make sure your shares are doing well. The best is if you can monitor them from your handheld and connect to the financial markets easily. Synchronize your device with the market websites to get up to date prices and monitor all important financial news.

TinyStocks Stock Manager is a PDA program with great synchronization features. It’s multi-currency, lets you set alerts, can retrieve specific values for the day and allows you to manage multiple portfolios. You can also use it anywhere in the world since it connects to most of the biggest stock exchanges.

Pocket Stock Monitor works on your PC and shows advanced stock views and charts. We were impressed with the interface, the possibility to check company news and the automatic quote fetcher.

Another Pocket PC solution to manage your stock, but with a simpler interface, is Stock Quotes and Charts. The stock market information is provided by Yahoo! and can be update in real time. You can read financial news for a particular company by clicking on its symbol.

Finally, for Symbian users, StockWatch is a portfolio manager to turn to. The program can retrieve the day’s values and you can fully edit all the information in your portfolio. It has access to the Yahoo! finance site but you’ll have to make sure you’re signed up to view it.

Automatically import album covers into iTunes

iTunes logoIt’s an incredible oversight by Apple that iTunes does not import album covers automatically as songs play. iTunes Art Importer comes to the rescue by allowing you to have all your favourite album covers alongside your favourite tunes – and it works pretty well most of the time.

The program is connected to the Amazon database and adds the album cover of the song that is playing at any one time. It doesn’t always offer you the right album unfortunately although it prompts you to select one from a list of probable candidates. You can configure the program to automatically choose the one that it thinks is correct although you may end up with Billy Joel instead of Billy Ocean.

When you start-up the Importer, iTunes will also start up if it’s not already running. The best way to use the Importer is to select all the tracks for a single album in iTunes and click the search button in the Importer (denoted by the magnifying glass). It will then query Amazon.com for albums that match. If multiple albums are found, the best match will be automatically selected. When the correct album is selected and the album art is displayed on the left, simply click the Import button and you’re done.

This is not an essential program for music lovers but it can deepen your appreciation of your collection by learning about the album cover info.

A handy personal planner on Mac

Get your act together with Hot PlanHot Plan lets you create projects, divide them into actions, and manage them all from one simple interface. Set start and target dates, add labels and priority levels and handle the completion percentage of your plans. The application can import bookmarks and text and many actions can be activated via hotkeys.

Minimize apps and windows to the system tray

Minimize to system tray with TrayIt!As our system’s capabilities improve, so does the number of applications we open simultaneously, until the taskbar is so cluttered with windows that we can’t distinguish Firefox from Photoshop. In order to avoid this, use TrayIt! to minimize all your windows right to the system tray, thus saving valuable taskbar space and keeping only the most frequently used windows in sight.