Month: May 2008

Windows: Are you bored of TV programs in your area? Give InternetTV a go and try a different way to watch television. This free application lets you access more than 5,000 TV channels that stream content on the Internet, from many different countries and about a wide array of topics: news, sports, politics, nature and a lot more!

Mac: Worried about what your kids might be seeing on the Internet? The CutX plugin for Safari allows you to block certain words and websites and list only pages you want to allow them to browse. You can also hide Safari preferences and block your kids from downloading. CutX is easy to set up and should ensure your kids aren’t falling on the wrong kind of sites.

Windows Mobile: If you haven’t got an antivirus solution on your phone it’s high time you did, and Antivirus BullGuard represents one of the best solutions for Windows Mobile devices. The program is very easy to us, providing on-demand scanning, on-access scanning and auto updates.

We’ve all heard the stories about people who have faked their identity online to catch adulterous spouses or to snare chatroom perverts. But what about pretending to be someone else just for a bit of good old-fashioned harmless fun? I, for instance, have just spent half an hour rolling around with laughter watching my friend believe he was chatting with Darth Vader, after I rigged both my webcam transmission and my voice to mimic the Jedi lord.

This is a lot easier to do than you may imagine. Start by installing Fake Webcam on your PC. This app lets you play pre-recorded videos on instant messengers in the client’s webcam window. In fact, you don’t even need a webcam to use it, and you can broadcast a single video to multiple messengers simultaneously. All I did was to grab some footage of Darth from the Net, then cut it up a bit and looped it using Vivia, before inserting it into Fake Webcam.

For the famous James Earl Jones heavy breathing voice I used Blaze Audio Voice Cloak, which is compatible with all the major IM clients. You can change your voice by playing around with the five-band graphic equalizer, robot voice effect, flange, pitchshift, and chorus. Once you’ve perfected the sound, just get online and let the confusion begin!

Of course, faking yourself online is no fun if the person finds out who you really are, and you could end up with a punch in the face if they discover it’s you. So I carried on the faking theme by hiding my own IP address using Hide Real IP in order to protect my real identity.

As my workmate and friend James reminded us a couple of days ago, Euro 2008 is just around the corner. I guess he and my other colleagues in the office will be happy to have soccer games every other day and discuss over the referee’s unfair decision about that borderline offside in the last minute of the match… but certainly not me.

I don’t like football at all, which means that during the next couple of weeks I’ll have to look for different ways to amuse myself. However I’m sure software will be very helpful in finding alternatives to Euro 2008:

• Movies or TV series – I think I’ll grab hold of my Ant Movie Catalog movie database to watch a few good old classics again. And if I grow tired of cinema, I can always use TED to get the latest episodes of my favorite TV show.
• Reading – What about eBooks? There are literally thousands to choose from and plus you can easily take them anywhere with your mobile device.
• Exercising – The fact that I don’t like football doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy other sports. This can be the perfect time to start working out and manage my results with SportsTracker.
• Traveling – High budgets only: run away from Euro 2008 with a good traveling guide like the Schmap ones, also available for the iPhone. Don’t forget to check the weather forecast before leaving!
• Games – Probably the best software alternative out there! Just check out the impressive games collection at Softonic and choose the one you like most.
• Other hobbies – There are dozens to choose: from collecting stamps to sudokus, including also crafts like painting and cross-stitching.

You don’t have to put up with the same old boring icons all the time. In fact, if you look around, you’ll find there are many sites out there where you can find all sorts of original icon sets to freshen up your desktop.

Take deviantart. One of the most vibrant online communities for artists it showcases all sorts of works, from icon sets to photography, flash or artisan crafts. deviantart is a great place to go and pick up a new screensaver, wallpaper or icon set, as most of the things you find are also completely free and made by extremely talented artists.

You could really spend hours digging around in all the categories that make up deviantart, especially giving that new items are constantly being added. If you’re looking for top notch icon sets I recommend taking a look at the selection made by Noupe. The online resource for web developers has built up an impressive list of 40 amazing icon sets.

You’ll find many icons specifically for Mac, such as those for the iPhone or for Leopard, but their selection also includes a few sets for Adobe products, with many stunning adaptations of the sober icons that Adobe released with their CS3 series. I also quite liked some of the more original sets like Oxygen, which consists of bubbles covering very minimalistic icons, or the Yoritsuki set of Japanese styled logos. For PC users, I recommend the Windows Icons V1 set, with its rounded, shiny and bright new icons that could actually make a Mac user envy your XP or Vista PC.

Staying long hours sat in front of a PC, is surely not qualified as the best exercise you can do to stay fit. Although there is a great move of hands and fingers, they don’t really burn as much calories as you would wish.

Nevertheless PCs can actually help you stay motivated, set targets and see exercises you can do to stay fit and healthy.

Fast walking, running, swimming and cycling are all excellent options to keep you healthy, but if you want to get the most of them, a flexible and ‘balanced’ body – in the real meaning of the word – is a must have.

Yoga can help you to achieve that, and good practice of it everyday will ensure you the best results. To know more about this discipline and also start practicing it with a very effective but simple exercise, check out Yoga Freeware 3 and Yoga trainer. The former features step by step images of the Sun Salutation which is the best way to start your day.

As said in Latin, ‘mens sana in corpore sano’, the better way to keep fit is to exercise your brain, together with your body. Brain Practicer provides 7 methods to exercise your intelligence and hopefully improve it. I say ‘hopefully’ not because I don’t think you’re smart, but simply as it’s something we all want to increase.

You have trained your body and exercised your mind, now what else could you do to keep fit? You already know the answer, although you pretend not to. Checking what you eat. CRON-O-Meter helps you keep an eye on your food intake to ensure you get enough vitamins, minerals, proteins and carbohydrates each day.

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