If you thought it had been a little quiet around here of late, that’s for a very good reason. We’ve all been hard at work implementing and testing a new codebase for Softonic English which makes the site smarter and easier to use, as well as adding some great new features for users.

The homepage, while appearing quite similar to its previous version actually includes numerous changes and enhancements, including a new high-visibility zone for blog posts like this one; much better category listings; dynamic charts which show whether programs have moved up or down since last week and a smoother, cleaner design.

Our program page has also undergone some important changes. Apart from some cosmetic adjustments and enhancements, we’ve also made it much easier to interact with programs, meaning that the tools that let you rate, review, bookmark and track your favourite software are always easily accessible.

But the biggest new feature for the site is our new user profile page. Visitors to the Spanish Softonic will already be familiar with the features available in the new profile page. Now you can pick an avatar, visit other profiles, see your visitors and more. We’ve also got the Soft-O-Meter, a popular feature on the Spanish site which shows your level activity on Softonic.

Finally, we’ve launched Softonic Deluxe - a premium edition of Softonic designed for true fans of software. Deluxe members get access to a special edition of Softonic, free of advertising and with 100% guaranteed high-speed and secure downloads. For more info about Softonic Deluxe or to get a free trial, click here.

We’re always working on more features and already have loads of exciting new stuff in development… but we’ll let you know about that later. For the moment, take a look at the new, improved Softonic. And as always, please let us know if you’ve got an opinion on the site or an idea for making it even better!

Here at Softonic HQ we’ve been telling you it’s summer all summer. Well now it’s nearly not summer and to make sure you get the message Cyril wrote about the MacToSchool (it’s like back to school, see?) bundle of software which will not only get students prepared for the winter, it’ll also save them a lot of money.

For those of you with proper jobs, perhaps there’s a way you can spend more quality time at home. Video conferencing is one of those things that has long been heralded as the future of business. Along with driving boatcars to work to avoid the traffic and commuting from Mars. Interestingly home worker Nick took at look at the best applications available.

If you’re unemployed, chances are you’re sitting at home watching television or playing computer games. I’m just joking, but you are, aren’t you? In our remit to cater for all, Tom put together a list of the best games on Softonic, and I took a look at the best mobile TV apps. Cyril also provided a comprehensive package of the best web browsers for Mac, so you can waste your time more effectively.

And finally, as school, work and perhaps even a job interview approach why not treat yourself to a new look? Nick has all the tips on how to make sure that trip to the salon isn’t a total nightmare.

The Christmas season is over but you’re probably still grinding through those new games. While some exciting consoles have been launched recently, the PC still plays host to countless reputable titles. Softonic has some real classics in store for you this week, among which are two of the greatest strategy games ever launched: Civilizations and Age of Empire. Let’s take you through them.

Rise & Fall: Civilizations at War, the latest in the series, gives you the chance to command some of the greatest empires in history: Rome, Greece, Persia and Egypt. You’ll have to organize your troops and set out your plans to become the dominant civilization on the planet. We really like the graphics, particularly the third-person perspectives, and the level of freedom the game gives you in developing your armies. Few feelings compare to that special rush you get from launching a massive attack on your enemies while you just sit back and watch events unfold.

Age of Empires III takes you to a different era and a different continent. Carry out various missions through Latin and North America, defending the Aztecs against the Spanish conquistadors or assisting Simon Bolivar with his South American revolution. The game is scenario-oriented and you’ll only be able to choose one side, that of Morgan Black and his family, but you’ll participate in many historic events that shaped the American continent.

Both of these games are thrilling historical military strategy games. Choosing the right one for you will depend on the era you’re interested in and whether you like to follow a scenario, or plan everything yourself. Or you just play them both.

It’s a mystery that has challenged man since the beginning of time - from Nostradamus to David Copperfield - how to predict the future. While we can’t make any guarantees, we can offer a few crystal balls to help you through 2007.

If your moods are up and down like a yoyo, one way to monitor them is with Biorhythm Calculator. Your biorhythm is the cyclic evolution of your physiological state according to monthly, yearly and environmental changes. This program allows you to predict your emotional, physical and intellectual state based on your date of birth. You can even track celebrity biorhythms so you can see exactly how you compare to Britney Spears or even that Scientologist-du-jour, Tom Cruise.

If you look to the skies for inspiration, Asynx Planetarium might be your best bet. While offering no personal predictions, it can offer an insight into the night skies thousands of years into the future upon which you can predict your astrological destiny.

Finally, if stock market prediction is more your thing, check out SprinN Professional. SprinN monitors the latest stock market data to give you predictions on market indices, share prices and currency fluctuations.

Note that we can’t guarantee the accuracy of any of these programs but if anyone finds remarkable similarities between their psychological state and Hugh Heffner’s or makes a fortune on the stock market, please let us know.

We recently covered one of the most successful free VoIP applications, Skype, that has revolutionized the long distance industry. As more and more users connect to through broadband, not only can voice be effectively transmitted with acceptable quality, but now video is also quickly following suite.

PPLive is one of the first applications to test the tepid waters of free, on-demand television over the Internet. The Net, and computing in general, has always depended on these intrepid explorers who push the technical and legal boundaries in order to clear the way for more robust, mainstream applications.

As we approach the summer season, those of us living in the bigger cities of the world are preparing for the arrival of the hot weather tourist crunch. Inevitably with every tourist, there is a camcorder. And with every camcorder taken on vacation, there is a pile of video that ends up sitting in an obscure folder on a computer.

One of the major issues that most people have with digital home movies is that the footage never leaves their computer! Certainly it deserves a wider audience and one of the easiest ways to go from forgotten folder to front row in your living room is to get your movies onto a DVD. This makes it easy to pass it along to friends and family who will appreciate being able to watch it at their leisure.

So get out there and shoot some video! Your audience awaits…

“We live in wonderful times” a wise man once said, and these days are no exception. Communicating with friends, family and business associated from around the world has always been important, but it has certainly not always been cheap. Competition and technological advancements have driven the traditional per-minute charge to acceptable levels, but we must still be mindful of the invisible meter ticking away as Aunt Betty goes over her pie recipe one more time.

That meter is - at least for the time being - broken! This message is for the people who are not one of the - as I glance at my Skype window - 5,158,648 users currently online right this instant. So what are you waiting for? It’s simple, it’s fast and most importantly it’s oh so free!