Everyone loves sharing their photos online on Flickr, Picasa and other similar sites. The risk of it is that some people think all online images are public property, so they can simply take them and use them anywhere else. Unfortunately there’s little you can do to avoid this without getting too complicated, like disabling right click or preventing image hotlinking. But you can try to discourage people from taking your photos with watermarks.

Watermarks are text messages printed on top of images, usually with subtle transparency or engraving effects, that mark those photos as your property. These texts won’t prevent people from taking your photos if they want to, but they will at least identify your images online – and who knows, maybe work as a promotional campaign for your work!

Watermarks are generally easy to apply. Some programs - such as SnagIt - already feature watermarking tools, but you can also find dedicated watermark utilities like Siotra Watermak. This simple app helps you add watermarks to your photos in a couple of clicks!

Siotra Watermark features a tabbed interface. All you have to do is select the source and target folders in the program’s first tab, and configure the watermark in the second tab. You can set a custom text, choose the font, tweak the transparency level, select the watermark’s position and include some extra elements like the copyright sign or the file’s name. Once you’ve done customizing the watermark, don’t forget to press ‘Save’!

Siotra Watermark doesn’t offer a watermark preview, but it does let you modify watermarked images as many times as you need to – without changing the original photos. The program only works with folders, so it’s great for watermarking images in batches, but not so useful if you only want to edit one.

The most tedious part of buying a new computer is having to transfer all your data from the old system to the new one. With photos, music, documents and the likes there’s not much of a choice: you use your favorite backup software or simply copy and paste files and folders from one computer to another using an external hard drive. But what about your web browser data? History, bookmarks, passwords. All of that needs to be synced too. And here’s where Mozilla Weave comes in handy.

This project was released from the Mozilla Labs a few months ago, as an experimental Firefox add-on, and has just hit version 1.0 Beta. Mozilla Weave lets you sync browser data (bookmarks, history, tabs, passwords and user preferences) between multiple instances of Firefox installed across different computers and devices.

The first thing you have to do after installing Weave is create a user account, either on the Weave servers or your own. This account is used to sync data from your browser to the server, so that it’s available when you need to sync it with other instances of Firefox or other devices – your laptop, your mobile phone, another computer. The account creation process also gives you the chance to customize the extension’s settings and choose the syncing method: merging data between the local computer and the server, syncing from computer to server or syncing from server to computer. Read the rest of this entry »

As crazy as it sounds, these days it’s becoming as important to maintain your online image as it is to make yourself look presentable in real life. Choosing a picture to have as your avatar for Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, and the like can be a painstaking task. One simple and effective way of presenting yourself on social networks is to use a cartoon character version of you as your avatar. What’s more, you needn’t feel embarrassed about your profile picture because even if you’re really ugly you’re picture will look good. In fact, the uglier you are the more funny your character will be.

Here’s a round-up of some free online avatar creation tools, along with an image of how my ‘likeness’ came out with each of them:

Otaku - The level of customization available in Otaku is probably the most detailed you’ll find anywhere. There are 16 different categories of elements to tweak, including front and back hairstyles, makeup and hands. Each of these categories gives you plenty of choices of attributes, so you can really fine-tune your character with Otaku. In fact, the Japanese-style image that it produces is probably the most lifelike of all the sites I looked at.

DoppelMe - If you need a profile image or an avatar really quickly then pop along to DoppelMe. The level of detail isn’t as exact as Otaku, but the creation process is much faster. There are only 10 categories of elements to choose from, but there’s enough options within each one to allow you to make something that at least looks a little like you. In order to save your DoppelMe once you’ve finished you need to sign up for a free account.

Simpsons Avatar Creator - You’ve no doubt seen ‘Simpsonified’ versions of people of people in your friend’s lists before and have probably wondered how they did it. Well, there’s no great science to it. All you need to do is visit the Simpsons site and select from the various heads, haircuts, eyes, etc. on display in the avatar creator. Fans of the show will love the clothing and accessories, that reference things from the show in their design.

Face Your Manga - Probably my favorite of the five I tested, this one results in probably the most ‘adult’ looking avatar designs, and I reckon they’re perfect for use on personal blogs. There’s a high level of customization available, allowing you to tweak everything right down to the lines on your face. Once you’ve finished, your avatar will be emailed to you ready for use anywhere you like.

MadMenYourself - If you’ve ever watched Mad Men and wondered how you would look if you’d had the life of an ad executive in 50s New York then wonder no more. Simply go to this site and piece your alternate self together using the wonderfully simple step-by-step interface. When you’ve finished making yourself look dapper, the site gives you the option to save just the head, the body, or the whole scene.

Google Reader is the only RSS reader I’ve ever used – except for the ones I’ve had to test and review for Softonic -  and I wouldn’t change it for any other. I simply love all of its features: it works really well, it’s available everywhere as long as you have an Internet connection, it has extensive support for keyboard hotkeys and best of all, it includes some handy sharing features that enable you to easily share interesting articles with friends, workmates or even readers of your blog.

Sharing articles and blog posts in Google Reader is as simple as clicking the Share link below each one of them. If you want to add a personal comment as well, click the Share with note link instead.

These shared items will automatically be added to your public page, a website automatically generated by Google Reader that updates with every story you mark as shared in your feeds. To check all the items you’ve shared so far, simply click Shared items in Google Reader’s sidebar.

But there’s more to this Shared items feed than just displaying a list of selected blog posts. From here you can check how your public page looks like (by clicking the little blue arrows beside the feed’s title), view and edit your Google profile, and also tweak some sharing settings. These settings enable you to decide who can access your shared items, customize the appearance of your public page and find more people to share items with, to name a few. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s not everyday you get six free Mac applications for free but the team at MacHeist is offering software worth a total of $154 for absolutely nothing over the next 3 days. The applications on offer are ShoveBox, WriteRoom, Twitterific, TinyGrab, Hordes of Orcs and Mariner Write. Note that Mariner Write will only be unlocked once 500,000 users have taken up this special offer so the more that sign-up, the better it is for everyone.

The MacHeist team have become famous for their giveaways. Here’s a quick look at the current offer:

• ShoveBox A clever application for remembering all the things that you don’t have time for while you’re application whether it’s web pages to visit later, PDF’s for later reading or a To-Do list of your daily activities.

• WriteRoom Miss the good old days of typewriters? WriteRoom provides a distraction free writing environment that ensures you focus more on your writing and less on distractions such as Facebook, IM clients and YouTube.

• Twitterific Possibly the pick of the bunch on offer. If I didn’t use Tweetie than I’d definitely consider switching to this slick and well crafted Twitter client which stands out for it’s high level of customization.

• TinyGrab A super quick way of sharing screenshots or funny images you’ve just found on the net. Just select the portion of the screen you want to share, drag it to your menu bar and you instantly receive a URL for sharing it.

• Hordes of Orcs A challenging Tower Defense game where the aim is to defend your village from starving Orcs. If more than 20 make it through your defenses, the Orcs will be having you for breakfast.

• MarinerWrite Mariner Write is a comprehensive Word Processing package that´s simple to use and can even open and edit documents in Word format. If you don’t have Word, it’s a great alternative.

You can see a video of some of the apps in action here. Get yours now before it’s too late!

When upgrading to a new operating system, one of the most important elements to take into account is compatibility. On one hand, we have to make sure the new system is compatible with our hardware – that is, all the devices and peripherals connected to our computer. This is usually solved with the latest versions of their drivers, updated to support the new operating system.

But on the other hand, we also have to take software compatibility into account. If we’ve become particularly fond of a certain software utility, we should make sure it also works in our new operating system: Windows 7.

Upgrading from previous OS versions

Windows 7 can be safely installed as an update on Windows Vista, as long as you follow these correspondences:

This means that you won’t need to backup anything and install the new operating system from scratch. All the documents, software and user configuration settings you had in Vista will still be there after installing Windows 7. This method is supposed to make system upgrade easier, but in my personal experience, I always prefer to do a clean install when changing to a new operating system.

Windows Easy Transfer

Installing Windows 7 as an update for Windows Vista means you can keep all your documents and user settings safe through the installation process. But what if you’d like to choose what to keep and what to erase? And most importantly, what if you’re upgrading from Windows XP – and not Vista? In those cases, you can use Windows Easy Transfer.

This tool lets you transfer your personal documents to your newly installed Windows 7 in several ways: using a special Easy Transfer cable, burning a CD or DVD, via a local network or using an external hard drive. Windows Easy Transfer is free and available for both Windows XP and Windows Vista. Read the rest of this entry »

During the summer, Gmail increased its maximum attachment size to 25MB, up 5MB on its previous limit. Great news, I hear you cry - now you can squeeze a few more photos into that email or send an album in 2 parts rather than 3!

Well yes, you can, but does that mean you should?

One thing you have to remember about email is that it’s old. Really old. Although it mightn’t feel it, email has been around for more than 30 years and, unlike other technologies, it hasn’t been updated much. This doesn’t have much of an impact on our day-to-day use, but like they say over at the Google Operating System blog, “…sending a large attachment via email is relocating using the U.S. Postal Service as your moving company. It is painful, limited, and expensive.” It will get the job done, but it’s not the most efficient way.

So what’s the alternative? Well, if you are in physical contact with your recipient, you could just put the file on a memory stick. Once you follow the basic security principles, it’s a very simple way of transferring data. Obviously, this only works if you are geographically close to the recipient. In fact, email’s ability to overcome this problem is one of the reasons it became so popular. Just because it’s popular, though, doesn’t make it the best, so have a think about using free web hosting services instead. Don’t worry if it sounds complicated - you’ll get the hang of it quickly.

Go to a free hosting site - Mediafire and Hotshare are two well-known ones - and upload the file in question, just like you would attach it to an email. With 200MB of space usually available, it has a significant advantage over the now elderly email. Once it is uploaded, the service will give you a link, which you email to your friend. Your friend clicks on the link, and downloads the file that you uploaded. If it sounds complicated, it’s only because I have detailed every step - do it once or twice and it will become second nature.

Even though it’s not the most efficient way, you might still have your reasons for wanting to send larger files by email. If you do, you’ll need to make them smaller, and there’s two ways of doing this. You can compress (or ‘zip’) them, or divide them into smaller files. Either way, you’ll need a tool to do this, and the recipient will need a similar tool to decompress or re-join. IZArc and 7-Zip are two reliable - and free - file compression and decompression utilities. Likewise, in the area of file splitting, you’ve got plenty of choice. Even though they’re not pretty (and show little imagination in the name stakes), HJSplit and Gsplit are both fuss-free methods of chopping those unwieldy files down to size.

One of the only major disadvantages of switching to Mac is that there are far fewer games available for OS X than Windows. For example, Steam is a hugely popular gaming application on Windows which allows users to download and update an array of great games from developers Valve - the makers of Second Life.

Sadly it’s not available on Macs and usually, the only way to use it on a Mac is to install a virtual environment such as Parallels, VMware or boot in Windows using Bootcamp.

However, the former is expensive and usually results in poor game performance and of course, both methods require purchasing Windows. It’s far better - and cheaper - to run games natively in OS X if possible. But how?

That’s where CrossOver Games comes-in. CrossOver Games is based on what’s known as the “Wine” platform which means it allows you to play Windows games on Mac (or Linux) computers without purchasing a copy of Windows. Best of all, it’s only around $40 which is a snip compared to buying a virtual environment or Windows. CrossOver Games comes from the same makers of CrossOver which allows you to run many Windows applications on your Mac in a virtual environment. The advantage of CrossOver Games however is that it squeezes every last drop out of the Wine platform in order to handle the demands of games.

The app is designed for those with little technical knowledge and holds your hand throughout the setup process. You should be up and running within a matter of minutes. It won’t work for all games but the good news is that all the major ones - such as World of Warcraft, Half Life and the Steam platform, work perfectly and have been awarded “platinum” status for their stability on the Wine platform. You can find a full list of the specific games that work within Steam (most of which have been awarded at least silver status) here.

If you’ve been disappointed by gaming using a virtual environment or with Boot Camp and only miss Windows for gaming, CrossOver Games is a great solution.

One of the frustrating things about having multiple Gmail accounts is managing them all at the same time. Until recently, I’d been using the Firefox Gmail Manager Plugin but it’s an absolute pain because having two different Gmail accounts open in separate tabs automatically logs you out of both accounts after a few seconds. This is even more annoying if you’ve got other Google apps open at the same time because it logs you out of those too. The best answer I’ve found to this problem is Mailplane.

Mailplane was actually created back in the days when you needed access to your Gmail account from your desktop but IMAP support wasn’t yet available. Nowadays you can consult Gmail from any mail client like Mail.app or Thunderbird but unlike Mailplane, none of them are made specifically for the use of Gmail or make managing multiple accounts so easy.

Like a mail client, Mailplane works outside of your browser. Along the top of the interface, you have buttons for replying, sending, printing, forwarding etc much like any other mail client. There are also buttons for quickly adding photos (with special integration for iPhoto) and managing downloaded items. Alternatively, you can drag and drop attachments such as photos and documents onto mail while you’re composing it which is another very nice feature of Mailplane. A similar feature also works for taking screenshots and sending them instantly via Gmail.

You can add as many accounts as you want using the Accounts button. When new mail arrives, a Mailplane icon in your Menu bar will indicate how many are waiting to be read and each account features a number next to it indicating the amount of mail in that particular inbox. I like the fact that by clicking on the Menu bar icon, a drop down menu shows you the subject heading of unread mail in each inbox. The big advantage I’ve found though is that managing multiple inboxes with Mailplane is so much easier than doing it in your browser.

Although you can’t have more than one Gmail inbox at the same time, Mailplane makes switching between them much quicker and less hassle that in Firefox. In future, it would be nice to see a simultaneous open inboxes feature in the app but until then, it’s the best way of managing multiple Gmail inboxes I’ve found.

Tom and Elena have already explained how to stream movies from your Mac to a PS3 and an XBox. To complete the series, I’m going to explain how to stream movies from Mac to your Wii. The good news is, it couldn’t be simpler using a nifty little app called Wii Transfer. Wii Transfer not only allows you to stream movies to your Wii, but also photos, music and it even allows you to backup your Wii profiles.

Here is how to in 3 easy steps.

1. Download the Wii internet channel

Fortunately, Nintendo have seen sense and stopped charging $10 for it. The browser is now available for free. Just go to Wii Shopping on the main menu to download it.

2. Convert your videos for streaming

In the main interface, click on the “Movie” tab in the left-hand menu and drag and drop your movie files into it. Wii Transfer will then convert your films into a format the Wii can read so you may have to wait a while for this.

3. Setup sharing

Go back to the “Sharing” tab. You’ll see an IP address like: 10.0.1.197:9000. Enter this into your Wii internet browser. Read the rest of this entry »

One of the new features introduced in Windows 7 is the use of themes to customize the system’s appearance in a very easy way. Themes enable you to personalize wallpaper, screensaver, window color and system sounds in just one click. Then, if you want, you can change small details inside the selected theme and create a new custom version of it.

Themes can be selected from the Personalization window, which you can open by right clicking anywhere on the desktop and selecting Personalize. Switching to a new theme is as easy as clicking the theme’s thumbnail. The theme will be immediately applied to your system, so you get the full preview before formally applying it. You can then click on any of the customizable elements at the bottom of the window (desktop background, window color, sounds and screensaver) and change them to suit your taste. Read the rest of this entry »

I watch lots of videos on my MacBook: movies, documentaries, TV shows… but after looking at a 13-inch laptop for 2 hours you really start thinking about how much better that movie would look on a larger screen, like my own TV. The only question was, how could I transfer all the media stored in my MacBook to my TV?

The first obvious answer was buying a multimedia external drive, but I already have enough gadgets plugged to the TV and besides, I didn’t want to spend a cent on this project. Having an Xbox 360 at home, I though about the possibility of streaming video from the computer to the Xbox. You can already use the Xbox 360 to stream video to your TV via Windows Media Center, so why shouldn’t I be able to do it from my MacBook?

After a bit of googling, I found the answer in Nullriver and their awesome Connect360 utility. This little great tool is added to the System Preferences panel, under the Other section, and enables you to share your iTunes library, iPhoto albums and of course, all the contents in your Movies folder with your Xbox 360.

The program is really easy to use and doesn’t require any complicated configuration. All the options in the Settings menu are, as you can see, very simple – mainly dedicated to selecting the data you want to share between your Mac and your Xbox.

Once Connect360 is running on your Mac, switch the Xbox on and the program will recognize it immediately. Right after that, Connect360 will start indexing all the content you’ve selected to share. Read the rest of this entry »

The good news is that Windows 7 is out this week and it looks awesome. The bad news is there’s a global financial crisis going on, it’s nearly Christmas, and upgrading to the new operating system is expensive. Don’t worry your pretty little head about this, because you can still experience Windows 7 without actually paying any money, by installing themes and apps that will make your copy of XP or Vista look and feel like the new Microsoft OS. Here’s what you need:

Themes and styles

The most obvious place to start is by installing a theme or a style to mimic the Windows 7 GUI. These programs alter things like the Taskbar, Start menu, windows, and fonts, to make XP or Vista behave like Windows 7. The SevenVG RC Theme for XP is one of the better ones, and includes a wallpaper manager, along with a tool for reducing the size of the program window title bar with a single click.

Windows 7 Style for Vista brings the elegance of version 7 to your Vista PC. The small utility changes things like the height of the System Tray and displays icons for running programs in the tray without the text. Windows 7 Style for Vista also alters the look of the Start menu and comes with a whole bunch of smart new Windows 7 icons. The addition also of the Aero transparency effect helps this style to turn Vista into a work of art.

Wallpapers

If you want to truly capture the look of Windows 7 then you need to get the right wallpapers. Try the Aero 7 Windows Seven Series I Wallpapers, a collection that includes the gorgeous Aero and Aurora designs at different resolutions. A meatier collection is to be found in the Windows 7 Wallpaper Pack. The striking designs inside this bundle include landscapes, animals, oceans and abstract structures. If none of these please you then you might want to put up this Windows 7 Wallpaper, which pays homage to the new OS in fine style.

  Read the rest of this entry »

AVG Anti-Virus Free has been my antivirus of choice for the past five or six years. I like its ease of use, its moderation in system resources usage and the fact that it hardly shows any window or notification. I’ve installed and tried every single new version, including AVG Anti-Virus Free 9.0, which came out only yesterday and works really well – as usual.

But I have to say that this latest version includes also some annoying little features I didn’t like at all, chiefly regarding my browser configuration. For me, browser settings are untouchable and no program should be allowed to mess with that – not even my dear old AVG Anti-Virus. I hope this is not the beginning of the end for our relationship… well, as long as I have a way to revert those changes, it won’t be.

So, what does AVG change in your browser? First, the installer includes the AVG Security toolbar for the browser. There’s nothing wrong with this toolbar; actually, it’s actually a nice security addition for your browser. But if you don’t pay attention, you’ll also let AVG change your default search engine to Yahoo!.

Of course, if you did miss that option and let AVG change the search engine, you can always change it back to Google (or whichever you use) within the web browser. The funny thing is that AVG Anti-Virus will warn you as if it was some piece of malware trying to modify your browser settings!

All you have to do is click the icon on the system tray and confirm the change in the following dialog window.

Another thing AVG Anti-Virus changes – and this time, without letting you know – is the New tab page. Once the AVG Toolbar is installed, your New tab page will look like this: Read the rest of this entry »

October 15th is quickly becoming a popular date among bloggers all over the world. Why? Because it’s Blog Action Day, the one day when thousands of blogs join forces and write a post about the same topic, in order to raise awareness about a certain situation and encourage global debate about it. The first Blog Action Day, back in 2007, was about the environment; last year we wrote about poverty; and today the topic is climate change.

Unsurprisingly, technology bears much of the blame for climate change: gadgets that are permanently plugged – even when not in use, TV sets and stereos left on standby, computers running 24/7, oh and those airplanes… All these elements not only swell our electricity bill, but also mean an important waste of energy. But is there a way to  use technology and software in a more environmental-friendly way? Fortunately the answer is yes! Pay attention to these easy tips and learn how to do your bit to fight climate change:

1. First of all, be informed. If you want to learn more about climate change, what possible impact it could have on our planet and how we can soften it, use Google Earth. There’s a section in the Google Earth website with information about the UN climate conference in Copenhagen, and a Google Earth layer to track the influence of climate change on Earth.

2. Second, analyze the situation. How much are you contributing to climate change? Do you really care about environment in your daily life? Use a carbon calculator to determine your carbon footprint – that is, the amount of CO2 you produce – and learn tricks to lower this value. Read the rest of this entry »