The Web is full of handy software applications that can contribute to make your life a bit easier. Whatever your need is, it’ll probably take you only a few minutes of Googling to find a suitable program for it. But if you look further, you’ll see there are other applications the aim of which is not precisely to be useful and efficient. In fact, there are a quite a few of these useless programs that seem to have been created for no reason at all - or at least, for no sane reason. Here are some examples I found on the Web, though I’m sure you’ll know many more.

Alien Communicator - Believe or not, ‘the truth is out there’. And if you want to find it, you better start contacting aliens right now. When you run this tool, aliens will be able to communicate telepathically with you and leave messages by controlling the number generation capabilities of your PC.

Voice Lie Detector - If you think your partner or your kids are not completely sincere, you need a lie detector. This program uses an old algorithm to detect voice stress, an unmistakable signal that will enable you to discover if you’re being lied to.

Parrot Trainer - So you have a parrot, but can’t be bothered to train it by yourself? Let your PC do the hard work for you! This app repeats the same sound over and over again until your parrot learns them by heart. According to the developer, you can also use to nag your kids, husband, wife… What’s more, it comes with four sound samples recorded by the developer himself. Read the rest of this entry »

Crane wars is an almost ready for release game from Flashbang studios, the quirky team behind Paper Moon, Off Road Velociraptor and Minotaur China Shop. You can play a beta 3 version of this browser game here. You control a crane at a construction site, and have to build tower blocks, while watching out for attacks from a neighbouring crane company. You can throw objects at the competition’s buildings, and they can do the same! The game is timed - your budget is constantly being drained, and when it runs out the game is over.

The controls are simple, but building your skyscrapers can be a bit fiddly, especially when someone’s throwing trucks at your creation! Like all of the games on Blurst, Crane Wars is compelling mainly because it’s a cool and ridiculous idea. It was originally scheduled for release today on the Blurst site, so if you don’t fancy playing the beta and want to wait, it shouldn’t be long… As with all Blurst games, you’ll need the Unity browser plug-in.

Pocket PC: Generally speaking, tennis sims for mobile devices are pretty lame. Fiddly controls and jerky animation are often the main culprits in the failings of these titles. Not so in VT Pocket Tennis though, which proves to be one the most enjoyable games of its kind on the Pocket PC. It has a wonderfully realistic feel to it, with well-rendered 3D players, authentic shadow effects and motion blur.

Mac: If you’ve gone crazy for the iPhone then why not bring the iPhone look to your Mac? Spiffy Icon Pack provides over 50 iPhone style icons that give your Mac a unique flavor. All of the icons are beautifully illustrated featuring most major Mac program icons including Adobe Dreamweaver, Excel, iChat, iDVD, iTunes and Skype to name just a few.

Windows: After a short invite-only beta stage, Trillian has now launched as an open beta, which means you can freely download this powerful, sleek multi-platform IM client and give it a try. The new Trillian Astra Beta 4.0.0.109 features support for a dozen IM protocols and has an extensive settings menu to fully customize it.

Windows: After a few months in alpha stage, Opera 10 has finally reached the beta milestone in its development. The new Opera 10 Beta web browser has a 40% faster engine and flawless support for Web standards, as well as a customizable speed dial, inline spell-check, automated crash reporting, and the so called Opera Turbo for fast browsing on slow connections.

Mac: If you don’t trust Keychain on the Mac, then take a look at the newly updated 1Password. This tiny but powerful application allows you to store and manage multiple identities and passwords for use in all sorts of programs, websites or browsers. 1Password works with most major browsers and includes an extension to quickly access your credentials while you’re surfing the net.

iPhone: Personally, whenever I go to a theme park I’m usually the one who volunteers to stay at the bottom and look after the bags. I did manage to pluck up the courage to install Rollercoaster Rush on my iPhone though. The aim of the game is to get your carriage from the start of the track to the finish without derailing it. Your only means of doing this is by tapping the right side of the iPhone to accelerate and the left side to brake.

Google entered the browsing wars with Google Chrome for Windows just under a year ago and according to a study by Net Applications, it’s already become the fourth biggest browser out there with almost 2% of the market. Mac fans can now try Google Chrome for themselves although it’s worth noting that this is strictly a developer release meaning some features (such as bookmarking and Flash movies) are not working yet.

This release only works on Intel Macs and is prone to bugs and instability but it’s enough to give you a good idea as to what the finished product will look and feel like. The first thing I noticed about Google Chrome is that it’s unbelievably lightweight. While Firefox was consuming anything from 20-30% of my Mac’s CPU, Chrome barely registered on the scale occasionally touching 3%.

For anyone who’s plagued with Firefox memory leaks and crashes, this alone is surely going to be a compelling reason to give Chrome a go. As you’d expect, Google Chrome also features a type of tabbed browsing which improves on Firefox’s slightly cramped user experience.

Google Chrome is also extremely quick. Surfing the Softonic site, page loads took less then a second and all images were loaded very quickly. YouTube in particular loaded with lightening speed but unfortunately, because the Flash player is disabled in this developer release, it wasn’t possible to test watching videos.

However, sometimes, it simply produced nothing when trying to find the YouTube homepage and maybe this is one of the bugs Google are working on. Overall however, the handling of sites using JavaScript in particular was mightily impressive. I also like the way that when you open Chrome, it displays windows of your most visited sites so you can click on them to go straight to them.

If only there were more extensions for Google Chrome, I’d seriously consider converting when the final build is released. Before that happens though, it will need to get much more popular. Based on this first proof, Safari and Firefox may well have a real fight on their hands.

Windows: If you live abroad and make lots of long distance calls maybe you should consider start using VoIP technology. The most popular VoIP app, Skype, has just hit version 4.1 Beta and offers some really interesting new features: built-in screen sharing, ability to send contacts, birthday reminder, and improvements in audio and video quality.

Mac: Are you a Windows Winamp fan? MPLAY Multimedia Player is very similar as an extremely simple media player that makes it as easy as possible to mix and match your favourite music. MPLAY was originally designed as an easy-to-use MP3 player but has grown to become an MP3 mixer, audio/midi player, video player and even an image viewer. You can even add things onto it such as an MP3 to AIFF converter and more.

Symbian: If you’ve been piling on the pounds and want to get those thighs in shape for bikini season then look no further than your Nokia phone for help. Install Nokia Step Counter on your device and you’ll be able to see how many calories you’re shedding with every step you take. The app works by utilizing the accelerometer in your handset, recording the number of steps you make, time in motion, distance traveled, and calories expended.

When it comes to troubleshooting friend’s and relatives computers from afar, one of the best remote access applications I’ve ever used is CrossLoop. When I switched to Mac, however, I had to dump it but I’m pleased to see the developers have finally launched a Mac version.

The great thing is that the Mac version supports access of both Windows and Macs so you can help out people on both platforms. In addition, Crossloop now serves as an online marketplace, where you can connect not only to friends, but to online experts who, for an hourly fee, will help you with technical issue.

The key to CrossLoop’s appeal is its simplicity. After installing CrossLoop, you are prompted whether you want to create an account although this is optional. Afterwards you are presented with small panel with two tabs. Select the ‘Join’ tab if you would like to connect and control a friend’s Mac. Select the ‘Host’ tab if you would like someone to access to your Mac i.e. to receive technical help.

This host tab contains an important 12-digit access code that your friend will need to enter to connect to your PC. Obviously, the only requirement is that the other person has CrossLoop installed too to initiate a session. Once done, you’re ready to go. A separate window opens on your desktop with your friend’s desktop and you can tinker with it to your heart’s content.

Obviously, the main concern with such desktop sharing applications is speed and security. As regards speed, you can choose whether to share in low or high quality, the former being faster and recommended for slow internet connections. It’s great that CrossLoop now offers this choice because there’s nothing worse than trying to share over a slow connection.

As far as security is concerned, the developer maintains that all sent information is highly encrypted with a 128-bit algorithm using the randomly generated 12-digit access code mentioned earlier. There’s no need to worry about anyone accessing your PC without permission either – a pop-up requesting permission from you alerts you before any information is exchanged. Most recently, CrossLoop has introduced file sending plus an online marketplace of experts which enables you to find professional Mac specialists who can help with your problems with fees ranging from around$50 an hour.

The only minor drawback of CrossLoop is that it doesn’t support multiple connections, although for most people seeking technical help, this is probably neither desirable or practical either. The bottom line is that CrossLoop really is an excellent application for what it offers i.e. simple and effective remote connections. The fact that it is free only adds to its appeal considering similar programs such as Copilot charge anything up to $5 for just 24 hours of use.

Mac: Although uTorrent has come along and proved stiff competition, Transmission (updated to version 1.60) remains one of best torrent clients out there on Mac thanks to a beautiful interface and a simple set of intuitive features. This new version brings many more improvements to an already solid release. You can set different priority levels for torrents and establish stall limit times, new speed limit modes and have more control over bandwidth.

Pocket PC: Install VirusChaser and a bug will be unleashed on your PDA, that no antivirus software can save you from. Instead you’ll have to do the job yourself. Don’t panic, because VirusChaser is just a game, in which you need to prevent a green bug escaping from a network of tiles. To do this you need to block its way by creating barriers from green tiles. Just click on a tile to turn it green. Hurry up though before you get infected!

Windows: After a few months of beta testing, Microsoft has finally launched Windows 7 RC. This version fixes hundreds of bugs and improves the system’s general performance, while keeping the same cool new features we already saw in the Beta.  You can ownload the ISO file - Windows Live account required - and try it for free until June 1st, 2010.

If you didn’t have enough with our review about Windows 7 RC and the blog post with further details about the Release Candidate, here’s a video where you’ll be able to see Microsoft’s new operating system in action while waiting for the 2.36 GB file to download.

After a few months of beta testing, Microsoft has finally launched the release candidate of their highly-anticipated new operating system: Windows 7. I don’t know whether this will be the first of a series of RC versions or just the only one before Windows 7 Final is launched in October, but in any case I must say it’s quite similar to the Beta we tested a while ago.

While Windows 7 RC doesn’t introduce any remarkable changes - at least that we can notice – Microsoft developers have fixed loads of bugs and improved the system’s general performance, thanks to the feedback of thousands of beta testers. This means we can enjoy an even more stable, smoothly-running system that doesn’t hog system resources and includes some nice new features that can make your computer experience easier and more enjoyable.

The Release Candidate keeps the same Vista-like appearance, and all the Windows 7 goodies as well: fully revamped versions of Wordpad, Paint and the Windows Calculator, which have become quite powerful apps now; a new toolbar with enhanced functionality; the all-new Windows Media Center and Windows Libraries, that help you manage media files in a better way; and also the latest versions of Internet Explorer and Windows Media Player.

The Windows 7 new taskbar is probably one of the most outstanding characteristics in Microsoft’s new operating system. Like the Mac Dock, it features quick launch shortcuts to your most frequently used apps which can also be used to switch between running programs. The similar window grouping tool has also been improved and now requires less mouse clicks to change from one window to another. Finally, the preview thumbnail function is really cool: it lets you have a sneak peek at the window’s content without having to open it. Read the rest of this entry »

[Image from Google]

Get more from Google Latitude [Google Mobile Blog]

Ubiquity to be integrated into Firefox [ghacks.net]

Apple & Google being investigated amid antitrust concerns [NYT]

Windows 7 RC released to consumers - exclusive video [Softonic]

UK spy agency’s £1bn Mastering The Internet project [Times Online]

Could Apple buy Twitter? [Gawker]

If you find regular war games just a bit too realistic these days, you’ll be pleased to hear that the developer of Battlefield Heroes, the cartoony online multiplayer shooter, is giving out beta testing keys. You just have to sign up here, and wait for a key to be emailed to you (it may take a few days).

Once you’ve got your key, after the installation process you’ll finally be able to log in and play. The game itself is really cool, with the emphasis on fun and accessibility. This is a game everyone should be able to enjoy, not just the hardcore gamer. There’s a training mission that’ll take you through everything you need to know, and then you’re off. Players are ranked, so you shouldn’t be outgunned by battle-hardened killers.

It’s completely free, and really well put together. The only criticism I had of it was that you can only play in full-screen mode, meaning you can’t jump out for a second to check your mail and so on. You probably won’t want to be distracted though, as the action’s really fast paced and competitive. We can’t wait for the full release of Battlefield Heroes.

The Windows 7 team made it official a couple of days ago: the first Release Candidate of Windows 7 will be available for downloading and testing on May 5th. That’s only a few days away, so it’s time to take a deeper look and see what this RC may include and if there are any changes comparing to the previous Beta.

According to the developers working on Windows 7, the beta period and all the testers involved in it have been a great help for fixing bugs and improving the overall performance in Microsoft’s new operating system. At some point during this period, they were receiving a new feedback report every 15 seconds! All these suggestions have contributed to tweak and fine tune the Windows 7 taskbar and desktop, the Aero Peek function and the new version of Windows Media Player, among others. You can read more about all these changes in these two posts published on the Engineering Windows 7 blog.

Another interesting feature in Windows 7 RC we heard about is the so called Windows XP mode. In Paul Thurrott’s words, this Windows XP mode is a virtualized version of Windows XP SP3 that will run inside Microsoft’s Virtual PC framework and which will allow Windows 7 users to keep on using XP-only apps. This functionality won’t be built in the Windows 7 Release Candidate, but rather be offered as a separate download for RC users and eventually, Windows 7 Professional and Ultimate users. The idea sounds fine to me, but I’d need to see how smoothly this virtual XP can run inside another operating system.

Now, what about expiration dates? The Beta version was available for download for a whole month, which makes me think that this RC is likely to be available until June 2009 and will last for a few months. Rumor has it that the final version of Windows 7 will be released in October. In any case don’t wait until the last day and be sure to get your copy on May 5th. We are looking forward to hearing your impressions!

Windows: Have you ever wanted to test a program but were afraid of possible consequences for your PC? Here’s your life vest! Returnil Virtual System creates a temporary disposable copy of your system on a virtual partition that lets you test anything without ruining your actual system. Simply reboot and you’ll be back to your dear computer.

Symbian: Want to get in shape for the summer? Nokia Activity Monitor is an innovative utility that lets you monitor your level of physical activity using your phone. The program makes use of the accelerometer, a sensor included on some of the newer Nokia handsets. Activity Monitor uses this sensor to count the steps you take throughout the day.

Mac: Sick of browser crashes due to unstable tabs? Stainless is a new super lightweight browser that looks like Google Chrome but is much simpler and operates each tab independently. The advantage of this is that if you’re experiencing slow page loads due to Flash plugins or Java problems, it won’t affect the rest of the tabs!

After being in development for almost three years, Cerulean Studios has started to slowly roll out the latest version of the all-new Trillian Astra. Currently available as an invite-only download, Trillian Astra is the logic evolution of good old Trillian, a popular multi-platform IM client released by the end of 2000. Trillian was not the first IM app to offer multi-network connectivity, but it stood out of the crowd thanks to an intuitive interface design that helped users manage their contacts from different networks in a much easier way.

Trillian Astra keeps that same spirit of making things easy for the user. Right after installing it, you’re taken through an intuitive yet painfully lengthy step-by-step configuration process. You’ll be able to choose interface style, nickname, avatar and of course, select the networks you want to manage through Trillian. The program now supports Live Messenger, AOL Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, Google Talk, ICQ, Facebook, MySpaceIM, Skype, Jabber, IRC, Twitter, e-mail accounts (POP3 and IMAP) and Bonjour, besides the Astra proprietary network.

Trillian Astra boasts a nice interface design, though it can get quite bloated with contacts lists from a dozen different IM platforms. Fortunately you decide which networks to load on program startup, and temporarily hide certain lists as well. In a way, I see the new Trillian Astra not as a multi-platform instant messaging tool anymore, but more like a social timeline where you can chat with your friends – either by text, voice or video - and also see what they’re up to on Facebook or Twitter.

With so many supported networks, you can imagine Trillian Astra has a massive preferences menu. Some of the most interesting options include the possibility to create custom away messages, manage the contact list behavior, configure notifications and control file transfers, among others.

Like I said, Trillian Astra is now at a beta testing phase, but if you are too curious to wait until the final official release, fill in this form to subscribe as beta tester and you’ll probably get an invite soon. Mine took hardly a couple of minutes to arrive.