Mac: As the popularity of the Mac platform increases, so too does the risk of malicious attacks. Doorstop X offers a reliable solution, providing an extra layer of protection for your Mac. The firewall has been specifically designed with Leopard users in mind, and features an easy-to-use interface, which displays security information and settings in a series of window panes.

iPhone: TweetDeck is one of the most popular desktop Twitter clients out there - and at long last an iPhone version of the app has arrived. It hasn’t half bad either. TweetDeck for iPhone displays everything that’s going on on Twitter in a highly organized way. As with the PC and Mac versions, TweetDeck for iPhone uses a system of columns to make it easy for you to track who’s doing what.

Windows: Singing along to your favorite bands is fun, provided you know the lyrics. And if you don’t, let LyricsFetcher do the hard work for you. This app scans your music library in iTunes or Windows Media Player, finds the lyrics to all your songs in the blink of an eye, and pastes the information directly into the files’s ID tags.

In the world of iPods and iPhones, there’s nothing more annoying than not being able to copy your music from them onto your hard drive. This is because Apple have locked both devices so that you can only copy music onto them but not vice-versa. This is incredibly frustrating if you want to replace a song you’ve lost or deleted in iTunes, your Mac has crashed and your iPod/iPhone is the only place you’ve saved your music, or if you simply want to transfer some songs between computers.

Fortunately, there are two excellent “unlocking” solutions for Mac in the form of Senuti and iPodRip. Both applications used to be free but now require a modest fee to use them. Both have free trial versions however and I put them both through their paces to see which is best.

Senuti

Firstly, Senuti supports both iPod and iPhones so if you own the latter as well, then it’s a no-brainer which to choose. The interface of Senuti is very clean and as soon as you connect your iPod, your music and playlists appear pretty much instantly. To transfer a song, you can either drag and drop them or select the song and click the clearly labeled “Transfer” button in the top left corner.

That’s about all there is to it. Once a track is transferred, it is denoted with a blue dot which tells you that it has already been transferred to your hard drive. You can also play songs simply by double clicking on them. The demo is limited to 30 days and 1000 song transfers but there’s no nag screen and the full license costs $18. Read the rest of this entry »

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: are you tired of always listening to the same MP3 libraries and local radio stations? Then give Internet radio a try! RadioSure is a lightweight yet powerful online radio player that lets you listen to thousands of free online radio stations worldwide. Plus it lets you add your own radio stations and record streaming music to your hard drive in MP3 format.

BlackBerry: If you ever wished you were around when the industrial revolution kicked off, then Sid Meier’s Railroad Tycoon will give you the chance to revisit history. This BlackBerry version of the popular PC-based Railroad Tycoon game allows you to build your very own transportation empire. Your aim is to master supply and demand and use your tactical know-how to expand your rail network.

Mac: There aren’t half as many video conversion tools available for Mac as there are for Windows, so when one comes along which is quick, easy to use and most importantly, completely free, you take note. Evom ticks all of the above boxes and will even upload your conversions directly to YouTube. Everything is clearly presented, it handles all major formats and using Evom is a breeze.

Windows: Looking for a nice, clean RSS reader to check your favorite news every morning? ShareFire may be the program you need. This sleek AIR-based app lets you access your RSS feeds in a comfortable interface, organize them by folders, see the selected item on its original website and easily share the most interesting posts in Facebook, Delicious, MySpace, Digg, Twitter and more.

Symbian: Living in a castle is great but it does have its downsides. One of the main ones being that you’re prone to attacks by invaders who want to get into your castle, as you’ll witness in Defender. An interesting mobile strategy game, Defender charges you with the task of defending your citadel from waves of attacks by nasty monsters.

Mac: Sick of Internet Explorer and tired of Firefox? Safari is Apple’s iconic browser, and as you’d expect, it’s a delight to use and easy on the eye. Version 4 (now out of beta) sees some exciting introductions such as Top Pages to instantly see your most visited pages, tabs on top for easier management and Cover Flow to flip through your bookmarked sites iTunes style.

BlackBerry: If you like puzzle games and own a BlackBerry then be sure to try out Crazysoft Paintball II. Your goal is to join three or more balls of the same colour and ensure they are next to a pipe. Once in place, you select them then splat them with paint using the action key. The balls will then change colour and get sucked into the pipe, leaving more space on the board for you to make your next batch.

Windows: If you’d like to use the extensive iTunes library on your home PC while you’re somewhere else, you can either carry your entire music collection with you or simply use pulpTunes. This easy tool lets you remotely access your iTunes library via a web browser, and listen to your favorite music wherever you are.

Mac: With broadband speeds and processing power increasing all the time, desktop sharing is becoming an increasingly competitive area in the software field. Mikogo has been available on Windows for well over a year but only now has it finally been released for Mac. It’s a free, simple and extremely easy to use application that allows you to switch from host to presenter in a click.

Pocket PC: Browsing the Web on a mobile phone is traditionally such a painful process that many of us simply don’t bother. Thankfully things are beginning to change though, thanks to apps such as Firefox Mobile, or Fennec as it’s also known. The alpha version is now available to test drive, but you’ll need an HTC Touch Pro, because this is the only device that Fennec is currently compatible with.

Windows: Want to create a presentation with your photos but don’t even know where to start? Muvee Reveal is the app you need. This awesome editor lets you create attractive video presentations in a variety of formats, including your favorite images and short video clips. The program is dead easy to use and includes a bunch of themes and transition effects.

Mac: Ripping a DVD is the process of extracting all the video files from that disk so that you can make copies of it (for your own use of course). However, DVDs can contain hundreds of video, audio, subtitle and menu files that can also be highly encrypted making copying or ripping a real chore. RipIt has been made so that even a beginner to ripping will be able to make their own backups in just a few steps.

The lovely people at Valve, one of the best developers around at the moment, are offering a free weekend of multiplayer mayhem in Team Fortress 2. If you’re unacquainted with it, it’s possibly the best multiplayer team shooter out there, with great balance and an emphasis on fun gaming.

The game is available for pre-loading now, and the free weekend should start sometime today, finishing next Tuesday. You’ll have to install Steam, Valve’s download manager, but that’s no bad thing as there’s some fantastic stuff there.

Windows: Nobody is free from computer disasters, so the best you can do is make sure all your important data is conveniently backed up. With GFI Backup you can easily create copies of sensitive data, as well as sync contents between different folders. Backup copies can be scheduled,  compressed and encrypted for more security.

Mac: With so many photo-publishing avenues available on the Net, there’s now more risk than ever of your images being plagiarized or used without your permission. iWatermark is a powerful and effective way to protect your images, providing just about every conceivable control over how you wish to add watermarks.

iPhone: If you’re a fan of The King then make sure you check out Elvis Mobile. This iPhone app, from the developer of Elvis.com, is a haven of news and information about Elvis, allowing you to feed your passion for the wobbly-hipped burger fan anywhere you go. The application can be browsed using a neat sliding navigation panel at the bottom of the interface.

Windows: If you know how to use Photoshop you surely can follow this tutorial to create a tilt-shift effect. But if you don’t, there’s an easier option for you. It’s called TiltShift Generator and enables you apply an attractive tilt-shift effect to your images in a snap and obtain really eye-catching results. Why don’t you give it a go?

Pocket PC: If you’re the kind of person who prefers to play games alone then Astraware Solitaire 1.26 could be just the download for you. The suite contains 12 different single-player card games, including the likes of Klondike, Pyramid, Spider, Clock and Yukon. Each game has customizable gameplay options, allowing you to tailor the rules to how you like to play it.

Mac: If you’re a bit of a computer whiz, then you probably often get asked by friends and family to sort out their latest Mac or PC disasters. However, if you live far apart, have a busy lifestyle or can’t get to them easily, you might find CrossLoop a godsend. With a network of online Mac and PC experts ready to help connect to you and fix your machine, CrossLoop is an essential free remote admin tool.

It’s no secret that the printing industry is in decline and print outlets are having to find new ways of reaching their readers. The internet is obviously playing a big part in this but the downside is that you lose that authentic broadsheet newspaper reading experience. Having tried the latest version of The Times Reader however, I think the newspaper industry might finally have found a true way forward that balances the best of both worlds.

The New York Times Reader was released over a year ago but it was based on Microsoft’s Silverlight platform and didn’t really impress. Now the company have switched to the far superior Adobe Air platform, it looks like a much more attractive product. Although the reader is free, only subscribers of The New York Times can access all sections but four sections (Front Page, Business, News in Video and a Classic Crossword) are available for free. All sections update every 5 minutes with the latest news.

On using The Times Reader for the first time, print nostalgics will be struck by just how realistic it is to having the paper in your hands. There’s a sense of elegance at the space offered by a newspaper layout compared to the condensed, busy pages on the internet edition. Navigating is simply a case of dragging pages around with the mouse or scrolling through pages with arrows. Hyperlinks are preserved as is multimedia content and even crosswords. Read the rest of this entry »

Pocket PC : Using your mobile to watch online video? Why not give vtap a go? Search for videos without opening a web browser, or even visiting the site. Vtap pulls content from most major video sites, providing a convenient way to watch whatever you want from your Pocket PC.

Mac: If you’ve ever read Dave Allen’s Getting Things Done then the newly updated Things might help you put some of his advice into practice. Things is an innovative task management program for Mac which lets you easily create tasks and organize them by type and importance in guiding you to become a more efficient worker.

Windows: If an e-reader is a gadget too far for you, but you like the idea of reading an electronic newspaper in its intended format, The New York Times TimesReader may be an answer. It’s really readable, and beautifully presented. This may be the model for the survival of newspapers in the future.

Windows: Do you use iTunes? Now you can improve its functionality as player with SkiniTunes Basic, a small customizable desktop player for iTunes that adds new features to the iTunes mini-player, and makes it easier and more comfortable to use. If iTunes is your music manager of choice, but you never got to like its built-in player, you have to give this a try.

Symbian: If, like some folk I know, you can’t bear to be away from your Twitter feed for more than a couple of minutes, then get a load of Twittix. This streamlined Twitter client for Series 60 is lightweight and easy-to-use, allowing you to quickly check what the people you’re following are doing, but also post your own tweets from wherever you may be.

Mac: There’s nothing worse than going to open a file and finding that it’s either been corrupted or the data has been somehow deleted. FileSalvage is a simple data recovery program that aims to retrieve files that have been deleted, rescue data from corrupted media and recover lost files from storage devices whether internal or external.

BlackBerry: The PC game of Solitaire must surely be one of the biggest distractions of the 20th century, thanks to its addictive, pick-up-and-play gameplay. These days you don’t even need to be sat at a computer to enjoy the game, as Aces Solitaire proves. The game grabs the classic solitaire game from the PC, along with 14 other variants, to help you ensure that you never get bored on the bus again.

Windows : CodySafe is a little application for your pen drive that gives you a great little interface from which you can access your folders and portable applications. There are so many portable versions available today, you could have almost your entire PC life running from your USB drive, no matter what PC you’re working on. If you’ve USB sticks lying around unused, give CodySafe a go!

Mac:  If you don’t want to pay for Parallels to host Windows inside OS X, VirtualBox is a free open source alternative that does a pretty decent job too. With VirtualBox, you can install any version of Windows (as long as you have the boot disk), Linux, Solaris and just about any other operating system you can think of. VirtualBox holds your hand through the whole setup process so you never feel out of your depth.

The stream of indie games seams to increase by the minute, from big and lengthy developments, to games created in hours. Much of this output is also free, and without commercial marketing constraints there are some truly bizarre experiences out there.

A combination of money and resources mean the 2D scene is alive and well, from the beautiful Braid to short and tough mini developments like Sword Calibre. Some of these bring something new to 2D gaming, and many are resolutely retro in style and gameplay. Either way, what’s on offer is very different to most commercial releases.

There are 3D games too.  Classic 1990s 3D engines, like Wolfenstein, Doom and Quake (the standard bearers for their respective generations) are still producing fun today: Bizarre story telling from cult developers with Judith, joyful uber street violence like Urban Brawl, and probably my favourite experience of the last year: Gravity Bone.  If you want something that looks a bit more modern, college creation Glasshouse is an interesting 3D puzzle game, with presentation and graphics that are incredible for a free game.

Another genre that’s produced a plethora of indie releases is the “physics based game” (which generally mean your success involves using gravity in some way). Crayon Physics is the most obvious example, but there are others like FlickerStrings, Numpty Physics and the excellent And Yet it Moves.