A few weeks ago we wrote about a free audio converter that was pretty nice, but when installing the app it tries to also put a bunch of third-party software on your machine. I made sure to point this out, but our readers stepped up and mentioned several other apps that are both free and clean. One of them, called winLAME, was recommended by Ian and really caught my attention.
I've been using Windows 7 Media Center as my dedicated media hub for the last few weeks, and it's been a nice upgrade from Vista Media Center. Some improvements include support for up to 4 tuners for each type (QAM, ATSC, etc...), a lot of interface improvements, and HD support to name a few. It can even play AVI/DivX files natively without needing any add-ons.
In our WrapUp earlier this morning we talked about how a new build of Office 2010 Beta had been leaked, and in this build Microsoft included new icons for each of the applications. It didn't take long for someone to extract all of the icons from the release and assemble them into an icon pack, which is exactly what one DeviantArt user did (our download mirror).
Mouse gestures are something that I've gotten into the habit of using for years now, and giving them up would almost be like giving up the ability to use keyboard shortcuts. Some gestures have become second nature to me, and when I'm on a computer that doesn't have that capability I get rather frustrated.
Today Apple kind of took everyone by surprise when they released a big milestone for the Safari browser. The new Safari 4 Beta from Apple borrows some ideas from their competition, and they spiced it up a bit with some fancy graphics. This is most notably seen in the "Top Sites" screen as seen in the image above.
Big news came Wednesday at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) when Steve Ballmer said that they would be releasing a copy of Windows 7 Beta that the public can actually get their hands on.
I've been waiting to see what Opera had in store for us in version 10, and it looks like everyone is finally getting a peak. In fact I'm a bit surprised by what has been revealed so far, but in a good way. For awhile it seemed like other browsers were trying to find their own ways to adopt features that were first introduced in Opera, but the opposite never really happened.
ESET NOD32 and Smart Security have always been my favorite security products because of their performance and high detection levels. There's some good news for current owners! ESET is getting ready to move to the next level with version 4 of their security suite and antivirus software.
If you like to stay on the bleeding edge of technology (and you're running Vista) you may want to consider modifying two registry keys on your system so that you can participate in the Vista SP2 Beta program. To join the program all you have to do is download this batch file, and run it on your Vista machine as an administrator.
Microsoft unveiled Windows 7 today at the Professional Developers Conferences (PDC). There wasn't anything too unbelievable, but they did show off a revamped Taskbar that some are saying is inspired by Mac's Dock. Windows 7 will use what looks like oversized quick launch icons. Don't be fooled though. Those icons are used to not only start apps, but also switch between them.
