If you, like most of the world, are a Windows user, having to run things such as anti-virus and anti-spyware programs are just a part of everyday life to try and keep your system running nicely.
My personal favorite, that I install on all the Windows PCs that I regularly have to keep in check (family, friends who haven’t seen the light of Mac or Linux etc.) is AVG. Great news is that AVG plan to release the new free edition of AVG 8.0 on Thursday now with added spyware protection to boot! Great news, and sounds like it could be an essential upgrade.
AVG Technologies plans to release a revamped version of its popular, free anti-malware scanner on Thursday.
Version 8.0 of the software will add anti-spyware and safe search features to its core anti-virus engine. Safe surfing features, that give users warnings about visiting insecure websites all the time not just when they search, will remain a paid feature of AVG’s full fat product.
Both the safe search and safe surfing features use Linkscanner technology, acquired by AVG when it bought Exploit Prevention Labs last December
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I’m already a lover of Spanning Sync, version 2 promises to have contact syncing between all your Google apps with the Mac address book. This could be very very good. Check the link for a video of it in action.
People know Spanning Sync for its ability to sync Apple iCal with Google Calendar. In fact, more than 70,000 people have used Spanning Sync to do just that. But calendars are only one part of the equation.
Our users tell us that they also need to be able to sync their Mac Address Book with their contacts in Gmail and Google Apps. So Spanning Sync 2.0 does both—calendars and contacts.
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This is one way to get your perfect coffee fix…
If you’re both a coffee- and gadget-freak, this project by DIY’er Tim Hirzel will probably be a notably inspiring hack. By combining a fancy-pants Rancilio Silvia espresso machine, the multi-purpose Arduino micro-controller, a Wii nunchuk, and some seriously high-level hacking, Tim has created a one-of-a-kind masterpiece. The typically straight-up espresso maker is now controlled electronically, allowing integration of a calendar, sleep timer, wake-up alarm, and temperature regulation. The system also allows a user to time its functions (to get that perfect cup of espresso), and the nunchuk can be used to alter settings on the unit. Be sure and take a look at the video after the break to see this mod in action.
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Okay, really bad pun…
Just come across this website Open Source Food. It’s yet another social networking site, but the difference with this one is that it is centered around one of my favorite things - Food!
Should be well worth a look for a few interesting recipes.
Amazing Recipes. Delicious Food. Beautiful Photography. Created and rated by you and fellow food-lovers from all over the world. Open Source Food is your gastronomic hub where every visit will bring inspiration and a rumbling belly…
Dan in the office has Fring on his Nokia and it seems pretty cool - this looks quite useful, let’s just hope the call quality gets improved though (3G should help this out).
Sure, the iPhone is cool looking, works out a lot, and is really good at math… but it can’t do VoIP, can it? Well, yes it can — and you can, thanks to a company called Fring and a piece of ingenious software (for jailbreakers only). Using the native app, it’s now possible to place and receive calls via your WiFi connection, thus making AT&T CEOs cry like little babies. Besides doing Skype and the like, the app also lets you connect for chats via MSN Messenger, ICQ, GTalk, SIP, Twitter, AIM, and Yahoo!, which should make this an attractive package even if you don’t want to harness the raw power of IP telephony. You can get the application for free by loading up Installer with the company’s repo. Check the video after the break to see the magic happen.
Check out the link for a video of it in action.
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Ohh, now the question is - do we wait for the 3G version or not… (I think this - if it is true - is a pretty good sign that the 3G version is around the corner).
O2 will cut £100 off the price of the Apple iPhone tomorrow, it has been claimed. Carphone Warehouse is said to be planning to match the move.
There’s no official confirmation yet, of course. The claim was made today by website Mobile Today.
If O2 and CW do knock £100 off the price of the iPhone, taking the handset’s price to £169, it will undoubtedly further fuel speculation that carriers are clearing out stocks of the 2.5G phone ahead of the widely anticipated introduction of a 3G version in June.
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Late to the game as always, I finally got onto COD4 last night.
Oh. my. god. This game is frigging awesome!
I had no idea what I was doing half the time, and spent most of the night watching replays of how I died, but I haven’t had a laugh like this with a game since Gears of War came out. Halo 3 was good, great even - but it just didn’t have that stand out ‘you’re gonna remember this’ feeling to it, it was just more, well, Halo.
Maybe this is because COD4 is my first COD game and i’ve just been missing out all of these years (the WWII stuff never really appealed).
Anyway, enough of my rambling… If you own a machine capable of gaming in anyway, be it Xbox, PS3, Wii, PC, your toaster, whatever - you need to try out COD4.
Oh, and for real giggles, try an 18 player free-for-all on the world’s smallest map ‘Shipment’. I think I had on average about 5 seconds between respawns! 
This made me chuckle so much I had to link to it! Omgi’s need to be stopped… 
A 19-year-old Saaarf London girl has been advised to use the Queen’s English on the phone after her hunt for a cab to whisk her to Bristol airport ended less than satisfactorily.
According to the Daily Mail, the unnamed teen rang directory enquiries two weeks ago and initially requested a number for a “Joe Baxi” firm. The nonplussed operator told her she couldn’t find anyone by that name, to which the lass replied: “It ain’t a person, it’s a cab, innit.”
The enlightened operator duly put her through to Bishop’s Stortford-based retail display supplier Displaysense, where she “spoke to an equally bemused saleswoman” before thundering: “Look love, how hard is it? All I want is your cheapest cab, innit. I need it for 10am. How much is it?”
The answer was £180, and with the deal done by credit card, Displaysense obliged by delivering a display cabinet to her door the next morning.
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I somehow managed to miss this one. Quake 3 running on hacked iPod Touch’s! They keep making it harder and harder to resist an iPhone/iPod Touch…
Future generations will most likely divide the timeline of history at this point: when Quake 3 achieved motion-sensing, wireless network play on two iPod touches. Just think, less than a year ago we were salivating (or at least mildly enthused) at the prospect of rocking Doom on this thing, and now Quake 3 Arena is yours for the taking — or at least will be once we get any sort of hard info on this app.
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A great guide to help you in not getting things done.
Sure, we’ve all read those lists of tweaks you can make to your system to increase productivity, but what if you’re not in such an all-fired hurry to get things done? What if you’re already plenty efficient, and actually need to slow things down a bit until that five o’clock whistle blows? Well, lucky for you, we’ve compiled a list of the top ten best ways to slow down your system, and decrease productivity. Please feel free to add your favorites in the comments. (Oh, and we by no means recommend you do any of these to your friends’ computers, even if it IS April 1st).
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