This year looks like being another super-productive one for gadgets with all manner of new gizmos being announced. In fact, some 20,000 new products were unveiled at this years Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January, and many of those are just the sort of thing that you’ll want to put on your wishlist for the year ahead. However, with money tight for most of us, which ones should you put top of the ‘priority’ list? [Read more…]
Ten Uncommon Social Networks You Should Know About
Beyond all the regular faces on the social networking scene that we’ve all grown far too familiar with, there is a whole of slew of entrepreneurial and uncommon social networks that are worth mentioning. Each of these has something new, different, and valuable to offer the world of social networking. Here are ten uncommon social networks sites other than Facebook and Twitter you should know something about.
43 Things:
43 Thing
s is a social networking site that focuses on connecting people with similar hopes, dreams, and goals. Users must list their top life’s goals or hopes, and they are then connected to other users with similar hopes and goals in order to find plenty of common ground.
Academia.edu:
Academia.edu is a social networking site directed at researchers and academics who wish to collaborate with other professionals in their fields of expertise. A massive amount of academic fields are represented, and Academia.edu is known to users as the Facebook for geniuses.
Audimated:
Audimated is a social networking site for lovers of music. Both musicians themselves and their fans are welcomed with open arms into Audimated, which sees itself as a platform of promotion for independent artists. The rights to all creative content made public via Audimated are kept by the artists themselves.
Buzznet is a gossipy, trendy social networking and celebrity news site. Combining social networking with paparazzi feeds and a wealth of celebrity information, Buzznet unites fans from all corners of the globe. There are special corners for music aficionados, fashion addicts, and pop culture junkies.
Geni:
Geni is a networking site that focuses on creating genealogies and family trees. If you’re interested in your family’s roots and where you came from, Geni can help you sort out your past. Its plan is to eventually create a family tree that represents the entire population of the world.
:
MouthShut is a site that combines social networking elements with consumer review services. Users can join MouthShut either to simply be influenced by other movers and shakers or to become a reviewer themselves and influence others.
MyYearBook:
MyYearbook is a simple social networking site that incorporates Flash-based games, instant messaging, media sharing, virtual currency, and a real time information feed to bring users together. With integration with Facebook, this social network is a must for college goers and Gen-Y.
Raptr:
Raptr is a social networking site for gamers. Featuring instant messaging, user-created game reviews, game/achievements tracking, game statistics signatures, and a gaming accomplishments feed, Raptr is known by its users for being on the cutting-edge of the gaming industry. Users describe it as a place where bragging rights are established and where gaming giants rise and fall.
SocialVibe:
SocialVibe is one of the Internet’s largest marketing-focused social networks. Although it began as a place where users could collaborate with advertisers to raise funds for charities, it soon grew into a massive arena where advertisers could connect with consumers on a personal level in ways that both the consumers and the advertisers were most comfortable with.
Zoopa:
Zooppa is a social networking and crowd-sourcing site that brings together creative talent from all around the world. Ads or creative productions are solicited by companies and then compiled and submitted for review by users. Cash prizes along with plenty of recognition are given to the best entries. Advertising formats include radio, video, and print as well as concepts and banners.
You can find the best network to surf these sites on through the mobile broadband comparison site Broadband Expert. The comparison site Broadband Expert is your key to finding the best network that will, together with these uncommon social networks, open up for you a whole new world of experiences.
7 must have free softwares for Windows 7
So you got rid of that hectic Windows Vista and got yourself this new stunning looking Windows7 (7 because its the 7th operating system from Microsoft Windows). You liked it don’ you? What next? You must have been searching for some good “free” software . I, from my personal experience, found out the 7 must have free software for windows 7. Here is the list:
1.Antivirus: The first thing you need in this dirty cyber world is a good anti-virus that can protect your computer from possible virus attack. If you are a simple user that uses internet for surfing and occasionally downloading (in short, you are a home user) then a free home edition of any good anti-virus will do the work. There are a number of anti-virus available that provide free home edition. But out of them AVG, Avast and Avira (BTW Avast is my personal favourite) stands out because of their frequent auto-update of virus database keeps you safe from the new born viruses. Following are the links:
Avast:
AVG: http://free.avg.com/it-en/homepage
Avira: http://www.free-av.com/
2.A new Web Browser: You definitely do not want the traditional and slow Internet Explorer that comes along with any Windows operating system. No matter how much Microsoft tries to improve their web browser, it still lags behind. So it’s time to change it to a faster and better browser like Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome.
Mozilla Firefox: Mozilla firefox comes with additional security features that makes it perfect for online transactions. Its faster, its better. And it comes with thousands of add-ons(like ad blocker and you tube downloader) that gives you a personalize web experience based on your needs. Private browsing option is also there. Firefox is rated no. 1 by a number of reviwers. You can get it from here: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/firefox.html
Google Chrome: 
Chrome is the web browser from internet giant Google. When the name Google is there, you obviously expect a high quality product. And Chrome doesn’t disappoint. In fact, its a good competitor to Firefox. Its faster and sleeker then Firefox. Top of the Chrome starts from tabs itself so it gives a bigger panel for viewing and doesn’t eat first 2 inches of your screen. Though it does not have many add-ons but seems Google is working on that. Private browsing is not an option in Chrome so you have to delete your browsing history if you are a frequent “Private Browser”. Here is the link:
3.Open Office: 
One of the most important thing which you need on your computer is Office. But Microsoft office is not free. It comes on a hefty price. You got two option for Office. First is, check your wallet and see if you can afford to buy MS Office at such a heavy price. Second is, well, get a pirated version available on net. But piracy is crime, isn’t it? If you cannot go for any of the above two options then I’ll suggest you the third option. Go for Open Office. Open Office is a good and most importantly a free alternative of Microsoft Office by Sun MicroSystem/ Oracle. It has all the features you get in MS Office. It provides you with customer support also. There are a number of add-ons available to enhance the software experience. And all this is free and legal. So what you thinking. Get it here: http://download.openoffice.org/index.html
4. File Compression Software: You will always need a software to uncompress the various downloads from internet. While most of the known Unzip softwares are not free(for eg: Win Zip and Win Rar) and you can only download the trial version. There is an equally efficient “free” alternative of it. . 7 Zip can unpack ARJ, CAB, CHM, CPIO, DEB, DMG, HFS, ISO, LZH, LZMA, MSI, NSIS, RAR, RPM, UDF, WIM, XAR and Z. For ZIP and GZIP formats while it can pack in 7z, ZIP, GZIP, BZIP2 and TAR fromats. Here is the link form CNET downloads:
5. Windows Cleaner: Do you realize how much space unwarranted temporary files can eat? 
Well don’t clean your PC for a month and it can be around 1 GB. Memory space is not the only problem, it also slows down your computer. The best available software for this purpose is undoubtly CCleaner. Here is the link to download it: http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner
6. Video Player: By this you might have realized that Windows Media Player cannot play all video formats. 
WMP is good enough for music playing but when it comes to video, it lacks the required codecs to play the particular format. A superb video player that can play almost all the available video formats is VLC. Originally developed for video streaming, VLC has an additional benefit in terms of Audio enhancement. It can enhance the volume upto 4 times (This may harm your speakers though) so in case if you have a video with very low sound and you are not able to hear it properly even after using headsets, VLC is your saviour. Apart from this, there is very friendly option for explicitly adding subtitles, in case the subtitles are not loaded automatically. Get it here: http://www.videolan.org/vlc/
7. Virtual CD Drive: To have a virtual cd drive help you in playing games and running big softwares.
Daemon Tools Lite (Lite version is free) provide you to mount an image file in to the system and install or run the software/game form the image. Here you go: http://www.daemon-tools.cc/eng/products/dtLite