Picasa should ring a bell when this name is mentioned. I believe most of you will know that this application is a photo software, made free by Google. In the past, only Windows versions of Picasa have been actively maintained and improved. With the rising demand from the Linux community, the Linux-compatible version is also catching up with the Windows compatriot.

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Developed by CPUID, the next version of CPU-Z 1.4.7 is now released. This application is a free-ware that allows users to obtain information on some of the main devices on your computer system, such as CPU, Motherboard, Memory and Operating System.

Some of the new addition to the support of the chipset are as follow:

• - Intel Core i7 processor.
• - Intel Core 2 Duo S Mobile processors.
• - NVIDIA MCP79/7A chipset.
• - AMD 790GX / SB750 chipset.

Personally, I often use this application whenever I need to find a quick information on my Windows system, especially on the hardware details. The advantage of this software is that, it does not require any installation of the software for it to work. You can run it on-the-fly!

Download Software
CPU-Z 1.4.7

Microsoft has release the beta version of Windows Live Messenger. I presume this application should be quite familiar to you. This is the renowned MSN Messenger.

There are quite a number of new things from this release of Windows Live Messenger. Click on the screenshot on the right to see more details.

System Requirement

• Operating system: Windows XP with Service Pack 2 (32-bit edition only), or Windows Vista (32-bit or 64-bit editions)
• Processor for Windows XP: 800 MHz or higher
• Processor for Windows Vista: 1 GHz or higher
• Memory for Windows XP: 128 MB of RAM (256 MB or more recommended)
• Memory for Windows Vista: 512 MB
• Browser: Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 or later
• Internet connection: Internet functionality requires dial-up or broadband Internet access (provided separately). Local or long-distance charges may apply.
• Resolution: Minimum 1024 x 768
• For Movie Maker only: Movie Maker does not support Windows XP, and requires ATI Radeon 9500 (or higher) or nVidia GeForce FX 5900 (or higher).

Download Application
Windows Live Messenger Beta

In less than 3 days, Mozilla released the next version of Firefox 3.0.3. According to the release note, the developers have found and fixed a problem where users were unable to retrieve saved passwords or save new passwords.

This bug has been filed under bug 454708. There is no any other changes. For more information on this new release, you may want to check out version 3.0.2, which was more of a major update from the previous version.

I did not realise the existence of this bug since I never save my passwords using the browser. I’m glad that Mozilla managed to turn this over within 72 hours.

Download Firefox
Mozilla Firefox 3.0.3

After its initial release of Google Chrome web browser, Google has finally released the next updated version to patch its bugs and security fixes.

The previous version of Google Chrome was 0.2.149.29 Build 1798. To update to the latest version, simply click on the Tool icon at the top-right hand side of the web browser and then click on About Google Chrome. That will bring up a dialog box, similar to the one shown on the thumbnail at the right.

After updating, the latest version will reflect 0.2.149.30 Build 2200.

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The latest release of VLC Media Player 0.9.2 is now available for public to download. To-date, it has already achieved close to 1 million downloads for this version, averaging about 2-3 downloads per second (Quite curious myself too, as if that’s really the case). The VLC Media Player is both a cross-platform multi-media player and a streaming server.

As a media player, it is highly portable, supporting various audio and video formats, such as MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX, etc. Furthermore, the VLC player also playbacks DVDs and VCDs. In addition, it also works equally well as a streaming server to support unicast or multicast in IPv4 and IPv6 on high-bandwidth network.

The application is also available in many operating systems, thus making it ultra-portable. Download VLC Player here.

The recent release of Google Chrome to the World Wide Web (WWW) has created a big hoo-haa as a lot of users have rushed to download and try out the new application (for free). According to Google,

“…Google Chrome is a browser that combines a minimal design with sophisticated technology to make the web faster, safer, and easier…”

However, what users do not realise is that each Google Chrome installation contains a unique ID, thereby each computer has a unique “thumbprint” to identify the user. Even if two systems are installing from the same setup file, the identity is different, due to its underlying hidden algorithm that is obscured from users’ knowledge. Don’t forget, Google is exceptionally clever in data collection.

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Amongst all Internet Messaging (IM) clients, Pidgin Portable is one of the best applications that I have been using and will be using for a long time. This application is able to take the IM settings and buddy lists supporting most protocols, such as AOL, MSN, ICQ, Yahoo, QQ, GTalk and Jabber networks, etc.

Do not be deceived by its portability, as the software features several great features including added support for encryption plugins, for a much secure, encrypted messaging.

The latest version of Pidgin Portable 2.5.1 is now available, since its release on September 4, 2008. Users can recommended to utilise this latest application to enhance your messaging experience!

Download Link
Pidgin Portable 2.5.1

Since the last introduction of Firefox 2 Vista Black theme last year, the Firefox 3 Vista Black theme for Firefox is now made available - with an all Black (Vista Style) Navigation and Bookmarks toolbar.

How to Install?
Install Stylish for Firefox, Thunderbird, Flock, Mozilla Suite, SeaMonkey, or Songbird. If you have Stylish already, make sure you’re using the latest version and have JavaScript enabled.

Download Area
Vista Black Theme site

HandBrake is an open-source, GPL-licensed, multi-platform, multi-threaded DVD to MPEG-4 converter or ripper. Made especially for Mac OS X fans, the software is also available in Windows and Linux environment; although it was originally available only on BeOS.

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