Amazon Kindle International Version review

I have longed for an ebook reader for some time, but the most popular one - the Amazon Kindle - has long been reserved solely for the US market. Whilst it has […]

Quickly capture screens and share them on OS X with Skitch

Macs don't have a PrintScreen button, and if we want to take a screen-capture, the default program we use is Grab. Grab is great in a few ways; you can choose to […]

XNJB: Transfer music to and from a MTP MP3 player on a Mac

When I switched to a Mac, I did not purchase an iPod for a few months. I previously had a Creative Zen Vision M media player. Unfortunately, this device was not mass […]

Cool uses of QR codes

In March, Martin discussed QR codes, a form of 2D barcode that phone cameras can rapidly decode, with appropiate software (which can be found easily on Google). The practical uses are for […]

Help the fight against phishing with Phishtank

For anti-phishing tools to work, phishing sites must be recognized, analyzed and then added to a database so that users who use programs that work with the database are warned about it. […]

Make Wikipedia more usable with Vector

Wikimedia recently conducted a study into how to make their projects, like Wikipedia, more usable and user friendly. The study highlighted a number of interesting points, like that many users had never […]

Download and install Ubuntu faster with a Minimal CD

I recently found the need to install Ubuntu on a machine with a poor CD drive (and no USB ports) that could not read large amounts of data, but could manage to […]

Log in to websites with your site's URL as your OpenID

A few years ago, Martin covered OpenID, an open authentication system. Since then, it has become increasingly popular and a wide range of sites, from AOL to LiveJournal provide OpenIDs, and OpenID […]

A standard compliant web browser and editor: Amaya

Some web browsers don't fully respect web standards and many WYSIWYG HTML editors produce absolutely revolting code. W3C set out standards as to how HTML (and XHTML etc) should appear and whilst […]

Who shares your shared hosting?

I host my website on shared hosting. My connection is too slow and unreliable to justify running my own server and I have no need to hire a dedicated server or a […]

Take a blind test and change your searching habits

I use Google out of habit and because I have always thought it is the best search engine. I've never objectively tried to compare major search engines and as a result I […]

Easy No-CD and No-DVD for games on Mac

Computer users often hate having to have a CD or DVD in their drive to run a game. To circumvent this, images are often burned to hard drives or cracks used. Cracks […]

Read mailing lists without clogging up your inbox

Mailing lists still hold an important role in many free software projects and are a place where development is coordinated and support provided. When you subscribe to a mailing list, you generally […]

iPhones: they aren't as bad as you think

A couple of months ago, I did something I thought I never would do: I bought an iPhone. Technology enthusiasts generally seem pretty torn about these devices: some see them as fantastic […]

Catalogue your DVDs, games and book

Often you will be certain that you have a DVD but cannot remember where you placed it or if you lent it someone. The best way to keep track of your possessions […]

Win more eBay auctions

Pretty much everyone uses eBay, but it is often frustrating when you're suddenly outbid on a rare or unique item. There are a number of strategies one can use to maximize the […]

Back up your files to a secure remote server with Carbonite

Everyone should back their data up in case their computer suddenly fails or is even lost or stolen. Many will back their data up on mediums like external hard drives, but it […]

Play with and understand WiFi Positioning System

A few months ago, Mozilla generated lots of buzz through its Geode extension, which locates users through the WiFi access point they were using. Other popular tools have similar features, such as […]

Remote SSH: Run processes anywhere on different platforms

SSH is a way to remotely and securely access command prompt/terminal on another computer, giving you access to that computer's files, services, network connections and programs. Some services offer free SSH accounts, […]

5 essential tools to learn a language

gHacks has a diverse range of editors, living in, among other places, the UK, Germany and Hungary. All write in the medium of English, but learning a foreign language is no easy […]

Use and make free, as in beer and freedom, maps with OpenStreetMap

Hundreds of websites offer mapping services, which highlight roads, railways, streets and scores of other things. Most of these sites charge for commercial use of their data and almost certainly won't allow […]

Protect your privacy from Google AdSense's new behavioral ads

Google recently launched behavioral targeted ads for AdSense. This means AdSense displays adverts not only on the context of the webpage, but on the context of your browsing history. The aim is […]

iWow makes your music sound 'wow'

iWOW is perhaps my favourite iTunes plug-in. It makes your sound, whether videos, podcasts or music, feel much more vibrant. To dramatically improve sound, the user must simply choose their form of […]

Run an airline, train, road and shipping firm with OpenTTD

OpenTTD is an open-source, cross-platform clone of the 1995 classic 'Transport Tycoon Deluxe'. The simulation game allows you to run a transport company from its humble beginnings to becoming a global player. […]

Analyse your hard disk and stop wasting space

Your hard disk space may seem increasingly small but you may not be aware what is taking the space. I, for example, subscribed to dozens of podcasts but naively overlooked them when […]

Wikipedia gets books and gets printed

Last year, the German Wikipedia was printed. Now, many Wikipedias worldwide – including the English Wikipedia – has given people the opportunity to compile a book of Wikipedia articles which can then […]

Spotify: Music legally on demand

gHacks suggested Spotify as an alternative to Pandora last year, and Spotify has recently gained a lot of attention in the British press. I thought it may be wise to discuss Spotify […]

Odd Operating Systems

When talking about operating systems, we generally talk about 3: Windows, Linux and Mac. But there are others! GHacks has already covered ReactOS; a free and open source version of Windows, but […]

loc.alize.us: Geotag photos the old way… with Google Maps

Generally, I geotag my photos using Flickr's Organizr. Unfortunately, I often find Yahoo! Maps to be much worse than Google Maps and whilst recently tagging some photos of Northern France and Flanders, […]

jDarkRoom: Productively word process

WriteRoom is a popular piece of shareware for OS X which provides a minimalist word-processor, which is simply text on a background in full screen. The idea of WriteRoom is that if […]

rickroll.it: Double RickRoll someone!

For too long, people have hid rickrolls in TinyURLs. A much better service to hide them is this Italian rickroll website. No one would suspect a thing, at least not for the […]

Can we rely on Google: the alternatives

Apparently, Wikipedia, the BBC, gHacks and the White House are malware. Well, there were for about 30 minutes. Google decided to claim that they 'may harm your computer', no doubt due to […]

LyX: A FOSS 'WYSIWYM' LaTeX word processor

You have no doubt heard of 'WYSIWYG' editors, which show you what you get. The vast majority of HTML editors and word processors operate on a WYSIWYG principle, but another principle is […]

PagePlus: A better and cheaper DTP program than Publisher

99% of home users will use Microsoft Publisher as their desktop publisher but will be unaware of a free superior package offered by Serif. PagePlus is a 'budget' desktop publishing suite published […]

ITV Player: UK Silverlight-based catch-up

Catching up with the BBC's iPlayer and Channel Four's 4oD, British broadcaster ITV has released its own free video-on-demand service: ITV Player. ITV Player uses Microsoft's Silverlight format to stream its media, […]

dd: the ultimate disk cloning tool

I recently had to clone a hard disk so I naturally turned to solutions such as Acronis True Image, but I discovered these did not work (the start-up disk claimed the clong […]

Usenet providers dramatically increase retention

In July 2008, Giganews made big news for increasing their USENET retention to 240 days. Most other providers had a maximum of about 160 days, but several of these are now promising […]

animoto: Create a video presentation

animoto is a site which allows video presentations to be made in a minimal amount of time, claiming to be the killer of slideshows (although in reality they are slideshows!). The end […]

KompoZer, a free, open-source and half-decent WYSIWYG web editor

Dreamweaver and Frontpage are no doubt the most popular WYSIWYG (what-you-see-is-what-you-get) HTML editors but carry a pretty large price tag, with Dreamweaver costing about £500! Naturally, neither work under Linux either! KompoZer […]

iTunes giving away free media

Instead of giving away free software on Christmas Day, Apple are giving away free media on iTunes in the UK and possibly other European countries. Apple's 12 Days of Christmas' Giveaway provides […]