Get hold of the best defence in the war against online surveillance

Tor is free software that works to defend a user’s personal system against privacy-invading network surveillance measures, which criminally limit online freedom, reveal confidential matters and monitor private business relationships. It works in an intelligently crafted way – “bouncing” your activities around a network relay which is operated by a number of online volunteers.

Installing this software makes it impossible for Internet “invaders” to monitor which sites you like to visit, and prevents sites that you frequent from uncovering your specific location. It doesn’t really matter what you do; whether you’re a journalist, a blogger, a soldier, a human rights worker or just another citizen, Tor becomes a valuable tool.


The really fun bit about Tor is that the more the user base expands, the more the user’s level of security grows. Though the software doesn’t just automatically encode all Internet activities, the user’s security will continue to increase based on the number of volunteers that decide to help operate these relays.

This piece of software is Open Source, meaning it is completely free of any political involvement, a great way to hide your IP address, overall great proxy to achieve personal privacy on the Internet.

When it comes to achieving the basic right to personal privacy online, this software is certainly the way to go. Once you get the hang of Tor — used alongside additional tools – it becomes the best way to achieve ultimate anonymity and data sharing freedom.

Download Tor

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Mirror your iDevices through AirPlay on your Mac or PC

The new Airserver application is the one we’ve all been waiting for. Airserver allows you to use your computer for AirPlay, i.e. as a monitor for your iDevice, using your iPhone as the controller.

AirServer lets you play your games, display your photos, videos and play itunes music on your phone and all through your Mac or PC. Another benefit is the Mirroring feature which means you can launch any application on your iPhone 4S, iPad2 and mirror this to your monitor in landscape or portrait and in real time. Dig it? It gets better. Post Processing allows you to enhance the quality of the image mirrored by changing focus, contrast, color  sharpness etc. If you like friendly competition, enable the app, choose split screen and play your friends!

AirServer is incredibly easy to use and comes in a single-user license which enables you to install the application on up to five Macs, you just sit back and launch it. In terms of iOS, your Mac needs to run Tiger (OS 10.4) or any later version, with your iOS device running on iOS 4.2.1 or later and connecting via the same Wi-Fi network.

For those without Apple TV, AirServer is a must. The iOS experience just got better.

Download AirServer for Windows | Download AirServer for Mac

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Supertuxkart – the kart racing game

If you are a fan of Super Mario Kart then you are sure to either love or hate SuperTuxKart: there is no room for ambivalence here! From the wee-bit unoriginal name – SuperTuxKart – it is quite evident where the inspiration for this racing game hails from, but how does SuperTuxKart compare to its big famous brother?

SuperTuxKart can be downloaded for free, and as soon as you’ve done so it becomes evident that more than just the name of Mario has been borrowed. The interface is very similar to that of the original, with a selection of drivers/vehicles available for the user to choose from.

And just like with Super Mario Kart, there is a selection of various weapons and power-ups that allow the player to take out opponents, charge past them and essentially achieve the end-goal of being first across the line.

If you have always been a fan of the original Super Mario Kart then it is worth downloading a copy of this homage, purely for nostalgia and curiosity. It is fun to see how a classic has been taken, and interpreted by others.

Whilst some of the variations on the original can almost be viewed as improvements, making you wonder why the creators of the ‘real deal’ hadn’t thought of it in the first place, there are other features that just seem a bit facile and a bit weak. All in all, though, it’s hard to argue with a freebie that’s this good-looking.

Download SuperTuxKart for WindowsDownload SuperTuxKart for Mac

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Teeworlds – the retro multiplayer shooter

You would be forgiven for making the assumption that Teeworlds is another online golfing game, given its name. In actual fact, teesworlds is a free multiplayer game that gives you the ability to go head-to-head with as many as 16 other players. Teeworlds offers a great level of variation via several game modes that include ‘team deathmatch’ and ‘capture the flag’. With the additional option to design your own maps, Teeworlds is a free game that promises a fair bit.

Upon playing the game, it is hard not to draw direct comparisons with Worms which, in itself was a latter-day version of Lemmings, and that’s without even mentioning Angry Birds. Teeworlds is great to play ‘straight out of the box’, with a level of intuitiveness that allows the user to throw his or herself straight in there. Once the general idea has been picked up, it then becomes possible to start thinking tactics, and strategy.

With a learning curve so small as to be pretty much flat, and no associated cost, it’s hard to find any valid reason against downloading Teeworlds – particularly given the amount of rainy lunch hours you’ve got coming your way. Give it a try. Even if it’s just half an hour you get out of it, it wouldn’t have cost you a penny.

Download TeeworldsDownload Teeworlds

 

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Mumble – the open-source group voice chat software designed mainly for online gaming

Mumble is a VOIP (Voice over IP) application which allows users to speak on a chat channel, as in a telephone conference call. It was designed for gamers, who use the software to communicate with other players in the same multiplayer game.

Mumble is a relatively new arrival on the VOIP scene; it has been around in a stable form for about a year, at the time of writing. It takes advantage of newer technologies, such as sound quality and low latency, removing the noise from the audio input.

It is a cross-platform product which is free and open source. It is integrated with the game software in a customisable game overlay so that as well as hearing the other players, you can identify which is speaking. It supports advanced voice activity detection and will record conversations if set up.

To start you must set up the Mumble Server, called murmur, which features secure communication and full extensibility.

We think this is a product with a bright future. It looks easy to work with on the face of it, but running into difficulties is unnerving. It has live support team contact available. There is some technical support from community forums, and there looks to be a wish list for future development. It looks and feels like a product that is on its way up and it will be interesting to see if it develops for usage outside the game arena, but first it needs to grow new functionality, to include things like a user database.

Download Mumble for WindowsDownload Mumble for Mac

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Keep track of weather on your PC with Weather Bug

The weather is often a funny thing. No one ever, EVER seems to get it right until its nearly right on top of you.  However, keeping track of it, knowing what the weather may be, is something that most everyone wants to know.  This is one of the biggest reasons why I like Weather Bug. It’s a multi-platform weather utility.

Weather Bug desktop helps you keep track of current, local weather conditions, extended forecasts, and severe weather alters. Its animated Doppler radar maps are exceptionally valuable in severe weather conditions, as are its satellite and temperature maps.  The best thing about Weather Bug desktop is that it works on just about any computer you can throw at it.


On the Windows side, Weather Bug has its traditional desktop app, but also desktop gadgets for both Windows Vista and Windows 7 Side Bars.  On the mac, Weather Bug Alert for Mac provides live temperatures and desktop alerts. On both platforms ,you’ll have access to live, local current conditions, 7-day, hourly and weekend forecasts, animated radar and maps as well as severe weather alters.

Weather Bug is a great application suite. It provides a great service and very valuable information. Its gadgets, may or may not be working any longer, as of this writing, Microsoft has ended support for its Side Bar due to security concerns.  The rest of its components, however, are fine and again, provide valuable information.  This is a must have app on any Mac or Windows PC.

download Weather Bug

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Securely store payment information and purchase items on line with Dashlane

eCommerce is something that’s been around for quite some time. Buying online is relatively simple – you browse, you compare, you read reviews, and then you click this, click that, enter account information, log-in, determine which credit or debit account you want to use, then enter in all those numbers, enter your expiration date and then hunt for the CVV numbers. OY! Paying and checking out takes three to four times as long as the actual shopping.  That’s why I like Dashlane. It’s a multiplatform eCommerce tool that makes buying stuff online very easy.

Dashlane puts you in the express lane no matter where you buy online.  With it, you can buy in seconds and save all your purchases.  Dashlane allows you to login anywhere and fill in forms in a flash.  The app saves your IDs, addresses, payment info, notes and passwords securely.  It allows you to access all of this important data whenever, wherever you need it; and no one – not even Dashlane – will be able to see your personal data.

More than an online shopping tool, Dashlane allows you to store addresses, phone numbers, passports, credit card info, and more in a secure vault encrypted locally on your computer, and sync them between multiple devices. All the data you enter and all the actions you take on Dashlane are entirely private, and accessible only to you – not even we can see your personal information.

Dashlane is a really cool idea. I like that it takes the best of electronic wallet apps and couples it with online purchasing, giving you the ability to securely purchase stuff without having to reenter all of your credit card information every single time you want to buy something. The fact that it allows you to sync info to your mobile devices as well as across browsers and computers (like your home and office computers) makes it a very compelling solution.  The premium version gets you access to a couple of other features, but aside from support, and future features that may or may not be released or made available in your monthly or annual subscription period, it doesn’t buy you much.

This shouldn’t keep you from registering the app, though.  Dashlane is amazing. You get a lot from this app for free.  Supporting the dev team will help insure that the app continues to get support and will work for quite a while.

download Dashlane

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Mountain Lion Day

If you’re going to upgrade your Mac to OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, then you’re going to want to take a look at this article that will help you get ready for the upgrade…

Millions of Mac users all over the globe have been patiently waiting for the OS to be released so they can download it and upgrade their supported Mac to the new OS.  That last link is especially important for new upgraders, as it contains all of Mountain Lion’s Technical Specification Requirements, like supported models, RAM, disk space, etc.

A couple-three points on general requirements:

  1. If you aren’t running at least OS X 10.6.8 (the latest version of Snow Leopard) or later on your supported Mac, you’ll need to upgrade to it before upgrading to Mountain Lion. Users of Lion on supported Macs don’t need to worry about this point.
  2. Apple says you need a minimum of 2GB of RAM to run Mountain Lion. 4GB is better, 8GB or more is the sweet spot.
  3. Apple says you’ll need at least 8GB of available disk space.  Mountain Lion is a 4.5GB download. It needs another 3.5GB of temp space to do the upgrade, and the upgrade file eats itself after it executes. Make sure you make a copy of it before it runs so you don’t have to download it again if needed.

Before you get started on your upgrade, you need to do a couple of important tasks. If you don’t do all of these, the world isn’t going to end. You’re still going to be able to upgrade; but if you don’t, and you run into trouble, you’re gonna wish you had.  So, while they may make the task a bit longer, they’re probably the right thing to do.

  1. Bandwidth– It’s going to take a while to download the installer.  4.5GB takes a good while to pull down even on a good day, but ba-zillions of peoples are going to want to download Mountain Lion all at the same time. The best time to download is likely overnight.  So, you may want to wait…If you live in a bandwidth challenged area (like some rural area or back-40), you might want to make a trip to an Apple Store or a Starbucks or other free-Wi-Fi zone.  Apple isn’t going to deliver a Mountain Lion installer on a USB stick, like it eventually did with Lion.
  2. Backups – If you use Time Machine, make sure you have a good backup if you plan to restore applications, music or other content on clean install systems.
  3. Backups – Make a system backup of your boot drive (if you have a Mac with more than one hard drive). Super Duper is my new favorite, and WILL save your bacon if you need to start the upgrade process over again.

Once you have everything ready to go and you start the upgrade, your biggest obstacle is going to be patience.  The upgrade is going to take a while, likely 90 minutes or so from start to complete finish; and it will include three or more reboots, depending on your system.  Give yourself something else to do and let the upgrade run its course.  Rushing things is only going to frustrate you and jeopardize the integrity of your Mac later.

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