Can your OS make some ice-cream for you? Well, Linux can!!

We have the OS wars raging like the Cold War down under and ready to erupt any given time. In this time, I have a question for you - Can your OS really churn out some delicious ice-cream? Most probably the answer would be in the negative. But if you happen to run Linux - the answer is YES!!

Well, a company called MooBella (what a name to Moo around with) has come up with a rather geeky invention - a Linux-powered ice cream maker which is currently undergoing demo runs in New England. This is not the size of your average PC though for home use, but a full fledged ice cream machine that reportedly churns out Fresh Dairy Ice Cream in 40 seconds and has a whooping 96 varieties. All this being 100% natural dairy stuff.

The ice cream machine sports a 15" touch screen but under the hood it is basically an off-the-shelf PC Hardware that is in use and best of all it happens to runs Redhat Linux. Well, the basic interface happens to run off Firefox too. This seems to be a cool innovation and also a great example of what Linux can do.

I am sure that in near future we will have refrigerators / TVs / ACs coming with a choice of OS like Linux / Android / Chrome / Windows. Any takers yet?

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How to easily Install Ubuntu 8.10 in a USB/Flash drive from the Live CD

It's been quite sometime since I have visited the world of Linux. So here's a small tutorial I have pieced together to help you get started on having a Ubuntu Linux installion right on your USB/Pen Drive. This tutorial is very simple and lucid - the end of which it will enable the reader to install Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex) into a USB flash drive / pen drive. It's basically having a Live CD installation in a USB drive.

I have also gone a step further to harness the the persistence or casper persistent feature that allows you to automatically save changes back to the thumb drive as you work, and then restore those saved changes upon subsequent boots - that's gonna be very useful for people on the move or people who change systems often.

Please Note that the final version of Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex) will only be released on October 30th but you can download the beta version right now which is pretty close to the final version.

Before we get started, here are the list of things you will need to make an Ubuntu 8.10 USB installation:

• A working CD Drive and ofcourse - an Ubuntu 8.10 CD (in a moment I'll let you know how you can get a Ubuntu CD off the internet for free)
• An established internet connection - I would prefer a broadband one.
• and the Most Important - 2GB or larger USB flash drive (2GB+ if you want some special script to be installed too).
  

Here's how you can create an Ubuntu 8.10 flash drive automatically, without much hassles.
With this method, you must use a completely free 2GB or larger usb drive - anything lesser will cause problems in later stages.

• Now go ahead and download the latest Ubuntu 8.10 ISO and burn it to a CD.
• Next, restart your computer and boot from the Live CD you have created.
• Insert the 2GB+ USB flash drive.
• Open a terminal window and type the following into the terminal window:
  wget pendrivelinux.com/downloads/u810/u810.sh
chmod +x u810.sh && sh u810.sh

• From here on, just follow the onscreen instructions - that'll be a breeze (trust me).
• Once you have the complete installation of the script - reboot your computer and set your BIOS or boot menu to boot from the USB device.
• Volla - You now have a working Live Installation of Ubuntu Linux on a Pen Drive.

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What are NetBooks and NetTops really? - Demystified

Netbooks and Nettops are a a new category of simple and very much affordable computers(much like notebooks) for the Internet. Netbooks and Nettops offer both emerging and mature markets an easy-to-use device with simple interfaces and targeted performance for a good online experience.

The best thing is that Netbooks are very rugged and extremely compact in design, and offer the freedom and flexibility of wireless connectivity whereas nettops offer an affordable at-home experience on a reliable computing device.

As far as I know both these are simply Made for the Internet, Netbooks and Nettops are an affordable option for education, photo and video viewing, social networking, voice over IP, e-mail, messaging, browsing and other Internet activities as well as a whole host of basic applications.

But at the same time, Netbooks are not very powerful, and often do not have much storage space unless - you carry loads of removeable storage. I personally think they are way too small and also they do not have a very powerful processor or much of RAM. But again, if you are a Linux or basic XP user - you don't have to worry much about the RAM useable that will remain. The current offerings in the market usually offer Linux and a few variants offer Basic XP - which I feel is perfect. I know of some people who have personally considered them for the simple fact that they come with Linux.

Most NetBooks(atleast the ones currently in market) have a 7' inch diplay and sport a Intel ATOM processor with about 256MB RAM and 1-10GB of Hard Disk space. What I personally feel is that at present netbooks aren’t really touted as a complete replacement for most notebook users. These are extremely niche machines that are really only useful for those with specific needs(maybe my pal who does a lot of embedded coding on Linux). It also serves very well for those users that aren’t aware or simply not bothered by these machine’s limitations. But I suppose that one day they may become ready for business use, but unless you have a jet flying employee who travels a lot or someone who always has to have the neatest new gadget, you may be better wait for more features and add-ons.

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How about running 27 Copies of Windows Vista Enterprise SP 1 on a single Windows Server 2008

Well, Microsoft to my knowledge has never - ever contested the fact that Windows Vista's hardware requirements made the latest Windows OS as resource hungry, but at the same time, on the contrary Microsoft did point out that, given the right system, the platform would deliver quite a performance.

And what is mean't by performance in the Microsoft World- Well Keith Combs a Microsoft IT Pro Evangelist has a good explanation and quite a lot of fun experimenting on the same. Combs managed to get 28 Windows operating systems running simultaneously on the same machine. The 28 Windows operating systems consisted of a whooping 27 copies of Windows Vista Enterprise Service Pack 1 on a single Windows Server 2008.

"Twenty Seven Windows Vista Enterprise SP1 Virtual Machines executing courtesy of Windows Server 2008 and Hyper-V. All of this is running on a single laptop, Lenovo ThinkPad T61p with 8GB of Kingston memory," Combs explained.

That's really superb - Hope the guys over the fence are hearing too.

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List of Cool Freeware Alternatives for Microsoft Office and OpenOffice Suite

Many have run into troubles with OpenOffice, hence I thought let me post some Cool Freeware Alternatives to Microsoft Office and OpenOffice. I have used OpenOffice during the days it was called StarOffice and shipped by Sun Microsystems. But most of the times the constant pain point was with alignment of text and it's compatability with Microsoft Office Platform.

The first software I see as a worthy alternative is called Abiword. It is today's fast and most powerful word-processor. It makes it very easy while writing a large letter and/or document due to it's fast and simple word processor engine. Open source, compatible multiplatform and easy integration with Microsoft Office is all there with Abiword. The main reason that this can be considered is due to its reduced footprint on your hard disk and RAM.

Other nearly indispensable software nowadays that one can use in order to create and modify calculation sheets (the equivalent of Excel of Microsoft), is called Gnumeric. Gnumeric is again Open source, multiplatform, fast and light.

Did you feel that we lack one good alternative to Outlook (which isn't there with the Openoffice.org Office Suite)? Obviously not, we have Evolution. It's again multiplatform and also open source.

And at last, only for the Linux users, an optimal software in order to create and to modify Presentations is Kpresenter. Obviously open source and can also edit and display Microsoft Powerpoint Slides.

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YamiPod a iTunes Freeware Alternative :: A good iPod Manager

YamiPod is a freeware application to efficiently manage your iPod. It can be run directly from your iPod and needs no installation.

The cool thing is that it also has extra features such as rss news and podcast support, remove duplicates, easy notes editor (with multipage support), songs synchronization, playlists export and much more. It has also been translated in 12 languages.

So what's stopping you to be struck with iTunes(except if you always use the Online Store).

There are versions for Mac OS X, Windows and Linux.

You can download this amazing Freeware at the Official Website.

ScreenShot - Click to Enlarge

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New Version of Skype 3.2 Released

As you know Skype is software for calling other people on their computers or phones. Download Skype and start calling for free all over the world. The latest version of Skype 3.2 has been released officially on the Skype Website.

The technology used by Skype is extremely advanced - but super simple to use. The calls have excellent sound quality and are highly secure with end-to-end encryption.

Additionally it doesn't just work on Windows. Skype is also for Mac OS X, Linux and PDAs using Pocket PC, with a native look and feel for each platform. Talking, sending instant messages or even file transfers work between different platforms like a charm.

Here is a complete list of features that are available with Skype 3.2 version:

• Skype calling - Skype has all the features of an ordinary phone so its even easier to manage your calls.
• Video calling - see who you are talking to at the same time as speaking to them.
• Add Skype and SkypeOut contacts - Add contacts who use Skype and those who use ordinary phones so you can call more people.
• Organising groups - group contacts under certain names and share them with your contacts so they can talk to them too.
• Basic chat and emoticons - when it's not convenient to call, chat or Instant Message (IM) your contacts.
• Group chat - for when it's easier to chat or Instant Message (IM) all your friends at once.
• Profile settings - change how you appear to the world and let people know a bit about you.
• Conference calling - talk to more than one friend at a time.
• Import contacts - search your address book to find friends and family that already have a Skype name and start calling them for free.
• View Outlook contacts - view and call your Microsoft Outlook® contacts quickly and directly from your Skype contact list.
• Quickfilter and Speed-Dial - find Skype contacts, recent chats and SkypeOut contacts quickly and easily, then enter their Skype name to call them back quickly.

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How to easily play MP3 files in (K)Ubuntu Installations

After some searching, I've found the fix to repair or install MP3 support in (K)Ubuntu distributions. It is actually a pretty simple process. Please follow the instructions below exactly:

• Close your favorite player (Amarok, Juk, etc)
• Delete the .xine folder from your home directory. Beware that the folder is hidden and you must first activate the 'Show Hidden Files' option in your file manager.
• Open your audio player and enjoy all your MP3 music files.

Please Note: This will also fix the problem with the thumbnail generation of your video files in Konqueror.

The above fix is for systems with MP3 support already installed, but I think it's a good idea to let everyone know that Ubuntu doesn't ship with MP3 support and to fix this problem as well, follow the instructions below:

For Kubuntu 6.10 (Edgy Eft)

• Open Amarok and play an MP3 file. Amarok will ask if you would like to add MP3 support.
• Open Synaptic Package Manager and install the libxine-extracodecs package.

For Kubuntu 7.04 (Feisty Fawn)

• Open Synaptic Package Manager, search and install the package libxine1-ffmpeg.

Be advised that in Kubuntu 7.04 there is also a new package that contains some restricted software (Flash 9, JRE 6, Gstreamer Ugly plugins etc) called ubuntu-restricted-extras. You can install this package as well.

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Netscape releases version 9 of its browser with Social Networking in built

Do you guys know Netscape? Well - I definitely do!! Because it was one of the few other browser(or only other browser) available than Internet Explorer when I started sufing the web in its early stages. The browser was once dominant in terms of usage share, but it has lost most of its share to Internet Explorer during the first browser war I suppose.

Well, recently Netscape has announced the availability of the new Netscape Navigator 9.0, available as a standalone installation for Windows, Mac OS, and Linux. I guess this is just to once again prove to its critics that it is very much in business!! This 9.0 version is based on Firefox and has a couple of unique features built-in.

Some very notable features of this new browser are :

Direct browser integration with Netscape portal which is now a social bookmarking site.

You can share and vote for web pages you'll find interesting without visiting the website.

One can read the latest news directly from the browser.

A link pad allowing you to save interesting links without cluttering the bookmarks.

You can download and try Netscape 9 from the offical website.

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How to easily back-up your about:config settings in FireFox?

You can now easily take a back-up of all the settings in the about:config of Firefox. Firefox does show which about:config changes have been set manually, but this isn't always the most accurate way to find out what you changed - So I would always recommend you to take a back-up.

To make a backup of your preferences in Firefox, just make a copy of the file prefs.js, which is kept in your Firefox profile folder. If you mess something up, you can always copy this file back in. (Be sure to shut down Firefox before making a copy of prefs.js or moving a copy back into the profile folder!)

In Windows XP, the profile folder is
\Documents and Settings\\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\.default\

In Windows Vista, this folder is
\Users\\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\.default\

Note that Application Data and AppData are hidden folders by default, so they may not show up unless you force Explorer to show hidden objects. (Open the Control Panel, double-click Folder Options, select the View tab, select "Show hidden files and folders" and click OK.)

In Mac OS X, the profile folder is
/Library/Application Support/Firefox/Profiles/.default/

and in Linux it's
~/.mozilla/firefox/.default/

but on those platforms it's usually quicker simply to search for prefs.js.

Alternatively, you can use the handy Firefox Extension Backup Extension (FEBE). It backs up not only the prefs.js file but just about every other thing in Firefox -- extensions, themes, cookies, form history and so on.

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DiffMerge : Visually compare and merge files in Windows, Mac OS X and Unix

DiffMerge is a very cool application that allows you to visually compare and merge files. This is very useful when you want to find minusucle differences between two very identical files. The best thing is that this software runs in all the three major Operating Systems - Windows, Mac OS X and Unix.

Here are some of the features of this cool software :

• Diff. Graphically shows the changes between two files. Includes intra-line highlighting and full support for editing.
• Merge. Graphically shows the changes between 3 files. Allows automatic merging (when safe to do so) and full control over editing the resulting file.
• Folder Diff. Performs a side-by-side comparison of 2 folders, showing which files are only present in one file or the other, as well as file pairs which are identical or different.
• Configurable. Rulesets and options provide for customized appearance and behavior.
• International. Compatible with 42 different character encodings.
• Cross-platform. Identical feature set on Windows, Mac OS X, and Unix.

The Best of all feature is that it is a completely FREE software. So head over to the website and grab it.

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Tor the Best solution to Surf the web Anonymously for FREE

Tor is a toolset for organizations and people that want to improve their safety and security on the Internet. Using Tor can help you anonymize Web browsing and publishing, instant messaging, IRC, SSH, and other applications that use the TCP protocol. Tor also provides a platform on which software developers can build new applications with built-in anonymity, safety, and privacy features.

Communications are bounced around a distributed network of servers, called onion routers. Instead of taking a direct route from source to destination, data packets on the Tor network take a random pathway through several servers that cover your tracks so no observer at any single point can tell where the data came from or where it's going. This makes it hard for recipients, observers, and even the onion routers themselves to figure out who and where you are.

Tor's technology aims to provide Internet users with protection against "traffic analysis," a form of network surveillance that threatens personal anonymity and privacy, confidential business activities and relationships, and state security.

I have nothing to hide but that doesn't mean I don't have things of value to third parties - everyone from google up is gathering information I don't want them to from my online activities or my personal information, and selling them off. When at home I sometimes leave my PC on as a node, thinking that maybe I am helping someone get information their government is censoring.

You can download and set it up by visiting Tor's Official Website.

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Microsoft to sell Ubuntu Linux via Dell

Dell had announced last week that it will make available machines preloaded with the Ubuntu 7.04 distribution of Linux. In this context, Dell will offer desktops with Windows Vista, Windows XP and Ubuntu 7.04. Dell has chosen to respect customer responsibilities trading off relationships with long time partner Microsoft.

However, Dell has become the first major systems provider worldwide that has jumped on the Windows and Linux interoperability wagon put together by Microsoft and Novell. Of course that intellectual property (IP) assurance is delivered inherently with the interoperability agreement between the two platforms.

Microsoft revealed that it will sell Dell SUSE Linux Enterprise Server certificates, and that the U.S. computer manufacturer has agreed to implement a services and marketing program designed to help non-Dell Linux customers transition to SUSE Linux Enterprise Server.

Dell is the first major systems provider to align with Microsoft and Novell in this collaboration, and we intend to lead in this space. This move is a huge success for the industry and, more specifically, for customers who haven’t purchased Linux through Dell and who want to migrate to SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for the IP assurance and interoperability benefits.

Dell’s embrace of the Novell-Microsoft agreement reflects a growing market reality: The two platforms of the future are Linux and Windows, and customers want them to work better together. Novell continues to grow our SUSE Linux Enterprise business because we are addressing customer needs. Dell recognizes this, and we are proud to have them as a customer and marketing partner to help spur continued adoption of SUSE Linux Enterprise.

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wikidPad - The best Open Source Note Taking Application

WikidPad is a wiki-like notebook for storing your thoughts, ideas, todo lists, contacts, or anything else you can think of to write down. What makes it different from other notepad applications is the ease with which you can cross-link your information. Links in a wiki are created by typing in WikiWords. A WikiWord is any case word (also called CamelCase) typed into the editor. TodoList or JohnDoe are example WikiWords. The term wiki means "quick" in Hawaiian, and wikis are all about quickly linking your information together. Wikis are not a new concept, in fact there are many web based wiki servers available.

wikidPad is a real-time wiki
wikidPad is not a web server, or application server, or groupware solution. wikidPad is a standalone notepad like application, albeit notepad on steroids. wikidPad is like an IDE for your thoughts.

IDE for your thoughts
Software developers have grown accustomed to certain features from their integrated development environment that make their jobs easier. Features like auto-completion, outline views, incremental search, easy source code navigation. IDE's that provide these features can greatly increase developer productivity. wikidPad attempts to utilize some of these features to address the problem of personal information management.

Personal Information Management
How do you manage all of the random bits of information in your personal and professional life? Word documents, text files, Microsoft Outlook folders/notes. If you're an expert user maybe you have a weblog, or a personal database, or possibly an outlining application. Where do you track your wifes favorite food, your bosses kids names, your personal todo list, the name of the movie you just read a review of, the name of the book a friend recommended. wikidPad was created to address this issue of personal information management. It provides a place to manage the massive amounts of information you have stuffed in your head, on stickies, or on your computer.

WikidPad Features

• On the fly WikiWord linking, as you type
• WikiWord auto-completion
• Easy WikiWord navigation
• Wiki text styling
• WikiWord History
• Wiki document attributes
• Dynamic views
• Tree/Outline view with over 100 icons
• Todo lists
• Incremental search
• Search and Replace
• Autosave
• Export to HTML
• All your data is stored in plain text
• URL and file linking
• Intuitive keybindings
• Help Wiki included

Download this cool Freeware at : http://www.jhorman.org/wikidPad/

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Thunderbird 2.0 RC1 finally out of Mozilla Stables

The new open-source e-mail client Thunderbird 2.0 RC1 will be available across 35 languages on three platforms, including Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. In addition, full Vista support has been built into the client for the first time.

Users would be able to use tags and saved folders, much like the labels feature within Gmail, and the saved folders feature within Mac OS X's Mail client. This would make pulling up information on a specific topic much faster than searching by keyword.

Searching has also been enhanced. With similar "find as you type" functionality as found in Firefox, and instant search results as a query is typed. McGregor noted that many of the features requested in Thunderbird have been brought over from the popular alternative browser easily because they share the same code base.

This would also be true for the new Message History Navigation feature that adds back and forward buttons to the client. You can browse through messages just like in a Web browser. The functionality would also be independent of data type, meaning a user could switch between a RSS feed and mail message, for example.

Mozilla is also experimenting with a new webmail integration feature, and ships Thunderbird 2.0 with connectors for Gmail and .Mac out of the box. This would allow a user to easily set up either service without having to enter the technical particulars.

Of the development process, Mozilla claims about 2,500 users actively download its nightly builds, with about 55,000 using the beta regularly.

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How to dual boot Windows Vista and Linux Ubuntu?

Many a times, Windows users that want to give Ubuntu Linux a try and don't want to give up their Windows system. So in such cases they can always choose to have them both in the same machine.
And this also applies for people that need both Windows and Linux on the same PC for business purposes. A dual boot machine has either multiple hard disks or multiple hard disk partitions, with each partition or drive containing an operating system. Now there are different methods to achieve a correct dual boot system, it's your decision which one you want to give it a try. I will outline two methods to achieve this.

Method 1: The easiest method

You can choose the brand new Ubuntu/Debian Installer for Windows machines. The aim of this installer is to provide an easier way for a Windows user to install Ubuntu Linux without having to know how to repartition the disks or to set up a multiboot system.

Note: With this installer, you can also choose to install Kubuntu (Ubuntu with KDE desktop) or Xubuntu (Ubuntu with XFCE desktop).

Method 2: The Geek way

1. Make sure your Windows partition is defragmented and backup any important data.

2. Boot from the Ubuntu Desktop CD, double click on the Install icon on the desktop and follow the normal installation instructions. When you arrive at the Partitioning screen, select the option that let's you resize IDE1 master, partition #1 (hda1) and use the free space.

Note: Remember that IDE1 master, partition #1 (hda1) represents the First partition on the First hard drive.

The partitioner will ask you how much space you wish to distribute to Linux partition, just enter the desired amount of space (I recommend around 5-6 GB). Continue with the installation.

3. After the installation is over, reboot the machine and you will be able to select from Windows or Ubuntu at boot time.

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OpenSource Tool to get all Windows Passwords?

Ophcrack is a tool that is able to quickly display Windows account passwords using Rainbow Tables instead of brute forcing the passwords. While it could take years to bruteforce a password that uses letters, numbers and special chars it takes only minutes to do so with Ophcrack.

Features

• » Runs on Windows, Linux and Mac OS X (intel).
• » Cracks LM and NTLM hashes.
• » Free tables available for alphanumeric LM hashes.
• » Loads hashes from local SAM, remote SAM.
• » Loads hashes from encrypted SAM recovered from a Windows partition.

Ophcrack can be downloaded with several different table sets. The default live cd is able to reveal passwords with alphanumeric chars only. If no passwords are revealed using this method you should download different table sets which support other chars as well.

Two additional table sets can be downloaded from the Ophcrack website. The first is 720 megabytes and should only be used on machines with at least 500 megabytes of ram. A smaller one with only 388 megabytes can be downloaded for machines with less than that amount of ram.

A new version of Ophcrack was released just four days ago. (Ophcrack 1.1.4)

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Netscape Browser 9.0 to be released shortly

Although it hasn't seen a major update in well over a year, the Netscape browser is about to get a makeover, according to a teaser posted to the Netscape blog. Version 9.0 of the software, which AOL reincarnated in 2005, is due in the coming months.

A number of things are already known about Netscape 9. Most notably, the browser will have deep integration with the new Netscape.com user-driven news site that debuted last year and mirrored the functionality of Digg.

Also, developers say it will remain a standalone product built atop Mozilla's Firefox code base; it will not contain a mail client or Web page editor. Instead, the browser will integrate a number of different Firefox extensions that relate to Netscape.com, including a Friends' Activity Sidebar and Sitemail Notifier.

The new browser will now be cross-platform, compatible with Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. Smaller features are getting focused on for 9.0, such as a redesign of Netscape's FTP view.

When it was first reborn, the Netscape Browser was intended to be a friendlier version of Firefox, adding more privacy features and phishing protections, as well as the option to render pages using Internet Explorer's Trident engine for compatibility. The software included a "Trust Rating" system that warned users of potentially dangerous Web sites.

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How to remove DRM legally from the iTunes collection you own?

Many of you might have found out that the music you legally purchase from iTunes works only on your iPod and iTunes Player. The same m4p files cannot be played on your regular mp3 players!!! Hence, I have a very simple and completely legal solution for you. Read on.....

The absence of a official linux version of iTunes giving all linux users no legal way of obtaining and playing back protected songs. QT Fair Use is a smart application that removes DRM from songs bought by iTunes leaving the tag of the user who bought it in the file. This makes it useless to try and spread the file on the internet afterwards because it would be to easy to find out which user purchased the songs and got the ball rolling in first place.

QT Fair Use can process all songs that are currently in the iTunes library at once making it an ideal tool for users that have a lot of songs that they bought from iTunes. A great feature is that the program works on Windows, Macintosh and most Linux distributions making it a highly flexible solution for most users.

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Beta Version of Thunderbird 2 Released!!

Mozilla has released the first beta for the 2.0 version of its popular email client, Thunderbird. Although it’s still a little rough around the edges and it isn't supposed to be used for everyday activity, this beta version hosts a large number of promising new features. If you're part of the testing community or simply love to live on the bleeding edge, the new version of Thunderbird will offer you the following new features:

• Message Tags: Create your own tags to organize your email. Any number of tags can be assigned to the messages. Tags can be combined with saved searches and mail views to make it easier to organize email.
• Visual Theme: Thunderbird 2's theme and user interface have been updated to improve usability.
• Session History Navigation: Back and Forward buttons allow navigation through message history.
• Folder Views: Customize the folder pane to show favorite, unread or recent folders.
• Improved Support For Extensions: Extensions can now add custom columns to the message list pane in addition to storing custom message data in the mail database.
• Improved Offline Management: Thunderbird (Linux and Windows) automatically adjusts the offline state based on current network connectivity.
• Improved New Mail Notification Alerts: New mail alerts include information such as the subject, sender and message text.
• Folder Summary Popups: Mouse over a folder with new messages to see a summary of the new messages in that folder.
• Saved Search Folder Performance: Search results for saved search folders are now cached, improving folder loading performance. Find As You Type.
• Improved Filing Tools: Recent folder menu items to move and copy folders to recently used folders. Move / Copy again functionality.
• Updates to the extension system: The extension system has been updated to provide enhanced security and to allow for easier localization of extensions.

On the downside, the overall performance is pretty much the same: rather slow. The IMAP performance is still slow but then again, there isn't really an email program that provides a fast IMAP service. However, there are a few performance improvements such as the POP mail speed, which is excellent and even more, switching between folders, views and mailboxes is notably faster.

Unfortunately, this release is very beta. It can't be used fulltime, but by the looks of this early release, Thunderbird 2.0 will be worth the wait. Until the final 2.0 release, you can play around with this beta version and you can help the developers by reporting bugs.

Click here to download.

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