Tuning your browser

BROWSERS can be tunned. For Firefox, this means downloading add-ons from free developers (http://addons.mozilla.org).

This applies for Opera as well (http://widgets.opera.com).

Internet Explorer is considered by many to fail to offer sufficient protection against hackers and for privacy.

The IE7pro plug-in offers functionality for the browser(http://www.ie7pro.com).

YouTube Rolls Out Usage Analytics

YouTube account holders will now be able to access usage statistics for the videos they upload, such as where viewers are geographically located and how they found the clips.
The feature, called YouTube Insight, had been in high demand from partners that use the video-sharing site to market their products and services and, as such, want detailed metrics to determine the efficacy of their YouTube campaigns.

"With YouTube Insight, we've turned YouTube into one of the world's largest focus groups. Insight will help advertisers optimize their marketing efforts, determine how successful they were, and discover previously unknown marketing opportunities," an official YouTube blog posting reads.

Adobe opens shop on Web-based Photoshop Express

Adobe Systems is launching Photoshop Express today, its long-anticipated Web-based image editor aimed at the millions of consumers that want a simple way to touch up, share, and store photos.
Photoshop Express, available for free with 2 gigabytes of storage at www.photoshop.com/express, is a significant departure from Adobe's desktop software business and a big bet that it can make money offering Web services directly to consumers.

The application, which needs Flash Player 9 to run, pushes the limits of browser-based applications and will likely ratchet up the competition on the dozens of free and online photo-editing products available now (see our full review of Photoshop Express and gallery of screen shots of the application).

Free Online Tool Converts Sites to PDF

This site is a service to convert your webpages to pdfs that can quickly turn a Web page into a downloadable PDF. It looks to be a useful tool if you need a snapshot of a page that might change frequently, or if you want a record of a site's appearance at a particular point in time. The service is dead-simple. You paste or type a URL into the site and click a button, and end up with a link to a PDF. You can also add a bookmarklet to your bookmarks toolbar that will convert the page you're currently viewing, or cut and paste html code directly into the site.The PDF will include a Web page's full length if it scrolls down for multiple screens. All told, it's a nice free step up from taking a screen shot of a Web site Htm2pdf.co.uk.

Acer launches six-speaker laptops

Acer said that it now aims to take laptop users as close as they can get to the high-definition home theatre experience.

The top model of the new "Gemstone blue" line of laptops has a screen with the same resolution as a top-of-the-line HDTV, at 1,920 x 1,080 pixels, and will have six speakers, including a subwoofer, for so-called 5.1 surround sound.

The computer will go sale next month in the United States. A model with three speakers and a smaller screen(but still HD resolution) will also be available. Both will have built-in Blu-ray disc drives.

The computer industry has long had its set of standard screen resolutions, while the consumer electronics industry has standardised on different ones. Acer's blue line effectively adopts the consumer-electronics standard, which means that many movies and all HD TV shows will fill the screen, without black bars.

Acer said the laptops would be the first with 1,920 x 1,080-pixel screens, and the top model is the first laptop with six speakers.

The high-end model has an 18.4in screen, placing it in the "desktop replacement" category of heavy laptops that aren't meant for more than occasional travel.

Even with six speakers, the laptop isn't capable of true surroud sound, since that requires speakers on either side of the listener at ear level.

Some current laptops use two speakers to simulate the envelopming experience of surround sound.

Acer's laptop will do the same, but the simulation is better with six speakers than with two, said Acer senior vice-president Jim Wong.

MP3 Search Engine

SkreemR is the only music search engine with AudioRank! it's interface looks pretty much like Google’s interface. Just a search box and some links that point to some inner pages. All you need is enter a name of an artist, album or song and Skreemr searches its database for reference to your search string. Beside that, Skreemr also have a firefox mp3 search engine plugin that easier for you find MP3 files without visiting the site. Download the skreemr mp3 search engine plugin from here.

BeeMp3 has a listing of World Top 10, US Top 10 and Euro Top 10 music charts on their home page allowing you to easily find the best music. search result can based on artist, song, album or all.

visit site:http://beemp3.com/

Protecting yourself

If you are worried about personal data security, take the following steps:
(1)Your details are valuable. Never share them via an insecure web page.
(2)Invest in anti-virus and anti-spyware software, as well as firewall. Update them regularly.
(3)Read the privacy policy. This should state whether the company intends to sell the information you have given them. However, be aware that many companies simply copy from another website, and then do exactly as they like.
(4) Refuse to fill out irrelevant details. Let's face it: do they really need to know your education level when signing you up for a company newsletter?
(5) Demand errant companies do better by writing and asking them to change their approach. Don't support those who don't work ethically.
(6) Monitor your financial accounts and billing statements every month. If there is suspicious activity, report it at once. The quicker you respond, the less damage and ID thief can do.
(7) Banks, eBay and other companies will never send you an e-mail to ask you to confirm passwords or account detials. Report all such scans at once.
(8) Best of all, trust your instincts. If something feels fishy, walk away.