Open source software generally comes with quality downgrades, because in a Capitalist society the biggest correlation that you will find is between money and quality. However, there are always exceptions to the rule and VirtualBox is definitely one of those exceptions. It is a general purpose software that you can use for full virtualization for hardware that is x86 in nature. It can be used in servers, desktops and embedded technologies.

The latest version of the software was released on recently and contains over a dozen fixes to problems that were reported with the previous versions. In addition to these fixes, improvements to the graphical user interface were created along with the addition of compatibility with systems that were not previously compatible to be used with this particular piece of software.

Overall, the VirtualBox software concept is one that has risen to the point where the virtualization potential of the software really has it on par with many of the proprietary and professional software packages on sale that do the same thing. The difference, of course, is that this software is free, open source and will remain so for a very long time.

More information on it can be found at http://www.virtualbox.org/.

LC ISO Creator is a freeware tool for creating ISO disk images.

First of all, if you need an explanation of what an ISO image is, well it could be described as something like a zipped archive file that contains all that you have on a CD or DVD, so it’s can come in handy for backing up your CD/DVD media. You can find a more detailed explanation here.

It’s basically a single file that is an exact copy of your disc. This can be kept as a backup of the disc. It can also be mounted and ran as a virtual disc using programs such as one I previously reviewed here.

LC ISO Creator downloads as an exe file, and it requires no installation. You just run the file, and it scans your computer for optical drives. Then insert the disc you wish to make an image of, choose the appropriate drive, and choose ‘create iso’. You’ll be asked to choose an output file location to create the newly created ISO. It’s as simple as that really, does one thing simply and does it well!

Think this could be useful for you? You can download it here.

If you are a sucker for games with business twists, then you are going to love this one, it is called supermarket mania.

Supermarket Mania gives you an opportunity to show your big business rivals what you can do as you turn five small time grocery stores into huge successes. Talk about making something out of nothing!

This is the catch, in order to run your competition out of town, you must beat 50 stock-until-you-drop levels, reloading shelves faster than customers can clear them and upgrading your stores between stages. The challenges come fast in this lovely time management game.

The only twist in this tale is the price, $19.95 but not to worry you can enjoy the free version for like an hour or so.

Really worth checking out! Check http://www.alawar.com/games/supermarket-mania

If you need an efficient tool to extract media files, then you might want to consider AllMedia Grabber.

AllMedia Grabber searches in files (executables, libraries, custom controls, data files e.t.c.) and extracts multimedia files. With this cool tool you can extract thousand of Pictures, Videos, Music, Sounds hidden inside programs / files on your computer. Sounds cool doesn’t it? The latest version, AllMedia Grabber 2.2 has just been released recently with these changes made in the features…

• Bug with Saved Files Counter is Fixed
• Bug with Unicode Filenames and Shortcuts is Fixed
• Improved MP3 detection function
• Improved JPG detection function
• New Languages: Russian, Italian

Works well with Windows 2000/XP/2003/VISTA

Want to check it out? http://www.fotissoftware.com/multimedia.htm

Well, the news that everyone has been waiting for with baited breath is finally here! The new version of Mozilla Firefox was released on July 1 and it clearly shows that Mozilla is continuing to amaze with all of the freeware that they release for public consumption.

Firefox was originally a redesign of an older browser component that Mozilla had been using and ever since it was introduced it had really taken off to the point where a significant number of people are now using Mozilla instead of Internet Explorer, a piece of software that remains the majority choice in the overall marketplace. Mozilla is written using XUL language and has all of the modern browser amenities such as functionality in areas of dealing with popup advertisements and download facilitation. In addition to that, it also allows you to browse with tabs in a single browser window and search with higher accuracy.

All of these things combine to make an overall internet browsing experience that is hard to beat and this is why Firefox continues to gain in popularity as time goes by. The latest version of Firefox addresses a number of known issues while at the same time including a few new things, but overall the same Firefox look and feel that people have come to love is still present.

More information is available at http://www.mozilla.org/firefox

If you are a fan of the classic bomberman, you are going to love this new version which was just released yesterday-Bomberman Online World 4.3.2

Bomberman is an action packed bomb game where the object of the game is to bomb your opponents and be the champion bomber. It’s a bomb or be bombed thing! This game gives you an opportunity to experience intense 6 player battles against people all over the world. And that is what makes it quite interesting, the competitive nature of the game. So if you are a bomberman fan or just someone who like competing against others, this is your chance to strut your stuff and show what you are made of.

If you are someone who likes complex games, you won’t like this one as it might just be a tad too simple for you but all in all it’s worth checking out.

Want to try it out? Check http://bmoworld.com/

Screamer Radio is a Windows application that allows you listen to online radio stations right from your desktop. You’ll be able to listen to stations ranging from talk and comedy to various music genres. Its got has more than 4000 radio stations included in its radio directory so you’re sure to find something you like.

A cool feature is that it doesn’t just let you listen to radio, as additionally, it gives you the option of recording what you’re listening to.

Screamer Radio has support for the following radio streams:

• Shoutcast and Icecast MP3 Streaming
• Icecast OGG Vorbis Streaming
• WMA Streaming
• AAC Streaming

The Recording features are:

• Recording buffer: For example: begin recording in the middle of a song and you can still save the whole song!
• Direct MP3 Audio stream saving, without loss of quality!
• Direct OGG Vorbis stream saving, without loss of quality!
• Or encode OGG Vorbis as MP3 using Lame
• Encode WMA or AAC to MP3 using Lame

When you record a stream using Screamer Radio it’s able to name the files after the song that’s played, however this does require the radio station to transmit this sort of information.

There’s also a portable version available

Full details and download from the homepage.

Remember the satisfaction of finally putting the final piece in a jigsaw puzzle that took you a while to put together? (or a lot more than a while!) Well now you can do that again, all on your screen!

BrainsBreaker allows you to make ‘virtual jigsaws’ to your own specifications. You can make a puzzle out of any photo you want, even your own photos of family and friends. It permits you to choose how many puzzle pieces each puzzle will have, and if you are up for an even tougher challenge, you can choose from some unusual type shapes! The only actual restriction is the size of your computer screen.

I also like that you can take a break from a puzzle and come back to it at a later time precisely where you left off before. That makes it cool just in case you don’t get the time to complete a puzzle in one puzzle-making session. Another neat feature is that you’re able to share your puzzles with other people online. Also, more than one person can help with solving it if you place it online.

BrainsBreaker is an ideal program for anybody who finds themselves to be somewhat of a jigsaw-puzzle-making addict!. Best of all, no missing pieces!! Check out the homepage.

People generally have a large collection of music files and at times arranging such a collection requires lot of time and effort. Moreover managing files into specific folders on the basis of different categories like genre, album, title is a tedious activity which is prone to error. But now you can get it done easily with the help of the Music Organizer 4.69. The software helps you to manage the whole collection of music files in virtually no time and you can easily locate these when required. It helps in sorting, renaming and organizing the music files in an efficient manner.

Music Organizer 4.69 has decent interface that gives a pleasant feel and comes loaded with hassle free features to work with. With the start-up wizard it becomes lot easier for you to get the music files sorted according to artist, genre, album, title, and so on, and you can even get the files renamed for your convenience of file identity. It supports organizing a large number of files making it unfussy for you to find and get them played. One of the excellent features of the program is that it supports files at your laptop, desktop PC, CD/DVD, memory drives and music player. You would not require worrying about the different formats of the files as it supports all formats of MP3 files that also include the music with different media and music tags. It is capable of organizing the music files downloaded from internet, CD or even that are compressed in ZIP file. It helps in removing the duplicate music files and supports all the type of music files.

The Music Organizer 4.69 makes the organization of music files a cake walk.

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We are often fond of watching movies and some of us even maintain a large collection of DVDs. Sometimes if you plan to watch your favorite video stored in your iPod or mobile, the standard DVD format files at times may not work. Now you can resolve this problem by using DVD Rip Factory Pro 7.2.1. The software is worth using as it helps in ripping and converting the DVD files tailored for mobile phone, iPod, PSP, PDA, laptop, etc. It performs the process of ripping and conversion maintaining quality of the movie files. By changing the setting you can get the process carried out smoothly with specified configurations.

DVD Rip Factory Pro 7.2.1 supports ripping the DVD and converting it into the supported format for your iPod, mobile with effortless ease. The interface of the program is pleasant and well set with the functions that it easily operable. While carrying out the ripping and converting process you can select the audio tracks and subtitle. You can even get the video resized and cropped it get the video modified according to your requirement. Make the selection of the aspect ratio and make other changes to the configurations. To get different interesting clips from the same videos you can get the videos split into small video clips by setting the start and end point. Output settings can be changed to get the desired results. The encoder and decoders work fast, and also enables to rip every chapter as an individual file. You would not require selecting the files one by one as the software even supports batch conversion.

DVD Rip Factory Pro 7.2.1 is a simple utility to get your favorite movies converted from DVD to different formats such as DivX, XviD, Cinepak, MPEG, VCD, DVD, WMV, 3GP, MP4, iPod, PSP, and many others.

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