Microsoft plans to offer a $3 stripped-down package of Windows, Office and other software to people in developing countries.

The Microsoft Unlimited Potential programme, due to be announced in Beijing today by Microsoft chairman Bill Gates, is part of an ongoing global expansion by the software giant. Microsoft aims to double the number of PC users worldwide to two billion by 2015. Read the rest of this entry »

High-flying startup StumbleUpon has been rumored to be in acquisition discussions since at least last November. Recently we’ve heard that talks have heated up again, with Google, AOL and eBay as potential suitors. A source with knowledge of the deal now says the company has signed a term sheet with eBay to be acquired. The price is somewhere between $40 – $45 million.

StumbleUpon lets users rate websites via a browser toolbar. At any time a user can click “Stumble!” and will be taken to a website highly rated by other StumbleUpon users who tend to vote in a similar way as the person “stumbling.” More often than not, it’s something almost serendipitously interesting to the reader. The company expanded into video referrals in late 2006. Read the rest of this entry »

Check out this free and feature rich calendar application.

Rainlendar is a feature rich calendar application that is easy to use and doesn’t take much space on your desktop. The great thing about the application is that it is platform independent so you can run it both on Windows and on Linux.

You’ll love the fact that the appearance can be customized with skins and you can even mix different skins together to reflect your taste or preference.

One really cool thing about Rainlendar is that, all the coming events are shown in a separate list where you can see the week’s events at one glance. You can decide how many days in advance you want to see in the list. Different events can have a different appearance in the list so you can easily spot the important events from the others. The icons in the calendar are also available in the event list and other windows to make it easier to separate the events.

The latest version, Rainlendar Lite for Windows 2.1 Build 38, has these changes:

Fixed:

• Weekly recurring events were sometimes shown in incorrect day
• Start time for Outlook tasks wasn’t read correctly
• Due time was shown incorrectly for Outlook Tasks
• All buttons were missing from ini-format skins.

Want to check it out? Go to http://www.rainlendar.net/cms/index.php

Need a tool for your reminder and scheduling needs? You need to check out Alarm++.

Alarm++ solves your reminder and scheduling needs. With this tool, you can create multiple alarms which can repeat at various intervals, from simple to complex, from one to forever or until a specific date. It is powerful, flexible, and most of all stable.  With Alarm++ you don’t need to think about your schedule any longer as you can rest assured that the alarms won’t disappoint you.

The major change in the latest version, Alarm++ 7.05 is that it now saves the alarm file after shutting down Windows when an event window is open.

Still not sure if Alarm++ is for you? Check out what it can do for you:

• Remind you of meetings, birthdays, or deadlines
• Wake up to your favorite mp3 files, videos, or cds
• Visit your favorite web sites every morning
• Send e-mail to a phone or pager and remind anyone anywhere
• Send messages over the network to remind others
• Check your stocks weekly
• Run scripts and batch files to perform complex tasks
• Send e-mail reminders to anyone
• Use animated characters for speech and gestures

And much more…

Check out http://www.12noon.com/alarm.htm for more info and trial download.

If you are looking for a free but cool block lists downloader, you should check out P2Wiz.

P2Wiz is p2p block lists downloader which supports PeerGuardian (PhoenixLabs) block lists, OpenMedia block lists and BlueTack block lists. It is worthy of note that P2Wiz is not an ip blocker but a block lists downloader so before complaining about this tool not doing what you want it to do, make sure you get things right. P2Wiz only downloads block lists.

The latest version fast becoming popular these days has these changes:

• PeerGuardian menu
• Duplicated gov lists from PG (from PhoenixLabs)
• List Items to more explanatory names
• BlueTack block lists support
• Shortcuts to block lists menu
• Different directory for each categories of block lists
• Window and Columns is now resizable and bigger font
• Description panel, can be disabled in config file

Want to check it out? Go to http://gravityfx.org/p2w

Here is a software worth checking out, Atrise Golden Section 2.1.0

Atrise Golden Section is an adjustable transparent screen grid for the web, graphic and UI design. It allows you to control and correct the sizes and proportions in your design project using the golden section proportion.

Atrise Golden Section is a unique design tool for artists, designers, programmers, photographers that will help you see harmonious dimensions and forms. It will assist you in creating elegant items, while staying away from calculators and numbers.

All you have to do is simply launch the program, adjust the dimensions for your design and create!

Atrise Golden Section 2.1.0, the latest version in the market has these changes:

§ Performance improvement. Now resizing is clean § New Windows Vista-compatible icon § Minor user interface changes § Bug fix: Windows Vista Aero-compatible § Bug fix: Aspect ratio unlock mode is now controllable from settings window § Bug fix: Cursor-related changes

Want to try it? Go to http://www.atrise.com/golden-section/ for more info and trial download.

When it comes to having a file manager that is beyond compare, Total Commander is the way to go. The truth is other file managers may have better looking Interfaces but none have the all around power and flexibility of Total Commander.

Total Commander is a file manager replacement that offers multiple language support, search, file comparison, directory synchronization, quick view panel with bitmap display, ZIP, ARJ, LZH, RAR, UC2, TAR, GZ, CAB, ACE archive handling plus plugins, built-in FTP client with FXP, HTTP proxy support, and more.

Total Commander Beta 7.0 Release Candidate 2 is the latest release which hit the software market on April 13. It is a test release of Total Commander and is not recommended for production systems.

This beta is Shareware but has no time or functional limit except for the order dialog at startup.

Want to check it out? Go to http://www.ghisler.com/

If you’ve tried different software for printing your business cards and labels but you’ve not really found the thing for you, then you may need to check out Print Designer GOLD.

Print Designer GOLD allows you to create great looking Business Cards, Address and Shipping Labels, CD/DVD Labels and Inserts, Envelopes, Post Cards, Name Badges, Signs, and other media labels. The cool thing about this tool is its ease of use. It is easy to use for beginners, yet powerful enough for experts.

The latest version, Print Designer GOLD 9.0.1.0, which was released on April 10 has these latest changes:

• Added Copies of each option on Print Options screen even when no database is used (for counters)
• Show selected color when clicking color buttons
• Install automatically adds EXE file to DEP exclusion list so it will run on XP and
  Vista with DEP turned on for all processes (the default with many computer makers)
• Fixed: Problem with print command line /p;q=20;s=1;x=1;p=printer filetoprint
• Fixed: Create My Documents/Databases folder on program run in case PDB is never used
• Fixed: Save as Graphic only enabled when an object is selected; should be at least one object in design
• Fixed: Finish button never enabled in Linked Database Wizard when linking to outlook contacts
• Fixed: Problem running a second time without a reboot in very rare cases

Check out http://www.camdevelopment.com/designer/gold/ for more info.

You have 15 days to make up your mind with the trial version and see if this is exactly what you need or a waste of money.

Adobe has released preview versions of After Effects CS3 and Premiere Pro CS3. So now we have something to play until the final release in middle of summer.

The Premiere Pro preview is available for Intel Macs and XP/Vista platforms. There’s no license restriction on this preview so anyone can give it a try (but Mac users (Mac OS 10.4.9) won’t be able to use DV Capture). The other catch with this one – this is a preview version so if you get yourself into troubles with it there won’t be any tech support available.

You will need to provide your AE7, Production Studio or Bundle serial number in order to get an After Effects CS3 preview serial number. If you don’t own any of the required products, you can keep the software for 2 days before it self destructs.

Here is a video chat tool worth checking out, Camfrog Video Chat.

Camfrog Video Chat has real video chat rooms where you can see and hear many users on webcam at a time. What are the cool features you will enjoy with Camfrog Video Chat? A live directory of users with photos, a live video chat room directory, instant messaging, a contact list, and an extremely easy to use UI.

The cool thing about is that no webcam is required to hear or see people, but it is recommended.

The latest version, Camfrog Video Chat 3.91.22594 which was just recently released has these changes:

• Multimedia upgraded to maximize compatibility with all systems
• Some usability upgrades
• Parental controls now turned on by default for users 13-15 years of age
• Users 13-15 do not have user profiles

Want to give it a shot? Go to http://www.camfrog.com/