YouTube has become such a phenomenon that it has spawned a whole industry of software related apps that are designed to enhance your uploading, downloading and general viewing experience. By far, the most saturated area is that of downloaders which attempt to speed-up and improve downloading of YouTube clips with varying degrees of efficiency and success.

There are many other tools however that help you get more out of YouTube. One of the most useful is Free YouTube to Mp3 Converter which allows you to save any YouTube audio to Mp3 in one click. This is great for classic movie soundbytes or rare interviews that you want to listen to later on your Mp3 device. Equally useful, especially if you're going to try and edit your footage, is YouTube FLV to AVI Easy Converter which as the name suggests, takes YouTube videos in their native FLV format and turns them into AVI files. The other advantage of this is that you can pick and choose which media player you want to watch your clips on.

If you don't want to have lots of separate utilities for YouTube, then Axara YouTube Tools is a good bet. This package consists of a number of tools, mainly aimed at converting and downloading in one package. The good thing about this program is that everything is taken care of at once and it converts to iPod, WMV and 3GP formats amongst others. Meanwhile, if it is downloading that remains your number one activity on YouTube, you probably need something that can take care of more than one job at once unlike most downloaders. In this case, YouTube Batch Downloader is a good solution for batch downloads but even better in my opinion is YouTube Robot which even allows you to schedule YouTube downloads when new clips are uploaded.

Google has whetted our appetites by announcing the new version of its Android operating system, Ice Cream Sandwich.

The new operating system, also known as Android 4.0, was unveiled at a joint event with Samsung in Hong Kong. Samsung was there to reveal its new phone, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, which will run Ice Cream Sandwich. While the phone design and specifications are interesting, pushing the phone at the same time as the new operating system felt more like a marketing scheme than a true announcement. Or maybe Google just needed a phone to showcase its new redesigned OS.

And what an OS it looks! At the event, Google said it went and looked at everything that made up its OS and decided what needed to be changed. That looks like it might have been almost everything, as you can see from this overview demoed on the Galaxy Nexus:

If you fancy having a bit of fun next time you use Skype then why not try out a voice-changing app? You'll be able to do all sorts of cool things, from prank-calling your pals as Darth Vader to faking a sore throat in order to get a day off work. There are a number of software tools around that can change your voice in Skype, and none of them are particularly difficult to use.

Skype Voice Changer is a free app that does exactly what its name suggests. Install the application on your PC, open up Skype and agree to the permission request. You'll then be presented with an effects panel that lets you alter your voice. There are a range of presets and you can tweak each of them using the sliders to change various aspects of the sound.

A more comprehensive and easier to use solution is MorphVOX Pro. The program has some really cool preset voices, including a demon, robot, woman, kid and even a dog! You can also apply background noises to your voice as you're talking, such as a shopping mall or a traffic jam (perfect for a call to your boss saying you'll be late for work). Another great thing about MorphVOX Pro is the 'Voice effects' section, where you can apply various filters to your dulcet tones, including nasal, growl, underwater and monotone. All of the presets can be customized using the 'Tweak Voice' control panel. The downside of MorphVOX Pro is that it costs $39.95, although you can try the program free for 30 days.

If you really want state-of-the-art then check out AV Voice Changer. This app is loaded with a multitude of options that let you really fine-tune your fake voice. There are lots of preset voices to make you sound young, old, sexy, patronizing, joyful or sarcastic. The program includes a 'Parady Mixer', which lets you sample celebrities voices before calling people up and pranking them. The tinkering you can do with AV Voice Changer is more akin to a professional audio production app, including a formant morpher (to alter acoustic resonance), voice equalizer and noise reduction settings. The only trouble with AV Voice Changer is the trial is pretty limited, and the program is more expensive than MorphVOX Pro.

If you really want an idea of the fun you can have with voice changers, then you must watch this video of a guy using MorphVOX Pro with some hilarious consequences.

Flying killer robot penguins! (nearly) [Youtube/Festo]

Salma Hayek's Apple account hacked [Electric Pulp]

Pirate Bay judge in conflict of interest scandal [Gamesindustry.biz]

Microsoft's first drop in revenue since going public in 1986 [The Guardian]

Facebook members agree to new terms and conditions [BBC]

Bizarre game of the week: When the bomb goes off! [CoolMoose]