Want to record voice calls in Skype? Install PrettyMay for Skype and you’ll be able to record and save all of your Skype calls very easily.

PrettyMay Call Center is a stand-alone Skype audio recorder for Windows. To use it, you need to install Skype on your PC then download PrettyMay and install it. The call recording software is available as a 30-day trial, with a 30-minute per call recording limit.

Make a call with Skype

When you launch PrettyMay it will automatically load Skype, so you're instantly ready to record your calls and conversations. Place your call in Skype by clicking on the name of a contact or calling their number with the dialer.

If you don't want to wait till the official 1.0 release of Minecraft, you can already download and play the RC2 (release candidate 2). Here's how to download the file and install it.

According to Minecraft creator 'Notch', the final version will only feature minor tweaks and fixes, and RC2 is fine for reviewing purposes. I've been playing it, and have found no problems so far.

For Windows 7 users:

1. Download the .jar file. Click this link, and save the file.

2. Click the Start button

3. Enter %appdata% in the search box.

4. Click and open the 'Roaming' folder.

5. Double click the Minecraft folder, then the 'bin' folder.

6. Now delete the 'minecraft' file. Don't worry!

7. Drag the file you just downloaded into the bin folder.

8. Start Minecraft as normal. It will update and you'll be playing the new version!

For Apple OS X users:

1. Download the .jar file. Click this link, and save the file.

2. Open Finder.

3. Type this into searchlight: /Library/Application Support/Minecraft/bin.

4. Delete the minecraft .jar file. Drag in the version you just downloaded.

5. Start Minecraft as usual and you'll be good to go!

Many couples these days meet through the internet, but I’ll bet that for every love match made online, another couple splits up because of computers. Here are some of the common examples of computer-induced relationship meltdown, together with some advice on how to prevent them:

Too much time on your PC

No one can say that harvesting your tomatoes in Farmville, grooming your dog in Pet Society, and looking at videos of kittens on YouTube aren’t vitally important tasks. However, you should remember that your partner probably needs a little attention too.

Don’t worry, the worlds of Mordor or the plains of Lordaeron will not cease to exist if you decide to take a romantic trip to McDonalds with your loved one. If you need a bit of encouragement to get off the computer, then install some breakout software, such as WorkRave, which will force you to get off your PC at scheduled times.

The curse of the ‘Away’ status

Status indicators in programs such as Windows Live Messenger, Facebook Chat, or Yahoo! Messenger can be a relationship killer. In particular the ‘Away’ state is a big protagonist, causing breakdowns in communications that can lead to bust-ups. Here are some common scenarios:

* Your messenger program is set to Idle, showing your partner that you left your computer in mid-conversation.

* The same app puts your status back to Available when you move your mouse, and your beloved sees that you’re back at your PC and you still haven’t responded.

* If you’ve disabled status indicators and are always listed as ‘Available’, this can cause even more problems. Get up from your computer for a few minutes and your partner may start talking to you with no response, appearing that you’re ignoring them.

Firefox 9 has officially gone from Alpha (Aurora) to Beta now that Firefox 8 final has been released. Mozilla continues to follow the same strategy as Google does with Chrome, creating different development channels to release early versions of their browser as soon as they’re available and keep the final one updated as often as possible.

There are several improvement in Firefox 9, although a few of them will only really benefit Mac users. For instance, there's improved theme integration for OS X Lion and Mozilla have finally added two finger swipe navigation for Lion.

There's also added support for querying Do Not Track status via JavaScript and improved general JavaScript performance courtesy of adding Type Inference. There have been several other minor tweaks too including improved standards support for HTML5, MathML, and CSS and overall stability has been improved.

The interface is pretty much the same as Firefox 8, with a minimalist toolbar and there's still no way of removing elements that you may not want such as Java and .Net Framework. The major downside for most users however is that some plug-ins or add-ons won't work with Firefox 9 yet - so if you have a lot installed, prepare to be disappointed.

Firefox 9 Beta has some useful enhancements for fans of the browser, especially those on Mac.

Let's face it. Sometimes comments on YouTube video pages just don't cut it when you're trying to get others' opinions about it. Or maybe you just want to read more comments than are available. Wouldn't it be nice to see what users are saying on Twitter about the specific video in question too?

Now you can do just that directly on YouTube's video pages with FreeTwitTube. This handy and simple tool works as a browser enhancement and adds an area to each video page on YouTube so you can read what other users have tweeted about the video in question. Of course, not all videos will have tweets available to read about, but it can be especially useful when you want to read opinions on a movie trailer or news piece, for example, or even to see if a video recipe is worth trying out.

In addition to being able to read tweets on the video, you can also comment on it yourself  and respond to other users if you're logged into your Twitter account, without ever leaving the YouTube video you were viewing in the first place. This app is convenient and lightweight, a great little addition for frequent YouTube browsers and power tweeters alike. It's also simple to install.

FreeTwitTube works on Firefox, Internet Explorer and Google's Chrome browsers on Windows PCs. There is also a version available for Mac.

Apple has released its first update to iOS 5 since the operating system was released last month.

iOS version 5.0.1 fixes a number of issues with the platform that had blighted performance. Perhaps the biggest improvement is a battery life fix, meaning devices running iOS 5 stay charged for longer. Other changes include fixes to document sync with iCloud, enhanced voice recognition for Australians, and the addition of multi-touch gestures for iPad 1 users. iPad 2 owners will also be pleased to hear that the notorious Smart Cover hack is now patched.

For a detailed breakdown of the security content of the iOS 5.0.1 software update check out Apple’s log here. The new iOS update is available for free via iTunes.

I'm going to be controversial here - Chrome is hands-down the best browser around. If you agree, then you'll want to use Google's browser wherever you can. whether at home or in work. If you have a business, or manage a company network, then you'll need Google Chrome for Business, the version of Chrome specifically tailored to networked organizations.

Popular board game Scrabble has yet to make a real dent on mobile gaming, but two similar games - Zynga's Words with Friends and Bertheussen's Wordfeud are really getting people addicted, and both are available on Android and iOS devices.

Both games offer two-player, smartphone-based competitive word games as well as free and paid versions, but there are some significant differences between the two.

The game

Neither app offers games between more than two players, which strikes me as a lost opportunity, but beyond that, both offer a solid 'classic' version of the the letter-tiles game that will be familiar to everyone. Both games allow you to zoom into the board for easier play on a small phone screen, and both allow you to shuffle your tiles, swap and pass. In simple game terms, these are identical, and both great fun.

The demise of Flash has been greatly exaggerated. The news that Adobe are to stop developing Flash on mobile devices has had many people declaring the war between Adobe and Apple has finally been won by Apple. But there are many reasons why Flash isn't going to disappear anytime soon. Here are five of them to consider:

1. Flash is an integral component to Adobe AIR which is increasingly the platform for more and more Adobe products. Adobe AIR consists of Adobe Flash, Adobe Flex, HTML and Ajax.

2. Adobe have only recently launched version 11 of Flash which is the most powerful yet. This means that there's still a lot of development possibilities for Flash, and lots of new potential for developers to harness.

3. Adobe is likely to make Flash open-source by releasing the source code. This means that Flash will probably continue to be developed enthusiastically by the open source community.

4. HTML5 is still a long way behind Flash in terms of video capability. Of course that will change but for now, web developers, video providers and designers will get more power out of Flash.

5. Despite Apple's refusal to support Flash, it's really not all that bad. It's certainly less buggy and clunky than other proprietary platforms such as Java. If it's good enough to have got YouTube as far it has today, it can't be that bad.

If you've noticed a "netsession" process running on your Mac then there's a simple explanation for it, especially if you're a Netflix user. Like many video-on-demand websites, Netflix uses Akamai NetSession to ensure that streaming of movies is smooth and reliable. This effectively means that your Mac's resources are being used in a P2P network to deliver high quality video content. Some users may or may not be entirely comfortable with this.

Akamai has servers around the world and content is delivered to you by the closest one to where you are. In addition to this though, Akamai NetSession uses P2P technology to deliver content from other users watching the same content as you in order to spread the data burden.

NetSession isn't supposed to consume many physical resources and Akamei claim that it poses no security risks:

The Akamai NetSession Interface captures and stores about the same information as a standard web server. The Akamai NetSession Interface is made up of various networking protocols designed to manage the distribution of files over IP networks and is solely used for that function. And just to be clear: The Akamai NetSession Interface is networking software only. Absolutely zero personal information is *ever* captured, shared or stored via the Akamai NetSession Interface.

However, even if you're not a Netflix user, it's possible that NetSession has been installed onto your Mac via an Adobe installer. Adobe uses Akamei Download Manager to deliver large software downloads and it uses NetSession to do this.

The other thing to be aware of is that NetSession may also show-up under a different process name on your Mac such as "rsmac" followed by a number - see a discussion here on this.

If you don't want any Akamei related products on your Mac, go to "/Applications/Akamai/" and simply delete the folder. If that doesn't work, there are two alternative removal methods suggested by Akamai:

Macintosh Alternative Uninstall

Go to the command line of your computer. In the Application -> Utilities folder, double-left click Terminal. Go to the Akamai NetSession Interface installation folder, which is normally /Applications/Akamai/ Type the command AdminTool uninstall -force Press the Enter (Return) key to complete the command.

Alternative Method Using Launch Unload This alternative method may be used, for example, if you deleted AdminTool without running the AdminTool uninstall steps described just above. This uninstall involves required steps of manually stopping the client, then removing the installation directory, the automatic startup script, and the preferences panel.

Go to the command line of your computer. In the Application -> Utilities folder, double-left click Terminal. Go to the Akamai NetSession Interface installation folder, which is normally /Applications/Akamai/. Type the following lines, and after typing each line, press the Enter (Return) key to complete the command: launchctl unload ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.akamai.client.plist rm -rf /Applications/Akamai rm -rf ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.akamai.client.plist rm -rf ~/Library/PreferencePanes/AkamaiNetSession.prefPane If the NetSession client isn't stopped when you have gone through these steps, restart your computer to complete the operation.

If you're just unsure about whether to allow Akamai NetSession to run, read the detailed description about exactly what it does on Akamei's website.

In a shock move, Adobe has said that it plans to stop further development on the mobile version of its Flash Player.

In a leaked document sent to individuals “close to the matter” and published today by ZDNet, Adobe states that it will continue to support current versions of mobile Flash Player, but will now turn its focus to HTML 5 and embedded Flash and Air apps for mobile.

Our future work with Flash on mobile devices will be focused on enabling Flash developers to package native apps with Adobe AIR for all the major app stores. We will no longer adapt Flash Player for mobile devices to new browser, OS version or device configurations. Some of our source code licensees may opt to continue working on and releasing their own implementations. We will continue to support the current Android and PlayBook configurations with critical bug fixes and security updates.

It seems from this move that Adobe has admitted defeat in trying to push Flash content to mobile devices, and is resigned to the fact that HTML 5 is the way forward. This could even mean that it turns its attentions away from Flash on the desktop too, in order to invest more heavily on AIR and HTML 5 instead.

According to ZDNet, we can expect a detailed official announcement from Adobe today regarding the withdrawal of support for Flash on mobiles. We'll post an update with a link to the news.

Long running city-building strategy series Anno has made a big leap for its next release. Previous games were set between the 15th and 18th centuries, but Anno 2070, as the title suggests, plants the game firmly in the future, to tell a cautionary tale about global warming.

The hefty 1GB demo, released this weekend, lets you play two missions from the main campaign. It will probably please fans of the game, because while the setting is new, the controls and mechanisms will be familiar. I don't think Anno 2070 does a good job of introducing itself to newcomers, since it can be a bit confusing at first. However, the improved graphics, alongside some online capabilities make it an interesting prospect.

Are you an Anno fan? Pleased about the futuristic setting, or did you enjoy the historical nature of the previous games?

Anno 2070 is released on November 17, and you can download the demo here right now.

Although it's not due until tomorrow, you can now download the final version of Mozilla's Firefox 8.

Firefox 8, though not very different from Firefox 7 in terms of design, brings a bunch of subtle but useful improvements. The most notable changes in Firefox 8 are the ability to search Tweets and Twitter users from the URL bar. In addition, the way tabs reload after crashes has been improved. Instead of them all trying to load at once (which can really lock-up Firefox) they only load now when you click on them after a crash.

Third party add-ons have also been deactivated by default which will come as welcome news to all those that are sick of add-ons such as Skype reinstalling themselves with each new Firefox update. This means that when you update to Firefox 8, you can choose which add-ons update automatically.

The slight disadvantage of Firefox 8 is that many add-ons won't work from the start until the developers have upgraded them although the beta testing period for version 8 should have given them chance to do so.

The interface in Firefox 8 is pretty much the same as Firefox 7, with a minimalist toolbar and hidden buttons.

Other than this, Firefox 8 mainly introduces improvements to memory usage and performance when having many tabs open. Firefox 8 is slightly more responsive and has some significant improvements to the JavaScript handling as well as improved support for HTML5 canvas, SMIL, MathML, and XHR. As a result, Firefox 8 is a little faster when loading pages. There are also additional improvements to the anonymous browsing feature and an installation panel that facilitates the installation and management of add ons.

Note that although Firefox 8 has just been released, you can already download the Alpha version of Firefox 9. This is because Mozilla continues to follow the same strategy as Google does with Chrome, creating different development channels to release early versions of their browser as soon as they’re available and keep the final one updated as often as possible.

Download Firefox 8 for Windows or Mac and let us know your thoughts on Mozilla's latest browser.

If you’re hankering after a game of FIFA but can’t afford to purchase it outright, then check out FIFA Online 2.

A while ago we brought you news of FIFA Online, EA’s web-based version of its popular soccer sim. Unfortunately, the beta has now closed, and the game is no longer available to play. But the good news is that there is another web version of FIFA available to play for free.

Distributed by Asian games operator, IAH Games, FIFA Online 2 is a licensed version of the soccer game, based around the FIFA 07 engine. It’s a good reproduction of FIFA, with decent graphics, simple controls and loads of officially licensed players and teams. Read my full review of FIFA Online 2 for more.

In order to download and play the game you need to sign up for a Passport with IAH Games. It seems from the location selection option in the registration process that FIFA Online 2 is designed just for the South East Asian market. However, if you’re outside of this zone, simply select ‘Others’ when asked.

You can choose to download FIFA Online 2 using the IAH Games installer, or just the normal game client. We’d recommend you go for the latter, as it’s quicker and easier.

Apple recently announced that from March, apps submitted to the Mac App Store will have to employ 'sandboxing' to be accepted. But what does this mean for you, the end user?

Sandboxing basically puts a safeguard between the applications you've installed and OS X. It should ensure Mac apps are less likely to damage OS X because it limits the amount of interaction they can do with it. This means that the most critical parts of OS X are protected from infection by apps you install - hopefully meaning less major crashes or fatal errors in OS X itself.

This is an understandable move by Apple. Although Macs are still much more resilient to infection than PC's, as the number of Mac users grow, so will the number of Trojans and viruses aimed at it. Also, the fact that OS X has to use vulnerable plugins such as Java and Flash via browsers such as Firefox and Chrome means that certain backdoor vulnerabilities need to be closed.

There are some potential complications for end users however. For example, if an application  needs to establish a connection to the internet or interact with another program, the fact that it's been sandboxed may prevent or complicate this. Of course, if the developer has done their job properly and Apple implement sandboxing correctly within the App Store, it shouldn't be a problem and you should notice no major difference in the functionality of your apps.

For developer's, it's more of a headache. It means more work in specifying exactly what their applications can and can't access. There is also a concern that it will lock both developers and users into the App Store: will OS X eventually only accept apps that have been sandbox approved in the App Store first for security reasons?

But initially at least, it should mean a safer OS X experience, better performing apps and less application conflict issues.