We’d like to add our words to the many expressions of sorrow following the death of Steve Jobs earlier today. His impact on the computer industry and tech world was huge. He will be missed.

Google has finally launched its +1 Chrome extension, that allows you to +1 any page you visit on the web and see how many +1s the page has. It still doesn't let you share a page straight to your Google+ stream - a feature lots of users seem to be desperate for, but it's certainly a step in the right direction.

So far, so good... but what's that I spy on the extension's Chrome Web Store page? Oh, it's a message from Google warning that

"In addition to the practices described in the Google +1 Button Privacy Policy, by installing this extension, all of the pages and URLs you visit  will be sent to Google in order to retrieve +1 information."

Yes, that's right: every page you visit in Chrome gets sent to Google, whether you +1 it or not.

To be fair to Google, the company has obviously learned from previous privacy fumbles. Not only is the above warning displayed fairly clearly on the extension page in the Web Store, Google has also produced a clear guide to what this actually means, entitled 'How the +1 button respects your privacy'.

Google insists that while yes, data is collected "to maintain and debug internal systems", said data "isn't organized by individual profiles, usernames, or URLs" and that any info collected is deleted after "about two weeks". As with other extensions, the +1 button does not run while you're in Incognito mode.

I don't get too worried about privacy topics like this. I'm happy to use my real identity online and I trust Google when it says it's not really interested in what I'm personally doing. If you don't feel so sure, I recommend that you avoid the +1 extension, and stick to Incognito browsing.

If you're still interested, you can get the Google +1 button Chrome extension here. You can download Chrome here for Mac and here for Windows.

Apple's new product is called iCloud. But according to The Guardian and some other sources, lots of people remain mystified by what iCloud actually is. Here's a brief guide to Apple iCloud with a summary of its main features, and what you need to do to get it.

What is iCloud?

To start with, Apple iCloud is a collection of web services, rather than a physical device. In other words, it's a piece of software that helps you get more out of your iPad, iPhone or Mac. And if you don't yet own one of these shiny gadgets, iCloud might just convince you to get one.

Apple iCloud lets you store your photos, music, apps, mail and more online in a single space, accessible wherever you have an internet connection. For example, your iTunes music is stored in the cloud, meaning you can play it on your iPad when you connect to wifi in the move. What this means is that you no longer have to worry about making sure you have all your photos backed up to all your devices, or all your iTunes purchases copied across from your MacBook to your iPhone: iCloud takes care of this automatically.

Which services does iCloud support?

Apple is launching the service with support for: Apps, iBooks, Documents, Device Backups, Music, Photos, Contacts, Calendar and Mail. Some services may be limited to the USA only at launch.

What do I need to do to get iCloud?

iCloud will be available in fall/autumn 2011. For some features, you'll need to have a newer iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch with iOS 5, as well as a Mac running OS X Lion (10.7) or a PC running Windows Vista or Windows 7. Full requirements can be found on Apple's iCloud page.

How much does iCloud cost?

The basic Apple iCloud package is free. With this basic package, you receive 5GB of cloud storage for your mail, Camera Roll, account information and other settings and config files. Your music, iBooks, Photo Stream and apps don't use up any of that space. Some advanced features, such as iTunes Match, which allows you to add music you didn't buy in the iTunes Store to your iCloud library, cost extra.

The latest version of Google Chrome is available for download, or for automatic without so much as a by-your-leave update if you're already using a previous version of the browser. Chrome 11 fixes multiple security issues in WebKit, as well as adding some new features and a cool new icon (well, I like it anyway). Get it now for Windows or Mac.

The most interesting addition to Chrome 11 is probably the HTML-powered speech input function that allows you to input text with the power of your vocal chords. The new function doesn't work in many places yet  but you can give it a go at Google Translate. Using the latest version of Chrome, simply enter the Translate page. If you're translating from English to another language, you should see a small microphone icon in the bottom right of the text box - click this and speak to start voice input translation. Translation via voice doesn't yet appear to work for other languages.

If, like me, you're a big fan of voice search in Android, you can get the same capabilities in Chrome 11 using the free Speechify add-on. Speechify works with Google, Amazon, YouTube and other sites. In general, though, I expect that we'll see increasingly widespread use of the voice API gradually negating the need for 3rd party add-ons in this area.

"There are no real-life viruses for Mac OS X. There never have been."

A point of frequent disagreement between Mac and Windows evangelists is security. With the arrival of OS X, Apple and some of its customers used the threat of viruses on Windows as a key selling point for its Mac line of computers. After that came a backlash of articles and posts claiming that OS X was in fact no safer than Windows and could even be at more risk.

There are three key areas to look at when it comes to this topic: Hacking, and its security implications for OS X, Security through obscurity, and System architecture. Read on to see why I argue that Mac OS X is just as safe as Windows 7, and how it might actually be even more secure than Microsoft's latest OS.

[Image includes elements created by Graham Colm]

Hacking, PwntoOwn and implications for OS X

Every year, Apple's web browser Safari gets some bad press for being 'the first browser to be hacked' at the Pwn2own security event. The results of the contest are frequently used to dismiss Apple's claims that its products are 'more secure'. I'm convinced that the vast majority of people who read reports (often on mainstream news sites like The Guardian) about Mac OS being 'hacked' at Pwn2own have little understanding of what the term 'hacked' means, or the terms of the contest.

I couldn't even try to guess how many hours I've spent waiting patiently, and sometimes not so patiently, for a Microsoft Windows installation to complete. Those familiar screens represent times of rebirth and renewal. The installation process is either the final step step towards a whole new world of Windows features and options, or a last resort rescue mission on a machine ravaged by trojans, viruses and miscellaneous mysterious system processes.

But what would happen if you tried to upgrade all the way from Windows 1.0 to Windows 7? YouTube user TheRasteri set out to explore this frankly unlikely situation and recorded it all on video. The result is part-weepy nostalgia fest, part-OS humor classic (if you like that sort of thing... which you should), part-interesting look at how Microsoft's attitude to backward compatibility and preservation of user settings has fluctuated through the years.

Enjoy!

[Via: The Next Web]

Yeah, yeah, you got a new Mac for Christmas. Lucky you. I suppose you want to install some software on it now too?

There are few better feelings in computerland than setting up a new Mac. And while Macs come loaded with plenty of really great software (iLife, for example, is a multimedia suite that would cost hundreds of dollars to replicate properly on a PC), there are some pretty essential free apps I can recommend:

Google Chrome - Apple purists will argue that Safari is just as good (or better). I disagree. Chrome beats Safari in browser speed tests and has a slicker, more modern user interface. Google Chrome is also a more stable and resource-friendly piece of software, both on Mac and PC. Finally, Chrome is more extensible. And while it's not up there with Firefox yet, this does make a difference.

VLC Media Player - An uncontroversial choice, this. VLC is an absolute must have for anyone intending to play or work with video files on their Mac. It can play pretty much any video file you throw at it, and can even fix dodgy AVI indexes, meaning that it'll repair files that are too broken to work elsewhere. Added to that, its advanced transcoding and playback controls make it a more customizable player than QuickTime.

TweetDeck - I resisted installing TweetDeck on my latest Mac (a living room MacMini) for some months. My rationale was that I didn't want to spend too much time using Twitter on my TV. Then I realized that I was spending loads of time tweeting either from the Twitter website or from my cellphone. So I gave in and installed TweetDeck. It's not the lightest piece of software out there but you can avoid all the extraneous stuff. Anyway, TweetDeck's the best Twitter client on the market.

Transmission - I'm not a big fan of torrents. It might be something to do with my internet provider but I've noticed far more problems with my home connection when torrents are downloading. But if I do need to download a torrent, the only app I'd use to get it would be Transmission. A native Mac app, it's extremely light, quick and easy to use. A must-have for any torrent freaks out there.

FaceTime - In the light of Skype's recent disastrous outage, it's always a good idea to have a backup chat app. Apple's new FaceTime beta is only available for Macs and iPhones so you can't currently use it to chat to friends who only have PCs. That said, it's a powerful and attractively designed video chat app which any Mac owner should have installed.

There are lots of great mobile apps that can let you listen to music on your phone. Over the years, we've written lots of articles to help our readers enjoy music on their phones. Here are some of our favorites.

5 Android apps for audiophiles

While the stock music player in Android OS is okay for casual listeners, audiophiles will always want more optionsand customization when it comes to their music libraries.  These are top five Android Music Apps that offer more features and functionality, like video playback.

How to copy specific songs to your iPhone

What if you only want to copy certain selected songs to your iPhone? iTunes doesn't feature this option and you can't just drag and drop songs as you did with older iPods. However, there's a very simple trick you can use as a way around this apparent limitation.

Android music players: Zimly versus TuneWiki

Zimly and TuneWiki are two of the top Android music players on Softonic. Niamh reviewed them both, and I gave them an identical - and very respectable - 8 out of 10. If you're trying to choose between them, here's a run through of both of them, briefly concentrating on what each does best.

SoundTracking lets you share music you love

After the release of Instagram, the popular photo-based social network for iPhone, many other new apps have been presented as “the Instagram for” whatever other thing they did. This is the case of SoundTracking, a new app that has been described as Instagram for music.

Access your music in the cloud with MP3Tunes

Spotify is really popular in Europe, offering a huge library of music to listen to on demand from computers and smart phones. I've said before that I'm not a huge fan, and MP3tunes addresses on of my complaints: that Spotify doesn't have everything I want to listen to.

[This article was updated from an original published in 2008 by James Thornton. TC]