The latest update to iTunes for Mac improves support for iOS 4.3 but one thing it doesn't do is give users the option to revert back to the color left hand side bar scheme from older versions of iTunes. The decision to change the side bar from color to gray in iTunes 10 has been quite an unpopular one with many Mac users but there is a way to change it.

iTunes 10 UI Overhaul restores color to your iTunes sidebar and other aspect of the UI that have been turned chrome or grey:

iTunes 10 UI Overhaul requires you to perform a 3 step process.

When you open the DMG file, you have to CMD-click two files (iTunes.rsrc and iTunes.icns). Secondly you have to drag the two files to the Folder provided. Finally, you have to double click on a script which gives you the option of restoring the iTunes windows controls (the red, yellow and green buttons at the top of the interface) back into their original horizontal position:

The entire installation process is clearly explained once you execute the DMG file. iTunes 10 UI Overhaul restores several other changes including the old iTunes 9 icon, the iTunes 9 iPod Sync Usage Meter and iTunes 8 style media controls.

However, iTunes 10 UI Overhaul should be used with care. It's not clear how you uninstall the changes after they've been made so you need to be really sure you want to restore color to iTunes before executing the files. If all else fails however, you could always reinstall the latest version of iTunes and it should restore the original chrome and gray interface.

The GIMP is one of those programs that's either loved or hated by Mac users. Loved by many because it provides the power and functionality of Photoshop for free but hated by others because they find it difficult and awkward to use compared to Photoshop. I've already looked at one way of making The GIMP feel more like using Photoshop but what about if you just want something GIMP-like but simpler?

SeaShore has been developed as a simpler, easier to use photo editor based on GIMP. It's still free to use and features gradients, textures and anti-aliasing for both text and brush strokes. It also supports multiple layers, alpha channel editing and uses the same native file format as GIMP. And due to Cocoa, it sports a much slicker OS X friendly user interface that definitely looks better than The GIMP for Mac.

The main beauty of SeaShore is that it's a lot simpler than The GIMP and feels closer to Photoshop in the way the menus are laid out:

The downside of this however is that its not as powerful as GIMP and lacks certain advanced editing features. In fact, even basic features such as Color Balance and Levels are missing from SeaShore. Stability can also occasionally be an issue as the SeaShore forum illustrates but it usually manages to carry out most functions without any problems.

SeaShore feels a lot less intimidating than GIMP though and both the slick Cocoa interface and simple functionality will make it popular with anyone who has struggled with GIMP.

It can be immensely frustrating sometimes being locked into a device or platform as Charlie Brooker argues today in The Guardian. Brooker initially hated Macs before relenting and finally buying an iPhone and eventually a MacBook but now finds himself frustrated at the way Apple locks him into using iTunes to transfer music to any laptop. While his rant is aimed mainly at music transfers, he touches on another increasingly ferocious battleground, eBooks:

Apple's own iBook reader app may be nauseatingly pretty, but it's not a patch on Amazon's Kindle, which, far from being just a standalone machine, is a surprisingly nifty cross-platform "cloud" system that lets you read books on a variety of devices, including the iPhone and iPad. It even remembers what page you were on, regardless of whichever machine you were reading it on last.

Although Brooker sings the praises of Amazon here, they're hardly fighting the good fight. Both Amazon and Apple are in a war to lock users into either the Amazon Kindle or Apple iPad. eBooks bought from Amazon can only be used on the Kindle while eBooks compatible for the iPad can only be bought from Apple's iBookstore.

There is another alternative. It's not often that Adobe are the ones offering a fairer alternative, but in the world of eBook reading, they are in the form of Adobe Digital Editions. PDFs and Adobe ePubs can be viewed on all laptops, netbooks, and non-Amazon/non-Apple eBook readers, tablets and phones. Of course, this has nothing to do with a benevolent spirit of openness by Adobe. It's simply that they have no Kindle or iPad style reading device to flog us and thus have less of a vested interest in locking us into a particular device.

Adobe Digital Editions is free to use, works on any PC or Mac and provides an elegant and straightforward reading experience. Why would you want to spend over $300 on a Kindle for example when you can buy a cheap Netbook, which can do much more than a Kindle can, and use Adobe Digital Editions to read books on?

Most importantly, we should be supporting anything that tries to break the growing stranglehold of Amazon and Apple on the eBook market. This is not only an issue of encouraging more openness when it comes to formats, but also more competition in the pricing of eBooks.

Download Adobe Digital Editions for Windows and Mac.

Ever wished you could call your Facebook contacts for free from within the app rather than send instant messages? Facebook Messenger is a new app by CrispApp that promises exactly that from iPhones or iPod Touch devices to the web.

Voice chat is something notably absent from Facebook and Facebook Messenger fills the void with a simple $2.99 app from the Apple AppStore. Once installed, when you start chatting on your mobile device, you'll also be offered the option to call the person you're chatting with:

If your chat contact is using Facebook on their computer on the web, they will receive a link asking them to accept your call which will transfer them to a separate web page to conduct the call. As long as you have a microphone and speaker, it doesn't matter whether you are using a PC or Mac.

Its encouraging that Facebook have opened up their API to allow third-party applications to enable voice calling within it and Facebook Messenger will definitely have Skype watching with interest, To see Facebook Messenger in action, check out the demonstration video.

watch?v=Rn5zeUYRbrE

Mozilla may not have even finished the final version of Firefox 4, but are clearly already hard at work on Firefox 5 judging by screenshots and mockups that have recently emerged.

Firefox 5 looks like its gone beyond a mere 'chromification' of the interface according to ConceivablyTech with a more responsive interface, bigger and better URL bar and a new way of handling tabs. This latter change is perhaps the most interesting as it will introduce "site-specific browsing" to tabs by dedicating them to handling specific sites. Effectively, this means that tabs will become the apps that they're browsing. ConceivablyTech explain with a mock-up shot of how they expect it to work:

For example, a visit to Twitter would automatically integrate features such as new tweet, search or direct messages within the site tab. This is the first example where we see Mozilla attempting to deal with web applications, where it actually turns websites into apps, while the web browser remains the dominant access and visualization platform.

Clearly then, it looks like Mozilla are attempting to try and keep people using their browser to access and use web apps such as Twitter rather than a third party client. This is something that Mozilla have been working on for a while via the Prism Project. It sounds like an ambitious move and one that will surely increase even further Firefox's CPU footprint.

Meanwhile, TechnologyToolz reports that Password Sync will be more actively promoted in Firefox 5:

And a more detailed Add-On Manager helps identify more clearly where Add-Ons came from:

For more mockups and screenshots from the Mozilla team, check out here and here.

Spider Player has been a worthy rival to Winamp for many years now and if you haven't tried it, you've got no more excuses. Recently the developer has opted to make the Pro version available absolutely free.

The Basic version has been discontinued and replaced by a free fully functional version of the Pro version. Formerly, Spider Player Basic had some limitations such as a lack of Last.fm support, radio recordings were limited to 5 minutes, you could only rip a CD track and convert one file at a time and you couldn't use custom encoders. However, all these limitations have been removed in this latest version.

The look is a key part of Spider Player as the developers have included a "tuning" bar in the skin which allows you to change the tone of it according to the mood you are in. As with Winamp, you can also divide-up the player as you like. For example, when you open it, the main playback window, equalizer and playlist are all joined together. But you can split these up as you like and place them in various parts of your desktop for easy access.

To control playback in Spider Player, you can simply drag and drop the status bar and it responds very quickly. There's also a pitchshifter, echo and reverb bar to play with. Finally, once minimized, Spider Player also sits neatly in your system tray so it's well integrated into your OS.

Download Spider Player Pro here.

Recent events in Egypt have proved how powerful the internet can be at getting news out when official channels are blocked. One of the big beneficiaries has been Livestation which has seen downloads rocket over the past week. The main reason is because huge numbers of people have been searching for Al Jazeera's coverage of the drama unfolding in Egypt which you can watch on the excellent app.

Livestation has official agreements with many other major channels such as the BBC World, CNN and The Discovery Channel meaning that you're guaranteed high quality programming and images. Even better, you can interact with other users very easily via an online chat function which also gives viewers a chance to rate their favorite channels.

You can add channels by going to the developer website and simply clicking "Add to player" and you'll find that it's automatically added to your channel list in Livestation. The presentation of Livestation is superb - you can select channels in a 3D revolving list of logos in much the same way as you do albums in iTunes. The quality of the streams in terms of video and sound is usually first class (although can vary as evidenced above) and expanding it to full screen mode usually retains excellent quality.

The latest version has added several handy new features. Not only have more interesting channels been added - The United Nations TV Channel and UNHCR Channel - but you can now tweet directly from Livestation. Simply add your Twitter username and password and a special screen grab function allows you to post images of what you're watching at any time. The search function has also been significantly enhanced allowing you to filter results by Premium Partner, Viewer Added and Free Partner.

On the downside, the chat function is still sparsely populated. You might find that many channels simply have no one to chat to. There's also no way to record programs which I'd like to see in the next release. Mac PPC users are also out of luck as the latest version doesn't support them.

You get more tips on how to get the most out of it from the Livestation blog. Livestation is available for download on both Windows and Mac.

Angry Birds fans will be pleased to hear that developers Rovio have announced that it is to create a version of the game based on the upcoming animated movie “Rio” due for US release in mid-April.

The "twist" to the hugely popular original game is that the original flock is kidnapped and taken to Rio where they then escape and seek to help their friends - two macaws named Blu and Jewel who will be the stars of the 20th Century Fox film.

Consisting of 45 levels with more available via automatic updates, the game will initially be released on smart-phones and tablets. However, since the original has also recently been released on Mac and Windows, don't be surprised to see more platform releases if it takes off.

If you can't wait until then, you can find video previews of the game here.

Skype for Mac is finally out of Beta today with a few fixes and improvements. Skype 5.0 "Gold" as the developers are calling it, features the ability to resize the user interface, allow full screen video calling and there's an improvement in visibility of the dial pad and contacts. The sidebar now also shrinks as the window gets smaller when the content area is at its minimum size and Skype also now remembers the last position the user dragged it to. A full list of fixes and improvements can be found here.

Most users probably won't immediately notice the improvements as they are generally very subtle. I think there are other more important things they could have improved on though. Having now used Skype 5 several times since its Beta release, I've got mixed feelings towards it. While things like group video chats have been improved, I've sometimes found it hard to get used to the new layout such as accessing contacts while in a video call and sending instant messages

I also don't understand why developers such as Skype have to rename their releases as "Gold" like they've sold millions of albums or something! RealNetworks did the same thing with their free RealPlayer Gold. Skype Gold is also free but using the "Gold" tag may only cause confusion among users that it's a premium service.

Three months after it first hit the stores, Microsoft have finally launched a free trial of Office 2011 for Mac. The 30 day trial is fully functional and gives users a long overdue opportunity to decide whether they are willing to invest up to $280 on the full version. I tested the beta version back in April and you can see my in-depth review of the final release here.

Many Mac users will ask why has it taken Microsoft so long to release a trial version of the popular office suite. Is it just Microsoft being typically awkward with Apple users or some kind of marketing ploy? The reasons behind the seemingly belated release are unknown, but if you haven't tried it yet and are still on Office 2008 it's definitely worth taking a look at. Office 2011 is a far more polished, OS X-integrated suite with the massive bonus that you can now use Microsoft Outlook.

Last week I explained why I'm sticking with Firefox which has generated quite a bit of debate about whether it really is the best browser out there. However, I was very close to ditching Firefox altogether after a frustrating problem which seemed to appear after I first used Tor. Specifically, the problem seemed related to the Torbutton for Firefox which had effectively "broken" Firefox on my Mac.

The reason is because the Tor Button changes Firefox's proxy preferences when you toggle it on and off. Although most of the time it works quite smoothly, over time it can get "stuck" and permanently change your Firefox proxy settings even when you toggle off Torbutton. The result is that Firefox behaves very erratically sometimes taking ages to load pictures and pages and eventually, may refuse to load pages at all by returning a "Privoxy" error page as happened to me.

If you've just switched to OS X from Windows, then you might be missing MS Paint which has proved surprisingly popular over the years. Apple still haven't included a basic drawing application in OS X but fear not as there are some decent third party alternatives available. Here are three of the best:

SketchBook Express

A hugely popular drawing application that's suitable for beginners and experts alike. SketchBook Express uses professional-grade tools that enable you to produce some highly impressive results. The streamlined interface allows for what is known as "gesture-based marking menus" which mean that different tools are available to you at the click of a mouse. However, to get the most out of SketchBook Express, you'll need a pen and tablet device. There are many preset tools, including pencils markers, airbrushes, erasers, flood fill tools, blur, and sharpeners plus different drawing modes that enable you to quickly create circles, lines and rectangles.

If you want to get your hands on the popular Pangea Arcade compilation for Mac then you'd better hurry up because it will soon be moving to the Apple Mac App Store for $4.99.

Pangea Arcade is a fun collection of three arcade games in one: Nucleus, Warheads, and Firefall, all of which are based on the classic arcade games Missile Command, Centipede and Asteroids. Each game has been revamped and modernized for Macs with some pulsating graphics and sound.

The 3D graphics for all three games are impressive although the gameplay doesn't quite match up at times. The controls are a bit awkward in Nucelus which makes it hard to play for more than a few minutes without getting frustrated. It's also not particularly well suited to controlling with a Trackpad.

However, once you get the hang of things, all three games are a lot of fun and will have arcade veterans nostalgic for the old days. The developers even claim that with red and blue tinted glasses, you can view the games in genuine 3D!

Firefox and I nearly came to blows this weekend over a weird proxy issue. It was pretty rough, and almost ended in divorce. However, the grass isn't always greener on the other side as they say and after flirtations with Safari and Chrome, I've decided I'll be sticking with Firefox.

Here are 5 main reasons why:

1. Bookmark Handling: I used Xmarks to load my bookmarks into Safari and Chrome and they simply don't display them in the same way. For example, in Safari, the RSS feeds use Feedburner which don't display the headlines instantly as soon as you mouse over them - you have to open an extra tab to read the headlines of a particular feed:

In Firefox, I can read RSS headlines directly in my Bookmarks toolbar which is much quicker and convenient. Meanwhile Chrome didn't even load my boomarks toolbar - instead it loaded them all into my Bookmarks menu - not very accessible!

2. Extensions: Sure, many extensions are now available in Chrome that are available in Firefox but not all, and some of them I've come to rely on. A good example is FireFTP which you can't get on Chrome. I'm sure there are other FTP extensions available on Chrome but I have all my settings loaded into FireFTP, I know how it works and I trust it.

3. Familiarity: Having used Firefox for several years now, I know how it works, how to fix certain problems and how it behaves. I don't want to have to go through the time consuming process of learning how an entirely new browser works or work out any strange error messages that it throws-up. Of course, I'm also all too familiar with the memory leak which has plagued Firefox for years but as long as it doesn't crash the browser too often, I'm willing to put up with it.

4. Stability: Ok, the aforementioned memory leak is a bit of a pain and when it consumes 100% of resources, often leading to a crash. But I'm finding this is becoming less and less of a problem over the years as Mozilla improve the browser and it has taught me to keep tabs to a minimum which is no bad thing. My experiences with Safari and Chrome have always been met with considerably more crashes although maybe I was just unlucky.

5. Mozilla: I like the fact that Mozilla is an non-profit organization with an aim to keep the net as open as possible in a time when net freedoms are under attack. Although I have nothing against them, I don't like the idea of being locked into using Apple's Safari or Google's Chrome - I think both companies already have enough influence over my online time as it is!

It was only a matter of time before Apple launched their own dedicated Mac App store which duly dropped last week. Of course, there has been the Apple download site for Mac apps for quite some time now but the Mac App Store is a much more dedicated and OS X integrated affair that makes browsing, downloading, installing and updating Mac Apps much slicker. Perhaps most importantly however, it removes the file hosting burden from developers, gives them much wider coverage for their apps and of course, offers both them and Apple the chance to make more money from their creations.