Every so often an application comes along that simply blows you away and the free version of Spotify is definitely one of the best music apps I've ever used. You know you're dealing with a serious piece of software when a band as big as U2 decides to launch an exclusive preview of their album on it. The closest equivalent I can think of is Pandora (which is now unavailable in Europe) but this is on a whole new level and far better.

At the moment, the free version is in beta stage and you need an invite from the developers or a friend to use it. Spotify is basically like having access to a huge amount of commercial music, in a format as elegant as on iTunes, but available to you for free, wherever you go. It's simple to use, beautifully presented, the amount of music available is unbelievable and the quality of streaming is superb.

What's the catch? You just have to put up with a few non-obtrusive ads inside the Spotify interface and occasionally in between songs. At the time of writing, the free version is in beta so you'll have to sign-up with your e-mail address and await an invitation. Alternatively, if you know someone who's already got an invite, they can invite you in if they've got a few invites left. As a new user, I have no invites as yet but I suspect that this increases the longer you use the service. If you can't wait that long to try it out, you can buy a one day pass for about $1 or a month's pass for around $10. The slight advantage of signing up to either of these is that both are completely ad free.

Windows: Astronomy fans now don't have to wait until it's midnight to gaze at the stars. With Stellarium Portable you can see all the stars, planets and constellations anywhere, anytime. Simple install it on your USB memory stick and you're good to go! The program includes loads of data about each element and leaves no usage traces.

Mac: It's finally here - Picasa has arrived for Mac and about time too. From this day forth, you can do away with iPhoto and its flimsy Picasa uploader extension and do it all from Google's glorious photo app. All the great things in the Windows version of Picasa are here except, of course, Picasa for Mac has all the polish and classy touches you'd expect from a Mac interface.

iPhone: If you're fed up with asking people where the nearest supermarket is, where to find a taxi rank, or whether there are any decent bars or restaurants in the vicinity, then check out AroundMe. The iPhone software automatically detects your current location and provides one-click access to lists of the nearest banks, bars, cafes, gas stations, and more.

I've been using uTorrent on Windows for years now and so the arrival of uTorrent on the Mac is something that many users, myself included, have long been waiting for. For some reason at the moment, the uTorrent Mac page still says uTorrent for mac is "coming soon" but believe me, the beta version is very much here.

The reason I've relied on uTorrent for so long is that it's lightweight, extremely easy to use, very fast, requires no configuration and generally just makes downloading torrents a piece of cake. Fortunately, the Mac version does not disappoint with the added addition of course that it has a much better looking Mac OS style interface. The main difference you'll notice is that uTorrent for Mac is slightly stripped down compared to the Windows version.

Down the left hand side of uTorrent you have all the same menus that you have in Windows that allow you to select exactly what you see in the uTorrent window. You can choose to view only those downloads that have completed, those that are currently downloading, those that are active and finally those that are inactive.

Of course, you can also choose to view all of these at the same time too. However, along the top of the interface, some of the controls that you find in Windows have been removed such as the button for RSS downloads, the create your own torrent wizard button and a preferences button. Preferences can, however, be accessed via the menu bar.

Everything else is the same as you get in the Windows version including a detailed stats windows giving you details of your download which you can toggle on and off via the "info" symbol on the top right of the interface. The stats menu is split into General, Files and Peer. The General tab gives you a holistic overview of how the file is downloading:

The idea of gathering all known social networks under a single interface and make it really easy to use is certainly one of the Web's more interesting potential lines of business. Not only would it attract thousands of users all over the world, but also generate tons of revenue to the company that finds the right path to this goose that lays golden eggs.

Strands.com has started taking the first steps onto this path with their community, an all-in-one social network that aims to bring together all your personal online activities currently scattered across various websites (Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Tumblr, Last.fm, Digg, StumbleUpon, Digg and many, many others).

It's precisely the large amount of social websites and online networks supported by Strands.com the one feature that makes this service stand out. You can basically add anything you're subscribed to, and if you don't find it, you can suggest it to developers so that it's added in future versions.

Strands.com displays all the information in a timeline that can be filtered according to categories, items from the people you follow and from those following you. Each one of these items can be commented, shared and marked as "like" or "dislike". Besides the standard timeline Strands.com also lets you add elements such as movies, books, images, songs and bookmarks, so that you can share them with your contacts and express your opinion about them. This option is useful both to know what your friends are reading or watching, and also read reviews and receive recommendations about new books, movies and TV shows.

The idea behind Strands is great: having a single website where you can check your profile in all the social sites and networks you're subscribed to. However its implementation is far from perfect. I miss the possibility of filtering by social network (apart from categories) and also being able to exchange messages with other users. I didn't like the fact that if you remove a contact or a service from your profile, the updates from this person or service still remain on the timeline. Finally, the fact that all your friends need to also register in Strands.com in order to follow their updates makes it a bit hard. I want to be able to see all my Twitter followers or Facebook friends from the Strands interface, not have to ask them to join Strands so that we can keep in touch.

Strands.com is currently at a beta stage, which means that the only way to sign up is requesting an invite on the site or being invited by another Strands user.

There hasn't been a great deal of fanfare about it but Mozilla have rolled out the latest Alpha version of their continuing browser project codenamed Minefield. Minefield is actually just the branding given to trunk builds (basically test versions) of Firefox but initial impressions are that it's very fast - possibly more so than Google Chrome.

My experience and that of most other users is that it's definitely quicker than Firefox 3 when loading pages. Compared to Chrome however there's less difference but I'd say that it's also a bit quicker. Most estimates are putting it at 10% quicker than Chrome which isn't spectacular but better than nothing. I'd say the figure is closer to 20% when comparing it with Firefox 3. The key seems to be that Minefield employs a revised engine which loads clunky JavaScript in lightening quick time. Unfortunately however, it's also prone to very frequent crashes and it doesn't like Flash sites one bit. You'll also want to make sure you've got lots of RAM because it leaks memory like a bucket with holes in.

Minefield looks and feels exactly like Firefox 3 so you won't notice any differences there. Be warned though that although it's a separate installation to Firefox, it will use the same profile as you use in Firefox. Many extensions won't work on it either (though you can get round this by using the Nightly extension).

If you want to try it out for yourself, then sign up to become a Minefield tester. You can download the latest Alpha versions of Minefield here.

As mobile phones become ever smarter, more and more of us are using our devices as mini computers. But how easy do you find it to share data from your Windows machine with your mobile? Not very, I reckon.

Until now, only Windows Mobile users have really had any kind of standardized platform for transferring files and synchronizing contacts between a PC and a handheld device: using Microsoft ActiveSync. Not any more though, because Microsoft Phone Data Manger enables data sharing between Windows and a wide variety of different phones and PDAs.

Microsoft Phone Data Manger is specifically designed to transfer contacts, photos, music and video from your device to your PC, and to synchronize your phone's contacts with your Windows Live contacts. This is great for users of the service, as it ensures you have access to your phone book when you don't have it to hand, and means that your contacts are kept safe in the vent of you losing your mobile. Of course, this is only good if you use Windows Live, because Microsoft Phone Data Manager doesn't support GMail, Yahoo! or any other webmail provider.

The key to Microsoft Phone Data Manager lies in its simplicity. The application detects any device connected, provided it supports the SyncML standard - check the Microsoft website to see if your device does. You'll need to connect via Bluetooth or USB cable in order to perform syncs. Syncing in Phone Data Manager is a real breeze. You simply double-click on the device you wish to hook up to, then choose whether you want to sync your contacts or back up your files. Enter your Windows Live (or Hotmail) ID and the program will automatically share your contacts between your phone and the email service.

Microsoft Phone Data Manager is still in beta, so it isn't perfect. There are a few interface glitches, such as the screwy Live ID entry screen, and the fact that there aren't any advanced features like a proper file explorer. On the whole, however, Microsoft Phone Data Manager provides a fast and reliable way of syncing contacts and backing up files.

Windows: If you want to have voice chats over the Internet, Skype is probably your best choice. The latest version of this popular VoIP client, Skype 4.0 Beta, has a completely redesigned interface with more focus on video conference, along with other features to improve call quality, optimize contacts management and add more IM tools.

Mac: I still enjoy a game of Super Nes every once in a while, but instead of having to dig around for my console in a shoe box in some closet, I've installed ZSNES. This SNES emulator features a very comprehensive menu with all sorts of settings for buttons, sound and video among others. It can play back movies and browsing for ROMs on your Mac is really easy. Essential if you're looking to play SNES or Super Famicom games on your Mac.

Smartphone: Battleships has come a long way since the days when you needed to scribble down grids on two pieces of paper, as Sea Battle proves. This well-presented mobile version of the popular military strategy game boasts impressive 3D graphics, cool music and sound effects, and even live speech commands. Sea Battle is also available for Pocket PC.

Firefox 3 has rightfully dominated the browser headlines over the last few weeks, but that doesn't mean there are other interesting alternative applications coming on stage.

One of them is Pogo, a 3D web browser developed by AT&T and Vizible. Pogo is based on the Mozilla engine and also uses Vizible's 3D rendering algorithms to deliver a more visually appealing user experience when browsing the web. According to the developers, "Pogo's graphical nature evolves the browsing experience from a text-centric interface to one that is highly visual, and therefore more intuitive, in line with the way people think and use the Internet." Pogo is currently at a closed beta stage but fortunately I managed to get a invite, so I decided to give it a try and see that visual revolution by myself.

To begin with, Pogo's main interface looks strangely familiar – it's based on Mozilla, so all toolbars, menus and dialog windows are almost identical to those in Firefox. But that's pretty much the only thing this browser has in common with others. When you launch it for the first time, Pogo offers to import bookmarks from other web browsers, and also import built-in sets of bookmarks based on your personal interests (sports, technology, news, games, etc.).

The standard tab bar has been moved down to the bottom and turned into a resizable panel that contains the so called "cells" (that is, tabs). Tabs now appear as thumbnails, which may look prettier than just a favicon but are not that useful – they're so small you can hardly distinguish the website.

Windows: You probably know uTorrent already - one of the most popular BitTorrent clients. Now you can have a look at uTorrent 1.8 Beta, a testing version that lets you try the program's new features while they're being developed. Of course, this version keeps the same characteristics as its predecessors: a compact, easy to use yet powerful client for your torrents.

Mac:  Those of you who enjoy DJing at parties will probably want to install Djay for Mac. The application offers perfect iTunes integration to drag and drop your tracks on the turntables, a mixer, echo and reverb effects and a basic sampler. You can record your mixes and include a microphone. Great for parties.

Symbian: Most of us take pictures on our mobile phones these days but often browsing these on your device can be a tiresome process. Not with SplashPhoto though, as it allows you to quickly arrange images on your handset for individual or slideshow viewing. It even includes software for synchronizing photos with your desktop.

So Firefox 3 is now officially released but hang on, Firefox isn't the only one that's gone through a major overhaul recently. This week has also seen the beta release of Flock 2, a browser that I recommended to readers last year.

If Firefox ever does go down the wrong road or starts to decline, I'm certain that Flock will be one of the main contenders to take its place mainly because it's based on the same engine but with a greater focus on social networking integration. Most of the improvements relate to security, performance and the interface basically taking in all the same enhancements to the Gecko engine that Firefox 3 now enjoys. In fact, many of the enhancements are identical to Firefox 3 such as the enhanced Add-Ons window which now shows the plugins you have installed in the browser and allows you to disable those that might be causing issues. Similarly, when you close the browser and have multiple tabs open, Firefox 3 and Flock 2 now both ask you if you want to save the current collection of tabs for next time.

One of the biggest individual improvements as far as I can see is that Flock's Feed Reader is now much easier to update. In the old version, you'd have to wait hours for it to update itself but now you can just manually refresh it at your leisure. This includes individual feeds, a collection of feeds or all of your feeds. It also now tells you when you last updated each separate feed which is useful.

A while back I bemoaned the fact that Pandora is now only available to listeners inside the USA. Well, the situation hasn't changed but they have released Pandora Desktop which as the name suggests, is the desktop version. After experimenting with some of the tips suggested on the Digital Alchemy site, I managed to get it working with limited success and took it for a test drive.

In reality, there's nothing particularly different from the online version of Pandora. The difference is that it's much more easily accessible. You can access it in a jiffy from Windows tray or Mac dock and they've built in some instant access links to common Pandora features such as pause, change stations, etc. As the developers admit themselves though there are no major changes and, "If nothing else it ensures that you'll never accidentally browse away from Pandora and lose your stream."

The one thing that you can't avoid on the desktop version is, yes you guessed it, advertisements. To pay for all the music licensing, Pandora need to use advertising to keep it going. The difference, and I prefer this to the online version, is that the ads are graphical rather than audio. The big downside is that because the program requires so many pixels to run the ads, Pandora Desktop is not exactly a small desktop application and can tend to hog your RAM. The other slightly annoying thing is that it requires installation of Adobe AIR to work (which it does automatically) which is worth having anyway because there are so many cool applications coming out for it. However, Mac users be warned that Pandora Desktop is apparently particularly heavy on RAM and the CPU which the developers have identified as an Adobe AIR issue which they are working to resolve.

Pandora Desktop is currently in beta stage so if you experience any other added problems or issues, e-mail them to beta-feedback@pandora.com

Windows: Take part in racing challenges all over the world with Race Driver: GRID, one of the most realistic driving games you've seen, featuring jaw-dropping graphics and a highly responsive gameplay. This demo includes three different racing events in three locations, and also lets you test the game's multiplayer option.

Mac: Looking from an intuitive download manager which stands out from the rest? Leech supports drag and drop, password protected downloads and lets you mark specific urls for downloading. Also, thanks to the Leech Browser Plug, it automatically manages downloads you come across in your browser.

Pocket PC: If you use mobile storage cards on a regular basis then you may want to give Flash Format a try. The application furnishes you with all manner of details and stats about your memory cards, including physical characteristics (FAT type, sectors, cluster, cylinders, etc.), as well as analysis of file allocations. It's also available for WM Smartphone.

Acrobat 9 was officially announced by Adobe today, as AppleInsider managed to reveal before anybody else last week. The new version of the famous PDF reader now comes with native support for Adobe Flash, so you can include Flash videos and applications in your PDFs, live collaboration with other users on the same document via Acrobat.com and unification of all sorts of content into one file. You can already sign up at Acrobat.com to be notified once Acrobat 9 is released and to try out the ConnectNow environment.

Very similar to Photoshop Express, ConnectNow is built completely in Flash and offers a clear interface from which you can create and share new documents thanks to Adobe Buzzword, invite participants to an online meeting, and share your webcam or desktop.

You can now blend all sorts of content in Adobe's new Portfolios, called Packages in previous versions of Acrobat. Portfolios look likely to be a more central part of Acrobat 9, with Adobe encouraging users to blend content together, including video and 3D, and share their documents with other users. Acrobat comes with a number of layouts but you can also customize your own by choosing from a set of color schemes. As pointed out by AppleInsider, Adobe have finally integrated Optical Character Recognition (OCR) of scanned text, so you can make any one of your PDF files searchable. Almost all files, including paper documents and web pages, can now be converted to PDF and two PDFs can easily be compared, with varying text automatically highlighted for you.

Acrobat will come in three versions: Pro Extended, Pro and Standard, with the starting price, for the Standard version, being $299. If you're ready to pay the price and see some use in the extended collaborative tools on hand, it's probably worth making the jump. We'll have a hands on review of Acrobat 9 for you as soon as it's released.

Following the trend of other software companies that launch their new products in beta before the final version arrives, Adobe has published the first betas of their upcoming CS4 suite.

Unfortunately not all the Adobe-Macromedia applications are available at this point. Only Dreamweaver CS4 (Windows/Mac), Fireworks CS4 (Windows/Mac) and Soundbooth CS4 (only Mac) have been released to the public in order to let users test the new functionalities and, at the same time, provide some feeback if necessary.

The three new betas offer quite an array of new features. Dreamweaver for example now includes integration with Subversion support for Adobe AIR authoring and a new code navigator - all perfectly wrapped up in a totally revamped user interface – together with the so called Live View mode, with which you can view your web pages under real browser conditions while still having access to the code.

Fireworks also boasts a redesigned interface as well, along with CSS and image export, PDF export and AIR authoring as well to create your Adobe AIR apps in Fireworks and deploy them directly to HTML, CSS or Flash.

Last but not least, Soundbooth features support for multitrack sound editing, plus the ability to preview MP3 compression settings before saving and an enhanced Soundbooth Score workflow.

Unfortunately there's a catch: these CS4 beta versions let you test the programs only for 48 hours (way too strict, in my opinion). This ridiculously reduced trial period can be extended up until the final version comes out, but only if you're a registered CS3 user. Otherwise you'll have to make good use of those 48 hours if you want to fully test the new Adobe CS4 betas.

Windows: If you're looking for some action-packed fights have a look at Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. The classic combat game is back again with some new levels, more characters to choose, several play modes, unlockable bosses and, of course, special key combinations to produce the best moves. Are you ready to join the fight?

Mac: What's the best way to sync Google Calendar and iCal on your Mac? Spanning Sync's the answer! I really like this app because it's simple to use and lets you view what calendars and contact lists you want to sync. You can either merge or replace lists and the app takes care of the whole operation. All you need is your Google login details.

Smartphone: Fed up with having to dodge calls from certain people, or hang up on unwanted callers? Then you need MagiCall, a smart tool for bidirectional calls SMS filtering. With MagiCall, you have the ability to block unwanted callers, automatically hang up on someone bothering you, and more! Stop anyone you just don't feel like speaking to at the moment from disturbing you.