For those of you not acquainted with Pocoyo, and I must admit I'm more of a Bob the Builder man, apparently he has been taking children's television by storm in both the UK and Spain over the past couple of years. He's a smiley little boy dressed in blue with a rather fat face and a whole host of friends that include a pink elephant, a dog and a duck. And of course they get into plenty of adventures.

Vista theme packs are undoubtedly the most popular themes for Windows XP at the moment but they're not the only way of transforming the operating system. There are several other alternative themes out there that might not have the modern appeal of Vista but certainly give it a much needed face lift. If you're getting bored of the XP style, spice up your life with these.

• Flyakite OSX - Give XP the Mac OS X look complete with cursors and sounds

• DameK UltraBlue - Makes your XP look like the Longhorn beta versions

• My Frame Panel ActiveX - Customise and design your own themes

• Xbox XtremeXP - Give your operating system the Xbox makeover

• Crystal Clear - Minimise and customise the look of XP for a more elegant feel

Thanks to a well structured interface and a good set of tools, Acorn offers all you need to edit your photos. Easily add layers, text, shapes or work on the gradient of your image. Acorn also includes sensible pressure strokes and can be used to take and edit screenshots right from your desktop.

Content aware resizing technology is one of the new and exciting emerging aspects of imaging technology. It offers designers and image professionals a much more 'intelligent' way to resize and manipulate images. As it matures, it's likely that programs such as VSO Image Resizer will become increasingly dated until they incorporate it. Indeed, many Photoshop fans will be hoping that it gets integrated into the next release.

One example of how this kind of resizing tool could look is provided by developer Patrick Swieskowski who has recently launched a demo that allows you to resize your images in Flash. Initial impression are positive although it works somewhat sluggishly at the moment. John Nack at Adobe first raised my attention to the possibilities this technology offers with his story about two Israeli developers who have been among the pioneers of it's development. As Nack describes:

When scaling an image horizontally or vertically (e.g. making a panorama narrower), the technology looks for paths of pixels that can be removed while causing the least visual disruption. Just as interesting, if not more so, I think, is the way the technology can add pixels when increasing image dimension.

For more information about how the technology works and what to expect in the future, check out the video (after the fold).

If like Dell, you've gone back to XP after being left thoroughly unimpressed with Vista, you probably won't be missing the various problems it caused but you may well be missing the slick graphics and look of Vista. Or maybe you don't see much point in upgrading but like the look of Vista. If so, you can have the best of both worlds by installing a Vista theme pack. Theme packs don't convert your operating system to Vista but they give it the same look. Most packs differ in what they offer from just a few icon changes to a complete look. Here are our top five Vista themes for XP:

• Vista Transformation Pack - Changes your start-up screen, cursors, sounds etc to Vista
• VistaXP v2 VS - Contains both black and silver Vista themes plus icon sets
• Universal Vista Inspirat BricoPack - Includes Vista wallpapers, icons and menus
• VistaXP V3 WB - Does not include Vista background or innovative desktop features
• VistaMizer - Allows you to select which components you want to change

Good news for Java developers - Google have announced that its highly successful Google Web Toolkit (GWT) has now been taken out of beta with the official release of version 1.4.60. The toolkit is a Java development framework that allows developers to escape the matrix of technologies that make writing AJAX applications so difficult and error prone. With GWT, you can develop and debug AJAX applications in the Java language using the Java development tools of your choice. When you deploy your application to production, the GWT compiler also translates your Java application to browser-compliant JavaScript and HTML.

There are several updates and new features in the official release mainly in the form of new widgets and libraries and new deployment of options and optimisations. In terms of widgets and libraries, this means a new RichTextArea, HorizontalSplitPanel and VerticalSplitPanel, SuggestBox, DisclosurePanel, PushButton, ToggleButton, and an enhanced Image widget. In the area of deployment, one of the most notable features for developers is the possibility to ass GWT modules to an HTML page by simply adding a script tag.

This is excellent news for Java developers that are still taking their first tentative steps into the world of AJAX. Judging by the way the beta version has been received by the development community, it seems that it's already gone a long way in simplifying the transition for many. For those that are already initiated, GWT can dramatically enhance the time it takes to complete AJAX projects so if you've never tried it, download it now.

Labor Day really marks the end of summer, the last day when you can slouch in your sofa and do nothing before starting school or getting back to work. Instead of wasting the day having a few beers in front of your TV, how about wasting the day playing a beer bar tending game? Betty's Beer Bar is a cartoon style role playing game where you need to get rich serving beers to clients as quickly as you can. If you feel a bit stressed about going back to work, Just Relaxing will play some peaceful natural sounds to let you relax. Labor Day is also traditional for political speeches, and with elections coming up next year, there's plenty to listen to. Set up YouTube Downloader to watch the videos from You Choose '08 on your desktop.

You might not know this, but an old fashion etiquette discouraged wearing white after Labor Day. If you feel the weight of tradition and are having trouble finding clothes to wear, use Virtual Fashion to design and test out a new wardrobe that isn't white. Last but not least, and while this might not be the most exciting thing to do, you can use the day to thoroughly clean your PC and improve its performance. TuneUP Utilities is fairly easy to use. It will improve your PC's memory, remove all unnecessary files and clean up your registry.

There are a lot of times when I want to take a screengrab of the site I'm on, be it for posterity, to use for a blog post or for work purposes. However, I often simply can't be bothered to load up a screen capture program and I end up just leaving it. I've just discovered a cool new online app though, called thumbalizr, which does the job for you in seconds without you needing to delve into your Program menu.

All you need to do is enter the URL of the site you want to capture then hit the 'thumb it' button. It only takes a few seconds to load, before a screenshot of your desired page is taken. You can then choose to save the image, selecting from a range of different resolutions. The service works really well and here's hoping thumbalizr will release a version that lets you grab from your desktop in the near future.

Having just had a quick flick through the news to see how this summer's been behaving across the globe I found out that there seems to have been a slight breeze across Jamaica and Mexico, a bit of water in the UK, some fires in Greece and rather a lot of sun in Hungary. And here I've been sitting in an office.

Well, if the weather's been making you mad, depressed, happy, homeless (delete where appropriate) perhaps all you really need is the perfect summer wallpaper on your PC so you can spend every day stuck in your office in a job you don't really like pretending that the world is indeed a joyous once-in-a-lifetime miracle. You might remember that a month ago Cyril sent you some of the best wallpapers we have. Well here are some better ones. Focused on making you feel all nice and warm. Alright, enough of that.

VistaMizer Wallpaper Pack - Stunning natural landscapes with grass, sea and sun, and air as fresh as sticking your head out the window. Remember, you can use this on your normal PC and transform it with a new Vista look.

Hawaii - I'll certainly never get the chance to go there; plus I don't like surfing. But if you want to pretend you're a member of the 50th state, then the views of the island are pretty stunning. Did you know, the Hawaiian pizza did not originate from Hawaii, in fact they hate it and prefer mushrooms.

Egypt Wallpaper - Many people's favourite holiday destination but it can get pretty hot. Far better to spend the scorching summer months in the cold comfort of your bedroom and wonder at the original wonder of the Ancient World - The Great Pyramid of Giza - now voted at number eight out of seven. No, I don't understand either. It's what happens when you give the public a choice.

Solar Wallpaper - And finally, how about the ultimate sunny wallpaper. Available for Blackberry owners, here's a close-up of a solar flame. It's an amazing sight of just how hot that yellow dot in the sky can get. The lengths they'll go to to give you a nice screensaver.

Photoshop is mainly used for photo editing and retouching, but there are other ways to explore your digital creativity with Adobe's big shot. One of them is applying effects to text, an ability that's usually despised by digital designers because the results tend to be too cheesy.

But I want to show you that text effects can be as fun and rewarding as removing wrinkles from your mum's close-up. If not, take a look at this impressive tutorial collection to create attractive and original text effects. You'll find easy 3D effects, cool chrome looks, Mac-style designs... In short, text effects for all tastes.

Interior design and decoration is a fascinating world. At least that's what decorators say while trying to convince their customers that there's more to furnishing a room than just randomly arranging furniture. I've never been much of a decoration fan, but I'm impressed by the amount of materials devoted to this topic: agencies, shops, magazines, books, even TV channels... and of course, software. So if you think your home needs an upgrade, take a look at these applications and don't be afraid to redecorate your life.

• Envisioneer Express - Free, easy to use 3D home design software. You can create a house from scratch ans see it rendered as a 3D model.
• ColorPlanner - The easiest way to check how a new paint color will look on your home's walls before actually grabbing the brush.
• Furnish - Free decorating software with the complete BoConcept catalog. Perfect for home and office decoration.
• Room Arranger - Another 3D tool to redecorate rooms without having to push furniture there and back all the time.
• Floor Planner - Finally, an online application that lets you design floor plans, decorate them and share them on the web.

The people at Fuzzwich declare they want everyone to be an animator. A bold assertion, especially as I for one don't want to be an animator. Don't get me wrong I love watching cartoons and quite enjoyed the Simpsons movie when I watched it the other day, but dedicating several years of my exciting life to try and get a mouse's whiskers to twitch is not my idea of fun. Especially as it seems there are plenty of others out there willing to do it for me.

The vision from the Fuzzwich Minivids team is to be applauded though. They have created a website that gives everyone the chance to play at being Nick Park. With over 40 characters including dogs with moustaches, mad scientists, dinosaurs and Captain Jean-Luc Picard, various sound effects and backgrounds ranging from the twilight zone to a desert island there is plenty of scope to create some fun short films. Simply drag and drop your actors and animals onto a chosen scene, have them talk by typing into a voice bubble and film all the action with a click of the record button. It's very simple and the effects are surprisingly good. I was rather impressed with my Dali-esque pugs.

Fuzzwich have purposely prevented people uploading images or music because they want to attract beginners. Of course this limits the output but they have said users will be able to save their own faces onto cartoon characters soon, which will be interesting if not potentially dangerous.

If top quality content is more what you're after then the YouTube-style animation site aniBoom is simply stunning. Cheese by Peter Harakaly and The Lighthouse by Dan Blacker are just two of the beautifully created works on view. It'll probably put you off animation, though. Just think of all the work.

Adobe are behind some of the most important technologies and applications in modern computing. Much like Google and Microsoft, it's difficult to imagine a normal working day which doesn't involve using at least one of their products. Blog posts like this beg the question - can you replace your Adobe apps with a free alternative? I say yes: why tie yourself to what is often very costly, proprietary software when there are great open-source and freeware options?

Adobe Photoshop - free alternative: The Gimp

Yes, The Gimp does get wheeled out fairly often for lists of free applications but that's because it's really good! With tons of functionality and the ability to use filters and libraries designed for Photoshop, The Gimp rocks.

Adobe Dreamweaver - free alternative: NVU

NVU (pronounced 'N-view') is a free, open-source WYSIWYG web design application. It gives you the option to work in a design layout or edit your html directly, and is generally credited with producing pretty clean, reliable code.

Adobe Premiere - free alternative: Avidemux

Widely regarded as the best free video editing application available, Avidemux features support for a large number of file types and advanced scripting capabilities. It's also a joy to use and is more than powerful enough for home users.

Adobe Reader - free alternative: Foxit PDF Reader

Who can be bothered waiting for the splash screen to disappear as this bloated beast starts up? Feature creep has begun to cripple Reader so switch to a free (if not exactly open source) option: Foxit. It's much faster.

Adobe Flash - free alternative: SMIL

This is one for the more technically capable. Flash is, undeniably, a key technology on the Internet. But it doesn't have to be that way. The Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language (SMIL) offers many of Flash's capabilities to anyone who can take the time to start using it. It hasn't really caught on yet but with the support of W3C, it's certainly worth keeping an eye on.

If you are one of the many people who have been left unimpressed with Vista but like the look of some of its features, Vista Buttons is for you. It helps you create Vista/XP/Win98 and Mac style rollover buttons and drop down menus with relative ease. Normally you'd need a fair amount of Javascript or CSS knowledge to create such buttons for websites but Vista Buttons is based solely on a simple image editor. The choice of templates and bases is certainly impressive and the developers claim the program features more than 500 buttons, 100 sub-menu designs and 50 ready-made samples.

This is more than enough to create a really cool looking website menu or some swish desktop buttons although some of the designs are a bit dull. The styles available include Vista, XP, Win98, Mac, Aqua buttons, round, glossy, metallic, 3D styles, tab and drop-down menus. Obviously, the best thing is that the program is designed for complete novices. You don't require any HTML, JavaScript or CSS skills to create some really professional looking results. Just make sure you refer to the developer website frequently for instructions on how to get started as the program is lacking in 'wizards' to help you get going.

Most of us use digital cameras these days but the results aren't always what you intended when you took the picture in the first place. Thankfully there are solutions to help you improve your pictures, including the rather wonderful ChocoFlop. The program allows you to edit your photos with ease, applying all manner of filters, effects and blending modes to get them looking good enough to eat.