If the advent of Widgets (and now, Gadgets for Vista) has proven anything, it is that the customization and extensibility of popular applications represent a huge market: everyone seems to demand a slightly different experience from these ubiquitous, monolithic programs and operating systems. IE, the world's most popular web browser, has long been a base onto which toolbars, mods and skins have been tacked but Microsoft only seems to have embraced this market with the launch of its much-improved version 7.

The cunningly titled 'ieaddons.com' serves as a dedicated home for Internet Explorer add ons, from where users can download, review and purchase extensions for their browser (it's worth noting that many of the extensions here are for sale, in stark contrast to Mozilla's offering). Among our favourites are the astoundingly good FoxyTunes - which allows you to control most desktop media players from your browser window and the essential Google Toolbar which adds a lot of functionality to your IE.

While there are many more free extensions available for Mozilla browsers (such as Firefox), it's worth remembering that many of them are also available for Internet Explorer, where they'll work just as well. As something of an added bonus: Microsoft are offering a cash prize and trip to Mix07 in Las Vegas to the developer who creates the best IE add on before February 9th! Rumour has it that the Pussycat Dolls might be in attendance.

The big buzz in software currently surrounds peer-to-peer and streaming television. TV is big business and companies like Microsoft have spent years trying to get us to watch it on our computers. For a while, it looked as if the public were resolutely committed to a separation of TV and PC but with the advent of YouTube, BitTorrent and the iTunes store, more and more users seem to be happy watching TV shows on the smaller screen. Clearly, though, with the exception of Apple's deals with various TV networks and movie studios, the popular, viral content distribution model is far from what Microsoft envisioned 10 years ago.

For those of you who haven't heard of The Venice Project, we've already prepared a brief summary of what it does. Since then, we've finally had an opportunity to try the program and we were really impressed by what we saw. Bound by the confines of a seriously strict non-disclosure agreement, we have to be pretty careful with what we say... but there are some aspects of the program we couldn't resist sharing with you.

On starting TVP, it's immediately obvious that this is a member of that new generation of applications: the hybrid between old fashioned desktop apps and modern 'web 2.0' software. The stylish, minimal-yet-chunky design makes excellent use of transparencies and overlays to provide a very modern web feel to the program. The main menus can be hidden or shown with ease and are a snap to navigate.

Morpheus is one of those age old P2P applications and, with support for Gnutella, eDonkey, Bittorrent and many others, probably the most versatile you can find on the market. The new version aims to turn the P2P client into the ultimate multimedia application. Does it succeed?

Morpheus has gone through a complete face lift and the new version brings a similarly new interface. The window is divided into 4 tabs: search results, my files, podcasts and Morpheus online, giving you a clear idea of which aspects of the program are considered to be most important. A pane on the left side allows you to create playlists or keep track of searches and videos – although strangely not music. Morpheus lets you also sync all your downloaded files to import them automatically to iTunes. Oddly enough, the chat tool is now hidden at the top of the interface, next to help and preferences.

You’ve probably noticed the increasing expansion of web-based applications as a quick and convenient replacement for the traditional desktop software we’ve all been using so far. The list is pretty impressive: online email, word processors, personal organizers, RSS managers... Even if you're not an Internet guru, it's still easy to understand the reasons for this gradual change.

First of all, Internet connections have spread around the globe at an incredible pace. Many users now enjoy broadband connections at quite affordable prices, which means that they’re permanently online and can use web-based apps at any moment.

Second, we can now connect to the internet from pretty much anywhere, thanks to wireless technology. We can browse the web wherever we feel like it, so it’s far more practical to have our email or documents in an online application, visible from a variety of electronic gadgets, rather than limiting access from a desktop PC app.

One last point is the growing development of the so called Web 2.0, defined by Wikipedia as:

perceived or proposed second generation of Internet-based services—such as social networking sites, wikis, communication tools, and folksonomies—that emphasize online collaboration and sharing among users.

New functionalities such as Ajax have made it possible to develop very complete and attractive web-based apps that are every bit as good as our old good desktop programs.

What do you think? Which web-based applications do you use? Why do you prefer them to desktop software?

Last night I was trying to watch a Quicktime streaming video in Firefox and I kept on getting this annoying message about not having the appropiate plug-ins installed. So I wondered, how am I meant to know which plugins are correctly installed for Firefox? The answer came to me in the shape of a nice Mozilla trick: just type “about:plugins” in the browser’s address bar and you’ll see a list of all the plug-ins you've installed so far.

This little tip reminded me of a couple other Firefox tricks I’d like to share. You may already know them but hey, there are always novice users out there.

First, here’s another “about” tip which you can use. Type “about:config” in the address bar and you’ll obtain a large list of configuration variables that rule your browser’s behavior. What’s more, you can customize them in order to change the default search properties, make pages render more quickly or control the private data stored by Firefox; and much more besides.

Second, there are some keyboard shortcuts which are really useful for web browsing, even if you’re more comfortable with the mouse. Combinations include CRTL+T to open a new tab, CTRL+L to focus on the address bar and CTRL+K to activate the search box on the right side of the Firefox interface.

One last tip: try typing “about:mozilla” in the browser’s address bar and see what you get. Don’t you love Easter eggs?

There are now thousands of torrent sites out there but if you're tired of searching them one-by-one, why not harness the power of Google to do the job for you? In Google, just type filetype: "name of file" (e.g. filetype:torrent) to bring up a list of torrents corresponding to your search across the web.

So far example, if you're looking for football related torrents, simply enter football filetype:torrent. Of course, you'll need a torrent client such as uTorrent, BitTorrent or eMule to download it afterwards. This is a simple and effective way to search torrents without looking high and low for the one you want.

So you've become addicted to scanning the globe, you know how to make various layers appear, like hospitals, parks or getting driving directions, but do you know where to find the special content from the Google Earth community? It's fairly simple: open up the layers column on the left, select 'Google Earth Community', then 'Community Showcase' and just browse through all the new content. We particularly like the UNESCO Heritage Sites, which shows locations of cultural and historical importance. Check out our video:

[googlevideo]-1738099270376539977[/googlevideo]

Be sure to check out all the content made available in Google Earth. It's constantly being updated and some of it is really interesting. Just avoid having too many layers on the screen, otherwise it will become overcrowded with information.

You're kindly invited to join us in this new weekly series starting today in our blog. We'll be offering you a selection of the best Firefox extensions with which you can dramatically improve your web browsing experience, so get ready to give your Firefox a boost!

Gmail Manager is the perfect solution for Firefox users who are also the proud owners of a Gmail account. This neat extension allows you to check your email right from the browser's interface. Also, you can check several accounts simultaneously, receive new email notifications, review account details, read new message snippets and log on to the Gmail website with a single click.

All these functions are available through the extension's M-shaped tiny icon, which you can place either in the toolbar or the browser's status bar.

Although P2P networking still survives as a means of downloading video, audio and software, many people are now turning to torrents as a means of getting hold of their entertainment. While BitTorrent and BitComet rule the roost in terms of on-the-fly downloads, there are a few other pretenders to the crown that are worthy of a mention. BitSpirit is definitely up with the best of them, allowing you to grab hold of torrents quickly without any fuss.

The application is significantly easier to use than many of its rivals, however, BitSpirit disappoints compared with its peers when it comes to tracking active downloads. If you would like to access information on your current download then you need to access the torrent itself, rather than relying on the application to provide you with this information.

If one of your New Year’s Resolutions is learning a new language, you can count on iTunes to lend you a hand.

The iTunes Store Podcast section includes a whole category dedicated to languages with quite an interesting selection of available options, such as Spanish, French, Italian or even Japanese. Just visit the Store, then head to Podcast - Education - Language Courses and make your choice.

Besides, most of them are free, so you have no excuse to begin babbling your first words in whichever language you choose. Amuse-toi bien!

With the release of Zudeo, Azureus is jumping onto the legal torrent bandwagon. This application features the classic and extensive Azureus torrent client and adds to it an online platform from which you can download and submit legal audio and video content.

Zudeo’s interface is a complete shake-up to what Azureus users are used to. The bittorrent developer has decided to focus on online multimedia content and introduce user participation. The first thing the user sees is a list of thumbnails of the latest videos uploaded to Zudeo. You can browse these files by using the left side menu, divided in time, main channels and tags. The menu at the top also links to hot and new content. Zudeo takes the web 2.0 road and you’ll see that most of the files have tags. You can write out a comment and leave a rating. The program also makes it a no brainer to send a video by email and link to content directly from your blog or website. There’s also a little diggit tag for each file, to submit them to the ultra famous social news site. It’s still a shame that Azureus omitted all the other famous social networking sites like del.icio.us or reddit. Maybe in a few months?

When it comes to taking on the might of Internet Explorer, the small, but perfectly formed Opera is a mere bit-part player in the battle for browser supremacy, with Firefox now firmly established as the mainly pretender to IE’s crown. Not to be deterred by its tiny share of this market, Opera has pulled off something of a masterstroke when it releases a beta version of its browser for the Nintendo Wii on December 22nd.

The console has received many plaudits for its innovative use of new technology, and in particular the motion-detecting joypad. It’s rather fitting then that Nintendo should team up with Opera, which is famed for its innovation (it was after all the first app to give tabbed web browsing and mouse gestures). The two firms have been mere also-rans in recent years, so it’s nice to see them working together to develop the first external web browser for a console.

I’ve never been very fond of toolbars and other web browser add-ons, basically because the services they’re supposed to offer don’t make up for the amount of resources and space they use. But this toolbar has the Google trademark on it and that encouraged me to test it. If it’s Google, it can’t be that bad.

No sooner said than done. A two minute installation process and you’re ready to go with your brand-new browser companion. At first sight, Google Toolbar looks similar to other add-ons but a deeper look reveals quite interesting functions. Also, the toolbar allows a high level of customization, so you can really choose which buttons to show and which to hide. This is something you’ll be thankful for, especially if you care about the number of free pixels on your screen.

New to Firefox? First of all, let us give you the warmest welcome to the best web browser in the world! Now we can go on to explain how to customize your Firefox by adding extensions in just a few easy steps.

• First of all, some information: an extension is a small piece of software that can be installed in your web browser to either modify one of its built-in tools or add a completely new function.
• Click on the link of the desired extension, usually an XPI file, and a software installation window will open.
• Allow the installation and once it's finished, restart the browser.
• If you see a yellow bar on top of the page, don't worry. It's just a warning message in case the webpage is trying to install software on your PC without your consent. Just click on the Edit options button and include the current site in the list of allowed web pages.

There’s a huge amount of Firefox extensions available on the Internet. We recommend taking a look at our list and select the ones you like best. Also, if there’s one cool, handy extension you’re using and we don’t have it, do not hesitate to share it with us!

There’s nothing that puts a visitor to your site off more than a string of broken links, missing graphics or files. To avoid this embarrassment and the consequent exodus from your site, Dreameaver has a neat tool that helps you make sure everything is working properly. Simply go to the ‘Site’ menu in the application and choose 'Check Links Sitewide'. Adobe's flagship web editor will then willingly generate a report of all broken links on your site.

To fix a link all you need do is click onto the broken link and browse to the correct file. Be warned though, if you need to view local file references you’ll need to change your Link Checker from 'Show Broken Links' to ‘Show External Links’. You can also use the app to find orphan files (i.e. files that aren’t in use) by altering your link report to ‘Show Orphaned Files’. If you’re a HTML puritan and don’t use a WYSIWYG editor then try Web Link Validator, which is more than adept at checking broken external links.