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.

Today Apple will announce the launch of OSX 10.7 Lion. We already know lots about this major update to the Mac operating system - here's my pick of the significant changes and improvements:

Launchpad.

This is the most obvious iOS influence in Lion. Hitting the Launchpad icon in the Dock fades out open windows, and replaces them with an iOS-style grid of all your apps. Like in iOS, you can swipe across pages of apps, and move and organize them in just the same way too. This may not be to everyone's tastes, but it's certainly easy to use.

Full Screen Apps.

Windows now have an extra button, allowing you to quickly enter full screen view. Using a three-finger swipe (or hotkeys if you don't have a trackpad) allows you to flick between full-screen apps, which to me seems to be an improvement over Spaces.

CCleaner is one of the most widely used and downloaded maintenance tools for Windows. Now CCleaner for Mac is finally available, albeit in a much reduced form. I'm a big fan of the Windows version although I've had some scary moments with it and one advantage of the Mac version so far is that because its so limited, it would be almost impossible to do any major damage with it!

The first thing you notice if you've ever used CCleaner for Windows is how many features are missing. The Uninstaller, the Drive Wiper and Tools section are all missing. Of course, some of these, such as The Registry Cleaner, aren't relevant to Macs anyway but its clear from the start that Mac users have a much reduced version.

In terms of hard drive cleaning, CCleaner for Mac supports cleaning trash, recent files and servers, cleaning of temporary folders and recent applications.

In terms of browsers and applications, CCleaner for Mac is strictly limited to cleaning Safari and Firefox - Chrome and Opera are not supported nor are any other applications. It does however allow you to select exactly which parts of the browsers you want to clean i.e. include or exclude, cookies, history, download history etc.

Skype's been in the news recently due to its imminent takeover by Microsoft. Whether this will be a positive or negative move for the VoIP company remains to be seen, but what is certain is that the news has produced plenty of good jokes - and renewed interest in the internet phone app.

If you've ever searched for Skype on Softonic, you'll see that we have a bunch of versions - Skype, Skype for Business, Skype Portable, Skype Gold - not to mention all the versions that exist for different platforms. With so much to choose from, how do you know which Skype is right for you?

The standard Skype app is more than enough for the vast majority of users. Whether you're running it on Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iPhone, Symbian, or Windows Mobile, there's a version for you, and with a relatively fast internet connection, you should have it downloaded and ready to call in minutes.

The iPad’s reputation as a serious music making tool is growing fast. Several accomplished artists including Gorillaz and Bjork have already produced albums using the Apple tablet, and its prestige within the music world is on the rise.

When the iPad was first launched, many digital music makers were a little disappointed by the product, bemoaning its lack of input/output ports and closed storage capabilities, among other things. While many of these problems still exist, it’s becoming ever -more viable to create great sounding music on the iPad, and especially the iPad 2.

The influx of great software, and to a lesser extent, hardware, has made it possible for musical innovators to get some awesome sounds out of the iPad. If you’re a musician on a budget it could be the best way to make an album without breaking the bank (Gorillaz spent just over $100 on the 21 apps the band used on its album).

If you want to be creating storming tracks in the way these guys have, here’s a run-down of the most accomplished iPad music creation apps available. I’ve included a YouTube video for each one so you can get an idea of the kind of sounds you could be creating.

iElectribe

If you’re looking for old school beats for your dance music tracks, iElectribe is a highly capable tool for the job. Based around Korg’s Electribe series of rhythm synthesizers, the application offers various pre-set patterns and templates. These can be tinkered with to create some quite elaborate beats.

For those who need a bit more control, iElectribe boasts 64 user banks that have just a single trigger on the downbeat of each measure. There are eight basic sounds to play around with and knobs for altering pitch and waveforms. Price: $19.99

Voddler,  the Swedish based film-on-demand service sometimes referred to as "Spotify for films",  is set to finally launch outside of Scandinavia in Spain on June 11th. The original launch date was set to be June 1st but has been delayed due to technical problems according to the company.

Early in 2010 we were the first to bring you an exclusive interview with the team at Voddler and were also one of the first to bring you a review of the new web based version of the client. At the moment, around 60,000 users have been invited to sign-up to be invited to use the new service but it will be opened-up to everyone from September.

Voddler offers a huge catalog of ad-supported free films along with a selection of premium releases (currently including films such as Inception, Harry Potter and Tron) for around $6. One of the major criticisms we noted in the early days of the service was the lack of major releases available. However, since then, Voddler has signed deals with most major film labels in Hollywood allowing them to offer a much better selection.

If you can't wait until June 11th to see what Voddler has to offer, don't forget to check out our full review of the Scandinavian version.

In an unofficial admission that Mac users are facing malware attacks, Apple have rolled out a new Safari security update for which should protect users from the recent spate of malware attacks which have targeted Mac users. Apple have issued a note with the update saying:

For the protection of our customers, Apple does not disclose, discuss or confirm security issues until a full investigation has occurred and any necessary patches or releases are available. To learn more about Apple Product Security, see the Apple Product Security website.

Apple are obviously reluctant to confirm that OS X is now becoming increasingly susceptible to the types malware attacks that Windows users have had to put up with for years. Refusal to acknowledge the hundreds of cases of users experiencing malicious popups over the past few weeks prompted Wired magazine to ask whether Apple are in denial about the so called "Mac Defender" malware attack.

To ensure that your Mac is protected, click on the Apple logo in the top left-hand corner of OS X and select Software Update.

If you're looking for an easy way to protect your files and documents from prying eyes, then the good news is you can now get Cryptix for Mac absolutely free.

Cryptix contains password generators, Mnemonic generator, .htpasswd, 512-bit RSA encryption tools and many more ways to keep your files and documents safe by encrypting them. With it, you can encode, decode, compress, decompress, encrypt and decrypt files, data and text.

The main interface is divided into two sections - the left side for the type of cryptography you want to use and the right side is for security containing tools such as Checksum, Network and Unix.

It's not exactly the easiest application to get going with if you're new to encryption but its a powerful little tool once you know how and best of all its now free!

If you want a simpler solution, try TrueCrypt for Mac, which is also free!

File association defines the program that Mac OSX will use to open a certain kind of file. Basic file types such as images, video, text files and so on already have a default application associated. So, when you double click a video file in Mac OS, Quicktime opens up. But what if you want to use VLC Media Player or MPlayerX instead? Easy:  simply right click the file you want to open, select Open with and choose the program you want to use instead of the one selected by default.

This trick works only for that particular file though, meaning that the moment you restart the system the change will be reverted and the file will open up again with its default application.

If you want to permanently change this file association, select the file and press Cmd + I to open its information pane. Look for the Open With section and select the program you want to use from the drop-down menu (you may have to browse the hard drive to find the application if it's not there).

The lack of any major innovations in QuarkXPress' recent update to version 9 has left many dedicated Quark users disappointed at the evolution of the once unassailable desktop publishing application. As more companies and designers switch to Adobe products, especially InDesign, the question is: can Quark ever make it back from the brink?

While the latest QuarkXPress offers some great new features (such as the ability to create interactive books for iPads and support for eBook publishing), it can't fight against the rising tide of users switching to Adobe. Most designers use multiple applications in their creative work, so it makes sense to use integrated products such as InDesign and Illustrator. Since Adobe products follow a similar kind of format and layout, once you've learned to use one, you quickly learn how to use the others in the suite.

Quark's problems are not helped by the fact that it is incredibly expensive for what you get. The full package totals almost $2,000 and for about the same money, you could have the entire Adobe CS5 suite. Quark will not only have to start pricing its product far more competitively if its to keep up with Adobe, but will also have to make some serious innovations to give designers a compelling reason to choose it as their desktop publishing software of choice.

The space shuttle Endeavor took off this morning on its final mission. If you want to follow the progress of its historic trip then go check out NASA’s cosmic Google Earth plug-in.

Real-Time Space Shuttle in Google Earth uses live data from Mission Control to plot the current location of Endeavor in relation to the Earth. You’ll see the trajectory of the craft marked as a yellow line, and you’ll also be able to track all kinds of mission events such as solid rocket booster separation, main engine cut-off and external tank separation.

Other information displayed by the Real-Time Space Shuttle plug-in includes speed milestones, altitude milestones and landing events. You can choose to auto-follow the Endeavor or switch to manual controls to explore the path of the shuttle yourself.

To access this great space travel tool, simply download the live groundtrack file then open it in Google Earth.

If you don't have the money to shell out for new multiplayer first-person shooter Brink, don't worry, there are plenty of opportunities to get your multiplayer FPS fix for free! Here are my current favorite free first person shooters:

Quake Live

Quake is so fast paced I would almost classify it as sport! It's a sci-fi shooter, and it's easy to get into but difficult to master. Luckily there are great tutorials, and you won't be pitted against highly skilled players straight away. Quake is an excellent FPS, and a great introduction to the genre too.

Battlefield Heroes

Of the two free Battlefield games, this is the one I prefer. It's fast, fun to play, and really well balanced.  With a good selection of soldier classes and easy to operate vehicles, it's hard not to be charmed by Battlefield Heroes. It's not at all serious, with lots of fun customization to add to the cartoon action.

If you don't like the recent interface update to Twitter for Mac, although the Mac App Store won't let you get an old version, you can still download the original Tweetie for Mac.

Tweetie was the forerunner to the official Twitter app until Twitter made it the official client so its very similar although obviously lacks some of the newer features in Twitter. An added bonus of using Tweetie is that it also supports several different URL shortening services including bit.ly, TinyURL, is.gd, tr.im and DiggBar.

So if you're not a big fan of Twitter for Mac's big new look, all is not lost. Download Tweetie instead!

Today at the Google I/O conference in San Francisco, there was a lot of buzz about new features for Android tablets and phones alike. Perhaps one of the biggest announcements was about the launch of Music Beta by Google.

Music Beta by Google allows you to upload your personal music collection to cloud-based storage, where it can be streamed to your computer, Android phone or tablet. This is reminiscent of MP3Tunes, which also offers storage in the cloud and is compatible with both iPhone and Android devices.

Syncing occurs automatically with Music Beta by Google, so every time you add new music or create a playlist, all of your devices will be updated simultaneously. There's even a feature called Instant Mix that will create a playlist for you based on songs that go well together. This is similar to the Genius feature in iTunes, except Instant Mix sorts music you already have, as opposed to suggesting new music you'd need to purchase. Even cooler, all of your recently played songs are automatically stored, allowing you to listen to music even when you're offline.

Currently, Music Beta by Google is available by invitation only to users in the U.S. and works on both PCs and Macs.  If you have a Gmail account, you can request a beta invite here.

If you're one of the many converts to the Google Chrome browser on Mac, then you can now stay ahead of the very latest developments with Google Chrome Canary which has just been released for OS X. Google Chrome Canary is effectively the Alpha version of Google's browser and is the testing ground for most of the features that eventually appear in the Google Chrome Stable, Google Chrome Beta and Google Chrome Developer versions.

If you're a bit confused by the increasing number of builds of Chrome, here is a brief lowdown...

The stable build is the latest official version of Chrome. The Chrome beta build is is slightly newer than the stable version of Chrome and is intended for testing by everyone. The developer build is intended for users with software testing or programing experience and finally the Canary build is the least tested of them all and automatically created from the parent Chromium project.

The good news is, when you install Google Chrome Canary, it won't overwrite any other version of Chrome you've got installed, so you can test it to your heart's content while running your regular Chrome browser. However, since it's completely untested and designed for those that want to help Google develop the next version of Chrome, you'll find it very unstable and unreliable at times. Oh, and be warned that it will send anonymous usage stats back to Google for development purposes.