The Camino project was launched by Mozilla to embrace everything that Macs are loved for – elegance, functionality and simplicity. The aim was to design the ultimate Mac internet browser fitting for a machine of its calibre. Version 1.0.4 has just been released although it seems the developers have got a long way to go before they reach their lofty aims.

Despite being released to address stability and security issues, it seems many users have found it actually less stable than previous releases. Various disgruntled users on Digg suggest that version 1.1 Alpha was the last stable release whilst others complain of disappearing bookmarks and regular crashes.

However, its clear that the project has a lot of potential. Many users praise the speed that it can load webpages compared to Safari and even Firefox. The Gecko engine its based on also gives it a WYSIWYG editing capability for websites making it popular with many developers.

One of the most annoying aspects of Camino remains the fact that there are few options for customisation. Compared to Firefox with its hundreds of plugins, Camino users have to do with what they get. However, there is an unofficial website called PimpMyCamino which features a host of cool plugins and add-ons to beef it up. Another cool add-on to check out is CamiTools which is gradually adding more and more functionality to this still fledgling browser.

Have you ever seen one of those images where people or objects seem to reach out of the picture's margins? It's called an out-of-bounds (OOB) effect and it's something you can do for yourself with your favourite picture. Not sure how? Launch Photoshop, follow this easy tutorial and see for yourself!

First of all, select the picture you want to work with, duplicate the background layer and create two more new blank layers over the copy.

BBC Worldwide has announced it is to launch its own iPlayer in an attempt to rival Apple's iTunes for downloaded music and video content. It is expected to be approved in the Spring although no official date has been set for the release.

Since the BBC is a publically funded institution, the iPlayer had to prove that it will fulfil a public service. As a result, it will initially only be available to UK licence-fee payers and will allow them to re-watch programs broadcast within the past 7 days (more on the negotiations here). However, the BBC plans to take further controversial steps towards commercialisation by generating revenue from advertiser driven content and pay-per-view downloads. It's even possible that other commercial broadcasters may be invited on board which would turn the iPlayer into the biggest online broadcaster of terrestrial channels in the UK.

The new project is part of the BBC's renewed drive to embrace online video including plans to put clips of popular shows on YouTube. Its also currently in the process of working with IBM to create an online searchable database of its children's programmes.

However, there's no guarantee that such an on-demand service will work. UK broadcasters Channel 4 and Sky have both experiemented with putting content online but without spectacular results. Most people who miss a program that is broadcasted on TV record it on a VCR or hardrive anyway so it's debateable whether people will really want to watch a rerun of a soap such as Eastenders online. However, if the BBC were to put its unique archive online on a pay-per-view basis, it might find more success.

As promised last week, insideTonic now has a couple of Joost invitations to distribute among you, the readers. For those who haven't heard about it yet, Joost is one of a handful of applications which are looking to bring streaming TV to your PC/Mac. Developed by the guys behind such huge projects as Kazaa and Skype, Joost makes use of peer-to-peer networking and advanced video compression to provide multiple stations and shows in a cool, modern design. Joost is already one of the programs of the year.

All we ask in return is one simple thing: give us one reason why you're the person who deserves an invite! The best two answers (as judged by our expert panel) will receive an invitation within a few days. As we receive more invitations, we'll send more out... so keep those comments coming! Please note, you'll need to provide a valid email address with your comment so that we can send you an invite if you win.

Mozilla has recommended that all Firefox and Thunderbird users upgrade to the latest releases after issuing a security patch and addressing other security and stability issues. Mozilla said in a statement, 'This update resolves the location.hostname vulnerability and other security and stability issues.'

The problem was traced to to a cookie flaw discovered by an 'ethical hacker' from Poland. Such hackers aim to help spot potential security threats and report them to developers rather than exploiting them for personal gain. The flaw would have allowed hackers to set or change cookies, permissions for site settings and passwords.

The perennial Firefox memory leak issue has also been addressed (although not solved) with a patch that stops a critical level flaw that was leading to memory corruption and crashes. Several important Vista compatibility issues have also been addressed and 4 new languages added – Afrikaans, Belarusian, Georgian and Kurdish.

Users who have already downloaded Firefox or Thunderbird from the Softonic site can update automatically in the 'Help' menu by selecting 'Check for Updates'.

The world's most famous VoIP company, Skype, has launched a "Pro subscription deal" primarily aimed at business users or phone addicts. The new deal includes a "low monthly subscription of €2" and "zero cents per minute calls to domestic landlines in 15 countries in Europe."

It clearly looks like Skype wants its users to trash their landline and go VoIP all the way. However, while local calls will cost you nothing, keep in mind that there will be a 3.9 cents connection fee on every call. To entice customers to sign up, Skype will offer, among other things, various discounts on VoIP phones, a 5€ Skype credit and free SKype Voicemail. European users are surely hoping that Skype's next move will be to offer their Unlimited deal, which was launched in North America in December, and offers free SkypeOut calls for a yearly fee of $14.95.

For those of you lucky enough to be registered to beta-test the impressive Joost, you may be interested to know that there's now a MacOS (Intel) version available for download. Initial responses to this latest version suggest that despite a small number of font-rendering issues, the Mac version of Joost is just as good as the Windows version. Indeed, according to some Mac users, it's even better... just because it's running on a Mac.

Of course, the only way to be sure is to test both versions so you can be sure that insideTonic will have a complete comparison online within a couple of days. We're also planning a special giveaway of invitations to the beta project! In the meantime, you can always apply for the beta at the Joost homepage.

Limewire has been one of the most popular P2P apps ever since file sharing exploded onto the scene a few years back. Although it’s still a pretty reliable performer, the old timer of the P2P world can sometimes leave you disappointed in terms of download speeds. Whether this is a deliberate ploy to get you to ‘Go Pro’ for $30 is open to debate, but if you don’t fancy paying out to speed up then there is a solution.

If you’re experiencing painfully slow transfer times in Limewire, then the first thing to do is to make sure the port you set for the program is configured to be open to connections in both your firewall and your router. The globe icon at the bottom left of the Limewire window tells you the firewall status. If the globe appears behind a wall, you're still blocked. Limewire will still be allowing connections, but almost certainly not at maximum capacity. If you enable port connections through your firewall then this should improve. If not, it’s likely that your ISP could be throttling your downloads, in which case you might want to try connecting from a proxy server.

To inject more download power into Limewire, you should try Limewire Accelerator, which speeds up the download process to a significant degree using its built-in optimisation features. Not only does it help to improve download speeds, you should also find that connections drop out a lot less. If after all this you’re still not a happy bunny then we suggest using a decent BitTorrent client such as BitComet.

Before Joost burst onto the headlines, Democracy was around as an Internet TV platform, showing us what the future of broadcasting might look like. The program allows users to watch and post videos on free internet TV channels. Working at the crossroads between an RSS aggregator and a Bittorrent client, Democracy lets you list all your favorite channels and download episodes in a few clicks.

Yesterday saw the release of Democracy 0.9.5, bringing with it a good number of improvements and fixes. In a probable move to compete with Zudeo or even YouTube, each video now has a share tab which you can use to send clips by email, post to Video Bomb, Digg, del.icio.us or Reddit. Videos that you have downloaded are now organized by channel to make them easier to find.

Downloading episodes on Democracy was already really smooth but the team behind the TV app has added some improvements to the Bittorrent client. Although I always downloaded episodes in one go, I suppose the introduction of pause/resume will come in extremely handy if you have a queue of videos waiting. Democracy finally shows seeding on your torrents, giving you more insight to manage your downloads. Streamlining the download process, Democracy will also retry whenever your connection breaks down. An extensive list of all the changes is on the Democracy blog and the new Windows and Mac versions are now available for download on Softonic.

One of the most outstanding features in Firefox is its built-in search engine from which you can conveniently search many websites, depending on how you configure it. Yes, there's more to this search tool than just asking Google. Try clicking on the "G" logo beside the input field and you'll see quite a complete search engine menu to choose from: Yahoo!, Amazon, Answers... Just select any of them and enter your keywords to search that site right away.

If this list is not enough, you can always add new search engines to it. Click on the logo again and select "Manage Search Engines" from the context menu. Firefox will display a window with all the search engines available in your browser, which you can arrange them in any order you like. Click on the "Get more search engines" option and you'll be taken to the Mozilla Add-ons site to download new engines. Also, if you happen to visit a website that has developed its own search plug-in for Firefox, the search bar logo will blink and the new search engine will be then automatically added to the list.

But what if your favorite website is not featured in this search engine menu, nor on the Mozilla site? Well, we still have an ace up our sleeve and it's called OpenSearchFox. This neat extension allows you to create custom search engines from virtually any website, just by right-clicking on its search field and selecting "Add OpenSearch plugin". You'll be able to have search engines just about for anything!

If you have trouble getting your kids to learn their geography or you just want to test your knowledge, World of Where may be of interest to you. The program is extremely easy to use. Once you launch it, a world map appears and you can choose which continent you want to be quizzed on. Good to know however, the trial version only lets you navigate to Europe.

There are three types of quizzes: cities, countries and flags. You have no time limit and can skip a question if you don't know the answer. And if you're feeling really smart, you can decide to take on the world and have questions coming from any continent. World of Where seems particularly directed for US users as it can also quiz you on American States. Try it out and see how much you know about geography.

If you've installed any Excel plugins such as Excel Calendar Template, then be warned that Microsoft have identified a new vulnerability in Excel that could allow hackers to take control of your machine. As usual however, the company will not put a date on a fix but say they are 'working on it'.

The vulnerability affects all Excel versions after Office 2000 including Office 2004 for Mac. The vulnerability is exploited when hackers run a code by inserting a series of special characters inside any Excel file. The exploit can then be used to take over the rest of your machine. What's worse, whilst Microsoft currently believe it is limited to Excel, its possible that it could affect other Office components such as Word, Outlook and Powerpoint.

Microsoft has recently employed a policy called "Patch Tuesday" where it issues fixes on a monthly basis rather than fixing problems on an as-they-happen basis. However, maybe the seriousness of this hole may prompt it into reverting back to its old ad-hoc system.

Today we're going to take a look at eMule and Limewire, two of the biggest free P2P filesharing programs around. We will compare them according to a certain amount of factors like version, network, downloading process, search function and extra features.

First of all, let us remind you that both programs are at very different levels of development. While eMule is known to be one of the most popular P2P applications, it is still only at version 0.47c. Limewire is now 4.12 and offers a PRO (but not free) version with advanced features. However there are loads of moded versions of eMule, like MorphXT, Plus or Xtreme with different skins or performance enhancements.

Concerning networks, eMule and Limewire are in two different ball parks. eMule connects to the eDonkey and Kad networks while Limewire connects to Gnutella. These are probably the most popular around, and yield excellent results, whatever you may be looking for. When setting up Limewire, if your router is UPnP enabled it will automatically forward a port for you. This is because Limewire supports UPnP port mapping. With eMule you will have to choose and forward a port yourself.

You may have a nice photo that would look much better if you could just add some kind of special touch. Well, let insideTonic lend you a hand: even if you're not the artistic type, you can still obtain really eye-catching results by following this simple, easy-to-use Photoshop trick.

First of all, open your image and select the area you'd like to emphasize using the Marquee tool. Then copy it to a new layer by pressing Ctrl+J.

So you’ve taken the leap and installed the versatile internet browser, Firefox, but are you ready to trade in your Outlook Express for Mozilla’s open source mail application? Thunderbird is Mozilla’s award winning and free solution to manage your mail more efficiently.

Thunderbird woos users with its flurry of options and the benefits of an open source application. Automatic updates ensure that you have the latest version of Thunderbird, preventing any security threats and offering you new features as soon as they’re available.