So how many of you have stuck to the new year resolutions you took on 2009? Are you set to achieve your goals this year? Have you prepared a plan and started tracking your progress? No? Then it’s time you start taking action.

Picking up from where we left last year, here is another set of tools that will help keep you on the right track towards achieving your goals and ambitions.

If FreeCiv and Frozen Bubble is not enough to satisfy your gaming needs on Linux, give SuperGamer a try. Like the previously mentioned Linux-gamers, SuperGamer too is a Linux Live DVD filled to the brim with games.

1. 100 Incredible Lectures from the World’s Top Scientists: Video lectures of a wide range of topics from psychology to astronomy. You will also like Richard Feynman’s lectures. [via O'Reilly Radar]

2. 35 Google open-source projects that you probably don't know: An impressive collection if you are a programmer.

Temporary or disposable email addresses are the best way to fight spam. When you signup on a website for some service that require you to submit your email address, instead of giving away your primary email ID you can submit a temporary email ID that expires within a few hours. The few hours for which the temporary email ID remains valid is enough for you to complete registration to the website or forum. After the temporary ID expires, any mail that is sent to that address is bounced back or lost. This way your primary email ID remains spam free.

TeuxDeux is a dead simple online to-do list manager with an elegant and minimal user-interface.

Once you are done through the simple sign-up procedure you can start adding tasks to the list right away. TeuxDeux’s display window shows 7 days at a time which you can scroll through using the arrow buttons at either end.

Boomtango is an add-on for Firefox that provides you with a rich interface to view your past browsing history and a way to quickly locate visited web pages, and images, videos etc you watched. Boomtango records your browsing history as you surf and automatically organizes it into multiple different layouts for viewing. Boomtango saves all information in the hard disk and your privacy is never compromised.

gDoc Creator is a free software that can perform a number of document format conversions such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents to PDF and XPS, and also convert PDF documents to Word. Unlike most PDF creators that install itself as virtual printer and perform simple PDF conversion, gDoc Creator offers a number of advanced features akin to commercial PDF creation tools including encryption, image compression, batch conversion etc.

The results of the lucky draw for the second Handy Backup Standard license giveaway are in. Here are the 5 lucky winners:

O&O Defrag is undoubtedly the leader among disk defragmentation software. O&O Defrag 10 Professional Edition runs on the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows Vista and Windows XP, as well as Windows 2000 Professional. The version 10 doesn’t work with Windows 7, unfortunately.

WinX Blu-ray Decrypter is powerful Blu-ray backup tool to decrypt and rip Blu- ray to your hard drive and store as m2ts files. It is capable of removing all the protections, such as encryption (AACS), BD+ copy protection of Blu-ray Discs. With user friendly interface, this Blu-ray decrypter can rip Blu-ray with high video quality in a few clicks. WinX Blu-ray Decrypter allows you to rip Blu-ray movies to hard drive with high video quality and super fast speed. And it is fully compatible with all BD media.

Here is another Christmas giveaway for you folks. Irina from Novosoft contacted me and offered another set of 5 licenses of Handy Backup Standard. So nice of her. Less than a month ago I organized a giveaway for the same software, and 5 lucky persons took away the 5 licenses each worth $39. If you are not among the winners or you missed the contest completely, this is your chance.

I spend far too much time on IMDB.com looking for movies and reading reviews. I also spend equally long amount of time on movie recommendation sites like Clerkdogs and NanoCrowd (early review). If you haven’t been to Clerkdogs for a while, I suggest you check it out once again. It has vastly improved since it’s first launch about a year ago – has a complete different layout and approach, and lot’s of new movies has been added to the collection.

Krento is an application launcher for Windows that can launch programs, files or open web pages from a circular dock. Krento lets you save and load your docks allowing you to have multiple sets of application docks.

While Krento is running, press Win+C to launch the dock which looks like this:

Ever wanted to share music or any MP3 file with your blog readers? Earlier you had to do it by uploading the file to some online server and posting the download link. If you use Windows Live Writer to compose your posts, which you should, there is an easier and better way of sharing music.

Earlier this month website Neowin revealed some hideous screenshots of Windows Live Messenger 2010 which later turned out to be fake, to everyone's relief. Today, Neowin leaked some more screenshots, this time of products from the Windows Live Wave 4 - Photo Gallery, Writer and Mail. The screenshots look definitely genuine.

As promised, Opera Labs today released a pre-alpha version of Opera 10.5 for Windows and Mac featuring a new JavaScript engine Carakan. Carakan is a major improvement compared to Opera’s previous JavaScript engine -  it’s 7 times faster than the engine in use in Opera 10.10. The speed superiority is only evident in the Windows build, as they haven’t started on optimization for Mac yet. Carakan promises to run JavaScript faster than ever, allowing modern web apps to run smoother than before.

1. Test drive Windows 7 in your browser: Test Drive lets you try out new features of Windows 7 through your browser using a virtual test-drive environment. All you need to do is fire up Internet Explorer and open this link. You can test the new taskbar, libraries feature, application compatibility, new security features etc. Requires Microsoft Virtual Lab browser add-on to be installed.

Mandriva recently announced a new environment targeted towards mobile devices such as netbooks and laptops. It’s called Mandriva InstantOn, a stripped down version of Mandriva Linux 2010. It’s major selling point is that it’s fast booting and light on system resources. Mandriva InstantOn is said to boot under 10 seconds.

Sometimes security applications like antivirus and antispyware offer substantial amount of resistance against attempts to remove them from the system. Hence most antivirus program publishers make specialized removal tools available for users. These tools are not included with the programs but can be downloaded from the publisher site.

Rogue antivirus software has become a growing problem in recent years. These malware infect a machine by deceiving the user into installing and paying for fake antivirus software that neither cleans the computer nor defends it against virus infection. On the contrary, these fake antivirus software are malware themselves and disable the machine of essential services like auto update and access to legitimate antivirus software, thereby making the computer vulnerable to further infection.

Unlike previous editions of Windows, Windows 7 allows users to customize the appearance of the operating system. Microsoft call it “themes”, although they are not proper themes. It should have been called “color schemes” because that’s what they really are – different color variation of the same basic Windows 7 theme.

You know, how time wasting it is to download and save individual images from image galleries? Well, you can now forget about it and let NeoDownloader handle the download.

Losing personal belongings can be a frustrating experience. If it’s your purse or wallet it can be devastating, if it’s an object with emotional attachment such as a gift from a friend, losing it can be heart breaking. If it’s a camera it can be both devastating and heart breaking - just imagine losing all those memorable pictures you snapped that you still haven’t transferred to your computer. And cameras are expensive too.

Do you write little notes to remind yourself of things that you should be doing and paste them all over your monitor and desk? Or you might be writing down list of tasks in a notebook or on a To-Do list software. But at the end of the day things almost always remain undone. Why? Because we tend to ignore the notes sticking out of the edge of the monitor and the to-do-list is totally forgotten.

BitTorrent clients with video streaming capabilities have been around for a while. Now uTorrent joins in with the release of version 2.1 beta.

SlideMate is a free software that provides a way to annotate directly on the computer screen such as add text, make markings etc as a means of drawing attention of the audience while giving presentation or product demonstration. In simple English, it’s a digital marker that you can use when giving slideshow presentation. It can also be used as a screen capture tool by bloggers.

Thanks to an anonymous tipster, I came across this peculiar promotional drive undertaken by software publisher SoftMaker. SoftMaker, as you might be aware, is known for it’s office product - the SoftMaker Office which is currently at the 2010 edition. About two days ago, SoftMaker announced a new project called Load And Help and launched a site. Under this project, SoftMaker will donate € 0.10 to a charity organization Betterplace.org for every successful download of SoftMaker Office 2008.

Can’t afford gifts for kids this Christmas? This is what you should do: give them paper toys. Tell your kids that they can print, fold and glue them together to create any number of toys they want. Your kids will have a great time making toys all throughout the holidays and you won’t even feel the pinch.

If you like reading stories at Digg but hate it’s heavy and slow interface, you might want to take a look at Diggstr. This is a new service that takes stories from Digg and serves it to you the way StumbleUpon does, through a top navigation bar. You don’t even have to install any plug-ins.

SPlayer is a media player for Windows, popular among Chinese users and newly brought to light among international users. SPlayer is very sleek and very minimally designed and is capable of handling multiple formats of both audio and video files.

Meteorite is a new open source project that intends to become the first software to repair broken Matroska (MKV) video files. Meteorite is in open beta and currently the only software that repairs MKV files. Meteorite doesn’t have much to call a GUI. Just drag an MKV file that refuses to play on a media player and drop it in Meteorite’s window. The program will automatically start scanning the file to detect any errors. If found the program will attempt to fix it and make the file playable.

The term Scanimation is derived from ‘Scanimate’ - an analog computer animation system developed from the late 1960s to the early 1980s. Scanimation is an animation technique using which one can create the illusion of motion on plain paper!

So you have started using the new Windows 7 but you miss some of the familiar things you got used to after all these years, like the classic start menu or the Explorer buttons. Classic Shell, an open source project, is a collection of features that were available in older versions of Windows but not anymore. It brings back the classic start menu that Windows 7 doesn't support, adds a toolbar for Windows Explorer in Vista and Windows 7 like the one in Windows XP and adds couple more smaller features.

Which is easier to understand? is a new fun website that lets you determine which other things are more complex than Google Wave. Made along the same vein as Wikipedia Vs Predator (and Explosion Vs Boobs), Which is easier to understand? is another of those voting sites that will give you a good 15 minutes of fun.

Music Intelligence Solutions' uPlaya is a new service that enables both Record Labels as well as independent artists, musicians and songwriters to identify whether their songs have the potential to top the Billboard charts, even before they release their creations. uPlaya promises to fundamentally transform how artists get discovered, signed and promoted by record labels around the world, so that no great song goes unheard again.

Previously I wrote about a Firefox addon called CookieSwap that allowed users to login to different accounts on a website with different usernames, and seamlessly switch between accounts without having to login and logout repeatedly. Multifox is a new Firefox addon that offers similar functionality, only it lets you remain logged in on all accounts using different profiles all at the same time!

Voyage is a new add-on for Firefox that lets you browse through your history of previously visited websites, including photos and videos you watched, in a way which is both visually appealing and functionally remarkable.

GamerOSD is a software from ASUS that lets you boost the performance of your graphics card by overclocking, even when playing a game. Anytime during game play you feel you need more power from the video card, simply activate this tool and adjust the GPU clock for instant gratification! GamerOSD also lets you adjust the gamma, brightness, and contrast values - all without even exiting the game.

ImageSorter is a desktop image browsing application, which provides a way to automatically sort images on your hard disk by color, date taken, name, or size. The idea of ImageSorter is to help you find images on your computer of which you remember how they look but you forgot in which folder they were stored. If one or several folders are selected, all images from these folders will be visually sorted by color allowing you to quickly locate your image.

Three days ago I organized a giveaway contest for ConvertXtoDVD, a video to DVD conversion software. Here are the names of the three winners picked up by Random.org’s random number generator.

RReturnil Virtual System 2010 or RVS 2010 is a completely new product that uses a combination of antivirus, antimalware and a virtual system to protect your computer from all types of viruses and other malicious threats. We wrote about Returnil Virtual System in the past, a software that protects the computer from unwanted changes made by unauthorized persons or malware by using virtualization technology. RVS 2010 employs the same approach.

Do you know that the Microsoft Outlook calendar starts at a strange year of 1601? A Microsoft video explains why. You will be interested to learn that Windows uses January 1, 1601 as a baseline for file dates and active directory logon dates too. Even the ANSI date format (YYYY-MM-DD), which is used by most computers and operating system, is counted from January 1, 1601. (Thanks Westcoast Walker)

Designer Tobias Sommer has created an unusual kind of font. This font is a set of cut-out layouts with which you can build 3D pixel style letters. Just print it out on a sturdy paper like cardboard, cut along the solid lines, fold along the dotted lines, put some glue on the shaded flaps and stick them together. Not the usual kind.

NeoRouter is the most powerful Remote Access and VPN solution I have seen to date. It helps you manage and connect to all your computers from anywhere, gracefully integrating with Remote Access, File Sharing, Virtual Private Network, User and Access Management. NeoRouter can connect all your PCs into a virtual LAN and allow you to access them securely and share files between them from anywhere.

Google Wave is not down yet, but they do have a “Down for maintenance” page tucked away in their servers, just in case. Pretty cool, huh?

FlickrSpy or Flickrlivetrackr is a fantastic tool for all Flickr lovers who have too much time in their hands. FlickrSpy brings you a continuously updating feed of photos that are being uploaded to Flickr right now. Newly uploaded photos appear at the top and older photos get pushed to the bottom where they fade away.

Sushi, huh? is a program that allows Linux users to update and install packages without having an active Internet connection. This oddly named software allows one to download the updates and desired packages on another computer, transfer it to a removable media and use it on the target Linux computer directly from the removable drive, like portable applications. Sushi, huh? makes possible for users to install/use the latest updates and programs on Linux computers that aren’t connected to the Internet.

7APL or Windows 7 Application Launcher is an application launcher made for Windows 7. Using 7APL you can launch a single applications or group of applications with a single click or hot key. 7APL makes use of one of the nicest feature of Windows 7 – Jump Lists, to well integrate the application with the operating system.

A while ago I put forth a few arguments in favor of flat-file Content Management Systems for simpler sites. A CMS like Wordpress is too complicated for someone who just want to put up some HTML pages together that requires only a few edits at a time.

Microsoft has recently made available for download a software that enabled owners with handsets running the Windows Mobile operating system to sync and backup their personal information between their phones and Microsoft’s online syncing solution, Microsoft My Phone. The new software is available for handsets running under the Windows Mobile 6.0 or higher.

ConvertXtoDVD is a full featured, delightfully user friendly DVD authoring software for Windows. Whether you are a new user looking to create a DVD out of your home videos or an expert user who want to tailor the DVD up to the last detail, ConvertXtoDVD has all to satisfy your needs.

1. Google Wave Extensions: The complete(?) list of Wave extensions including robots and addons/plug-ins for browsers.

2. GeoIP Weather: Quickly check the weather at your place by going to this site. It uses your IP address to locate your city and fetches weather information from  Weather.com. It also shows the forecast for the next 4 days.

I like the new Windows Vista/7 start menu, particularly the find as you type search functionality. It’s a big improvement from Windows XP’s. If you want to make the start menu’s search bar even more functional, take a look at Start++.

Start++ is an enhancement for the Start Menu in Windows Vista and 7, that allows you to search on popular Internet search engines and websites, launch applications and run special commands right from the search box.

Remember FotoMix, the software that assists you in removing the background from photos and images? Here is another one.

Called Instant Mask, this software employs a different technique that requires little skill from the user. Instant Mask has two markers – Keep Marker and Remove Marker. Using the Keep Marker, mark out the area in the photos you want to keep. Don’t worry even if you are clumsy with the pen. Just mark it out.

Like most Windows 7 technologies, the Remote Desktop Connection feature of Windows 7 has undergone a number of changes. Most notable changes for the end users include multiple monitor support, audio recording redirection, Windows Aero support within a remote desktop session, etc apart from a number of changes to the underlying service.

Microsoft Security Essentials, the new antivirus from Microsoft, has received many positive reviews around the web since it’s launch. In recent comparative tests against established commercial and free antivirus applications, Microsoft Security Essentials came out with flying colors. If you are curious to try out this new antivirus, there is one thing you should know before you start downloading it - Microsoft Security Essentials can update it’s virus definition files only if you have Windows auto update enabled.

Picasa Downloader is a simple application that lets you download multiple albums from any Picasa user without having Picasa, the desktop software, installed.

The software is straightforward – enter the Picasa Username and hit the List button to view the list of public albums available. Then highlight the album you want to download and click the ‘Download’ button.

Users familiar with DNS have probably heard about a service called OpenDNS. OpenDNS is a free DNS resolution service that anybody can use as an alternative to their Internet service provider's DNS servers. By placing company servers in strategic locations and employing a large cache of the domain names, OpenDNS is often able to process queries faster than a local ISP. For the end users, it meant faster DNS lookup.

Some time back we wrote about an online service called Rollip that allowed you to give your photos the old Polaroid look. Back then, Rollip had only 4 different image effects to chose from. Now it has 40. But Rollip no longer does the Polaroid effect – that is, the processed image is no longer bordered, just simple photo processing with a variety of different stylized effects.

Greenshot is light weight, open source screenshot taking application for Windows that can be easily used as an alternative to popular commercial software such as Snagit.

MediaRenamer is a free software intended for easy renaming of movie and TV series files recorded from TV, but also works for movies and TV episodes downloaded from the Internet or movies ripped from DVDs etc. MediaRenamer helps you get rid of unwanted texts from movie filenames automatically, and rename it using cleaner and better filename schemes.

Ashampoo Slideshow Studio is a software that converts still pictures into beautiful video slideshows. With its easy point-and-click interface and ready-to-use themes you can create great auto-playing slideshows with music and cool animated transitions in a snap.

Have you ever tried to print an ebook on a desktop printer and then staple the pages together with the intention of turning it into a book? But the ‘book’ doesn’t feel right, isn’t it? Because just stapling together some pages doesn’t make it a book. They are always a size too large (letter/A4) and hence difficult to hold, the pages doesn’t stay open and all kinds of discomfort.

Do you know why Windows Explorer alternatives fail? Because they are not Windows Explorer. There is no dearth file browsers, many of which are more advanced than Windows Explorer, but the majority of users prefer the one that comes with Windows. I tried to switch from Windows Explorer a number of times but each time I came back to the good old Explorer. Simplicity and familiarity are the two things of Windows Explorer that appeal to me.

Snippage is one of the coolest Adobe AIR application that I have seen to date. Using Snippage you can take any website, ‘snip’ a part of it and place the snipped part in your desktop as a widget. The idea is appealing and what makes this application a beauty is the simple yet highly effective approach it takes to implement it.

UI Tweaker is a fantastic addon for Firefox that lets you apply all kinds of tweak to the interface. Using UI Tweaker you can greatly improve and streamline the browser by removing items you do not use or relocating them to other areas. The various options are neatly laid out under different areas such as Menu Hacks, Toolbar Hacks, Findbar Hacks etc.

Last week I organized a contest where I promised to give away 5 licenses of Handy Backup Standard, each worth $39, to 5 lucky winners. Here are results of the draw.

Those who miss the lack of mouse gesture functionality in Internet Explorer will be pleased to learn that there is an add-on that offers this capability and it’s so good that it has earned the recommendation of Microsoft, even though Microsoft has never entertained the idea of natively supporting mouse gestures in IE.