Software updates

Google Chrome 0.29 beta - First Impressions

2008-09-06T23:12:00.000+01:00

After 3 days of testing, I feel free to come out with the first impressions of Google Chrome browser, browser imagined to be IE/Firefox/Opera killer.

Google Chrome in its early beta stage (0.29) seems like fairly good browser. It is rather fast (seems equivalent to Firefox, even faster on some pages) with some interesting features. I won't bother with counting all the features, will just mention some facts. First of all, which is in my opinion not a surprise, address bas operates as Google search - you just type a phrase on address bar and Chrome acts as Google web search. Tabbed browsing is an option all browsers now have but interesting to mention is browsing in "incognito" mode, browsing without caching any files on your PC. New tab option shows window with most visited sites (incognito browsed sites not included!) and most recently bookmarked sites.

There are lots of discussions on the Internet about Google Chromes' EULA and possible privacy thefts but IMO, things are a bit overreacted.

New bug-fixed version of Google Chrome, released after 3 days, gives us right to believe that Google really decided to act fast and serious with their browser and that they really do mean to grab serious percentage of browser industry.

Google Chrome is rated 4.5 out of 5 on The First Software Pick

Mozilla Firefox 3 Download Day

2008-06-19T09:04:00.004+01:00

Download day organized by Mozilla to enter the Guinness World Records book as most downloaded software has finished yesterday, and it seems to be a successful project but it still needs verification from GWR book officials.

The exact number of downloads is 8,549.973 of copies, or if you like to see it this way: 356000+ copies per hour or almost 6000 copies per minute!
I believe that these figures would be bigger if the servers weren't overloaded in the beginning of the countdown.
More than 3.2 million copies were downloaded from the USA while Germany was second with 820.000 copies.

It is interesting to mention that MS Internet Explorer team again send the cake for Mozilla team, as a gift for their new version release. They have done the same thing when Mozilla released version 2.0.

Openoffice.org

2008-06-10T14:49:00.000+01:00

IMHO, Openoffice is the best Microsoft Office alternative, currently at version 2.4.1 and beta release of v.3.0.
OOO (OpenOffice.org) is bundled with software which makes perfect MS Office alternative - word processor, spreadsheet editor, presentation software, graphics editor, database tool, most of which you get by buying MS Office. OOO made its own standard which is free to use and is multiplatform compatible because Openoffice has versions for many OS'es, such as Linux/Unix, Solaris etc...

The only minus I would give to OOO compared to MS Office is that MS gives us better look and feel. Or I am, just like most of us, only used to it?

The best thing is kept for the end - Openoffice.org is completely free and and therefore really worth giving it a shot!

You may find latest Openoffice.org updates on thefirstpick.com / openoffice...

Back to work

2008-06-10T14:13:00.000+01:00

Hello everybody!

After more than half a year I just wanted to say HELLO to everyone and announce that the end came to silence on thefirstpick blog!

See you around!

Cheers!

Adobe Flash CS3

2007-12-11T19:46:00.000+01:00

Adobe Flash CS3 is must have utility for all web enthusiasts who enjoy creating web based animations. Flash technology gives you an opportunity to create dynamic pages and to present everything you imagine on a web site. With rapid increse of high speed internet connections the number of Flash based web sites is rapidly increasing. Flash player is best used combined with other Adobe CS3 products...
Flash and Shockwave Players are plugins needed to play Flash and Shockwave based content and are available free of charge.

Adobe Dreamweaver CS3

2007-04-20T09:10:00.001+01:00

Hello people!

Today's theme is probably the best Web Development tool you could find these days - Adobe Dreamweaver CS3.
After years of development under Macromedia's name this is the first version that is published under only Adobe's name, as the result of Adobe buying Macromedia 2 years ago.
Unfortunately there is still not possible to download the trial from Adobe's download page and greater review is hard to write but for the beginning I'll rewrite the news from the official page:
"New Features:
• Spry framework for Ajax
• Spry data
• Spry widgets
• Spry effects
• Adobe Photoshop® and Fireworks® integration
• Browser Compatibility Check
• CSS Advisor website
• CSS layouts
• CSS management
• Adobe Device Central CS3"

I can't wait to get the trial to check it and after that I'll personally write a review at this blog.

Cheers!

The best defragmeters

2007-04-10T22:50:00.000+01:00

Defragmentation (or defragging) is a process that reduces the amount of fragmentation in file systems. It does this by physically reorganizing the contents of the disk in order to store the pieces of each file close together and in order (contiguously) - this is the definition of defragmentation found on Wikipedia. The process of defragmentation is run by a piece of software called the defragmenter...

The reason I am mentioning defragmenters is that PerfectDisk released new build (63) of its 8.0 version. By exploring the internet I came to conclusion that Perfect Disk is just a little bit ahead of Diskeeper but Diskeeper seems to be more user friendly and is really hard to conclude which one was better. There is important to mention the existing of Nortons' SpeedDisk and O&O Defrag which are also fine software applications.

There is also a defragmenter that is built-in windows but it is much slower and worse than mentioned ones. But on the other side - it is "built-in", so it is actually free.

If you are a big defragmentation addict like I am :) - buy yourself a professional defragmenter, they all cost less than $50...

Buy O&O Defrag now!

Portable Thunderbird / Firefox

2007-04-03T21:05:00.000+01:00

I am very positive that you have heard about Mozilla Thunderbird and Mozilla Firefox. If you depend in small group of people who haven't here are the brief explanations:

Mozilla Thunderbird is open source e-mail client developed by Mozilla inc. It is very powerful piece of software and developer stated that it "makes emailing safer, faster, and easier than ever before with the industry's best implementations of features such as intelligent spam filters, built-in RSS reader, quick search, and much more.
Thunderbird gives you a faster, safer, and more productive email experience."

We have already discussed Mozilla Firefox and I'll just state that is the most powerful and very quick web browser and is power relies on very large number of available Add-ons.

The reason why I am writing this article is just a reminder that there are portable modifications of these fine software applications and with it you are able to carry your copy of Thunderbird or Firefox wherever you go - on your USB memory!

I've been using Portable Thunderbird for year and a half now and it makes my e-mail manipulation much easier. I have no problem tracking 9 e-mail addresses at the time with Portable Thunderbird.

All the newest versions of Thunderbird and Firefox can be found on the following links: Thunderbird - Firefox

K-Lite Mega Codec Pack 1.70

2007-03-29T13:33:00.000+01:00

When I was discussing Mozilla Firefox I've mentioned that it was in my Top 5 all time list. Here is the other one from that list - K-Lite Mega Codec Pack.

I've been searching for a long time for combination of codecs which will satisfy all my needs and I finally found the solution in this excellent package.
K-lite is also published in smaller packages but this one includes almost everything you need to watch all your favorite videos. Excellent thing is that there are lots of stuff needed for video editing also included in this bundle. Media Player Classic, as the part of Mega codec pack, is excellent Media Player replacement and it can be run on slower machines and is fully compatible with all codecs in the bundle. A few months ago BSPlayer is thrown out because it went to version 2.0 which had to be installed with adware, and it was against K-lite's rules - freeware only!

The only thing I would really love to see in the future is GOM Player as a part of K-Lite Mega Codec Pack, then I won't need anything else to install besides it...

If you haven't tried this fine piece of software, please believe me - it's worth trying!

More info and download links can be found on thefirstpick.com

Why is Mozilla Firefox the best browser

2007-03-28T22:21:00.000+01:00

Mozilla Firefox is definitely one of the best pieces of software and it is in my all time top 5. The question is Why?

I'll try to answer this question in comparison with Opera and Internet Explorer.
Firefox is equipped only with essential stuff and everything more than essential is available through Firefox Add-ons. And there are very large amount of add-ons with which you may turn your Firefox into the most powerful browser. I am currently using 10 of these, such as Linkification, FlashGot, Download Statusbar...

Opera comes with lots of options, such as mail client, torrent manager etc., but IMO Firefox Add-ons make Firefox better solution. On the other hand, Opera seems to be faster in browsing pages from history.

Internet Explorer is much improved in version 7 but it is still worse solution than previous browsers. IE is some 2-3 years late in tabbed browsing and it is the most vulnerable browser. Despite everything it is still the most used browser (bundled in Windows) but the percentage of users using alternate browsers is constantly rising.

Skype 3.1.0.147 + Gizmo

2007-03-24T15:29:00.000+01:00

"Skype 3.1.0.147 is the next phenomenon from the people who brought you KaZaA". This is the sentence rewritten from Skype homepage and it tells that Skype can't be bad program. And it isn't. There's nothing much to write about it. You may make really cheap and also free calls and there are no problems using it...

In this article I wanted to pay attention to other excellent program called Gizmo. It is as cheap as Skype and it works without any problems. What is more interesting there is a page called "Gizmo Call " and you may talk up to 3 min/call, 10 min/day to most landlines & select mobile phones around the world completely free! Give Gizmo a shot!

Skype for Business

Nero 6.6.1.15a

2007-03-21T13:52:00.001+01:00

Ahead published new version of old Nero CD/DVD burning application - Nero 6.6.1.15a. OK, this is a new version with some bug fixes etc etc etc... There is one thing that Ahead does which isn't so common in software world. They develop old versions of software, while at least 4 different versions (as far as I can remember) of new build (7.0) are also being published. Why is this a case?

I personally know more people that use ver. 6 rather than 7 because they believe 6 is more stable and they really don't need so many applications built in (like Nero Image Drive, Nero Info Tool etc.) and it is much easier to download 30 rather than 170MB from the Internet...

This much about Nero by now, there will be chances in the future to talk about it again...

Nero 8 - Buy now!

DVD Rebuilder Professional 1.23

2007-03-21T00:25:00.000+01:00

DVD Rebuilder is one click DVD backup tool (as stated in note by publisher) which seems to work very fine. New versions are published very often and the only minus I could give to it is that there are not trialware or shareware version of DVD Rebuilder Professional, but when you check for freeware version you can't conclude anything else rather than Professional has to be worth $29.95.

TFP rating: 4.5 out of 5

Freerip MP3 2.96

2007-03-21T00:16:00.000+01:00

After 5 months the new version of Freerip MP3 is finally published. Freerip MP3 is excellent piece of software which allows you to convert your CD's to mp3 absolutely free and even if you are too lazy to write song titles by yourself, gives you an option to download titles from very rich online database...

TFP rating: 5 out of 5 !

Hello everybody!

2007-03-20T23:51:00.000+01:00

I am happy to write my first post here on blogger!

This blog will be the place to find more information about the newest software versions and everything related to software. I'll try to write some reviews and impressions on the most popular software and I'll try to maintain it daily, or even faster...

It is my first blog, don't be mad at me if I do something wrong, I'll try to keep the number of mistakes at minimum...

Thanks for stepping by! Cheers!