Whilst it seems like pretty much every other article I write at the moment is related to Google in some way, shape or form I thought I’d stick with tradition and this week focus my article on the Google Gmail service which I have recently had a chance to tryout.Although this service isn’t yet available to the general public I thought it would be worth mentioning Gmail as it gives us an insight into what online e-mail services will have to aspire to in the future.

For those of you unaware as to the different ways that you can receive e-mail there are the standard e-mail programs present on your computer (for example Outlook Express or Mozilla Thunderbird) which download e-mails locally to your computer hard-drive and alternative is sites such as Hotmail or Yahoo which store the e-mails on the Internet so that you can visit a website, insert … Read the rest

I remember back in the days when I used to publish a small fanzine that I was a big fan of Serif PagePlus as it was a capable piece of DTP (desktop publishing) software which was extremely low cost when compared to others that were on the market.Serif seems to have been pushed out of the limelight in recent years but some of their applications still give the costly alternatives a run for their money.

In order to increase the profile of some of their flagship products, Serif are now offering a large amount of their back catalogue or cut down versions of their current products for free at the website www.freeserifsoftware.com and it certainly is worth going along to see what you can get hold of.If I pick out a few of the highlights then I’m sure that you’ll find something that would suit you perfectly:

PagePlus SE – … Read the rest

Sometimes a reader comes along and suggests a program so handy it makes me question my own knowledge of computers if I’ve never heard of it.Such an eventuality occurred this week when regular reader Ted Jones wrote in and suggested I take a look at yet another free program designed by the guys at Google which goes by the name of Picasa.

Picasa is designed as a solution for those of you who have hundreds of digital photos on their computers which are just begging to be organised.Let’s be honest, too many of us just have folders stuffed full of pictures which are completely un-catalogued and include file after file named along the lines of 0193948.jpg which mean very little to anybody.

By visiting http://picasa.google.com and obtaining this small, free program you will be prompted to allow it to search your computer for all image files that will then be … Read the rest

I recently talked about Voice over IP (VoIP) and how it could save you money by routing your calls over the Internet but unfortunately such a service isn’t always suitable for most users as although the sound quality is improving and the service becoming easier to set up it still isn’t quite as simple as just picking up the phone.

Financially I am hit quite hard by having a girlfriend that lives in the Republic of Ireland and although I am certainly not complaining I must say that calls and texts to Southern Ireland using non VoIP services are not quite as cheap as I would have liked.Some time back I discovered a company called Alpha Telecom which I thought I would introduce to you as they provide a few products and services that may help you out if for whatever reason you find yourself having to make overseas calls.… Read the rest