In the past I have covered the free website blogger.com but have been suitably impressed with WordPress to feel that it also deserves a mention. In much the same fashion as Blogger, WordPress allows you to either host your blog on their website or install the open source code on to your own web server; the latter does of course require a small amount of knowledge relating to uploading files to a web server, or the desire to learn. Going down the route of installing the software yourself is a little trickier although it does allow you to have your own domain name along with complete control over the way things function. Typically, a blog hosted on your own server will also look more professional than if it is hosted as part of the main WordPress site.

Once you have downloaded the installation package from www.wordpress.com and uploaded it to your server, you simply run the configuration file and WordPress will set itself up and present you with the default template which can then be changed to one of your choosing. From the admin section you can begin changing the way your blog site looks and the way that it functions without having to edit any code whatsoever but by simply using the inbuilt tools. For more advanced changes you can choose to use any of the several thousand free of charge plug-ins created by the community; these allow you complete control over practically every element of your blog, from making it search engine friendly to integrating a photo album.

When it comes to actually adding content to your site, you can import from another source if you have previously hosted a blog or alternatively you can simply start typing and copying and pasting in to a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor. Any articles that you produce and tag will automatically be published so that when other users search for a matching subject they will have the opportunity to visit your page; this kind of exposure can be invaluable if you are writing a blog relevant to your business as a marketing exercise to drive more traffic to your website.

If you choose to allow visitors to comment on your articles then you will be glad to hear that WordPress employs a sophisticated anti-spam system so that your blog won’t quickly become a playground for automated comments relating to sexual health products and fake Rolex watches. It is also good to know that they host a support forum and have a technical support team who will be happy to point you in the right direction should you encounter any problems.

If you have an interest in writing and a desire to air your thoughts then WordPress does represent a good quality, free piece of software which will allow you to achieve this.

Firefox 2 was an excellent browser however having been released towards the end of 2006, it was certainly due an update. It’s not so much that the browser looked dated as it was still an incredibly capable application but I just got the impression that perhaps it was losing a little ground to several alternatives that were starting to snap at its heels. With Internet Explorer 8 on the horizon Firefox needed to reassert its position in the industry and hopefully this new release will go someway towards achieving this goal.

In terms of the user interface I can’t help but feel that it does still does look a little dated; there’s not anything particularly wrong with it I was just expecting something a little more radical. I suppose it goes back to the old adage ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ which I suppose is quite fitting in this instance.

More important than the appearance has got to be the functionality and there are certainly a number of new features which deserve a mention:

- The address bar is substantially improved so that rather than simply accepting URL addresses you can type in any text. Firefox will then come up with suggestions on the fly by referencing your previous browsing activity and saved bookmarks. If, for example, you remember viewing a website discussing a particular topic then rather than having to remember the website address, simply start typing the subject or some relevant keywords and the correct address should be located automatically.

- In addition to the phishing protection provided in Firefox 2, this new version also includes malware protection which is designed to warn you when visiting sites which may take advantage of Operating System, application or browser vulnerabilities.

- Whilst it may seem like a basic thing, the zoom function has now been vastly improved. For us at Refresh Creations, a common issue is working to ensure that a webpage can be scaled up for those with impaired vision. Most browsers simply scale up the text leaving the pictures exactly the same size which more often than not completely ruins the page formatting. Firefox 3 has replicated the enhanced zoom of Internet Explorer 7 by scaling up the ENTIRE page, pictures included.

- The download manager now supports pause and resume features which can be useful if you are downloading a particularly large or multiple files.

One issue that I had with Firefox 2 was that it did tend to hog a great deal of memory if you were using it all day every day, especially when using large numbers of tabs. Firefox 3uses less memory to start and then releases the memory properly when a tab is closed; this and a number of other fixes results in both the browser and your computer remaining responsive throughout the day. Firefox now handles like greased lightning and feels as solid as a rock.

I’m writing a day after the official release of version 3 and in this time it has already been downloaded over eight million times. It is also nice to see that the Microsoft Internet Explorer development team sent them a cake by way of congratulations for making the release. I still firmly feel that Firefox has a strong part to play in the development of the Internet and I would encourage you to download it free of charge from www.mozilla.com

Time and time again I suggest AVG as an alternative to some of the bloated anti-virus checkers out there but thought today I would touch on some other applications which haven’t been given enough coverage.

Quicktime Alternative – Unless you configure it correctly, Quicktime has a habit of becoming both intrusive and resource hungry. Whilst some of the less used features of its bloated relative will be absent, this alternative is almost half the size and doesn’t suffer any reduced functionality as a Quicktime file player. You may not think it but the MOV format is actually surprisingly common both on the Internet and on many digital cameras so sooner or later you will need a suitable player.

Realplayer Alternative – You may find that you are required to have Realplayer installed when you come across a website which has embedded RealMedia content. Your browser will of course point you in the direction of the larger and more resource hungry official player however, as you would expect, this alternative does exactly the same job.

Foxit Reader – Adobe Acrobat is actually one of the applications that I despise the most – I’m not sure if it’s just bad luck but I’ve found it incredibly slow and unstable on every computer I’ve ever installed it on. Having a PDF reader on your computer is absolutely necessary; these files which are designed for transmitting documents complete with layout and images have a habit of cropping up everywhere. The Foxit reader runs like greased lighting and is would appear to be a great deal more stable than the official Adobe release.

Firefox – We’ve covered this one a dozen times before. This free, faster, more functional and more secure alternative to the fantastically bloated piece of software going by the name of Internet Explorer is absolutely essential.

Media Player Classic – Whilst this application looks like it is almost two decades old, it’s possibly one of the most comprehensive media players and is designed as an alternative to Windows Media Player which ships with Windows. Consisting of a 2mb download, Media Player Classic doesn’t even need installing – it consists of one file that you run whenever you want to use the application. It is best used when in conjunction with the Realplayer and Quicktime alternatives previously mentioned as with these three installed on your machine you will be able to play practically any format using the one player.

Rather than giving URL’s for each individual application, you’re probably best using a site such as www.freewarefiles.com to locate and download them. It goes without saying that all of the above are free of charge and don’t include anything suspicious such as Adware or Spyware.

The term was coined by O’Reilly Media 2.0 back in 2003, and was popularised by the first Web 2.0 convention in 2004 and then a series of successive conferences. Eventually it become adopted by the wider community however when a customer of mine asked me earlier today to define exactly what Web 2.0 meant I was stuck; hence my sudden need to write this article.

I don’t feel bad for not knowing how to define the standard as even Tim O’Reilly, the man who is credited with creating the term seems to describe it in an incredibly cryptic and nondescript way. Apparently “Web 2.0 is the business revolution in the computer industry caused by the move to the Internet as platform, and an attempt to understand the rules for success on that new platform.”

Right, so in English what exactly does this mean? I think the best way I can describe it is to say that Web 2.0 is a term used to describe a website that has increased the overall functionality of the Web; as such, the term can mean different things to different people. Broadly speaking a website that provides new and interactive technologies such as weblogs, social websites, podcasts, RSS feeds and online web services can fall under the Web 2.0 umbrella.

Personally I think that the phrase is a nonsensical buzzword which has been coined for no real reason than the fact that it sounded catchy. Using the phrase in a meaningful way can be close to impossible since many of the core components of Web 2.0 have existed from the very earliest days of the web.

For educational purposes I should really go over the typical characteristics that are used to make up a typical Web 2.0 site and these are as follows:

– Users being able to contribute to the data on a site; Wikipedia is a good example of this.

– An element of social networking such as MySpace.

– Allow users to use applications entirely through a browser. A web operating system such as Goowy which I reviewed several months back is a good example of this.

– A smart and user friendly interface; often based on a new technology such as Ajax.

– An ability for the user to enhance the application or website as they use it.

Our website design company Refresh Creations often gets people touting that their websites are categorised as Web 2.0, but when you delve deeper it becomes apparent that they have simply installed a trivial feature such as a blog to allow them to make this claim.

Personally, I hate buzzwords and have little time for people that utilize them when pitching ideas or sales pitches to me. Therefore it is somewhat unsurprising that I simply don’t ‘get’ Web 2.0 – due to the lack of set standards to what it actually refers to you can end up making the phrase mean practically anything you want it to.

Even after researching this article for best part of an hour I’m still a little bit unsure as to what the phrase actually means and I don’t think this is my failure to grasp the concept but rather the fact that it hasn’t been correctly, accurately or solidly defined.

I do have a fairly fast connection so such a download wouldn’t have taken a particularly long period of time but despite what anyone may say 190mb is a stupidly large download for a piece of recording software, no matter how good it may be. When you add to the equation the cost of Nero I went off in search of a suitable alternative and found it in the form of the completely free, 3mb piece of software that is Deepburner (www.deepburner.com)

Whenever I recommend a piece of software I always get a handful of insults from readers who head off to the website, see a version of the software you have to pay for and then accuse me of lying – This happens whenever I mention AVG which is available in both paid for and free versions. For this reason I will point out that there is both a free and paid version of Deepburner available on the website given above so please ensure that you download the correct one.

The download and installation of Deepburner couldn’t be simpler and whilst the features that it offers are fairly simplistic they should be sufficient for most home users. In terms of the basic functionality you have the option to burn to create Data CD’s, Bootable CD’s, Audio CD’s and Data DVD’s as well as printing the appropriate labels for your discs.

One of the most important features is the ability to create and burn ISO images which even the most recent version of Windows can’t do as standard. ISO images are typically downloaded off the Internet (off Torrent sites for example) as they are entire discs compressed in to one file which is then downloaded and uncompressed on to a disc making the copying of software particularly straightforward. Of course you need to ensure that you’re not downloading copyrighted software off the Internet but that goes without saying.

Whilst you’re on the Deepburner site do check out Deepripper which is another free piece of software which allows you to quickly and easily rip (copy) audio tracks directly off your audio CD’s on to your PC’s hard disk in MP3, OGG or WAV format. Whilst Windows media player has this functionality I do feel that Deepburner does a cleaner, faster job.

Deepburner is compatible with all versions of Windows so this is particularly good news for people still stuck using an older version of Windows such as 95 or 98 which doesn’t support CD writing without the need for additional software. Whilst the program in no way replaces more sophisticated programs such as Nero it does cover all the basics and once again proves you don’t necessarily need to pay for good quality, capable software.