After a week offline due to health reasons, we’re back! Apologies to our readers 🙂

Pidgin,  the milti-platform, multi-protocol, instant messaging client has released its version 2.4.0. There were several updates and bugfixes implemented, such as:

• Added support for offline messages for AIM accounts
• Support for Yahoo! Messenger 7.0+ file transfer method
• Input text area in conversation windows auto-resizes to fit more lines (up to a maximum of 4 lines)
• Typing notifications are now shown in the conversation area

For a list of the complete changes, please check the change log. Enjoy!

I’ve recently had to tweak two Windows computers because they were acting too sluggish. When I checked the processes running, I found several MS Live apps running and also when searching on the list of programs installed, there were several more MS programs installed. Microsoft really tries to push their products. Which is why I really don’t like to use their tools, even freewares.

aMSN is a MSN instant messaging client (aka Live Messenger) that you can install and run without noticing a difference from the proprietary original software. It works on Linux, Windows, and MacOS X. Although I use Pidgin for IM, I have aMSN installed in case I need to use a webcam or audio with someone on MSN.

If you’re not much of an iTunes fan, you can still manage your podcasts easily with Juice. This open source and multi platform (Windows, Linux, and MacOS X) podcatcher will check and download your podcasts whenever you want.

Juice is extremely simple to use:

•  Find the RSS feed of the podcast and add to Juice’s subscription list. It’ll check for new files and download them automatically when available.

ClamWin is a good open source antivirus program for Windows (the Unix version is called Clam AV, the engine behind Clam Win).

From my tests it has a nice detection rate. It has automatic downloads, shell integration (where you can use its functions through right-click). It also has plug ins for email verification.

The bad thing about ClamWin is that it doesn’t have (yet) a real-time scanner so you’re left at manually run system checks. But, this should be solved soon with version 1.0.

Need a dictionary, thesaurus, translator? StarDict works well for all of these purposes.  Install this program on a Linux or Windows machine and just add free dictionary databases to it.

StarDict does some pretty interesting things such as:

• translates with google or yahoo engines;

• uses a “glob-style pattern matching” to find associated words

• plus more functions such as direct access to the web based Net Dict, and what is called “fuzzy query” (I don’t know what this last one actually does but I like the term).

I’m pretty happy with this program on both Windows and Linux. It is faster to use then going to a website and the amount of free dictionaries available are more then enough for me.

If you have important document files you want to keep safe on your computer the best way to go is with TrueCrypt. This program allows you to create an encrypted volume where you can store files, programs, or even an entire operating system.

This program is very simple to use. You first create the volume you want with its size, mount the volume (where it will appear as a real disk), and start packing it with files. Whenever you’re done using these files just unmount the volume and everything is tightly encrypted again. You can even encrypt an entire partition, including your Windows partition. The whole mounting and unmounting process takes just a few seconds.

Nowadays you can find several really good open source or freeware BitTorrent clients. Why choose Deluge? Because…

• it is open source: you’ll be much safer against having a sneaky hidden process running on your computer;
• it is multiplatform: if you use (or you’re planning to use) more then one operating system, you can install Deluge wherever you want: on Linux, MacOS X, or Windows. Choosing multiplatform apps you’re more likely to remove yourself from the claws of proprietary operating systems.
• it has plugins: use just the features you want by activating the plugins you’ll need.
• it is fast: Deluge is pretty fast with libtorrent.

Want to take your DVD and watch it on your iPod, PDA, smartphone, or just build a movie collection inside your computer? Simple and easy it is with Handbrake, a multi-platform (Windows, Linux, and MacOS X) DVD to mpeg-4 converter.

Handbrake will allow you to extract video, audio, and subtitles of the DVD. The output formats (containers) are: MP4, MKV, AVI, and OGM. It uses mpeg-4 and H.264 video encoders and AAC, mp3, and vorbis as audio encoders.

Nowadays it is rare for me to go one week without discovering a new site and having to create a test account. I still remember the late 90s when I had to remember at most just a couple of different email passwords and usernames. Now I have a myriad of information I need to memorize (like it’ll actually all fit in my brain).

Keepass is my solution for this information overload. With it I can store the user name, password, URL of the website and a bit more. You can actually guide it to generate strong random passwords for you.

Speaking of VirtualBox, Sun Microsystem has just announced that it has purchased innotek (the makers of VirtualBox).

Sun states: “Now, as part of the Sun xVM portfolio, VirtualBox will have the support of Sun’s global development community, field resources and partners to make VirtualBox even more compelling to developers and end users, driving greater adoption across a broad set of communities.”

Sun is really pushing for open source, this is the second deal it announced so far this year after the huge purchase of MySQL. What do you think, are these deals beneficial for the open source community?