European users of Internet Explorer are being given the choice of 12 browsers as part of Microsoft’s deal with the European Competition Commission – I wasn’t aware of over half of them – there’s the three obvious ones, Google Chrome, Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox then there’s Safari Apple’s browser and Opera the browser on Nintendo’s Wii and also on many mobile phones.

This still leaves seven more these are Avant, FlashPeak SlimBrowser, Flock, GreenBrowser, K-Meleon, Maxthon and Sleipnir.

So I’ve decided to give all 12 of them a week’s trial starting with Avant.

Livescribe Pulse Smartpen

I’m always a mug for technology – I’ve just not the money – I like the idea of Livescribe’s Pulse Smartpen which combines a pen and Dictaphone – now the clever part

With a standard ink nib monitored by the high-speed infrared camera just behind it, every pen stroke you make is saved to the 2GB internal memory and mapped to its location on the unique dotted paper. Then connect the pen to your PC via the USB dock and eerily accurate digital versions of your notes are downloaded to the Livescribe desktop client. This alone would be a useful tool, but paired with audio recording it becomes something else entirely.

Just tap the record symbol at the foot of each page – extra paper can be printed on a PostScript-compatible 600dpi laser – and the microphone gets to work, picking up sounds with remarkable clarity. With headphones connected it’s easy to tell where the speaker is in the room, and the beauty is that every word you jot down is linked with the audio being recorded at that precise moment. Simply tap the nib on any word and the linked audio will play back from that point. David Bayon, PC Pro.

For students this amazing – you could have a recording of every lecture in full on your laptop.

Security Essentials is the latest free download from Microsoft that provides protection from viruses, spyware, rootkits and Trojans for Windows XP, Vista and 7. In many respects it’s pretty basic.

Microsoft execs were at pains to describe Microsoft Security Essentials as a full-featured anti-malware scanner. The software offers protection against spyware, Trojan and computer viruses but it lacks many of the bells and whistles of third-party alternatives. This is your older brother’s anti-virus scanner, circa 2001 vintage perhaps, and no worse for that. John Leyden, The Register.

Even so reviews have generally been favourable.

There’s been a lot of interest in Microsoft Security Essentials and I think it will prove quite a hit with users. It’s free, effective, lightweight, and quiet and is, in other words, exactly what I’m looking for in a security solution. And it comes with no strings at all. As long as you’re running a genuine Windows version, you can install this product without worrying about up-sell advertisements, yearly renewals, or other silliness. And you can do so on as many Windows-based PCs as you own. I’d like to see it just included with Windows, but what the heck: Free and easy is the next best thing. Microsoft Security Essentials is highly recommended, to all Windows users. Paul Thurrott, SuperSite.

Microsoft Security Essentials is everything an anti-virus package should be. It’s simple to use, works well, and does not impair your system. Microsoft’s competitors will argue that it’s less secure and doesn’t have as many features, but they should be worried. Overall, Security Essentials is excellent and I highly recommend it. Craig Buckler, Sitepoint.

Based on what we’ve seen so far, we have to recommend that you at least give the product a download. Everyone currently using free antimalware software should give it a shot, and those with paid solutions should think about taking MSE for a spin before renewing subscriptions. Emil Protalinski, Ars Technica.

Far from a comprehensive security suite, but it’s free, simple, light – and impressively effective. Darien Graham-Smith, PC Pro.

So it’s goodbye AVG and hellos Security Essentials.

A Durban IT company pitted an 11-month-old bird armed with a 4GB memory stick against the ADSL service from the country’s biggest web firm, Telkom.

Winston the pigeon took two hours to carry the data 60 miles – in the same time the ADSL had sent 4% of the data. BBC.

If you haven’t twigged the test was carried out in South Africa – still as a colleague said it’s somehow a nice idea that the next time a customer complains he’s not received his files we send a pigeon instead.

Dropbox allows is one of the best ways for sharing files between family and friends – it’s simple to install and easy to use.

Put your files into your Dropbox on one computer, and they’ll be instantly available on any of your other computers that you’ve installed Dropbox on (Windows, Mac, and Linux). Because copies of your files are stored on Dropbox’s secure servers, you can also access them from any computer or mobile device using the Dropbox website.

These files are private but drop them into your public folder and each file gets a standard http URL (or web address) so if you want to send a file to a friend send them the link and they can download the file without even installing Dropbox.

The best bit is it’s all completely free and you can upload and download as much as you want – the only restriction is storage is limited to a very generous 2GB – if you need more space then for $9.99 a month there’s 50 GB or for $19.99 there’s a 100GB.

Hat Tip: CNET.

Pixlr and Sumo Paint are both completely free online image editors and easily the equal of my image editor of choice Paint.net – I don’t know how they can afford to provide their editors free of charge because outside Adobe’s Photoshop you won’t find anything better and to be honest Photoshop’s more than most of us need. There must be a catch somewhere.

Hat Tip: CNET UK.

In Australia, Microsoft is dangling the carrot of winning $10,000 dollars (around £5,000) – the catch is you have to use Internet Explorer –. If successful in Australia expect a completion in your country soon.

Microsoft Bribe

Hat Tip: The Register.

Rupert Murdoch expects to start charging for access to News Corporation’s newspaper websites within a year as he strives to fix a ­”malfunctioning” business model.

Encouraged by booming online subscription revenues at the Wall Street Journal, the billionaire media mogul last night said that papers were going through an “epochal” debate over whether to charge. “That it is possible to charge for content on the web is obvious from the Wall Street Journal’s experience,” he said.

Asked whether he envisaged fees at his British papers such as the Times, the Sunday Times, the Sun and the News of the World, he replied: “We’re absolutely looking at that.” Taking questions on a conference call with reporters and analysts, he said that moves could begin “within the next 12 months‚” adding: “The current days of the internet will soon be over”. Andrew Clark, The Guardian.

Murdock’s example of the Wall Street Journal isn’t particularly good, financial information is the one place where convention has meant users expect to pay – nobody’s currently offering much in the way of free up-to-date financial news, particularly with reference to market data – typically the best you’ll get is a delay of 15 minutes.

The UK News International websites aren’t that good or particularly popular. If Murdock goes ahead with his plan it’ll hopefully be the end of The Sun and News of the World instead as users flock to other free websites – well I can but hope – it’s notoriously difficult to get users to subscribe.

Murdoch is right though, as sales of printed news declines newspapers will be unable to continue to offer their information for free – it’s commercial suicide – the conundrum is how do they survive?

News articles based on a survey indicating public opposition to Phorm’s web snooping and advertising system have been withdrawn after the firm made legal threats to their publishers.

The independent consumer watchdog Which? sent a press release to newspapers earlier this week entitled “Internet users say: Don’t sell my surfing habits”. It detailed survey findings that UK internet users are opposed to plans by BT, TalkTalk and Virgin Media to monitor and profile their browsing in collaboration with Phorm.

The findings contradicted market research repeatedly cited, but not published, by Phorm that the majority of people want the more “relevant” web experience it claims its “Webwise”-branded technology will provide.

…

The Which? survey was covered yesterday by the Press Association, Channel 4 News, The Telegraph, and The Daily Mail. The press release, however, was swiftly followed by this statement:

Urgent withdrawal of press release from Which? – Internet users say: don’t sell my surfing habits

Which? has received further information and representations from Phorm about the proposed Webwise service, and it has agreed to withdraw the above press release, issued under embargo on 24 February 2008, while we consider them. Some of the information in the press release and related article is said to be inaccurate and as a consequence may be defamatory. You are strongly urged not to write an article based on the press release or the related article ‘Online privacy matters’ in Which? magazine.

The Press Association, Channel 4 News and Telegraph stories have all been removed. Source: The Register.

So if you don’t like the news litigate.

If like me you’re a Virgin customer then you’ll be interested in this

This week the company took the unprecedented move of upgrading all its base 2Mbit cable broadband customers to a 10Mbit connection for free. The migration will take place from May and represents the largest scale speed upgrade ever to take place in the UK. Source: Trusted Reviews.

Although to be honest I was paying for the 10Mbit connection, however sometime ago I downgraded to the 2Mbit service to save money – we never noticed the difference.