Driving games differ in a number of different ways, not just because they contain different kinds of vehicles (cars, bikes, Formula 1) but also in the type of challenge they present.

In the case of Pure the main objective is not only crossing the line in the first place, but also performing as many jumps, tricks and other acrobatics while you’re on air, flying at top speed over bumpy trails with your quad bike.

Before actually starting the race, Pure makes you go through a training session that also works as a kind-of tutorial. It's a good way to get used to the game's quite confusing controls, which inexplicably mix up keys from the standard WASD combination and the arrow keys.

After you learn how to preload, boost and do a basic trick, you're ready to go: it's time for a real race! This time the track is much more fun, because it enables you to compete against other drivers and also includes higher jumps in which you'll be able to show off everything you learned during the tutorial stage. The realistic, highly detailed graphics in Pure serve to make it even more enjoyable, and a lively rock-style soundtrack adds the final touch.

Pure requires a bit of dexterity, so if you don't get any trick during the first few minutes of gameplay don't panic. Also, note that you’re supposed to perform different tricks on each jump (repeating penalizes) and that if you’re successful with the basic ones, you’ll unlock more advanced tricks.

On the downside, I must admit Pure let us down for various reasons. The first one is the file's size, which is simply too heavy for such a short demo. They could have removed all those promotional videos and include at least another track. The controls are also a bit complex: just performing a basic trick involves four different keys, which are usually configured very far apart from each other on the keyboard. Finally, the game has some absurd restrictions. I don’t know what’s wrong with going a bit off the track or even trying to turn around and racing in the wrong direction, but you simply can't. Pure interrupts the game and puts you into track again. Seriously, a bit more freedom for the player wouldn’t hurt, even if that means I don’t win the race.

Pure is not just about racing: it's also about performing the craziest airborne tricks during the race. Too bad the demo is so short that you hardly have time to enjoy it.

Download Pure in Softonic

OK, so the storyline is a little far-fetched - you take control of the cleverly-named Rickard Bronson and must save the planet from an afterlife in hell using nothing but your hot air balloon - but Afterlife actually provides you with hours of fun. It can take a little while to master your craft but the controls can be customized and after a frustrating couple of first levels, the game turns into an action-packed romp through the dimensions of hell.

Afterlife isn't going to win any awards for its graphics, and the blocky ghosts and badly-rendered fireballs aren't exactly scarey. However, there's a decent soundtrack of music composed by the software developer with lots of tunes that can be hand-picked by you. It's a highly original adventure game, that if you have the patience to practice at will become something you can come back to time and again.

Download Afterlife 1.7.3 in Softonic

If you need to create an icon but haven't been blessed with design skills, don't worry. Icon Generator is here to lend you a hand.

This simple program eases the creation of icons to the most basic level. You need absolutely no drawing abilities: just select the type of icon you want (only two of them included though), customize the text and the color and you're done. Icon Generator will create the icon for you in PNG format and several different sizes to choose from.

While the idea behind Icon Generator is certainly interesting, I still find the program too simple. Like I said there are only two types of icon available, you can only fit in a maximum of four letters and there are no options to customize font or choose another format different from PNG.

However if you can make do with what Icon Generator offers, this is a handy simple app to create icons in just two steps.

Download Air Icon Generator in Softonic

GMDesk is the kind of application only Google fans would install. In any case, if you use Google apps on a daily basis, you may find it useful too.

With GMDesk you gain automatic access from your desktop to several different Google tools, including Mail, Calendar, Docs, Maps, Reader and Picasa web albums. The big advantage of using GMDesk is that you don't have to open your web browser, load the website of each one of those services, login with your username and password and then wait for it to load. GMDesk is not faster than your browser, but it makes the whole process just easier.

GMDesk is based on Adobe AIR and has no settings menu except for the possibility to choose which Google service you want to load first on launching the program. Like I said, GMDesk may be interesting for Google fans, but I wonder if it's really necessary, as it doesn't really add anything new to the Google apps we all know.

If you're hooked on Google apps, GMDesk is made for you: an app launcher that enables you to access Google tools right from your desktop.

Download GMDesk 0.99 in Softonic

If you have all your online friends scattered across different IM networks, you need an IM client like Meebone.

With Meebone you can connect to multiple IM networks simultaneously, giving you the chance then to chat with your friends from Jabber, Meebo, MSN, AIM, Yahoo!, ICQ and Google Talk at the same time.

When you run Meebone you'll be asked to login to any of the supported networks. Then, if you want to join another network at the same time, click on the "Sign on" button at the bottom of the program's interface.

Meebone is actually an Adobe AIR desktop port of an online cross-platform IM client named Meebo. Maybe this is why its interface is not perfect yet and has some glitches, but we have to bear in mind that the program is still at a beta stage.

Meebone lets you chat with your online friends at any moment, no matter what IM network they use. The program is still in development though.

Download Meebone 0.1 Beta5 in Softonic

These days there are more microblogging services than you can write for. So why not finding a way to update them all at the same time?

The answer is Posty, a handy AIR tool that enables you to post content to Twitter, Jaiku, Pownce, Tumblr and FriendFeed at the same time. With Posty you won't waste time opening each separate website and updating each of your microblogs or social network profiles: Posty does the job for you!

All you need to do is enter the login data for each service in the program's configuration settings, and you'll be ready to go. Write a post, select the microblog you want to publish it to and click on the "Post" button.

Besides publishing, Posty also allows you to read your own posts. On the downside, you won't be able to manage your contacts for any microblogging service. Also, special features such as the ability to upload photos in Tumblr, are not available in Posty.

If you're really addicted to microblogging and social networks, Posty is a must-have for you!

Download Posty 1.4 in Softonic

There are many Twitter desktop clients out there, but they usually focus on your own personal timeline and that's all.

TweetDeck takes all the information contained in your Twitter account and divides it into more manageable pieces, making twittering even easier and more enjoyable. Being based on the Adobe Air platform, TweetDeck features a sleek, dark interface where you can view your twits in a three-column structure, separated by message type (regular timeline, direct messages and replies). You can even organize your Twitter contacts in groups for better handling.

Of course, TweetDeck also allows you to update your own Twitter timeline from within the program. Just click on the "Tweet" button and you'll open a text field to write.

TweetDeck is one of the most attractive Twitter clients I've tested so far. I like the way it organizes information to make it easier to read. I also loved the bottom slider that lets you choose how far the shown timeline should go. On the downside, the interface is not easily resizable and sometimes displays empty columns you apparently can't get rid of.

With TweetDeck you can follow your friends on Twitter, update your own account and organize information in a much comfortable way.

Download TweetDeck 0.15.1 Beta in Softonic

There was a time when air battles were not fought between spaceships loaded with colorful laser guns. Instead, pilots used old planes and machine guns, and needed to be really quick and skillful if they wanted to survive.

This is precisely the setting you'll find in Aeronauts, a fun online game in which you'll engage in fierce air battles against people from all over the world. Before that, however, you'll need to go through a series of lengthy tutorials which, although a bit boring, are absolutely necessary if you want to master your plane's movements, tricks and special twirls – something that will prove essential to achieve victory.

The game can be controlled either with the keyboard of the mouse. I personally prefer the latter, but you can choose whichever suits you best. The good thing is that you're given the opportunity to test both controlling methods before making up your mind.

Being an online game, Aeronaut has a heavy social component. Too bad we couldn't fully test online characteristics due to the game's frequent connection issues – probably to be blamed on our side though. An even more interesting feature is the possibility to customize both your pilot and your plane with nicer apparel, more powerful weapons or even new skills.

Aeronauts features attractive graphics, not in a realistic style though, but following a more cartoonish style instead. Music adds the final touch to a game that, despite being difficult to control at the beginning, is really fun to play.

Aeronauts is a very original online game that give a twist to the typical air battle, presenting you with old planes and skilled pilots fighting for survival in a parallel world.

Download Aeronauts in Softonic

Beyond TV allows you to gain control over your entertainment experience. With Beyond TV, you determine what you want to watch and when you want to watch it. With incredible features and extensive setting options, television is under your control.

Features of the program:

• No subscription fees
• Skip commercials and other parts of TV shows
• Search for shows by actor, director, or title
• Intelligent Electronic Program Guide resolves conflicts
• Record HDTV from free, over-the-air digital TV signals
• Record in DivX, MPEG-2 and WMV formats
• Search for movies and sports, as well as by other categories
• Play and pause FM radio stations

Download Beyond TV 4.8.2 in Softonic

Adobe's new cross-operating system runtime opens up much more possibilities to both developers and everyday computer users. It allows developers to create new web applications using HTML, XML, Javascript and Flex. What's more they aren't limited to using Adobe's library, but can create, share and use their own to create specific web applications.

For users, it gives access to new and exciting rich internet applications (RIA) which can be run straight from their desktop. These use very little memory, are usually quick to launch and execute and have very smooth animations. A quick visit to the Adobe Showcase Gallery and you get an idea of the sort of applications that are being developed for AIR: a Google Analytics Reporting Suite, a Twitter desktop client, a movie discovery tool and much, much more. The possibilities are endless and really depend on the creativity of developers.

While I've had some errors with AIR, especially when installing new apps, I'm overall very impressed with it. Quietly but surely, we're seeing more and more exciting web applications being developed. Install AIR to be part of the web applications revolution!

Download Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR) 1.1 in Softonic

Adobe's Integrated Runtime (AIR) was introduced in early 2008 as a new way for users to access data from the web on their desktops. Apprise is a sample application for AIR, created by one of Adobe's own application developers which works as an RSS feed reader for your desktop.

Those already familiar with AIR applications will know about the sleek, "web 2.0" design they all feature. Apprise is no exception and its attractive, uncluttered interface is easily navigable and intuitively designed. That said, Apprise includes no preferences dialog which probably ends up limiting the functionality of the program more than anything else.

The first operation anyone will want to do with a new feed reader is to start subscribing to feeds: Clicking the 'Add Feed' button displays a layer where you can add a feed's URL. Apprise automatically notices if you have a valid URL in your clipboard and inserts it here for you automatically. We had a couple of problems with this process, with feeds not being recognized properly.

Once your feed is added, the application aggregates all its entries and displays the titles in the main frame of the window. The title of the feed is added to the left-hand pane, where you have a choice of filtering by feed title, author or even category. Apprise also supports the feed format OPML files which means you can add your favorite feeds from another reader or bookmarking site. However, the process of aggregating more than a dozen feeds can be quite long and Apprise doesn't offer much information on its progress.

One of Apprise's main features is the capability to 'preview' feed pages as they appear on their own website. This is, effectively, little more than switching the main pane from feed reader to web-browser and doesn't feel like a very useful feature - especially given that it won't even let you subscribe to feeds in the pages it displays. Similarly disappointing was the search function which always searches all subscribed feeds, without any option to select a particular title to search.

These sorts of minor problems are the main annoyance with Apprise, an application which is essentially a very nice proof-of-concept for Adobe AIR. As a very simple RSS feed reader, Apprise does a good job. But for most users, its lack of options and occasional unreliability make it a poor choice.

Download Apprise 1.5 in Softonic

Jardinains 2 is a fun and original twist on the block breaking genre that reminds me of something I might have played on my Atari 20 years ago.

It's slightly more advanced than Pong but not much! Basically, you have a paddle and a bouncing ball that require you to destroy a bunch of bricks. However, the twist is that inside the bricks are what are called "nairns". Nairns are basically little critters that are there to make your life hell. They throw things at your paddle and basically attempt to stop you from cracking open any of the remaining bricks. Your aim is to strike the nairns with your ball and knock them out of action. However, the fun doesn't stop there - you can bounce the little critters off your padel to destroy even more bricks so it's quite satisfying in a sadistic way. Using their bodies, you can clear a screen much faster although it's quite an ordeal trying to keep a ball and several critters flying up in the air for several minutes at a time. This demo version is only limited to a few levels and you are prompted to buy the game when you close it down. Whether you decide to buy or not depends on whether you can see much worth in bouncing critters against bricks for long. Personally, I got bored after a few minutes although if you've had a bad day at the office, it's a good way to get some agression out. Oh, and don't expect wonders in the graphics or sound deapartment - this is proudly an old skool style game.

An interesting take on the Pong genre although they needed to make it a bit more interesting to hold my attention.

Download Jardinains 2 in Softonic

Flickr is a great site to share pictures online, there's no doubt about it. But that doesn't mean it can't be improved with tools like DestroyFlickr.

Now don't be fooled by the misleading name this program features; it's by no means intended to wipe all your photos and delete your Flickr account. It simply provides a new interface from which to browse Flickr, check what your contacts have recently uploaded and look for pictures about a certain topic; just like what you can do on the Flickr website, but from your own desktop.

The program is based on Adobe AIR, which gives it an attractive look and also adds nice animation effects to photos when you're browsing them. The downside is that it's not as intuitive as expected and may take a while until you learn how to use it. Just as an example: if you want to search for photos about a given topic, first you have to click on the "Photos" tab and then open the "Canvas" menu to reach the search function. Wouldn't it have been much easier to add a "Search" button right on the bottom pane?

With DestroyFlickr you don't erase photos – as you could infer from the name – but rather browse Flickr photos from a sleek, dark desktop interface based on Adobe AIR.

Download DestroyFlickr 1.0.5 Beta in Softonic

Guns Girls Lawyers Dollars (GGLD) is a business strategy game. Your main objective is to build world business empire as an arms dealer. Your company consists of President (you), Company Stations (established around the world to give you various information and earn profit) and Company Units (Escort Units that travel with president; Station Units which protect company stations) .

Your basic task is to travel around the world, buy and sell goods (weapons and mercenaries), hire units for company protection and establish company stations. The world isn't a peaceful place. Countries can be in war, political instability, civil war, cold war and sanctions. This is not bad for arms trade business, and you should consider country political situation in order to find best place to buy or sell goods.

Naturally, arms trade business is not so popular in some countries. Map view button "Company Status" can give you some information regarding country hospitality (which can be Ally, Neutral and State Enemy). Expect you won't be welcome in states where your company status is "State Enemy".

Your basic transportation will be company cargo plane. President, your escort units and your cargo load are placed in cargo plane (except airplane units; they fly beside your cargo planes as an air protection). So you must be careful in choosing your company units and your goods in order to comply with free cargo space in your cargo plane. Free cargo space can be increased by buying additional cargo planes.

Time is important factor. Flights from country to country takes time. Your speed will be the speed of your slowest cargo plane. For the less successful businessmen there is always an alternative: robbing the banks. Don't except that country where your action takes place loves that; your company status there will be decreased.

What's in the game:

• 500 units for trade or combat
• 120 Countries
• Bodyguards, Secretaries, Lawyers, Agents and Criminals
• Buy and sell tanks, planes, vehicles, artillery, and chemical weapons
• Establish company stations
• Make maximum profit
• Search and Destroy
• Find and rescue
• Rob banks
• Enjoy the life

Download Guns Girls Lawyers Dollars Standard Version 2.1.45.0.5 in Softonic

FLVPlay is an AIR-based software app that provides you with a whole new interface from which to browse and view Youtube videos, plus saving them to your hard drive.

So what's the point of having a different Youtube interface? First, you can now watch online videos without a web browser, which makes it lighter on resources. Second, FLVPlay features a much nicer design and therefore makes the whole user experience much better, and finally you get access to some extra features like the ability to show more thumbnails than the original website or, more important, the possibility to save videos right to your hard drive in FLV format.

But FLVPlay is not all advantages. On the downside, it seemed to be a bit slower than Youtube when loading videos, especially after watching the first one. This first video loads in a snap but then the program takes a while to change to the next one.

FLVPlay is an attractive AIR Youtube player that may be a bit slow at times, but which also lets you save videos in FLV format to your hard drive.

Download FLVPlay 1.09 in Softonic

If you've ever needed more control over your screen controls other than those offered by Windows, then DarkAdapted is the program for you. It allows you more control over your screen settings and users may define an unlimited number of gamma presets, and invoke them via global hotkeys, by menu selection, or by typing the first few letters of a preset’s name.

You can use the “Dark Red” setting to preserve your dark adaptation or create a preset to deal with monitor characteristics or viewing conditions. You can also adjust gamma values via sliders or from the keyboard. There's also High-resolution sliders which allow you to adjust red, green, and blue video components individually and in real time. Sliders can be set to report gamma values as percentages or as raw gamma values. You can also use the Gamma Toggle keys to offer a quick return to full brightness with minimum fuss.

For those that want more control over their screen resolution and contrast settings, Dark Adapted provides a powerful solution

Download DarkAdapted 2.3.2 in Softonic

Role-playing games are usually set in medieval environments and feature knights, trolls and all sorts of mythological creatures. But some other RPG titles stand out of the crowd and offer an original setting along with some unique features.

This is the case of Wonderland Online, a role-playing adventure with an extensive social component, Japanese-style characters and environments and a turn-based combats that reminded us of pure RPG games. The first steps involve, as in any other RPG game, choosing a server and creating your character. You'll spawn in a ship that's unfortunately bound to sink, after which you're rescued by a nice castaway and the real adventure begins.

Wonderland Online features a bit of everything: doing quests to obtain rewards, killing enemies to gain experience points and progress through levels, learning skills, developing professions and, of course, meeting other players from around the globe. All these elements make of Wonderland Online a really attractive melting pot for all sorts of players, whether they like to wander around chatting with people or they prefer to focus on the development of their character.

I liked the game's visual style a lot. Characters - and even more, objects – are designed with great detail, with a nice isometric perspective. An important drawback to this design, however, is the fact that the text in the chat window is ridiculously difficult to read and doesn't get better even if you change the font color.

Other than that, I found Wonderland Online quite entertaining and addictive. In fact, I had to make an effort to stop playing and start writing this review. One final tip: don't feel overwhelmed by the amount of information you're presented with during the first few minutes of gameplay: the game is really easy to control and besides, you can always ask other players for help.

Wonderland Online includes traditional RPG elements (skills, professions, turn-based combats, resource management) together with social networking characteristics and a very original design. All these features make of Wonderland Online an MMORGP that's definitely worth a try.

Download Wonderland Online 2.0.3 in Softonic

ReadAIR is an AIR-based RSS feed reader that you can use instead of Google Reader to review the latest posts in your favorite blogs.

This app works in a very simple way: enter your Gmail address and password, and it'll automatically fetch all your feeds, as well as your shared and starred items. The interface looks like iTunes a lot, which makes the program seem kind of familiar and easy to use.

ReadAIR works generally fine. I especially liked the way feeds are displayed on the program's interface, keeping the original post's layout at all times and using a very visually appealing text font.

However, the program also has some major flaws: to begin with, I couldn't add any new feeds (the "Add" button simply showed a blank window). Also, the only way to move through feeds is by using the mouse, meaning there's no support for keyboard shortcuts.

ReadAIR provides you with another way to access your Google Reader feeds, though it still needs to improve to become a real alternative.

Download ReadAir 0.1 in Softonic

Alpine Lake Animated Wallpaper sets an animated mountain landscape on your desktop, as a background image.

The image shows an idyllic setting in nature, all surrounded by mountains, green meadows and a lake. The animation effects include flying butterflies, ducks swimming across the lake and some forest animals walking by.

I'm not sure whether such an animated image is suitable for a wallpaper. I'd personally prefer more static photos where my shortcut icons can be easily sorted out and I'm not constantly distracted by animated creatures.

Alpine Lake Animated Wallpaper displays an attractive mountain landscape, but may be too distracting for the average user.

Download Alpine Lake – Animated Wallpaper 5.07 in Softonic

If you're a big fan of Last.fm-style, then you might like Finetune Desktop because it works in a similar way in helping you discover the kind of music you might like.

However, this is a far more sophisticated affair because it's based on Adobe Air. There's very little to it except to select those artists that you're interested in and Finetune Desktop will guide you to the nearest equivalents or those with similar styles. In addition, you can filter music according to style and genre. The advantage of using AIR is that adobe have moved their product away from the restrictions of Internet Explorer which it was formerly locked to. By using AIR, Adobe have also made this a truly cross platform application. Using AIR also has other advantages - AIR can capture music preferences stored on your desktop such as those of your iTunes library and then feed it into Finetune’s recommendation engine. You are then offered well-matched songs based on artists, genre, and playlists that you already listen to. In addition to helping you find artists that you might like, Finetune Desktop can also stream Mp3's directly from the net.

This is an interesting innovation from Adobe that could prove a worthy competitor to Last.fm if it gathers a bigger following.

Download Finetune Desktop 1.0.7 in Softonic