Gizmo5 is one in a long line of VoIP applications that allows you to use your internet connection to make cheap phone calls.

If you're a Google Talk fan, like me, then the first good thing is that Gizmo5 and Google Talk are now connected. This means that Gizmo5 users can now send instant messages to Google Talk users but unfortunately, you can't call them although the developers promise that it's coming soon. To send Instant Messages, simply click on the IM icon next to your contacts name and you can instantly text other Gizmo5 users. One great feature of Gizmo5 is that you can perform free mobile phone and landline conference calling although you have to setup the system beforehand with the Gizmo5 FreeConferenceCall utility which can be tricky due to a few complicated configuration options. Another interesting feature is that Gizmo5 includes Asterisk PBX Support which means that you can now log into your virtual office with Asterisk PBX software. This basically means that you can receive calls and access your Gizmo5 phone wherever you are in the world. I also like the fact that it includes a free recorder which is something lacking in Skype.

Easy to use and integration with GTalk makes this a nice little app although it's calling rates need to be a lot more competitive before it can compete with Skype.

Download Gizmo5 4.0.0.386 in Softonic

Google is aiming to create a shake-up in mobile phone operating systems with the launch of its Android platform. Designed to be completely open and free for developers, the API could change the way mobile phone software is used, making all applications equal and combining phone-based data with web tools.

The Android SDK gives mobile software developers the chance to play around with the new platform. It contains everything you need to start building applications, as well as a fully functional device emulator for testing them out when you've finished.

Even non-developers can try out the emulator, as it's easy to set up and run (it does take a while to load up, mind you). There is a choice of phone skins and resolutions to tinker with too. After fiddling around for a bit with the OS I must say I'm pretty impressed. Its integration with Google Maps is seamless and only shows to highlight the potential for development of apps that blur the boundaries between phone and web-based software.

Installing software onto the emulator isn't easy and you need to fiddle around with code in order to do so. Although, there's plenty of documentation available online to help you get the most from the SDK, this is still really only something mobile developers will get much use out of, rather than just those curious about how Android applications will look.

Overall though, Android SDK provides a fast and reliable development environment for those looking towards the next era of mobile software.

Download Android SDK 1.0 in Softonic

As one of the mainstays of the instant messaging world, Yahoo! has finally decided to drag itself onto the VOIP bandwagon with the launch of this Voice version of its popular client. As well as offering free PC-to-PC calls and cheap PC-to-phone (landline and mobile) calls, the program throws in all the usual over-the-top gadgetry and gimmicks we've come to associate with Yahoo! Messenger.

As we've seen before from programs that try to be all things to all people, there's always a danger that things can get a little out of hand for the user, and this is the territory that Yahoo is entering with this latest incarnation of its messenger. It's true that the voice facilities in the program are top-notch, delivering crystal-clear clarity for most calls to PCs and phones. It's also true that the application boasts a bevy of interesting and innovative features, such as the ability to play games and listen to online radio together, send animated, talking emoticons, and quickly share files and photos simply by dragging and dropping them into the chat window.

Although, in the main, these features are good for a laugh, we did have a couple of things that we'd like to raise if we ever met Mr Yahoo! Firstly, we like the games but they lack instructions, so sometimes it can take a while to figure out how to play them. Also many of the so-called 'Audibles,' which are essentially animated, talking emoticons, are a little vulgar to say the least, and not really suitable for anyone with a reputation to uphold.

There are plenty of ways to customize the client to suit your mood too. The main interface is fully skinable, and you can also change the way the chat window looks by selecting from dozens of themed 'IMvironments', which certainly helps to inject some variety into your chat experiences. You can also build your own avatar – a process which can take hours as you carefully select the right haircut, clothes, sunglasses and even breed of dog to have sitting at your side in your IM profile.

Individually, these features are both innovative and compelling, but ironically they combine to contribute to the downfall of Messenger for Voice. The fact is that all of these options serve to swamp the interface and if you have a lot of the features running at the same time it's often hard to find even the text window. While it's fun and novel at first, the messenger very quickly becomes an irritant more than anything. Our advice – stick with Skype.

Download Yahoo! Messenger with Voice 9.0.0.1912 in Softonic

Not a day goes by – at least for me – without having to convert media files to one format or another. If you too are in this situation, you need something like FormatFactory.

This full featured format converter enables you to convert all sorts of multimedia files (audio, video and images) between the most popular formats, including WMV, AVI, MPG, MP3, WMA, AAC, JPG, PNG, GIF and more. What's more, FormatFactory supports all the media formats used by portable devices like the PSP or the iPhone.

The program is really easy to use – that is, once you get used to its somewhat weirdly designed- interface. Don't look for any File button or menu, because there isn't any. The option to add files to the program's interface doesn't appear until you select the target format. You can select individual files or complete folders, and also tweak some basic conversion settings if you want.

Despite its slightly confusing interface, I found FormatFactory to be a really handy, efficient application, and also one of the few I know that converts everything: photos, music and video.

With FormatFactory you'll be able to convert pretty much any media file to other formats, including those used by most portable devices.

Download Format Factory 1.48 in Softonic

If you regularly conduct video calls or video conferencing with more than one person, then ooVoo is an elegant and powerful video conferencing and IM client that combines elegance with functionality.

With ooVoo you can talk face-to-face with up to six people, add an ooVoo link to your blog or online profiles (so others can instantly add you to their contacts), send and receive video messages and best of all, it's completely free. To get started, you need to create an ooVoo ID which is fairly painless although a bit annoying as all registration forms can be. Once you've started the setup process, you'll be asked to create an ooVoo username and password. You'll also be asked to add a few friends and contacts to your ooVoo account although if like me, you don't know anyone using ooVoo, you can simply elect to send invites. Unlike some video conferencing applications, it's very easy to get up and running with your webcam and it can handle very high quality cameras of up to 2 megapixels depending on the speed of your connection. During chats and video calls, you can add effects to video such as sepia, blurring and morphing although it seems to take some time in applying these successfully. ooVoo also serves as a VoIP app although unfortunately, it only serves mobiles and landlines in the USA and Canada at the moment. What's really nice about ooVoo though is the ability to place your contacts, and their video images, down the side of your screen in a sidebar simultaneously. This way, you can chat away to all of them at the same time and see them at once. This does hog quite a bit of your RAM though if you're not working on with at least 1GB of RAM or more.

An impressive video conferencing and chat IM although it would be interesting to see how it performs when a maximum of 6 people are trying to conduct a video conference at the same time.

Download ooVoo 1.7.1.50 in Softonic

With multimedia portable devices growing in popularity and features, it's not surprising that DVD ripping tools like Xilisoft DVD Ripper Ultimate have started to offer support for them so that you can take your favorite movies anywhere with you.

Xilisoft DVD Ripper Ultimate is one of those applications: a full featured DVD ripper than can extract all data inside your DVD movies and convert it right away to another video format, including the most popular ones and – of course – video formats for mobile devices such as the iPod, the iPhone and the PSP.

Xilisoft DVD Ripper Ultimate lets you choose the video size, image quality and audio quality, and also create and use different profiles according to the target format or device. Also, Xilisoft DVD Ripper Ultimate lets you trim specific video fragments, edit video effects, adjust subtitles and even add a watermark so that you obtain fully customized DVD video and audio files.

Additionally, Xilisoft DVD Ripper Ultimate can help you clip video segment, crop video size, edit video effects, adjust subtitle, and add video watermark, to get the customized DVD audio and video files.

In addition to ripping the whole DVD, you can also select specific chapters and convert only those. The whole process is done via drop-down menus and Xilisoft DVD Ripper Ultimate is generally very easy to use.

With Xilisoft DVD Ripper Ultimate you can rip the contents of your favorite DVD movies and convert them to different formats – including mobile video - in just a few easy steps.

Download Xilisoft DVD Ripper Ultimate 5.0.40.0729 in Softonic

If you are the type of person who always changes your mobile ring-tone, this application is a must-have for you. EZ Ringtone allows you to convert music, either from CD tracks or mp3 file, to different ring-tone formats compatible with all modern devices.

The interface is really clear and simple: you just have to open an audio file to have an image of the right and left channel. Then select the part of your music you would like to convert to a ring-tone and press the format button compatible with your mobile. That’s it.

It’s annoying though that the trial version limits the duration of ring-tones to 5 seconds and it is a shame that there is not even a simple editing tool. It would have been good, for example, to have the possibility of mixing different parts of a song or maybe different titles as well. A fading or echo effect to end the recording would have made the final ring-tone a bit more ’professional’.

The tool that compresses MP3 files size from 30% up to 70% is also useful, saving valuable space on your mobile phone in case it’s not yet as capacious as a proper MP3 player.

Don’t be bored with your ring-tone ever again and drive all your co-workers mad with your favourite songs!

Download EZ Ringtone 1.7.0 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

I always like to customize my mobile phone, since the first one I had a bunch of years ago. But for no apparent reason, I've always had problems when trying to choose the appropriate ringtone.

Now it looks like I found the end to my problems in ToneShop. This great application enables you to create your very own customized ringtones in just a few steps. It's compatible with many phone makes and models (including iPhone) and phone ringtone formats, and it's ridiculously easy to use.

Simply select your favorite song and crop it to the fragment you want to use as ringtone, which you can do with the program's built-in basic editor. This cropping tool doesn't allow much preciseness so you may as well use a third-party sound editor. Then select the format you want to export your newly created ringtone to, and you're done! We used an MP3 file to create a new tone for an iPhone and it all worked perfectly well.

Beware that your mobile phone may have restrictions about the ringtone's size and length. Also, note that you need to connect your phone to the PC in some way (USB cable, IR port, Bluetooth) in order to transfer the ringtone to the device. In the case of iPhone, just open the M4R file in iTunes and sync the ringtones folder with your phone.

Give the ultimate customizing touch to your mobile phone by creating your own personal ringtones. It's fast, very easy and totally free!

Download ToneShop build 21 in Softonic

In a world of increasing mobility and USB sticks, it seems that nothing is impossible to take with you on the move and WOS takes this approach to the world of web servers.

WOS is an Apache server based on PHP and MySQL that can be taken anywhere on a USB Stick. You need only plug in your USB stick and hey presto, you've got a complete functioning Apache webserver with PHP and MySQL. The program also includes several applications to get up and running on your webserver including TYPO3, Wordpress, OS Commerce, Joomla, Mambo, and Drupal. Note that to get the best out of WOS, you should install and run WOS from the root directory of a drive because the first time it's run, WOS configures the paths for the servers based on the current directory. In subsequent uses after that, it changes the drive only, so it's annoying if you have to change directories later. The installation is fairly straightforward although and once done, you should see a server screen upon which you click "End". Now copy the wosportable directory (“C:\wosportable”) to your USB-stick (“I:\wosportable”). When you execute the “wos.exe” on your USB-stick, the server is started immediately, and your browser should popup although if it fails, just hit the refresh button and you're done.

This is an incredibly powerful little package for such a small webserver and to think it's free and fits on a USB stick will only add to it's appeal for those webmaster on the move.

Download WOS Portable 2.1.1 in Softonic

There are many reasons for wanting to download videos from websites like YouTube, perhaps you want to keep a record of something you like, or simply because you encounter frequent problems with your connection and the videos do not play smoothly enough for you to enjoy them. Unfortunately, there isn’t a 'save' function on YouTube but with Save2pc Light, the operation can be fairly quick and easy.

With this useful software, you can easily save any video you want in different formats, such as avi, mpeg or flv. There are also two other versions of the program, Standard and Pro which allow you to download videos from many other different web sites like Google Video and Myspace Video, and convert them for playback on iPod, PSP, PDA, iPhone and other mobile formats (features not available in this 'Light' edition).

The application has a very light, easy to use interface, and all you have to do is to decide the conversion type of the video you would like to save and finally paste the link location of your desired video. If the clip-size is around 10MB, the whole process will take just a few seconds.

For its usability and speed this really is a useful tool to have on your PC. We only wish that the more advanced features were included in the free version.

Download Save2PC Light 3.25 in Softonic

Webshots Desktop 2.2 is a free photo management application that combines wallpaper and screensaver functionality with tools for managing and sharing your own personal photos. The latest version makes managing all your photos much easier right from your desktop software. Now you can drag-and-drop photos to Webshots from Windows, search your Webshots collection, and update your albums in a flash.

Webshots members can browse the world's largest photo network and use the Web's best photo search. Webshots provides consumers with a variety of ways to enjoy and share photos on computer desktops, TVs, and mobile phones. Only Webshots enables its members to share photos with family and friends through unique features such as Photo Messages TM, moblogging, online photo albums, and custom prints and gifts.

Download Webshots Desktop 3.0.0.7231 in Softonic

AbsoluteTelnet is a Telnet client that has the capacity to establish direct connections with COM ports, SSH and VT100 emulators

The utility includes options for firewalls and supports a SOCKS proxy. It also includes features, printing and logging options. There's not much that distinguishes this from other Telnet utilities except that you can customize colors and fonts and it supports Modem transfers. It does also integrate into Windows shell meaning it can be accessed simply by right clicking and selecting the program from the context menu. The developers have added an in integrated SFTP client in this latest release which means you no longer have to start an external file transfer application to transfer your files which is another plus. They also urge anyone who wants to test a mobile version of this to get in touch with them which would certainly be an interesting evolution for the Windows Mobile platform although whether it's necessary or not I'm not so sure.

A solid Telnet application that features a built in SFTP client and plenty of customisation tools to make it worth trying if you're bored of you current client.

Download AbsoluteTelnet 6.01 in Softonic

MAGIX Ringtone Maker lets you add some spice to your mobile device by creating your own ringtones and animated pictures. The program is extremely friendly to use. The interface itself is clearly divided in sections to select your media, edit the ringtone and export it. A help guide is easily accessible from the bottom right of the interface and tutorials for specific actions from the menu bar. We were impressed with the advanced editing tools on hand to add effects like distortion, filters or delay. Similarly, the equalizer was very effective at adjusting sounds. If you want to add extra elements, you can also access the extensive Catooh online library from the menu bar. MAGIX Ringtone Maker features a "simulate ringtone" button, quite useful to test your creation before exporting it.

We were also well impressed with the export function. The application provides a list of many mobile manufacturers and models to allow you to export to the format which most corresponds to your device.

Overall, the structure of the interface feels great, especially the timeline view, which really makes it easy to edit your media. We did feel however that some elements, like the media selection part at the top, felt a little bit crowded. It's a shame that you can't resize the interface window. Similarly, the installation process was a bit lengthy.

On the whole though, MAGIX Ringtone Maker is a great application to create and add media to your mobile device, providing a very accessible interface and loads of advanced editing tools.

Download MAGIX Ringtone Maker 2007 (UK) in Softonic

This application server a very clear purpose: convert Youtube videos to formats compatible with mobile devices like an iPod or a mobile phone. It's really easy to use and requires no technical knowlede: just copy and paste the video URL into its interface and click on the "Download and Convert" button.

You have several presets from which to choose the target device and the desired quality level for the converted file, but no possibility to tweak these options manually. The program works well and is completely free, although in exchange for that you're obliged to see a pop-up every time you open it or complete a conversion.

Download Free YouTube to iPod Converter 2.8.2.1 in Softonic

Free 3GP Video Converter changes the format of mobile video files to something that can be played in MP4 or WAV format - the most widely used formats in modern computers and DVD players. It also performs the process in reverse. This application has an advantage over other similar programs in that you can select a particular portion of the video that you want to extract and convert.

This bonus significantly shortens processing time plus the interface is very simple and self explanatory. There is a field for an input file or a YouTube URL and field for an output path, and lists with preconfigured profiles. The best option, as already mentioned, is that you can trim the video with a simple button along the foot of the interface which then opens in a new window. Simply use the navigation line and special buttons to set start and end the selection markers position. Finally, click "Apply & Close" to switch back to the main program window.

In summary, this is a reliable converter and the fact that you can trim 3GP video files is particularly useful for long edits.

Download Free 3GP Video Converter 2.4 in Softonic

Nearly all software can be categorised as being from one of two groups: the programs that do one thing, normally fairly well, and the programs which do everything - often with some loss of quality. Roxio Easy Media Creator Suite (EMCS) is a classic case of the second type. While its capabilities are huge and impressive, they bring with them other problems like reduced performance and long load times.

The original cornerstone of Roxio's flagship product is CD and DVD burning. EMCS still packs a powerful tool for writing to disks but it's really all the extra functionality that makes this suite interesting. EMCS does it all: photo slide shows, video editing, iPod and MP3 player management, secure backups, multimedia organisation and video playback - to name but a few.

We tested each of the components and found that most of them perform to at least a satisfactory level. Sadly, Roxio included several design-related elements which annoy (like using custom window decorations, buttons and even file browsers when the Windows default shell is perfectly usable). Also, the suite contains numerous advertisements for new Roxio services which appear a little odd given that this isn't a free program. Likewise, Roxio's insistence on opening web links using Internet Explorer whether it's your default browser or not was disappointing: it's never a good sign when a program effectively forces you to do things its way or not at all.

The worst feature of the suite is without doubt the video player (called 'CinePlayer') which is nothing more than a run-of-the-mill movie player. After loading for nearly 30 seconds, it took ages to load a simple DivX file and crashed when a couple of buttons were clicked. When free players like VLC can do so much better, one has to wonder why Roxio didn't make an effort to deliver a really fast, lightweight player instead of the slovenly, unstable one bundled in this suite.

All that said, Roxio Easy Media Creator Suite is actually a pretty good bundle. We love the photo editing application which is fairly fast and has just the right balance of basic and advanced tools. The mobile phone photo wizard is a particularly cool utility which really did help camera-phone pictures look better.

The most significant problem with Roxio is the way it treats your PC. This is not a program which is designed to be removed once installed. It installs so many components to your system that you can easily lose track of them... and it fails to include a comprehensive uninstall application for the whole bundle. Instead, you must uninstall each component separately, a time consuming and irritating hassle. I'm still having trouble getting the 1.4 GB installer off my computer!

Roxio Easy Media Creator Suite is a powerful and comprehensive media suite. If you're looking for one bundle of software, which you'll never remove from your computer, to handle all your media tasks then this is the software for you. If, however, you prize quality over convenience, and have some respect for your hard-disk and registry, Roxio Easy Media Creator Suite is not recommended.

Download Roxio Easy Media Creator Suite 10 in Softonic

I remember fondly the days when walkie talkies ruled the world of communication but since the advent of mobile phones and the Internet I thought I'd never utter the words "10-4 receiving" again. I was pleased to hear about Walkietalkie then, a program designed around the famous old handsets, which lets you talk to your pals through the Net. The application sends data at just 13kbps, making it ideal for use with online video games, which often demand most of your PC's resources for themselves.

I was disappointed that the program doesn't completely replicate a real walkie talkie, allowing you to talk with each other simultaneously and not making any "krsssh" sounds before you speak. This is the 21st century though, and as a means of communicating via voice without using up a lot of system resources, Walkietalkie does a great job.

Download Walkietalkie 2.7.6 in Softonic

While the audio technology behind DVDs and computer speaker systems has improved greatly over the last few years, the applications designed to play DVDs on your PC are often less advanced. AVS DVD Player has been designed with this factor in mind. It aims to ensure that you get the maximum benefit from any surround sound or multi-channel soundtracks that your films have.

AVS DVD’s interface is typical enough, although it does include a handy shortcut button which lets you burn the file you are watching to a DVD. The program also distinguishes itself with an inbuilt set of codecs that will play most files, meaning you don’t have to trawl the internet for the right decoder just when you want to watch a movie. AVS is really flexible, supporting all the regular DVD and DivX formats but also Real Media, Quicktime and 3GP (mobile video) formats. It’s sound processing where AVS really excels, however, and if you’ve got a decent set of surround sound speakers, you’ll really notice the difference. AVS DVD includes a surround equaliser which distributes sound according to your setup. Currently, this multi-channel surround sound feature supports 3.1, 5.1 and 7.1 speaker configurations.

There is a price to pay, however, for this emphasis on sound. Unfortunately, AVS DVD player is hindered by several basic flaws. Firstly, it’s very heavy on resources. Even if you own a machine with a high-end processor and graphics card, you’ll notice that AVS hogs your CPU power, so it’s advisable to close absolutely every other application to prevent your system from becoming unstable. One technical drawback is that it does not de-interlace images. This means that if you’re watching torrents or DivX files taken from TV shows, you could experience poor image quality, especially around the borders of the screen. This is due to the image resolution in TV broadcasts which operate at a lower frequency than those made for DVD.

Another annoying problem is that you can’t make the playback controls stay visible on the screen in full playback mode. You end up having to return to a smaller viewing window to control the film you are watching. This is not an issue if you just plan on watching a film from start to finish but it is if you plan to stop and start it a lot. One other minor issue is the lack of extra skins available. The black default skin looks great and there are a few more to choose from but nowhere near as many as other players such as WinDVD.

For a totally free DVD Player, AVS is not a bad product and it certainly looks good. However, as many users report, the developers seem to have focused too much on design and sound features than the bread and butter of usability. Nevertheless, if you’ve got a serious sound system or want to feel the full thrilling sound of your films, it’s certainly worth a try.

Download AVS DVD Player 2.2.8.110 in Softonic

A free global Push E-mail service for mobile devices - cell phones, PDAs, etc. This free service will push send your E-mails and PIM data to you anywhere and to any device.

emoze is the first push mail and PIM application that allows you to read your mail instantly on your mobile device. You can send mail from your mobile device and perform all other mail and PIM operations, such as deleting mail, moving messages between folders, creating and updating your contacts and much more.

With emoze Personal Edition, anyone with a compatible mobile phone can receive work or home emails and PIM data, such as contacts and diary scheduling, on their mobile phone or PDA on the move, anywhere in the world.

As a real secure push wireless email service, emoze will automatically push your emails and PIM data to your phone as soon as it is sent to you without you having to pro-actively connect to a service every time you want to send or receive. For the past few years, this type of service has been available mainly in a very costly package and mostly restricted to specific hardware and software platform, limiting mass-market adoption. emoze removes such barriers with a free, simple, flexible, and secure service creating significant savings for corporate users and consumers alike.

Download emoze 1.3 build 07 in Softonic