Lego has to be one of the greatest toys ever invented but the problem I always had is that pieces always used to get lost down the back of the sofa or swallowed by the dog.

There's no risk of that happening with Lego Digital Designer, a game that lets your imagination run wild in a 3D world of Lego pieces. The 3D working area allows you to place pieces by dragging and dropping them onto the building board and allowing you to pan, zoom and move in any direction you choose. Some of the movements can be a bit sluggish and jerky but generally it works pretty well.

The pieces you want to use are selected from a floating menu which are well organized by category and size. The difference between real life and Lego Digital Designer however is that there is literally no limit to how many block you can use or the designs you can come up with. And if you want to show off, you can upload your design to an online gallery like a big kid - or even more amazing, order your design as the real thing.

If you loved Lego and have a boundless imagination, then Lego Digital Designer will keep you or at least your kids occupied for hours.

Download LEGO Digital Designer 2.3 in Softonic

Following the release of new versions of both Internet Explorer and Firefox, the infamous 'browser wars' are flaring up again. Despite both Firefox 1.5 and the Beta of IE7 making significant strides, it would be be foolish to think this was a two-horse race. While gaining a good reputation with geeks and power users, Opera has long been a bit-part player among the big boys of the browser world. However, if this preview release is anything to go by, the Norwegian-built browser could finally be ready to punch with the heavyweights.

Opera has been pioneering new ways of browsing the web for some time. It has had tabbed browsing since the days before tabbed browsing was cool and developed the innovative 'mouse gestures' control system, where you navigate through the web just by holding the mouse button and flicking your wrist. The developers even dabbled with a multi-pane interface for viewing several pages within one interface.

The good news is that Opera has lost none of its appetite for innovation, and version 9 is packed with new goodies that will have the programmers at Mozilla and Microsoft choking on their doughnuts. For starters the app runs much quicker than the previous release, making it arguably the quickest browser around (except perhaps for Safari) at rendering pages. Incredibly, despite this boost in performance, the program appears to use less memory than version 8.5, making it far less draining on system resources than Firefox and IE.

In terms of features Opera is the gift that keeps on giving. New to the program comes OSX Tiger-style 'widgets', allowing you to check news, convert currency, view the weather and so on through a series of draggable pop-ups which anchor themselves in front of the browser. Although there aren’t many widgets to choose from at present, this is sure to change once the tech-minded Opera fans start developing more.

Another great addition to Opera 9 is BitTorrent support, allowing you to download torrents directly within the browser – a feature that amazingly no one had thought of before. This system works very smoothly, which makes us wonder why RSS feed reading support in Opera is still so poor.

Among the other new treats within the program is a nifty new search feature which lets you add any search engine to the search bar in the main toolbar. This means you can instantly access searches within your favorite online destinations (Softonic, for instance).

Tabbed browsing remains, although some users may be annoyed to discover that Opera has added close tab buttons to the tabs themselves rather than as a separate button. Having said this, the new web page preview thumbnails that appear when you rollover a tab are a real masterstroke. Mouse gestures are still there too, along with the addition of Total Recall-style voice commands – another example of how cutting-edge this browser is.

Opera's developers have been keen to ramp up security features too, and although they aren't highly original, the new content blocking and pop-up blocking functions serve their purpose effectively. What's more, it's refreshing to see a browser that embraces the latest web standards so freely, with the latest release boasting support for CSS 2.1 and CSS 3 tags.

The browser is remarkably stable and is far better behaved than Internet Explorer 7. Combined with its speed, innovative features and standards support, Opera is undoubtedly web software's best-kept secret, and the final release may prove to be even better than Firefox. Don't say anything though, or everyone will want it.

Download Opera 9.6 in Softonic

I am personally quite happy using just the Finder and Spotlight to find and keep stuff organized on my Mac. However some people prefer to have an organizer like Together to handle all their files. This application will store anything, be it document, video, image or more. The application offers you a wide choice of ways to save all these, whether by fitting them into groups, labeling, creating smart lists or even adding notes. You'll also always be see the exact number of items in each area from the sidebar of the program.

To help you keep your items organized, Together has a shelf side view, into which you can drag and drop elements and jot down notes. It luckily also integrates Spotlight, making it really effective at quickly finding anything.

You can literally browse and organize everything without ever leaving Together's interface. New items will open up in tabs, which is either annoying or useful, depending on what you want to see. I personally would like to be able to control tabs how I want. Together also includes an embedded browser to preview bookmarks and links, which is more or less like a simplified version of Safari. Importing is fairly quick most of the time and you can see files being added to categories in real time.

A nice looking and well structured tool, Together, lets you keep all your items organized your way.

Download Together 2.1.8/1864 in Softonic

FastCut offers video editing in realtime. Experience outstanding performance. FastCut uses the power of the GPU for accelerated graphical calculations.

Feature List:

• Dynamic playback quality for optimal performance
• 3D motion keyframe animation
• Masking
• Video transitions and filter FX (CoreImage)

Download FastCut 3.0.6 in Softonic

Solitaire is the ultimate solitary game but the default version on Windows is pretty uninspiring - thank goodness that Wiz Solitaire gives it a bit more class then.

Wiz Solitaire is a collection of various classic card games with the option to create and use beautiful decks with your favorite pictures - effectively, you can create your own deck of cards. Wiz Solitaire supports different deck formats allowing you to choose between thousands of available card sets but you can easily create your own decks with the included Wiz Solitaire Deck Editor.

The Wiz Solitaire collection includes a selection of classic games including Klondike, FreeCell and Spider. In fact, there are more than 25 types of solitaire to choose from in Wiz Solitaire including detailed statistics on each game for real enthusiasts. There's also a good teaching element to this game - if you're stuck or unsure what to do next, Wiz Solitaire suggests moves for you.

For anyone that enjoys solitaire and wants to customize exactly how they play the game, Wiz Solitaire is a fantastic package beautifully presented.

Download Wiz Solitaire 1.32 in Softonic

Syncing information has become really important, simply because we all have all sorts of accounts on the web and usually more than one devices to work with.

Spanning Sync is a nifty little app that syncs your Google Calendar and iCal together. The app is really easy to set up on your Mac. It gets installed in your preferences pane and all you need to start using it is your Google login details.

Once open, just select either the calendars or contacts tab depending on what you want to sync. If you have more than one calendar and contact group on either iCal or in Google, you can select which ones to merge or sync them all together. You'll have to choose between either merging or simply replacing one with another. Also beware that Spanning Sync does not support same contact info yet, so if you choose to merge some of your contacts might appear twice.

A real handy tool to merge your Google Calendar and iCal. Fast and simple, gets the job done.

Download Spanning Sync 2.0b356 in Softonic

FireANT is an RSS video aggregator and media player that helps you keep up to date with the latest internet TV channels and programming.

With the FireANT Player, you can subscribe to any RSS 2.0 channel and automatically download fresh media content to watch and listen to. In this way, you don't need to keep checking your favorite channel - whether it be CNN or ESPN - to see whether there's anything you want to watch on as FireANT delivers it all to you in much the same way as Google Reader tracks your favorite blogs.

The other big draw of FireANT is that the media player is incredibly versatile - rivaling VLC Player in some respects - as it's able to play just about any format without the need for codecs including Quicktime, Windows Media, Flash, Real Media. FireANT can even sync downloaded files with portable media players such as iPod and Sony PSP.

In addition, FireANT player comes with an integrated Yahoo! Video Search function. When FireANT was originally released this was probably quite useful but now that Google is king, you probably won't find much use for it. You can also interact with video creators by sending comments to them based on their content although I'm sceptical as to whether this actually works properly.

A format free and fun way to keep track of your favorite programming, FireANT is maybe a bit dated now but better than having to keep checking channels for new content yourself.

Download FireANT Beta in Softonic

One of the coolest features of iTunes is the album browser which really makes your music collection feel tangible rather than just a load of MP3 files.

CoverFlow has taken this concept and aims to add the same aesthetic to music collections of you'll find in iTunes. CoverFlow allows you to browse your albums artwork using a variety of sources on the Net via your MP3 tags. These include Synergy, Clutter and of course, Amazon.com so you've got a good chance of finding the artwork for your particular album.

CoverFlow genuinely makes looking through your music collection much more fun and intuitive without the need for iTunes. And like iTunes, if the album cover is not in any of the databases, you can add your own album cover from your JPG collection. It would have been nice to have a bit more album info attached with the album covers but it's no big drawback.

CoverFlow gives non iTunes users a real iTunes feel without the bloatedness of the classic music app and breathes new life into your music collection.

Download CoverFlow 0.92 in Softonic

Iris adds some cool extra features to your Mac's iSight camera.

The application is easy to set up and use. You can take snapshots or make movies in real time or via time lapse. The fun thing though is adding filters to make your snapshots a bit more original. Iris can also be used as a covert monitoring tool if you're worried about your Mac being stolen or tampered with. Use Motion Detection and Email alerting to detect intruders and notify you, when you're away.

The fun thing about taking snapshots and videos is to share them with your friends and family. Iris not only keeps them well organized in a gallery but it also includes features to send them by mail, upload to Flickr or export to an Apple device like an iPod or iPhone. Again here the process is simple and quick and easy enough for any beginner.

Iris adds a bit of excitement to your iSight camera. Although the controls can feel somewhat limited, the application enhances the Mac webcam and in a way encourages you to use it.

Despite some limited controls, Iris empowers your iSight to take snapshots and movies, share them with your friends and even monitor your Mac.

Download Iris 1.0.8 in Softonic

Time Machine is one of my favorite new Leopard applications, yet I have to admit that it fails to provide sufficient information on backups.

This where Time Machine Buddy comes in. This little widget structures and displays all backup logs from the application, letting you know in real time what is being saved. The program sits in your Dashboard and is normally inactive until you decide to launch Time Machine.

Once the program is running, all you need to do is open up Time Machine Buddy to monitor the logs. For most people, the information found in them might probably be just a scramble of words. However, if you look more closely at the logs you'll be able to understand what is being saved.

Time Machine Buddy logs backups every 15 minutes and you can refresh it manually to ensure it has all the latest info.

Time Machine Buddy, by displaying full logs, makes for a good companion to Apple's backup program.

Download Time Machine Buddy 1.02 in Softonic

I'm a sucker for any game that features 3D graphics (it goes back to the days of Stunt Car Racer on the Amiga) and especially those that are free.

Marble Arena ticks both boxes and while it's not exactly the most spectacular or exciting game around (certainly not a patch on Stunt Car Racer) Marble Arena is a lot of fun. Basically, Marble Arena requires you to roll your marble around a 3D obstacle course going up and down slippery slopes, mastering air vents, jump-zones and even vortexes.

The more obstacles you successfully navigate in Marble Arena, the further you get and the more points you score. You can face a variety of surfaces such as sand, water, glass, ice and tarmac and if you get through them all, you're rewarded with upgrade points which you can use to improve your marble or change your skin.

It can be a bit boring on your own after a while although you do quite attached to the ball's plight. However, I imagine the real fun starts when you add more balls and more players who can roll against each other at the same time.

Marble Arena will either make you roll over and go to sleep after a few levels or lose your marbles trying to navigate it's many challenges.

Download Marble Arena 1.4 in Softonic

Twitterrific is a sleek desktop applications for the Twitter micro-blogging service. Fitted with an attractive dark grey interface, Twitterrific offers numerous ways to follow and handle your friends and tweets. Either view by most recently update or full update list, choosing to show only your friends or public tweets. You can refresh tweets anytime and even check your own Twitter page thanks to the buttons at the bottom of the page.

Twiterrific also integrates keyboard shortcuts, sparing you a few precious seconds while you're twittering away with your friends. The application is pretty discreet, and you'll notice it only pops up for new updates. You'll also hear a little bird tweet, which can be adjusted. I've had Twitterrific disconnect sometimes, yet trying again normally works. The only minor drawback to this latest version is that it now shows ads until you decide to pay for the software, yet that's a small price to pay for such a handsome application.

Twitterrific is a must desktop application for any Twitter addict out there.

Download Twitterrific 3.1 in Softonic

Worried how long your kids are spending on the internet? Well Watcher can help you by setting-up clear boundaries between your children and their computer.

Watcher allows you to introduce time-limits on internet activity including surfing, messaging and even playing games. Simply input start and end times from Monday to Friday and at weekends and Watcher will do the rest. You can also fix time-limits if, for instance, you don't want your kids to be using the computer before school. Disk limits of your choice also ensure only a defined amount of space is ever available.

Best of all is the Dashboard widget which sets up a credit system for children to negotiate how they want to spend their total hours of computer access across the week. Instant statistics then give you immediate access to the past day's, week's or month's activity.

Watcher is a well-designed program that offers parents real peace of mind. The only problem is that your children might not be too happy.

Download Watcher 5.0 in Softonic

Coda unites all your different web development tools under one beautifully designed interface.

From text editor to previewer, CSS editor or terminal, Coda includes all you need to write up, review and upload your web pages. The program is flexible: projects are considered as sites, which sync perfectly with your server and maintain all your changes. You can connect to any server and thanks to the Transmit Turbo Engine quickly upload changes remotely.

In terms of editing, Coda offers up advanced features like auto completion, block editing or syntax coloring. You can also drag and drop clips of text anywhere. As of CSS, Coda offers two editing modes: visual and text, the first being more user friendly and the second best for advanced users. Coda has also thoughtfully integrated a terminal window, so you can run MYSQL queries quickly or connect to a local shell.

But it's the design that really stands out in Coda. Winner of the 2007 Apple Design Award, the program has been redesigned with a sleek Leopard GUI. Full of colors and smooth animations, Coda is a real pleasure to use and very well structured. The program even features a collection of reference books if you need a spark of knowledge to help you build your site.

Coda is a beautiful, all in one web development tool you can't go without if you're building web sites.

Download Coda 1.5 in Softonic

Blender is the open source software for 3D modeling, animation, rendering, post-production, interactive creation and playback. It lets users create high quality 3D graphics, movies and replay real-time, interactive 3D content. Over the last decade, Blender has evolved as an in-house tool for a leading European animation studio. Blender is powerful technology used for creating broadcast quality 3D content.

Download Blender 2.47 in Softonic

I can already hear you complaining at yet another batch converter. It's true there probably are way too many converters out there, with the majority of them pretty much identical too each other. Dragoman is all around pretty good though and stands out thanks to its versatility.

I've found Dragoman very easy to use: just drag and drop your file onto the interface, select the format you want to convert it to and let it work its magic. Dragoman's real strength is that it handles all sorts of formats, from images to audio, text and archive. You'll find only video is missing to turn it into a complete batch converter. For each category, Dragoman offers a wide choice of formats, although you will probably notice that some of these, such as MP3 or RAR, are read-only.

Batch converting with Dragoman is as simple as working with one file. You just drag are your files onto Dragoman, select the output format and let Dragoman do the hard work.

Dragoman is a good batch converter handling multiple file formats.

Download Dragoman 1.3.1 in Softonic

GameMaker is an easy to use card based development system which allows you to create simple adventure games with graphics, buttons, and text. There is no programming required, but it does have a small programming language which can be used to make better games. Just draw the pictures, type some text, click a few buttons, choose some options... and PRESTO, an adventure game is completed! You can then compile your game into a real stand-alone application that can be uploaded to online services.

Download GameMaker 3.9.91 in Softonic

Tumult HyperEdit is an excellent editor that can be used for a number of situations. It works equally well with HTML, PHP or CSS.

Thanks to its WYSIWYG feel, Tumult HyperEdit is simple enough for even beginners to get to grips with. The application offers real time preview of your changes such as when rendering or applying different CSS on a page.

The live HTML W3C-based validation tool will show you errors in red and store them in an error drawer. Tumult HyperEdit also highlights syntax with different colors and fonts.

Tumult HyperEdit comes with a Javascript code evaluator and has an option not to cache data, so externally-changed files are reloaded every time.

Tumult HyperEdit can not only be used for creating websites but is great for correcting bugs, previewing CSS or testing PHP code.

Overall, Tumult HyperEdit is pleasant to work with and has enough features that most programmers and designers will enjoy using it. An excellent choice.

Download Tumult HyperEdit 1.6 in Softonic

I've always thought one day I should really organize my movie collection. After all, it should make it easier, not only to find any movie, but also to lend them to friends. KavaMovies is an application that helps you organize your videos.

In KavaMovies you can organize all movies, from the ones you have seen, to the ones you have and the ones you want. Apart from being separated by title and director, movies can also be found by actor, genre and year among others. You can also write up recommendations and search movies by these. KavaMovies also includes keywords, which is often a good way of organizing material.

If you don't have all the info of a movie, don't panic. KavaMovies can search Amazon, Wikipedia and IMDB for missing info. The application also integrates real well with iTunes and BitTorrent in case you want to buy and download movies.

The only feature I was disappointed with were the filters, as KavaMovies only offers a half dozen and does not let you create your own.

Is your movie collection getting too big? With KavaMovies you can keep it well organized.

Download KavaMovies 1.0 b1 in Softonic

Textexpander is a clever tool that, if correctly used, can save you countless hours. The application allows you to create your own abbreviations for text you often write or images you tend to use more. Although creating your own snippets can seem a bit tricky at first, it's very easy to do thanks to the friendly interface. You can create as many snippets as you want, add labels and make elements case sensitive.

While all your snippets are stored in a list on the left side of the interface you can create groups to keep them organized by relevant subjects. Textexpander can be particularly useful to quickly insert in special characters or formulas, that would take much more time to type. On the whole, it's a real time saving and ingenious application that will be of great use to editors, web programmers and even everyday users.

Create abbreviations for your most commonly used phrases with Textexpander.

Download Textexpander 2.4 in Softonic