Filed under: Computers, Top Lists, Downloads, Back to School Guide 2008

The first thing you should do when you get your new laptop or computer is uninstall all that free trial crap that gets loaded on by the manufacturer. Six Months of Earthlink, two weeks of Adobe Photoshop Elements, McAfee Anti-Virus, one month of MusicMatch… who needs it? Not you! (Besides eventually charging you money, a lot of these programs you didn’t ask for can slow down your computer.)

Now that you’ve cleared out some room on that hard drive, start installing some of these free and useful applications, many of which are open source (meaning anyone can view and alter the code of the program to improve or customize it if they have the skill or desire). Here are 25 applications — almost all of them free — that will let you do almost anything you could need to on your computer, without you having to spend a dime.

Ad-Aware
(Windows XP and Vista)

One of the biggest annoyances and dangers online is the dearth of spyware, adware, and other random software that gets silently installed on your PC by thieves, hackers, and disreputable sites — at best, it slows down your system; at worst, it spies on your computing activity and lets online scammers steal passwords and other sensitive information. Cleaning the malicious code that gets loaded on your PC is a hassle and a half, especially if you don’t have a tool like Ad-Aware to do most of the heavy lifting for you. Ad-Aware searches the files and registry entries on your computer and matches them against a list of known malicious software. After it reports back its findings, it will either delete or quarantine the offending code, saving you the trouble of searching through the daunting Windows registry yourself. We’ve found Ad-Aware to be the easiest and least resource-heavy of these anti-ad-and-spy-ware tools.

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Filed under: Beer, Raves & Reviews, New Products

My husband spotted crème brûlée stout by Southern Tier Brewing Company on a beer menu at at new local restaurant. Ordering it was a no brainer. We had to give it a try! The first thing we noticed as it arrived at our table was the smell. It smelled just like crème brûlée - a very unexpected scent when you stick your nose into a beer bottle.

The crème brûlée stout tasted like someone poured a ton of vanilla syrup into their beer. It was really sweet and very crème brûlée - like, but also definitely tasted like beer. Oddly enough, the combination was great! After we tried it, several other people at the table ordered their own. We drank ours with the meal, but you could just as easily have it for dessert on its own or as a beer float with some cinnamon ice cream.

I would definitely try it again. But maybe, I’ll just pour some vanilla syrup into a regular stout instead. It would be cheaper.

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Filed under: Comedy, Casting

The first Demoted wave came in the form of Michael Vartan and David Cross. Both had signed onto the comedy that focuses on a jerky tire sales associate (Vartan) who torments his less-cool colleague (Cross) — until the downtrodden gets promoted and gives the cool guy a taste of his own medicine. But it looks like Vartan isn’t going to be the only jerky one; he’s going to revel in the jerkitude with one of our beloved Goonies members.

The Hollywood Reporter posts that Sean Astin will team up with Vartan on the Cross torment, and also be demoted to secretary when Cross gets his revenge. Meanwhile, Sara Foster (D.E.B.S.) is signing on to play Astin’s wife, “who’s tricked into believing he was promoted,” while Celia Weston (Dead Man Walking) will pop up as the head secretary. As such, she “inspires the best friends to plot their revenge.” So, who will come out on top? Astin and Vartan? Cross? Foster?

Production begins this September in Michigan.

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Unwed mom, Jamie Lynn Spears, has sent a baby gift to Bristol Palin, the GOP VP nominee’s knocked-up daughter.

According to a source that works at the baby store, Petit Tresor, “It was ordered by phone, and they asked what could be done for under $100. They spent $60 on pink burp cloths.”  The cloths were embroidered with skull and cross bones images as well as “Love”, “Yummy”, “Babe” and “Loved”.

A note was included: “Dear Bristol, Hang in there! XXOO, Jamie Lynn Spears.”

This is just what Bristol needs, some white trash bonding!

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Miley Cyrus has splashed out on a $75,000 car for her 16th birthday.

“Hannah Montana” star - who reportedly earned $18.2 million last year - is treating herself to a “fully loaded” white convertible Mercedes Benz to mark the milestone on November 23.

A source said: “Miley wanted special options like parking assist and a cream-colored leather interior, so she ordered the car early.”

“She is telling everyone that she hopes to get a car when she turns 16, so when it comes, she can say it was a surprise from her parents.”

Miley - the daughter of country singer Billy Ray Cyrus - recently revealed she wanted a “bad” car to celebrate turning 16.

She said: “I definitely want to get something bad on the road, big enough for all my friends and to scare all the cars away from me. I’m a good driver but it’s everyone else that I’m worried about!”

Miley is set to celebrate her birthday at Disneyland, California, and is selling $250 tickets for the bash to raise money for Youth Service America.

Meanwhile, it has been claimed “7 Things” - which appears on Miley’s current album “Breakout” - was written about her split from Jonas Brothers singer Nick Jonas.

The catchy track, which features the young star detailing the seven things she hates about an unnamed ex-boyfriend, includes the lyrics, “Your friends, they’re jerks/When you act like them, just know it hurts.”

Miley parted ways with Nick in 2007 after two years together.

Earlier this year, 15-year-old Nick insisted the song wasn’t about him, saying: “My friends aren’t jerks.”

However, Brett Ratner - who directed the video for “7 Things” - revealed the necklace Miley wears in the video was given to her by the boy she sings about.

He said: “She is wearing his diabetes or medical necklace. You can tell by the lyrics that they’re very personal. The stuff she talks about in the video is clever and emotional and fun at the same time.”

Nick has Type 1 diabetes and campaigns to raise awareness about the disease.

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Strange for Motorola to name this upcoming handset the MOTOJEWEL - they’ve actually included all the vowels, something not done since the RAZR was unleashed. This clamshell handset was unveiled in the UK, and it looks pretty much like a big chunk of a precious stone, looking very much at home in your pink, fur-lined handbag. Features include an integrated music player, Bluetooth connectivity, a hidden external display, and a 2 megapixel camera. It will be available for purchase in the UK come November at a yet undisclosed price.

Add a comment | From: Motorola MOTOJEWEL | Visit Ubergizmo

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And healthy, too!

Remember how awesome Star Wars were? I mean, the originals. Sure, the new ones were pretty cool in terms of special effects mostly, but on the whole they just lacked that spark, that imagination, that wonderful sense of adventure that has created a race of fans the likes of which the world may never see again. No, the new trilogy doesn’t have the same inspiration. Instead, is has this guy.

Now, unless you’re five or five-ish, you probably find Jar-Jar to be one of the most annoying creatures ever put on screen (I won’t count M. Night). So we should all give a hearty thanks to this guy, for having provided us with a new and interesting way to actually enjoy Jar-Jar Binks.

In a salad!

I’ve never seen such amazing veggie-carving skills, so hats off. I hope when you make your own little alien salad, you enjoy cutting his big sappy face apart as much as I enjoy imagining it.

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Filed under: Action, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Deals, Mystery & Suspense, Scripts, Family Films, Newsstand, Dreamworks, Steven Spielberg

Remember that ginormous project called 39 Clues that was announced awhile back — a worldwide mystery to span books, interactive games, trading cards and a movie deal, courtesy of Steven Spielberg? The first book in the series, The Maze of Bones, hits shelves all over the world next Tuesday, the same day as its interactive online game. Will it spark an obsession along the lines of Twilight or Harry Potter? Time will tell.

Steven Spielberg has confidence in it, though. Acccording to Variety, he’s hired his old pal Jeff Nathanson to pen the script, marking their fourth collaboration together. They paired up previously on The Terminal, Catch Me If You Can, and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Spielberg is still eying Clues’ director’s chair, and it will be interesting to see where this can fit into his busy schedule, where Tintin and Lincoln were taking precedence. Does he want this worldwide money hunt (the prize for solving the project’s mystery is $10,000) to be over before the movie, or will the bloom be off the rose by then? What if the whole multiplatform concept fails spectacularly? Are the books still filmable? The ambition of 39 Clues leaves me doubting whether it can deliver — but I can hardly pretend to have better judgment than Spielberg. At any rate, I’ll be watching the book pages with interest to see what audiences make of The Maze of Bones — if anyone out there buys it, give us the scoop!

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Filed under: Gaming

Fear not, UK friends, you will be getting the eye-pleasing, battery-draining PSP-3000 just like everyone else, but it seems you won’t be getting quite as many bundle options as others in Europe. According to GamesIndustry.biz, the silver PSP-3000 bundle with Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters and the black PSP-3000 bundle with a 4GB Memory Stick won’t be making it to the UK, at least initially, leaving you with only the Go! communication, FIFA, Harry Potter, and Buzz! Master Quiz bundles to choose from. That, as you may have noticed, doesn’t include a stand-alone PSP-3000 option, but Sony assures us that’ll be arriving as well sometime after the bundles are released.

[Via PSP Fanboy]

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Filed under: Cellphones, GPS

It’s been quite awhile since Mio’s LEAP K1 was introduced overseas, but now we’re getting an up close and personal look thanks to one particular unboxer over at Mobile01. The two-faced mobile looks like a typical handset from the front, but upon flipping it over, you’ll find another side to this critter — one that fancies GPS navigation. We’re not too sure how we feel about having to safeguard displays on both sides of the handset, but if we had access to plenty of screen protectors, we suppose we could get used to all that added functionality. Hit the read link for lots more pics.

[Via iTech News]

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