Opera

Opera is the most full-featured and flexible web browser on the market. It has a pop-up blocker, multiple-window navigation, mouse gestures, keyboard shortcuts, an e-mail client with a spam filter, and integrated search for user security and speed. The cross-platform browser includes IRC-compatible chat, support for RSS newsfeeds, a password manager, and one-click customization and privacy-protection settings. Mouse gestures and keyboard shortcuts allow for accelerated web navigation while the Fast Forward and Rewind buttons easy browsing. Users can run multiple windows as well as personalize the user interface with one-click skins. The browser also contains special elements for users with disabilities, drag-and-drop support, a notes function, user profiles, and a host of other features. Opera supports the latest in security and provides password and cookie managers.

Hello

UPDATE: Unfortunately, Google shut down the Hello service in June 2008.

How does Hello work?
Hello is a new program that lets you connect directly with your friends to share your digital pictures - or any other file. If you’ve used an instant messenger program before, you’ve already got the idea—Hello is special because it lets you share your pictures along with your messages.

With Hello, you just pick what pictures you want to show off, and click “Send.” That’s it. Hello takes care of all the hard work. And you and your friends can download full resolution, print-quality pictures from each other, while you’re doing more important things, like talking about your pictures.

I can already send pictures with email. Why do I need Hello?
Hello is designed to let you send high-quality pictures instantly and securely over any speed connection, even dialup. With Hello, you can send hundreds of high quality pictures to your friends in just seconds—you can’t do that with email.

When you share pictures with Hello, you get feedback from your friends right away. Also, Hello automatically encrypts all your pictures and chat before sending, so it’s safer and more secure than email.

How is Hello different from a website?
Websites are great when you want to show your pictures to the whole world. But it can take hours to put a new gallery online; after you pick your favorites, edit, resize, and upload them, you still have to sit around and wait for someone to come and see them. And how would you know if anyone did?

When you use Hello to share pictures, they arrive on your friend’s screen immediately, without the hassle of uploading them to a public website. Your friends can download print quality copies of their favorite pictures to print right at home, which most “picture sharing” websites won’t let you do.

With Hello’s file sharing technology, they only have to download high quality versions of the ones they really like. Everything else comes in at a smaller size, optimized for viewing on-screen.

What makes Hello so secure?
Hello protects your images with 128-bit AES encryption. Hello also works like a built-in firewall, so no one can access the files on your hard drive.

How much does this cost?
Hello is free.

Audio Streamer

AudioStreamer is the Internet radio receiver and recorder that lets you enjoy the thousands of radio stations available on the Internet.

While listening to your favorite radio station, you can record any radio station you want, anytime! Browse through the radio stations, selecting a genre and the preferred bandwidth, and enjoy Internet radio!

This Internet radio receiver also lets you search for stations by keywords, like 'top 40'! All radio recordings can be saved as individual tracks, and AudioStreamer automatically adds the correct MP3 tag to the recording.

AudioStreamer records music or talk from the internet to your hard drive as individual high-quality MP3 files and automatically adds key information, including artist and title, so you can easily manage your music. Keep the songs you like, arranged just the way you like them. Edit the file information and organize your collection into playlists to suit your own preferences. Soon you’re ready to enjoy your new collection at home or on the go!

Once you've used the Internet radio recorder to create a new MP3 library, you’ll want to listen on your player or in your car. With AudioStreamer it’s so easy…just click on the menu and you’ll be burning CDs — in just the format you need — in no time at all. Or load the songs onto your MP3 player and you’re ready to roll!

You can also add your favorite station to the Favorites list, or add a new station you found on the Internet!

OpenOffice

OpenOffice is a free office suite application available for many different operating systems including Microsoft Windows, Linux, Solaris and Mac OS X. It is intended to be a compatible alternative to Microsoft Office.

What’s in OpenOffice.org?

• WRITER is OpenOffice.org’s word processor: use it for anything from writing a quick letter to producing an entire book with embedded illustrations, cross-references, tables of contents, indexes, bibliographies... Auto-complete, auto-format, and real-time spelling check make light work of the hardest task. Writer is powerful enough to tackle desktop publishing tasks such as creating multi-column newsletters, brochures – the only limit is your imagination.

• Use CALC to bring your numbers under control. This powerful spreadsheet has all the tools you need to calculate, analyse, summarise, and present your data in numerical reports or sizzling graphics. A fully-integrated help system makes entering complex formulas a breeze. Sophisticated decision-making tools are just a few mouse clicks away. Pull in external data using the Data Pilot, and sort it, filter it, and produce subtotals and statistical analyses. Use previews to select from thirteen categories of 2-D and 3-D charts including line, area, column, pie, XY, stock and net with dozens of variants.

• IMPRESS is the fastest, most powerful way to create effective multimedia presentations. Your presentations will truly stand out with special effects, animation and high-impact drawing tools.

• DRAW will produce everything from simple diagrams to dynamic 3D illustrations and special effects.

Hamachi

Hamachi is a zero-configuration virtual private networking (VPN) application.

In other words Hamachi is a program that allows you to arrange multiple computers into their own secure network just as if they were connected by a physical network cable.

Hamachi is fast, secure and simple. Its core version is also free.

What's in it for me?
Hamachi gives you LAN over the Internet.

Virtually any application that works over local/home networks can also be used over Hamachi networks.

Think - Windows File Sharing, iTunes, Remote Desktop, Remote Assistance or even gaming - all fully encrypted, authenticated and peer-to-peer.

Technology
Hamachi is a zero-configuration virtual private networking application with an open security architecture and NAT-to-NAT traversal capabilities.

Hamachi is the first application to mix seemingly unrelated networking technologies in one powerful package to deliver an unprecedented level of direct peer-to-peer connectivity. More ...

Security
Hamachi is secure. All Hamachi communications are encrypted and authenticated with industry-standard algorithms and protocols. Nobody will be able to see what two Hamachi peers are talking about. Not even us.

However what is equally important - Hamachi security architecture is completely open meaning that its detailed description is available to anyone interested for review and validation. More ...

Ease of Use
Great effort went into designing and polishing the Hamachi user interface. The result is sleek, simple and intuitive; yet still very functional. Everything you need, nothing you don't.

Hamachi software contains no spyware, bannerware or any other -ware unrelated to its purpose. And it never will.