Windows 7 has hit RTM finally. Some users will start getting their greedy hands on the RTM ( some already have! ) soon, including yours truly, as soon as it hits MSDN and TechNet on 6th of August. This means that a lot of users will be (preferably) doing a clean install of Windows 7. I decided to create a list of some must have applications for Windows 7. They match most of what you had for Windows Vista and XP, but I’ve thrown in compatible drivers and antivirus software for good measure.  Read more...

Permalink: Free Windows 7 Downloads

If Twitter clients weren’t enough already, Facebook recently updated its API to allow developers to create client applications that would let you update your status or keep an eye on your stream. But which are most popular Facebook clients amongst them all? To answer that question, this edition of Apps for Windows is dedicated to Desktop Apps for Facebook.  Read more...

Permalink: Apps for Windows – Desktop Apps for Facebook

One of the most popular games in the world, Tetris celebrates its 25th birthday today. According to Telegraph

The game was created by Alexey Pajitnov, a computer engineer who was working for the Computing Centre of the Soviet Academy of Sciences.

It has sold more than 70 million copies, been released for nearly every video-game platform of the past two decades and even been played on the side of a skyscraper.

Alexey also created a lot of puzzle games, and a few for Microsoft as well, which were sold as Microsoft Entertainment Packs or Microsoft Puzzle Collections.

In honor of Tetris’ birthday, this edition of Apps for Windows is dedicated to a Tetris games. The first one, Tetris Zone, is a desktop game and one of the better looking games of Tetris available. It has a free demo available for download, and can be bought for $9.95 as well. Its feature list includes:  Read more...

• Four game variations will keep you entertained for hours:
  • Marathon – 15 challenging levels of gameplay.
  • Challenge – See how far you can go in 10 minutes!
  • Sprint – Race to clear 40 lines.
  • Master – Instant drops — think fast!
• Watch a full instant replay of your best game, including the all-time and daily best!
• Awesome graphics and sounds heighten the Tetris experience.
• Automatically upload your score to a world-wide Leader Board — compare your ranking against players from the around the world! 

Permalink: Apps for Windows: Tetris Games

TED is one of the most fascinating annual conferences in the world. The videos from the conference always have something different and interesting. The new Silverlight 3 TED Video Player by Thirteen 23 lets you watch TED videos right from the comfort of your desktop. It is a Silverlight 3 out of browser application therefore available for both platforms.  Read more...

Permalink: Apps for Windows: Silverlight 3 TED Video Player

Normally, this series is called ‘Apps for Windows’, but this one is titled for Windows 7 because the application is made specifically for this OS. This must be one of the first third party applications that supports Jump Lists, Taskbar previews and even controls in the previews like Windows Media Player does. Made by Neowin member Baptiste Girod (daty2k1), Gmail Notifier Plus is a unique application that does what Windows Live Mail doesn’t. It notifies you when you have new email in your Gmail account through a notification on its taskbar button, which works like a charm. It doesn’t pop up an ugly notification but instead looks pleasing.

Want to see a preview of the new mail? Hover over the taskbar button, and it’ll show you snippets of your new mail. You can use the arrow buttons to navigate between new mails right there in the thumbnail preview.

Permalink: Apps for Windows 7: Gmail Notifier Plus

I had been planning on starting a section on Apps for Windows since some time now, and no better way to start with version 2 of one of my favorite applications, The New York Times Reader. Previously based on WPF, and now shifted to Adobe Air, for cross platform compatibility, the new Times Reader 2.0 is available for Windows, Linux and OS X users. It contains some new enhancements over version 1, but most of the changes have been cosmetic. It really looks as if it was designed for the Mac only, if you take a cue from the new UI. It’s clean and slightly gray, with excellent typography and streamlined navigation. While the application itself is free, along with some of the news sections, you’ll have to shell out $3.45/week for full access. That shouldn’t stop you from enjoying the free version though, as it could cater most users very well with its variety of content. The available news sections increases on Sunday, with Magazine being the added free section for that day with several other paid ones.  Read more...

Permalink: Apps for Windows: A Review of The New York Times Reader 2.0