Spotify 0.3 - Everybody Loves Music

The Good:

• Well Designed: Spotify has a consistent and easy to use layout and still looks quite good!
• Useful Extras: Spotify has a host of useful extra bits that most music programs don't provide like biographies for artists, suggested artists and tracks and much more...
• Simple and Easy: Spotify's well designed layout and easy to use features make it simple and easy to stream music from the Internet.
• Efficient: Spotify runs fast, doesn't freeze very often and doesn't have many bugs.

The Bad:

• Bland Theme: The theme of Spotify is a bit lacking in the colour department...
• Limited Customisability: There are no add-ons or themes for Spotify and no other customisability options (other than the basic settings that are directly connected to the workings of the program)

Anyway, to begin, Spotify is a piece of software designed to play music without having to download it first. Spotify used to be free without an invite, now however, it's only free with an invite. Spotify works by connecting to the internet and streaming your music through the internet, so it takes up hardly any memory space. It's a relatively simple piece of software as the music is streamed through the internet, cutting down on complications. There is a premium version of Spotify which gives a load of other funky features, but I'll be reviewing the free version because I'm poor and the premium version costs £9.99 a month. The catch of the free version of Spotify is that you have to listen to all the ads in between your music, it doesn't spoil your music though, nor does it ruin the software so, on with the review!

Features and Design
As I said earlier, Spotify is a fairly simple piece of software, and has a theme fairly similar to that of iTunes and Safari - differing tones of grey and in Spotify's case, green. In the top-left corner are the settings split into file, edit, playback and help. In the top-right are the usual culprits - minimize, maximize and close. along the side is where your playlists are positioned and where the home, radio, play queue and purchases tabs are. Th home tab shows the most popular albums and songs and also shows the newest songs and albums and gives you suggestions for artists you might like based on the genre of your music. The radio tab allows you to listen to radio by genre or period which is easy to use and efficient. the play queue tab does what it says on the tin really - lets you look at the queue of music to be played, if you're playing anything that is. The final tab is purchases - this shows you the list of songs which you have actually downloaded using Spotify through a contract with 7Digital, most songs can be purchased using this feature, but don't bet on it. One feature I like (other than it being free to listen to music on my computer) is the fact that each song and each artist has a page that, if you click on the artist or song's name, Spotify will take you to the page in which it gives you info about the other albums connected with it, the date it was released or, in the case of the artist, a biography of their career!

Efficiency
Spotify works well. It's efficient, runs fast and I haven't had a single problem with how it works since I downloaded it. For a piece of free software, its brilliant! Admittedly, the constant advertising is annoying, but you can cope with that. To be honest, there aren't many visible problems with the efficiency of Spotify, the adverts are annoying but the actual software works well and doesn't have hardly any flaws for efficiency, to add to that - Spotify is simple and easy to use, making it more than worthwhile.

Although Spotify is a very good piece of software - it only comes free with an invite or you have to spend £9.99 a month paying for the software I've just reviewed and a lot of extra features that are definitely worth the price as premium allows you to access the music you've got on your account offline as well as a ton of other extras. In conclusion, Spotify is a very good piece of software with only the problem of a bland theme to deal with, well there's always a new version...

Apple Safari 4 - Boredom in a Box

The Good:

• Efficient: Safari 4 is just as fast as its counterparts and works well.

• Simple Layout: Safari 4 has a much simpler layout than Safari 3 and beats Mozilla Firefox on this as well.
• Innovative Design Features: The Top-Sites function is very similar to Opera's Speed Dial function but looks better with a nice glossy theme.

The Bad:

• Limited Customisability: Safari 4 has little or no options to change the browser's design or features.
• Bland, Uninteresting Design: Safari 4 has a very boring and bland theme, the layout is practical but there isn't a colour in sight ecept for the generic blue and grey Mac theme.

Safari 4 is Apple's new internet browser and response to Google Chrome. First released on the Mac, Safari has spread to Windows and although almost completely different from the Mac version the release of Safari 4 on Windows still bears the Mark of Mac.

Features and Design
This brings me onto my first section of the review. Unlike ITunes 9 which has changed little from ITunes 8, Safari 4 has had a massive revamp of design. The first thing you notice is the layout changes - the navigation bar at the top has shrunk to a simple layout of the tab bar at the top, followed by the navigation bar with extra settings and finally the bookmarks bar with links to Top Sites and the Bookmarks Manager. The new simple layout is a lot better, especially for people not that technologically apt. However, The theme is unchangeable and is also very bland - one tone of grey, all the way through. As well as this, there aren't any other customisability options either and if you're one of the more technologically apt people then Safari 4 may feel limiting. A good point, however, would be the Top Sites feature. As I said, the Top Sites function is similar to Speed Dial on Opera 10 but with a much nicer mirror theme as shown in the screenshot below.

Efficiency
As I said earlier, Safari 4 runs just as well as its opponents - Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox. It has hardly any problems with security or general efficiency and doesn't freeze often. There are hardly any bugs or problems with Safari 4 and it improves on speed from Safari 3. Safari 4 is easy to use and its simple layout helps people that are less technologically apt to use an internet browser.

Safari 4, although bland, is perfect for the person who cares little about how his/her Browser works or looks as long as he/she can do what he/she wants without too much fuss. If you are one of those people, then Safari 4 is for you!

Mozilla Firefox 3.6 - The First Browser to Do EVERYTHING

The Good:

• Efficient - Mozilla Firefox 3.6 is efficient and effective at what it does; browse the web.
• Well Designed - Mozilla Firefox, while not very original in its design, is practical and quite good looking too.
• Brilliant Customisability - Thousands of Add-Ons, Personas and Themes make Firefox 3.6 one of the most customisable browsers around.

The Bad:

• Lack of Originality - Firefox's Design isn't very original and, although practical, can get a bit bland without personas or themes.

Firefox 3.6 has just been released in the beta and I will be checking out the full version when it's released. Still, as I haven't checked out Firefox for a while I was planning to do a Firefox 3.5 review, however, I checked the Mozilla Blog the other day and found that the release candidate (beta) for Firefox 3.6 had been released. So, I changed a few details and here I am, typing the Firefox 3.6 review.

Features and Design:

My main problem with Firefox is Originality. I like a browser that has a bit of creative flair about the layout and features, and although themes and personas make it better, Mozilla seems to have made a very basic layout and feel to Firefox and told its users "here you go, have fun" and left the user community to it. Luckily Firefox's dedicated user community is happy to oblige pouring thousands of add-ons, themes and personas into the Firefox network. That's what I like about Firefox, especially 3.6, it has done what many browsers dared not - let the user - your average Joe, take control of how his browser looks, feels and, most importantly, works. So, if you didn't get that, what I meant was I like the amount of customisability options for Firefox 3.6 but I don't like the fact that Mozilla did hardly any of the work and the fact that the layout is too Internet Explorer-ish. True to form though, Firefox doesn't fail to impress with its range of features, it seems to have everything you could possibly need (other than the kitchen sink), but again it falls at one hurdle - originality. Opera 10 had new features like Opera Link, Opera Turbo and Opera Unite - they may do boring, everyday things but at least Opera made an effort. That's my main problem with Firefox and Mozilla in general, they don't seem to put enough effort in, instead they let their overly large fan-club toil away making extras and add-ons for their browser and then claim all the credit. At the same time, although I don't like the layout of Firefox, I do like the fact that Mozilla supports open source projects, so I'm a bit of a hypocrite really...

Efficiency:

Mozilla Firefox 3.6 works very well. It has no problems with security and safety (unlike Internet Explorer 8 - see this January's Newscast for more details) and it works ,well, like any browser should. Firefox is really helped buy its add-ons for this section as there are hundreds if not thousands of add-ons to do the little things that help it do everything. Firefox 3.6 is easy to use, and very effective at what it does, that is, browse the web. What more can you want?

So, In conclusion, Firefox 3.6 is a very effective internet browser that, despite its lack of originality, seems to do everything. What more can you ask for? (other than a bit more original layout)...

Opera 10 - Change: You Know You Love It

The Good:

• Efficient: Opera 10 runs fast, doesn't freeze often and doesn't have many bugs in the software.
• Innovative New Features: Opera Link and Opera Turbo make it easier to browse the web fast and without complication.
• Well Designed: Opera 10 has a new designed theme which fits well with the usual Opera look.

The Bad:

• Useless Plug-Ins: Most of the widgets and plug-ins are mini-games like Sudoku and Crosswords rather than widgets that enhance your browser.

Opera 10 is another small jump from Opera 9 and miles away from Opera 8. Since Opera 8, Opera has improved massively; from a small amateur browser to a browser in the top five! Opera 10 has a supposed new design and the new features of Opera Turbo and Opera Link. For once in the software world, the changes are visible! (Heresy! Burn It!)

Features and Design
The first main section of my review for the first time in ages, its a good start. Opera 10 definitely isn't lacking in the aesthetics (thats appearance for all you idiots out there) department with a supposedly new-designed layout. This puzzles me, because it still has Opera stamped all over it in flashing neon capital letters. Nevertheless, there are some notable changes. I usually have the address bar, the main bar (with all the things like File, Edit, View etc) and the tab bar displayed all of which in the general Opera theme which, to those of you who don't know, basically is a light grey-blue colour with some gradient and buttons which light up when you hover over them (so exciting!) Joking aside, there is one new design feature; tabs that can be stretched down to show the screen of that tab in a smaller version. This is quite good and is combined with the feature that allows you to hover over the tab and do the same, not that that's very useful of course. If you don't like the theme, you can always download skins off the Opera website and the same applies to widgets for small add-ons and plug-ins to enhance your "browsing experience". As usual with Opera, it has a feature which allows you to display things like history, downloads, widgets and bookmarks at the side of your screen, which is good, if you live sideways (not really, it displays the information the right way up). Now, the two new features of Opera; Opera Link and Opera Turbo. Opera Link allows you to synchronize your other Opera browsers, allowing you to gain bookmarks, skins and widgets from your other Opera browsers by logging in to your Opera Link account. Opera Turbo allows you to load websites quickly when you have a slow connection.

Efficiency
Opera doesn't tend to lack in this area either. It runs fast, doesn't freeze often and doesn't have many bugs which is a large leap from Opera 8 as Opera 8 did the opposite of all of those things. Nevertheless, the new features and existing features like Speed Dial (which is on a lot of browsers now) definitely help avoid major obstacles. To be honest there aren't many flaws in Opera's efficiency as I've already said and Opera 10 makes a very good blend of downloadable content and simplicity unlike two of its rivals; Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox.

In Conclusion, Opera 10 is a good browser and worth considering if you're stuck for an internet browser and want a change from Internet Explorer, because, unlike Internet Explorer 8, the changes are visible and make a major difference; Opera Link and Turbo improve the browser, especially when you have more than one device with Opera on or have a bad internet connection. Generally, Opera 10 is a good internet browser and one you should definitely consider.

Internet Explorer 8 - 101 Ways to Break Your PC

The Good:

• Useful Plug-ins: toolbars are reliable, useful and easy to download.

The Bad:

• Average: Internet Explorer 8 is a jack of all trades when it comes to design and efficiency
• Inconsistent Design: On Vista, Internet Explorer 8 looks completely different to IE 8 on XP.

Internet Explorer has a notorious reputation for freezing and generally failing at most things except things you don't want it to do and now it’s like an old veteran, struggling against the tide. This browser is definitely a new release of an old classic; in this review I'm going to be delving into the depths of Internet Explorer 8 in the hope of finding gold rather than lead…

Features and Design

On Vista, basically all Microsoft have done with the design of the browser is textured the browser better, so it appears glossy with some nice gradient effects. Although it looks glossy and well designed on Vista, on XP it’s a different story. On XP it looks suspiciously similar to Internet Explorer 7. I’m reviewing Internet Explorer 8 on Windows Vista though. It keeps the same Internet Explorer layout though – URL bar at the top (with the usual forward, back buttons etc), Bookmarks bar below and then followed by the tabs and options bar – including the tabs (surprisingly) and the three different options menus (Page, Safety and Tools) on the right, along with the Home button, the RSS reader button (a very useful feature, and one that many browsers lack) and all the usual buttons like Print, Mail, Help etc. One advantage of Internet Explorer 8 is that it has add-ons in the form of toolbars which are generally reliable, useful and easy to download.

Efficiency

I f anything, the problem with Internet Explorer 8 is that it’s a jack of all trades. It's too average. It doesn't specialize in anything, sometimes that's a good thing, but it also means that it’s average at everything and in some areas you want a bit more than average. For a default browser it’s okay for efficiency; it works. But that's all it does, most of the time it runs at a decent pace without freezing too much, but if there are any problems, it’s often hard to find the right things to change, and sometimes they aren't even there. Security, along with most of the browser's functions is average – it is there, working away in the background but if you were hoping to change some settings, then you're done for. It works but not much else.

In conclusion, Internet Explorer 8 has one major flaw; being too average. This has been the trouble with Internet Explorer for as long as I can remember and I think it always will be. There some advantages over other browsers but not many and although it’s better than its predecessor, Internet Explorer 7, I still wouldn't choose Internet Explorer 8 over any of the other, major browsers.

Google Chrome 3.1 - Innovation and Open Source (with a sprinkling of Cheese)

The Good:

• Simple: Google Chrome's Design is made to be simple, and it works!
• Efficient: Google Chrome works fast and easily without many bugs.
• Well Designed: Google Chrome has a simple and easy layout and theme.

The Bad:

• No Widgets or Plug-Ins: The lack of widgets and plug-ins without using developing versions (widgets that haven't been fully tested) limits customisability.
  

Google Chrome is Google’s new internet browser. Coming with hefty promises of “being the future of the web” and “allowing the web to evolve”, one thing that attracts me is that it’s open source, which means that you can access the coding behind the browser. With such big claims and lively ideas, is Google Chrome really the future of the internet?

Features and Design

Google wasn’t keen on the whole internet explorer look – basic and grey. Oh no, Chrome comes with a vibrant blue and white theme. There is a blue bar at the top featuring the tabs (which are always displayed) and the minimize, maximize and close buttons. Going down form there is the main part of the browser, with the two buttons at the right end to access options and the like followed by the URL bar and the forward, back, reload and bookmark buttons. There are options to display the bookmarks bar below that and also to display the home button next to the URL bar. It has themes, which you can download for free but no add-ons on official download unless, I believe, you go on the developer’s channel. That’s one of the good features; Channels. There are three channels; the “Stable” Channel, not updated much, not many things other than the basic set of features. The “Beta” Channel, like a middle ground, with more updates than the “stable” channel and some extra features that are tried and tested already and the “Developer preview” Channel, with a lot more extra downloadable features and it’s updated a lot more often, however, the problem with the “developer preview” channel is that it’s not as stable as the other two and some of the extras can have major flaws, like, maybe, not working at all.

Efficiency

This is meant to be a strong point of Google Chrome, and, to be honest, it is. It works fast and when one of your pages freezes you can choose to “kill the page” and not affect any of your other pages. Also, when one of your pages is running slowly it doesn’t affect the other ones. Security is also decent, and just as good as Safari or Firefox with all the detail and extra options. The options page is easy to understand and still doesn’t lose much of the detail with the more complicated options. To be honest, I can’t think of many major flaws with the efficiency of Google Chrome (and I’m pedantic usually!).

So, to end, Google Chrome has lived up to its reputation. It is a very good browser with themes, a practical layout, a options menu that’s easy to understand (heresy! Burn it!) And lots more that I’ve mentioned in the rest of the review. The only problem is that you can’t get extras or add-ons without going on the “developer preview” channel which isn’t as stable and neither are the extras, and I don’t want to risk it (I don’t know about you, fancy a game of computer coding roulette?).