CrimeCraft is a persistent online action game from Vogster Entertainment. Story: “It began with a disaster unlike any humanity had ever faced. The details of what exactly occurred remain unclear, but its results were rapid and widespread. In the aftermath of this global crisis, the world’s energy reserves were devastated. The magnitude of the predicament faced by humanity was amplified by a series of crippling natural disasters that occurred almost simultaneously with the energy collapse. Worse still, governments around the world drained resources like never before in reaction to these events, but the aid they offered came to little end. Instead of solving the crisis, this gargantuan consumption by the world’s governments exacerbated its effects, leaving millions homeless across the planet.” IGN gave it a 5.6 out of 10 (‘Mediocre’) rating: “There's not a lot about CrimeCraft that would encourage me to recommend it as an alternative to the wealth of cheaper alternatives in the PC catalog. Yes, it's true that most PC shooters don't have the persistent element found in CrimeCraft and, yes, even the upcoming persistent shooters like Combat Arms and Parabellum don't have MMO standards like crafting or guilds, but those additions are so irrelevant in CrimeCraft that it's hard to justify the cost of the disc, the vanity-driven micro-transactions, the in-game ads and the subscription fee. The shooter element may be fun in the short term, but it's ultimately forgettable and not nearly strong enough to make you ignore the unfulfilled potential here.” [IGN | CrimeCraft Review] Probably a good idea to look at other Shooter or Action titles, although a good idea is to try out the game and see for yourself. Technorati Tags: crimecraft, action, shooter, online, game

PeerBlock 1.0+ r187 (Windows, Open Source, 1.86MB) lets you control who your computer "talks to" on the Internet.  By selecting appropriate lists of "known bad" computers, you can block communication with advertising or spyware oriented servers, computers monitoring your p2p activities, computers which have been "hacked", even entire countries!  They can't get in to your computer, and your computer won't try to send them anything either. Changes: Redirectable URLs - From here on in, all Interim Releases will bring you directly to the page for the latest Interim Release when a new version is detected.  Previously, we'd just take you to the Dev Blog and leave you on your own. List Manager UI Tweak - Changed the "Open List" button and the "Open..." right-click menu entry to be "View" instead, to match what we've got up in the top section. No Duplicate Lists - We now should be correctly handling list entries, so that you don't end up with duplicate lists.  This was mostly a problem if you added a list via checkbox and also via the dropdown list. Sorted Lists - Dynamic lists should now be sorted (by description) whenever opening/closing the List Manager. New Tray-menu Items - Added "Help" and "Support" entries to the right-click menu for the system-tray icon, taking you to our online User Manual and Forums sites, respectively. Updated Credits - Updated the credits to make sure everyone who's contributed to PeerBlock 1.0 received the credit they're due. Don't Install Manual - On new installations, the User Manual will no longer be installed locally to your machine.  If you're upgrading from a previous version, the manual files will be deleted. About Window Tweak - The "Launch Homepage" button on the "About" window now takes you to http://www.peerblock.com, instead of our old sites.google.com hosted page. Installer Tweaks - The installer now has a PeerBlock icon!  Also, removed the "License" shortcut from the Start Menu. PeerBlock is a fork of the PeerGuardian2 software. IceRocket Tags: peerblock, windows open source

Z.pe is a URL shortener service that creates shortcuts to regular URLs. We do have quite a lot of these kind of services, but z.pe is one of the shortest ones.

  "Tiny URLs are basically shortcut for long URLs, each tiny URL is mapped to a long URL, when a person visit the tiny URL, s/he will be redirected to the original long URL. Tiny URLs are provided by a third party, such as z.pe, and are usually very short (less than 20 characters including the protocol part). The name Tiny URL can also be credited to TinyURL.com, which was the first popular URL shortening service” [z.pe]

Features:

one of the shortest URL shortening services (u.nu is another) easy to use shortened URL never expires uses 301 redirect based on Google AppEngine, for reliability

Get nice and short URLs in a zip! (or z.pe, rather) Technorati Tags: zpe, url, shortener

Mag.Ma is a portal of popular online videos from various sources, such as Hulu, Vimeo, Dailymotion, and YouTube. It also looks at the top videos at Twitter, IceRocket, StumbleUpon, Digg, Delicious, Reddit, and others.

  “Magma is for exploring, discovering, collecting, sharing, and tracking videos from everywhere.” [mag.ma]

When you sign up for the service, you will get your own public channel page, which facilitates sharing of your favorite videos with friends. Technorati Tags: magma, top video

uTorrent 1.8.4 Build 16150 (Windows, Freeware, 282KB) [alt DL] is an efficient and feature rich BitTorrent client for Windows sporting a very small footprint. Changes: Feature: Enabled magnet bundles. Change: run the 64 bit version of explorer when running as a 32 bit app in a 64 bit windows os. Change: disable toolbar offers for Wine installs Change: uninstaller is added to all user profiles Fix: crash when assigning new label to torrents from RSS Change: Incomplete downloads sort after completed downloads if sorting by "Completed On" Fix: maintain category list selection on update for some edge cases Change: if selected, install start menu and desktop shortcuts to all users instead of only current user Fix: buffer overrun vulnerability in create torrent dialog Fix: Check at startup for incompatible versions of NVIDIA nForce firewall IceRocket Tags: utorrent, bittorrent, windows freeware

Untiny.me is a webapp that extracts the original URL from the shortened one, revealing just where it is you are headed to.

“The main reason of Untiny is that some of the tiny services are blocked in some countries although the original long URL is not blocked. Untiny retrieves the original URL so you can access it – if it is not blocked too.” [Untiny]

Also, this webapp can help you determine if the shortened link is actually the site you really wanted to go to, and not some shady deal or offensive graphic. Technorati Tags: untiny, webapp, url, unshorten

ZumoDrive.com provides cloud technology for online backup, sharing, and web access for Windows XP, Vista, OS X Tiger and Leopard.

“ZumoDrive uses its patent-pending Hybrid Cloud techonology to deliver unlimited storage on any computer or smartphone. It performs like a local drive, but with unlimited storage. With ZumoDrive you get access to your entire media collections. You also get access to all of your content even when you are offline.” [ZumoDrive]

The service gives you the 1GB Plan for free. If you’d like more than that, other plans are available: 10GB, 25GB, 50GB, 100GB, 200GB, and 500GB. These non-free plans are cost from US$2.99 to  $79.99 per month. Technorati Tags: zumodrive, cloud storage, online, backup

Spymaster [playspymaster.com] is a free-to-join social game that is based on Twitter.

“Each player becomes a master of a spy ring based upon their Twitter followers list. The more people that follow you and are playing characters in Spymaster, the more powerful your network will be. As a spymaster, you can perform tasks or attack other spymasters on Twitter. With each successful attempt, you will gain virtual currency and points that allow you to grow even stronger.” [Spymaster]

This is another good reason to be on Twitter. If you like, you can add me (http://twitter.com/ced) on Twitter, so we could be on the same spy ring.
Technorati Tags: spymaster, social, game, twitter

PreSwitcher.com is a website that gives you anything and everything about the Palm Pre smartphone.

“Pre Switcher intends to provide the latest news on the Palm Pre aggregated from the top Pre enthusiast sites and technology news sites. It also intends to focus on helping current mobile phone users transition to the Palm Pre.” [Pre Switcher]

Already have the Palm Pre, or still thinking of getting one? PreSwitcher.com is definitely a great resource. Technorati Tags: palm, pre, smartphone

Yahoo! 360º, a personal communication portal by Yahoo that includes blogging services, will be closing up shop on July 13, 2009. After July 12, all users of the service will not have access to anything on 360º. Make sure to save or download your existing content before July 13, 2009. On this date, all remaining material on Yahoo! 360° will no longer be accessible. [Yahoo! 360º]

This makes one think if our current favorite blogging service will still be there in the future. Would WordPress.com and Blogger.com stay alive and kicking as long as we wished? Technorati Tags: yahoo, 360, blog

WolframAlpha.com is an online service that gives you answers on your questions or calculations. Wolfram|Alpha’s long-term goal is to make all systematic knowledge immediately computable and accessible to everyone. We aim to collect and curate all objective data; implement every known model, method, and algorithm; and make it possible to compute whatever can be computed about anything. [wolframalpha.com]

You can enter dates, places, company names, calculations, formulas, etc., and you’ll get answers and computations. If you like, you can customize your web browser with toolbars or search engine add-ons, or incorporate gadgets on your desktop. Technorati Tags: wolframalpha, compute, knowledge, engine

HostMonk.com is a service that lets you search and compare hosting packages and services easily.

  “Choosing a hosting service is a decision that will affect the way you work and impact your customers’ experience. The choice should not be made on the basis of which provider buys the largest banners or spends more money getting your attention. The choice should be made according to the facts. HostMonk is committed to bringing you a thorough index of the world of hosting services. We present the facts for you to make your decision. What you see is impartial, based on the cold hard facts with nothing added or removed.” [HostMonk]

Currently, the service compares 2330 Dedicated Hosting packages, and 188 VPS Hosting packages. You can choose which type of server you need (Linux, Windows, Affordable, High-End, Managed, Unmanaged), and sort them according to Monthly Price, Disk Space, Memory, Bandwidth, CPU Type, and Management. Technorati: hostmonk, web host comparison

Checkvist.com is an online service that provides you with a collaborative outliner and task list manager app.

“With Checkvist you can easily work with multiple outlines or hierarchical to-do lists. Extensive use of keyboard navigation and shortcuts allows you to create an outline exactly with your typing speed.” [Checkvist]

The service supports keyboard shortcuts, so you can enter your ideas fast and easy. Checklists can be shared with other users, allowing some collaboration. You can also import or export outlines using plain text, HTML, OPML, and other formats. Technorati: checkvist, outliner, task list, to do       

NiceCritic.com is an online service that lets you send “hints” or “caring advice” to people anonymously via email.

“NiceCritic.com is a way of communicating difficult thoughts comfortably. This free service gives users the ability to say something to someone that has been on their minds in a safe, non-embarrassing environment.” [NiceCritic.com]

To use the service, just visit the site, pick an appropriate “thought bubble”, and send it to the intended recipient. Technorati: nicecritic, anonymous email       

OpenVPN 2.1 RC15 (Windows, Open Source, 1.8MB) [alt DL] is a full-featured SSL VPN solution which can accommodate a wide range of configurations, including remote access, site-to-site VPNs, WiFi security, and enterprise-scale remote access solutions with load balancing, failover, and fine-grained access-controls. IceRocket: openvpn ssl vpn, windows open source

WipeeList.com is an online application that helps you get in control of your tasks. “What exactly is Wipee List? In short: a to-do list manager. In long: it’s a webapp that helps you prioritize your current tasks to increase your productivity and get things done faster than ever before.” [Wipee List]

You can also link your Twitter account with Wipee List, letting you add or delete items on your list. Technorati: wipee list online to-do       

WhoIsHostingThis.com lets you find out what service provider is hosting a specific site.

“Most webmaster tools struggle with one simple question: who really hosts a website? … Knowing the real web host is invaluable if you need to issue a DMCA complaint, libel papers or report a DDoS attack as a matter of urgency. WIHT uses several data sources to provide more accurate results.” [WhoIsHostingThis]

You just enter the domain name of the site you want info about, and it will give you the following details:

IP address Service provider Nameservers list Title, Meta Description, and Meta Keywords

This is useful for knowing more “inside” info about your favorite (or not so favorite) website. Technorati: whoishosting this host info query       

Windows Live Writer 2009 Beta (Windows, Freeware) makes it easy to share your photos and videos on almost any blog service—Windows Live, Wordpress, Blogger, Live Journal, TypePad, and many more. Changes: Search Local Drafts and Published Posts Include Multiple Pictures At Once Live Tag Suggestions IceRocket: windows live writer 2009, windows freeware

KidZui.com is a kid’s browser with access to over a million websites, pictures and videos reviewed by teachers and parents like you.

“KidZui does not create content. It comes from all over the Internet - over a million kid-friendly websites, videos and pictures and it’s growing every day. KidZui is built by real people who care about kids. Over 200 trained teachers and parents have reviewed and approved sites, videos and pictures using a rigorous content selection process. And our reviewers don’t just approve content, they categorize it for age-appropriateness and by topic.” [KidZui]

Parents will receive a weekly email reports that will keep them up-to-date with what their kids are surfing on the internet. The Free Account gives parents the following features:

Add individual websites Parent Account access E-mailed reports of your kid’s online activity Kid’s online activity graphed for 30 days Top 10 recently viewed content of your kid’s activity Accounts include all the kids in your family

KidZui can be one of the tools that can make the Internet safer for our kids. IceRocket : internet browser, kidzui, parental control       

KidZui.com is a kid’s browser with access to over a million websites, pictures and videos reviewed by teachers and parents like you.

“KidZui does not create content. It comes from all over the Internet - over a million kid-friendly websites, videos and pictures and it’s growing every day. KidZui is built by real people who care about kids. Over 200 trained teachers and parents have reviewed and approved sites, videos and pictures using a rigorous content selection process. And our reviewers don’t just approve content, they categorize it for age-appropriateness and by topic.” [KidZui]

Parents will receive a weekly email reports that will keep them up-to-date with what their kids are surfing on the internet. The Free Account gives parents the following features:

Add individual websites Parent Account access E-mailed reports of your kid’s online activity Kid’s online activity graphed for 30 days Top 10 recently viewed content of your kid’s activity Accounts include all the kids in your family

KidZui can be one of the tools that can make the Internet safer for our kids. IceRocket : internet browser, kidzui, parental control