Why should we pay so much money to software packages like Microsoft Office, Adobe Photoshop, or Norton Antivirus where there are already very good and free alternatives? Today I would like to share my top 5 free software with you:

• Avast! 4 Home Edition – Free Antivirus Software:

According to recent security and privacy researches almost 50% of the PC’s do not have an installed antivirus software. There are a lot of reasons to this. High costs of antivirus software, facing with a lot of problems when installing such a software. It is not a good idea to keep your PC vulnerable where there are thousands of PCs are attacked by viruses every single day.You can use Avast!4 Home Edition antivirus software and keep your PC secure against the latest virus attacks. The only weakness of a free antivirus software is that you download the latest updates a few hours later than the paid subscribers. A few hours delay is not a serious problem when your PC’s security is concerned.

• jZip – a Free WinZiP Alternative:

Are you get bored of using zip softwares like WinZip and WinRar due to being interrupted by a lot of registration notifications? Then you better start using jZip. It is only 2.7 MB long, and takes up little space in your hard drive. Yet still capable of doing every tasks that WinZip and WinRar can do. Why should you use them anymore? You can download it from here: Jzip

• Foxit Reader -an Adobe Reader Alternative:

I get sick of downloading Adobe Reader updates almost every now and then. Since long time I have been looking for a good quality alternative, and I found Foxit Reader. It is capable of doing what Adobe Reader does and takes little space in your hard drive. Why should you bother yourself with never-ending updates of Adobe Reader?

• Paint.Net -a Photoshop Alternative:

Paint.net was started as a .NET improvement project for Windows Paint. Then the project went so well that even Microsoft supported. The final version (v3.36) is a very good alternative of Adobe Photoshop with its filtering and layering capabilities. No need to pay so much money for Adobe Photoshop. This free software is more than enough for most of the PC users. Download PaintNet v3.36

• Open Office Writer – A Microsoft Word Alternative:

Open Office Writer looks very similar to Microsoft  Word. Yet writing an ebook, and converting it to PDF format is a lot easier with this software. Why should you pay for Microsoft Word where there is a free alternative? You may download Open Office by now.

Please share your past experiences with above listed softwares. What are your favorite free applications?

Back in 2008 July, I posted What Is Next For Bloghology and told you that something big is going to happen with the name Bloghology. Then I posted Bloghology – A Way Of Life and give you below information regarding Bloghology:

• Bloghology is going to be the only printed/online/digital magazine for bloggers, writers and Blogging Industry.
• Bloghology will be published every quarter with 40,000+ copies.
• We have just signed a deal with BlogWorldExpo.com. We will be distributing our Special Edition during the expo/conference (2500 copies total) including media coverage form the biggest media agencies.
• Our mission is to add value to bloggers and advertisers. In every issue bloggers will find the most interesting blogging topics like Make Money blogging to SEO tips, whereas the advertisers will find an environment to promote their products.
• Sponsors will find a platform to expose their company to a unique targeted audience in three different media
• Annual subscription is going to be EURO 20 for Europe, EURO 30 for USA and rest of the world.

My new position: Chief Editor of Bloghology:

Well,  I forgot to tell you that I am the chief editor of Bloghology. I spend nearly 5-6 hours everyday  to manage and promote the project. Here is the Bloghology team:

• Vasileios Pasparas
• Ann Smarty
• Stephan Miller
• Louis Liem
• Anne-Marie Nichols
• Prem Shashi
• Ilker Yoldas
• Me

Spread the Word Bloghology, win an iPhone 3G:

While we were discussing with Vasilis Pasparas, the founder and CEO of the Internet conglomerate IGM (Interactive Global Media SRL) and the publisher of Bloghology magazine, we came up with a contest idea to spread the Bloghology word.

We decide to give an iPhone 3G for one lucky reader who helps us spread the word Bloghology. The rules are very simple:

1. Go to http://www.bloghology.org/WHAT-IS-BLOGHOLOGY-ALL-ABOUT.htm
2. Stumble and Digg the post
3. Leave a comment with your name/email/website
4. We will then provide you a number in return
5. We will use www.random.org to pick the winning number
6. The lucky winner will be announced on 15th of September with a separate Bloghology post

How You Can Help Us Spread the Word Bloghology:

These are not necessary to join our contest. However we will still appreciate your support:

• Join Facebook Bloghology group and invite your friends
• Join BlogCatalog Bloghology group and invite your friends
• Join Bloghology Scribd group and invite your friends
• Join Mashable Bloghology group and invite your friends
• You may post about Bloghology and link to http://www.bloghology.org/WHAT-IS-BLOGHOLOGY-ALL-ABOUT.htm
• Follow our Twitter updates: http://twitter.com/bloghologyORG
  

How to Subscribe to Bloghology – Annual Rates

We provide our readers three subscription options:

• Print via Mail – 5 editions/year (Annually EUR 20  within Europe and EUR 30 for USA and rest of the world)
• Interactive Digital Edition accessible online (completely free)
• Both print and Interactive edition

If you are interested in Bloghology, you may subscribe through below link:

Bloghology.org Get Your Subscription TODAY !
Get your Bloghology.org Print Magazine via Postal Mail (In Europe Print Edition is €20/year and for U.S. Canada and rest of the world: Print Edition is €30.00/year)

We hope you enjoy our contest, and help us spread the word Bloghology. Thanks in advance!

Have you ever dreamed of commanding the Web quite naturally as if you are chatting with a friend? Ubiquity, the new experimental Firefox extension,  gives you a powerful new way to interact with the Web.

How it Works?

You are used to tell Firefox where you want to go by typing the Web addresses into the URL bar. Now its time to tell what you want to do with Ubiquity. Just type built-in commands to tell Firefox what you want to do including sending an email to one of your contacts, or searching a term on the Web.

How to Add Ubiquity to Your Firefox?

• First install Ubiquity
• Once you are done, you can start Ubiquity by tapping option-space on the Mac, or control-space if you’re on Windows. Linux is not supported at the moment.
• You’ll then be presented with a transparent black box, with a blinking white cursor, in the upper-left of your browser.
• You can start giving Ubiquity a command by typing something in here and then hitting the Enter key.

Some Ubiquity Commands:

• Search Wikipedia : just type “wikipedia xxxxxxx” where xxxx is the term to be searched
• Send an email to one of your contacts : type “email xxxxx” where xxxx is the name of your contact
• Let’s imagine you have found an interesting quote in one of the Web pages while surfing, and wanted to share it with one of your friends by sending an email. You are free to select part of the page, including pictures, links, or anything else, and then send it to your friend as email. In that case you need to type “email this to xxxxx” where xxxx is the name of your contact. Simply amazing!
• Find a map : Imagine you are going to arrange a job interview session for 100 people, and you want to insert a map for easy access of the candidates.  In that case you need to type type out the address you want to map, then select it and issue “map”. In the preview, you’ll see a thumbnail-size map of the area (from Google Maps).  Then you can click the “insert map in page” link to insert the map into your email. So easy!
• You can get the complete list of commands here:

Conclusion:

It is one of the most exciting and promising Firefox extensions I have ever used. Easy to use, and huge time saver. A must have for Firefox lovers.

Many modern mobile phones come Internet-ready. How about your blog? Does your blog ready for mobile phones?  You need to make sure you have a mobile-friendly version of your blog for maximum coverage. But how? With Ubik you can create a mobile friendly version of your blog in a few simple steps.

How To Work It Out

• Go to Ubik
• On the opening page you will find some examples of sites created with Ubik.
• You should click on a thumbnail to open the web emulator.
• This will allow you to see how the site can be browsed when it goes live.
• Start adding your own content to the pages.
• Switch between pages using the panel on the left.
• When finished, click to publish.
• Register with the site, activate your account
• Finish the publish process
• You will be delivered a URL where it is hosted.

Conclusion:
Bearing in mind millions of people connect Internet via their mobile phones, every serious blogger should consider having a mobile-friendly version of his/her blog. Ubik is a handy tool to manage your mobile-friendly version of your blog.

What’s next in Blogging? I have been thinking about this question for so long time. So long time that I grabbed www.whatsnextinblogging.com domain.  I think I found some answers during RiaTalks (Rich Internet Applications and Web 2.0 Conference in Istanbul) while watching Intel presentation.

First, lets start with some interesting Internet figures I noted during Intel presentation. Today every second:

• 2 new blogs are launched
• 4 cell phones and 7 personal computer are sold
• 1200 videos are uploaded to YouTube
• 11.000 songs are shared
• 2 million e-mails are being sent
• 500.000 people meet Internet for the first time

These are amazing figures. I did not know that there are so many people with no Internet connection all around the globe.

Intel estimates 20% of the computer market will be dominated by Nettops, Netbooks, and Mobile Internet Devices by 2011.

What is Nettop and Netbook?

Nettop is a term introduced by Intel to describe “low-cost” desktop devices. Examples are the Koolu, the ASUS Eee Box, the Linutop, the Zonbu, and the gPC and gPC mini by Everex. It has a counterpart called Netbook.

“Netbooks are “small laptops that are designed for wireless communication and access to the Internet. And they cost about $250, making Netbooks a potentially disruptive and high volume market segment. Even though Netbooks won’t be confused with full-featured laptops, my hunch is that tons of people around the world will be attracted to a low-cost machine that plugs them in. The Netbook will expand the global PC market. By how much is a matter of conjecture.”

—Paul Bergevin, Thoughts on Netbooks

Next in Blogging: Connectivity and Lifestreaming

As the number of mobile Internet devices increase, the number of bloggers will also increase. Most bloggers will be connecting Internet via these machines in a few years time. Connectivity will become vital for bloggers. Honestly none of these devices are appropriate for blogging at this moment. We may see new blogging applications developed for these machines in a few years time.

Lifestreaming is an online record of a person’s daily activities, either via direct video feed or via aggregating the person’s online content such as blog posts, social network updates, and online photos. We may expect an increase in lifestreaming style of blogging during this period.