Windows announced yesterday through its Windows Team Blog the three editions or versions of Windows 8 when it becomes available in the market.

At first, when I first heard about Windows 8, I thought it will become available only in touch screen PCs or tablets only. I was wrong because Windows 8 can be used with keyboard, mouse or touch screen – and switch anytime.

The first version of Windows 8 is the Windows 8 itself. This basic edition includes updated Windows Explorer, Task Manager, better multi-monitor support and the ability to switch languages “on the fly”.

Windows 8 Pro is another edition of Windows 8 to be released which is designed for tech zealots and business professionals. It includes features of Windows 8 plus features for encryption, virtualization, PC management and domain connectivity.

Windows 8 and Windows 8 Pro both run in 32- and 64-bit devices.

The third edition and the newest in the Windows family is the Windows RT (RT means Runtime) - also known as Windows on ARM or WOA. This edition will only be available pre-installed on PCs and tablets powered by ARM processors designed by Texas Instruments, Qualcomm and Nvidia. Included in the pre-installed package will be a touchscreen optimized version of Microsoft Office, which includes Word, Excel, Powerpoint and OneNote.

The table below shows key features of Windows 8 by edition:

Looking for a free Twitter Management Software? Here’s for you.

Twitter management software is a tool that puts your Twitter activities in automation. In short, it can automatically do your tweets, retweets, follow back and unfollowing, and direct messaging.

There are numbers of Twitter management software available for download in the internet but most of them are not free. You have to pay for their license. There are free applications, however, but mostly, they are web-based only.

However, there’s a twitter management software that you can download and use for free. Yes, it’s for free and, personally speaking, one of the reliable twitter management applications. It is called MarketMeSuite.

I once used MarketMeSuite but during those times, it was a paid one. I think the price before was $5 per month and I only used it for a couple of months.

And recently, I received an email from MarketMeSuite informing me that this application is now 100% free. With my amazement, I downloaded the apps again and installed it in my PC. See below how the interface looks like:

What can we do with MarketMeSuite?

Some of the features of this application are as follows:

• Update Twitter, Facebook & Many more using Ping.fm
• Take advantage of the increased Twitter Api Rate
• ReTweet in the style you want – Twitter Style or YOUR Style
• Manage your conversations, @replies and Direct Messages Easily
• Manage multiple Twitter and Facebook Accounts with Ease
• Use Scheduling to save time and effort for more important things
• Geo Target your Twitter Campaigns to find Local Connections
• Allow multiple users to login to MarketMeSuite at any time
• Receive a daily email on your mentions of the day
• Use any Google Calendar supported device to schedule on the go
• Get more clicks back to your website by setting up a Facebook Signature
• Schedule, Manage and post scheduled Facebook Updates
• Search for and keep persistent searches for topics, editable for each column
• Use a variety of different URL shorteners with more being added all the time
• Connect with people all over the world, or local with our unique targeting features
• Your data, settings, and accounts will all be synced ready to go on any computer
• Say “No!” to Twitter spam, can it right inside our app using Twitter Spam Features
• Auto Direct Messages to get networking as soon as you’ve followed back
• We use OAuth secure encryption, your Twitter logins stay private
• Ping.fm integration to message other social networks in one swoop
• Organize your Tweets with Dotted Content – Perfect for Team Collaboration
• Monitor your progress with Klout integration – see how YOUR social influence increases using MarketMeSuite

If you’re planning to expand your influence by getting more followers in Twitter and don’t want to spend even a single dollar, MarketMeSuite is for you.

Get MarketMeSuite for free now!

Should you have queries about MarketMeSuite, just leave your message in the comment box below and we’ll do our best answer them as soon as possible.

I know…This post is quite late now. I just can’t help but post this video I found in YouTube and bring tribute to a legend, an icon, Mr. Steve Jobs.

Many will miss you for sure.

Rest in peace, Steve Jobs. What a JOB well done.

If you’re looking for websites that offers free download of Photoshop Plugins and Filters, this blog post is for you.

Here are the lists of websites where you can freely download plugins and filters for your Photoshop projects:

1. Plugins World – Directory of plugins for Photosho
2. Richard Roseman Plugin Downloads
3. Cybia – Plugin Filters – The Works Series
4. Photoshop Filters Factory
5. The Plugin Site
6. Mehdi – Plugins Photoshop
7. Xero Graphics: Freeware plugins
8. freephotoshop.com – Adobe Photoshop Plugins and Filters
9. Techno Target
10. Photoshop Tutorials Blog
11. Free Photoshop Brushes and Plugins | PhotoshopSupport.com
12. Telegraphics – Free plugins for Photoshop
13. Adobe Photoshop Plugins DIRECTORY | PhotoshopSupport.com
14. Plugins – Photo-Plugins
15. The Plugin Site – Adobe Photoshop plugins and filters
16. Telegraphics – Free plugins for Photoshop and Illustrator
17. Little Ink Pot – Free Plugins
18. HDR photo software and plugins
19. VanDerLee – Plug-ins
20. Red-Field Photoshop Plugins
21. Luce site
22. Pog’s Notes » Plugins
23. Adobe – Adobe Photoshop CS3: Plug-ins
24. AFH Systems Group – Plug-ins
25. Mysterious Ways (Almathera Plug-in Collection)

If you know other websites that offer free download of PS plugins and filters, please leave a comment below and we’ll add it here.

Source: Speckyboy – Design Magazine

Adapter is a freeware (100% free) that can convert any file type to other file type. Meaning you can convert a wav audio format to an mp3 format, avi to mp4 (video) and png to jpeg (picture or image).

You can even download YouTube videos, convert them and save them directly to your iPod, iPhone or Blackberry with ease.

Let’s see some of its features:

Convert video to iPhone, iPod, PSP & Blackberry

No more configuration needed. Simply select your favorite device from the list and then click convert. No mess isn’t it?

Copy video to iPod, iPhone and iTunes

Easily transfer video to your devices with its built-in iTunes import feature.

Convert anything to anything

Adapter supports the following formats: 3g2, 3gp, 4xm, RoQ, ac3, alaw, asf, asf_stream, au, audio_dice, avi, crc, daud, dc1394, s, dv, dv1394, dvd, ea, ffm, film_cpk, flic, flv, gif, h261, h263, h264, idcin, image, image2, image2pipe, imagepipe, ipmovie, m4v, matroska, mjpeg, mmf, mov, mov, mp4, m4a, 3gp, 3g2, mp2, mp3, mp4, mpeg, mpeg1video, mpeg2video, mpegts, mpegvideo, mpjpeg, mulaw, nsv, null, nut, ogg, psp, psxstr, rawvideo, redir, rm, rtp, rtsp, s16be, s16le, s8, sdp, shn, sol, svcd, swf, u16be, u16le, u8, vcd, video4linux, vmd, vob, wav, wc3movie, wsaud, wsvqa, yuv4mpegpipe

Preview files in real time as they are converted

You can track in real time the progress of conversion through its preview window. So no more wild guessing of how far along your conversion is.

View and preview files

Preview files before and after they have been converted through its built in video playback feature.

Advanced options

Both novice and pro users will surely enjoy using Adapter. If you need to convert a file to a specific frequency, resolution or frame rate, Adapter can handle it.

Drag and drop files and URLs

If you can see the file or URL path, it’s just a drag, drop and click of the convert button away from the format of your choice.

Automatic updates

Keep up-to-date with the latest version of Adapter.

I have already installed this tiny software and all I can say it’s very light and practical. It won’t eat much of your memory and hard disk.

You may download Adapter for free from the Adapter website.

Globe Telecoms, in parthership with Nokia Philippines, relaunched the CodeSpark program. This program, according to Globe Labs, aims to provide incentives for developers to build new and innovative applications running on Nokia devices. The best applications are distributed in Globe and Nokia Ovi Stores.

What’s the catch with this program? Every successful application that will be published and distributed on the Ovi Store will be awarded with $1,000. Big prize, isn’t it?

If you are interested to join, make sure that the application should be built using QT or Java MIDP platform and must be educational in nature.

To learn more about this program, please visit Globe Labs’ website.

Angry Birds became one of my favorite games in my Coby Kyros tablet. I even finished all of its levels or stages in less than a day. Can you do that?

I am not going to discuss how to finish this game in less than a day, though. I only want to share about the Pomplamoose’s version of the Angry Birds’ theme song. If you loved the theme song of Plants vs. Zombies, I’m sure you will also love this Angry Birds theme song by Pomplamoose.

The entire  VideoSong was filmed with a Samsung Infuse 3G phone.

Pomplamoose, on the other hand, via Wikipedia, is an American indie music duo with multi-instrumentalists Jack Conte and Natalie Dawn Knutsen, performing under the name Nataly Dawn. The band formed in the summer of 2008 and sold approximately 100,000 songs online in 2009.

Their videos mostly take the form of “VideoSongs”, a medium Jack Conte defines with two rules:

1. What you see is what you hear. (No lip-syncing for instruments or voice)
2. If you hear it, at some point you see it. (No hidden sounds)

Even the banging the head on the piano bit (0:37 on the video). That’s the real sound according to Pomplamoose.

I was inspired when I read a news about Earth hour that will be observed on Saturday, March 26, from 8:30 – 9:30 in the evening. I am happy that even the government officials and some personalities, not only in the Philippines but all over the world, are encouraging people not just to turn off their lights but go beyond what is expected to do.

Organized by the World Wildlife Foundation (WWF) in Sydney, Australia four years ago, Earth Hour is now a worldwide phenomenon. Yearly, millions of people are participating in this event by turning off their lights to show their love for our Mother Earth.

This year, the Earth Hour goes techie. WWF has partnered with a Leo Burnett Group to come up with an iPhone app, called 60+, that is meant to encourage the user to think about ways to help the environment for the rest of the year.

According to Manila Bulletin, the app is meant to work in almost the same way as location-based apps; users are given certain eco-friendly tasks they have to accomplish (like using a fan instead of air-conditioning) and the more tasks they accomplish, the more merit badges they get.

Cool, isn’t it?

Earth Hour this year here in the Philippines will take place tomorrow , Saturday, March 26 from 8:30 to 9:30 PM.

Yesterday, I received a newsletter from Mozilla with a big image and statement that says “Firefox 4 is here” (see image below). I can’t recall about hearing this version 4 of Firefox before. Anyway, I was thankful that I subscribed to the newsletter so I was informed immediately of this latest news about Firefox.

This release of the latest Firefox version happened few days after Microsoft released the Internet Explorer version 9.

I immediately installed Firefox 4 in my laptop (Internet Explorer 9 was installed in my laptop when it became available in the the internet few days ago). See how does Firefox 4 look like:

Mozilla Firefox 4 boasts the following features:

• Browsing made easy
• High performance
• Advanced security
• Powerful personalization
• The cutting edge
• Universal access

However, I just observed that the interface of Mozilla 4 (and the Internet Explorer 9) resembles that of Google Chrome. I bet you will agree on this.

If you want to try it, you may download Mozilla Firefox 4 here.

During our training with my new online job in Dusit Thani Hotel, I heard from our trainer various accounting software that they are using in their office in Australia. There are Quickbooks, MYOB, Quicken and online accounting software like Saasu and Xero. I am familiar with the first three programs but never heard about online accounting software before.

With my first assignment with this Australian accounting firm, luckily enough, the client assigned to me would be using Saasu in their July 2010-June 2011 fiscal year, previously they were using MYOB.

Saasu Homepage

I have actually opened my free account with Saasu and Xero but I haven’t explored the two that much. And since I would be using Saasu first in my first assignment, Xero will be discussed in another post. By the way, the free account with Saasu, gives you the liberty to enter 20 transactions per month. Very limited in numbers but enough for those who are testing the product as you can use features that is available to the paid plans.

I forgot to mention that the main market of Saasu is Australia and New Zealand. However, Philippines and other countries’ accounting set-up like sales tax, is already programmed in Saasu. Actually, when you create an account with Saasu, one of the options that you need to set up is the Tax Zone. I chose Philippine, of course, as my Tax Zone and when I looked onto the tax code inside my account, I saw 2 types of VAT options – the Vat (12%) and Vat free (0%). The equivalent of Value-Added Tax (VAT) in Australia is Goods and Services Tax (GST).

Today, what I did with Saasu of our new client was importing of Chart of Accounts and setting up GST tax code to each relevant account. You can import chart of accounts in different format: Banklink (CSV), Spreadsheet (CSV), MYOB and Xero (CSV). I used Spreadsheet (CSV) format. My first try was unsuccessful because the structure of the file is not in accordance with Saasu. So to avoid this, you need to export the spreadsheet CSV structure from Saasu.

I cannot discuss everything about Saasu in this post so I decided to make succeeding posts of my experiences with this accounting software. But you can take Saasu’s Online Accounting tour to have an overview of its features and specifications.