ICQ 6.5

ICQ 6.5 provides users with an innovative communication experience and enables quick and simple interaction among users across all communication platforms. ICQ Open Xtraz are web-based applications developed by ICQ users for enriching your ICQ 6.5 experience. Want to write to your friends? Talk to them? Just stare at their face? You can do it all! ICQ 6.5 lets you use each communication panel separately, or to do it all in a single window. ICQ now offers a fun new way to communicate--the Zlango way. Zlango is a universal icon language constructed of expressive visual icons that can be used instead of plain words in every instant message you send. Zlango on ICQ is available in 15 languages.

ZoneAlarm 8.0.065

From ZoneAlarm:

ZoneAlarm is designed to protect your DSL- or cable-connected PC from hackers. This program includes four interlocking security services: a firewall, an application control, an Internet lock, and Zones. The firewall controls the door to your computer and allows only traffic you understand and initiate. The Internet lock blocks Internet traffic while your computer is unattended or while you're not using the Internet, and it can be activated automatically with your computer's screensaver or after a set period of inactivity. Zones monitor all activity on your computer and alert you when a new application attempts to access the Internet.

Version 8.0.065 improved performance during computer startup, shutdown and operation and addressed specific stability and quality issues.

Snow Player 1.00

Now Player is a tiny, fast, stable, reliable, and completely freeware mediaplayer. Works under all Windows versions. It plays all common well-known audio, video and image formats, internet radio streams (mp3, ogg, wma/asx) playback, built-in scripting interpreter giving to you complete control under player, built-in audio grabber allows you to record up to an hour or more in one click, internal simplest cd burner to burn your music to a CD-R/RW and bring to car audio, ID3 and CUE tags supported, remote IR control using emulated winamp api and any 3rd party software, that controls winamp, multimedia keyboards support, freeform skins, internal messages exchange, extra plugins are strongly extends functionality, own user-defined QuickClick menu to access your favorite actions, automatic codec detection and downloading, and much much more features. Easily runs from usb pendrive or direct from cd/dvd disk. And doesn't requires any installation.

VDownloader 0.83

From Enrique Puertas:

Search for videos in sites like YouTube, DailyMotion, Yahoo, Megaupload, or Google at the same time. You can watch, download, or save videos with just one click. Its embedded meta search engine makes VDownloader different from other download managers. It searches at the same time in the most popular video sites so you will easily find the video you were looking for. Another strong point is the amount of different output formats: It can download and save videos in: AVI, MPG, MP4, iPhone-iPod, PSP, 3GP for mobile phones, DVD-VCD, MP3 (extracting audio from videos). VDownloader is also a powerful video converter with multilingual support (English, Spanish, French, Dutch, Italian, Polish, Czech, Slovak and Japanese.

Version 0.83 fixes problems with YouTube titles and DailyMotion videos.

Trillian 3.1.12

After nearly two years, Trillian is back to claim its rightful title as king of all chat clients. Version 3 offers a completely overhauled interface, tabbed chatting, enhanced messaging functionality, improved file transfers, and a new Instant Lookup feature. The program offers simultaneous access to the fab-five chat clients: Yahoo Messenger, MSN Messenger, ICQ, mIRC, and AIM. By importing your passwords, buddy lists, and client preferences into its own interface, Trillian acts as a hub for all your chat traffic.

Installation and setup are simple, and the included features are useful. You can check supported e-mail accounts with one click, view detailed event logs for each client, and, of course, chat. Plus, each supported chat client has options such as video and voice messaging, SMS support, and file transfers. Trillian also offers skin support, although they can be a bit testy to install. While you'll occasionally lose contact with AIM, that's AOL's fault. Credit Trillian for fixing these blocks quickly.

The best thing about Trillian is that it's absolutely free--there's no adware or functionality limitations. So if you need help managing your schizophrenic chatting identity, this puppy's for you.

Silverlight 3 debuts ahead of Friday's launch

The final version of Silverlight 3 has been released to the Web, a day ahead of the product's launch event in San Francisco.

The release, noted by enthusiast site Neowin, marks Microsoft's latest effort to take on Adobe's Flash.

Microsoft detailed Silverlight 3 at the Mix09 event in March, releasing a beta version of the software.

Among the product's new features is technology that allows the software to utilize a PC's hardware to accelerate graphics processing. It also allows for programs that run outside a browser on both the PC and Mac.

NBC has said it will use Silverlight to broadcast the 2010 Winter Olympics from Vancouver. The technology will allow the Games to be broadcast in 720p HD quality as well as provide a TiVo-like ability to pause and rewind a live stream.