AllMyApps – The App Store for PC owners.

If there is one word that sums up what people love about computers these days, that word has got to be apps.

Because apps are everywhere and for just about everything, apps for productivity, apps for the office, apps for games, apps for maps, and probably apps for laps, gaps, raps and naps.

But so far it is Apple who are synonymous with the rise of the planets of the apps and it was only a few weeks ago Apple triumphantly announced its 15th Billion app download.

Admittedly most of those have been for iPhones and iPads through the iTunes store, but Apple also launched a very successful dedicated App Store for its Mac computers too.

But if you don’t have a Mac and you ‘just’ own a PC with Microsoft Windows as your operating system, you may have been feeling a bit left out lately, where are all the apps for you?

Well I’ll tell you. They’re all collected on a website called AllMyApps, it’s the closest Windows equivalent of the Apple App Store there is and best of all…practically all of those apps are free.

Now of course as an independent website it isn’t quite as slick as iTunes or the Apple App Store but it’s all set out by category, name and icon and just by hovering over an icon a handy little dialog box pops up to tell you all about that App, along with its star rating. Actually that’s a better feature than what the Apple App Store gives you.

And also conveniently it places the most popular apps in any particular category first and foremost, an endorsement from all those before you that those are the Apps you really ought to consider downloading.

Apps like CCLeaner for instance, in the Utilities category, a brilliant way to regularly clean out the crappy unused files on your PC and generally speed it up.

And in Security, there’s the most popular free anti-virus program around in the form of AVG Anti-Virus. If you don’t have Nortons, Kaspersky, Mcafee or the like on your PC, hurry, download it while you still have a computer to use.

In fact whatever the app, if it’s made for Windows this is the perfect one-stop shop to find it, whether you looking for a specific app like Skype or just browsing for a particular task you need fulfilling and you want to see all the options in one place.

To top it off, AllMyApps is also its own app, which automatically collates all your other Apps or Program on your PC, whether downloaded from AllMyApps or not, will alert you whenever they’re updated, and install that update for you.

For yet more features of everything AllMyApps can do they’ve even created a video about it.

So I urge you, do have a look at AllMyApps and you can use the following link, Allmyapps App Store to take you there. It’s worth it just to see all the free goodies that are available for your PC, you don’t necessarily have to download anything now.

Because if this is the age of the app, this is one place you’re bound to enjoy many appy returns to.
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Angry Birds – Now you can play it in a browser.

Y’know, it used to be that the only Angry Birds I ever knew was when I’d tread on their handbag dancing down Ritzy’s on a Saturday night. Although I’ll be honest, they were never that friendly even when I wasn’t stamping on their fake designer bag and I just tried talking to them.

But these days Angry Birds also equates to something else. Because with 300 million downloads on iPads, iPhones and other clever devices, there are a lot of people very familiar with an entirely different kind of Angry Birds, the game.

Me, I’m certainly well acquainted with it, because I’ve got an iPod Touch and for the 59p that I spent to download Angry Birds it is simultaneously the best value of anything I’ve ever purchased and positively the most costly, time robbing, counter-productive thing I ever, ever did.

The hours I’ve enjoyed/wasted catapulting little birds at green pigs, wooden planks, glass panels and stone slabs I wouldn’t like to calculate but it is the epitome of a ‘one more go game’. Only usually I’m saying those words to myself over and over again and still been bloody playing.

In fact I’ve deliberately allowed my iPod battery to drain down to nothing so I couldn’t have one more go.

Only now I can’t even rely on that fail-safe because they’ve only gone and made a version for the browser as well. And viciously they’ve even made it totally free, the bastards.

That’s right, now anyone has access to Angry Birds, although for this new browser based version they’d like you to think it’s available in only one particular browser, that being Google Chrome. Actually it plays exactly the same in Firefox 4 and above, Safari and IE 9, it just has the Chrome branding all over it still.

Where the Chrome exclusivity does kick however is that you can download it as an Chrome app (the fancy name for add-on these days) and then you can play it offline as well.

You have to hand it to Google, if a multi-million pound promotional campaign isn’t enough for people to adopt Chrome, hooking them in with the gaming equivalent of Crack is a credible Plan B.

Not that they really need it, already embraced by 20% of computer users in the UK, Chrome is an excellent browser, secure, stable, with thousands of cool add-ons but most crucially, it is very fast.

If you don’t have it yet, perhaps you should, you can download Google Chrome here.

But what of Angry Birds itself, and its hours of fun/frustration. Well to play it directly in Google Chrome, or the other browsers I mentioned, all you need to do is to click this link – Angry Birds for Chrome.

You’ll soon get the hang of the controls, zoom in and out with your mouse scroll wheel, or the up and down arrows of your keyboard, and use your cursor to pull back on the catapult. Don’t worry it will all make sense when you’re there.

Oh and look out for the Chrome logo in later levels to aim at and unlock some extra Chrome inspired levels (you can still play them on any browser though). To download the offline app for Chrome, you’ll see the link featured prominently anyway.

Whatever method you choose, if you’ve been curious to play Angry Birds but not had the right gadget before, this is your chance. At least it’s something different to playing Solitaire when you should be working.

But if you do start playing it, may I just say two things.

Enjoy it and I’m very, very sorry.

Prostopleer – What’s the Russian for free music downloads?

You know what a sure sign of success on the net is, it’s when your name isn’t just a name anymore, it becomes a verb.

And we’ve certainly had that with Spotify when it comes to listening and building up a collection of free streaming music via the web.

It’s been great and still is. But once they realised that building our music libraries while they lost millions every month was not the best business model, things changed a bit. Because now with their free accounts limited to just 10 hours a month, the Spotify music gravytrain may not have come of the rails completely but we’ve definitely lost a carriage or two over the side.

So in that case, what else can we hitch our musical caboose to?

Well, there’s always We7. Not the service it used to be with its unlimited free requests for artists and songs (although you can still have 50 specific requests a month after you register), We7 has changed to an exclusively ‘Radio’ based format. And while I think it’s probably the best at that type of service, it does spoil the goodwill rather with just a few too many adverts.

And then there’s Grooveshark, the biggest free streaming music player available from the States. All request based I’m pleased to say with lots tracks and features although unfortunately there’s still no getting away from the ads. However once you get past a big advert on the front page, for something American it’s not too bad ad wise.

But if you prefer your free music players to be just about playing the free music without the big intrusive images, I have another option for you.

It’s called Prostopleer, it’s Russian and apart from Roman Abramovich’s millions if you’re a Chelsea fan like me, it might just be the best Russian export since Vodka.

Because what you get is a very cool, very minimal but very slick streaming music service that makes it a doddle to search for your favorite songs. And should you take the few seconds necessary to register with Prostopleer you can then drag and drop them into any number of playlists you create. The quality of the music is great and while not everything is on there, I’ve found plenty of tracks that Spotify and We7 don’t have.

Mind you, that might have something to do with the way Prostopleer gets its music, since it allows its users to upload new tracks to it and for that matter download those songs as well….for free.

Now whether you do that is up to you, I’m just saying that it’s a feature over and above its entirely safe music streaming. But I did my due diligence before writing this, ok I Googled for half an hour, and I found no bad reviews for it at all, reviews I could read in English anyway. Look, I’m just trying to cover my arse here.

I will categorically tell you though that I’m using Prostopleer a lot. If you’ve previously focused on Spotify it’s a great unlimited music alternative. And don’t be put off if it displays in its native Russian when first loaded, down the bottom of the page there’s an option to quickly toggle the user friendly English version.

I still don’t know though what Prostopleer itself means, to me it sounds more like a cure for male prostate problems. What I do know is that you should definitely dip your finger in.

Go on, perform your own examination now at the Prostopleer website.

Invisible Hand – The money saver you’ll want to see.

Right then my friends, since we all like absolutely the best deal when shopping online, I shall now tell you about the easiest way of ensuring you get it.

And I am talking about yet another browser add-on but handily this one comes not just for Firefox but several other popular browser flavours as well, so even all you stubborn Internet Explorer diehards are in luck this time.

Of course, luck like that is similar to only winning a tenner on the lottery compared to the veritable jackpot of add-ons if you are an enlightened Firefox convert.

Anyway leaving all that aside for now, time to get back to the subject at hand, in this instance an Invisible Hand, the name of this terrific little money saving extra.

A curious name admittedly but I guess it’s because it acts as your unseen scout scouring most of the very biggest shopping sites comparing prices, then either confirming the site you’re on has the cheapest deal or pointing you towards the one that does.

So granted, at heart it’s a just a price comparison tool but what sets Invisible Hand apart is its ease and convenience, all YOU need to do is shop normally.

I’ll give you a scenario, say you’re on Amazon looking at the page of the latest shoot ’em up game for your XBox 360

Well, after a few seconds of contemplation, Invisible Hand will smoothly slide in from the top of your browser and tell you whether Amazon does indeed boast the best price for death and destruction on an apocalyptic scale, OR whether any of the other UK retailers it monitors has a better deal.

It will specify exactly how much the saving is and just for swank even provide a link directly to your item on that cheaper site. Now you’ll never pay more than necessary to blow shit up again!

Honestly, while Invisible Hand doesn’t cover all categories of items yet, getting it is a no-brainer. If you shop online at all you’d be mad to miss the potential savings for electronics, software, games, music, books and even girlie stuff like cosmetics from companies such as Boots, Asda, John Lewis, Argos, PC World, HMV and of course Amazon.

So I urge you, if you know what’s good for you, go to the Invisible Hand website now to download it.

It may be called Invisible Hand but for online shopping the savings it provides are obvious.

BasketBuster. Online shopping vouchers the easy way.

How would you like to be at the start of the the next big thing when it comes to saving money online?

To have immediate and easy access to voucher codes for hundreds of shopping websites, including many of the biggest like Amazon, all at the click of a button on your browser.

To be in fact, pioneers of an application that could soon be adopted by millions, but is still so brand new that I’m the first to write about it.

Well now’s your chance, but you won’t just be doing yourself a huge favour, you’ll be doing me one as well.

Because the reason I am the first to write about this hopefully soon to be ubiquitous application, a new browser add-on called BasketBuster, is that I’ve actually been involved in its development.

Only with some graphics and web design admittedly, not with the really clever background stuff but nevertheless I think it’s a great concept and it can’t fail to be a success.

But what makes BasketBuster so good then?

Well, it’s the easiest way to save money online with voucher codes yet.

That’s because you don’t have to go looking for those elusive codes yourself, with the BasketBuster browser add-on installed you can instantly see if a site has any special voucher offers thanks to a new colour coded icon right next to your address bar.

If it’s green then you’re in luck, there are voucher codes available…and it will even tell you of any competitor offers as well. If it’s amber the site you’re on doesn’t have any codes but BasketBuster will tell you of those other sites that do. And with a red icon, frankly you can forget about any offers, there are none.

But hey, at least you know you’re not losing out and you needn’t bother wasting time searching for non-existent voucher codes.

Although that’s just half of it, because if you do get a green or amber light you are clear just to click on the very same icon and a sidebar will now slide out to give you all of the available offers and those valuable codes.

It couldn’t really be any easier and how can BasketBuster not succeed when it’s free and it’s all about saving you money.

Although when I say you’d be pioneers of this new revolution of online saving I meant it because BasketBuster is actually yet to be officially launched.

Only a very select few have it so far and you need a username and password to download it.

But I can now exclusively reveal that the abracadbra to open those BasketBuster doors to easier online voucher codes than ever before is the username save and the password money.

So go to the official BasketBuster website, the one I’ve been having a hand in, and when it comes to downloading the browser add on, so far it’s only the Firefox version that is currently working. The Internet Explorer one will be coming soon.

It’s all safe to use however, totally spyware and malware free and if you only shop infrequently anyway, it just sits quietly and obediently in the background until you decide to activate it.

But if you still need a little convincing about BasketBuster, about how easily it could save you money and how cool it will be when it’s properly unleashed on the World, here is a little video created to explain it in just 1 minute 25 seconds.

Remember though, you read about it here first.

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We7, now have an advert break from the advert break.

If you’ve been paying attention since the second post I ever wrote on here you may already know about a website called We7.

But since only my wife and our cat have been around all that time you could perhaps have a look at my enthusiastic review of the thing by clicking this link to it.

But if you must know, without referring to my purple prose, We7 is a free music site. A free music site that has millions of whole tracks and complete albums to listen to online totally legally.

And the reason it’s all free, and this is the only minor downside, is that between this musical bonanza are very short adverts which generate the income so that We7 can provide such a service at all.

But now you don’t even have to suffer that tiny inconvenience, because you can enjoy the double delight of having the free music and having it advert free for a whole month as well!

That is if you know how to and fortunately I do.

I can’t claim any secret knowledge though as it’s actually courtesy of a promotion that We7 have with the Daily Star newspaper, but since they always say no purchase is necessary I thought I’d giveaway the details here too.

So go to this address we7.com/go/dailystar and if you’re already a member log in on that page, or if not complete the short registration form, then in the box for the Special Promotional Code add this not very secret code 52GWNSW8HB7B.

I have and it works but since I’m not sure how long it will work for, you’d better go and do it now hadn’t you.

Promotional Codes for your online shopping.

We all shop on the Internet these days don’t we.

And when we do, and you’re deep within your virtual shopping basket you’ll often see a form field asking the tantalising question ‘Do you have a Promotional Code?’

A frustrating little box isn’t it

Because no, I don’t have a expletive deleted Promotional Code and now I’m expletive deleted off because I’m paying full expletive deleted price and some other expletive deleted isn’t!

Sorry, I was having a momentary flashback there.

But it turns out that getting these codes isn’t difficult, it’s just knowing where to find them, and I have two websites for you to check out for the next time you’re at the checkout.

The first one is www.myvouchercodes.co.uk which is the UK’s largest website of discount codes and is a price comparison site of sorts as well. And the other one you should try is www.promotionalcodes.org.uk which isn’t quite so all encompassing but it is easier to navigate.

They’re both very good, with tons of participating retailers, and you can get codes for online shopping and printable vouchers for various high street stores and restaurants.

Of course another option your shouldn’t overlook is simply to go to Google and for example type in ‘Ann Summers discount codes’ and see what’s available. But often the displayed results are for offers that have expired by then so here’s something else you can do. (and could come in handy for any search query)

On Googles own page click the little Advanced Search link by the side of the input box and once there, expand an option under the sexy title ‘+Date, usage rights, numeric range, and more‘ and now you can refine your search to within a day or a week and Google will only provide the very freshest results.

But remember fellas, even if you’re not paying full price for that french tickler and saucy maids outfit just be certain to be home when your purchases are delivered.

If the wife takes delivery and she’s a size 18 when the outfit is a 12 and she doesn’t believe the tickler is a blow up novelty cheese grater you could end up paying a far higher price.

And I don’t think divorce lawyers do discounts.

Ahem, could I interest you in a free music voucher?

Who wants a free music voucher then eh?

Because it just so happens that I have some to give away, courtesy of my new friend Mr Steve Pardham, the CEO of We7.

That’s right, ever since his comments about my review of WE7, THE GREAT FREE MUSIC SITE*, we’ve also swapped emails and he has generously offered ten £2.50 vouchers codes for me to give away to you my loyal readers.

(*Yes, We7 is a great free music site to listen to on your computer, but to download tracks requires payment, which is where the £2.50 credit comes in. If you don’t know about the many joys of We7 yet, find out by clicking this link)

Anyway, blessedly he is that impressed with my little effort here that he’s helping me to promote myself the old fashioned way, by bribery.

However for me to give you your £2.50 voucher code you have to do two things first…

1. You have to be registered with We7, but it’s very quick to do and as I keep telling you, IT’S A FREE MUSIC SITE!
2. You have to leave a comment for me.

Preferably of course with feedback about stuff you like or found useful from this humble blog but I don’t mind anything you have to say. You could just tell me what star sign you are or about a nasty rash you have, I simply want to build a sense of community here.

That is so we all get to know who’s visiting and perhaps for that matter, who we should avoid physical contact with.

But once you add your comment, by either clicking where it says Comments or No Comments below a subject, it also provides me, and only me, your email address and I can privately send you your voucher code.

And don’t worry, I promise there wont be any follow ups with great deals on Viagra or penile enhancement devices, I’m keeping them all for myself.

I may need them for the Russian women who are apparently dying to meet me.

So what are you waiting for, get commenting, it’s first come first served for the vouchers.

You can put ointment on your rash afterwards.