Tumblr is going from strength to strength. They've abandoned their weird and useless Tumblarity thing, which made the whole blogging platform feel like a silly competition (it may only have been silly because I couldn't get a tumblarity past 9). They've added a pages function which allows for more base-content and a shed-load of integration options.

Tumblr is slowly turning from an interesting, loathsomely hip, blog upstart to a genuinely useful platform and awesome social network full of brilliant writers, ace blogs and cool people. They've achieved this minor miracle via three main selling point: 1) An ease of use and integration that trumps rivals Wordpress and Posterous. 2) Hundreds of genuinely beautiful but equally customisable designs. 3) Attracting the right crowd to the platform and creating a working social element.

The problem is, you've started your blog but your dashboard is all empty, and you don't know who to follow. Granted you could trawl throught the Tumblr directory, but that takes ages. So we've done it for you.

Here are the top 20 blogs you must be following on Tumblr.

1. Who? The Daily What
Where? www.thedailywh.at
What? A nice mix of twee, hilarious, humourous "web-lols".
Why? Because The Daily What is one blog everyone follows. It is the quintessential tumblog. And, it's really good. Imagine the best bits of Buzzfeed, Digg and I-am-bored in one place with a acerbic one-liners.
Example post: This is clever, you should watch this, of the day.

2. Who? Graphic Everywhere
Where? graphiceverywhere.tumblr.com/
What? A neat and often updated collection of interesting graphic design.
Why? Graphic design is one of those oft-maligned things, though not altogether unduly, this blog cuts all the crap out, and just gives you the work, it doesn't try to explain it, it lets you work it out. We salute that.
Example post: Neat right?

3. Who? Game Freaks
Where? http://gamefreaks.co.nz/
What? A steady stream of game news, trailers and gamer related japery.
Why? Even if you've only got a passing interest in gaming, as most rational people do, Game Freaks is still worth following for their eclectic mix of new games and game nostalgia.
Example post: Bizarrely amazing Mario sketches.

4. Who? Put This On
Where? putthison.com
What? "A web series about dressing like a grown-up," it'll try to tell you. It's a fashion blog, and not a try-hard one either.
Why? It's one of a rare breed of fashion blogs that posts about stuff normal people can wear a) wear without social castigation, and b) afford. Yey.
Example post: A strong look.

5. Who? Postcards of the USSR
Where? http://sovietpostcards.tumblr.com/
What? Pictures of postcards from the former Soviet Union, as I'm sure you might have guessed.
Why? Because everyone needs a bit of a politically stilted populist art from a former communist regime in their lives every so often, right?
Example post: Having fun on your holiday?

6. Who? Julia Segal
Where? juliasegal.tumblr.com
What? Personal blog of New York-based stand-up Julia Segal.
Why? Julia is cool. She doesn't fall into the self-regarding trap most personal blogs find themselves wallowing in. Plus she's right funny too.
Example post: Possible screen names.

7. Who? Newsweek
Where? newsweek.tumblr.com
What? The blog of the popular news magazine.
Why? Probably the best example of the potential of Tumblr as a platform -- coupled with some of the best content going.
Example post: Press releases.

8. Who? Molls
Where? molls.tumblr.com/
What? Probably the most followed person on Tumblr, Molls has become a minor web-celeb off the back of her lovely blog.
Why? For amusing, introspective ramblings which are thoroughly entertaining.
Example post: Molls might be caner.

9. Who? Minimal Mac
Where? minimalmac.com
What? A Mac blog that's more about work-stream than product rumours. Yeah I said work-stream.
Why? Because it opens up all the corners and shows you all the little add-ons, short cuts and new applications that will just make your mac-life easier.
Example post: Clipstart.

10. Who? Magic Molly
Where? magicmolly.tumblr.com
What? The blog of New York writer Molly Young.
Why? Because I said so. And, if that's not enough, because she's interesting and funny. (and because I have a minor crush on her).
Example post: She's talking about Anna Karenina. Swoon.

11. Who? Mareen Fischinger
Where? blog.mareenfischinger.com
What? Personal blog of photographer Mareen Fischinger
Why? Because she takes amazing pictures and puts them up on her blog, where you can look at them and go, 'wow I wish I could do that'.
Example post: Sunset over Istanbul.

12. Who? Black and WTF?
Where? blackandwtf.tumblr.com/
What? Weird black and white pictures from yester-year.
Why? For old-school monochrome lols. Obv.
Example post: Tuba-train.

13. Who? Garfield Minus Garfield
Where? garfiedlminusgarfield.net
What? Garfield comic strips with Garfield removed.
Why? "To reveal the existential angst of a certain young Mr. Jon Arbuckle. It is a journey deep into the mind of an isolated young everyman as he fights a losing battle against loneliness and depression in a quiet American suburb."
Example post: New shirt.

14. Who? Facebook Statuses
Where? statuses.tumblr.com
What? Facebook statuses illustrated.
Why? For gems like this.
Example post: Hooray stomach virus.

15. Who? Tunage
Where? tunage.tumblr.com
What? A very, very good music blog.
Why? Because it's full of links to new and old music, across more genres than you could shake a double-bass pedal at.
Example post: The week in albums.

16. Who? The White Sade
Where? thewhitesade.com
What? The personal blog of a person called Sade.
Why? For a troth-load of rotating GIFs and a genuinely funny, optimistic outlook.
Example post: Quote.

17. Who? David's log
Where? davidslog.com
What? The personal blog of Tumblr founder David Karp.
Why? Because it's interesting to see what the dude who started the whole shebang had in mind.
Example post: Ahem.

18. Who? Jake and Amir
Where? jakeandamir.com
What? A humorous video-log from BFFs forever, Jake and Amir.
Why? Because it's funny. I mean it's only one joke done over and over and over again, but it's funny, like at least the first few times.
Example post: Couch.

19. Who? Pocket Poems
Where? shallowpockets.tumblr.com
What? An anonymous poetry blog.
Why? One original poem a week pops up and they're usually surprisingly good. The majority of poetry blogs you'll find are all "slings and arrows," "tears and wolves" if you catch my drift.
Example post: BBC News 24

20. Who? Nerdology
Where? nerdology.tumblr.com
What? A study of all the things that make nerds happy.
Why? Because it's ridiculously interesting and it features a nice mix of short and long-form posts.
Example post: Talking dirty.

And as a bonus (if you're interested) here's mine!
Operation Margarine.

Want to find (legal) downloads more easily? You can buy software for that - X-OOM Media Grabber is a web download engine which aims to make finding free downloads much easier. Enter the name of your favourite band or artist and the program scours the net and downloads anything free, even the latest number one hits. Users can create a personalised digital catalogue full of their favourite artist's albums, lyrics, video clips, photos and more.

As well as simply downloading videos or audio files, you can change their format as well. The software's export assistant lets you convert them to a portable format, which you watch when and where you want. This might be the true use of the software, because after all, you not really going to pay £30 for a search engine are you... they've got some of them on the internet already..

X-OOM MediaGrabber costs £29.99 from X-oom.com

Getting a laptop with face-recognition is like having your best friend on your desk - not only is it helpful and informative, it also perks up when your bleary little face comes into its viewfinder.

Well by perk up I mean lets you access your user account, but it's roughly the same thing.

Of course face recognition tech has been around before but it is only in the past few years it has come out of the arena of scary border security interrogations and into the lives of simple consumers like you and me. Yes we may be simple, but we have complex faces that can be recognised with a webcam and a visual analysis program.

Brilliantly, back to my laptop, there's also a little user log which records the day, time and the mugshot of you that it accepted. So you can map how you look at 7.30am Tuesday morning compared with Saturday afternoon... and the time your friend tried to log in to check his emails but couldn't, ha, because his face is different.

See how and why after the jump

For someone who wants to do a simple design task... make a tennis club newsletter, advertise yoghurts, or create birthday invitations - spending £684 on Adobe Indesign for is out of the question.

Kids will always download illegal copies of Adobe software but for someone who doesn't want to break the law - or the bank either, Serif products are a good compromise. Serif is a small British company who are niggling Adobe from underneath.

Signature product PagePlus a desktop publisher you can use to design publications like brochures or newsletters, came out in its fourth edition a couple of weeks ago. Serif claim it has 85% the functionality of Indesign at about 11% of the price. We take a quick look at the rice and the product..

Follow on after the jump

With a choice of internet browsers we usually stick to what's already been installed onto the machine when we buy it.

I know I've always had Window's Internet Explorer on mine, and although I download a few more after that, for the first few days Explorer is the one I use.

However, it seems Microsoft may be in for a little bit of competition. Google has today tied up a deal with Sony to have its Google Chrome pre-installed on some notebooks.

Chrome lags well behind Internet Explorer and Firefox browsers. It is used by less than 3% of people, while Internet Explorer is used by more than two thirds,
according to NetApplications but this may set to change, especially since the European Commission won't let Microsoft distribute Internet Explorer with Windows 7 anymore.

So what makes Chrome a better option that Internet Explorer?

Well firstly it won't crash your browser. It treats every tab as a separate window (like Firefox) and process so if you get hit by a bug, only that one tab dies.

You can save websites and shortcuts to a favourite apps feature, which will launch in separate windows so you don't lose the pages you were already on.

However, my most favourite feature is the fact that the browser has an option, which means you can chose not to have anything, recorded your browsing history. Perfect for those of us who go on too many shopping sites.

If Twitter lets you send a text message to the world, it was only a matter of time before someone invented an application that let you make a phone call to world. (I say the world - I mean your Social Network and the miscellaneous people who look at your blog.)

Ipadio is a phone blogging tool that lets you do just that. They released an iPhone app last month and an Android one today. Strapline: "You talk, they listen".

To phone blog: you open the app, or (if you're not blessed with an Android or iPhone - call a local number) and speak, sing or just prattle merrily into your phone for up to 60 minutes, then Ipadio uploads your recording to your phlog (phone-blog, geddit?). Your phlog is available on ipadio.com, you can also embed it on your Facebook profile or on a separate website.
Follow on after the jump

The mounting buzz around short-form blogging sites Posterous and Tumblr puts a new spin on the blogs v twitter debate; a third way. It's got me thinking that rather than killing each other, or even co-existing, social networking sites and blogs are actually coming together and making mid-length social blog babies.

Metaphorically I mean, there's no business deal or sex involved anywhere.

Shortening blogs, lengthening tweets
Suggestions that blogs are shortening comes along with the idea that tweets could lengthen: new service Twitblogs is an near-exact replica of Twitter with the difference that you can extend posts beyond 140 characters.

It seems to be that having stoked the desire for in-depth lengthy posts (blogs) and up-to-the-minute link-tastic chatty random short posts (twitter) - businesses are moving into a middle ground that caters to both.

Follow on after the jump

The folk behind Crazy Talk 4, the animation software we reviewed in 2007 have just released an updated version of their programme called CrazyTalk 6. They've improved some of the issues we had, and have added some extra features as well, so it will be useful for both the casual animator and the hardcore artiste.

What the software does is take images you've uploaded and convert them into a 2D or 3D animation through a simple step by step guide. You can then play with this digital creation by adding sound, special effects and even create storyline for the character.

Windows 7 is now available to download, months on from the announcement at CES.

You can now play with MAC like icons and a moving toolbar along the bottom of your screen- but will you be trying it?

Let me know!

Try it here.

More software news here

Gamers often have a rather hard time of things security wise. As much as they want to keep their computer safe from viral and phishing scams, they don't want to compromise game time by annoying pop ups or a slowed down CPU. Norton aim to help those MMORPG players with their new gaming specific software.

It's targeted at making sure you can game in a safe environment, but has been specifically tailored so as not to disrupt game time. It comes with a dedicated Gamer Mode which suspends alerts and updates, and automatically switches on when you're in full screen mode.

Now Photoshop is a really useful tool if you need to edit images quickly. It far surpass Paint, as it lets you edit, adapt and delicately create masterpieces on your desktop. But its fairly tricky to use (unless you start with Elements) and then of course, there's the licensing fee, and the fact that unless you have a dual core computer it will use vast amounts of CPU. Well I've just discovered the best editing programmed ever, and surprise, surprise it looks pretty much IDENTICAL to my beloved Photoshop. But it's 100% free!

Need something to do this weekend? It's apparently quite chilly in the UK today, so I'd recommend hunkering under the duvet, and getting yourself some Windows 7 action. It's been released in Beta, and there's hope that it's going to remedy all the things everyone hated about Vista.

Steve Ballmer called it a "new media experience" and promised less crashing, as well as a host of features to integrate it more closely with your social networking sites. Obviously being in Beta, it's going to be relatively unstable, but if you're willing to risk it, you can get hold of it here.

Software isn't always the most entertaining of things, but seeing as 2008 brought us Google Chrome and Vista, I hope you'll bear with me. It seems the highly touted Windows 7 is in the final stages of completion, but what does this mean for PC users who aren't sure of updating their systems yet again? Well, Windows 7 could be the answer to their problems, as it should be considered as an updated version of XP rather than a whole new OS.

You may relish in your undeniable popularity on Facebook (you have well over 400 friends - well done), but it's this same Facebook fame that could make you a target for cyber criminals. These virtual deviants are hijacking Facebook accounts and trying to con you out of your money by posing as a friend in grave need. So if you get a message from your mate asking you to lend him/her £500 because they're stranded in the outback or lost somewhere in the Congo, it's safe to assume that's a scam (unless that's the norm for you and your pals of course and then it becomes tricky).

Scammers have come a long way since the days of spam e-mails and phone calls from Africa requesting bank account details, which is portrayed so eloquently on Fonejacker. Computer experts have warned popular Facebook users to beware and expect to be targeted. But it's not just beseeched messages you need to be weary of - there are more innocent virus plagued messages on the loose too.

When Datz was announced, with its one payment pricing plan, DRM-free unlimited downloads, we had questions. Would the catalogue be as extensive as promised? Was the one-off fee for the ease of consumers, or did it hide the fact that Datz had a solution that wasn't good enough to ask people to pay month after month? Well, we've had a play with our copy, and we think we have the answer (briefly, no, and the latter, but we can expand on that).

The service itself masquerades as a CD and a USB stick. The CD comes with all the installation gubbins, whilst the USB stick seems to work as the key to unlocking the service. Installation is pretty hairy - nothing makes me panic more than seeing the MS DOS stuff flash up. Basically, it'll install a hell of a lot of stuff on your computer.

It's being reported the eagerly anticipated iPhone 2.1 software update will give its owners improved GPS functions and more specifically, this could very well mean turn-by-turn GPS. Having improved GPS also means the iPhone will know which direction you're going and how fast you're moving - just like a proper satnav. Satnav manufacturers will be quaking in their boots if this is true.

So, now you've got your new iPhone 3G, it looks rather pretty in your hand doesn't it? Now all you need is a funky new ringtone and your new Jesus phone will sound as good as it looks. Paying for ringtones feels slightly inequitable, especially when you're being asked to pay at least £4.00 a pop (or maybe I'm just cheap). The eager beavers have probably already tried the renaming a music file of the appropriate length to M4R method, but would have found out this technique no longer works.

There is however an alternative, until Apple fixes the loophole that is - and it's as free as the air we breathe. So get your pen and paper ready and see after the jump.

Yes, it's true, there is a Hello Kitty Anti Virus product. If you thought it was impossible to add the Hello Kitty brand onto anything else, firstly, there will always be something for Hello Kitty to adorn, and secondly, think again - Hello Kitty will never die and don't you forget it.

Not content with providing us with USB memory sticks, a social networking site and phone chargers, Hello Kitty now wants to provide us with computer protection. As you can see from the box design, Hello Kitty will nurse your computer back into health with its anti-virus software. Hopefully Hello Kitty's idea of a virus isn't something that has absolutely nada to do with Hello Kitty!

We all fall victim to having our phone's stolen, lost or left somewhere at some point. This also means we're fully aware of how frustratingly inconvenient this is as well, not to mention upsetting, when you know that some scumbag, somewhere, is using your beloved device. Unfortunately, though it's an occurrence that just sometimes can't be prevented. Stopping the thief from using your device however is not, and we've got PhoneBAK from ExactTrak to thank for that.

We all experience those lethargic moments at work when we just want to break away from our computers and run around the building to revive those energy levels. Either that or you just simply can't be arsed to work and use those brain cells (also known as that Friday feeling).

The fake progress bar is a fun piece of freeware designed to make your time wasting appear more realistic by making your computer look busy. An authentic looking progress bar appears, giving the impression you're waiting for a document or database to load, leaving you to stare into space, surf your social networks, pick your nose or whatever else it is you do to make the clock tick faster. Who's to know you're not really installing anything at all, your screen will say otherwise - mwoohahaha.