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!