Kiran Upadhyay

Opera 12 beta is  officially out , bringing many new improvement and features to Opera fans, as well as for Opera newcomers who’d like to give the browser a first try. According to Opera Software, 250 million people already use Opera web browsers for computers, mobile phones, TVs and other connected devices and with this new iteration they are hoping to increase that number even more. Among the most notable new feature in Opera 12 beta, codenamed Wahoo, is the addition of  browser themes . Users can now choose out of a growing list of colorful themes to create their own customized look for Opera. Designers can also add their own themes to the list. Aside from looks, there are also some performance enhancements, the most prominent of those is a separate process for plugins. Plugin crashes which used to take the entire browser with them were obviously bothersome for users, so Opera decided to give these plugins their very own process. Now when a plugin crashes, the brow...

The online world is fast becoming a dangerous place: the UK government is planning a  big brother net spying  system; from July, US ISPs will need to start  policing their users ; and we’ve heard from some of you who are already burning through copyright infringment notices. A premium VPN service is a small price to pay for the ultimate in online security, allowing you to both download what you wish and avoid being snooped on. Today I’ll show you how to set up one such service,  BTGuard . As the name would suggest,  BTGuard  is a torrent-friendly  premium VPN service , but they offer two levels of service depending on if you’d just like to use it for torrents (which is a proxy only), or for everything (a full VPN service). I’m recommending this particular service because of it’s popularity among filesharers, personal experience of similar services, and the fact that they allow torrents which is something most VPNs specifically ban. The full VPN se...

If you’re reading this, I’m betting there’s a good chance you quite like computers, the Internet, or technology in general. A few weeks ago, Dave showed you  10 websites that all geeks should bookmark . This week, I’d like to introduce you to 5 technology podcasts you should all add to iTunes. Some are new, some are old favorites – all are awesome. This Week in Tech  (Audio & Video) Of all the podcasts that come and go, TWiT has remained steadfast at the top of my favourites. Hosted weekly by Leo Laporte and guests,  This Week in Tech  is strictly all about the tech news that changes the industry. With endearing regulars like Brain Brushwood, John C. Dvorak and Patrick Norton,  This Week in Tech  began in April 2005 as a response to the cancelled G4 technology TV show  The Screensavers , but TWiT has had its share of drama of its own. Other ex-Screensavers members Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht went on to create the hugely successful Diggnat...

Both at work and at home, I often find that I have a need to check the status of my PCs, printers, servers or other network devices. These days, with so many devices making use of home networks, this is something that more homeowners need to do. A while back, Karl reviewed different things you can do to  diagnose network problems . Karl listed all of the commands – like ping, netstat and ipconfig, that you can use to troubleshoot your network devices. Not long ago, I also gave you some Windows Scripts that you could use to automatically  ping various devices  on a regular schedule. However, what if you aren’t really accustomed to networking or all of the commands that go along with pinging or otherwise verifying network connectivity? If that describes you, then you may find it useful to use an application with a nice GUI that will do all of the heavy lifting for you. One such application is  Ping Manager , a free utility provided by the makers of the commercia...

Instagram has been in the news non-stop these past two weeks. It started with the launch of its much anticipated  Android app , and continued with the subsequent acquisition by Facebook. Both moves created heated reactions from Instagram users, which were not always positive. I only recently got to try Instagram, and although it’s a fun little app, I wasn’t blown away. The one thing that’s really going for Instagram is its immense popularity, but many apps out there do the same thing, sometimes even better. So whether you’re not sure about Instagram’s Facebook-ish future, or are just curious about the alternatives that exist out there, check out this list of 6 awesome Instagram alternatives. PicPlz  [Android 2.1+ & iOS] PicPlz has actually been around longer than Instagram, and boasts a rich network of users who use it to share photos. PicPlz relies heavily on geo-tagging, and lets users browse photos from all over the world, organized by location. PicPlz has a ...

Watch out Dropbox, Amazon Cloud and Microsoft SkyDrive! Google introduced today its free, 5GB cloud storage service,  Google Drive . Available to anyone with the Google account, Google Drive enables users to upload, share, collaborate on files stored in their Google Drive account. If you’re familiar with Dropbox, you’ll be right at home with Google Drive. In addition to accessing the service from within your Google Docs account, you can also download the PC and Mac Google Drive client that launches as a folder on your computer. All files, including videos, photos, PDFs, and Google Docs, dropped into the Drive folder get synchronized to your account. You can also opt to not sync selected folders to one or more of your computers. Google Drive is also available for Android devices, with iPhone and iPad support to follow soon. If you’re Google Chrome user, you will also able to access your Google Drive account when you’re  not connected to the Internet . Google Drive ca...

Gaming on a Mac is becoming better with time, thanks to Steam and the Mac App Store, but finding the best games is still more of a chore than it should be. I’ve already handled  action games  and  strategy games  for Mac owners, but that still leaves out role-playing, which is my favorite genre. Let’s see what is available for a computer running  OS X . Deathspank This indie cross-platform RPG takes an irreverent look at the genre. The main character, Deathspank, is your typical brawny action hero infused with a generous dose of irony. Don’t expect much in the way of character development or a story, but do expect lots of witty dialogue. Even if the comedic value of this game doesn’t tickle your fancy you’ll likely find something to love in the gameplay. It’s typical action-RPG fare, but solidly executed and overlaid with colorful graphics. The light-hearted tone of the game makes this an easy title to jump in and play. Dragon Age: Origins I...