Freeware World

BlackBerry: Sid Meier’s Civilization is an all-time classic strategy game in which you must build an empire by battling it out with rival armies. The fourth incarnation in the series now hits the BlackBerry, in the shape of Sid Meier’s Civilization IV: War of Two Cities. The aim of the game is to take command of rival cities by wiping out their soldiers, destroying their buildings and pillaging their resources

Windows: The Windows Registry is a core component of your system, so you better keep it in perfect shape! With Glary Registry Repair you can easily scan more than a dozen areas in the Registry and repair any problems you may find right on the spot. It’s easy to use, really fast and saves a backup copy of the Registry before changing anything.

Mac: WireTap Studio is a serious solution to record anything from your Mac. What used to be called WireTap Pro is still as reliable as ever, all in a small interface that lets you record, edit and save your audio in any format. WireTap Studio can both software and hardware sounds so long as you select the input source. There are two available in the interface. Just press the recording button to get started.

iPhone: If you’re the kind of person who enjoys the funny word game ‘Consequences’ then you’ll love Mad Libs. This fun app allows you to create funny stories through via a fill-in-the-blanks approach. This sample version of Vacation Mad Libs features four story scenarios: ‘Driving in the car’, ‘Vacations’, ‘Letter to a friend back home’, and ‘How to enjoy yourself on the beach’.

Windows: If your computer is stolen, there’s not much you can do about it. But if you have Prey installed on it, you’ll be able to track it down, see what programs the thieves are running and even see their faces through the laptop’s built-in camera! With Prey you can easily obtain information about your misplaced computer, and that can lead you back to it.

Mac: Radium is a discreet internet radio player that sits in your Menu Bar and is designed to be simple, intuitive, and lightweight. Radium has a powerful search box that features thousands of stations such as BBC Radio, Sky.fm and CBC Public radio. The default stations cover everything from well known to obscure stations and the amount of choice is staggering. You can even add your own streams.

Windows: If you use iTunes to listen to music but your keyboard doesn’t have media keys, controlling the playback can be a pain - unless you use iTuner. This awesome iTunes plug-in not only lets you control the player with customizable keyboard hotkeys, but also displays a desktop notification with each new song and gives you access to ratings and lyrics.

iPhone: Want to remote control your computer from your iPhone? LogMeIn Ignition is an app for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad that lets you access your Windows or Mac OS X machine(s) while you’re away from base. And we don’t mean you can just see the files - the software actually displays your computer’s interface in real time and allows you to control it as if you were sat there!

Mac: Animations made with a couple of videos, pictures and music can really look great if you take the time to prepare them. PulpMotion gives you everything you need to prepare a stunning moving slideshow. It includes a number of visual themes you can choose from to start working with. The interface itself is very easy to handle working in a similar way to iMovie.

Want a quick way to translate those incomprehensible restaurant menus if you’re traveling abroad this summer? Then install ABBYY FotoTranslate on your phone.

The Symbian application allows you to translate words on the fly, simply by pointing your phone’s camera at the text and snapping the menu. Once the shot has been taken and FotoTranslate has scanned the image, the app allows you to tap any of the words that appear and get and instant translation. I’ve been testing it out for a while and have been very impressed with the accuracy of the app.

ABBYY FotoTranslate currently supports five different languages: French, German, Italian, Russian and Spanish. You can also play around with the font size and adjust the display orientation. The software costs $34.99 and a one-day trial are available here.

Windows: If you need an easy way to backup your data, look no further than Genie Timeline. It’s a simple, two-step backup solution that lets you keep copies of selected files in a very easy way. It doesn’t have as many features or configuration options as paid applications, but Genie Timeline works great for most people’s backup needs.

Mac: CloudApp lets you easily share and save files on the web. It’s ideal for images, links, music and video. Once installed, CloudApp sits neatly in your menu bar at the top of the screen. To upload files to the cloud, you simply drag them onto the CloudApp icon. A link is automatically created that will take you to your file on the web, and is put in your clipboard.

iPhone: Windows Live Messenger for iPhone is finally here! It proves to be an easy way to keep in touch with your buddies on the Windows Live network.The application gives you access to both Windows Live Messenger and Windows Live Mail. It features a gorgeous chat interface and almost 100 smilies to choose from.

iPhone: The official Twitter client for iPhone is probably the best you’ll find in the App Store. Tweets can be viewed, links opened, retweeted and replied to as usual. Swipe a tweet and a menu of icons appears giving you the full range of options. Writing a tweet is simple, and a menu can be opened to add hash tags, photos, users, video and more. The latest version fixes some bugs, improves security and adds support for iOS 4.0.

Windows: If you want to fully protect your system, Kaspersky Internet Security 2011 is an excellent choice. This comprehensive suite includes all the tools you need to stay safe from viruses, worm, hacker attacks, spam, phishing and other possible online threats. It also includes a sandbox environment to test apps safely, parental controls and a gaming mode.

Mac: Optimizers and tweaking software abound on Windows, but Mac users have far fewer choices to speed-up their system. That’s partly because Macs generally self-maintain better than PCs but if your Mac is slowing down, you might find running MacKeeper (now updated to version 0.9.4) helps breathe new life into it. MacKeeper is an all-in-one solution that includes hard drive cleaning tools as well as backup and shredding utilities.

iPhone: With Vuvuzela 2010 you can recreate the drone of the South African horn on your iPhone. The World Cup in South Africa will be remembered largely for the howls of the vuvuzela that accompanied every game. Vuvuzela 2010 allows you to cheer on your team, simply by tapping the screen, or shaking your iPhone to emit the wail of the horn.

Windows: When all your photos need is a simple retouch here and there, a light photo viewer and editor like StylePix is more than enough. This great app includes all the necessary tools to fix and optimize images, as well as a bunch of filters and special effects to spice them up. It can process images in batches and has supports for layers.

Mac: Bulkr is an Adobe Air based app for backing up your Flickr stream. Some of us have had Flickr accounts for years now, and Bulkr offers a simple way to download sets of photos we don’t have on our computers. After installation, you have to sign in to Flickr to give Bulkr permission to access your images. Then you can download, either in bulk, sets or single images with six image size settings available.

Windows: If you need an image viewer, look no futher than XnView. This powerful, awesome photo viewer can display more than 400 different formats, in several modes: thumbnails, full screen and even slideshow. It’s as easy to use as Windows Explorer, and includes handy extra tools such as an image converter and a screen capturer.

Mac: Adobe is acclaimed worldwide for its impressive software tools, many of which have become true industry standards in different fields. This is also the case with video production and Adobe Premiere Pro CS5. The all-new Adobe Premiere CS5 takes another leap forward in its development and provides the professional video creators and producers with all the tools they need for their daily work.

iPhone: GT Racing: Motor Academy is Gameloft’s attempt to fill the hole left by Gran Turismo’s absence on the iPhone. This racing game is much more of a simulation than you normally find on the iPhone, but does it do the job? This free version of GT Racing: Motor Academy gives you a taste, with three cars and one track to race round, the incredible Mazda Laguna Seca Raceway.

iPhone: PES 2010 brings the magic of the Pro Evolution soccer sim to the iPhone. The game translates pretty well from the console and PC versions, thanks to some interesting control systems.PES 2010 offers a range of game types, including the Champions League and Europa League, quick match, exhibition, league, cup, and training.

Windows: If you use Windows Media Player to play music or videos, you’re going to love this plug-in. Windows Media Player Plus adds interesting new features and improvements to Microsoft’s player, including an advanced tag editor, more customization options for the interface and a powerful search tool that finds songs and movies as you type.

Mac: Bulkr is an Adobe Air-based app for backing up your Flickr stream. Some of us have had Flickr accounts for years now, and Bulkr offers a simple way to download sets of photos we don’t have on our computers. Not only can you easily back up your own account, but you can also download any cool pics you find elsewhere on Flickr.

Windows: Creating a panoramic image is probably easier than you think, especially if you have a tool like Microsoft Image Composite Editor. With this app you can create panoramas in a couple of clicks. Just select the images you want to stitch together and let the program take care of the rest. The perfect tool to start creating your first panoramas!

iPad: The USA TODAY app for iPad could represent the future of reading newspapers digitally. The application gives you access the the top news stories, scores, weather and photos from the popular daily newspaper on your Apple iPad. The way news is delivered on the USA TODAY app is simply stunning. Open the app and it’s like you’re looking at a real copy of a newspaper!

Mac: Looking for a simple way to save and share your files securely on the web? CloudApp lets you do it easily. It’s ideal for images, links, music and video. The app itself is very minimal, allowing you to change the settings, and choose whether to automatically upload images or not. There are also add-ons you can download, designed especially for use with iTunes, iPhoto and more.