While I still prefer real books to read, I admit e-books are a great format for technical topics. They’re easier to search and faster to look up. It’s also an excellent way to save trees: imagine delivering user manuals for each software app in the world as an e-book – and not real paper leaflets.

If you too are curious about e-books, there are a few things you have to know. First of all, you’ll need an e-book reader. yBook is a great choice, a reader with support for several e-book formats, an embedded search tool, support for different text sizes and direct connection to the Gutenberg Project.

What? You don’t know what the Gutenberg Project is? Well, here’s something else you need to learn about e-books then. The Gutenberg Project is one of the largest e-book databases in the world, and it’s al open source. It features over 25,000 titles, specializing in classic authors like Dickens, Twain, Verne, Poe and others. Project Gutenberg though is not the only resource for free books online. You can also use FreeTechBooks to download e-books about computer, maths and other sciences, or the e-book search engine PDF Geni to look for specific titles.

One more thing: once you have downloaded your favorite e-books to your PC, you don’t have to leave them there. Use eBook to Images and you’ll be able to convert any e-book to images and therefore transfer it to any photo-enabled mobile device.

But the truth is that it’s much easier than you might think – as long as you use the right app -  and it doesn’t require any technical skills at all. Plus, having a web server at home is a great way to share files with friends and family, and also have certain files always available, no matter where you are. So if you too want to learn how to set up your own web server in a very easy way, just read on!

My first step involved selecting a web server application that could work without PHP, MySQL, Apache and all the usual requirements of a standard web server; something that was easy to use and didn’t involve complicated configurations. MyWebServer did the trick: this dead easy tool lets you create and run a web server simply by installing the application on your computer.

During the installation process you can already set up the index page, which is the first webpage your visitors will see when they enter your web server. Don’t waste too much time here though: you can always edit this page later on with an HTML editor.

Once MyWebServer is installed, launch it and you’ll access a control panel from which you can manage your server’s settings. Buttons are quite self-explanatory, like the Admin buttons that take to the administration pages of your servers (yes, you can actually have two servers running with MyWebServer) or the Home buttons, which show the index page you built before. There are also buttons to stop the server, hide the control panel and set up usernames and passwords for certain users, which comes in really handy to protect the privacy of the data you share online. A-Systems offers Free Software to Contractors

This Windows-based emulator gives you a sneak peak at how Firefox Mobile will perform. And by the look of things, it’s shaping up pretty well. Instantly, you’ll see that this isn’t merely a port of the desktop version of Firefox but rather a completely new interface designed to be used comfortably on the small-screen.

Touch-screen users will love the way that Firefox Mobile is organized. The main window dedicates pretty much the whole screen space to the web page itself rather than placing loads of tools and options on screen. In fact, the only things displayed here other than the web page itself are the large, touch-friendly address bar and bookmarks button.

Firefox Mobile avoids clutter by locking its settings in a menu that can only be viewed by dragging the screen to the right. Here, you can tinker with options for JavaScript, cookies, passwords, etc., as well as managing your plug-ins. Yes, that’s right, Firefox Mobile will be fully extensible, and this version even picks up the add-ons you’ve got installed in your desktop version of the browser.

Perhaps the feature I like most in Firefox Mobile, is the way it handles tabs. Instead of displaying tabs underneath the address bar like in normal Firefox, this version stores all your tabs in a hidden area on the left, which again, can be opened by dragging your finger across the screen – this time to the left. This is another way in which the program optimizes screen space without sacrificing functionality.

There are other features on the horizon that haven’t been wholly integrated into the Fennec alpha yet, such as quick dial for phone numbers on Web pages, and more work will be done to support maps and GPS tools. In fact, the sky is the limit really in terms of features if enough developers get excited about Firefox Mobile. Mozilla is banking on the fact that developers can build apps and add-ons freely using AJAX, CSS, JavaScript or HTML, rather than having to learn new techniques to code projects for multiple mobile platforms using multiple languages.

For now though, Fennec is a very crude version of Firefox Mobile, which is rife with display errors, bugs and feels very much incomplete. Nevertheless, if you want a sneaky peak at how the future of mobile Web browsing might look, then the Firefox Mobile emulator is worth a look.

I’ve recently joined the Beta testing program for Football Superstars, a new massively multiplayer online game (MMOG) which includes both an online soccer simulation and a Second Life-style social networking aspect. You start by creating your own character, join a team, then hone your skills playing matches online. Once you get good enough you’ll start earning virtual cash for new clothes, cars, houses, etc. You’ll also be able to hang out and compare bling with the rest of the Football Superstars community in one of the game’s many bars and clubs.

Football Superstars isn’t the first game to allow players to live out their sporting dreams in this way.  For instance, in Fantasy Tennis, players must defend the mythical FantasyLand by playing tennis against the gods. Likewise, Project Powder appeals to extreme sports fans, who will get the chance to snowboard on unspoiled mountains across the whole of Space; while Shot Online offers budding golfers the chance to pitch and putt their way to the very top. There’s even an X-Factor-style MMOG called Super Dancer Online, which allows players to bust moves against each other using their dance mats.

Clearly today’s MMOG developers are turning to sport as a way to attract new communities into the market, and if the formula’s right there’s every chance virtual worlds will move into the mainstream. After all, a teenage girl is much more likely to get excited by the prospect of becoming a dancing queen than she is of being the goblin princess.

The first and most obvious option involves using the Windows Task Manager, which you can access by pressing Ctrl+Alt+Delete. You simply need to click the ‘Applications’ tab, click on the first icon in the list of application then hold down Shift and drag the mouse to select all the apps. Click the ‘End now’ button to shut them all down.

An even quicker way of closing all your running apps though, is to install Close All Windows. This simple app uses no system resources because it just sends a signal to close all running programs then shuts itself down instantly. You can map a hotkey to the program, or better still add a shortcut to Close All Windows in the QuickLaunch bar. One tap of the icon and all your running apps will instantly shut down.

I’ve decided to search for a way to minimize the amount of time devoted to these social networks, and come up with a bunch of handy Firefox add-ons. With these extensions you can update your profile and check your friends’ online activities from a sidebar or toolbar, without having to visit the correspondent website. It’s the perfect way to feed your online social side while saving time for other surely more productive tasks.

• Twitterfox – a really easy and fast way to publish tweets directly from Firefox.
• Facebook Toolbar – integrate your Facebook life onto your favorite browser.
• Flickrfox – enjoy your favorite Flickr photos at any moment, from any website.
• YouPlayer -watch Youtube videos non-stop in a browser’s sidebar.
• Unofficial MySpace Toolbar – login to MySpace right from the Firefox interface.

You start off by riding with a cute robot on a shabby bike, but as you progress through the game (and you have quite a handful of levels to beat) you can obtain new drivers, better bikes and hidden tracks. Each race charges you with a series of challenges – such as finishing in the top five places or gathering a minimum number of items – and if you complete them you’ll be rewarded with new unlockable stuff. Jumping is also important, because it’ll give you points to boost up your bike’s speed and overtake any other competitors.

CycloManiacs is controlled with the usual WASD or cursor keys combinations (plus the spacebar or X key to jump). The game is complemented by a nice background soundtrack.

Incoming search terms:

• cyclomaniacs 3

For those of us who work with VMware Player on a daily basis, this is great news. Of course, I couldn’t help downloading the Release Candidate and testing this new feature by myself, and I thought I’d take the opportunity to write a tutorial about how to create virtual machines in VMware Player:

1. In the main screen, click Create a New Virtual Machine and you’ll launch the New Virtual Machine Wizard. This wizard lets you choose between a CD and an ISO file to start creating the virtual machine.

2. In my case, I’ve selected an ISO file with Ubuntu 9.04. As you can see, this virtual machine can be created using Easy Install, which means you can perform an unattended installation after completing the Wizard.

3. Enter your personal details to start Easy Install. Bear in mind that these fields may vary according to the operating system you’re installing, but they’ll usually be usernames, passwords, and the like.

4. Give your virtual machine a name, and select a location to store it.

5. Set the maximum size of the virtual machine’s hard disk – the wizard will advise you on how much you need, depending on the operating system.

6. This is the last screen in the New Virtual Machine Wizard, which contains a summary of all the configuration options you’ve set. You can go ahead and finish the Wizard (which immediately adds the new virtual machine to VMware Player’s main menu) or click on Customize Hardware to edit the machine’s settings.

7. These settings allow you to tweak advanced options in your virtual machine’s configuration, such as specifying allocated memory, enabling a CD/DVD drive, changing the network adapter, or creating a shared folder between the host system and the virtual machine.

8. Once you’ve set everything up, you’re ready to go. Enjoy!

This post aims at list all those different versions of YouTube, including of course the ones you share with us in comments.

YouTube for kids
You may already know some of the many adult versions of YouTube, but you won’t probably be so familiar with this YouTube for kids. Totlol.com features standalone videos, and also collections: groups of similar videos categorized by topic.

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Totlol.com is actually powered by YouTube and can adapt the interface and contents according to the age range we select. Parental control options let you block settings to prevent children from messing with them.

YouTube for books
If you had enough videos for today and fancy reading something instead, check out Scribd.com. This website features books and documents published by anyone, anywhere.

You can find almost anything on Scribd, from short papers about the French Revolution to an Excel Function Dictionary or a 500-page long work about Analytical Psychology.

All books and documents in Scribd are conveniently organized in categories and can be sorted by language, licence, length and file format.GoEar, which features a powerful search engine, lets you listen to any MP3 files for free and supports a list of Favorite songs.

Another good option is soundzit, with more than 300 million songs in its database and no registration required. Simply enter, search and enjoy your favorite music!

Grooveshark features a search engine as the main access to its music database. You can also manage your music, recently played tracks, popular hits, and a list of favorite songs.

Last but not least, we have Last.fm – the most social-oriented candidate of all three. You can discover new bands based on recommendations according to your musical taste, keep a list of friends and also manage concerts and other events.

YouTube for videogames
The most YouTube-like website is undoubtedly GameTrailers, which features an amazingly large collection of videos about all sorts of games, both in standard and high quality.

But this doesn’t mean GameTrailers is the only one. You also have WiiTube (mostly for Nintendo Wii videos), SimTube (specializing in flight simulators) and WeGame, which also hosts videos recorded by players with the WeGame app.

YouTube for scientists
Video sharing sites are not only about fun. You can also find more serious versions, like SciVee, which offers videos about scientific experiments.

Other similar websites are MIT Tech TV – a video community aimed at the distribution of science, engineering, technology and other MIT-related video material on the web – and JoVE, which features biological research.

They all provide you with a valuable tool to aggregate, share and spread scientific knowledge in a more entertaining way.

Want more?
If these YouTube versions weren’t enough, here’s a list of other similar sharing communities we found on the Web.

• YouTube for photos: flickr
• YouTube for videoclips: musicnation
• YouTube for teachers: Teachertube
• YouTube for animations: 4mations.tv
• YouTube for tutorials: helpfulvideo
• YouTube for howtos: Howcast
• YouTube for presentations: SlideShare
• YouTube for computer security: Securitytube
• YouTube for Islam: Islamictube
• YouTube for Christians: tangle
• YouTube for paranormal stuff: disclose.tv
• YouTube for audio files: audioBoo.fm
• YouTube for streaming videos: Ustream.tv
• YouTube for funny videos: heywtf
• YouTube for jokes: JokeyPhone
• YouTube for magazines: Issuu
• YouTube for people with disabilities: Webbytalents
• YouTube for travel videos: GeoBeats
• YouTube for animated GIFs: Giftube
• YouTube for pets: PetTube
• YouTube for dogs: Dogtube

[Adapted from: OnSoftware Spain]

• Instantizer – Fill in a simple form with a photo from your hard drive, a custom message and an optional rotation degree, and you’ll get an instant Polaroid with a link that’s valid for 24 hours. Simple, yet effective.
• Photo Notes -  Select a photo from your PC or a website and transform it into a Polaroid with a few extra options: custom text message, image position, rotation, text font, etc. You can also share it by email or publish it on a web gallery.
• Rollip – A popular website that lets you create Polaroids with color effects, decorations and a custom message in three easy steps. The image is immediately available for download or sharing online in an email, IM or blog.
• Poladroid – If you prefer using software, this is the tool you need. Drag and drop any image on Poladroid’s interface and the program will transform it into a Polaroid right away. You can even shake the file to make it appear faster, like the real Polaroids!

Last but not least, here are a couple of Photoshop tutorials I wrote a while ago that also let you apply the beauty of Polaroids to your photos: one tutorial to create a nice Polaroid collage with different images, and another one to transform a single photo into a bunch of Polaroids scattered all over the screen.