Communication is one of the most important subjects nowadays. Cell phones and the Internet being two of most popular ways to communicate worldwide. And falling fitly into the Internet communication category comes Skype. Put in simple words, Skype is a software that allows you make phone calls through the Internet. One of the biggest advantages is that calls between users are 100% free, and it let's you call regular phone lines and/or cell phones anywhere in the world for reasonably competitive prices. Skype also comes with a useful option to use your webcam for serious high quality video conferencing. Moreover, you can chat with your buddies, co-workers, or anybody in your contacts just as you would do with other IM services. Don't know your friends user names? Don't worry. A built-in, ICQ-esque search feature that will allow you to find them by name, email, or location, in a flash.

After dealing with my old, but quite dependable printer for some time, I decided it was time to do an upgrade. Despite of my short frustration after seeing only HP printers on every single store catalog from Sunday's paper, I decide to go out to check out other good brands. Don't get me wrong, HP printers are not bad. Yet, they don't deserve all the hype they get from all the big stores.

What surprise when, after skipping HP "aisle" at the store, I decided to look into Brother's line of printing devices--which were strategically cornered at the end of the store for some reason. Their appealing price; and their radical, user-friendly design got my utmost attention within seconds. Nevertheless, I needed to dig deeper into this baby's features. This all-in-one baby (printer, copier, fax, and scanner) comes standard with built in wired and wireless interface (extremely useful for homes with more than one computer), shoots paper and pictures with stunning good quality, and many more features for a you-can't-pass-it price of, in average, $130 (for more information, please check out Brother's official website).

While searching for good, quality software on the Internet, some of you might have encountered that some of these programs are available to download as “freeware” and some of them as “shareware.” Also, you surely have seen the famous “free trials,” but that’s part of another story.

In a few words, freeware is simply software released and distributed freely over the Internet—or by other means. It isn’t completely free since, even though users aren’t required or are obliged to pay in order to use it, the category falls into a realm in which programming enthusiasts cannot modify its core to suit their needs; then it would become free software. Moreover, even though freeware is usually endlessly free to use, its creators expect the users to donate money to the cause—which I have always found reasonable and understandable. Basically, helping these companies financially ensure the on-going development of their project(s).

Security is one of the hottest, most talked-about—and perhaps one of the most important, yet hardest to implement—topics in our computerized world. Many of us have cluttered our systems with a myriad of software trying to try to secure them against virus, trojans, adware, malware, hackers, and so on. There are users that know about the risks, and they protect themselves accordingly. Nevertheless some others, unknowingly, are not even protected at the basic level.

The reason lies on the fact that, regardless of how much one spends on software, not understanding the basics of computer and Internet security—and more importantly, how the programs work, you as a user will be vulnerable most of the time. And the “bad guys” know it and they can take advantage of you whether you use several of these programs or not.

The world is saturated with people not passionate enough. Don't get me wrong; it's not that I think the world is coming to an end or anything like that. I do believe there's more good than bad surrounding us—but that's another story. It is just the fact that the average person, and I include myself in there to some extent, doesn't value him/herself enough. By this I mean that we sometimes choose to go on temporary or permanent paths that we, deep inside, don't want to follow. Does this ring a bell?