In this practical guide I show you how to rip and download DRM-free music from Spotify.   The music we’ll download from Spotify is completely DRM free so you’ll be able to play the tracks on your favoured MP3 players. In order to rip from Spotify you’ll need a piece of $20 software,  plus an Open (free) account registered with Spotify. There is some reported success by decoding the Spotify local cached music files on your PC,  but the complexities of doing this are too advanced for average Joe.  So, the method we’ll use here is to simply capture the music stream from Spotify. Read more…

If you have some large archive files (zip, rar, iso), and just need to extract or update one single file,  it can be a little painful to have to extract the whole folder.  However,  with this free Windows tool you can easily mount the archive file as a folder,  and explore or write to it just like any normal folder.

Pismo file mount allows you to mount ZIP, ISO, CISO, CFS, ISZ, DAA, and PFO files as virtual folders within Windows. Read more…

Bulk installers simplify the process of downloading and installing all your favourite free applications.   Bulk-installers often work by providing all the necessary installation files in a neat package which can be installed on different PCs.  You can also select precisely which applications you want in the bulk install package, and make sure you have all your favourite freeware. Read more…

We’re pleased to announce that voato.com can now be viewed properly on all mobile devices include iPhone and Android devices. We’ve made this change in response to readers who commented how badly the site rendered previously.  Any mobile device should automatically render the new mobile site, but if it doesn’t you need to point your device browser to http://m.voato.com.   We’ve tested in on Nokia and Sony Ericson phones, but please let us know how it goes by posting in the comments.

On this guide I  wanted to talk about how I’ve managed to setup a media centre at home on a shoe-string budget by re-using lots of old and aging tech.  This budget media centre has been setup for years now, and has worked extremely well for music, media, music and the internet. Read more…

In this ultimate guide of design web sites, I’ve rounded up 30 of my favourite resources I use for putting together web sites.  You’ll find a whole hodge-podge of recommendations here including CSS design, cross browser testing, color palettes, browser plug-ins,  and so much more. I’ve also included some my favourite web sites for inspiration, and tools for the budget developer. Read more…

Having a temporary disposable email address is really useful to register for web sites which insist you provide a valid email address. If the site insists on sending you a password, and you don’t want to dish out your own identity,  why not try one of these free great services. Read more…

I came across this really useful and free tool for sending huge files over the web.  Many mail servers have a limit to the size of an attachment so this service helps you get around that limit.  Also, if you’re near your mailbox quota then this service is a real life-saver.

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