Neowin.net

Stardock has released Icon Developer 1.0. IconDeveloper is an icon creation program designed with mainstream users in mind. It makes it incredibly easy to create icons.

While other icon editing programs come with their own built in editors, IconDeveloper assumes that people making icons are going to either make their images in Photoshop or take an existing image (PNG, JPG, etc.) to turn into an icon. As a result it only takes a few steps to take a graphic file and turn it into an icon -- with all common icon sizes/formats created automatically.

IconDeveloper also allows users to easily change the color of particular parts of an icon and entire sets of icons at once without affecting other colors. For example, a user who wants to turn all of their folders from yellow to blue without affecting the other items on that folder icon can do so easily.

IconDeveloper is a free download. The registered version is $19.95 and has a host of additional features. It can also be purchased as part of Stardock's Object Desktop. IconDeveloper also integrates with IconPackager, a program that allows user sto apply packages of icons.

Visit www.icondeveloper.com to download.

Screenshot: >> Click here <<
Download: Download
News source: Source

Big gender gap in Italy

The findings are derived from surveys of Internet and non-Internet users in 14 countries: the United States, Britain, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Japan, Macao, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, China and Chile.

The study does however support some long-established Internet usage trends including the fact that the wealthiest segments of the population are the most avid users and that more men than women surf the Web. But figures vary widely by country.

For example, the gender gap is most pronounced in Italy and smallest in Taiwan. According to the study, 41.7 percent of Italian men are online compared to 21.5 percent of Italian women. In Taiwan, the difference is 25.1 percent for men and 23.5 percent for women.

The digital divide, a phrase used to describe how poverty impacts Web usage, appears to be tightening around the world, Cole said.

In seven of the 12 countries for which the information was available, more than 20 percent of the poorest segment of the population uses the Internet. Sweden, Korea and the U.S. have the highest usage of Internet users among the poor.

Skeptical Swedes

The credibility of information published on the Internet also received a surprising boost.

Despite the existence of countless spoof Web sites and message boards that carry oddball political rants, more than half of Internet users surveyed said "most or all" of the information they find online is reliable and credible.

The most trusting users are in South Korea while Swedes are the biggest skeptics about the veracity of Web news.

The Chinese, meanwhile, are among the most active Net socializers. According to the study, Chinese Internet users say they rely on the medium to interact with others who share their political interests, hobbies and faith.

"It's more than in any other country and a significant figure for citizens of a nation in which religion is officially banned," the study said of Chinese users' willingness to discuss religion online with others.