Every once in a while, Google shakes up our world and changes the most basic feature of all its services: the Google menu bar. An experimental new menu bar design replaces the current black navigation strip with a dropdown icon menu similar to the Chrome OS app launcher. The feature has been part of Chrome’s dev channel for Windows since February, and now Google Operating System has discovered a way for everyone to try it out on their favorite browser.

For many of us, social networks are just a passing trend. We spent much of our lives without them, and we don’t see them as necessary in any way. In fact, many of us tend to think of social networks as nothing more than time-wasters and procrastination tools. There’s no denying that social networks have a bad side, but they also have some positive impacts, it all depends on how you use them and what you use them for.

No matter which console you like or what your favorite accessories are, you’re bound to like popsicles, especially on a hot summer day. The Zoku Duo Quick Pop Maker makes it possible to create and prepare any kind of popsicle you can dream of, and have it ready to eat in just several minutes. We’re giving 5 away, so make sure to read the review then join the contest!

There’s something to be said for picking a restaurant completely at random, not knowing what you’re going to get. You can find real gems this way, but can also find yourself paying for food you really don’t like. A new take on food hunting called Dish.fm aims to change this by aggregating reviews and photos from other networks, and arranging them so you can find the best dish around, rather than the best restaurant.

The advent of cell phones and smartphones made us all very used to being able to call, send messages and emails from everywhere, and being available no matter where we are. This is undoubtedly useful, but it can also be overwhelming at times. Would you consider shutting off your phone for an entire day, or would that be too much to bear?

The Bing vs. Google race has just become tighter with the launch of Bing’s new Pinterest integration. The new feature adds a handy “Pin it” button to every image result on Bing, making it possible to pin it to your Pinterest boards without needing to go to the actual website, or even open the full-size version of the image.

Having a different password for each service is a must in today’s online world, but there’s a terrible weakness to randomly generated passwords: it’s impossible to remember them all. But how can you possibly remember hundreds of passwords? The human brain is only capable of so much, isn’t it? Let me fill you in on some priceless tips and tricks on creating strong, solid passwords that are impossible to guess, but easy to remember.

From the first days of public Internet, it’s been a long and winding road for chat. From Web chats that were nothing but forums, to ICQ and IRC, to MSN Messenger and Google Talk, and finally – the chat most of us use today – Facebook chat. To me, chat’s evolution is a bit sad, really. As old as ICQ and IRC look today, they were both chat protocols and programs I really enjoyed using.

I’m not easily impressed with add-ons, but All-in-One Sidebar is an excellent addition to anyone’s Firefox browser. Yes, you shouldn’t install too many browser extensions, but AiOS can easily replace several you’re already using, and comes with so many different functions. All-in-One Sidebar is much more than a toolbar, making Firefox’s most overlooked feature – the sidebar – actually useful.

Up until recently, touchscreens were mainly seen on smartphones and tablets. The launch of Windows 8, coupled with the advent of ultra-light Ultrabooks, made it more logical for laptops to come with touchscreen. But is the touchscreen on laptops really useful? Is it a feature you’d want on your new laptop? Would you tolerate it, or does it seem completely unnecessary?

Every since its launch, we’ve seen Facebook change. And change. Again, and again, and again. While many changes are actually for the best, there’s one thing these updates never fails to add to our news feed: more clutter. There’s also something our ever-growing list of friends never fails to bring to our news feed: even more clutter. Are you ready to change that?

Vizible is a brand new iOS app for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. What makes it special for me, is that its made by the same developers as Twizgrid, which to this day remains one of my favorite iOS apps of all times. If you’re curious, I’d recommend reading my previous post about Twizgrid, but in a nutshell, Twizgrid is a visual Twitter client which makes the recent quarrel between Twitter and Instagram seem insignificant.

You may have noticed that I have a thing for online résumé creators. In the past, I’ve looked at SlashCV – a simple tool for creating PDF résumés – and Enthuse.me, which is more like an online portfolio of your past work and your online presence. But my quest is far from over. As I’ve already mentioned in the past, writing a résumé is one of my least favorite tasks in the whole world, and that’s why I’m drawn to these résumé tools.

The smartphone market keeps changing, and it’s not easy to keep up, but when a really good device comes out, it makes a lasting impression that lasts at least a year. Most of us don’t get to enjoy the best and newest devices – upgrading your cell phone every year is close to impossible – but it’s always nice to read about the newest additions, and it never hurts to dream. So which is your dream device?

There are wonderful educational apps out there, many of which cost $10, $20, or even more. I’m not here to say they’re not worth it – you’re going to pay much more for a textbook – but it’s also possible to find cheaper apps that nonetheless provide a great learning experience for kids of all ages. For the list below, I tried to stick to apps that cost $5 or less, and all except one offer a free version too.