Microsoft Dreamspark – free Microsoft software for students

I can’t believe I’ve only just stumbled across this, but Microsoft are now offering a whole bundle of professional software to students for free.

They call it Microsoft Dreamspark, and it’s a website ran by the company. If you’re in post-16 or university education, you can get a hefty chunk of their professional software for free. Being a student myself, this is very handy.

Amongst other things, you can get Microsoft Visual Basic 2010 Pro, Microsoft Expression Studio 4 Ultimate and Windows Server 2008 for free until you finish university.

All you have to do is prove your education. This is relatively easy – if you have an ISIS card, an .edu (or .ac.uk) email address you can activate within a few minutes. If not, you can go through the process of applying for activation from your college or uni. You have to re-activate every year to get continued use of your software, but it’s well worth it.

It’s available in multiple countries, so don’t hesitate to check if you aren’t in the US or UK.

If you are a student computer enthusiast or programmer, head over to www.dreamspark.com and claim your free software!

Ok, the BT Infinity upgrade is pretty cool

I had a nice surprise today when I got home from college. My flat’s broadband is typically about 1.8Mbit per second down and has been since I moved in. However, as BT have been promising free fibre upgrades to people who can get it, clearly I’ve had an upgrade.

This is the new speed that I’m very much getting used to:

Now that’s more like it!

Apple releases iTunes 10.0.1 with nothing that much new

Apple has recently released their latest version of iTunes 10.0.1 with, it has to said, nothing of any significance that’s new.

It seems to have some minor improvements to Apple’s Ping service, but other than that, there’s nothing particularly interesting to report.

So much for a huge download. Typical Apple. When will Apple learn that not all of us have endless bandwidth allowances?!

Apple makes it clear that they have enough fart apps

I’m not joking! Apple has recently released a document that reminds developers of the rules and guidelines with regards to apps in the App Store.

Feast your eyes on this. It’s a good read!

My favourites from the document are as follows:

“We don’t need any more Fart apps.”

“If you run to the press and trash us, it never helps.”

“If it sounds like we’re control freaks, well, maybe it’s because we’re so committed to our users and making sure they have a quality experience with our products. Just like almost [!!] all of you are too.

The document then goes on to list every single rule of the app development.

So, if you’re looking into making an app anytime soon – remember Apple said this: “If your App looks like it was cobbled together in a few days, or you’re trying to get your first practice App into the store to impress your friends, please brace yourself for rejection. We have lots of serious developers who don’t want their quality Apps to be surrounded by amateur hour.”

Giffgaff introduces new £20 plan and extends free internet

Giffgaff, the increasingly popular MVNO (mobile virtual network operator), has recently introduced it’s new £20 goodybag after multiple requests from customers.

The new goodybag now offers 600 minutes, unlimited texts and unlimited internet – with no fair use as per usual.

In addition, giffgaff have increased the allowance on the £10 goodybag from 100 minutes to 150 minutes at no extra charge. This goodybag appears to be the most popular of the 5 goodybags available considering that it also offers unlimited texts and unlimited internet.

Finally, giffgaff have also said that they will continue to offer the free mobile internet until 1st of December 2010. This means that giffgaff will have ran this promotion for over a year when it finally comes to an end.