How to use your BlackBerry as a Bluetooth modem Using your RIM BlackBerry as a tethered modem for your laptop can help avoid pesky hotel, cafe and airport hot spots and save a stack of cash. But in this wireless world, who wants to be “tethered?” Follow these steps to cut the wire and use your BlackBerry as a Bluetooth modem. When you carry a Research In Motion (RIM) BlackBerry, you’ve got an Internet connection in your pocket wherever you may roam – as long as your travels don’t take you outside cellular coverage....

Opera: HTML 5 is key to unifying mobile web Mobile browsers combined with HTML 5 should let web-based applications compete better with native applications, at least that’s what browser developerOperabelieves. Aaccording to co-founder Jon von Tetzchner, the combination of fragmentation and native applications on smartphones exeperienced today is bad for both consumers and developers. For consumers it becomes more difficult to switch to a new phone based on a different operating system and at the same time keep all of their applications, and developers almost have to start from scratch when they develop an application for different platforms, von Tetzchner said....

14 great computing aids for the disabled Getting work done on a computer is easily within reach of the blind and physically disabled thanks to a number of new and updated tools. We’ve rounded up the 14 best gadgets to improve computing for the disabled. Using a PC for work or play may seem like an easy, every-day activity to you and me. But for people who are blind, paralysed or otherwise physically disabled, using a computer can be an exercise in frustration....

Apple iPad versus netbook: features compared Despite the introduction of the iPad and the harsh words of Apple CEO Steve Jobs, netbooks will continue to thrive, say analysts and commentators, who cite the iPad’s missing features and relatively high price. During the launch yesterday, Jobs called netbooks ‘cheap laptops’ that tried but failed to create a third category between smartphones and laptops. “The problem is that netbooks aren’t better than anything,” Jobs said....

Microsoft wins PC Advisor’s Best Free Software award Microsoft Security Essentials has won thePC Advisor Awards 2010 – Best Free Softwareaward, after being named as the best freebie to come through the PC Advisor Test Centre over the past 12 months. Launched in 2009, Security Essentials is free and as effective at protecting a PC as any of the free antivirus programs that have been available for years. False positives are few and far between, thanks to strong malware detection and the ability to distinguish between a dodgy file and one that simply displays unexpected behaviour....