Although I was resistant to Facebook at first, staunchly clinging to MySpace until all but three of my friends ceased to use it (thereby making it all but pointless), there is one thing in particular that has kept Facebook in my favor since I made the switch. The social-networking service provides an excellent medium for sharing content, particularly quick bits of information via links posted to your Wall or that of a friend. The ability to display (or hide) photos is also quite handy.

But if there's one place Facebook has failed to excel, it's in the music department--MySpace has it all over its competitor in that regard. Sure, you can post Pandora stations to your wall (but only yours) and share links to YouTube videos of individual tracks, but recommending a single, playable track--or even an audio-only playlist--to friends is an inelegant process at best. So what's a Facebooking music lover to do?

The seemingly obvious answer is the rally call generally applied to the iPhone: there's an app for that. Most recently, Music WithMe updated its Facebook application to offer a more seamless, user-friendly experience. The app lets you recommend individual tracks and playlists from your own iTunes library, with the new version offering more details on each playlist and including album art for the songs. You can also listen to a 30-second preview of each track, "like" playlists and tracks, and purchase directly from iTunes.

As you may have ascertained, this option is imperfect at best. For one thing, you can share only things from iTunes, which is limiting for those who prefer to manage their music with other programs. Also, your friends can listen only to 30 second previews of a track rather than the full song. Finally, you can share only music that you have in your library, so if you just happen upon a song or album that you have yet to download, you can't quickly recommend it to a friend or post it on your wall.

So while I appreciate the effort put forth by apps like Music WithMe to make Facebook more music-friendly, it and the others I've come across fall short. Is there some great method for sharing or recommending music on Facebook that I'm missing? Or are you also disappointed by the options available? Please let me know in the comments below.

Originally posted at Webware

With the digital video camera making its way into more and more homes, whether in the form of a full-featured camcorder, an ultracompact HD-only shooter, or even your cell phone's built-in camera, having some good software on hand to edit the resulting clips is becoming a necessity. Unfortunately, most of these modern recording devices don't come with very good editing software, and many don't come with any at all.

Luckily, there are plenty of great apps available for turning any expanding library of video clips into a home movie worthy of sharing with friends and family. Now is the perfect time of year to pick something up for the amateur shooter in your life, or even something for yourself now, so you have time to throw something together for upcoming visits with loved ones. We've rounded up five great options for Windows users below below, and even one extra for those with a Mac in the house.

Not to be outdone by Rovio's Halloween- and Christmas-themed Angry Birds Seasons, Chillingo just took the wraps off Cut the Rope: Holiday Gift.

That's right: Om Nom is back, still hungry for candy, and still adorable as can be. The game serves up 75 25 new levels and immediately lives up to its name. Holiday Gift is absolutely free. You don't even have to own the original.

Update: My bad. The game has 25 new levels, not 75.

Just in case you don't, Cut the Rope works like this: Little green monster Om Nom has a sweet tooth that rivals, well, mine. In each level, a piece of candy is attached to a series of ropes you slice with your finger.

To complete a level, you need to figure out which ropes to cut, and when, to swing the candy into his mouth--collecting as many stars as possible in the process.

Holiday Gift is packed with Christmassy touches, like stockings that teleport the candy from one spot to another (I won't spoil any of the others). It probably goes without saying that if you liked the first Cut the Rope, you'll love Holiday Gift.

Show of hands: Who liked the first Cut the Rope? When it debuted in October, I suggested it might be the best iPhone game since Angry Birds. But I have to admit, while I still play the latter from time to time, I've pretty much abandoned Om Nom (sorry, little guy). The levels reached a point where they were just too difficult--for me, at least--and I lost interest.

On the other hand, Holiday Gift seems to have rekindled it. Gotta hand it to Chillingo for putting such a great little present under fans' trees.

Originally posted at iPhone Atlas

Most users never think about data-recovery software until they need it--like, say, after a corrupted hard drive has cost them years' worth of family photos.

Make like the Boy Scouts and be prepared: get a recovery tool now and keep it at the ready.

From now until December 25, iCare Data Recovery 4.0 is available absolutely free. Regular price: $69.95. To get it, follow the "Steps to get registered iCare for free" instructions, making sure to run the program as an administrator and then pasting in the provided code. (FYI, you must activate it before the 25th.)

iCare promises to rescue data from any number of common calamities, including drive failures, corrupted Master Boot Records, bad boot sectors, deleted partitions, virus attacks, and even messed-up Norton Ghost images.

The software supports internal and external hard drives, flash drives, and memory cards (like the kind used by digital cameras). It's compatible with Windows 2000, XP, Vista, and 7, and even Windows Server.

CNET hasn't reviewed iCare Data Recovery, but a couple glowing user reviews at Download.com suggest the program works as advertised--and can really save your bacon. So grab this valuable utility while it's free.

Thanks to my pal Dave for sharing this deal!

Bonus deal: Calling all teachers and educators! I'm a monster fan of Tales2Go, which streams children's audiobooks on-demand to iOS devices. From now until January 15, 2011, you can sign up for a free six-month Tales2Go subscription for your school or educational program.

Bonus deal No. 2: In the mood for some holiday tunes? If you're willing to cough up your e-mail address, X5MusicGroup will give you 10 free Christmas piano songs in MP3 format. Great stuff.

Originally posted at The Cheapskate