With Adblock Plus for Android installed, Google responds to a search query and returns no ads or sponsored results.

Released yesterday, Adblock Plus for Android offers a no-nonsense way to completely remove ads from your mobile computing experience. Simply download and install the app, and let it run behind the scenes. From there, you should notice that display ads, video ads, push notifications, and even many in-app ads are no more.

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So far, I've seen AdBlock Plus kill ads on several Web sites, including Google, and within the ad-supported Pandora app. According to its developers, though, AdBlock Plus does not work when browsing with Firefox for Android, since Firefox does not support Android's system proxy settings.

Adblock Plus works right out... [Read more]

Decor8 is a simple app for Windows 8 that enables users to customize the look and feel of their desktops, lock screens and of course, the new Modern UI environment. Though Windows 8 comes stocked with some basic options, Decor8 adds extra features to give users that extra level of personalization and refinement.

Change the number of tiled rows to your liking.

After you install the app, Decor8 will appear on the Start screen like any other tile. When you open the app, you'll be greeted with an options menu that appears mighty hard to discern from a standard Windows 8 settings menu. From the Background settings, choose any custom image or photo to set as your background for the modern UI and add visual tweaks like fading, blurring, and color overlays. Decor8 also allows users to rotate through multiple background images, a feature that's also peculiarly absent in the Modern UI environment, compared to its older desktop cousin.

The colors option lets you tweak the tile buttons and other elements of the color scheme. These were options that had existed in previous stock Windows builds since XP, but Stardock has a more more presentable and easier interface to work with. Other notable tweaks include changing the row count ... [Read more]

(Credit: VideoLAN)

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VLC is an extremely useful application for watching, recording, and streaming audio and video. And if you didn't know, you can also use it to watch your favorite YouTube videos.

As the Digital Inspiration blog points out, there are lots of benefits to watching YouTube videos in VLC.  For starters, you can skip any ads that might play before videos without needing to use a browser extension. Second, you can change the playback speed of videos, which can help if you're trying to learn something new, like a dance. Third, you can watch the video in a smaller window while still doing other things on your computer. And finally, you can capture snapshots from the video easily through VLC's interface.

Before you try watching a YouTube video in VLC, make sure that you have the latest version. This ca... [Read more]