Curious to see how Windows 7 runs on a Mac using Parallels? The configuration choice isn't necessarily obvious, but PC Authority editor Zara Baxter advises setting the Parallels installation as 'Windows 2008 experimental' in order to play with the beta (which isn't officially available to the public but is spreading over torrent sites nonetheless). Given that it's an experimental build and that Parallels has recently upgraded, of course, your mileage may vary.

Mozilla is looking to streamline the process of multiple extension installation with a new webapp called Fashion Your Firefox. In a nutshell, Fashion Your Firefox identifies a handful of browsing types, from the "Finder and Seeker" ("I want to make finding information on the Web simpler and more relevant to me.") to the Digital Pack Rat ("I want a hassle-free way to keep track of my favourite sites, bookmarks, blogs and, well, everything!"), then suggests popular extensions for each type of user. Just click through each list of suggestions, cherry pick the extensions you're interested in, and then click Install my Add-Ons.

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Google released this morning its seventh edition of SketchUp for Windows and Mac systems, the free 3D modelling tool that topped our list of Top 10 Google products you forgot all about. New to this edition are tools for collaborating and sharing models and objects through the 3D Warehouse, automatic tools for beginners, and lots of other tweaks. What do you use SketchUp for? Tell us in the comments. [via Official Google Blog]

Windows/Mac/Linux (All platforms): Darik's Boot and Nuke does what it sounds like, so it's not a tool you want to mess around with unless you really want everything securely wiped off your system. If you're donating or otherwise handing off your hard drive, however, it's a serious tool for erasing data so it's really, really hard to ever find again. You load Darik's tool onto a CD, DVD, USB flash drive or even a floppy disk, and after it boots, you can either choose which mounted hard drives it should wipe clean and in which fashion (with varying numbers of over-writing to meet the standards of, say, the US Department of Defence or the Royal Canadian Mounted Police), or use the "autonuke" option to wipe everything gone for good. It worked flawlessly on some non-partitioned hard drives I wanted to donate to a local charity. Darik's Boot and Nuke is a free download; owners of dual-core processors should head for the 2.0 beta.

Ahead of its MAX conference this week, Adobe has upgraded its AIR cross-platform application technology to version 1.5. Enhancements in the new version include support for design features introduced in version 10 of Adobe's Flash Player, incorporation of the WebKit HTML engine, and encrypted database support (to tempt all those corporate app types). Windows and Mac releases are available now; the Linux release is due before the end of the year, though in the meantime Adobe has released a 64-bit version of Flash Player 10 for Linux users. If you want to find out why AIR matters, check out our list of the 10 best AIR applications.

Windows/Mac OS X 10.5 only: Want live video streams to run in a dedicated window instead of a forgotten tab buried in your browser? StreamDesk brings a hand-picked selection of live video streams from sites like Ustream.tv, Justin.tv and Stickam directly to your desktop. For Mac, it requires OS X Leopard (version 10.5) and Flash 10. For Windows, it requires .NET 3.5 and Flash 10 — though the StreamDesk installer will helpfully download both for you. The content is currently tech-heavy, but you can request new feeds like the Shiba Inu Puppy Cam from a form on the developer's site. StreamDesk is a free download for Windows and Mac OS X 10.5.

If you've got a clutter of Stickies on your Mac desktop and you want to archive them all in one fell swoop, here's a kludge jury-rigged from Print to PDF:

While there's no direct "export all" feature in Stickies, there is a fairly simple workaround. First, select File -> Print All Notes. In the Print dialog, click the PDF pop-up menu, then select Save as PDF.

The PDF can then be printed if you prefer a paper record, or you can copy and paste the text from a reader into any text editor. If you've set up a Stickies tutorial, this would be a good way to save what you've written for reusing it later. Looking for other ways to improve your sticky notes? Check out Stick 'Em Up for extending Stickies or download and try SketchBox. If you have a quicker way to convert your stickies to a text file, let us know in the comments.

Ladies and gentlemen, start your downloads. XBMC 8.10 Atlantis—the release that's bringing the popular media centre to all platforms and integrating XBMC with Mac apps like iTunes and iPhoto—is officially available. For a closer look at what you can expect, check out our screenshot tour of XBMC Atlantis.

Windows/Mac/Linux (Adobe AIR): Free Adobe AIR application MiniTask is a light-weight task manager with a surprising number of features. MiniTask displays in single window, the entire functionality of the application exists in one menu available via right click. You can bulk remove done tasks, separate tasks them with a simple labelled line break, set alarms, and export your tasks easily to the clipboard. MiniTask has handy keyboard shortcuts like the ability to create a new labelled divider by typing **divider name** in your task list, MiniTask will automatically convert and place it. MiniTask is a free cross-platform download that requires Adobe AIR.

Microsoft has clarified that its upcoming Microsoft Office Web Applications—lightweight versions of Word, Excel, et. al. run from a browser—won't require Internet Explorer or be otherwise locked to Windows systems, working in Firefox, Safari (Mac and iPhone), and on Linux. No final decision on whether the web-based apps will be free and ad-supported or fee-based. [via CNet]