Mac OS X: Trillian, the slick-looking multi-protocol IM client that kinda-sorta won our Hive Five for best IM app, has launched an early alpha for Mac OS X. It's not close to feature-complete, but it does look like Trillian.

Early reports peg the Mac alpha of Trillian as very rough, and not on the same level as the well-known Windows client. Some preferences are missing, Growl support isn't there, and, as Download Squad notes, the chat alert sounds are annoying and hard to turn off. That said, the client has a smooth look to it, and, while Adium is the well-tested standard for multi-protocol chat on Macs, if you're familiar with Trillian on Windows, you'll probably enjoy the Cocoa-ed version seen here.

Maemo5 Phones: Moving right along from the release candidate, Firefox Mobile has arrived in 1.0 form on phones like the N900 that run Maemo. It's got add-ons, an AwesomeBar, desktop syncing through Weave, and plenty more to recommend it. We just wish it could work on more devices.

Image from jkOnTheRun.

Windows: If you use a 3rd-party application dock in place of the Windows taskbar, you may have noticed that you can't completely get rid of the taskbar. Taskbar Eliminator helps you turn it off and keep it out of the way.

You can minimize the taskbar in Windows but you can't full-out remove it. This can be a bit of a pain if you're happily using a 3rd-party application dock and you don't like the taskbar popping up or even taking up that tiny sliver of screen real estate to say "I'm here!". Taskbar Eliminator is a single-purpose application that removes the taskbar from the screen and keeps it from popping up or getting in the way, letting you use your 3rd-party dock in peace.

Firefox: As you make the rounds commenting at your favorite blog or composing a lengthy email, avoid misspellings or a bad turn of phrase with After the Deadline's excellent grammar and spellcheck Firefox extension.

This nifty little add-on hides in the background on Firefox until you're ready to use it. The next time you visit a message board, fill out a web form, or leave a comment on your favorite web site, just hit F7 on your keyboard before you send your message into the intertubes. The extension checks for spelling and grammatical errors and underlines them in hard-to-miss bold colors.

Legislation banning cell phone use while driving a car was intended to reduce the number of crashes on the roads, but a new study by the Highway Loss Data Institute indicates that the laws may not be fulfilling their purpose. When comparing the frequency of collision insurance claims made in states that enacted a ban against cell phone use to those that didn't, a study shows that claim rates remain similar.

The HLDI looked at the collision claims per 100 vehicles in three areas that had banned all cell phone usage while driving—California, Connecticut, and the District of Columbia—and compared them with surrounding states (for example, Connecticut was compared to Massachusetts and New York). The study grouped the states in this way to account for the differences in the economy, miles driven, and seasonal effects.

Apple released a beta of the iPhone OS 3.2 SDK to developers last week so they can get a jump on making existing or new apps ready for the iPad. That version of the iPhone OS is made specifically for the iPad, and, as developers comb through the APIs, resources, and function calls, they are finding references to capabilities Steve Jobs never mentioned during the device's unveiling.

We have already heard about how the Contacts app contains a full UI for taking photos, suggesting some kind of camera hardware was at least considered during the design stage of the iPad. Details of what appears to be a fairly complete video conferencing or video calling implementation are also contained within iPhone OS 3.2. Sources for Engadget turned up references to functions for accepting or declining a video conference, mirror-imaging a video feed (useful for webcams), and running a video call full-screen or within a pop-over view.