Several leading American websites will go offline on January 18.

The sites are protesting against American legislation that they say will cause Internet censorship.

Popular sites such as Reddit and Boing Boing will take part in the protest. There are also reports that Wikipedia will participate in the blackout.

Update: Wikipedia will black out its website on January 18.

If you are like us then you hate having your email filled with spam.

In fact, it seems that the majority of emails sent to us these days are spam.

That translates into a lot of time people must spend going through their emails and selecting the good from the bad.

Furthermore, not all spam emails are not innocent. Many contain viruses and malware.

Copyright © Yutaka Tsutano (Flickr)

1) Sounds: The Pronunciation App

Made by Macmillan Education, this app aims to help students learn how to pronounce words and sounds. Both British and American English pronunciations are loaded on to the programme. Listening, writing and reading can all be practised through a series of special exercises. There are also resources for teachers to use the app in their lessons.

2) Byki

This is a general and extensive language learning app for 74 different languages, so it’s just as useful for those on a French language course as an English course. Rather than using grammar structures as a starting point, which can be confusing and off-putting, it begins with vocabulary. Its approach is based on research into the way we learn languages, which shows that we learn best by absorbing phrases.

3) SnaPanda

This is a simple but really useful app. It allows English learners to capture any word in a document or page that they are reading, and then get an instant translation of it. It’s great for use as an alternative dictionary, or to help learners check definitions on the move, when they need instant answers.

Copyright © Soctech (Flickr)

4) Vocopedia

This is a very useful vocabulary building app. It has flashcard games and hangman built in, which are both fun ways for English language learners to improve their vocabulary base while having fun, either alone or with friends. It also has a word browser, loaded up with nearly 4000 words.

5) English Grammar in Use

An app aimed at helping intermediate level students work on their grammar knowledge. It includes lots of questions and activities for students to work through, divided into 16 different topics. All of them are available as both on-screen text and as audio files.

Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple, passed away earlier this month at the age of 56.

Jobs, who brought the iPod, iPhone, iPad, Macintosh Computers and computer animation films to the world, influenced and inspired many people.

He once said: “Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t interest me. Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful, that’s what matters to me.”

Last week Amazon announced that it will release a new product called Kindle Fire on November 15.

The portable device from the tech giant will allow users to watch movies, listen to music, read books, and play games.

The gadget will be similar to Apple’s iPad. However, at $199 it is less than half the price of its competitor.

Words

portable: able to be carried.

Mobile phone novels are works of fiction which are written for and read on a cell phone.

The first mobile phone novel is believed to have been written in Japan in 2003. It was entitled “Deep Love”.

Most mobile phone novels are romantic fiction directed at young people.

In many cases, the writers of mobile phone novels are anonymous.

When we cannot meet someone in person, we at Simple English News often conduct interviews using Skype.

The product we use is the Evoca Skype Call Recorder.

In addition to media interviews, the Skype Call Recorder can be used for many business purposes, such as market research and consulting.

It can even be used on a regular phone if the other person does not have a Skype account.

Once the call recording is finished, an MP3 file is saved to your Evoca account, ready for playback on your website, blog, Facebook, Twitter, smartphone, and tablet — or to listen to privately.

Words

conduct: to arrange, direct, manage.

consulting: giving, providing advice to a business.

New apps for learning English

Two new apps by Karaoke4English help you study the language by reading speeches from John F. Kennedy and the Bible.

Among other things, these apps allow you to do the following:

- read and listen at the same time
- translate words you don’t understand with a multilingual dictionary
- create your own language exercises
- practice through flashcard exercises
- repeat according to your own personal learning profile

Words

advent: coming, arrival

A Japanese spacecraft has taken high-definition images of the Earth rising.

The images show a blue earth in the black background of space. Asia and Australia can be seen in the images of the Earth rising.

The Japanese spacecraft has been orbiting 100 kilometers above the moon since October 18.

Twitter is a blogging service in which users must write a message in 140 characters or less.

This concept is called micro-blogging. A person can write his or her blog from anywhere via the Internet, an instant messenger service or a mobile phone.

There is a 140 character limit because this is the maximum space allowed in a mobile text message.

Through Twitter, people can read about what their friends are doing or follow the latest news.

For example, you can follow Simple English News on Twitter by clicking here.