Free Cool Tools
The Internet has certainly changed over the years. In a way it is going back to the original sense that the founders intended - information sharing. I remember way back when - when the philosophy was that if you give something of value - you will build a presense on the 'world wide web.'
Well, in appreciation of the original intent and to say thank you for the incredible and excellent work that so many developers have contributed to the 'open source' and 'free software' movement we would like to present our list of the 'Coolest Free Software on the Net.' (Please note: we use these tools on a regular basis. They are an integral part of our work flow process.)
Mikogo - Free Screen Sharing for Win and Mac- requires a download and software installation but quite painless - VERY COOL FEATURE - you can switch presenters - pass presentation control over to another user.
DimDim - Another free Web Collaboration tool for Win and Mac - VERY COOL FEATURE - no download for client/collaborator - just send them your my.dimdim.com/username and Bob's Yer Uncle. (Professional versions available but is free for up to 20 users.) DimDim is rated number two as its refresh rate is not as good as Mikogo - but again, the advantage is no software download.
Jing - Free Screen Capture - Make your own videos from your desktop - VERY COOL FEATURE - Just plug in your microphone/headset start bring up visuals on your screen and add voice overs. Simple, easy and effective way to produce online video demos. (Professional version removes the branding and gives you more file formats to choose from.)
Audacity - Free Audio Editor - record, slice or mix audio - This is a really COOL TOOL - it's free and it is open source and easy to use. I love it. Mixing a musical track with a voice over is a snap. It's audacious!
Image Processing - Gimp - Pixie - Easy Thumbnails - now here I am going to point you to three COOL TOOLS. Gimp is an open source image processor - though a little steep on the learning curve it is a great tool. Easy Thumbnails - do you have to resize a whack of images - this is a quick and dirty tool to batch process images. (Please note this software is only free for non-commercial use.) Pixie - this is a very cool little tool - it will pick up the colour of any pixel that you hold your cursor over and give you the values in HEX, HTML,RGB, CMYK and HSV. Very useful when you get down to the nitty gritty of colour matching.
Open Office - Ever heard of Word Perfect? No, well at one time it was the market leader for word processing until Microsoft (allegedly) sabotaged them by having a fake 'error' pop up when the Windows OS detected WP. Well, every stick has two ends and now a full-featured Office Productivity suite is available (using the base code of Word Perfect and Quattro Pro) and it is Free from software giant Oracle.
Free Zip - a free compression utility. I can't tell you how much time and trouble I have saved over the years by compressing files before I send them off on their merry way across cyberspace. A compressed file rarely gets corrputed. Stop sending 36 pictures as individual attachments. Zip and and send it. (and if the file is gee-normous then use Send This File.)
CutePDF - now a lot of newer computers (or the lastest versions of many software products) have a built in pdf utility to enable you to print to the PDF format (portable document format - read: Acrobat Reader). But for those of you who don't - this is a VERY COOL PRODUCT - as it acts as a virtual printer and outputs PDF files. It is not a good idea to be sending your word docs to folks - better to send a PDF.
