Monday, April 18, 2011

No Cost Ten

Ten Things You Can Have for Free

Freeware caution: always scan free downloads of anything for bugs and other threats before dumping the programs into your hard drive.

Blender is an "open source software for 3D modeling, animation, rendering, post-production, interactive creation and playback.
Blender has proven to be an extremely fast and versatile design instrument. The software has a personal touch, offering a unique approach to the world of Three Dimensions. Use it to create TV commercials, to make technical visualizations, business graphics, to do some morphing, or design user interfaces. You can easy build and manage complex environments. The renderer is versatile and extremely fast. All basic animation principles (curves & keys) are well implemented" [OS: Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7 (32, 64 bits), Mac OS X (PPC and Intel 32.64 bits), Linux (x86 32/64 bits),FreeBSD (AMD/Intel 64 bits)]

Creating mind maps with Bookvar is "as easy and fun as playing computer games. You can build your mind maps in a matter of seconds by using handy keyboard shortcuts. You can drag files from your computer and drop them in the mind map. Create mind maps together with your friends and colleagues. All you need is connection between computers. Each user receives a unique color which identifies topics created by him. Share thoughts and ideas using the integrated chat support. Use custom add-ins to extend Bookvar's functionality. Create custom skins to change the mind map appearance.Add images directly in your topics. Embed and play movies. Attach other resources to your topics as files. Attach links to web pages directly in your map's topics" (OS: Win2K, WinXP, Vista, +.Net 3.5)

Clipboard Master is a clipboard extension freeware for Windows that "stores all your texts, files and pictures copied to the clipboard; Paste any item in any windows application; Define any shortcut to show the clipbard list"(OS: Windows 7, Vista, XP, XP , 2000, 64 Bit versions as well)

EarthAlerts is "a Windows-based application that allows you to monitor in near real-time a variety of natural hazard events that are occurring anywhere around the world. Alert notifications, reports, and imagery provide the user with a convenient way to view natural phenomenon as they occur, whether close to home or some far-flung corner of the globe! Earth Alerts uses a variety of online resources provided by organizations such as the National Weather Service, U.S. Geological Survey and Smithsonian Institution (just to name a few), to identify what sort of activities "Mother Earth" is currently dishing out on the planet. To use Earth Alerts, you simply select the specific natural hazards -- earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes, tropical cyclones, wildland fires, landslides, severe weather, local weather, etc. -- and the locations that interest you. The application will then automatically retrieve the latest information from various live data feeds available on the Internet and present it to you in a convenient arrangement of reports, maps and images" (OS: Windows 2000/ XP/Vista/7)

ErgoClock "helps you live a healthier more efficient life by providing a tool that periodically reminds you to exercise and do various exercises while sitting behind your desk" (OS: Windows XP/Vista/7)

LinesmART is an "image manip, which turns ordinary photos into line art renderings. All it takes is to load a photo using the program, and the rest is done for you. There are customizable options if you want the art to look like a particular style. The output image is the same size as the one opened" (OS: Mac)

SandBox Game Maker is a "3D game design tool based on the Cube 2 engine that allows users to quickly and easily create and edit their own worlds in game, even cooperatively. It is free, Open Source, and easy to use for Kids and Adults. Lots of help is available for Installation; Getting started - Map Editing Basics and Beginner's video tutorials; Advanced topics; Tutorials; Development and more" (OS: Windows, Mac, Linux)

Based on FreeMind, SciPlore MindMapping is "the first mind mapping tool focusing on researchers’ needs by integrating mind mapping with reference and pdf management. SciPlore MindMapping offers all the features one would expect from a standard mind mapping software, plus special features for researchers" (OS: Win98, Win2K, WinXP, Vista, Win7)

TaskCoach is a simple open source todo manager to keep track of personal tasks and todo lists. It grew out of a frustration that most task managers do not provide facilities for composite tasks. Often, tasks and other things todo consist of several activities. Task Coach is designed to deal with composite tasks. In addition, it offers effort tracking, categories, and notes" (OS: Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, BSD, and iPhone and iPod Touch)

WebSpeech is "a Javascript library for developers who want to write pages with voice" (OS: Unspecified)

3 comments:

  1. Going to have to try out TaskCoach and if there is a Linux version of the Ergo Monitor. My husband has used Blender, and you can see cartoons made by Blender on Youtube. We laugh hysterically at "Big Buck Bunny."

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  2. I think I'll be downloading at least half of these! Thanks!

    Here's a couple of my favs...

    AoA Audio Extractor - will pull the audio file out of almost any video file

    Audacity - is a great audio editing tool.

    WinSCP - free html uploader for your website

    7zip - free windows zip/unzipping program

    anvsoft: any video converter - can change videos from one format to another, can also shrink them to play on your phone.

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  3. Wow, EarthAlerts seems like it could be awfully counterproductive for people who like to obsess about natural disasters. I have a coworker that I will deliberately *not* introduce to this. She'd love to tell me how close we are to an imminent disaster.

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