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FREE Alternatives for the Software we can’t Afford..

// July 20th, 2009 // No Comments » // Admin Tools, Applications, Code, Cool Links, Design, Design Resources, For Geeks, Freeware, Geeks, Graphic Design, Graphics, I recommend, Photoshop, Software, Useful, Videos, Windows, web tools, webdesign, webmaster


Here’s a list of Open Source/GNU alternatives to all those programs that us poor people just can’t afford to buy but that we desperatly need… If you know of better open source alternatives please let me know. Leave a comment below.

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Open Office – Microsoft Office Replacement

OpenOffice.org


OpenOffice.org is a multiplatform and multilingual office suite and an open-source project. Compatible with all other major office suites, the product is free to download, use, and distribute. It is currently version: 2.3.1. The version 2.4 will be released in March 2008.
Download Here.

KompoZer – Dreamweaver alternative

kompozer.net

KompoZer - Finally, a top-notch WYSIWYG web page program for the rest of us! Now there’s no need to pay a little fortune for a program to create and edit great-looking web pages, including powerful and easy to use CSS capabilities.

KompoZer is a complete Web Authoring System that combines web file management and easy-to-use WYSIWYG web page editing capabilities found in Microsoft FrontPage, Adobe DreamWeaver and other high end programs.

KompoZer is designed to be extremely easy to use, making it ideal for non-technical computer users who want to create an attractive professional-looking web site without needing to know HTML or web coding. Download Here.

NVU – Opensource Web Authoring Alternative

NVU screenshot

NVU is a complete Web Authoring System for people who are new to web design. FrontPage and Dreamweaver Alternative.
Nvu (pronounced N-view, for a “new view”) makes managing a web site a snap. Now anyone can create web pages and manage a website with no technical expertise or knowledge of HTML. Linux, Windows and Mac OSX users. Download Here.

Inkscape -Illustrator alternative

Inkscape

Inkscape is an Open Source vector graphics editor, with capabilities similar to Illustrator, CorelDraw, or Xara X, using the W3C standard Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) file format.

Inkscape supports many advanced SVG features (markers, clones, alpha blending, etc.) and great care is taken in designing a streamlined interface. It is very easy to edit nodes, perform complex path operations, trace bitmaps and much more. We also aim to maintain a thriving user and developer community by using open, community-oriented development. Download Here.

Synfig – 2D Animation Alternative

Synfig is a powerful, industrial-strength vector-based 2D animation software package, designed from the ground-up for producing feature-film quality animation with fewer people and resources. While there are many other programs currently on the market to aid with the efficient production of 2D animation, we are currently unaware of any other software that can do what our software can. Download Here.

Blender – 3D Modeler Alternative

Blender screenshot


Blender is the free open source 3D content creation suite, available for all major operating systems under the GNU (General Public License). Download Here.

gMax – 3D Modeler Alternative

Larger Screenshot

Ofcourse Blender is seen as world’s best free 3d modeler but it doesn’t even comes near to how 3ds max looks like. So if you want it to look like 3ds max you should try gmax, howhever it’s more for creating game models.

Virtual Dub – Video Editor Alternative

Open Source Video Editing Software

Larger Screenshot

Virtual Dub A powerful freeware video editor with lots of features, including a choice of compression codecs, splitting, addition of audio tracks. Excellent. Video capture/processing utility for 32-bit Windows platforms (95/98/ME/NT4/2000/XP).  VirtualDub is mainly geared toward processing AVI files, although it can read (not write) MPEG-1 files.  Download Here.

FREE Video Editing Software List

Zwei-Stein
Zwei-Stein 3.01 is a freeware non-linear, non-destructive video compositing and editing system which offers many advanced features unavailable elsewhere. With Zwei-Stein you can edit up to 256 video, audio and still image clips, each with up to 64 effects chained serially. Cropping, panning and custom effects are easy with automatic key frames. Download Here.

Avedit
It is a great tool to work with .AVI files. Regardless of small executable size, this avi editor offers you unlimited power of digital video processing. AVIedit allows you to join and split avi files, extract frames and do whatever you want… You can capture video by number of ways, including one-frame-per-minute (web camera) option, workaround annoying 2 Gb file size limit, send your videos to printer, heavy compress it and post to your webpage. You can change framerate, duration, frame size, color depth of your videos and other properties, even without recompression and without loss of video quality. AVIedit allows you to convert avi clips to bmp and bmp to avi, animated GIFs etc…. Download here.

SolveigMM AVI Trimmer
SolveigMM AVI Trimmer is a free video editor to allow you to AVI movie cut extremely fast and lossless. This freeware AVI editor software is small, smart, easy to use and involves no encoding/decoding processes. Video enthusiasts use AVI Trimmer to cut commercials, cut video files or edit video for YouTube. AVI Trimmer solves annoying out of sync problem. It operates with all known types of AVI including DV AVI type 1 and 2.
Download Here.

Related Links:




Real Life Photo Shop

// July 20th, 2009 // 1 Comment » // Applications, Design, For Geeks, Funny, Graphic Design, Graphics, Photoshop, Pictures, Software, art


I thought this was pretty cool. Real Life Photo Shop.
real life photoshop
Made as an advertisement by Art Snob solutions. Check out the rest of the set to see how they made it.




Twitter from Your Outlook Inbox

// July 11th, 2009 // 1 Comment » // Applications, Blogging, Featured, For Geeks, Freeware, Geeks, I recommend, Software, Twitter, Useful, blog, free, web tools


Twitbox

Are you addicted to Twitter, but afraid to use it while you’re at work? Here’s a cure for your addiction! Well, not really a cure… I guess it would be more like throwing fuel on the fire. Now there’s a way for you to post on Twitter directly from your Outlook Inbox for FREE! Not only that but you’ll also be able to read posts from the people you’re following? Sounds great, right?

The app that will let you do all of this for free is called TwInbox. It integrates directly into your Outlook client so that you can both read and post to Twitter… all while looking like you’re sifting through hundreds of emails. The toolbar serves as a quick access point for all of your Twitter needs.

Want to know what all this is capable of? Here’s a list of features:

  • Update your Twitter status directly from Outlook.
  • Receive your friend updates in Outlook.
  • Archive, manage, group and search your tweets the same way you manage your email.
  • Search, track keywords. TwInbox will automatically download ALL tweets matching the keywords you specify, even if you are not following the tweet sender. This feature is perfect for keeping up to date with the Twitter buzz on your name, brand, interests, etc.
  • Group tweets by sender, topic, etc using the Search feature.
  • Upload and post picture files and Outlook email attachments.
  • See new tweets at a glance.
  • Assign custom folder and categories to new messages.
  • Use Outlook’s “Reply” and “ReplyAll” commands to send twitter direct messages and @replies.
  • Automatically sort new tweets into per-sender folders.
  • Shorten URLs with tinyurl.
  • See graphs of your Twitter usage statistics.

Tweets sent to you (@replies and direct) are marked with high importance, so you can see them at a glance.
Honestly, this is the most creative interface I’ve ever seen for managing a Twitter account. When I first saw this I didn’t expect it to do much more than provide a popup box for posting to Twitter. The thing is a full-featured Twitter client right in your Inbox! I could see this being a huge hit in the corporate world… especially for people who are forced to tweet for the company they work for. Pretty much everyone is familiar with Outlook, and this undoubtedly minimizes the learning curve. Not that Twitter is difficult to use, but this makes it feel no different than sending a short email.

I give mad props to the developer(s) for not only creating this, but for also making it free. And, in case you’re wondering, it works with both Outlook 2003 and Outlook 2007.

TwInbox Homepage (Windows only; free)




11 Open Source (FREE) Photoshop Alternatives

// June 21st, 2009 // 4 Comments » // Apple, Applications, Design, Design Resources, Featured, For Geeks, Freeware, Geeks, Graphic Design, Graphics, I recommend, Photoshop, Software, Useful, Windows, art, free, web tools, webdesign, webmaster


I’ve been doing some research online tonight for a FREE alternative for Photoshop – my Photoshop installation recently became corrupt (no clue how but it might have something to do with the fact it was cracked..um yeh) Call me evil, I just call me poor.

Anyway, I can’t seem to completly uninstall Photoshop and so it won’t allow me to re-install it… and since Photoshop cost about USD $649 per copy... I’ll most likely be using an alternative until I can format my hard drive.

Anyway, I can not work with out some type of imaging software. Period. I’ll let you know which one I decide on.

11 Open Source (FREE) Photoshop Alternatives

Artweaver

Artweaver isn’t just a Photoshop alternative like GIMP, but a fair clone of Photoshop itself. While Artweaver lacks the polish and advanced feature sets of Photoshop, the menus are laid out like they are in Photoshop and the tools function close enough that use is intuitive. The programs are so similar, in fact, that seasoned Photoshop users will find themselves wondering why a feature is suddenly missing from the menu. While it isn’t a true replacement for Photoshop, Artweaver’s feature set is robust; it includes layer management, image cloning, a history function, transparency, pen tablet support, and a host of the common filters in Photoshop. Artweaver is available as a full install or in a portable version. Artweaver is a free download for Windows only.

Fotographix Beta 3

Fotografix is an amazing example of what creative developers can accomplish in less than one meg. The 680Kb portable application is a very capable image editor and provides nearly all the same functionality I utilize in Photoshop on a daily basis. It was a no-brainer to include in my list of 40 apps you can download in two seconds. Mirrored on Freeware Files.

GIMP

gimp.org

GIMP stands for “GNU image manipulation program”, and it is one of the oldest and most well known alternatives to Photoshop in existence. Although it doesn’t quite have all of them, you’ll find most of the features included in Photoshop somewhere in GIMP. GIMP is cross platform and supported by a large community.

If just having the feature set isn’t enough for you, there is an alternative based on GIMP known as GIMPShop. It’s the same as GIMP, except the layout has been structured as close to Photoshop as possible, so anyone making the transition should still feel right at home.

Inkscape

Inkscape is an open-source vector graphics editor similar to Adobe Illustrator, Corel Draw, Freehand, or Xara X. What sets Inkscape apart is its use of Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG), an open XML-based W3C standard, as the native format.

Krita

Krita has been lauded for ease of use and won the Akademy Award for Best Application in 2006. Part of the Koffice suite for [Linux only] , Krita is slightly less powerful than both Photoshop and GIMP, but does contain some unique features. It has become very popular recently due to its ease of use. While it is not as feature-rich as the Photoshop, or even GIMP, it does contains the necessary tools to create/edit a professional image from scratch. In fact, the latest version contains some features that are not found in both GIMP and Photoshop.

ChocoFlop

ChocoFlop is a design application designed exclusively for [Mac only] , optimized for Mac architecture. It’s quick and fairly well featured. This program won’t always be free, but until a stable version is released (it’s currently in beta) they are allowing free use. The program works pretty well as is, and if you’re the type who doesn’t mind an occasional bug it’s certainly worth a look.

Picnik

Picnik is a web based photo editor that has recently taken off due to a partnership with Flickr. It has all the basic features plus a few advanced ones like layers and special effects. It is cross platform since you only need a browser.

Adobe Photoshop Express

Adobe actually has a free web based photo editor of their own. Adobe Photoshop Express has all the basic functionality you’d expect as well as a few advanced features (sadly though, no layers), and interfaces well with a number of photo sharing websites. Again, completely cross platform.

Paint.NET

Paint.NET is free image and photo editing software for computers that run Windows. It features an intuitive and innovative user interface with support for layers, unlimited undo, special effects, and a wide variety of useful and powerful tools. An active and growing online community provides friendly help, tutorials, and plugins.

CinePaint 0.23

CinePaint is a deep paint image retouching tool that supports higher color fidelity than ordinary painting tools. One of the advantage that it has over GIMP is that it is able to support 32-bits image (GIMP only supports 8-bits image). Cinepaint is mainly used by developers in the flim industry for motion picture frame-by-frame retouching. The current version runs on Linux, BSD, Mac OSX. Stable version for Windows is not available at the moment.

PhotoPlus


PhotoPlus [Windows only] is the amazing photo editing software that enables you to fix and enhance digital photos, create stunning bitmap graphics and even web animations.

Links

There’s also free web services that allows you to perform basic image editing online.
Here’s few examples:




Google phone G1 coming out to play with Tmobile

// September 26th, 2008 // No Comments » // Apple, Applications, Browsers, For Geeks, Geeks, Ipod, Mobile, News, Software, Update, Useful, Videos, web tools


With the introduction Tuesday of the Google phone — dubbed G1 by wireless carrier T-Mobile — we’re starting to see the potential disruption that Google and Android will bring in the coming year or two. It’s even greater than what Apple and the iPhone have already accomplished.

Under the hood with the G1

  • of course the main difference with the iPhone is that the G1 sports a QWERTY slide-up keyboard, not a touchscreen keyboard
  • the G1 will be a little heavier and thicker than the iPhone
  • the “swipe” gesture is used on both the iPhone and G1; however, the G1 does not utilize the “pinch” gesture to zoom in/out on the touchscreen
  • a 1 GB MicroSD card is preinstalled; the G1 supports an 8 GB MicroSD card
  • the HVGA display is also a 3.17-inch, 65k color touchscreen
  • for radio frequency buffs: GSM (800Mhz), GPRS (900), EDGE (1700). Wi-Fi and UMTS (1900) and HSDPA (2100) are supported (only 16 cities currently have T-Mobile’s 3G network)
  • G1 allows dragging and dropping of pictures and text, which the iPhone lacks

Google offers a video explaining its Gmail, contacts, Calendar, and GTalk applications.


The on board apps…

Like the iPhone, the G1 ships with a few pre-installed applications (or Google Goodies) beyond the usual (contacts, browser, mail, chat), including:

  • YouTube (duh)
  • Maps (double duh)
  • Search (duh x 3)
  • Android Market
  • Amazon MP3
  • ShopSavvy (help people do comparative shopping)
  • Ecorio (tracking your daily travel and carbon footprint)
  • BreadCrumbz (step-by-step visual mapping and social network)
  • Maps will utilize “compass mode” or “Street View,” giving you a live 3D map of where you need to walk (don’t bump into any streets signs as you walk and look at your G1)
  • Push Gmail, which eliminates the need for a faux-Exchange server for push email. Remember: Google is already running mail servers for Gmail, while Apple operates MobileMe mail (formerly .Mac) on a much smaller scale and larger price tag (it’s $99 a year)

Looks interesting…so far…