More Free sites and software that I love...

There are a lot of great free sites and software out there, with many that everybody knows (sites like Google, Yahoo, etc and software like Firefox, iTunes and RealPlayer), but also a lot of more hidden jewels that most people do not know.

One really important thing people need to do is backup their documents, and most people do not do much of it or else they use one of my very easy techniques, e-mailing documents as attachments between your GMail, Yahoo! mail and other assorted free mail services. That works but it really is not the most effective way of doing it. One mail service that I like that lets you also organize up to 5GB of storage space online is Inbox.com. They display your files in a very easy to follow hierarchy and you can upload and download everything very easily using a browser. Another free e-mail service that provides a similar storage is GMX, which actually has a snazzier interface, but I find a little more confusing to use. Plus it's storage limit is only 1GB.

If you prefer an automated system that backs things up for you, you can also use Mozy, which requires you to install a small resident service, but once installed it regularly archives up to 2GB of your files completely free (unlimited backup costs $4.95/month).

Some of the nicest free software applications can be found at SourceForge.net which used to be primarily for Unix/Linux based software but is more and more used for cross platform applications. One good example is Audacity which is a very cool sound recording and editing application that runs on just about anything. My son actually used it in his Science Fair experiment and he won a Blue Ribbon at both his school and at the St. Louis County competition! It is also handy for capturing streaming audio and saving it to WAV or MP3 files to record streaming audio for posterity. More of my favorite free software packages can be found on my freeware page

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

BMI & BMR Calculator (Body Mass Index and Basal Metabolic Rate)

Image
My wife has been researching type 2 diabetes and recently checked a book out of the library which included a body mass index (BMI) chart much like the one pictured here. Whereas it is fairly easy to follow, I, of course, think it must be converted to an online calculator! However, when I checked the Internet, there were already a billion of them so I had to make one that was different. So my lovely BMI BMR calculator accepts either inches or centimeters for your height and pounds or kilograms for your weight and calculates not only your BMI, but also your BMR (basal metabolic rate) which determines how many calories you should consume! So I made a spiffy "all in one" healthy body indicator calculator which not only determines how underweight or overweight you are, but also tells you how many calories you should consume to maintain or improve your ideal weight. 
Read more

Trying out the L'Ecole Culinaire Presentation Room restaurant

Image
We had been seeing the ads for the restaurant at L'Ecole Culinaire and since we live so close by we thought we would try it out. We had always enjoyed dining out at cooking or hotel schools like the CHIC in Chicago and the Statler at Cornell where we went to college. Since we still love to go out and eat here in St. Louis , we ventured over to their restaurant on the first day they were open for lunch. The first thing we noticed is that they do not have much parking! They really need to let patrons know where they are supposed to park. The restaurant itself is small but very well attended. There was one fellow who kept straightening all the centerpieces and place settings on the tables, and we always saw one or two student workers milling about. The lunch menu was small and the choices did not appear overly "gourmet". The special of the day was a bison burger stuffed with cheese, and other choices picked by my group included a club sandwich, a "margherita" pi
Read more

Not all Frosted Window Films are the same!

Image
We live in an older home with a lot of issues and one of them concerns our back door to our patio from our sunroom. The door has double paned glass on it, but unfortunately the seal has broken so you can see moisture collect inside of it. We decided the easiest way to "remedy" the problem was to cover the window with some "frosted" film so we did not have to see the moisture condensing between the panes. But the question was, what film? There are a bunch of them available so we had to select something to try on the door. The first place we tried was our nearby Lowe's store which had a bunch of Gila brand film. We selected what seemed like the typical adhesive based door sized  film that cost about $25 after tax. We thought it could not be that hard to put up and look nice on our door. So one day my wife ran out and purchased it at Lowe's and we commenced to install it on our door window. We made our own soapy water solution and followed the directions
Read more