Online Tools review: Zamzar

If you've been working with computers for any amount of time, you have most likely run into the situation when you needed to convert a file from one format to another, but just did not have the utility or conversion application that would do the task. In comes Zamzar to the rescue. This online conversion utility has numerous options available to users, in several types of file categories, including: Document formats, Image formats, Music formats, Video formats, Compressed formats and CAD formats. There is something for everyone in here.

It's a handy resource to keep bookmarked, as you never know when you might need to perform a file conversion, but are away from your own computer, or simply don't have the tool to do the job. Go take a look at the full list of conversion types here, I'm sure you will be quite impressed.

Update on Blurb

I just wanted to update you on some personal experience with the Blurb book publishing service. After careful consideration, my wife decided to create a book of black and white architecture images she has taken in the Ottawa and National Capital region. She easily downloaded and installed the Blurb book creation software, BookSmart. After a few evenings of tinkering with the various settings offered in the application, she published her book, and ordered a copy for herself.

Five business days after her order, a very well packaged book arrived from Blurb. Having the physical specimen in hand allowed me to determine that the overall quality was excellent. Although my wife had selected a lower quality paper to reduce the final product cost, the quality of the paper that was used was excellent. The print reproductions were excellent, but my wife also determined that the picture quality might be better if she had used better source material during the creation process. This was to be an experiment in the process of creating and ordering a book from Blurb, and not a final product.

From what I have been able to observe about the process, I can safely say that I highly recommend the use of Blurb for the creation of any book idea you might have. You will get a fantastic product that you will be proud of!

Online Tools review: XE Universal Currency Converter

If you've ever found yourself having to convert currencies, you are probably aware that there are numerous tools available to help you in the process. But one of these, an online tool called XE Universal Currency Converter is billed as the most popular currency exchange site in the world. With a number of tools for currency transactions of all types, as well as charts and more, XE is truly an amazing resource for anyone that requires currency conversion tools and help.

(Foreign currency & coins image©bradipo)
I've recommended this tool to many of my friends when they were travelling internationally, and they have all praised its ease of use and access. Take a look for yourself, and I believe you will quickly want to add this bookmark to your travel links.

Online Tools review: Block Posters

Have you ever wanted to create a wall-sized print of an image? It's not such a complicated feat using software like Photoshop, but it is not necessarily an easy task either. As I was searching for a solution to this problem, I stumbled upon Block Posters, a free online tool that promises to "create any size wall poster from any size image". A rather bold boast, but from my experience so far, I have been very impressed. An easy to use interface, enough options to create your poster the way you want, in all, a really great tool.

Go take a look for yourself, upload an image and print out a large poster; I'm sure you'll appreciate the ease of use immediately.

Pick of the week: Wayback Machine

I have been browsing the Web on a daily basis for almost 10 years now, and was browsing irregularly for the 5 years before that. Although I have a pretty extensive collection on links and try to keep it sorted, refreshed and updated, I still run into a problem on certain occasions; when a site is no longer hosted, and simply disappears! We lose real gems this way!

In comes the Wayback Machine to the rescue. Browse through over 150 billion web pages archived from 1996 to a very recently. And it's easy to use too. To start using the Wayback Machine, just type in the URL of a site or page where you would like to begin, and press Enter. Then select from the archived dates available. The resulting pages point to other archived pages at as close a date as possible. Unfortunately, keyword searching is not currently supported, but it may be in the future.

If you've "lost" a site you really liked, do yourself a favour and head over to the Wayback Machine. You might be surprised at what you find!!!

Online Tools review: Adobe Kuler

Colour. It is truly one of the most important aspects of visual design, and there are innumerable tools to help designers with the creation, evaluation, correction and selection of colour, yet once again, a new tool seems to have found a winning formula. This tool is Adobe's web-based application, Kuler.

Adobe touts Kuler as a web-hosted application for generating colour themes that can inspire any project. It allows designers to experiment quickly with colour variations and browse through thousands of themes created by the growing Kuler online community. What makes this application interesting, apart from the fantastic visual layout of the tool, are the powerful search capabilities, which allow a user to browse the growing database of existing themes by tags, by title, by creator or even by hex code!

Apart from the ability to browse other users creations, the easy-to-use tools in Kuler such as the colour wheel, harmony rules, and colour sliders allow the user to create their own themes which can then be shared with other Kuler users. It is also possible, using colour extraction tools, to create a colour theme from an uploaded image. This offers some fantastic possibilities for designers of all kinds!

Kuler requires the latest version of Flash to work, but it is a very slick application and a truly useful tool.

Online Tools review: Google Reader

A few weeks ago, as I was browsing and reading through some favourite blogs, I came across an article on improving browsing time on the Web. This article, on Lifehacker, was essentially a bunch of tips on making better use of some of the available resources that can make your time online that much more productive. As I read through the article, one tip caught my eye: use an RSS reader. As I read this entry, one suggestion was using a tool like Google Reader.

Well, being an affirmed Gmail user, I decided to see what Google Reader (or GR) was all about. And let me tell you, I am still hooked! Google Reader is a web-based RSS aggregation application, also known as an RSS reader, and what it lacks currently in aesthetics, it makes up in functionality. GR allows a user to subscribe to RSS feeds and blogs, organize these subscriptions into groups, and display the feeds. As the tool is web-based, as mentioned previously, it becomes available from any computer that is connected to the Internet. Many have indicated to the future of computing being web-based, and although I have some reservations about this concept, GR and other such tools truly belong in this category.

As I learn more about GR, I will post further information as it becomes available. Do yourself a favour and check out Google Reader!