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.

Pick of the week: Scribd

If you've never heard of Scribd, prepare yourself for a little bit of information overload. Scribd is currently the largest social publishing company in the world. More than 60 million people visit each month and can discover and share original writings and documents with each other. In existence since 2007, Scribd has quickly garnered attention for their great interface, excellent search and upload tools, and of course, the quality and sheer quantity of the content hosted.

It's also worth mentioning that I've found Scribd invaluable for finding several out of date, out of print books, perfectly scanned and available for free. In my opinion, if a tool or site can help you find something that no one else has been able to, there must be some value to it! Head on over and take a look, I'm sure that like me, you will be completely amazed and will quickly bookmark this fantastic site.

Pick of the week: FFFFOUND!

Last week, I select a great site for finding interesting stuff online. Well, this time, I have selected a site that allows you to do the same with images online: FFFFOUND!. Take a quick look, and I'm certain that you'll end up staying for hours, looking at all of the images they've collected since they've been online.

Well worth a look and a bookmark!

Pick of the week: StumbleUpon

I like StumbleUpon; I've been going to this site quasi-religiously for several months now, and I continue to be amazed at the very cool things I find through this it. The makers and operators of the site describe it as the place to go to "find the very best of the Web", and I have to agree with them. The content is for everyone, as there is a little bit of everything, from the hilarious to the very serious, and everything in between! I am always so impressed by the things people come up with!

I highly suggest that you bookmark StumbleUpon, and soon, you'll be stumbling upon a whole lot of interesting stuff online.

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: Strobist

I've been an amateur photographer for almost 20 years now, and the one thing that I've discovered is that as a photographer, one is always learning. Whether learning new techniques, or revisiting something that hasn't been done in a while, there is something new each and every day. And with the digital revolution that has taken place, there is an entire new chapter to the art of taking pictures.

During my quest to learn more about flash photography, I came upon what I consider to be the most advanced amateur flash photography web site, Strobist. The site describes itself as being about one thing and one thing only: "learning how to use off-camera flash with your DSLR to take your photos to the next level. Or the next ten levels". Quite a bold statement, but with over 1000 articles on using lighting to improve your photography is no small achievement.

If you are into photography, do yourself a favour and head over to Strobist and learn something new today!

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!!!

Pick of the week: Smashing Magazine

I have been browsing the Web for many years now, and a topic that used to be very, very popular, web design, has given way to templates and other assorted time-savers for Mr. and Mrs. Everyone. The problem is, there are still web designers around, and they still need insight, inspiration and just plain help.

In comes Smashing Magazine, a fantastic weblog dedicated to web developers and designers. Although some of the articles tend towards the technical aspects of web development, none of them can be faulted with being boring or useless. If you are in the field and have never taken a look at this site, then do yourself the favour. If you are just an amateur, many of the design-specific articles will be of tremendous use as well.

Pick of the week: Blurb

I've been working on a book project for several years now, a cookbook by yours truly! I have been working on this project for almost ten years now, and although I have about two hundred and fifty pages written so far, I have very few corresponding images. Since I have an interest in photography and have the studio equipment to take the pictures I need, I know that it is just a question of time to get them done. Although I have to admit that the photography is the most time consuming aspect of this endeavour, the part that had me scratching my head the most was the actual publishing. I didn't relish going through a traditional publisher, who would most likely heavily edit my work, and have me rewrite the whole thing five times before going to print. And that got me thinking...

Self-publishing has become a big business now, and with the savvy demonstrated by many online entrepreneurs, and it has allowed many first time writers to publish bookstore quality hard copies of their work, in quantities that are within the realm of affordability. One such business is Blurb; their fantastic site allows you to order your own book, with numerous options and in quantities from one to as many as you'd like!

After registration, and a download of their book making software, BookSmart, both Mac and PC users can easily create their book from a selection of book formats, review and edit to their heart's content, and then upload the final product when ready to order hard copies.

The printing and shipping takes around seven to ten business days, and Blurb will also print books with custom branding or no branding, for those who prefer that option. All in all, a very smooth and easy process, with numerous positive reviews and a great finished product. Take a look for yourself.

Thanks to Blurb for the use of the book images.

Pick of the week: oobject

Following up on the first instalment of Pick of the week, here is this week's pick. Those who know me also know that I am an somewhat obsessive person. In itself, that's not such a bad thing, but a side effect of this is my love of lists. In my search for various types of lists online, I came upon a list-lover's dream, Oobject. Calling itself a Daily User Ranked Gadget Lists website, the site provides lists of items and concepts for your enjoyment. I took great pleasure in such inane lists as 12 tiny Indian school buses, 12 inhabited bridges or 16 genuine cyborg technologies. There are hundreds of such lists, with fantastic images and links when possible. From the common to the extravagant, you are sure to find it here.

A great site, and highly recommended. Enjoy!

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.

Pick of the week: Cool Tools

It has been said that men have an unnatural attraction to tools. And it is this attraction that led me to discover Cool Tools. The site is one of a number of sites by Kevin Kelly, and I have been very impressed so far. Cool Tools describes itself this way:

"Cool tools really work. A cool tool can be any book, gadget, software, video, map, hardware, material, or website that is tried and true. All reviews on this site are written by readers who have actually used the tool and others like it. Items can be either old or new as long as they are wonderful. We only post things we like and ignore the rest. Suggestions for tools much better than what is recommended here are always wanted".

I have always found tools interesting, and as my wife might point out, I already receive enough tool catalogs at the moment. But CT is truly a fantastic place to explore, and there is always something new to find. Do yourself a favour and take a closer look at Cool Tools.

Pick of the week: The Art of Manliness

Since before the birth of my son, I have been browsing the Web to find all sorts of "fatherly" advice and information! Although I tried, Bill Cosby's book, Fatherhood, still wound up coming up once in a while! But during my research, I stumbled upon a fantastic site/blog called The Art of Manliness, and I have to say I've been very impressed so far. A good selection of articles, with some meaningful information that proved very relevant to the topic.

With the over-abundance of male related magazines with a complete lack of content, dominated by advertising of the most Neanderthalish type, it is nice to see that some men appreciate the importance of passing on generations of wisdom and advice from other men. From basic rules of etiquette like the proper handshake, to more complex topics, such as the problems of men with online pornography and everything in between, I found myself drawn to the archives in search of more.

I feel that this was a good find, and I am happy to pass it on. Enjoy!

Pick of the week

Those that know me well also know that I spend a fair bit of time browsing for new and interesting websites. I have accumulated a fairly long list of bookmarks and have spent an indecent amount of time cataloguing and cross-referencing these sites. But I rarely take the time to let others know about my discoveries. I guess a part of it is due to the fact that I wish to keep some of these gems to myself, but the main reason has to be a lack of planning associated with the dissemination of this information.

As such, I have decided to create a new column in this blog, labelled unimaginatively Pick of the week! Once a week, I will post a selection of the best sites I have discovered. This way, I can share the great discoveries that have impressed me during the week and more. At times, I may revisit classic sites that I continue to use to this day. Hopefully, I will manage to share some of what I have seen while browsing.

More to follow

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!