Need Software, No Cash?

Before making the next big software purchase, check out Source Forge.

You just might be surprised what you don’t have to pay for.

My Home Computers run Win XP, at work its Mac OSX. I even run Ubuntu at times. Sourceforge has software for everybody.

I needed to convert some video files and then make a DVD. At Work the Mac has built in options. At Home I needed solutions. I was able to find open source software at http://sourceforge.net/ for converting my video files and make the DVD with menus.

Everything was found, installed and going within a half hour.

George Jetson here I come.

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Fonts out of your own handwriting!

If you like fonts as much as I do, then why not get a font made from your own handwriting? The Font Generator can take your John Hancock and turn it into something you can share with the world. As long as your follow their process to a “T”, you will can your free font the same day. You will need to write out each letter of the alphabet in upper and lower case inside a restricted area on their template. Here are the steps…

1. Print Template
2. Complete Template
3. Scan & Save Template
4. Upload Template
5. Preview Your Font
6. Download
7. Install & Use

http://www.yourfonts.com/print.html

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Free MP3 Download from Schick

Hey music fans, you can get a free MP3 download for a limited time if you visit Schick’s music site and enter the code “SCHICKROCKS08″. If you purchase a specially marked Schick pack you can get 8 bonus downloads. You can choose from over 200,000 songs. Happy Holidays!

http://www.sleighbellsrock.com/

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Gmail Users - Try Mail Goggles!

I learned the hard way a few years ago about sending emails in the heat of the moment. Before I send out a big email, I generally save it in my draft box, let it simmer, and send it out later. This method of saving for later led to many drafts in my inbox, but it has made me certainly craft better emails. Now Google has created Mail Goggles to prevent you from sending that message you shouldn’t send.

Inside your Gmail “Setup”, under the “Labs” tab you will see the option to enable this feature. You have the opportunity to define what time of the day you want Google to ask if you if you really want to send this email.

http://www.gmail.com

By the way, if you don’t have a Gmail account, you are missing out on one of the best free products on the market. I would highly recommend signing-up for a Gmail account; you will never go back to your old email system.

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Power Achiver the alternative to ZIP

The other day I tried opening a “zip” file and my trial WinZip program had expired. I then found out about “Power Achiver” from a friend which is a free file extraction tool. The software will not only open up ZIP files, but works on many other file formats.

I have added this program to Leading Hands’ list of open source programs.

Download Power Archiver
http://www.powerarchiver.com/download/

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iPhone 2.1 software update

On Friday, the latest iPhone software was released. This updates all iPhones, both the original models and the newer 3G models to the 2.1 version of the software.

Previously, there had been a number of complaints regarding software crashes when using 3rd party applications, and many users had been having problems with 3G reception in some areas. The new software also speeds up access to contacts and is meant to improve battery life.

It’s interesting to think that when you purchase a product like the iPhone, you aren’t really going to end up with the same product you bought. With continuous software updates and improvements, the device keeps evolving as you own it.

Imagine purchasing a TV or car that came with ongoing upgrades. Would you pay extra for such a device knowing that every few months there would be a new “software” patch to fix bugs or improve performance?

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Get the VLC Player

Every big computer company seems to have their own video/audio player. Apple has Quicktime / iTunes and Microsoft has Window’s Media Player. You can round out the video/audio program competition with Winamp, MusicMatch and RealPlayer. All of these players have one thing in common, none of them work well playing each other’s file formats. If you try to view an AVI File on Quicktime, it takes some work to make it happen. If you want to listen to an m4p file on Windows Media Player, I would rather search for a needle in a haystack.

Some friends recently told me about the VLC player because it’s free and it can virtually play any audio/video file format. After downloading and experimenting with it, I suddenly realized the VLC player rocks! VLC (initially VideoLAN Client) is a highly portable multimedia player for various audio and video formats (MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX, mp3, ogg, …) as well as DVDs, VCDs, and various streaming protocols. It can also be used as a server to stream in unicast or multicast in IPv4 or IPv6 on a high-bandwidth network.

Download VLC

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Xobni

Microsoft Outlook users, are you looking for a new way to keep your mail organized? I’ve been using Xobni for Outlook. It helps you organize, search, and navigate your email. Xobni improves your Outlook productivity with ultra fast email search, threaded conversations and contact profiles. If you liked Google Desktop, then you’ll like this product too. It’s all organized in a convenient Outlook sidebar.

Preview Xobni here

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2007 Microsoft Office Compatibility

Have you received a word document that you couldn’t open lately? Most likely you have an older version of Microsoft Office and you can’t read the new 2007 Microsoft Office edition.

As a recipient of the file, you really have two options. Either upgrade to the latest version of Microsoft Word or download the Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats. It’s free! Once you install this patch, you will be able to read the last version.

If you are sending a Word Document from the 2007 Office, you have the option of saving it as a different version. Most people don’t know that you can save it as a prior version.

Download the free upgrade
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/

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Priceline for mp3s?

Radiohead, the popular British alternative rock band, has decided to offer their fans the opportunity to pay what they want for their next album. Beginning on October 10th, you will be able to download Radiohead’s new album in mp3 format directly from their website. This decision comes on the heels of Prince offering an album only on his website and Radiohead not being tied to a record contract with a major label.

Do you think letting fans decide what they want to pay for downloaded music is the future? Will this succeed or flop?

http://music.yahoo.com/read/news/31497950

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