OK, first I need to clear up what I mean by "stupid trick". I don't mean "idiotic trick". I mean "A simple trick everyone should know but for some reason many people don't". And, It's not that these thicks are especially impressive either, it's just that when people see them they go ,"oh, that's interesting. Why didn't I think of that"
I always see these programs that will let you send "voice email", this is stupid to me because I have been doing it for years using only the software that comes with Windows. And here is how I did it- Open your start- programs -accessories- entertainment - sound recorder. This is a little application that allows you to record a small .wav file of 60sec.
Now, use sound recorder to record your email. if you need more then 60sec. you can record two or more 60sec. files then splice them together. OK, now that you got your message- here is the important part- when you save the message: click on "save as" not "Save"! Click on "change" under "format" now choose "DSP Group Truespeech (tm)" and save. Why would you change the format? because it produces a smaller file. If you save in the default format your 60 second message could be several Megabytes in size and even if you had broadband this is too large a file to send conveniently. The DSP Group Truespeech (tm) format reduces the quality but, it is not as bad as other formats and it only produces about 1K per second, which means your 60 second message will only be 60K instead of several megs.
OK, now that you have the file simply attach it to an email that says "open the attachment". You have now sent a voice e-mail!
This is always fun and slightly impressive. You can get aerial photos of anyone's house for free at this web address
http://terraserver.homeadvisor.msn.com/
Just type an address in the advanced find. It's always fun to mail people you barley know aerial photos of their homes and neighborhood. I'm sure you can think of other ways to use this. Most of the photos are a few years old, but they still show stuff that's recognizable. By the way here is a photo of my apt building.
Before I start this I should point out that when I say "free" I mean in the senses of "free beer" not "free speech", but in software often those two types of "free" overlap. The Internet is one of the rare places where you can get a free product that is as good as a commercial product.
First when you buy a new computer product, like a drive or a sound card or even a game, check the CD for extra software. For example, sound cards and CD-RW drives often come with software for for editing audio files. And a lot of products come with imaging manipulation software for free. Computer books often come with CDs full of free software. The one thing to watch out for is "trial software" or shareware. Shareware is "free to try" and usually will stop working after a period, usually 15 or 30 days.
Second, when you want free software look in well established software download locations. Two of the best known are www.download.com and www.tucows.com. Look for software that is licensed "Free", "freeware" or "GPL". GPL is a software license that allows the programmer access to the source code of the program, this is what is meant by "free speech" type freedom in the software world, it doesn't alway translate to "free beer" type freedom buy it usually does.
Lastly, if you don't find what you want you can always try typing "freeware" and the type of app you are looking for into a search engine
Here is a list of so of my personal favorite free programs
name | OS | Comments |
---|---|---|
Pixia | Win | Pixia is a great full featured image manipulation program. I must admit the interface is a little "off" so there is a learning curve. But it does everything I need it to, and a lot more. I consider this a true gem. |
Audacity | Win/Lin/Mac | Audacity is an audio editor. I have very limited needs in this regard so I have not explored all its features. It does .wav and .mp3 files and has an easy to learn and use interface. |
Open Office | Win/Lin/Mac | This is a complete office suite. It started off as a commercial product, StarOffice, but it was forked to Open Office when Sun changed the License. I don't know if you can still get StarOffice for free? Anyway, hope you got a broadband connection because this sucker is big. |
XOSL | none | Extended Operating System Loader (XOSL) is in my opinion the best boot loader for computers with multiple operating systems; it certainly is the best looking. And it's FREE! It is on all my computers except my 386. XOSL is based on a windowed environment that accept themes and except for the first time set up it is fully configurability through a GUI. It is easy to learn, setup and use. |
Ultimate zip | Win | This is a utility for working with archived files. I does many file types not just Zip files. It works just like WinZip only it's free. |
Free Chess | Win | This is a great free chess program. I don't think I need to say any more |
Wordweb | Win | This is a great free Dictionary. I'm not sure why office suites don't come with them. A dictionary can be as useful as a thesaurus and WordWeb is both. Note there are two versions on this site "WordWeb" and "WordWeb Pro", only WordWeb is free. |
AVG Anti-virus | Win | This is a free anti-virus program for windows |
LexEyes | Win | This is a free desktop toy. It provides various characters who's eyes follow your cursor around. Unlike XEyes it is skinnable. And speaking of skins download my "Bill The Cat" LexEye's skin. (or a smaller version, here) or a nuse skin I made for my sister. Also, check out "Aggression" from the same programmer |