Entries tagged with free - Channel 10

Take Screenshots with Greenshot

sarahintampa — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 21:55:00 GMT

For taking screenshots on my Windows PC, I’ve been using the free software from Jing, which lets me use a hotkey combination to take a screenshot then save it to my computer or quickly upload it to either Flickr or a web site via FTP. However, I’m always on the lookout for any utilities that could improve on the screenshot-taking experience. That’s why I’m now giving Greenshot a try.

This new, open source screenshot application runs from a small executable file – no installation required. After it’s up and running, you can use keyboard shortcuts to take a shot of either a region (hit the Print button), a window (Alt+Print), or your entire screen (Ctrl+Print).

Unlike Jing, which saves all images as .PNG files, Greenshot lets you specify your image file format along with name and storage location. In addition, you can choose to just copy the image to the clipboard instead so you can paste it elsewhere.

After your screenshot has been copied, you can then add objects including rectangles, circles, and text boxes. A unique feature lets you select an element within the picture and resize it, move it, copy it, cut it, or delete it.

Unfortunately, Greenshot doesn’t let you upload photos to the web like Jing does, but you can always use Windows Live Photo Gallery or your favorite FTP program for that. Greenshot may not replace Jing for me, but it definitely has some useful features that make it a worthy addition to my everyday toolkit.

Zune’s New Subscription Service Lets You OWN Your Music

sarahintampa — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 02:12:00 GMT

The subscription service model is one that appeals to a niche crowd of music aficionados as it allows for all-you-can eat access to huge catalogs of music for one low monthly fee. The only problem with this model is that when it comes to favorite songs, people will often want to “keep” them - that is own them forever and ever. Before today, you couldn’t have it both ways – you both couldn’t own music and rent it; you had to choose one or the other. That dilemma is now no more thanks to the new Zune Pass.

The Zune Pass subscription service has been modified so that you still have the opportunity for the unlimited sampling that a subscription music service provides, but you can now also keep your ten favorite songs, too.

Ten songs – I think that equates to about a CD’s worth of music every month, give or take.

This service is $14.99 per month – a pretty decent offering for ten free songs plus unlimited streaming for up to 3 PCs and 3 Zunes.

Getting together an offer like this was no easy feat. Agreements between Microsoft and the record labels EMI, Song BMG, Universal Music, and Warner Music, had to first be signed and put into place along with agreements with independent distributors of digital music like INgrooves, Independent Online Distribution Alliance and The Orchard.

In addition to this new model, Zune owners have access to unique features not found elsewhere, like buy-from-FM, an option that allows for immediate download of songs heard on the built-in FM tuner. There’s also a Wi-Fi store, a recommendation engine that learns what you like and suggests tracks you might enjoy, themed channels for discovering music by genre, and a dynamic visual mosiac called Mixview which lets you discover music by clicking around a visual display of related albums and artists.

Oh, and did I mention that the majority of the music in the Zune Marketplace is DRM-free?

To learn more about the Zune Pass or to sign up, visit the Zune.net site.

Making Engaging Digital Presentations With Freepath

sarahintampa — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 15:42:00 GMT

Freepath 2.0 is a new application that lets you create presentations that are mashups of web content and content from your PC. So, instead of a traditional PowerPoint, for example, your Freepath presentation could combine a PowerPoint file with images, videos, music, PDFs, Word, and Excel documents and play them as a seamless digital presentation. You can integrate web content like YouTube videos, slideshow’s from slide.com, music from Pandora, images from flickr or photobucket, and more alongside files saved on your PC like those from Office documents, PDFs, Quicktime videos, or Flash files.

The Freepath 2.0 software offers three different viewing modes: a preview mode which shows you digital assets on the right but also makes the playlist and playlist library accessible, a full screen mode (like what PowerPoint offers), and a dual screen mode which shows the presentation both on your screen and that of an external monitor. This dual monitor mode is also compatible with WebEx, GoToMeeting, Live Meeting, and Intercall.

If you’re more comfortable creating presentations in PowerPoint and are hesitant to try a new tool like this, you can actually prepare your slides in PowerPoint itself and then drag them into FreePath’s downloadable software to take advantage of the other tools that it provides.

When complete, your presentations can be shared with the Freepath community on myFreepath.com, which is similar to how Slideshare operates. All beta users receive 100 MB of free storage space in this community.

Free Comic-Con Videos for Zune

sarahintampa — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 14:39:00 GMT

The Xbox Live Marketplace team has added free Comic-Con 2008 videos to the Zune Marketplace. The event, which ran from July 24-27 in San Diego, California, is a huge convention for fans of comic books, sci-fi, fantasy, anime, horror, and other related arts spanning all genres from books to TV to film. Once devoted just to comics, today’s convention has everything from toys to video games to panels featuring Hollywood actors and producers talking about their latest big movie and screening trailers of highly anticipated films. Since not everyone can attend this event, the next best thing is to download free videos from Comic-Con 2008. All you need is the Zune software – if you don’t have a Zune, you can always just watch them on your PC.

iPower: Power Off Your PC Instantly

sarahintampa — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 13:54:00 GMT

iPower is a little app that runs in your system tray allowing you to instantly logoff, reboot, or shutdown your computer. From the right-click menu, you choose what you want the default action to be (after installation, it’s set to “shutdown”). After it’s configured, you only need to double-click on the icon to have it perform your preferred action. This is a pretty quick way to do a shutdown, but be careful not to click it when you meant to click on another system tray app like your anti-virus or your Wi-Fi connection! You may prefer going with a Vista sidebar widget instead (like this one) – it’s just as fast and not as easy to accidentally click.

UltraExplorer, An Awesome Alternative to Windows Explorer

sarahintampa — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 09:51:00 GMT

This weekend, I decided to look for an alternative to Windows Explorer. Although Windows Explorer gets the job done, there’s just a lot that it doesn’t do that I wish it would, and frankly, I miss XP’s version. Well, now, I have it back and then some! That’s one of the great things about Windows actually – you don’t have to be stuck with the way things come out of the box. If you don’t like something, you have the power to change it. Tweak, customize, download new software, whatever – you can really make Windows your own.

I decided to go on the hunt for a new version of Explorer. I heard a rumor someone out there is creating an XP version of Windows Explorer for Vista users, but I couldn’t find it. (If you know, please leave a comment! The closest I found was Explorer XP, which is similar, but not the same.)

Instead, I found something nearly as good, if not better: UltraExplorer. This alternative Windows Explorer program has it all: a completely customizable interface, tons of configurable toolbars, lots of different views, favorites, a temporary holding area for moving files around called “Drop Stack,” and, of course, the long-lost “up” button. (Don’t tell me about Alt+Up, I know - I want a button!).

Overall, I’m pretty satisfied with the program except that I would like to customize the defaults for the views depending on the folder I’m accessing, and it seems that you can only set defaults for the whole program. However, the app does remember your most recent settings, so this hasn’t been a huge problem.

If you want to try this alternate version of Window Explorer, you can visit the app’s homepage here or download it from Download.com here.

Paglo and Spiceworks: Web Apps for I.T.

sarahintampa — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 14:59:00 GMT

Paglo, now out of private beta, is a search engine for I.T. To use the app, an admin downloads it to a machine on the corporate network, and then it will begin collecting information on the I.T. infrastructure. Paglo uses common protocols like SNMP to pull information from computers, servers, switches, routers, and network printers. That information can then be made available to any authorized user as dashboards – which are customized displays showing information like CPU use, disk space, etc. In addition, Paglo lets you do inventory management, network management, software audits, as well as network searches. Because Paglo is open source, any organization can use it an extend it as they see fit. For more details on Paglo, the AppScout blog has a really thorough review you should read if you’re interested in this type of thing. I never had the opportunity to try Paglo when I was in I.T., but it looks like it does a great job.

Another web app for SMB I.T. admins that I did try was Spiceworks. Since the time I used it, it has gone through several upgrades and it keeps becoming more and more useful. The latest version, Spiceworks 3.0 now offers Active Directory integration, so your computer groups will copy over to the application, instead of you having to re-create them there. There’s also a new feature that lets you monitor the health of your Exchange Server. You can browse through your software, devices, and groups in cover-flow style, schedule automatic backups, keep tabs on windows events, and fully customize your help desk portal. And those are just some of the new features! In addition, the software also does inventory management, auditing, reporting, and provides a help desk.

Both software programs – OK, they have web interfaces, but they are installable software – are great ways for the overburdened I.T. departments to keep track of network inventory and management without the need for physical or manual reviews of the devices. Even better, they’re both free!

Olympics Are Coming To Media Center

sarahintampa — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 18:16:00 GMT

The 2008 Beijing Olympics are nearly here and along with the Silverlight-powered NBCOlympics website, the Microsoft/NBC partnership will also bring us video from the Olympic Games right to our Media Center PCs. These videos will be made available as clips on Vista Media Center and organized into channels based on event (e.g. swimming, gymnastics, track & field, etc.) The service, called "Olympics On the Go," won't be offering live coverage, but will be providing "up-to-HD quality" automatic downloads with help from digital content provider, Wavexpress's TVTonic. Because the content is downloaded instead of streamed, the footage can be watched whether you're online or not. And since Media Center extenders like the Xbox 360 let you view content on other devices besides a PC, you can watch the Olympics events you want to see from any room in your home. Best of all, this service will be completely free!

Crowdsource Your Office: Introducing Task Market

sarahintampa — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 18:17:00 GMT

Have you heard the term “crowdsourcing?” It means taking a task that was traditionally performed by an employee or contractor and farming it out to an undefined, large group of people – a group which is often found online. Microsoft has turned this trend into Task Market, a place where a business can crowdsource their projects to a group of freelancers who are skilled Microsoft Office gurus. What kind of tasks can be posted here? Pretty much anything that involves Office like design work, writing, presentations, spreadsheets, and more. Similar to the “hire a VA” concept that Timothy Ferriss promoted in his “4-Hour Workweek” book, outsourcing these important but time-consuming tasks can help you free up your time to focus on the things only you know how to do – that is, running your business. Posting a task is free, so give it a shot. And if you’re a freelancer looking for some work, you can sign up, create a profile, and get email alerts when to be notified of new work is available.

Automatically Find Local Printers

sarahintampa — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 14:04:00 GMT

Seriously cool! Recently, I read about the new Xerox Mobile Express Driver that lets you automatically detect all the available printers in your vicinity - even the ones that are non-Xerox - and then downloads and installs the appropriate drivers automatically. Keep in mind that this software won’t get you connected the office printer at your favorite wi-fi hotspot, but it will help you find printers when you plug into the corporate network of the client you’re visiting or the printers over at your friend’s house. The software is dead simple to install and use, but you will need to be connected to the internet for the installation to work. When you’re ready to print, just choose the Xerox Mobile printer that will now be in your printer list and the software scans and adds available printers. You can even assign a name to the location so you won’t have to scan and re-add printers next time you’re there. (via CNet)

Free Designer Templates for Office 2007

sarahintampa — Mon, 19 May 2008 13:36:00 GMT

Wow, these are nice! The Small Business site is offering some really good looking designer templates for Microsoft Office 2007 as a free download. There are templates for presentations, spreadsheets, invoices, business cards, emails, and newsletters. And if you're using a Mac, you'll be happy to know that the templates work in Mac Office 2008, too (except for the ones for Publisher.) The offer is part of a promotion for Office 2007 Small Business, which you can also download for free from the site - a 60-day trial version. (via Cybernet)

Xobni Makes Your Inbox a Social Network

sarahintampa — Mon, 12 May 2008 17:54:00 GMT

Last week, the startup Xobni launched their public beta, so now everyone can get their hands on the Outlook plugin that turns your inbox into a social network. Xobni (that's "inbox" backwards!), taps into the hidden social network you spend time with every day: your inbox. The plugin runs in a sidebar where it analyzes and extracts info about you and your relationships.

During their private beta, they tweaked several things, fixed bugs, and even decided to streamline the plugin a bit by removing the "organize" tab, instead choosing to focus on their core product's offerings - super-fast search and relationship management. Using Xobni, you have access to features like threaded conversations, analytics, user profiles, a "related people" feature, shared attachments, and other automatically extracted info - like phone numbers for your contacts. To get in on the Xobni public beta, just visit the Xobni homepage and sign up.

Get Multiple Desktops With Dexpot

sarahintampa — Thu, 08 May 2008 14:55:00 GMT

Dexpot is desktop manager software that lets you easily manage multiple desktops. One of its best features is that it offers different ways to switch between screens - which is arguably the most important feature in a multiple desktop program. In Dexpot, you can use keyboard shortcuts (my fav) or you can click on the Desktop Manager interface, which hovers above the Windows Taskbar. With the program, each desktop can be customized with its own settings, files can be quickly moved from window to window, you can preview other desktops, and a lot more. Best of all, the program is available for free for personal use - you can download it from here. (via MakeUseOf)

New for Photogs: Pro Photo Tools V1

sarahintampa — Mon, 05 May 2008 18:58:00 GMT

Just recently, a new tool for photographers was released which helps you better manage your digital photos. The tool is called Microsoft Pro Photo Tools V1 and this free application lets you geotag your photos as well as edit the photo's metadata - even in RAW format. The geotagging feature lets you organize your photos by location taken - info that can come from a GPS device or Live Search Maps. You can see some some screenshots of how this geotagging process works on the Windows Experience blog.

In addition to the Pro Photo Tools download, Microsoft also released Expression Media 2, a new version of its digital asset management software, which is designed to work with the Pro Tools software. Expression Media 2 helps save time when it comes to managing and organizing large collections of photos and other digital media, and it includes geotagging functionality built-in. Expression Media 2 also lets you quickly export of photos into multiple formats to produce slide shows, video, and interactive Microsoft Silverlight-powered web galleries.

“Geotagging is a hot new area in digital photography, and like other popular digital photo features, I expect photographers will be asking themselves how they ever lived without it,” said Ron Glaz, analyst at IDC. “Until now geotagging has been hard to do, requiring special expertise and tools. The time has come for an application that even the weekend photographer can use."

Well now with Pro Photo Tools V1, even the weekend photographer can do geotagging!

Halo 3 Heroic Maps Free Today

sarahintampa — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 15:26:00 GMT

Happy Halo Map Pack Day! As of today, Halo 3's formerly $10 set of maps, the Heroic Map Pack, is now free. This add-on lets you add new battle zones to the Halo 3 game. The pack consists of the Rat's Nest, Standoff, and Foundry maps, where players are provided with things like labyrinthine mazes (Rat's Nest) and editable objects that can be used to create a custom battlefield (Foundry). The next series of maps, the Legendary Map Pack, will be available on April 15th for 800 Microsoft Points.

Get Microsoft Digital Image Starter Edition For Free

sarahintampa — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 18:20:00 GMT

Microsoft Digital Image Starter Edition 2006 was popular photo-editing software for users of Windows XP and below. The product has been discontinued, but fans can still download it for free from Microsoft Downloads. Digital Image Starter Edition provides easy-to-use tools that help you create, organize, and enhance your digital photos. The software contains 3 modules: the Library, where photos are organized, the Editor, where editing and retouching are done, and Photo Story, where you can create movies based on your photos. Despite it's age, Digital Image Starter edition is still a great program for beginners to the world of photo editing, and you can't beat the price!

Pandora: Fighting to save internet radio

Laura — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 15:37:00 GMT

On January 6, 2000 a group of musicians and music-loving technologists came together with the idea of creating the most comprehensive analysis of music ever. They created what we now know as the Music Genome Project. Pandora.com has taken that technology and adapted it to create the most complete and personally tailored music site on the net. And now they need our help. Watch this interview I did with Tim Westergren of Pandora and then head to Save Net Radio to find out what you can do help save the future of free internet radio.

Happy Halloween - Laura and I break down our Top Four Freaky Freebies!

Tina — Tue, 31 Oct 2006 17:54:00 GMT

This is what happens when Laura and Tina get no sleep and Halloween is approaching. What started off as a serious free downloads Halloween special has turned into a glimpse of something, well not so serious. Yes, that's me as Clifford the Big Red Dog and Laura as Cat in the Hat. We have been drinking many, many diet cokes by the time we actually started filming and needless to say it was a long day. We hope all of you have a wonderful Halloween and here are FOUR Freaky Free Downloads for your viewing pleasure. I've listed them here because we butcher some of the titles along the way as you're about to see. Happy Halloween!

Return to Castle Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory
Lineage II Chronicle 5: Oath of Blood Client
Dark Messiah of Might & Magic
Medieval II: Total War

How to shoot video!

Tina — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 18:21:00 GMT

Here at 10 we have a resident shooter whom we call Finley. Scott Finley to be exact. He is one of favorite camera men to work with. Here at 10 as well most of us shoot many of our own segments and are learning how to properly shoot video as we go. Scott and I spent some time at my house shooting my refrigerator. Yes, that's right. Very exciting. We go through some tips on how to shoot better video. We talk lighting, audio and camera shots. This was actually just an internal video but Laura twisted my arm and legs until I posted it publicly on my blog. So I hope you learn something and if not, I introduce you to my refrigerator. :)

Tina's Suggestion Box!

Tina — Mon, 02 Oct 2006 13:41:00 GMT

Part of my job is listening to you guys and covering what you think is important. What types of videos do you like to see? What types of topics do you find interesting? I would love this thread to be about you guys and what you want. What type of microsoft technology do you find interesting? What type of non-microsoft technology do you find interesting? What about gaming topics? Do you like feel good, human interest topics? Please, let the suggestions poor in. Get specific too, if you know a guy or gal that has such and such and you think it would make for a cool story...by all means pass it on. :)

F.E.A.R. Extraction Point - Free Demo

Tina — Tue, 26 Sep 2006 13:32:00 GMT

Okay, it's time to get down to business people. I am going to be bringing you a first person perpective of free demos for PC games. In an attempt to make this gaming segment work for you, feel free to offer any suggestions on upcoming free demos you would like me to cover. And when I say "cover" I don't mean simply tell you when the game is coming out and all the cool new weapons you can get your greedy little gamer hands on. I may do some of that too...but I'm going to play the demo for the first time and film it. I won't stop until I die. Yep. A personal glimpse into my lack of PC gaming skills. It's all about the console, baby! Okay, first stop F.E.A.R Extraction Point. I'll tell you some of the boring details. It's slated to come out mid-October. It's the first expansion pack released for this popular horror themed FPS. It does have this cool crate-supply system we didn't get to see in the first game and from what I can tell, you don't get to execute it during this demo. There's also a new wicked chain gun- which, of course, I die before I even find out if it's IN this demo. And to make things even more interesting...I shut off all the lights in my house and played FEAR in the complete dark. For a wimp like me, that's a huge deal...HUGE! Finally- go ahead and tell me your thoughts on F.E.A.R.!

Get the Demo!
Official Monolith Site
Original FEAR