PCTips3000

Convert your files into PDF for free in 2 steps

Adrian — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 11:19:50 +0000

PDF is one of the most used formats for document exchange. At the beginning, PDF was a proprietary format, but on July 1, 2008 PDF was officially released as an open standard. The most known program used to create and modify PDF files is the one from Adobe, the creator of PDF standard. But if you only want to convert your file from Microsoft Word into PDF, you should look for an alternative solution.

doPDF is the perfect solution. Why? First of all, it is free for both commercial and personal use. Just download the program, install it and start converting. Another great thing is that it doesn’t require 3rd party programs to do PDF files. Other similar programs requires GhostScript or runtime environments like the .NET Framework. But doPDF installs itself as a virtual PDF printer driver. Just open your document with Microsoft Word, WordPad, NotePad or any other software, select Print and, the final step, select doPDF. When the convertion is over, the document will be automatically opened.

Before starting the conversion process, you can select the resolution ( from 72 to 2400 dpi) or the page size(Letter, Legal, A4, A5, A6, etc). You can also choose a language for the user interface from the 20 languages currently supported. When converting files, doPDF takes up almost no RAM.

Why spending a lot of money on a commercial application when you can use a free one with the same results? Download doPDF and give it a try.

Free Online Video Editing, Anyone?

Codrut Nistor — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 13:24:28 +0000

One of these days, somebody may come up with a Web-based microwave oven, or even your backyard grill may become a Web-based thingie! No, I am not talking about online orders, I am thinking about uploading the raw meat and getting it back grilled with just a few clicks, and if this seems a crazy idea now, look at JayCut and think how crazy would have been the idea behind it in the early 1990s!

To cut a longer story short, let me say that JayCut allows you to remix and trim videos, as well as images, add captions, subtitles, music, transitions and various effects, not to mention outstanding features like its 1-click YouTube export capability or the ability to save your work ready to go on the iPhone, Windows or Mac (H.264, XVID).

After the latest update, JayCut got webcam and voice-over support, slow motion effects, and a bunch of other goodies. While uploading large files could take a while, I must say it all works great on my side (partially thanks to my ISP, I guess), and in case you were wondering about the benefits of a free account, here they are: 2GB of storage and export/save capability for up to 20 videos per month.

That’s all, folks, I leave the rest of it for you to discover – it’s a lot of fun, especially since you can start messing with this free online video editing tool right away by using the videos already available on the server. Now, you have no excuse left – get to it!!!

Free Kindle for PC

Codrut Nistor — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 08:44:46 +0000

Amazon’s Kindle is considered by many people to be an outstanding device and even I, although I can’t say I am crazy about the concept, would surely go for a Kindle instead of a library full of books if I’d be forced to move around a lot. In the end, the only problem I have with the Kindle is the price of most books available for it, often only a few dollars lower than the one of the printed copy. Sure, the device doesn’t come for free, either, but if you have a PC and want to try the Kindle experience, I just found something simply great…

… namely the Kindle for PC software application! Coming inside a 9 MB package, our Kindle for PC here works with Windows 7, Vista and XP, doesn’t require a Kindle, and it even offers access to your Kindle books, providing automatic synchronization and a bunch of other features that you also get from the hardware device itself.

What I really loved to discover is the availability of some books priced at $0.00, the ease of use of this program, and the fact that it only seems to need about 15 MB of your computer’s memory. Since it comes for free… I think my part is over already. Go ahead and grab Kindle for PC, enjoy some quality books, and maybe you’ll also decide to get the real thing after that. Good luck and have a pleasant read!

Backup Your Stuff With Create Synchronicity!

Codrut Nistor — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 10:54:39 +0000

When talking about backup software, I usually enjoy taking such pieces of code for a spin and come up with a nice review, but this time, things seem so straightforward to me, so I’ll only write a short recommendation and nothing more.

Create Synchronicity is a tiny piece of code, available as a installer or right inside a ZIP archive, both having negligible sizes. When using the installer, for example, you’ll only need 395 KB to deploy this program, and I think this is simply awesome.

Create Synchronicity allows you to easily synchronize folders, offering 3 methods for this operation (mirror, one way and two ways incremental), as well as advanced features like scheduling, file hashing and a bunch of other goodies I’ll leave for you to discover. After all, this one’s completely free to download and use (open source, too, so if you’re a programmer…), and in case you’re not using any kind of backup software, it’s surely a nice introduction to this “sacred art,” if I can call it this way…

Resize Windows With Your Mouse Wheel!

Codrut Nistor — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 13:29:20 +0000

These days, virtually all mouses compatible with Windows computers seem to have a wheel, but how many people really feel the difference? Even more, sometimes it’s not about the user, but about the software used. Let’s take Windows, for example – ever tried resizing a window or adjusting its transparency using only your mouse wheel? Unfortunately, that’s impossible, but with FeeWhee, you can turn dream into reality with just a few clicks!

FeeWhee, or Feel the Wheel, if you like long names, is a tiny piece of code, available as a 6 Kb portable application, or inside a 4 Kb ZIP archive. Its current version is 1.3 and it’s great to know that it works fine with Xp, Vista and even Windows 7. This free program has two main goals: to help you resize windows and control their transparency using your mouse wheel, and nothing more.

Once you launch FeeWhee, you will only feel its effects, but it won’t ever get in your way. Just hold your mouse pointer above the title bar of the active window and scroll to resize it! If you want to adjust the transparency, just hold Shift while rolling the wheel…

To close it, I think you’ll have to use the Task Manager (or launch it again to close, haha!)… but since it only uses about 1.5 MB of your computer’s memory, you could leave it on, I am sure it won’t hurt.

So… what do you think about FeeWhee? Is it cool to resize windows with your mouse wheel, or what?

Cross-Platform Video Transcoding With HandBrake

Codrut Nistor — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 06:52:52 +0000

Messing with a video transcoder that has no limitations can take some time, if you want to get an idea of what can be done with it and how fast it is. Fortunately, I got up really early today, released the handbrake, and then got back to sleep. No, I wasn’t sleeping in my car, only that HandBrake is the video transcoder I have to tell you about today…

With free versions for Mac OS X, Linux, Windows, HandBrake is one of the few open source, multiplatform and multithreaded video transcoders currently available. Covered by the terms of the GPL license, this piece of code supports and DVD-like source for input, as well as standalone multimedia files that can be read and decoded by libavformat and libavcodec, while available outputs include only two file formats, MP4 and MKV, with MPEG-4, H.264 or Theora video streams and AAC, MP3, Vorbis, AC-3 and DTS pass-through for audio.

What I really like about HandBrake is its excellent support for multiple processors/cores. In my case, I processed some large video track from a DVD, and speed was almost on par with the original, but it was great to see my CPU “fully loaded” during the entire process.

That’s all, folks, so since this is not a review, all I can say now is to go on and grab HandBrake, this is really a piece of code worth checking out, believe me! (final words to make you change your mind, in case you are not interested: built-in presets include iPod, iPhone & iPod Touch, as well as Apple TV and a bunch of other regular and legacy profiles!)

Rapidshare Alternative Of the Week – GoAruna

Codrut Nistor — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 18:40:49 +0000

Finally, something really spicy! I love spicy stuff, especial Indian cuisine, but this has nothing to do with food. As I am sure that you noticed already, the time has come for the Rapidshare alternative of the week, and today we’re checking out GoAruna, a file uploading service that has been around for almost three years already.

GoAruna allows you to do some special things, like sending files to Twitter or Facebook users. To make things even more interesting, you don’t need an account to do that, although getting one could give you some useful features. More than just sending a file to some Twitter user, you can use GoAruna to do that with all your followers. Pretty cool, if you ask me!

As long as you just want to open the page and upload something, GoAruna allows you to work with files up to 100 MB in size, but various plans are available for users who want more, including a free one that offers 2 GB of storage, 1 GB bandwidth and 100 MB maximum file size.

Before ending this, let me add some more GoAruna goodies: iPad, iPhone, Blackberry and Android all have applications to allow you quick access to GoAruna. If this isn’t good enough… then I think you should take a look for yourselves and see what I missed!

TreeSize Free, Portable Awesomeness

Codrut Nistor — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 13:43:15 +0000

Can’t figure out where disappeared all that free space you had on your hard drive last week? When you’re the only user of a computer, you’re using some Windows cleaning utility, and your free space continues to go away, something’s really fishy. Ever imagined that possessed computers may exist? A really frightening thought, but I’m just joking, chill out! If your free space is fading, you should go ahead and grab TreeSize to see “where” and “what,” don’t you think?

According to the Help file, “TreeSize Free tells you where precious space has gone to. It can be started from the context menu of a folder or drive and shows you the size of this folder, including its sub-folders.”Speaking for myself, I just started the program by running the executable file I downloaded in a ZIP archive, and it all went smoothly – scanning was pretty fast, and the features, more than I needed.

Next to TreeSize Free, JAM Software also offers TreeSize Mobile for smartphones, as well as a bunch of commercial editions of this software, not to mention the other freebies and commercial pieces of code available on the site.

At last, here’s something to make everyone happy: TreeSize Free, version 2.4, is available as a standalone installer, ZIP package, and even U3 USB Stick-ready, all for free. Is this awesome, or better than awesome?

Coloring For Children With Kidopo

Codrut Nistor — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 16:04:33 +0000

A few hours ago, I was talking to a friend of mine, and she suddenly said she has to go away because her kid got onto her head… literally. Obviously, the child needed to go out, play, whatever… he had to do something different than watching his mommy use the computer, so that’s where I got the idea to find another resource for kids. Since last time we talked about educational games for kids, today we’ll just give them some creative fun…

… and I think Kidopo can get this job done pretty well. How? Really simple – by allowing kids to choose one of the existing templates and coloring them! The spray paint effect works well, and it’s surely better than using solids, as it happens with other similar sites. For example, I was able to color some areas despite the fact that my mouse has some accuracy issues these days and I noticed that Kidopo was pretty forgiving. Nice!

More than the above, there’s an interesting collection of printables, as well as a lot of Flash games that should keep your children busy for a few years, at least… These being said, I’ll leave you take your kids and guide them right to Kidopo. Do this, and you’ll thank me later… or sue me, and since I don’t want that to happen, I close this article with a warning: be careful, this website can get quite addictive!

Win $500 With CloudCanvas!

Codrut Nistor — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 17:21:26 +0000

Sometimes, I feel like I’m tired of so many image editors and viewers. I’ve seen a lot of them, but every time I think that’s more than enough, I discover something new and interesting enough to keep me going. If it also comes with a chance to win 500 bucks, that’s even better!

According to its creators, CloudCanvas is more than just another Web-based image editor, and I think that calling it a “creative suite” isn’t that far from reality. Sure, it doesn’t match the advanced features Adobe’s Photoshop has, but it has most of the good stuff for the beginners and average users (layers included!) who just want to have some fun and get some work done somewhere where they don’t have access to that Creative Suite behemoth…

CloudCanvas offers a bunch of goodies I wasn’t expecting, such as Deviant Art and Google integration (you can save your Google Docs account to store your work or export the image on your computer as a PNG file), a font store, a few nice brushes (only a few, unfortunately, but I hope there will be much more in the future), but the most interesting part is this: “To kick off the launch of CloudCanvas, we’re inviting everyone on the internet with any creative skill whatsoever to come on over and give our application a test drive. The top 3 designs/artwork will each win $500 in cash. Submit entries by Sept 12.”

Unfortunately, I’m not that much of a graphics artist, so even if I’ll enter the competition, I won’t ruin anyone’s chances to win. So… are you in, or not? Oh, well, good luck to you, no matter what you choose to do!