X. MORE
FROM THE
SUMMARY:
There are
hundreds of great free services that you can get from the World Wide Web.
POSITIVE
ASPECTS OF
1. Minimizes utilization of your
local resources:
Web-based
services use up only a small amount of CPU cycles,
2. Reduces the amount of software
maintenance that you have to do on your local computer.
3. No effort or time spent on
software installation or upgrading by you the end-user.
NEGATIVE ASPECTS OF
1. Dependency on a connection to the
Internet.
2. Bandwidth usage constraints of
some Internet Service Providers (ISPs) limit your usage of Internet-based
services.
See
http://www.brighthub.com/environment/green-computing/articles/68275.aspx
3. Security
issues and uncertainty:
For legal documentation, cloud storage could be considered by
the courts to be an unauthorized "disclosure to a third part".
See
http://www.slaw.ca/2010/06/14/computing-in-the-cloud-a-warning-for-lawyers/
CATEGORIES OF SERVICES THAT YOU CAN
DICTIONARY,
THESAURUS,
http://dictionary.reference.com
at
http://www.worldlingo.com/en/products_services/worldlingo_translator.html
at
at
EMAIL:
at
at
Live Mail (Hotmail)
from
Microsoft
at
FAX
SERVICES ONLINE
at
http://websearch.about.com/od/usefulsite1/tp/free-fax-online.htm
VOICE
AND/OR VIDEO AND/OR AUDIO AND/OR TEXT CHAT
at
http://www.skype.com/intl/en-us/home
(Skype is a
hybrid system that consists of services from the Internet cloud combined with
"Skype" software that is running inside your local computer.)
at
http://www.google.com/chat/video
Yahoo Messenger with Enhanced Video Calling
at
Meebo (text chat only)
CALENDARS
at
For an example
of "Google Calendar", see:
at
at
http://explore.live.com/windows-live-calendar
TO-DO LISTS
at
http://www.rememberthemilk.com
The "Tasks"
list is on the right side of the "Google Calendar"
Photo Album Storage
at
See
http://www.flickr.com/help/limits/#65
for monthly
upload limits.
at
provides 1
gigabyte of free storage for photoss
has no
storage limits
at
OFFICE
APPLICATIONS
at
at
http://workspace.officelive.com
to create
and edit spreadsheets
at
to create
and edit presentations. It can import and export presentations to Microsoft
PowerPoint
at
is a
Web-based voice and/or video conferencing system
at
to create
and edit charts and diagrams
at
to create
diagrams
at
to mark up
and review documents with others online
at
is a text
formater
provides free
"optical character recognition" (
at
is a
brainstorming/diagraming tool
at
is a
brainstorming/diagraming tool
is an
outlining/brainstorming tool
at
is a time
tracking/logging tool
at
is a meeting
scheduling tool
at
is a
meeting scheduling tool
at
is an
online stopwatch
at
http://www.online-stopwatch.com/
is an online
alarm clock
at
BOOKMARKS
PHOTO/IMAGE
EDITING
to edit
photos at
at
Adobe
"Photoshop Express"
to edit
photos
at
http://www.photoshop.com/tools?wf=editor
to edit
photos
at
to edit
photos at
at
to edit, collage,
animate and share photos
at
AnyMaking Photo Editor
at
http://anymaking.com/online-photo-editor
to edit
photos
at
is a photo
editor that can only be accessed from a "Flickr" account
at
is a photo
editor
at
Pixenate
is a photo
editor
at
is a photo
editor
at
can be used
to convert photo/image files to .png or .ico files
at
can be used
to crop, resize, and add text to photos
at
caricaturesoft.com/online-tools/crop
can be used
to stitch multiple photos together
at
http://www.dermandar.com/create.php
can be used
to crop a photo
at
can be use
to convert or resize a photo
at
MAPS
Google Maps
at
is a hybrid
system that consists of services from the Internet cloud combined with "Google
Earth" software that is running from your local computer.
at
MUSIC
CREATION
at
CLOUD MUSIC
& VIDEO
at
at
http://listen.grooveshark.com/#/
at
acts as a
virtual DJ for a party
at
KARAOKE MUSIC
ONLINE
Divtune's
albums at Vimeo:
http://www.vimeo.com/user336607/albums/sort:name
A Musical
Box.com:
KaraokeParty:
Karaoke
videos at Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=karaoke&search_type=&aq=f
TELEVISION
WITH STREAMING DOWNLOADS
at
at
at
http://online-media-archive.net/tv/browse.php
at
at
KOLD
at
KGUN
at
KUAT and KUAS
at
TELEVISION
OFF-THE-
at
http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/Welcome.aspx
SOCIAL
NETWORKING
at
at
at
at
at
ONLINE
DESKTOPS
at
at
at
at
NOTES
at
at
http://www.ubernote.com/webnote/pages/default.aspx
SCRAPBOOKS
ONLINE
at
at
at
GAMES
at
at
See also
http://aztcs.org/meeting_notes/winhardsig/free/online_services/games/games.htm
DOCUMENT
SHARING
can be used
to publish Word, Excel, PDF, and PowerPoint files for public access on the
World Wide Web
at
BUSINESS
at
http://www.businesscardland.com/home/
The PCman's
Freeware Business Card Creator
at
http://www.thepcmanwebsite.com/business_card_creator.shtml
GREETING
at
http://www.greetingsisland.com/Printables/Holidays/Halloween
at
http://www.mintprintables.com/greeting-cards/halloween/
at
EVENT
TICKET PRINTING
at
http://www.freeticketprinting.com
HUMOR
See
http://aztcs.org/meeting_notes/winhardsig/free/online_services/humor/humor.htm
TIME AND
DATE SERVICES
at
at
http://www.timezonegenius.com/
POSTER FROM
PHOTO
can be used
to make posters from a photo file
at
ANIMATED
GIF CREATION
can be used
to make animated GIF files
at
UNITS CONVERTER
can be used
to convert units
at
http://www.digitaldutch.com/unitconverter/
CURRENCY
CONVERTER
at
http://www.oanda.com/currency/converter/
ANTI-VIRUS/ANTI-SPYWARE
You can use
online Web-based anti-virus/anti-malware scans to supplement the anti-virus/anti-malware
software that is installed in your computer. It is like getting a second
opinion about possible security threats in your compute.
at
http://www.bitdefender.com/scanner/online/free.html
at
http://housecall.trendmicro.com/
at
http://www.pandasecurity.com/homeusers/solutions/activescan/
ROOM &
FLOOR LAYOUT PLANNER
can be used
to plan the layout of furniture in a home or business
at
Autodesk's
"Homestyler"
can be used
to plan the rooms for a house
at
INCOME TAX
PREPARATION
"Freefile"
program sponsored by the
at
http://www.irs.gov/efile/article/0,,id=118986,00.html
TurboTax
Online
at
RANDOM
NUMBER OR PASSWORD GENERATOR
Bitmill's
"Free Password
Builder"
can be used
to generate random numbers or strong passwords
at
http://www.thebitmill.com/tools/password.html
PHONE BOOKS
has online
regular and reverse phone books
at
OWNER'S
MANUALS
See
http://aztcs.org/meeting_notes/winhardsig/free/online_services/owners_manuals/OwnersManuals.htm
CRIMINAL
BACKGROUND CHECK
can be used
to do preliminary, inaccurate background checks on individuals
at
Their free
search is not very accurate. However, as you start buying information from
their advertisers, the reports that you get give you a better and better look
at an individual's background.
For more
information on doing free criminal background checks, see
RULERS--PRINTABLE
are
available at
http://www.vendian.org/mncharity/dir3/paper_rulers/
SEAT
ADVISOR
To pick
good seats at a stadium or theater, try using the
at
For
additional information on using "SeatAdvisor", see
http://aztcs.org/meeting_notes/winhardsig/free/online_services/seatadvisor/SeatAdvisor.htm
SPEED TEST
OF INTERNET ACCESS
at
at
http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/
at
http://www.convertpdftoword.net
to convert PDF files to Word or
Excel files
and to extract images from PDF files
at
http://www.freepdfconvert.com/convert_pdf_to_source.asp
to edit and read PDFs
at
to merge PDFs or to split a PDF into
multiple PDFs
at
"CoolUtils Online Image
Converter"
at
http://www.coolutils.com/Online/Image-Converter
"Zamzar" beta
at
"YouConvertIt" beta
at
http://youconvertit.com/ConvertFiles.aspx
"DocMorph"
Electronic File Conversion
at
http://docmorph.nlm.nih.gov/docmorph/docmorph.htm
can convert any file format to PDF,
tif, and text
It was invented for doctors but you
can get a free account
to use it too.
at
http://www.freefontconverter.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
REFERENCE:
The
Rough Guide to Cloud Computing by Peter Buckley