Archive for Free

Fitts | April 23, 2013
One comment

Skyscanner (A Great Tool to Find Cheap Flights and More!)

skycenter_icon

Looking for a one stop shop for your pending travel needs that will search for the most cost effective airfare? Well you may be interested in checking out Skyscanner. Skyscanner allows users to search millions of routes on over 1000 airlines to find the cheapest flights. There are 2 basic ways to access this tool. One method would be via the web by visiting . Secondly you may download the ap from your smartphone. One thing that I love is the fact that the ap is available on all the major platforms. Including Windowos, Windows 8, Android, Blackberry and IOS. skyscanners_operating_system

As far as skyscanner.com is concerned, it compares over 1000 airlines to find you the cheapest airfares. In addition it also compare and finds the cheapest hotels and car rentals for your next trip.

For smartphones there are apparently more than 6 million people are already using the skyscanner app. It is available for Windows, iPhone, iPad and Android. With the windows phone version in particular (which is what I have smile) the app also lets users track prices of selected flights with the Live Tile. You can even pin flights to the start screen and the prices automatically update every hour.

So at this point you may still be asking yourself why you should be using skyscanner? The reasons are simple:

Compare millions of flights from over 1000 airlines around the world in seconds; save money, save time.

Book your flights direct with the airline or travel agent and get the best deals.

It’s independent, simple and finds the cheapest fares in seconds, wherever you want to fly.

Flexible on when you fly? Find the cheapest dates to travel
Flexible on where you fly? Find the cheapest flights from your local airport
Filter your searches by take off/landing time, airline or price.
Share your flight details with friends, family or colleagues via email, Facebook or Twitter – in one tap
Available in over 28 languages and over 61 currencies
It’s FREE! the search that is not your flight LOL!

Also don’t forget that with the online version of skyscanner you can find great deals on hotels and car rentals as well to make it a truley a 1 stop shop for your travel needs. skyscanner_free

skyscanner_options

But don’t just take my word for it….download the app and/or visit skyscanner.com today!

Category: Free, Fun, Mobile, Productivity, Uncategorized, Windows |
vgordon | March 29, 2013
No comments

Tired of the same old type?

I’ve been fascinated with fonts for a long time. Long ago, I was actually a fan of Comic Sans, something most people won’t admit in public. (Read more on the font that everyone loves to hate.) Since then my taste in type has improved. I dream in Helvetica and speak in Century Gothic. I’m fond of Modern type but allergic to Jokerman. For my birthday, my husband ordered this book for me and I was happy!

graph1graph2

Are you tired of the same old type? Wish you had some new fonts to spice up your documents? Visit fontsquirrel.com, dafont.com and fontspace.com to find a wide variety of retro, script, decorative or contemporary fonts. Be sure to read the fine print about how these fonts can be used.  Want some more inspiration?  Check out these blogs: You the Designer, I love typography, and From up north.

Wish you knew more about type? Find some (80, to be exact) great tutorials on typography at Creative Bloq including A Crash Course in Typography by Cameron Chapmon and Principles for Combining Typefaces. The examples of successful design are especially helpful.

Want to see how much you’ve learned? Try the Font Game (available for iPhone and iPad for $1.99) or I Shot the Serif (free online). Let me know how well you do!

Category: Free, Graphics, Uncategorized |
Lisa | March 19, 2013
No comments

Blender! Create in 3D!

Want to learn how to make 3D computer graphics and animations but think the software needed is too expensive? Meet Blender.

Blender is an open-source 3D computer graphics software product. Using Blender you can create animated films, all sorts of visual effects, interactive applications and even video games. For instance, Blender was used to create the animation below.

Steps of forensic facial reconstruction of a mummy made with Blender. From Wikipedia.

If you already use another animation software package the Blender interface may slow you down some since many of the commands have keyboard short cuts rather than contextual menus (this is improving however). But if you think you want to try out making animations, 3D images, or games you can’t beat Blender’s price, features, or community. Further, the popularity of the program is growing. You can even become a certified Blender trainer! The Blender website offers all sorts of information about the program including a quick reference, tutorials, a user manual, FAQs, demos, a discussion list, and examples of all sorts of projects.

There is also a very good book, just published, that covers using Blender with GIMP by Ben Simonds entitled Blender Master Glass: a Hands-on Guide to Modeling, Sculpting, Materials, and Rendering.

Blender is cross platform meaning that is runs on a variety of operating systems including both Windows and MAC. The program has reasonable hardware requirements but this is a graphics program so you will need to make sure you have a decent graphics card that conforms to OpenGL specifications.

Overall, the program was easy to install and together with the above mentioned book and other resources anyone should be able to create really cool stuff. If you decide to give Blender a whirl I’d love to hear what you think about it.

Category: Free, Fun, Graphics, MAC, Uncategorized | Tags: ,
Gabe | March 10, 2013
No comments

Much Ado About MOOCs

The term MOOC was coined in 2008 but over the past year, MOOCs have become all the rage. So what are MOOCs and why all the hype?

What is a MOOC?

In the simplest terms, MOOCs are Massive Open Online Courses. University faculty from leading universities (Harvard, MIT, Yale, McGill, Australian National, etc.) around the world teach MOOCs and they are open to anyone with Internet access. MOOCs have a start date and an end date similar to a real in-person class. Some have weekly assignments, tests for comprehension, and offer credit or certificates for completion. I should mention there are different opinions of what truly constitutes a MOOC among the MOOC-faithful so here is a video from one of the MOOC concept creators, David Cormier:

If you want to read about the different type of MOOCs (xMOOCs and cMOOCs), see this blog post.

MOOCs offer instruction from a wide range of disciplines including Computer Science, Engineering, Business, Humanities, Science, Mathematics, and Health & Medicine. Here are some specific examples of course topics:

Here is a Ted Video clip featuring Peter Norvig on his MOOC teaching experience: The 100,000-student classroom.

How do I find one?

You can go directly to some of the providers such as edX, Coursera, Udacity, or you can use a MOOC aggregator like Class Central.

Challenges for MOOCs

I would be remiss if I did not make at least a passing mention of some of the challenges for MOOCs. MOOCs are still very new, experimental, and prone to failure. Educators are still trying to find ways to measure success and effectiveness of MOOCs. The attrition rate for MOOCs has garnered some negative attention with some examples citing that as little as 10-15% of enrolled students actually completing a class. MOOCs are a different type of educational tool so applying traditional metrics DOES NOT make sense. The question is what metrics should be applied to determine success or failure of a course; or more broadly, the MOOC concept?

My two cents

The jury is still out on whether MOOCs are an effective education tool, but I think it depends on why YOU decide to register for a MOOC. If your goal is to get exposure to a topic of interest, continue education, or just examine course content, I think it is a worthwhile tool with minimal investment. If you are looking to get college credit, I would encourage take a critical look at partnerships such as MOOC2Degree.

Category: Free, Training | Tags:
bmontey | March 4, 2013
No comments

Saving money: Cell Service

I think we all get caught up into add-ons for our “necessities”. Cable, Cell phone, and satellite plans are higher than they have ever been. Take cell service for example, Do I need unlimited texting? How much data do I need? How many minutes are enough for me? In my financial management class in college the teacher said to review the things you pay for every year to see what savings you are missing.

Enter a free solution from Validas, a mobile intelligence company with a technology that is helping fight against wireless waste. The “SAVE.LOVE.GIVE” software takes your current cell plan and analyzes every aspect of it and within minutes churn out a simple little report of how much you could save with your current plan carrier (Verizon and AT&T are currently supported).

SaveLoveGive1

Easy to use and secure, just create your user account, link to your carrier and Voila! You can save yourself money or even donate your savings directly to charity in a few easy steps.

savelovegiveex

Also don’t forget UAB Perks discounts for cell service: http://www.hrm.uab.edu/main/perks/electronics.html

Category: Free |
Lee | February 26, 2013
No comments

ReadCube: Manage your Research Literature

Are you looking for a simple tool to organize your PDFs and facilitate your writing process?

ReadCube is a free app for Windows and Mac computers developed to help researchers quickly navigate research literature, and organize their PDFS to facilitate their writing.  (Similar free tools include Zotero and Mendeley Desktop.)

Read Cube Video

Use ReadCube to organize your PDF Collection. Import a file of PDFs and ReadCube will fetch the metadata from PubMed and Google Scholar for the citations.  Export individual or groups of citations directly to EndNote (or as a RIS file for other managers, like Zotero) to create bibliographies.

organize

You can highlight, annotate, and tag  each PDF in your PDF library.  These comments are fully searchable.

tools annotate add notesSearch PubMed and/or Google Scholar directly in ReadCube.  Download the articles (if free or licensed by UAB) in one click. Be sure to set your preferences to UAB. Note the links to related articles and forward citations in the record in your library.

searching

 

preferences

 

Other features include personalized article recommendations based on the PDFs in your library and the ability to automatically find supplemental material for a growing number of articles.

ReadCube is snazzy and simple to use. It seemed to find bibliographic information for most of the articles I added quite quickly and working with PDFS was straightforward and simple. There are other reference managers available that have similar functions available. Similar products you may want to review, depending on your needs, include:

EndNote X6 

Zotero: See the LHL Guide to Zotero,  Organize your zotero Library

Mendeley Desktop

 

Category: Free, Productivity, Research | Tags: , , ,
Fitts | February 21, 2013
No comments

My Fitness Pal

myfitnesspal

Although I haven’t been a long time user I’d like to share with you all a fitness application that a good friend and doctoral student recently shared with me known as myfitnesspal (the app not my friend lol). Basically MyFitnessPal is a diet and fitness community built wish one purpose in mind and that is providing individuals with the tools and support needed to achieve weight loss goals.

I will go on record that one of the first things about the product was the fact that is actually available on all of the major mobile operating systems including my system of choice Windows which often gets overlooked by application developers. fitnesspal_os

Studies have shown that keeping a food journal can actually double your weight loss. MyFitnessPal provides you not only with the tools needed to be successful but also the support system as you communicate and share with either your friends or others trying to lose weight as well. The more you use it the faster and easier it becomes as it becomes more customized to some of your common favorite food entries.

In addition there is actually an online component as well and it integrates with Facebook so that you can invite your friends or see if they have already discovered this tool. One think about it that I find particularly useful is that fact that when registered whether you update diary online or via smart phone, it automatically syncs and updates the other device for you.

With myfitnesspal you can track not only your food & exercise but it allows you to set your weight loss goals and how many calories that you need per day in order to accomplish your goals. It allows you to interact with a community of your friends to keep each other encouraged yet accountable. One of the most useful tools on the application is the food look-up that has literally thousands of food items (including restaurant menu items) that help with your nutritional tracking. Better yet it has a barcode scanner that allows you to simply scan the items barcode and up pops the nutrition facts of said item. It also gives you the option of adding new food entries.

Here is a sample of one of my completed food diary logs: fooddiary

To begin your journey all you need is a username, password and email address. I’d like to encourage you to try myfitnesspal out to see how it can and will benefit you. Afterall its free and you have absolutely nothing to lose but unwanted weight:

fitness_benefits

Category: Free, Fun, Mobile, Productivity, Social Media, Uncategorized, Windows |
Pat Higginbottom | January 28, 2013
No comments

Mint: Organizing your Money

mint

I included Mint in my Get Organized class earlier this month and after giving it another look decided to jump in with both feet and become a user.  I think our financial lives have become much more complicated as online services and apps have taken over.  It is simpler than ever to get access to your financial information but making sense of it is much harder.  Mint allows you to securely access all of your accounts and financial information in one place and provides many free ways to track and monitor your spending.  Add:

  • Checking accounts
  • Savings accounts
  • Investments
  • Loans
  • Credit cards
  • Bills

Getting started is–as advertised–easy and fast but getting everything into Mint is harder than I expected.  I would have said I did everything online but actually there were some things that I didn’t yet have online access to–stuff like retirement accounts that I don’t think too much about.  While it was a bit time consuming, I needed to do that stuff anyway, so the first step for me was making sure I had online access to all relevant financial accounts.  One of those vendors sent me the access code in the MAIL.  You know, that stuff that comes from the post office, so it was a good week before I had access to everything.

Once those things were all in place, I could login to Mint and add each account.  I think it might be easier for new users to get all the info then set up the account so that the setup wizard can be used more fully.

New users go through a series of items to set up alerts, goals and the like.  Since I set up my account and then went back a couple of weeks later to create a budget, Mint had begun to guess how much I wanted to budget for certain items.  That created a bit of clean-up but it was still less than an hour to go through every budget category and add income and expenses and set goals.  Over the course of the next month I’ll make sure spending ends up in the right category–which I can do from my phone or tablet so it should be pretty easy–and how well I met my goals.

that’s as far as I have gotten.  So far I have about 3 hours invested but think I will like what I am able to get back.  Here are my overall thoughts so far:

  • It is pretty easy to use but there are some places where I thought I was saving the data but I wasn’t.  Setting up the budget was pretty repetitive for this reason.
  • I wanted to share all the information with my husband but to do so had to share the account information, there aren’t shared accounts.  This isn’t a big deal but it was kind of surprising since many people have others on their accounts.
  • It connects to everything I’ve looked for so far, retirement accounts, college funds, lenders, everyone seems to be in there, which made adding things easy.
  • It will be great to see all accounts in one place under one password.

I’ll do another post when I’m further in but for now it looks very promising!

Category: Free, Mobile, Productivity |
Pat Higginbottom | January 16, 2013
No comments

New Year’s Resolution Class: Get Organized!

If you attended the class, I hope you enjoyed it and will comment if you have additional tools to recommend.  If not, at least you can browse this list of links to find some things to help you get organized.

Track your to-dos:

Plan your days:

Go paperless: Evernote (really, what else is there….)

Save stuff to read later:  Pocket

One password to rule them all:  LastPass

Always find your files:  Dropbox

Keep track of your spending:  Mint

Shut out distractions: Stay focused for Chrome, LeechBlock for Firefox, Mindfull Browsing for Safari

Find your photos: Picasa,Flickr, 1000memories

Take good notes: Simplenote

Figure out what’s for dinner:  Evernote Food, Pinterest

Follow your favorite blogs: Google Reader, Flipboard

Automate routine tasks:  IFTTT

Wake up early:  wake and shake alarm

Hold yourself accountable: Stikk

Get rid of all those rewards cards:  Keyring

Learn about new tools:  Lifehacker, Tech Lister, PC Magazine’s Get Organized Series

Category: Free, Fun, Graphics, Productivity |
Lisa | January 14, 2013
No comments

Unplugging: The Anti-Post

Since this is the start of a new year I can’t resist writing a post about not using technology for a technology blog. My working life is spent almost entirely in front of, talking about, or learning about technology and frankly, it gets old sometimes. I love my job and I love technology but a couple of years ago I realized that I was spending way too much time in front of a computer, I never went anywhere without a cell phone or tablet. So I started to think about what I wanted to do when I retired and didn’t have to be so plugged in all the time. As I looked at my list I slowly began to wonder why I should wait until I retired to do these things. Most of the items on the list weren’t terribly expensive or required expensive things. Most of the things didn’t require huge chunks of time. So why wait? I couldn’t think of one reason to so I decided I wouldn’t wait. Below are three of the items off my ‘retirement to do list’ that get me out of the house and away from the computer and in many cases totally away from being plugged in.

Nature: A friend forwarded me information on the Birmingham Botanical Gardens’ Certificate in Native Plant Studies and after one class I was hooked. Not only did I finish that program I also finished Auburn Extension’s Master Gardener Program. Master Gardener led to the Extension’s Alabama Master Naturalist program in which I am currently participating. All these experiences include volunteer opportunities and field trips so it isn’t just about taking classes. Getting outside and in nature is an excellent way to unplug.

Art: I took an art class in my teens and then never really did anything else until this last year when I took a very basic Introduction to Drawing class. The cool thing about doing any sort of art is that you use a part of your brain that just makes the world melt away. You can’t really create while you are worrying over some problem at work or home. Another neat thing about art is that art is whatever you want it to be. There are all sorts of classes and books on a variety of different kinds of mediums. So just because you can’t draw a straight line is no excuse.

Animal Rescue: What is better than spending time playing with puppies and kittens? So many animals need interaction whether it is just a 15 minute play session or a nice long walk. Being involved with animal rescue doesn’t have to mean fulltime fostering. Even a short time out of the kennel situation is good for the animals both mentally and physically. And you being able to give personal anecdotes about a dog or cat increases the chances that the animal will get adopted. The best way to find rescue organizations is to go to PetFinder and plug in your zip code.

Category: Free |
« Older Entries