LITTLE ROCK — If you think new programs are a tad expensive, how about some free ones? Can’t beat the price.
“Kingsoft Writer” looks just like a previous version of Microsoft Word, before they added a “helpful” ribbon along the top that just confuses the blazes out of many people. If you can stand to be without the Microsoft logo, Kingsoft Writer is free at KingSoftStore.com.
Zamzar.com will freely convert one kind of file into almost any other. You can turn an Adobe PDF into a JPG image, for example; then you can edit it. Click once to make a file that will play on an iPad or iPhone. Turn a Windows Media file into a Flash file. If you do that, Mac users can see it with a plug-in. This all worked well for us.
Windows.com is offering free Nature images for Windows 7, from the studio of photographer Michael Breitung. These are among the best wild-nature shots we’ve seen, all taken in America and Europe. The photos have been enhanced with special effects that give them a kind of “painterly” style. He uses Lightroom and Photoshop, both from Adobe, for the special effects. To use the Nature theme as your desktop wallpaper, right click the main desktop screen and choose “Personalization.” You can find out where each photo was taken by going to mibreit-photo.com.
“Gimpshop” from Gimpshop.com is a free alternative to Photoshop with nearly 3 million users. It’s like “Gimp,” a fairly well-known Photoshop alternative, but the layout resembles Photoshop more closely.
NOTE: We had a problem with this: We could not download the program, which gave us a message that it may be blocked by our firewall. We use BullGuard for our firewall and malware protection. If that is the problem, we are not willing to disable this excellent protection. But if you don’t have BullGuard, you may be able to download Gimpshop with no problem. There is a version for Mac and Windows.
“HOW BOUT THAT ?”
Lights can be printed onto wallpaper. Researchers from Linkoping University, Sweden, have grown white LEDs (light-emitting diodes) on paper. This is the first time anyone has built LEDs directly on paper.
Coming in 2013 or 2014 to an airport terminal near you: You won’t have to walk through a scanner. Maybe. Special high-frequency laser beams will be able to detect explosives, drugs and even what you had for breakfast from up to 160 feet away. The equipment is made by Genia Photonics of Canada.The Russians have developed a similar system. The technology isn’t new, just a million times faster than a similar system invented in 2008. Police cars equipped with this technology could spot individuals with increased adrenaline in their systems, those most likely to react violently, or measure alcohol and drugs in the blood.
AS SEEN ON YOUTUBE
“The 33 Most-Watched Cat Videos Ever,” from You-Tube. The first one shows a kitten stuck inside a plastic ball. Takes about 2 minutes to get out, to the tune of Paul McCartney’s “Stuck in the Middle with You.” Everybody loves kitten pictures.
In the Google search bar, type “8 Essential Photoshop Tutorials on YouTube.” One shows you how to place a person’s picture on a different background, no matter how wildly their hair is blowing in the picture.
POWER OF SOCIAL MEDIA
The use of social media is beginning to seriously influence politics. The recent victory of Uber, a company that makes a taxi-summoning app, is a recent example. When Washington, D.C., council members tried to shut it down, the president of Uber fought back on Twitter.
The D.C. City Council proposed an amendment requiring cabs using this app to charge five times the rate for other taxis in D.C. (Does this seem unfair? Not in Washington.) Uber’s president asked the council members if they really wanted to make Uber cabs available only to the wealthy. He asked his Twitter followers to send protest tweets.
It worked. The Uber app and taxi service is available in 12 U.S. and Canadian cities (none in the South as yet) as well as Paris and London.
KICK-STARTING A GOOD IDEA
We get a lot of appeals from Kickstarter.com, the website that uses crowd-funding to help start a business. The idea is that even a $1 contribution can give you a good feeling, while larger amounts earn various souvenirs.
We were just asked to help kick-start a new TV program called Driven Crazy. A man and woman will fly into a city with no idea where they’re going next. They’ll get screwy directions to their next destination by rental car, unequipped with GPS, and will have to pick up things scavenger-hunt style. Destinations include the “Tunnel of Death” in Russia and the “No Man’s Land” between Mauritania and Morocco. A $30 contribution gets you a copy of the TV pilot. We joined the group.
As with any Kickstarter project, funds are not actually collected unless the required amount is reached.
APP HAPPY
Song Pop is free for iPhone/ IPad/Android or Facebook. It’s a contest that pits you against a friend in a “name that tune” sort of game. It’s multiple choice.
We’re terrible on the latest hits. We wouldn’t know a current hit even if it, well, hit us in the face, but Joy’s a killer on the 1960s. More information is at SongPop.fm.
Magic Piano is free for iPad/iPhone/Android devices and lets you play the piano by tapping dots on the screen. The first few songs are free. They said we went too fast, but we got an “awesome” rating on Beethoven’s “Fur Elise.” (That’s Ludwig, not the other Beethoven.)
Steve Jobs, the Lost Interview is now available at the iTunes app store. This is a rare interview that was briefly shown in theaters last year.Jobs had just left Apple at the time and had big plans for his “NeXT” computer company. Even as hard-core Windows fans, we were sold by his visionary appeal. (Bob actually got to try the NeXT.) You can watch the interview on your computer, tablet or smart phone. Launch iTunes and click “movies,” then search for the title. It’s a $4 rental.
NOTE: Readers can search several years’ worth of On Computers columns at oncomp.com. Bob and Joy can be contacted by email at bobschwab@gmail.com and joydee@oncomp.com
Business, Pages 20 on 07/23/2012