Features
Top 30 online tools
20070713 [Computer Shopper]
Top 30 online tools 26 - 30
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1 Picnik Details: www.picnik.com Type: Photo editor Currently in beta, Picnik is a Flash-based photo editor that runs in your web browser. Aside from being a great way to edit photos quickly without having to launch a dedicated photo editor, Picnik has other advantages. You can connect directly to your Flickr account, edit your images and save them back to Flickr without opening that service. Picnik can also open images from other photo-capable services such as Picasa Web Albums, or from any website. Just enter the image's URL. If you don't have a Flickr account, you have to save images to your hard disk, but Picnik will soon allow users to save images to its site. A tabbed toolbar at the top of the browser window splits the program's functions into tools that apply basic effects, such as vignettes and colour enhancements, and those that correct flaws such as red-eye and over exposure. It also has cropping tools and an unsharp mask function. There's even a full-screen mode that makes you feel as if you're working in a desktop-based application. |
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2 Flickr Details: www.flickr.com Type: Online photo sharing Flickr is well established as the king of photo-sharing websites. There are several alternatives on the internet, such as Google's Picasa Web Albums (picasaweb.google.com) and ipernity (http://ipernity.com/), which also handles video and music sharing. But what currently sets Flickr apart from rivals is its sheer scale. Flickr makes it easy to share photos with your friends or the entire world. When you upload pictures you can tag them to make it easier for people to find images that match those tags. You can also group them into photo albums and view them as slideshows. A strong interactive element adds to Flickr's appeal. Viewers can add comments and notes to your photos. While Flickr provides desktop-based uploading tools, upload and organising features are also available on the website. One reason Flickr has become so big is its open-development framework. This makes it easy for other web applications, such as Picnik or Virb, to access the site, and users can view Flickr images on those sites. You can use Flickr for free with some restrictions. While the free version still provides a generous 100MB limit on uploads, only smaller, resized images can be viewed. The original, larger images are still stored on Flickr, and if you upgrade your account, you'll get access to the full version. |
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3 LogMeIn Details: www.logmein.com Type: Remote access service LogMeIn lets you link to an internet-connected PC, see its desktop and control everything on it - all from a standard web browser on a PC or handheld device. Anyone who has regularly suffered the crushing despair of trying to connect to a PC remotely through multiple firewalls will find LogMeIn a godsend. You don't need to poke holes in firewall settings to connect to your remote PCs. LogMeIn says its services are compatible with all known routers and firewalls. All you need to do is download and install a small piece of software on the PC or Mac you plan to control. As long as that machine is running and connected to the internet, you can access it remotely through the LogMeIn website. For added security you enter two different passwords to connect to it: your registered password when you enter the site, and a specific computer access code for the computer you plan to control. You will see your remote PC's desktop in your browser and you can use its applications, files and email as if you were sitting at the machine. There's no need to be encumbered by the browser window, either. Click a button on the page and LogMeIn switches to full-screen mode. The connection is encrypted, but while LogMeIn never feels anything like as responsive as sitting right in front of the remote PC, it's usable even over a modest broadband connection. LogMeIn isn't the only web-based remote access software. Citrix's GoToMy PC offers similar features, but charges nearly £100 a year for access to a single PC. LogMeIn doesn't charge for connecting to a single computer. A Pro version, which costs around £35 a year, lets you do the fancy stuff, such as transfering files between host and remote PCs, inviting guests to connect to your PC and printing remote files locally. |
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4 Xe.com Details: www.xe.com Type: Currency converter One of the oldest web applications, Xe.com bills itself as the world's favourite currency conversion website. Its accuracy is certainly hard to fault. The site displays live mid-market prices for major currencies on its home page. Prices are automatically updated every minute. Xe.com is clearly aimed at people who trade in currencies for a living. However, even those who only want to find out if they are getting a good deal on their holiday money will find it useful. Simply enter the amoaunt you want to convert and select the currencies to convert between. Bookmarking the result creates a handy short cut for future conversions between those two currencies. |
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5 Greenwich Mean Time Details: www.greenwichmeantime.com Type: Time utility The Greenwich Mean Time website lets you find out the local time anywhere in the world. In a couple of clicks you can get the accurate time in any one of dozens of countries. The time is synchronised with an internet time server every five minutes. The site is often used by people who want to call abroad, but need to check that it's a reasonable hour. To help them, the website lists the international dialling code for the relevant country under the correct time. Greenwich Mean Time even goes into a brief explanation of the various time zones and when they change seasonally. |
