TeachMeTech

Article excerpted from Tzunami Information Works. Read the complete article.

Brainstorming and Mindmapping

Mindmapping software is great for brainstorming, organizing information hierarchically, creating advanced to-do lists, planning and much more. Unfortunately, brainstorming software can also be very expensive, and far less convenient because it can’t easily be shared with other collaborators. By contrast, these webware alternatives are not only free, but also provide the added benefit of being accessible from anywhere.

1. Bubbl.us. Bubbl.us is a basic mindmapping app with an easy to use interface, is multi-lingual, and allows maps to be embedded in web pages.
2. Comapping. Comapping takes mindmapping one step further, allowing simultaneous use by multiple users.
3. Kayuda. Kayuda is a mindmapping-plus app, good for developing “campaigns”. Maps are shareable and serve as navigation. Add text and details to each node.
4. Mind42. Mind42 (”Mind for two”) is another collaborative mindmapping application that is a bit closer to its desktop cousins, and throws in web sticky notes as well.
5. Mindomo. Mindomo might make you forget it’s a webware app in terms of interface and mindmapping functionality. It has non-real time collaborative features.
6. Mindmeister. Mindmeister offers non-real time collaboration and many of the import/ export features of Mindomo. The interface lies between Bubbl.us and Mindomo in feature quantity.

Diagramming

Whether you’re trying to organize a team or just organize your thoughts, diagramming software is probably currently in your list of desktop software essentials. While web-based diagramming tools are not quite yet as sophisticated as their desktop cousins, a few are getting close.

1. Flowchart.com. With Flowchart.com, choose a chart type, then drag and drop nodes, lines and clipart onto the canvas. Share charts or export to PDF or PNG formats.
2. Gliffy. It’s not quite as full-featured MS-Visio but Gliffy offers many of the same types of diagrams in a similar interface.
3. Swivel. Share your data charts and visualizations on Swivel, which is sort of like a Flickr or YouTube for charts. (API currently in invite mode only.)

Entertainment - Audio, Video, Other

Ditch your CD player. Forget about that TV tuner card. Nearly any song, TV show, or full-length movie you want is online or likely will be soon. Download content to your iPod or other MP3/ MP4 devices or enjoy it online.

1. Finetune. Finetune is similar to Pandora (below) in essence and also offers widgets that can be embedded in web pages.
2. Jamglue. Bedroom and garage musicians take note: JamGlue lets you remix tracks online and share them with the community. Though if Rype is ever released, Jamglue will likely be forgotten.
3. LessonBites. LessonBites, like VideoJug (below) focuses on how-to, but with monetization. You pay to upload content but earn when people purchase non-download access.
4. Live365. If you fancy being a net DJ, Live365 lets you broadcast your Internet radio station for US$9.95/mo.
5. MusicMesh. Combine Pandora logic with YouTube content and get MusicMesh. Feed it a song or band name and get a cluster map of CD covers. Pick one, and get a playlist with links to YouTube videos, if any.
6. Pandora. Pandora should get an award for best music recommendation service. It’s currently available only in the U.S. due to user/royalty fees for Internet radio stations. Unlike annoyingly intrusive competitor Last.fm, Pandora does not have a rich suitor (though it does drive Microsoft’s Internet Radio).
7. SplashCast. SplashCast is currently the most innovative media player. Create slideshows manually or from RSS feeds. Use documents, images or videos. Add in audio/ narration for a webcast.
8. Splice. Splice, like JamGlue, offers a means to remix audio from a browser.
9. VideoJug. VideoJug has dedicated itself to how-to videos, both amusing and serious.
10. YourSpins. YourSpins is one more for the audio mixing category. It differs in that you can choose specific artists and songs from a dropdown menu, and tweak volumes and modes of various instruments.
11. YouTube. In addition to a new player with thumbnails, YouTube now offers a video remixer for special effects and resequencing, but only on your own videos. Alternatives: DailyMotion, Metacafe, Revver and many more. Or just visit your local TV station’s website.
12. Tun3r. Imagine the frequency band of a radio. Replace the band with a 2d grid of snapshots of net radio home pages. Move the tuner around to hear live streaming snippets from over 1400 net stations.

Image Stores, Image and Video Editors

If you’ve purchased any clipart CD’s or image editing software in the past or were forced to upgrade your harddrive to accomodate large image and video files, you know that software based image and video applications are lacking. Thankfully, the webware alternatives to traditional desktop image and video related applications are extremely advanced.

1. ColorBlender. Create custom, harmonious color palettes using ColorBlend. Move the RGB sliders around until you’re happy, then save the settings.
2. Cuts. Cuts lets you specify a video URL, then layer special effects, captions and loops over the timeline. More for amusement than anything serious.
3. Eyespot. Mix videos online with Eyespot. Use the timeline to drop in video, audio, and transitions, and the Trimmer for smoother sequences. Use the free media sets to get started.
4. Flickr. Flickr’s image sharing service excels in community-feel, RSS feeds, and a well-used API that’s spawned countless mashups.
5. Fotki. According to Webware 100, Fotki is an image hosting and sharing site, as well as a tool for blogging about your photos. Try out for a photo contest for prizes.
6. Graphita. Have fun adding captions, doodles and clipart objects to your images with Graphita, and share them with other members.
7. Jumpcut. Yahoo-owned Jumpcut is a video mixing service. Use their videos or upload your own, reorder frame sequences, add audio, titles, and effects.
8. Movie Masher. Movie Masher uses an Adobe Flash 8 applet to let you set up video editing tools on your site.
9. Photobucket. According to Mashable, while Flickr use is growing, Photobucket is still the number one image hosting and sharing site.
10. Picnik. Picnik boasts photo-editing features including crop, rotate, and special effects. Upload your own photos or retrieve pics from photo sharing sites.
11. Picture2Life. Picture2Life offers basic photo-editing capabiltiy, as well as collages and animated GIFs. Use your own images or retrieve some from Facebook, Flickr, Webshots, and other sites.
12. XMG Image. Tag, label, crop, rotate and resize your images with XMG Image. Upload full Zip files of images and unzip on their servers.