FlowGram, Ashampoo Clipfinder, LifeSnapz, SocialMarker, BluesTunes - Free Line 10/1/08
Despite what Al Gore might tell you, Creating a seminar or a webinar based around a Power Point presentation can be a bit of a pain. Not everyone can be as tech savvy as the “man who invented the Internet,” after all. For those of you who find yourself in this boat, there’s FlowGram. FlowGram is a new online service designed to help you create a presentation and save it online as quickly and painlessly as possible. While more advanced users might find the interface to be rather simplistic, beginners will feel right at home. With its low learning curve and overall ease of use, FlowGram is perfect for anyone who wants to share a few Inconvenient Truths with their colleagues.
If you’d rather watch a video than make one, the Ashampoo Clipfinder might be right up your alley. This powerful little program with the funny little name allows you simultaneously download several videos right to your hard drive and watch them later. All of the major online video sites and formats are supported by Clipfinder, including YouTube, Dailymotion, and Google Video. Unlike other programs of its ilk, Ashampoo Clipfinder is completely free. A word of warning, however: leave the copyrighted material on the video sites. The line between the Free Line and piracy is a line that man is not meant to cross.
Switching gears completely for a moment, we have LifeSnapz. LifeSnapz attempts to do the impossible — help people keep their photographs and videos organized. Users start by uploading their media to the LifeSnapz site. After everything is loaded and ready to go, the service helps you arrange it all into one neat, little package. The result is a interesting, easy to access scrapbook of all of your plans and memories. Unlike most services of this nature, LifeSnapz is compatible with many of the top video and photo sites, such as YouTube and Flickr.
One of the biggest problems with promoting your site or blog is dealing with social media sites. Sure, going to Myspace or Digg might be fine, but what about the twenty to thirty other sites? Once you get two or three updates or blog posts a day, promoting a post starts to take longer than actually writing it. Enter SocialMarker. SocialMarker’s goal is make getting the word out as easy as writing those words in the first place. The process couldn’t be simpler. All you have to do is simply highlight the text of the site that you want to be involved with and click the provided button. That’s it. Aside from the bookmarklet, SocialMarker is also available as a Wordpress plug-in.
And finally, there’s BlueTunes, an “online backup” service for your music. Besides keeping your music safe, BlueTunes also allows you to access your library from anywhere. Despite the innovative nature of the product, many pundits feel that it’s only a matter of time until a lawsuit pops up. “I’m worried about this startup,” writes TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington. “[It] provides the same functionality (streaming music) that can be found all over the internet, but requires users to spend time “uploading” music and has a 100% chance of being sued by the RIAA. That $1.2 million [of donated funds] isn’t going to be nearly enough to see you through this.” As of this writing, BlueTunes remains free of charge and completely free of negative legal action.











