Freebie Ten

Ten Things You Can Have for Free

Freeware caution: always scan free downloads of anything for bugs and other threats before dumping the programs into your hard drive.

AcMp3Converter is a "MP3 and WAV converter accessible for the blind or persons with low vision (20/200), tag editor, player. Different voices, large print, change background color, sound cursor heart. Supported languages: English, Polish. Uses Lame as coding engine" (OS: Windows 98/ME/2000/XP/2003/Vista/7)

The AeroClock is "a simple but at the same time beautiful desktop clock with alpha transparency. This very decorative desktop clock shows the local time at the Desktop. The basic functions: total transparency, size, setting, and the selection of the Clock-texture or the appearance are available. The Aero Clock does not have to be installed and can be executed easily from the desktop" (OS: Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista/7 32-Bit/64-Bit)

Best CashBook is "the ideal tool to manage cash and finance. Based on [cash + deposits - cards = net cash], it treats cash, deposits, credit cards and all other finance as one to give an insight of incomings, outgoings and fund changes. It will be very simple and easy to use once you overcome learning the entry principles. Without programming skills, anyone can translate the program and distribute his own translated version even for free" (OS: Windows 98/ME/2000/XP/Vista/7)

FireAlpaca is "the image editor that can be used readily and easily" (OS: Windows XP/Vista/7; Mac OSX 10.5.8 or later)

There's a new release of GIMP, the versatile image editing and manipulation freeware which comes highly recommended by many writers, and which can be downloaded from the official site here (OS: Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista/7, Unix, Mac OSX)

iBooks Author is a "free mac app is for those who have wanted to release an iBook but didn’t have a program to do so. This app allows you construct iBooks, by adding text, pictures, all to your specifications. You can include photo gallers, movies, and more. After you’re finished, you can submit your work to the iBookstore" (OS: Mac OS X)

Peacock Color Picker "allows you to retrieve the color of any pixel on your screen. It is the perfect color picking solution for professional graphic designers, webmasters and home users. Thanks to the revolutionary fade-out user interface you will be presented with an unobstructed view of your screen, and you can immediately start picking & mixing the color scheme of your choice" (OS:Windows 2003/XP/Vista/7/2008)

Also from Reohix, Sleep Moon Xpress is "a next-generation Automation Utility that takes computer automation to the highest level. It puts at your disposal some innovative ways to shut down or restart the system, put it into hibernation, stand-by or log off the user, run a specific file or sound an alarm without as much as touch the computer. You can clap your hands, yell, howl or make whatever sound you like to trigger the action; or you can exploit the mobile technology and use the mobile phone to do all of these things, either by appealing to Bluetooth or connecting it to a wireless network." {PBW notes: Sounds like a handy utility for handicapped users, too] (OS: Windows 2003/XP/Vista/7/2008)

viJournal Lite, the freeware version of viJournal, is "designed as an analogue of the good old-fashioned page-a-day bound diary - the kind you buy in a stationer's. You write your entries under dated headers and save them collectively by month and year" [PBW notes: This looked interesting, and although it appears that the Lite version doesn't offer as many bells and whistles as the pay-for version, I thought it might be interesting for the Mac users to check out] (OS: Mac OS X 10.5)

Twin Visions allows you to "navigate through your photos in 3D, fix flaws, apply effects, create albums and calendars, share your favorites through e-mail, prints and online sharing websites" (OS: Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7)