WebHuddle | A nice open source application for web conferencing

With the increasing competition in every marketplace, cost cutting is the only option for the companies for increasing their profitability. For this purpose, they employ different approaches and carefully scan every hole, which drains their revenue.

One of the important head of expense in today's organizations is the traveling costs of their employees, which can easily be reduced considerably by employing modern tools of voice and video communication.

WebHuddle is one such application, which just requires a web enabled PC to start your web conferencing session. It overcomes many of the hiccups like high-price to entry, compromised network security, large client downloads, and unreliability, which are usually associated with such online conferencing tools.

The best part is that it is an open source application. It offers you desktop sharing and voice-over-IP which may be useful for larger meetings, where a facilitator has control over the virtual microphone. You can easily record the proceedings of the meeting for record and play them back as per your convenience.

It is currently in beta testing and during this period it is free.

14 great web tools for taking screenshots (Part II)

[This is the second part of this series. You can find part I here.]

In the earlier post, we had introduced, eight web tools for taking screenshots. Here we take a look at six more tools, which you can use for capturing screen images to be used in your blogs or online articles.

Browser Add-ons

Snissa: Simplicity is the key here. Ideal for taking screenshots of the entire webpage.

Screengrab: Creates an icon in your status bar, simple to use. You can select an area on your screen or an entire window for screenshot.

Standalone programs

PrintKey: A sophisticated version for your printscreen function. Resides in your system tray and gets activated with the press of PrintScreen key. Then you can save the image and edit it as well.

I4X Screencatcher: Allows you to take screenshots of the active window, your whole screen, an area you select or a selector box.

InstantShot: An advanced screenshot tool for OS X, supports JPG/TIF/PNG selection and timer functionality. Options include capturing a region, hotkeys, several output formats, image scaling and many others.

Web based

Thumbalizr: Just enter the target-URL and press the "thumb it"-button. Wait a moment and a screenshot of the desired page will be taken.

14 great web tools for taking screenshots (Part I)

If you are a blogger or a journalist, you would understand the need of a good and handy web tool for taking screenshots of a website. There are many of them, some are web based, some are standalone executable programs and some are just browser add-ons. Still more, some are free and some require you to purchase them. My personal favourite being SnagIt.

In this two part series, we take a closer look at some of the most common screenshot web tools.

Browser Add-on's

Save as image: A neat firefox add-on. Takes screenshot of all of the contents of your current page, even if it above or below what you currently are seeing. After takinga capture, it prompts you to save avoiding hassles of opening your image editor and pasting the image there. You can also crop the image before pasting.

Pearl Crescent Page Saver: Another Mozilla Firefox add-on. It also gives you an option to capture the entire page or just the visible portion. Lets you save the image either in pNG or JPG. Also allows you to save the image either in full size or scaled down. The pro version, costing around $15, gives some more features.

Picnik for Firefox: Very easy interface, nice tools, and you can add text caption to your images. Launching a new premium subscription service today. At a price of $24.95 a year, you get of access to host of advanced effects and fonts.

Standalone programs

SnagIt: The king of all screenshot capturing programs. It is a powerful image, text, video, and Web image capture program with many features and options. Here is nice guide for using SnagIt. It costs you $ 39.95, and there is also a trial version for free. Torrent version is available here.

FastStone Capture : A powerful, flexible and intuitive screen-capture utility. It allows you to capture anything on the screen including windows, objects, full screen, rectangle regions, freehand-selected regions and scrolling windows/web pages. It also has innovative features such as a floating Capture Panel, hotkeys, resizing, cropping, text annotation, printing, e-mailing, screen magnifier, screen ruler and many more.

WebShot: Freeware and allows you to take screenshots of a web pages or the entire websites. The main advantage is its powerful command line utility which enables you to automate the process of taking screenshots.

Paparazzi!: For Mac OS X, allows you to take screenshot of the entire webpage in contrast to the built in feature of Mac, which allows you to capture only the visible portion.

Web based

WebShotsPro: Now downloads, no purchasing, no installation. Just visit this website adn enter the URL of the page for which screenshot is to be taken. But you may have to wait a bit, because there is a queue.

[Part II of this series coming soon.]

Yuuguu | Share your screen with this great remote desktop sharing web tool

Yuuguu is the latest cross platform collaboration tool, which everyone to share their computer screens with each other. This latest remote desktop sharing utility requires a small software on both (all) the computers and invitation are sent from one computer to the other. One screens are shared, you can use chat feature to explore the collaborative possibilities. Voice chat is also available for your convenience, but at a small cost.

Yuuguu is different from other such services as it combines the IM features with remote desktop sharing. Here you can make a buddy list, invite them to share your screen when they are online, show them what you are looking at on your computer, let them move your mouse and use your keyboard as though they were sat right next to you, and easily start a conference call together.

Yuuguu, derives its name from a Japanese word , which means fusion. It supports any device with browsing capabilities, meaning that you can also use it through mobile phones.

Yuuguu is similar in use to utilities like GoToMeeting but I find it much simpler to control and use.

It's founder Anish Kapoor says, "Yuuguu takes Web collaboration to a new level by integrating community, messaging and collaboration in a whole new and natural way."

I wish, if they had incorporated some sort of video interaction between the participants, it would have been a complete package. But still, a great utility.

del.icio.us tags: Yuuguu, Desktop sharing, Desktop, remote sharing, screen sharing, collaboration

HideLinks | Protect your visited links and surf secretly

If you work on a shared computer and are concerned about someone knowing your visited links, then HideLinks is an ideal solution for you. You just have to copy the link you want to hide and paste it on hidelink. It will give you an encrypted link, which is a lot shorter than your original link and which nobody knows except you.

So, what's new about it. There are tons of such services. But the best part here is that you can password protect it also. The HideLink will retrieve the original link only if the correct password is entered.

YouConvertIt | A free online conversion tool for converting anything to anything

There are a lot of online conversion tools available, like zamzar, which convert documents, images, audio files and video files from one format to the other. But most of them are restricted to be able to handle only a few formats.

YouConvertIt is a great online conversion tool, which handles virtually any format and thus gives you total freedom, and that too at one place. With this tool, you can covert virtually anything into anything. The best part is that it is free. Even further, a conversion tool for units is also available on the same website.

To use it, you have to upload the file, select the desired format from a drop down menu and enter your email address. They will send you an email after the conversion and you can then download the converted file. It is just like zamzar. But there is no limit on the size of your file and also, at present, this service is free from any ads.

Save energy and environment with LocalCooling

I just didn't know that more than 30 billion kilowatt-hours of energy is wasted because many of us simply forget to shut down our computers when we're not using them. Ooh, that's a huge figure.

But this happen, just because you forget to implement the various power saving options available to you. Now there is an automatic solution to this problem. You can download a 100% Free power management tool from Uniblue Labs, which allows users to optimize their energy savings in minutes and as a result reduce Greenhouse Gas emissions.

What does it do

It ...

• Cuts your power bills by saving energy
• Thus it reduces the emitted CO2 resulting in reduction in Greenhouse effect.
• Provides you total control on your power settings.
• Shows you in detail how much you have saved since installing the software.

del.icio.us tags: power saving, energy conservation, environment, greenhouse, CO2 emission

Viigo | The RSS feed reader for your cellphone

With each passing day, more and more people have been using cellphones for accessing Internet. With this there is a growing need for a reliable, convenient and convenient RSS feed reader for cellphones. Viigo fills this requirement in an effective way.

Viigo gives an instant access to Breaking News, Sports, Entertainment, Weather, Markets, Blogs, or any RSS Feed you want. There is also a huge list of several channels and blogs, which you can choose to start from. It also lest you updated about the local events, local weather, news and sports. You can even track your courier packages from the world's most popular mail and package carriers.

Try it, the price is really impressive. It is $0.00.

P.S.: You can find a review of BuzzMe, another RSS feed reader here.

del.icio.us tags: RSS, feed reader, Viigo, Mobile, cellphone

TrustedPlaces | A new community website

Today Internet is being fed with the daily dose of upcoming social websites, where you can meet different people of your taste and choice and share all sort of information. 

Trustedplaces is one such website, where you can meet real people like you and me, and share your information and opinion about different places you know. Since the information comes from the actual persons, in most of the cases who have visited the place in question, the information is quite reliable and trustworthy.

The best part of the service is that it is totally free. The revenue comes from the advertiser, who understand the value of the word of mouth publicity and as such, advertise on this website.

So, next time you need a reliable information on London or great London restaurants, come straight to TrustedPlaces.com.

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post.

Hyperwords | A great firefox add-on

I like Firefox, and I love firefox add-ons. This blog has posted several posts about various firefox add-ons in the past. Some of them are mentioned below.

• Sparky
• SiteAdvisor
• SearchStatus

I have added a separate label, which you can find in Categories on by right sidebar. Recently I have found another one. Its Hyperwords.

With Hyperwords, you can easily search more information about any word or phrase on your screen. You can search for photos on Google Images or Flickr. You can also translate that into many languages. You can search Wiki entries, you can do search queries and much more. All this can be done form the same window. You don't have to open another website for that.

Its really convenient. Try it.

Anglian Home Improvements

If you are on the look-out for an established, reliable and cost-effective search for the best products for home improvements, then I will suggest that you visit the website of Anglian Home Improvements.

Established for more than four decades now, it is one of the best known place in UK for their quality home improvement products. They help you to shape your dreams, when thinking of your home.

They have a wide array of products on offer, as given below.

• windows and doors: A huge range to choose from
• Conservatories: Choose from a range of high quality uPVC conservatories to suit every home and garden - and budget.
  Rooftrim: Replacement for softwood fascias, soffits, bargeboards and cladding
• Cleanaroof: Clean and restore your roof and gutters
• Driveways: A choice of concrete, block paving, detailing and security options.
• Garage Conversions: Turn your garage into a warm habitable room
• Kitchens: A huge choice of cupboards, sinks, worktops and accessories

So next time you think of home improvement solutions, think of Anglian.

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post.

Get your letters, while on the move

If you are travelling frequently, and for long durations, you must be worried many times about the emails reaching your home / office in your absence. No, I am not talking about the e-mails, I am referring to the physical form. Many people take the services of a home-sitter, who collects them and sends them to your place, say, weekly.

But now, you can avail the service of Earth Class Mail, who will receive them on your behalf, open them ,scan the and e-mail them so that you can access them from your current location.

Don't get bothered about the privacy issue. They first scan the unopened mail, which you can see through Internet. And only after getting your approval, open it. If you wish so, they can send it to you unopened also.

It is really a nice idea.

Technorati tags: letters, mails

I am Back

Ooh, I am back.

Visitors to this blog, off late, must be wondering where I had disappeared. In fact I had to change the city as my employer had given me another assignment. This had involved a lot of hassels but I had accepted it just because of better prospects and exposure.

Now, the things have started to settle and I hope to get back to blogging business gradually.

Thanks for the visitors of this blog for keeping visiting.