Torn Paper Effect using GIMP

I wanted to give you a very cool idea this time!

There is this FREE SOFTWARE called the GIMP and it is a very good rival to PhotoShop, it is really easy to get to grips with using it. It also works on Mac OS X and Unix!

Also there is this website called Stock.xchng where you can find FREE Photos to add to your projects, most of these are marked as Royalty FREE and some are just marked as "let publisher know where/when used" no fees to pay.

The website also hosts photos that will cost a nominal fee but there is no need to use those unless they are the ones that you Must-Have to use in your project.

My suggestion is to take a look at this tutorial, yes people even show you how to use the different tools available for manipulating photos with on this website, it shows how to take a photo and convert it to a picture that looks like a ripped in half photo, very cool and useful!

Play with the Gimp and see what you can do with the many Plug-ins that are developed for it, you'll be pleasantly surprised to see all the support this software has and probably won't even give PhotoShop another look!

Gimp Basics

Sick and Tired of SPYWARE? - Me Too!!

ParetoLogic - Products - XoftSpySE Anti-Spyware

I've been getting so many parasites and spy snoopers
on my PC lately that something had to change!!

This software will scan your system with a fine tooth
comb and pick-out those pesky little vermin.
Best of all it is Free!

You can upgrade later if you like and it's even more
POWERFUL, so check this one out.

XoftSpySE Anti-Spyware

Key features of this software:

Download

Video Presentation

• Complete PC scanning, including running processes, registry entries, files and folders
• Detects and removes: adware, spyware, pop-Up generators, keyloggers, trojans, hijackers, and malware
• One of the largest spyware definition databases in the industry
• Automatic definition and feature updates
• Fast, powerful, and easy to use
• Comprehensive customer technical support
• Protects against identity and credit card theft

Click Here!

Finally - Firefox3: The Best Firefox Browser Ever is Released

The Best Firefox Yet

With more than 15,000 improvements, Firefox 3 is faster, safer and smarter than ever before.

I've been waiting months since the announcement from Mozilla that Firefox3 will be stable and ready for everyday usage, it was officially released on 17th June 2008 and it is all it's cracked up to be!

• It is Faster to load; no more waiting ages for a page to load from a link in another app. like Outlook or other link farms and RSS readers.

• Less Memory Hungry; this version (3.0) runs with much better memory use and that adds to the speed of page access, definitely a much anticipated upgrade to previous versions!

• More Secure Than Any Other;

When Are You at Risk?

An independent study shows that, in 2006, IE users were vulnerable to online threats 78% of the time. Firefox users? Only 2%.

“At risk” defined as publicly available exploits with no patch. Source: “Internet Explorer users Unsafe for 284 Days in 2006”

Brian Krebs, Washington Post, 1/4/2007

• Fully Customizable; there are over 5,000 Add-Ons to help you create a "Truly Personal Web Experience" that no other browser comes close to!

This is by far just scraping the surface of what this new version release can help you do, the best part of all of it is that it is an Open Source application and that means that it is FREE!!, always has been and always will be.

Take the Tour with a cool Video to show what it's all about.

You should at least download it and have a play with it, especially if all you've ever used is IE. There will be no compatibility issues if you have both Firefox3 and IE7 installed, I've done it for years.

Comment Kahuna | Free Link Building Software

Comment Kahuna | Free Link Building Software

Jason Potash has a great FREE Software that helps you with the task of building links to your website that get you ranked higher in the search engines.
You should act quickly on this as he may not be giving it away for FREE for too much longer!
Watch the video on the page and it will show you how to use the software and tell you the finer points on getting ranked higher in the search engines.

You basically use this program to post comments on other blogs that are 'Relative' to your website; his example is getting his 'Trout Fishing' website ranked higher by listing all the blogs that have anything to do with trout fishing, fishing, etc. Anything that may be relative to the subject of your website will be listed and then, you select those which have the higher rankings to post comments on.

All this is 'White Hat' or 'Above Board' and very easy to do. You of course will want to make sure that those blogs which you choose to post on are 'very relevant' not just close to your subject or what services and products you sell.

The software is still growing and an updated version will also be sent to you when completed, so it looks like this is one of those times when having your finger on the pulse is going to pay off and in a big way if you are prepared to put in the small amount of effort involved in using this Free Software!

Jason Potash has been around the web for more than a few years and continues to surprise me with his creativity, well done again Jason.

Firefox

Seth Godin has made a post on Firefox which explains why most people who use Firefox do so.
I've been finding some good add-ons for my Firefox browser; the one that lights me up at the moment is PicLens.
This new add-on will let you see your pictures in a 3D environment right inside your browser! This is how they describe their software:

Get into your favorite sites
From Flickr to Google Images, and even Facebook and Friendster, PicLens works with a growing number of your favorite websites.


Photo Sites |
Photobucket
Picasa Web Albums
Fotki
FotoTime
deviantART
Smugmug
Social Networking |
Flickr
Facebook
MySpace
Bebo
Hi5
Friendster
Image Search |
Google Images
Yahoo Images
Ask Images
Live Images
AOL Images
Webhosts/Galleries |
Freewebs
Adobe Lightroom
Don't just take our word for it . . .
piclens_reviewed PicLens has been picking rave reviews since its release. MacWorld calls PicLens "gorgeous . . . a great idea" Lifehacker exclaims "you'll be transported to a wonderful and magical world". Techcrunch asserts "visually the results are stunning."
Free of adware, spyware, and worries
PicLens is free to download, free to use, and does not contain any adware or spyware whatsoever.
Choose your flavor: Firefox, IE, or Safari
PicLens Features

Firefox
Enjoy photos in full-screen mode
New! Quickly drag, click, and zoom in a "3D Wall" interface
New! Search for web images within PicLens
Play a slideshow of image search results and photo albums
Fly through 1000s of images in a split second
Search in multiple languages
Jump from PicLens to the corresponding webpage

IE
Enjoy photos in full-screen mode
New! Quickly drag, click, and zoom in a "3D Wall" interface
New! Search for web images within PicLens
Play a slideshow of image search results and photo albums
Fly through 1000s of images in a split second
Search in multiple languages
Jump from PicLens to the corresponding webpage

Safari
Enjoy photos in full-screen mode
Play a slideshow of image search results and photo albums
Search in multiple languages
Jump from PicLens to the corresponding webpage
Sit back and explore photos with your Apple® remote

* Firefox version currently available for Windows XP, Vista, and Mac OSX.
Our Firefox version also supports the Flock browser.
Frequently Asked Questions & Tutorial
See our FAQ page for answers to questions about features, compatibility, and more.
To see our tutorial, click here.

As you can see, this is a very powerful add-on for your browser even if you do use IE!

Introducing Snap Shots from Snap.com

Introducing Snap Shots from Snap.com

I just installed a nice little tool on this site called Snap Shots that enhances links with visual previews of the destination site, interactive excerpts of Wikipedia articles, MySpace profiles, IMDb profiles and Amazon products, display inline videos, RSS, MP3s, photos, stock charts and more.

Sometimes Snap Shots bring you the information you need, without your having to leave the site, while other times it lets you "look ahead," before deciding if you want to follow a link or not.

Should you decide this is not for you, just click the Options icon in the upper right corner of the Snap Shot and opt-out.

Old Version Downloads - OldApps.com

Old Version Downloads - OldApps.com

When you need to find that program which was installed a while ago and it worked really, really easily, then a new version came out and you found it to be, well not as good as the previous version.
Now, there is a website which carters to your desire for the older (easier) version.

Here is their mission statement:

The Idea behind OldApps.com is ingeniously simple. Our mission is to provide our users with a wide assortment of current versions of familiar software, and their predecessors, for free. Our database is maintained up to date with older versions of software as they become readily available. Our users can be assured that this process involves our careful and meticulous screening of each individual program and version listed on OldApps.com. Our pledge is that our users will never end up with any malware, trojans, and/or any other variation of viruses.

You will find almost 200 programs here, and 2770 versions of them!