Believe it or not (!!), I’ve started up some new blogs! 
So I spent quite a few hours looking over my options. I checked out Drupal, Joomla, and b2evolution platforms for possible choices… but Drupal was difficult to manage and had very limited choices. Joomla looked too complex, and b2evolution was too plain. So I reverted back to Wordpress. When it comes to blogging, I really need a variety of nice themes. I’m willing to slog through technicalities and database manipulating, but when it comes to nice themes, I draw the line. By FAR, Wordpress has the best themes around. And there are plenty of exceptional-quality themes, too. Here’s one: Template Lite Wordpress Templates. (This is not a sponsored post!). I have used some of their themes, and I think they are beautiful. They are very artful, and free! I’m going to use one o their new ones, Sunset Farm, on my new blog very soon. I’ll be sure to let you know about the grand opening. 
Check out Template Lite for free WP themes. I’m very impressed with what’s there.
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Tags: free, themes
I’ve been using the Lijit Search Engine widget for a few of my blogs for a few months now, and I have to say: I LOVE IT!
Lijit is a plugin for Wordpress, Typepad, and Blogger blogs. Any blogger who writes informatively really should have this widget– Lijit is so impressive and so powerful that a blog would seem empty without it. I have Lijit installed on several of my blogs (including this one), and it is perhaps the most effective on my travel blog, New York Traveler.net. That blog is filled with information, photos, videos, tips, and links to thousands and thousands of bits of information that I could not otherwise organize. Lijit gives visitors the ability to thoroughly search that blog for even the smallest bit of information (everything from pet supplements to hurricanes!).
The Lijit widget is 100% customizable. And you can see from the screenshot above that I have included the ability for readers to search not only my travel blog, but all my Flickr photos, my YouTube videos, and mo other blogs as well. And when the Lijit window pops up with search results, there is the ability for readers to search my blog for relevant information, for content (photos, videos, etc), my network (other blogs in my blogroll) and etc. And lijit includes small screenshots with the search results, too. It’s a really professional look. Here are some screenshots showing a quick search I did on “erie canal.” Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: free, websites
I found another very nice (and free!) photo editing software program: Photoscape. It’s very nice. It’s a lot like Google’s Picasa, but without… Google. Which I prefer.
Here’s the self-described key features of Photoscape:
Viewer: View your folders photos, slideshow
Editor: resizing, brightness and color adjustment, white balance, backlight correction, frames, balloons, mosaic mode, adding text, drawing pictures, cropping, filters, red eye removal, blooming
Batch editor: Batch editing multiple photos
Page: Make one photo by merging multiple photos at the page frame
Combine: Make one photo by attaching multiple photos vertically or horizontally
Animated GIF: Make one animation photo with multiple photos
Print: Print portrait shot, carte de visite, passport photo
Splitter: Divide a photo into multiple parts
Screen Capture: Capture your screenshot and save it
Color Picker: Zoom in screen on images, search and pick the color
Rename: Change photo file names in batch mode
Raw Converter: Convert RAW to JPG
I just love the batch editing ability. I process hundreds of photos at a time sometimes– takes me HOURS. Resizing or sharpening all at once is such a time saver. I love Photoscape! And the price can’t be beat.
Tags: art, free, photos
My kids have discovered the delights of digital video. I have a Samsung digital video recorder that I use for business, so I don’t like them to use it. But my cell phone has a video recorder, and the latest craze amongst the kids is taking short “Lego animation” videos with it. Problem we’ve encountered is that the cell phone video format is .3gp, while our computers will only read .avi, .wmv, .wav, and .mpeg3 and mpeg4. I have no good converting software, and we were out of solutions until one of the kids found some online converting software. It looks pretty cool! It’s free to use– just beware of the pop ups when you click the site. Have your pop-up killer ready, lol.
It’s ZamZar. It was able to convert the .3gp file into a .wmv file easily enough. So the kids are happy. This is a good site to keep bookmarked!
Tags: converter, free, video
I have been trying to incorporate more photos into my blogs, but taking them myself and going through the uploading is such a hassle sometimes. PicApp is something I found. It’s a site with loads of free photos for the taking. Be sure to read the terms of service and FAQs before using the site, though! PicApp says there is no fee to use their service, and they are in the process of making a way for people to actually make money with them.
I tried out the photo search– I tried “cat” and I came up with all sorts of results. I was going to embed the photo here, but after I tried, I noticed a Google AdSense ad in my post under the photo. I do not want an AdSense ad in my post, so I removed the image. I find this element of embedding photos with such ads very offensive.
You can embed their photos for free, if you give them your email address. Or, you can register. I tried to register, but the captcha wouldn’t take. I tried five different times on two different browsers and it wouldn’t go, so I assume it’s something wrong on their end. Bummer.
So the idea of embedding free stock photos is great, but like I said, they’d better dump the AdSense ad if they want to have any means of success. That is just TOO intrusive to be acceptable.
Tags: free, images, photos
