Open Source
The internet is filled with free applications and programs that anyone can use. Here are a few websites with free stuff to check out:
Facebook: This is a social networking site where you can post pictures, list your interests, and find long lost friends. It is very popular among college students, and has recently been made available for high school students as well. You can join “networks” related to your school, work, or location. There are many controversial issues surrounding Facebook, such as privacy issues and sexual predators.
NeoOffice: NeoOffice is a free program you can download online that is similar to Microsoft Office. It is a word processing program that can also do spreadsheets and powerpoint presentations. Microsoft Office can cost hundreds of dollars, so NeoOffice is a nice alternative. I personally use it on my mac computer so I can work with Microsoft Office files.
Adobe: Adobe’s website is filled with free demos of their programs. Some of these demos include Photoshop (a program that allows you to edit and modify your digital photos), Flash (an animation program) and Premiere Pro (a video editing software).
YouTube: YouTube is a video hosting site where you can browse and upload videos. It gives the everyday person the opportunity for their 15 minutes of fame.
Flickr: Flickr is an open source website where you can upload and share your digital photos. Or, if you don’t have any photos of your own, you can browse other peoples wonderful pictures of their weekends spent drinking with their friends, or the cute things their cats do.
Firefox: Firefox is a superior, free web browser that you can download for free. It offers tabbed browsing and many other features, including tons of add-ons to modify the look and feel. It is quickly becoming one of the more popular web browsers.
YouTube For Dummies
YouTube is a website where you can watch and upload videos. It seems pretty complicated if you don’t know what you’re doing, but it’s really quite easy. Here are some simple steps to help you upload a video to YouTube:
1) First, you need to create an account. This is really simple and should only take a minute. Go to http://www.youtube.com and click “sign up” in the top right corner. Then, you’ll be asked a few basic information questions, like your name, birthday, and what kind of account you want to set up. You’ll be asked to create a username and password that you can then use to log in
2) Log in to your account with your new username and password. Once you’ve logged in, you’ll see a yellow button towards the top right of the screen that says “upload.” Click on this button and it will bring you to a new page. It will then ask you to give your video a name and write a short description about it. Also, you will be asked to place your video in a category such as music or educational. There will be a section marked “tags,” this is where you put a few keywords about what your video is about so people can easily search for it.
3) After you’ve entered all the basic information about your video, it’s time to actually upload it. Click the browse button and search for where you saved the video on your computer. Once you’ve found it, click ok. Make the sure the video is 100MB or less, and not longer than 10 minutes. Also, for the best results, the video should be in MPEG4 video and MP3 audio format. Other accepted file types are .WMV, .AVI, .MOV, and .MPG.
4) After you find the video file you want to upload and click ok, it may take several minutes for the video to upload. Be patient and don’t worry; your video will be ready for the world to see very soon. After it’s done uploading, it has to process the video. This may take another few minutes, so sit back, relax, and know that your video is almost done. After it’s done processing, you can click on “My Videos” and watch any of the videos you’ve uploaded. You can also browse other users videos or upload some more of your own.
