Articles by Jason Hamilton
This article will introduce you to three online mind map tools that are free to use and have solid functionality. A number of note taking tools were previously covered on Freewaregenius, and I’ve previously written about Bubbl.us, another mind map tool. This article will present three more tools: Text 2 Mind Map, Creately, and Lovely Charts, which can all help you brainstorm and diagram your thoughts.
[Editor's note: this post was written by Freewaregenius contributor Jason H. Check out his tech blog: 404techsupport.com]. Read more on Three Free Web-Based Charting and Mind Map Tools…
Have you ever said to yourself: "Man, I hate having to type on a keyboard! If only I could use my phone to type, I’d be so much faster and none of my other fingers would have to get tired when I have my muscular, toned thumbs that can do so much more than just hit the space bar!" No? Neither have I. But this function can be very helpful if controlling a computer remotely through a remote control or a bluetooth enabled cellphone, and here’s a program that will allow you to do just that: TextOn9.
Read more on TextOn9: Type on your Computer like you’re Texting from your Phone…
In this post I will review “High Sign”, an excellent freeware mouse gesture program. While Samer has previously reviewed gMote, another mouse gesture program, I planned on reviewing StrokeIt which has been around for a long while now and is almost the founding father of freeware mouse gesture software. Unfortunately, when I installed StrokeIt, it did not leave a very good impression, with the software not working fully and with unclear implementation step. I therefore began a search for a better alternative, and High Sign is the program that I found.
[Editor’s note: this review was written by Freewaregenius contributor Jason H. Check out his tech blog: 404techsupport.com]. Read more on High Sign: control your PC using mouse gestures…
BumpTop is a cool little addition that can make your Windows desktop a little more organized and add a bit of pizazz to the experience. It adds physics and depth to your normal, boring desktop. You can slide files and icons around on the “floor” or pin them to any of the four walls that BumpTop creates. It makes for an impressive desktop and is somewhat comparable to Compiz on Linux, but is there much practical application for it?
[Editor’s note: this review was written by Freewaregenius contributor Jason H. Check out his tech blog: 404techsupport.com]. Read more on BumpTop: Your Desktop in 3D…
Microsoft has put out two web-based games through their TechNet branch called Server Quest. The games are a compilation of mini-games with a story connecting them all. You play the role of the IT professional, Matt, working for a company called A. Datum. It is aimed toward IT Professionals and computer specialists everywhere and includes humor and trivia that mostly only those with a geeky bent will get. While acting as a thinly veiled promo for a Microsoft TechNet subscription, the game is complete and still provides entertainment value.
DRoster is what I’d describe as niche software. Not everybody is going to have a use for employee scheduling software, but for those whom do need it, this could be a life saver. I imagine DRoster being a very welcome find for many small businesses or organizations that are burgeoning past the point of being manageable through a simple spreadsheet. Also, I feel it’s nice to be aware of DRoster as it could come in handy for other purposes for those of us who tend to reverse engineer everything and think in work-arounds.
[Editor’s note: this review was written by Freewaregenius contributor Jason H. Check out his tech blog: 404techsupport.com]. Read more on DRoster: Employee Scheduling Software…
I’ve been busy preparing for a transition of many co-workers to a Microsoft Exchange service lately. Until that migration occurs, we use a web interface and/or Thunderbird to interact with the IMAP mail server. For context, I am a big fan of Thunderbird and prefer it over other similar desktop clients. Much of my time recently has been spent figuring out Outlook instead of using Thunderbird and keeping my ear to the ground for related mail applications. That being said, I still managed to catch Postbox in the beta stage and I have to say I’m quite impressed with the modifications they’ve made over Thunderbird.
[Editor’s note: this review was written by Freewaregenius contributor Jason H. Check out his tech blog: 404techsupport.com]. Read more on Postbox: a Facelift (and More!) for Thunderbird…
I’ve been looking for a virtual stock market game to play for quite some time. I wanted something like a fantasy football of the stock market. In my search I had only found systems with a paid subscription model. I even found full stock market simulators that were based on fake stocks and made-up companies. Recently I found a free, web-based stock market simulator that actually has the chance to pay you for playing (more on that later); UpDown matched all the things I was looking for and had some other features that made it even more interesting. I always figured it’d be fun and give me some practice for real world investing. Plus in today’s economy, why not play with virtual money instead of risking real money.
[Editor’s note: this review was written by Freewaregenius contributor Jason H. Check out his tech blog: 404techsupport.com]. Read more on UpDown: Free Online Stock Market Game…
StorYBook is an interesting application for a specific niche group. It is not an all-out word processor but instead a tool for organizing a novel. Actually any story could be story-boarded with Storybook. As an example, the demo project included with the install uses The Simpsons show.
[Editor’s note: this review was written by Freewaregenius contributor Jason H. Check out his tech blog: 404techsupport.com]. Read more on StorYBook: a Free and Open-Source Tool for Organizing a Novel…
Songbird is a an open source, multiplatform music player intened to rival players such as iTunes; but does it have much more beyond the basics? (…)
FreeMeter is a free system-performance monitoring utility designed to be powerful yet light on resources. It monitors a number of system activities that most people need, including uptime, drive space, CPU usage, disk access, physical memory available, and page file usage. It can also monitor up to 2 email accounts and present real-time updates for them in the system tray area.
[Editor’s note: this review was written by Freewaregenius contributor Jason H. Check out his tech blog: 404techsupport.com]. Read more on FreeMeter: a low-impact system monitor…
I’ve previously discussed virtual server infrastructure with an article on Microsoft’s Hyper-V which comes included with Windows Server 2008. Due to the performance hit that a Server 2008 machine will take just by having the Hyper-V role installed, I went looking for another solution. I had a few criteria though. Since I was just doing this for myself and my own curiosity, I wanted it to be free or near there. I also wanted it to have as little performance impact as possible, but produce a fully stable and functional virtual machine.
[Editor’s note: this review was written by Freewaregenius contributor Jason H. Check out his tech blog: 404techsupport.com]. Read more on VMWare Server: free Virtual Machine Infrastructure, step-by-step…
