[Editor's note: this post was written by Freewaregenius contributor Jason H. Check out his tech blog: 404techsupport.com].

Text 2 Mind Map

Text 2 Mind Map is listed as a work in progress, but it’s very complete in what it does. While it’s not as advanced as the other sites on the list, it is the most simple to use. You just make an outline of the text that you want in the left pane. Use Tab to indent and Shift+Tab to outdent to make the order of your thoughts. You can easily edit the list while you’re working on it or after the chart has been made.

The toolbox on the right is also straight forward and you can move it around to if it’s in your way. You can make the screen go full size in order to accommodate your chart if it’s too big. By default the chart will move around whenever you update it or drag nodes around so that everything is mostly equidistant. You can turn this off by checking the ‘Freeze map’ and then drag everything how you want it to look. You can change the size and the color of the text from the Toolbox and you change the color of each node level by clicking on the node and then the small arrow that appears. You can also change that coloring from the Toolbox under the Colors section. You can also choose to have each branch a separate color instead of each level if you’d prefer it that way under Coloring Method. Finally, you can change the line color and width as well.

You can save the Mind Map for working on later by just manually copy/pasting the outline to a file for yourself and you can save the image by hitting the ‘Save map…’ button in the toolbox to render a .jpg version of it.

Lovely Charts

Lovely Charts allows you to make flowcharts, sitemaps, wireframes, organization charts, network diagrams and pretty much anything else by allowing you to import .jpg, .jpeg, .gif, or .png images as symbols. Lovely Charts has a Basic, free version and a Premium version at $29 Euros a year. You can see what the version differences are on their FAQ page and judge for yourself if it’s worth the upgrade. The Basic version allows you to create diagrams with the full symbol library and the ability to export as .jpg or .png files. The diagrams will have a Lovely Charts logo with the free version. The free version allows you to have one editable document that can be collaborated upon with others.

To get started with Lovely Charts, just create account and enter the verification code that’s e-mailed to you. You’ll have to have Adobe Flash installed for your browser, but you can quickly start creating diagrams for whatever purpose you need. Some cool features of Lovely Charts includes opacity control for each symbol and the ability to quickly select a different symbol in the same library group from the right-click menu. You can also control the line width and arrow end of any pointing lines and align the symbols to a grid.

Lovely Charts uses a different type of control to create symbols that I didn’t quite find intuitive although I believe if I got accustomed to it, you could very quickly create charts if you had a specific purpose in mind. You start off by dragging a symbol from the toolbar onto the grid. You then drag that object to where you want the next object to be and a copy will be made with an arrow pointing back to the original object. You can then right-click the new object to change it to a different symbol if needed. While an interesting method that seemed very smooth, I think I would prefer a more static system where I could just drag an object, drag a different object, and then drag an arrow from one to another.

Creately

Creately is the full-blown experience and the best tool out of this list. It is a data driven, online diagramming & design suite all in one sharp web application. With Creately, you have a package that is much more comparable to the full-blown commercial suites like Microsoft Visio. You can sign up for an account to get started immediately. Creately gives you a lot for free: unlimited public diagrams, 5 people collaborating on a diagram at most, the ability to publish/export, 10 megabytes of storage, and SSL protected connections. With the basic account, all exported documents are watermarked with the Creately logo. You can upgrade to the Creately Plus! account at a ‘pay what you want’ price. But back to the features you get with the basic account (free):

You can collaborate with people over flowcharts, mockups, network diagrams, presentations, sitemaps, and a lot more. You can easily create your charts using the drag and drop interface, resize shapes, and easily undo any mistakes you make along the way. In your collaborating, revisions will be made and your co-workers can leave comments on the revisions. As far as the visual display is concerned, you can style your charts or even make graphics out of the tools available at hand including gradients, style, text size and font, and the alignment of nodes.

You can export your diagrams as an image, a PDF file, an XML data file, or send through e-mail. Your diagrams can all be saved under your account for easy access from any Flash-enabled browser. Creately also uses tabs to allow you to work on multiple files easily at the same time.

See their demo video for a tour and a display of its awesome ability to intelligently work with network diagrams and other features:

As your image collection grows you may have noticed that although it is taking more and more space on your hard drive, yet ironically you seldom get to actually look at your pictures. Wouldn’t it be great if you could integrate your images into your desktop and screensaver so you could actually get to see them? If this sounds like something you want then read on.

There are three types of toys that this program offers:

1. Dynamic wallpaper (”collages”): these consist of a backdrops with three “postcards” overlayed on top where PhotoJoy will randomly shuffle pictures from your collection.
2. Photo widgets (which it calls Photo Toys): reminiscent of other desktop widget engines (e.g. Klipfolio or Vista’s built in widgets). There are 5 variations on this in the version I tested that feature animation and interesting transitions (see screenshot to the right). The downside is that these seem to consume too much CPU power, so I would use sparingly and only on powerful PCs (see CONS section below).
3. Animated Screensavers: I’ve seen screensavers based on images before, but must admit that these are very interesting and the range of different screensavers on offer is impressive (screenshot on top left of this post).

Here’s a list of PROS and CONS:

PROS:

1. An excellent range of choices; many “toys” that you can download and use
2. The screensavers: very cool and smoothly animated
3. The dynamic wallpaper “collages” are generally very interesting

CONS:

1. Memory use is approx 40 megs, which is not insignificant. But the more important issue is that this program seems to be constantly using up CPU processing cycles on my PC (about 20%-30%). Upon further investigation I found that it was the widgets (Photo Toys) that were responsible. The other toys were ok in terms of CPU usage. See more on this subject in the “verdict” section below.
2. The backgrounds for the dynamic wallpaper tends to be somewhat, erm… cheesy.

Wish list (or how this program can be even better):

• The ability to create custom dynamic wallpaper would be great, such that you would use your favorite image as wallpaper and overlay it with the postcard style changing images.

The verdict: generally a very good, well made program. What’s interesting about PhotoJoy is the range of options that it has on offer; there are dozens of “collages” and screensavers to choose from and most of them are innovative and well done. On the flip side the high CPU usage for the widgets (Photo Toys) was a deal breaker for me, and I quickly removed these. Unless you have a powerful PC or really want the widgets on your desktop I would skip those and stick with just the wallpaper and screensaver options instead (which to me are the more interesting ones anyway).

Demo video:

Version Tested: build 200956

Compatibility: Windows XP or Vista, graphic card with 64 mb of memory

Go to the program home page to download the latest version (approx 621K for the installer, which will then download more files on installation).

Someone at work sent me this and I liked it so much I wanted to post it here. The animation is looped twice back-to-back; I’m not quite sure why this is the case, but my guess is that they did it this way to show how seamlessly the beginning and ending of this can mesh together (so much so that I know it would have taken me a while to figure out that the animation had re-started had I not been forewarned).

Anyway if you have other animations you like please let me know as I would love to see (and potentially post) them.

[Thanks to Simon S. and Matt A. for the tip]

Go to the COMBO (2 times loop) page on Vimeo.

There are a number of good freeware image viewers/taggers out there, but Viewer2 will immediately impress due to its stylish interface and innovative functions. I would suggest that you view the video at the bottom of this post to get a sense of how this program works and feels; meanwhile here are some notes on this program:

• The interface: there’s not much of it, until you mouse over to the edges of the screen, where you will find all the tools that you need to browse, view and tag your images. But note that in order to really take advantage of what this program can do you really have to become familiar with the different mouse manipulations (e.g. right-click and move to move selected sets of images around – see the video tutorials). You also might want to become familiar with the various keyboard shortcuts, esp. the ones that concern tagging images, as they will make the process super fast and easy. Note that when hovering over any command icon in the interface a text label will show at the bottom of the screen to explain it (although a tool-tip would have been better, I think).
• Grouping images: Viewer2 can automatically group images visually in various "piles". It can group by name, by path, by resolution, by number views, by time/date accessed, by color, and of course by tags.
• Automatic tag suggestions: for quick tagging, Viewer2 can suggest tags based on other tagging activity.
• Film Strip view: right clicking while viewing images displays thumbnail view of all other images in that folder that you can quickly browse through with horizontal mouse movements. A super cool effect (illustrated in the one of the two screenshots on the top of this review).
• Lasso-type tool: an innovative tool that can be used while tagging to select multiple images (alternately you can simply CTRL+click on several thumbnail to select them). In image view mode the lasso tool is there, but this time it serves to quickly zoom into the lassoed area (is that a word?).
• Searching: the search function is one of the most versatile and powerful that you could hope for, offering search by tags, by name, location, size, etc. It is able to field sophisticated queries such as give me the word "bla" with "2007" in the path excluding the tag "wallpaper" as an example (see the manual section for an overview).
• Navigating folders: double click on the viewed image to display the other images and folders in the same location.These will be represented visually in piles that can be hovered over (for more info) or clicked on to access. Alternately mouse over the left side of the screen to access a simple directory listing.
• Customization: most everything about this program can be customized in the settings, from the size of the thumbnails to the way various elements behave.
• Memory use: only 16 megs in memory, despite the nifty, visual pyrotechnics.
• Technical details: IPTC data editing, full Unicode support.

A video of the program in action:

The verdict: I am bowled over by this app. Its not just because of the high coolness factor, which would have been enough to win me over, but also because the innovative interface and process actually makes it super easy to work with tags quickly and effectively. The developer who thought out and built this (and kept it at such low memory usage) did a terrific job! Download and try it you will like it.

[Thanks go to reader Anjan for tipping me off about this program!]

Version Tested: 4044

Compatibility: Windows 2000, XP, Vista.

Go to the Program page to download the latest version (approx 1.59 megs).

This program is not the most feature-rich freeware screen capturing program out there, it isn’t the most powerful, and it doesn’t have the built-in editors/annotation tools that some other programs have; despite all of this, however, it manages to be an excellent screen capturing program, provides a very good range range of functions, and (most notably) delivers an excellent user experience.

If you’re wondering about “what could possibly be so stylish and cool about this program?”, the answer is in the way the interface is implemented, from the actual capturing process all the way to the (very pleasant) post-capture visual pyrotechnics where the captured image floats on screen and can be moved around and/or manipulated via right-click (check out the video below to see for yourself).

Here are more notes on this program:

• Capture modes: capture full screen (click “PrintScrn” twice), rectangular region, or freehand region of any shape. [Update Sep 14, 09] also supports capture topmost through Alt+PrntScrn hotkey.
• Hotkey: program is activated by clicking “PrintScrn”; you can optionally change it to any other hotkey combination.
• “Annotation”: will let you perform drawings with the mouse on screen right before you capture, which sounds like a great thing but in practice is of little use.
• Delays before capture: right click the PrtScr icon in the system tray to request delays of 5 or 30 seconds (not changeable).
• Editing: there is no internal editor; however, click “edit” and your captured image is opened using your PC’s default image editor. To find a good editing/annotation app and change the default image editor on your PC see this post.
• Multiple monitors: supported.
• Rescaling: (i.e.resizing the image) is possible before saving.
• Title and comment: you can add a title and/or a comment on-the-fly as you capture a screenshot

Wish list:

• More capture modes: specifically, (1) capture active window [supported], and (2) the ability to scroll through capture specific window elements, and (3) the ability to capture a fixed region.
• “Repeat last capture”: an option which I frequently use and need, which PtrScr does not currently offer.
• Magnifier glass: the kind that would pop-up when you’re capturing in order to help you select the area you want up to the exact pixel. Strangely absent.

The verdict: this is the kind of program that you might want to recommend to people who secretly want a Mac, or users who are not too technically savvy (not that I am equating these two groups in any way ). Or you may want to use it alongside a more powerful/sophisticated screen capture program (e.g. PicPick or Screenshot Captor) and set a different hotkey for each so they don’t conflict. Try it out for yourself you may like it!

Version Tested: 1.5

Compatibility: Windows XP ot Vista and a good graphic card.

Go to the program page to download the latest version (approx 2.35 megs).

Do you know what you spend the most time on when you’re using your computer? For example, you may want to know how much time you spend checking and responding to email vs. the amount of time you spend on doing “real work” (vs. the amount of time you spend randomly browsing the internet). Recently I’d been thinking about the amount of time that I spend doing research online (a lot) compared with the amount of time that I am actually working on creating something, whether its my deliverables at work or creating actual posts for this blog.

Which is why I am now running ManicTime. Here are more notes this program:

• The User Interface: is divided into a day view and a “statistics” view where you can view a range of dates together. Four timelines are simultaneously visible in the day view (Computer Usage, Applications, Browsing, and Tags). Clicking on any of these will change the type of information that is displayed on the bottom half of the screen. Not that you can (a) click on any colored chunk in any timeline to zoom into that information, and (b) you can select any range with the mouse to hone in on that. ManicTime uses color coding for similar items listed in the data section, which makes it easy to work with these.
• Tagging: is a great way to organize information in a way that makes sense to you. For example you can create tags such as “Project A”, “Project B”, “Work”, “Personal”, or even, say “Procrastination” or “Research” or whatever… anything that makes sense. You can right click on any colored chunk on any timeline to apply a tag to it. You can also check items within the data table on the lower half of the screen then click the “Add Tag” button on the top left. Kind of unintuitive at first, but works.
• Charts: in the “statistics” tab, you can add any element (from the Computer Usage, Applications, Browsing, or Tag timelines) and chart it against other elements. Very cool.
• Filtering: in the “Day” tab, type straight into the “Filter” box on the bottom of the screen to filter. Or otherwise check the boxes next to the individual entries, move the mouse to the “Summary (Selection)” section on the right hand side, and right click “filter by this group”. Click on the “Clear” (next to the filter box) to unfilter.
• Off the record: right click on the “ManicTime” icon in the system tray and select “off the record” to manually tell the program to stop recording.
• Exporting data: to CSV, is possible. Select a specific date range or “all”. Note that the “table” tab in the statistics section is what’s exported, so make sure to add as much (or as little) data detail to that as you want.

The verdict: This is the kind of program you simply let run in the background and only interact with once it has had the time to collect sufficient data, once a week or so. It can provide a great deal of information; however, whether this info is useful and/or insightful largely depends on you, the user, and what you want to get out of it.

What I like is that allows so much control over the data and collects data with such granularity as every single URL you have visited. I would say that interacting with the data can be somewhat confusing though, esp. filtering and tagging (which is why I describe them in detail above). The other drawback is the memory usage which, at approx 46-55 megs on my machine, may be a little too resource intensive on some machines.

Still, this is a very mature program and what it does ManicTime does an excellent job. The breadth and sophistication that this program has built into it is commendable and honestly quite surprising, and certainly is one of the best free programs of its kind. Recommended.

ManicTime Video Tutorial, Part 1:

For more tutorials, see the links below, or go to the Tutorials section on the program home page.

ManicTime Video Tutorial, Part 2
ManicTime Video Tutorial, Part 3

Version Tested: 1.2.1.0

Compatibility: WinAll.

Go to the program page to download the latest version (approx 4.81 megs).

This is a very fun and extremely original game that employs some innovative game dynamics. You move your character with the A/S/D/W buttons and use your chalk with the mouse. A chalk gesture has a small “half life”, if you will, in that it only lasts for a short time from beginning to end. There are 3 things you can do with a chalk gesture, as follows:

1. Connect the dots: most objects/hostiles have patterns of “dots” on them. If you are able to quickly draw a line that connects all of these you destroy the bad guy. Bonus points are granted for connecting multiple dots on multiple objects/bad guys in a single stroke.
2. Connect bullets to bad guys: some of the bad guys will shoot bullets at you; use your chalk to connect the flying bullet back to enemy ships and you will turn the tables and zap them instead.
3. Draw a shield: if it gets too hectic, use your chalk to draw shields or barriers that will trap some objects such as hostile ships behind them.

The verdict: the console-style graphics and sound serve to add to the atmosphere, and despite it’s “uniqueness” it is extremely easy to learn and get to grips with. Watch the video below, then download and play this very interesting game.

A video of this game in action:

Compatibility: WinAll.

Go to the game page to download the latest version (approx 3.86 megs).

Battlefield Heroes is a third person, online only action game. It’s free-to-play, supported by optional micro transactions, and can only be launched through your web browser. It’s created by EA DICE, the developer behind the famous Battlefield series.

[Editor’s note: this review was written by Freewaregenius contributor Travis B. Check out his freeware games blog here].

War is an ugly, bloodstained affair. When two nations engage in it, lives are ruined, families forever destroyed, and generations of nationalistic tension are usually the most defining outcome. But reality is depressing, and very often completely lacking in bright colors and comical mishaps. For those of us who like our wars a little more cute and cuddly, Battlefield Heroes comes to the rescue. In this free-to-play 3rd person shooter, its all about the laughs. Set in a happier version of World War 2, this multiplayer, online only game breaks free of more than a few industry trends. With its cartoon graphics, rapid fire action, and generally upbeat presentation, it looks like a welcome relief from the surplus of grim action titles we’ve been seeing. So does Battlefield Heroes deliver the goods, or is it all flash and no bang?

• Graphics: The first thing any player will notice is the pleasing Saturday morning cartoon feel. The sky is a cheery blue, the buildings look like the work of Walt Disney’s contractor, and the vehicles like a child’s idea of their real world counterparts. Of course that’s a good thing in this context. All in all, the whole game world fits together well. The only real complaint is that the lack of rag doll death animations is painfully obvious, especially given the seamless fluidity of everything else here.
• Sound: The folks who did the audio did a good job. Weapon noises are well done, emotes are accompanied by recognizable gibberish, and the theme music is catchy. Point in fact, I can hear the music even now. Still, sound effects do repeat quite a bit, and more attention to ambient noise is definitely in order.
• Gameplay: Battlefield Heroes is an action arcade game through and through. Players choose from one side, three classes, then find a match, and jump into the action. It plays like a cross between team deathmatch and king of the hill, with various strategic hotspots up for grabs scattered around the map. The classes break down into: soldier, commando, and gunner. With the soldier being your utility grunt, the commando your sneaky sniper, and the gunner a slower moving heavy. Each class can use any vehicle, and has a unique set of upgradable abilities, all of which play to their strengths.
• Controls: have clearly been designed to be efficient and intuitive, and are never an issue. Even piloting planes is straightforward and newbie friendly. The game’s mandatory match finder is also worth a mention. It takes stock of your character level and recent performance, and drops you into a server it thinks will work with you. It does a decent job.
• Character Customization: You have the ability to customize your character’s appearance, gear, and skills, and most everybody takes advantage of this. It’s not all that unusual to see a parrot shouldered commando bedecked in an Admiralty uniform, ducking for cover. Gamers gain game money by playing, and can buy a more potent form of game cash from the item store using a credit/debit card. Cash can then be used to purchase new clothes, weapons, experience point bonuses, and even emotes. The better merchandise generally requires you to spend a little real world money. Fortunately for cheap gamers (like myself), the game is enjoyable without having to whip out your bank card. But you will occasionally be playing at a disadvantage.
• Replayability: I got addicted to Battlefield Heroes. Its joyously callous cartoon violence appeals to me (confirming that I’ve got the mind of a child). While the combat lacks the depth of most modern shooters, the upgrades for each class do a lot to make up for it. Unfortunately, those upgrade paths are fairly short. All in all, gamers should be able to get some good play time in before things become stale. Hopefully the near future will see the addition of more maps, vehicles, and weapons. As it stands, you’ll like this title, but there isn’t enough here to keep you playing forever.

The verdict: Battlefield Heroes does a good job. With its match finder, well balanced classes, and lack of friendly fire, its the sort of game that could appeal to a wide audience. While you can indirectly buy yourself into the higher levels, the game does a good job keeping the sharks out the of kiddie pool. For those who want a break from serious titles, Battlefield Heroes is a breath of fairly fresh air.

Compatibility: Windows XP or Vista. Requires a graphics card with 64mb of dedicated video memory, a broadband internet connection, and one of the major web browsers.

Go to the Battlefield Heroes page.

[Editor’s note: this review was written by Freewaregenius contributor Jason H. Check out his tech blog: 404techsupport.com].You can focus on a wall by double-clicking it. This will cause you to fly-in so you only look at that wall. You’ll be able to see the edges of the adjacent walls and the floor while you’re focused on one wall, so you can double click on the edge to move from one wall to the next. Don’t worry! The four walls and the floor makes your desktop seem more like diorama than another cubicle. You can throw icons on to the wall to hang them there or slide them across the floor and they’ll bump into other icons. You can use this to throw files to the recycle bin or into some of the desktop widgets that integrates E-mail, Facebook, or Twitter. These widgets will allow you to throw a file into them and then start a new message with the file attached. You can also pin sticky notes to the walls so you can write down notes to yourself. You’re limited to two (2) notes in the free version. Double click to edit a sticky note or right-click to add one.

Your normal right-click context menu is replaced with an easy to use circle menu where you can choose different features of BumpTop. You can still access the normal right-click menu (with some additions) under the More… selection. All of these selections, as you can see, also come with keyboard shortcuts so you can really work how you do.

One great feature of BumpTop is the ability to increase or decrease icon size. If you use something frequently, why not make it bigger so it’s an easier target to hit? You can increase the size of icons to make them easier to access. With the physics that are implemented by BumpTop, this also increases their weight and they won’t get bumped out of the way so easily. It could also make the Recycle Bin an easier target if you want to throw files away.

Some of the practical uses of BumpTop include searching and piling. You can search your desktop for a file just by typing and any matching icons will be highlighted. You can also access the search through the right-click menu. You can also pile icons together to tag them as related and to keep them physically together. To pile icons, you just highlight them and go to the pile icon. This will move all the icons on to a stack and you can then double-click on the pile to spread them out in a separated grid or right-click and fan them out.

Your mileage may vary, but BumpTop measured in as a 60-75 MB process for me and was a 10.7MB download for the installer. You can optionally configure BumpTop to start with Windows. Otherwise you can start it manually and close it with a system tray icon. It will remember your icon layout each time it starts up.

I used BB Flashback Express to record a video of going through the opening tutorial, so you can see some of the animations in action in the below video.

You can configure a number of settings: icons physics, photo frame cycling, and the desk widgets which allow integration to e-mail, Facebook, and Twitter. You can also change some of the visuals and graphic card usage. If you have multiple monitors, it looks like BumpTop can only be used on one desktop at a time. You can change the theme that BumpTop uses or just specify individual images for each wall/floor. You can have your current Windows background be the floor and then specify images for each wall or leave it with the theme defaults. You can see how to install a theme and browse the growing number of themes to really customize it to your liking. There are some really cool themes out there!

Another cool thing that BumpTop adds to your desktop comes in the form of Photoframes. Photoframes allow you to run a slide show from a local directory or an online source like a Flickr RSS feed. They can be configured with how frequently they update their source and how often they change images.

If you’re curious for more info you can watch a TED talk on the software.

Version tested: 1.0 build 3038

Compatibility: A 32-bit or 64-bit version of Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows 7, with latest service packs. Intel 915 integrated graphics or Nvidia GeForce 6200 or ATI X300 or better with updated drivers. OpenGL 2.0 driver support required (may require additional drivers available at the bumptop drivers page).

Go to the program page to download the latest version (approx 10.73 megs).

Volvo The Game is a free 3D driving simulator featuring the Volvo S60 Concept car. It also features virtual recreations of two racetracks, the “Eco Drive Arena” in Gothenburg, Sweden, and the Chayka race track in Kiew, Ukraine. Game modes include competing against computer controlled opponents as well as best lap-times against yourself or against players from around the world through internet multiplayer.

There’s been a surge in free video-game simulators for fancy car models. In the last year or so I tested two game tie-ins from BMW and Mercedes. What all of these games seem to have in common is top-notch, impressive graphics. Yet the reason I did not post any of these before on Freewaregenius was that they simply were super-difficult to play, and it seemed like the developers were too focused on impressive production qualities that they didn’t really think to craft the playability.

Therefore you might wonder whether “Volvo The Game”, which as you can see from the screenshots is obviously a beautiful game, has got good playability or whether it also is super hard. The answer is: both. That is, “Volvo The Game” is not an easy game to master and has a definitive learning curve; however, you do get the sense that it is “fair”, and that mastering it is possible and is just around the corner, so to speak. Here are more notes on this one:

• Controls: simple keyboard arrow controls, with options for joystick and even external steering wheel controls.
• Multiplayer over internet: you have to register for a free account using a valid email for this.
• Prodcution qualities: the graphics are super-cool, and the physics are very well crafted. There is a lot of attention to detail: for example, crashing into the side of the track will produce visible bursts of dust and smoke. Little things that make a huge difference. The audi is also very well done.
• Vantage point: press “Tab” to switch camera views.
• Replays: if you’ve had a particularly good race there’s nothing like going back and watching yourself burn rubber. You can play at being a video producer and have a lot of control over the type and placement of the camera throughout. (And no, so far I’ve not had a performance that was particularly worthy of re-viewing myself).’

The verdict: this game is very well put together. It is rather hard at tough to master but generally quite playable

Compatibility: WinAll. Requires a graphics card supporting OpenGL. Enable Asian language support in Windows for a better experience.

Go to the Volvocars site to download the latest version. Skip the intro then click on the box to the right (see image to the right). Download file is approx 588 megs.

Twingly, if you hadn’t hear of it, is a blog search engine similar to Technorati with some underlying technology to eliminate spammy or fake blogs. The Twingly screensaver is a screensaver that visually displays blog postings as they are being published all over the world, twisting and turning a representation of the globe to give you glimpses of the geographic location where the postings are coming from. More notes on this one:

• Browse blog posts: can function as a rather unusual browser for new blog entries (if gazing into a continuous ticker/scrolling list of blog postings can be characterized as ’browsing’, that is).
• ’I’ is for vendetta: no of course its not – silly… it’s for “interactive”; which means you can press “I” on your keyboard then swivel the globe around with your mouse or keyboard hotkeys and/or zoom in and out without shutting down the screensaver. Very cool.
• Clicking a blog entry: will produce a small “summary” window on the right hand side, so you can read it without exiting the screensaver. You can click on the summary to open inside a browser though.

The verdict: I don’t have too many screensaver reviews (I just made a quick check and found only one, MappedUp, which in fact turns out to be eerily similar to this one). My feeling is that if you have to have a screensaver it’d better do something interesting and I think this one is pretty darn cool!

The only negative with this one is that looking at it makes me feel a little embarrassed that I have trouble meeting my self-determined quota of four new postings per week on Freewaregenius (what with all the content being generated every second) .

Compatibility: WinAll. Requires a graphics card supporting OpenGL. Enable Asian language support in Windows for a better experience.

Go to the Twingly Screensaver page to download the latest version (approx 2.09 megs).

I’m showcasing three films here, two of which (”World War 3D” and “Alienated”) have been shortlisted by the UK-based “Animex Animation Festival 2009″; which apparently is a big deal .

First off: “World War” by Vincent Chai.

Ok so the message here is pretty straightforward, but what I like about this video is (a) it’s masterful use of sound and effects, which really push it forward, and (b) the way twists in plot are so understated, taking the user by surprise (much as they do the protagonists themselves). Go here for more on this film, including concept art.

And another one: “Alienated” by Mohammed Aqeel Ahmed and Kristina Josephides.

This film tells the story of “Al”, an alien who decided to move to the planet earth but is having somewhat of a tough time with the locals’ xenophobia (and the job market on Earth as well apparently). The underlying narrative here is that of contemporary immigration and national identity, but of course it’s also the story of each one of use trying to make a go at it. The film has a positive message: redemption is at hand, is probably just around the corner, just figure out what you want to do with yourself.

Finally this one: “Tidy Monster” by Tim Marchant

This is the story of a room, a the room inside some guy’s head, apparently. “Tidy Monster” manages to be simultaneously dark and ominous and yet visually is simply very beautiful; something about the sparseness of that room really appeals to me. I watched the film a second time with the sound muted and found it to be just as compelling as with sound. In fact it would have been interesting if they had set the film to some sort of intense music and not bothered with words at all.