Aneesoft HD Video Converter 2.9

Aneesoft HD Video Converter 2.9 is available as a Giveaway of the day! You have to download and install it by midnight. http://goo.gl/A5nYG—
Steve Yuen (@scyuen) December 26, 2010

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Microsoft’s Free Tools in the Classroom

Microsoft offers the following free tools to help engage students in a variety of subject areas—from art to music to science and beyond. Teachers can use these interactive tools to encourage self-directed learning or to create fun, dynamic group projects.

• AutoCollage: Have students gather images from the Web or snap their own photos on a subject. Then, they can create a unique piece of art using this free collage-making tool.
• WorldWide Telescope: This free tool brings together imagery from the world’s best ground and space-based telescopes. Students can explore the night sky by panning and zooming to distant planets and galaxies.
• Microsoft Photosynth: Students can explore famous places in the world with cinematic quality using this virtual, visual three-dimensional tour.
• Songsmith: Bring out the musical creativity in your students. Choose a style—from pop to jazz or R&B. Have a student sing into a PC microphone, and Songsmith will generate musical accompaniment to match his or her voice.
• Windows Live Movie Maker: Make your classroom lessons even more memorable with a movie. Windows Live Movie Maker is the fast, easy way to turn photos and video clips into great-looking movies and slide shows you can share in class or on the Web.
• Photo Story 3 for Windows XP: Bring a subject to life with music and pictures. This free, downloadable program has tools to enhance, crop, and rotate your digital photos. Students and teachers can easily create a slide show with just a few clicks.
• Bing Search and Bing Maps: The visual aspect of Bing makes searching the Internet a more captivating and rewarding experience for students. Bing Maps offer breathtaking, bird’s eye views of the world that can enhance any project.
• Bing Translator: This helpful tool easily converts what you have written into nearly any language you need.
• Mouse Mischief: Integrate multiple choice, polling and true/false questions into your lessons with this free add-in for PowerPoint 2007 and PowerPoint 2010 that lets students use mice to answer.
• Windows Live SkyDrive: Gain access to 25 gigabytes (GB) of free, online storage. Use it for a student or teacher workgroup to upload and share documents in one central place, rather than trying to track them in e-mails. Store your photos and files, and access them with a password.

To learn more about the creative ways of using these Microsoft’s free tools to engage your students, you can download the Creative ways to engage students (pdf file, 3.5 MB) here.

Free Tools for Teachers

Engaging Students in the Classroom

Songsmith in the Classroom

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Best 90 Free Windows Program

Best 90 Free Windows Program – http://t.co/eeHjJVf. http://t.co/6Ye57hm—
Steve Yuen (@scyuen) December 02, 2010

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blist

Besides Google Base, blist is another collaborative, Web-based database application.  blist is a visually rich, social online database.  It requires no software installation and comes with a very slick Flash interface running against a SQL backend.  You do not need to know any SQL in order to use blist.  blist offers an array of templates that can be selected for a variety of purposes, from common to-do lists to fantasy football stats.  It is very easy to create a database in blist and collaborate with your friends or colleagues.  You can simply drag field types onto a spreadsheet-like grid.  Data types include names, phones, URLs, and images.  blist allows you to easily share their databases with other blist users through the standard interface or widgets. Also, you can incorporate multimedia items like photos or videos into the databases.

I think blist has an intuitive interface that provides non-technical users the easy-to-use tools to create and manage databases online.  blist is functional and is free.  I think blist is a great tool for teachers and students.   You can give blist a try.

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