aclJohn's Software Finds

The name of this website says it all, really.

The Geek Toolbox is a repository of tools that are bound to make any geek's day.

In reality, there are tools that will be handy for anybody.

Currently, seven tools are provided. These include...

• an application for determining a users IP address;
• a clock that will provide UTC Time (the coordinated universal time); and compare it side to side with your local time;
• a MD5 encoder;
• a tool for resizing any image;
• a Banner generator;
• a Favicon gener...

David Sugden brought this open source software to my attention at the eGuides training event in Manchester.

The Media Player Classic, plays all the media, that I have tried, that Windows Media player couldn't; it supports all common video, audio and image file formats available as well as video playback.

Find out more and/or download it at http://mpc-hc.sourceforge.net/. 

This selector, from triptico, allows practitioners to keep learners engaged; they can input up to 32 names and make a random selection at the push of a button.

I like the way that this selector adds a little extra tension - the selector will choose five names – then four – then three… until only one name remains.

Another simple Interactive White Board tool from triptico and one which, I'm sure will be of use to many practitioners.

Try it out at http://www.triptico.co.uk/flashFiles/...

For the times when practitioners want to create a simple online quiz, they should check out QuizMaker.

QuizMaker is a simple online quiz generator based on JavaScript that lets users create a quiz online without writing any code.

They can begin by entering...

• a question;
• up to 5 possible answers; and
• a feedback for each answer.

The application lets users add as many questions as they want and to insert a link or an image into a question.

Users can also give their quiz a title and s...

Wordle is something I've used many times before and often use to help me and others understand, for example, the gist of Government documents.

Well Word It Out is an alternative to Wordle.

The way it all works is quite simple by just entering text users can have it transformed into a cloud of tags that can be pasted on a blog or website or VLE to show visitors what it is content truly revolves about.

Word It Out can also be employed as a way to extract the key concepts of any portion of ...

Those of you who know me, will know that I wouldn't include anything that I hadn't tried myself. I have downloaded and installed these three Tux programs with the view of evaluation for Family Learning and/or Initial Teacher Training Resources.

Tux4kids! Why did they have to include the word "kids"? These Open Source packages could equally be used by adults!

• Tux Math: "80's Missile Command revisited". Tux Math takes that game concept and combines math skills for a entertaining and enga...

If you and/or your learners are looking for an extremely simple to-do list, you/they should Teux Deux a test drive.

TeuxDeux is a dead simple online to-do list manager with an elegant and minimal user-interface.

Once signed-up users can start adding tasks to their list immediatey. TeuxDeux’s display window shows 7 days at a time which users can scroll through using the arrow buttons at either end.

Note: TeuxDeux has no pointers or reminders or any fancy stuff you usually find in a t...

Creating diagrams with traditional software is not an easy task however there are many diagram creation tools which make drawing diagrams easy and quick. One such tool is Cacoo.

Cacoo lets users create diagrams by just dragging and dropping items. You can use it to...

• create flowcharts,
• UML diagrams,
• Wireframes,
• Sitemaps or
• any other form of diagrams.

I'd almost forgotten about Tuxpi when I was reminded to revisit the tools by one of the many RSS feeds I read.

Tuxpi is one of many useful web-based tools that lets users upload any picture they own and apply a set of effects to it; either because they want to experiment or because they intend to put it to some educational/professional use.

Just...

• upload the photograph,

• choose what it is you want to do to it from the provided list; they currently include...

• 18 Photo Effect...

Scanimation is an animation technique which can create the illusion of motion on plain paper!

Scanimation involves two layers...

• a background image, usually a black and white silhouette, and
• a transparent sheet having black bars, called scanlines.

The image appears to be blurry or jagged at first, but when a transparent sheet with scanlines is placed on top of the image and the sheet moved horizontally across the background image, something magical happens.

Watch the video below.....