by Dave Jackson on February 5, 2010
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In the past I’ve already spoken about Dimdim.com and Sitepal.com and since those reviews things have drastically changed for the better.
Dimdim.com Adds More Cool Features
Dimdim.com came out with a new version of their system that allows you to hold a webinar for free. If you want to have up to 50 people (you can do up to 20 for free) its only 25 bucks a month (compared to the $60+ I was spending at webex.com ) Here are the cool things I like about dimdim.com
A way to put a widget on the site for people to register for the webinar.You can also collect information about attendants (optional). This was the feature I needed, and I love it.
You can record your webinar and make it available to hear/see afterwards.
They still only allow three people to have microphones, but they do have the ability to use a telephone line as well.
I just know I’m enjoying the savings.
Sitepal Adds the Ability to Turn Yourself into a Cartoon
Sitepal.com recently added a feature where you can upload a picture of yourself, record and upload your voice, and their system turns you into a cartoon that looks real. The feature is called “photo face” and it allows you to upload an image of yourself and then you cut out your face and it will animate it. It’s pretty cool. I would suggest a picture of you where you are staring straight forward for best results. In the picture on the left, I went and traced around my head to make sure only my head was copied into sitepal.
When I played with the preview, I can see where my picture was not the best for this example, but it still worked. When my photo faced version of me would watch the cursor, I looked a little high.
I know what you’re thinking, “Why not just use a video?” Well you can update what you say by phone. You can also have the character as a lead generator where it collects email addresses, and it can also be programmed to answer frequently asked questions (much like those pop out virtual assistants everyone has now that show up when you close the browser). These feature make it a very powerful tool, and shows you are on the edge of technology. If you don’t want to animate yourself, you can also pick from any of there many characters. You can go over and play with the demo at their site. it’s fun.
by Dave Jackson on December 31, 2009
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This weeks web tools is great if you are looking for some feedback on a project. It’s free, and it seems to have a nice community of marketers, designers and developers who provide feedback on your advertisement, logo, flash presentation, web design. Best part is free.
Each reviewer has a reputation score. You can improve your Reputation Score by posting and reviewing concepts. It sounds liek a great place to learn and improve your deisgns.
by Dave Jackson on May 16, 2008
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SmartDD is a awesome looking tool that allows merchants to sell digital products without people sending the download link to all their friends (or worse, posting it at digg.com ). What it does it when someone purchases the product, it emails them a dynamic link. When the download is done, the link is inactivated. The following the smartdd follows up via email to make sure the download was successful. The best part of this software is there is a free version for those who only have a few items. You can try it and in the event you need more flexibility you can upgrade to the full version for around 75 bucks. Sign up for Free Version
Ticket Desk Pro
Another cool script I am now using is Ticket Desk Pro. This is an amazing piece of software for the price (less than 20 bucks when I purchased it). This has a ticketing system, a F.A.Q. feature, a “frequent responses” feature, and a LIVE HELP option. I really figured it was too good to be true till I saw it on the Download Guard site (and I know Sam wouldn’t use it if it wasn’t quality). Check it out at ticketdeskpro.com They are using an interesting script that raises the price by a nickel (.05) every time someone purchases the script. Very interesting. That script will become available on Thursday 5/16/ at www.frankhaywood.com
Make WordPress Themes From Scratch
I found a great article in Website Magazine (it’s free, and its awesome subscribe today). It has a list of online (and offline) WordPress Theme generation tools.
http://www.cssez.com/
http://templatr.cc/
http://www.yvoschaap.com/wpthemegen/
http://www.wppal.com/
http://www.wordpressthemegen.com/ (offline tool).
The WordPress Theme Gen tool allows you to create themes offline. The rest of the tools provide you with the ability to create WordPress themes online quickly and easily.
Debut Free Video Capture Screencast Software
NCH makes a number of free titles all intended to get you to buy their “next level” software.
You can find debut at http://www.nchsoftware.com/capture/index.html
