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Open Source Alternative

Noumaan Yaqoob — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 20:40:56 +0000

Open Source Alternative is a directory that lists open source alternatives to popular commercial software. So if you ever come across a situation where you need some commercial software but you don’t want to buy it or you don’t have time for it. Then search Open Source Alternative for a free alternative. For example see osalt’s Photoshop page where it lists five software that you can use instead of using Photoshop. Some software may not be as sophisticated as their commercial counterparts but they can work for you and they are free too.

Free Virtual WebCam Software

Noumaan Yaqoob — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 11:47:56 +0000

Virtual webcam is an application that creates an stream of images to simulate a web cam stream. Such applications are useful to add text or visual effects to a webcam stream and/or to broadcast the same webcam to stream to multiple programs simultaneously. There are many applications available on the web to simulate a virtual web cam. While looking for an appropriate solution, I found out that most of them are non-free. Some of them were available for download on trial basis, and some had advertisements embeded into them. We have selected a few good ones for you.

CamTrack 2.5 Free 30 days Trial and $14.95 to buy.

CamTrack 2.5 lets you add video effects, text and images to your webcam video chat. But the plus point of CamTrack 2.5 is not the cool animations but the feature of “Face Tracking”. Face tracking automatically locates your face in the video image and zooms in on it, keeping your face centered in the middle of the frame at an optimal size.

CamTrack also allows you to zoom in and out. Combine this feature with face tracking and you never need to adjust your webcam with your hands. you can do it with your keyboard and mouse.

ManyCam Free

A free software, ManyCam allows you to use your webcam with multiple programs which means that you can use your webcam with Yahoo, MSN, Skype and Google Talk simultaneously.

ManyCam allows you to add text to your webcam stream. You can use display images or create a slideshow of images from your computer and broadcast it to your webcam. You can play videos on your webcam. I have used this feature to share a birthday video with my aunt on yahoo. Using Manycam and yahoo voice chat it was fun to share the video with this new way. I mean of course I can upload the video to youtube but it was a huge file and I didn’t have time.

Using Manycam you can create many effects like change the color, brightness and contrast of your webcam. Add visual effects to your webcam there are some really cool effects built in and they are a lot of fun. You can rotate and zoom in or out of your webcam video.

If you know of someother cool software please let me know. I want to make my Yahoo chat more fun. I am also looking for software to change the voice make it girly, high pitched or childish.

Free and Open Source Video Editing Tools for Windows

Noumaan Yaqoob — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 13:14:17 +0000

I personally believe that Windows Movie Maker is probably the best solution for newbies and beginners to video editing. Most of us just want to edit our picnic and wedding movies we created with our camcorders, digital cameras or mobile phones. Windows Movie Maker is a good choice if you want to add text, simple video effects, background music, voice over, or things like that. And above all it comes free with your Windows XP PC.

But then sometimes you buy a product that saves your pictures and videos in a format which is not supported by windows movie maker. In that case, or if you want to do something that windows movie maker can’t, then you will need some other free video editing tools.

DVDx is a free tool that allows you to copy DVD and convert it as VCD, SVCD, DivX, AVI or WMV in one step. DVDX is a free and open source software. It has a simple user interface, and there is support available for free. There is also a paid version of the software.

MediaCoder is a free and open source transcoder that can help you convert your audio and video files from one format to another. It supports many popular formats such as AVI, XviD, DivX, MP, CD, VCD, DVD, Windows Media audio and video, mpeg, Mp4, among many others. For support options it has a Wiki with conversion tutorials and other related information.

DVDStyler is a free and open source DVD authoring application based on dvdauthor. It allows you to create your own professional looking DVDs that can be played on almost any standalone DVD player and your computer. You can create menus, buttons, add pictures, music, chapters, etc. You can even add your own subtitles to the movies. It has a simple uncluttered interface. Support is available via mailing list, user forum and Wiki. While downloading make sure that you download win32 version for your windows computer. DVDstyler is a cross platform application so you would also see links to downloads for other operating systems aswell.

I love Videohelp Forum for all my video editing related questions. It already has many well written guides to do just about anything with your videos. They also have tools directory that lists hundereds of audio video editing tools categorized as freeware, adware and non-free labes. So if there is something you want to do with your movies but don’t know how to do it and don’t want to spend money on expansive video editing software then videohelp forums is the place for you.

AVG – Free and Reliable Antivirus

Noumaan Yaqoob — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 14:21:44 +0000

I primarily use Ubuntu Linux as my operating system. With Ubuntu I don’t need any anti-virus or spyware removal tool. But I also use Windows XP sometimes. Windows XP is often attacked by viruses and spyware. So if you have Windows you must have an anti-virus and anti-spyware software installed on your computer. There are several anti-virus solution available, some of them are expansive and some cheap. I was using Norton Antivirus, I was told by my friends (who all claim to be experts on computing) that Norton is best for home users. So despite the fact that Norton anti-virus made my computer run slower, I kept it sitting there and monitoring for threats. But then one day when the threat arrived, Norton shamelessly surrendered my computer to the evil forces of silly spyware. This is when I found AVG free anti-virus.

AVG is free anti-virus solution for home users. I have used it for a while now and I think it is reliable and many other third parties agree with me thats why AVG free won these awards. What happened is that some how my computer got infected with a mysterious virus that wont let me do anything on my computer. Norton was unable to do anything, it recognized the threat but was unable to solve it. So I tried AVF and it cleaned my system quickly. AVG also has a paid version but comparing the features of both versions I think that free version suits my needs. Here is what you get with free AVG anti-virus:

Basic Virus and spyware protection
Free updates
Support if not available with free version but you can register at AVG free support forum.
It does not take over CPU and unlike Norton anti-virus, AVG works seamlessly.

Lot’s of people has already switched to AVG free anti-virus. For example read this discussion on CNet user forum where users compared Norton with AVG and AVG is the clear winner. So any one who does not want to waste their money, CPU and time, they should get AVG free edition.