By DAN MASON
If you’re a media professional on the road or use different computers for your home and work life, there are obvious advantages to having a ‘virtual office’ online, complete with multimedia tools and storage space.
Nice, too, if everything in your office was free. That’s not such a tall order. Just for starters, here are 25 of my favourite, free, online tools. There are lots more – so feel free to pitch in with your suggestions.
A good few work just as well on a mobile (we’ll take a specific look at mobile media tools another time). So for now, take a laptop, internet connection … and let’s go.
ORGANISATION
Google Chrome might be coming on fast, but Firefox is still the browser to beat in my view, with hundreds of free plugins guaranteed to make your life easier. OK, I know this is about online tools and a browser is a desktop application, but the website ‘vaults’ sitting behind these four Firefox plugins give me access to some of my most valuable information wherever I go:
- Evernote. With a click of the browser toolbar bookmarklet, I can save and organise virtually anything – notes, lists, videos, web clippings or whole pages. While my files stored online are accessible from any connected computer or mobile, there’s also a free Evernote desktop application that syncs with my online account and allows me to view the files offline.
- ReaditLater. As it’s name suggests, this saves web pages to be read later (online or offline).
- LastPass. If you’re anything like me, you can’t remember the logins and passwords for all the websites you’ve signed up with. Luckily, I don’t have to because LastPass does it for me. And signs me in automatically. And saves me hours by completing forms with a single click.
- XMarks makes sure I’m never without my bookmarks wherever I go (and it keeps them synced across my computers). You could also save your favourites to Delicious and give a global community the benefit of your bookmarked gems.
Capture and organise almost anything online with Evernote
PRODUCTIVITY
- GoogleDocs does everything Microsoft Office can do, with the added benefit that your documents are all safely stored online and it’s easy to share and collaborate. For email, there’s the mighty Gmail, of course. But remember it’s a chat, voice and video tool too.
- FTP. If you need to upload files to a server, it’s hard to beat the Firefox-based FireFTP.
- Project management. Anyone can create a shared Google Calendar or simple gant chart using Google Spreadsheets (there are plenty of community-generated templates to give you a start). But here is a real find: Manymoon is one outstanding task, file sharing and collaboration tool. Easy to use, great tracking and reporting features, integration with Google Docs … and the basic account is free.
- File sharing. The two things I love most about DropBox are: 1. If I’m travelling, I can keep documents and presentations in my free 2GB DropBox in case the worst happens (it’s an online filing cabinet). 2. It’s an absolute breeze to share any kind of file between friends and colleagues with a DropBox account (it’s an instant intranet). DropBox is also great for sharing large files that would leave email servers reeling. Just email a link to the file and let your contact (no sign-up required) download it from DropBox (YouSendIt does the same thing, with files up to 100MB)
Manymoon a great way to get organised ... for individuals or networks
LISTENING
If you want to keep on top of news and blogs from your sector or special interest, you’ll need listening tools to filter out the noise and deliver the important stuff to you.
- Google Alerts delivers saved searches as emails or RSS feeds into Google Reader, where you can browse your Alerts as well latest posts from sites you’ve subscribed to. If you need them, here are some tips on creating Google Alerts and using Google Reader. (We’ll dip a toe into social media listening tools another time).
BLOGGING
- WordPress. Have internet access? Have blog. Courtesy of one the world’s most dedicated open-source communities.
- Posterous is another blogging platform, right? Wrong. It’s more than that. Posterous is probably the simplest, smartest way to upload and share information online – by email and SMS, from a mobile or your browser. One the amazing things about Posterous is its ability to take and display beautifully almost any type of file you throw at it, including images, audio, video, presentations, PDFs and text documents. It’s terrific for groups and one of the best platforms for handling information from mobiles I know. I like it a lot. You might prefer Tumblr.
Posterous will take almost file type you throw at it and display it beautifully
IMAGES
- For simple image editing tasks, my favourite online tool remains Picnik. There are dozens of slinky online image editors out there, but Picnik is fast, easy and the only one I’ve found that will crop images to a defined size, maintaining the picture’s aspect ratio, a la Photoshop. In fact, Picnik has many advanced effects too. Since Picnik’s recent takeover by Google, you can upload and ‘picnik’ your pictures within Picasa Web Albums. A good alternative image editor is FotoFlexer. For Photoshop-style features, such as layers, head for the Aviary Phoenix editor and blisteringly-fast Pixlr.
Picnik: Simplicity itself ... with some deceptively-advanced features
AUDIO & VIDEO
- Audio. Since we’re limited to online-only tools, I can’t mention Audacity, my first-choice, free, cross-platform audio editor. Instead, try Aviary Myna. Just one of the excellent suite of Aviary design and editing tools, Myna features a multi-track timeline and the power to mix, edit and export files to WAV or MP3 (or as embed code). It’s also easy to record and edit voiceovers. I’m impressed. Meanwhile, if you have a mobile and liveblogging (or phlogging) is your thing, platforms like iPadio and AudioBoo are great for capturing and sharing your commentary.
- Video. There’s only one online-based tool I rate (unless I’ve missed something), and that’s JayCut. The speed at which this video editor uploads and crunches files is, frankly, astonishing. And its twin-track video timeline (plus audio timeline) means it is possible to create decent video packages. Very good range of effects and a stylish, easy-to-use interface. A big thumbs-up for JayCut.
- Audio slideshows. Soundslides still reigns, as far as I’m concerned (but it’s a paid-for application). Online, there are several free contenders – most not worth bothering with. I’d also recommend Picasa 3.6 as cracking free slidshow tool, but you have to download it. So … make your online slidshow with JayCut.
- PS. Need to convert video or audio file formats? There are lots of free online tools, but Zamzar won’t let you down.
An online video editor that actually does the job ... fast!
That’s it – 25 (or thereabouts) free online tools for media professionals on the move. Let’s hear it for all those who dedicate their time and talent to open-source applications and free plugins.
And let’s hear from YOU. If you come across any great (free) tools, do share them …
KEEP IN TOUCH! ... Subscribe to Thomson Foundation email updates for blogs, learning tips and more
Dan – what a fabulous list of useful tools. Many thanks for pulling this together. There are many here I haven’t tried and I can’t wait to explore their various features. Have you thought about sharing it with 10,000 words, an American blog site for journalists, which shares similar information?
Thanks for the kind words, Charles. Good thought about 10,000 Words too. It’s a great site that really adds value
Nice one Dan! Using a few of these, but I’ll have a good look around the others. Hope you’re keeping well
MIKE
Glad to be of service to a former Birmingham Post lynchpin. Thanks, Mike.
Nice list. I’m familiar with most of the programs. I agree on the Sound Slides though it too has its disadvantages. As a free tool Windows Movie Maker does okay as well. Thanks.