Adobe Buzzword

Adobe Buzzword

This online word processor allows you to work collaboratively with others and access your documents from any computer.  It's definitely a handy tool and free!  It allows mac and pc users to work together online without having to convert everything back and forth.  Love it...

Awesome Highlighter

Awesome Highlighter

Do ever want to have your students read an article and highlight certain parts?  Maybe its very long and you just want them to cover some of it...  Try Awesome Highlighter.  Nothing to download; you do it all online.

Twhirl

Twhirl

Twhirl is a desktop client that helps manage your Twitter account.  If you have multiple accounts this is great for following them all simultaneously.  Give it a whirl!

Twitter

Twitter

I've heard twitter called microblogging, but that's not very explanatory for some.  Twitter is one of those things that you either just get, or you don't.  Basically you make short posts (of less than 140 characters) and follow others posts and they follow you.  The best way to learn about twitter is to just sign up (Free!) and try it.  I have found that its often a faster way to get info about current events and tech support than most forums.

iSquint

iSquint

iSquint is a slick little app that allows you to turn most any video into one that is compatible with iPods.  Since I use iPods to keep up on the news and reading, etc. this app is fantastic!  I simply drag a video to the iSquint panel and in a few minutes it can download it directly to my iTunes account and sync to my iPod.  Love it....

Rulers

Rulers

This is a simple little program, but quite handy.  Basically it puts rulers at the top and side of your desktop (using a variety of measurements you can choose).  It's available for both windows and mac.

NetNewsWire

NetNewsWire

I can't imagine life with an rss feed reader.  I subscribe to quite a few blogs (news, tech, hobby, etc.) and its the best way to keep up with them.  NetNewsWire used to be paid app but went free a few months ago.  It is a mac app.  Their reader for windows is FeedDemon.  I use NetNewsWire (I switched to it from Vienna) but I hear google reader works fine too.

Here are a couple of links listing free rss feed readers:

about.com

New Aggregators Directory

Wordle

Wordle.net

This doesn't really solve any problems or help teach anything, but it is kind of fun.  After a writing assignment, especially a creative one, this could be a cool app to run on it.

LibriVox

LibroVox

I stumbled across this little gem a ways back.  They have a great selection of books in the public domain (most of the 'REAL' classics are there!) available for download.  I like to subscribe to them via iTunes and listen on my iPod.  It's a quick and convenient way to review something I haven't read in awhile, but I think he may help reluctant readers.

Moodle

Moodle.org

Hard to describe, so I'll use their description:

Moodle is a course management system (CMS) - a free, Open Source software package designed using sound pedagogical principles, to help educators create effective online learning communities. You can download and use it on any computer you have handy (including webhosts), yet it can scale from a single-teacher site to a University with 200,000 students. This site itself is created using Moodle, so check out the Moodle Demonstration Courses or read the latest Moodle Buzz.

MindNode

MindNode

For those that use mind mapping (I'm more of an outline chick) here is a free app for macs.

Flickr

Flickr

Obviously not specifically an education app, it serves some great purposes.  You get free online (limited) storage and can upgrade at a fee for more.  Flickr has great plug ins for many other apps.

Evernote

Evernote.com

How do I explain evernote?  It's a way to keep all the data, photos, notes, phone numbers, etc. that you run across everyday but can't ever find when you need them.  It lets you organize this info with tags.  There's so much more.

Here is a link to their own description: www.evernote.com/about/what_is_en/

del.icio.us

del.icio.us

del.icio.us is a social bookmarking site.  What does that mean?  Not only can you organize your bookmarks with multiple tags, find them on anyone's computer via the internet, but also share them.  You can look up what other people are tagging similarly.  It's a great way to find new sites.

Dipity

Dipity.com

Dipity is free online timeline app.  It can bring together your online history (through other apps) or allow you to enter your own data.  The timeline can be personalized for you (with your own websites, blogs, etc) or about a historical event, a group, etc.  History teachers in particular could be THRILLED with this one!

Skitch

Skitch.com

Wow!  I love this little app.  I use it for all kinds of things!

Skitch allows you to take a snap shot of any screen (there are a lot of other apps that do this) but then you can draw and write on it, move it around (like a picture) and save it.

You can also draw with it, which is definitely better handled with a stand alone mouse!  It's simple and helpful.

For the windows users, here is the link for pc users to get Skitch

Jott

jott.com

What a great little tool!  I love being able to give jott a call and leave a message and find my little email waiting when I get home.  This neat little free app is for reminders.  It's hard to explain how many cool uses it has, but wiki has a pretty good one.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/jott

Drop.io

Drop.io

What a great site for file sharing with students and fellow teachers.  You can even conduct online meetings.  Drop.io is accessible via file upload, emailing, sms, voice mail, the internet.  You can rss subscribe to the drop or have email alerts when anyone adds to it.  You can even subscribe to it via iTunes as a podcast.  

To learn more about drop.io go to: www.http://drop.io/tutorial