doPDF – Free PDF Converter

Anyone who uses a computer as a part of his or her day-to-day life — business or personal — will eventually need to send a printed document to someone via email.  The options are to attach the original document (not advised, usually), a scan of the document (acceptable, but tedious to the sender), or a pdf (portable document format) of the document.  Whenever possible and practicle, the latter is the way to go.

PDF converters are listed as printer.  There are many, many options for software to create a pdf.  My personal choice is doPDF.  It’s free, installs easily, and creates the pdf quickly and accurately from your Windows word processor of choice.

Color Cop – A free color picker

This is a tool that is meant for Windows web designers and programmers, but these days, bloggers who support their own blogs in WordPress, for example, are doing a lot of their own site modifications.  Color Cop stays on top and includes an eyedropper to grab a color of interest off any web page.  It lists the colors in RGB and hexadecimal. Another cool thing Color Cop includes is a complimentary color palette for any chosen option.  Nice for experienced users and rookies, as well.

Also, a quick demo and user forums offer a little more than meets the eye regarding use of this program.

Photo Credit: Color Cop

Zip Genius – a file compression option

ZipGenius is a file compression tool that is a perfect companion to anyone’s PC tool box.  Sending 10 full sized images and your email client is grousing?  Compress the images into one file that’s smaller than the sum of it’s parts, and email will be better able to handle those images.   Need to offload some old scanned paperwork?  Compress with ZipGenius and get more bang for your buck with off-pc storage.

And ZipGenius handles more than traditional .zip files! In fact, ZipGenius can compress and decompress 20+ file types. It’s easy to use, it’s been around for awhile, and it’s free.

FileZilla – Simple, Secure, Free FTP Protocol

This open source, file transfer protocol (FTP) is my preferred software for this function.  It is available in client and server versions, and it is free.  It runs on several platforms (including Windows, Mac OS X and Linux) and is available in many languages.

One of my favorite things, beyond ease of use, is the Site Manager tool.  For those of us who access many servers via FTP, FileZilla allows the saving of domain name/login/password for easy communication to those servers. . . a BIG time saver.

FileZilla displays a folder/file view on both the client and the server, making navigation more intuitive. File transfer is a snap with drag-and-drop.  You bloggers out there will love this tool for picking up or dropping off images from the blog host!

Cool Ruler – A handy measuring tool

You’re looking at a web page and see the size of the image on the page is what you want.  What is that size?  How do you calculate it?  Hold a ruler up to the screen?  Cut and paste into a graphics tool like IrfanView?  Nope.  Get yourself a copy of the very handy Cool Ruler.

Cool Ruler stays on top; measures vertically or horizontally; in CM, IN, or PX with an option to customize measurement; and includes a calculator.  It takes up virtually no memory or hard drive space, and is a handy tool to have in your digital tool box.

Sexy Peel: A Lush Product Review

I recently had a chance to test drive the sexy peel variety of Lush brand soaps. A little spendy compared to the price I normally like to pay, but definitely a quality soap. Interested in what I thought about it? Read on.

Well, like I said this isn’t exactly the most economical soap on the market. That being said, I found it to provide a serious nose tingling citrus blast in the shower with a fresh scent and a reasonable amount of bubbles. It lasted a decent amount of time as well, so if you are looking to indulge in a luxury soap or splurge on one for a gift this soap should not be a disappointment.

Doable for every day? Not on my budget. Worth the splurge when you feel like a little luxury? I think so. I’m also a fan of their solid shampoos and conditioners. Have you had a chance to try sexy peel soap or any other Lush products? What was your take?

Photo Credit: Amazon.com

New Concentrated, Unrefrigerated Coffee Mate in the Pump Action Bottle

 

Photo Credit: Amazon.com

OK, I don’t often go off the deep end over a new product. That being said, this stuff rocks!!! Read more