Tools4U2Use

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Copyright Free Links
copyright friendly wiki Most of the media in these collections are attached to //generous// copyright licensing. Though you may not need to ask permission to use them when publishing on the Web for educational purposes, you should //**cite**// or attribute these images to their creators unless otherwise notified! If you see any copyright notices on these pages, read them for further instructions.
 * Note: always check individual licensing notices before publishing on the Web or broadcasting!**

Sources of Creative Commons stuff
**Images**
 * [|DeviantArt.com] - A site for artists to display their works. Some are nice enough to license under CC for your use.
 * [|EveryStockPhoto.com] - Indexes over 1.4 million Creative Commons photos for your use.
 * [|Flickr Creative Commons search] - Search Flickr for all the derivatives of the Creative Commons licensing.
 * [|Geograph.org.uk] - An attempt to photograph the entirety of the British Isles, and at the same time, license all the photos under the CC.
 * [|OpenClipArt.org] - An archive of free-to-use clipart numbering around 11,000 pieces.
 * [|PhotoEverywhere.co.uk] - A travel & tourism photo site offering stock photography for everyone’s use.
 * [|TakeIdeas.com] - Share your photos, or find ones that inspire you.
 * [|Public Domain Images] - Copyright friendly, public domain inages, free for any use.
 * [|Yotophoto.com] - Indexes photos in the public domain and free to use licensing
 * [|Google Advanced Image Search] - turn on the CC filter to find images you can use.

**Audio**
 * [|Opsound.org] - an experiment in applying the model of free software to music.
 * [|ArtistServer.com] - Thousands of MP3s for you to download and try out smaller bands.
 * [|ccMixter.org] - A site to try your hand at mixing and mashing music that is all offered under the CC.
 * [|Jamendo.com] - A music site providing free, full-length albums for you to download. You pay the artists what you want, or just spread the word about them.
 * [|PodShow.com] - A site filling your MP3 player with Creative Commons licensed music, that allows you to discover old and new music alike.
 * [|SoundClick.com] - A site for bands, both signed and unsigned, to be promoted. Offers free, downloadable, legal MP3s from some bands.
 * [|TheFreeSoundProject] - A huge collection of CC licensed sound effects files.

**General Searches**
 * [|Archive.org] - Known mainly for their “Wayback Machine” as a means for seeing old pages on the net, they have also collected together a huge collection of free-to-use recordings and texts.
 * [|Freebase.com] - A community powered search engine to search the web for CC licensed work for you to use.
 * [|Google Advanced Search] - Google gives you the option to include forms of licensing in your search.
 * [|Wikimedia Commons] - The central clearing area for the Wikimedia projects CC files.
 * [|Yahoo Creative Commons Search] - Yahoo allows you to search the entire web for what you need based on the licenses attached to the content.

**Software Tutorials**
**[|Lookah.tv]**



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**Free Text-to-Speech**

 * [|WordTalk] - a free text-to-speech program for the PC that works within WORD and Outlook and highlights each word that is read. Includes a talking spell checker and a talking thesaurus. WordTalk was upgraded in January 2009 and now includes the ability to save settings (Wow!) and you can convert your text file to a wav or MP3 file. Makes this free download even more valuable!
 * [|Natural Reader] - another free text-to-speech software program which converts any written text to speech (Word, pdf, websites, emails)
 * [|Click,Speak] - a free Firefox extension that reads the Internet and highlights phrases and sentences as it reads
 * [|DSpeech]- scroll down for a very cool free text-to-speech AND speech-to-text tool. PC only
 * [|Balabolka]- Free text-to-speech download, can also download a portable version that runs off a USB thumb drive.can save as wav or MP3 file.
 * [|PowerTalk] - free text-to-speech for PowerPoint presentations
 * [|Talklets]- make any website talk, embed in your website, blog or wiki
 * [|Read The Words]- Register first, upload file or choose text or website to read, a recording is generated which you can listen to online or download to an mp3 player, upload to a blog, etc. Very Cool tool worth letting your students explore.
 * [|Spoken Text] - online text-to-speech MP3 converter
 * [|YakIToMe!] - Listen to important documents, PowerPoint presentations, emails, RSS feeds, blogs and novels. YAKiToMe! is multi-lingual (English, Spanish, French ...) and brings you the world's best text-to-speech (TTS) synthesis technologies. Easily converts to podcasts.
 * [|ReadPlease]- there is a free version and a pay version.
 * [|iSpeech] - converts web pages to audio.
 * [|Simultaneous Stanza Reader] - SSReader is a free large font reader for Macintosh OS X that speaks text files aloud and displays the text stanza-after-stanza, simultaneously. The program works well with free books from [|Project Gutenberg]. Watch a [|quick introductory Video here]
 * [|Text to Speech] (offers a variety of languages)
 * [|DSpeech]- free text-to-speech AND speech-to-text! PC only

Visitor Counters
Get your very own flag counter with just one line of HTML code. Flag counters are fast, fun, reliable, and best of all, **free of charge!** Add our free counter to virtually any website! Flag counters don't require any complicated coding. Every time a visitor from a new country visits your page, a new flag will be added to your counter. The total number of visitors to your site from each country will be shown next to the flag, and you can click the counter to view all sorts of useful information. Below you can fully customize your new flag counter. = = = = [|Web Page Counter] : This site sets up a hit tracker on your wiki so you can see how many times it has been viewed A detailed counter for your site from [|Site Meter] ...and one that might even be better from [|StatCounter] [|www.easycounter.com] An easy, free html hit counter for your site. With your free account from 99counters you can now create customized web counters for your website, blog and social network profiles. Cool flash counters. Register your website for free. Choose counter style. Take the counter code. Paste the code in your website, start immediatly tracking visitors! [|Free Website Hit Counters, Web Page and Traffic Counter]
 * [|Flag Counter]**
 * [|See where people come from - as they come]**
 * [|Free Web Counter Generator]**
 * [|HiStats]**

Fancy Text

 * [|Cool text] **

 The quick and easy way to make fabulous animated and static images for your website or powerpoint presentations [|Glowtxt]

Click on a sample text style or select one from the list, then press 'Create text' to make your own glowing text! [|Textanim]

Textanim is a tool to quickly and easily create animated texts. It has a simple interface and also offers many texture options. You first need to enter the text which you plan to animate and then select the font type. There are a huge number of font types available which you can select directly from the preview option. Then you can decide the background color, font size movement and the texture. And finally you can download the ready GIF image which is created from that combination. Enter your text into the editor and choose from a ton of tweaks and features to make awesome glitter images for your website or blog.
 * [|Glitter Text]**

Avatars
[|Voki] Voki is a free service that allows you to [|create] personalized speaking avatars and use them on your blog, profile, and in email messages.

media type="custom" key="4416747" [|MyAvatarEditor]

Widgets
[|Weather Forecast Widget] Clock Widget** [|ClockEasy: Free Countdown Timer Widgets]
 * [|All the Countdowns in the World]
 * [|Widget Bloglue]**

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 * Day and Night Around the World**

Displaying Your Work

is a fun and easy way for students and educators to collaborate online. [| Stixy] reminds me of [|Wallwisher,] but has many more options for sharing. Start out with a blank virtual bulletin board. Use the [|Stixy] widgets to add content or functionality to your board, positioning them anywhere. Users can add notes, photos, documents, or to-do items. After content has been added to a board, it can be shared with others of your choosing. Those that have been invited to the [|Stixy] board can be given permission to add content, upload, or edit. **How to integrate[| Stixy] into the classroom:** [|Stixy] is an excellent tool for the classroom. Use it as a communication tool for your students. Create a classroom board where you post homework, resources, to-do items, etc. for your students. Students can, in turn, submit assignments via the document upload, add notes asking questions of the class, and participate in online discussions. When working on group projects, students can create a [|Stixy] board where they can collaborate virtually. Here they can post ideas, research findings, and deadlines for the group. [|Stixy] can also be used as a virtual portfolio for students. Ask each student to create a [|Stixy] board for the year (or per semester, trimester, or quarter). Throughout the year, students can add their content and learning to the board. Teachers, other students, parents, and family members can be invited to view the board throughout the year. Students can view their learning and progress in one place and parents, teachers, and other students can leave feedback and encouragement on the[| Stixy]board. This virtual portfolio can “travel” with students as a body of evidence. I would prefer getting a virtual portfolio of learning over a report card of grades any day!

=[|Spaaze: Free Virtual Corkboard Online]= Spaaze is built around the idea that everybody has a different aesthetic sense when it comes to organizing information. Some people just don’t do well with structured pages full of text and instead need a visual way to organize information. This is exactly what Spaaze does. It acts as virtual corkboard and lets you collect, organize and remember information in an easy-to-use visual manner. Instead of a webpage or a profile, Spaaze provides you with a large virtual corkboard on which you can pin items. You can simply drag these items to re-arrange and resize them with a single click. You can add a bookmark or a YouTube video by simply entering the URL. Labels and notes can also be added and deleted with a single click.