TOP TOOLS
TOP 10 TOOLS 2008
Rupert Russell

My name is Rupert Russell. I have had 31 years experience using computers. I am currently working as a project officer at Australian Catholic University in Australia.

My first exposure to computers was at high school in 1977 when an inspired teacher bought a Sorcerer with a tape drive and 16 Kb of RAM to school.  Since then I have been hooked and have spent thousands of hours using computers for fun, learning and as a profession.

I have a website which is an accumulation of material from 4 years of teaching online at www.rupert.id.au/index.php

Rupert's Top 10 Tools as at  27 May 2008

1. Audacity - Free and powerful audio recorder and editor. Works with MP3's though you will need to download a copy the LAME MP3 encoder which will allow Audacity to import and export MP3 files.

2. Filezilla - My favorite Web Browser, browsing the Web is an essential part of almost any complete education. Though it still can't teach you how to ride a bicycle…

3. Gmail - Gmail is my preferred personal email client. Heaps of free space and a nice interface.

4. Google Earth - This is perhaps the most powerful tool for changing one's world view. You don't see many political boundaries from space at least during the day but at night it's a different story see "The word at night" for a different view.

5. Google Search - Google is my first port of call whenever I need to know almost anything.  One search I always run when looking at purchasing a product is "product.  name" problems

6. Paint Shop Pro - I have used Paint Shop Pro since version 2 my favorite version is version 9. It's simple to use and has some nice features. And the bundled animation shop 3 is my favorite give animator. I don't think they include it with the current version which is a pity.

7. Screen Hunter Free - I use Screen Hunter Free every day. It's fast simple and effective. If your looking for an easy to use free screen capture program then its well worth a look.

8. The world at night - This is a remarkable satellite composite photograph that shows the world at night. It would be fantastic if Google earth had a night view as well as a day view. If you want to see where people live on earth then you can't go past this image. Look at the Nile Delta. North and south Korea.

9. Ultra Fractal - If you want to learn what infinity looks and feels like then nothing beats working with fractals. Generating fractals on a computer is the perfect melding of Art and Math's. If you don't know what fractal is then take a look at my page what are fractals

10. WordWeb - As a confirmed dyslexic I use WordWeb every day to check definitions it's a free popup dictionary. Works like a charm I would be lost without it.