If you don’t own Adobe Acrobat it can be a bit of a hassle to work with PDF files. Sure, there are a number of programs to allow you to print to PDF files without using Acrobat, but how about a free tool to manipulate them?

pdftk is a command-line utility that runs on Windows, Linux, Mac, and other operating systems. It is slightly complex because of the number of features it supports, but works brilliantly for common tasks such as extracting pages from one PDF into their own PDF, combining PDFs, using password protection, and adding watermarks to documents.

pdftk should also be of interest to you if you are a programmer that might need to automate PDF-related tasks. Because it works on multiple platforms, pdftk can be a handy utility to call from web applications that need to manage PDF. The program also has the ability to fill PDF forms from FDF/XFDF formatted files or standard input, so if, for example, you find yourself in the position of wanting to fill a series of PDF forms from something like Microsoft Excel using a VBA macro, pdftk might be just what you need.

Disk Warrior is Macintosh software that performs various tasks and recovery on hard drives.

This software can fix or repair drives that are corrupted or damaged. It obviously cannot fix all problems but it can fix many. Recently I used Disk Warrior 4 on a drive that had disconnected during copy. It would not recognize and it appeared that all the data on the drive was lost. After using Disk Warrior the drive was fixed! What a fantastic product. Disk Warrior will not fix all problems but considering how much sentimental and financial value exists in peoples computers these days, it is software that may be worth its weight in gold.

OpenVPN is an awesome implementation of a virtual private network, far superior to the traditional ipsec implementations.

Unfortunately, different vendors of networking equipment support ipsec to various degrees, making interoperability of devices an issue. OpenVPN runs on software and can be run on Linux, Mac, and Windows operating systems. OpenVPN Gui makes it a home run for Windows business users, who will find it just as good as Juniper Networks or Cisco competitors who charge a lot of money for equipment and licensing! Tunnelblick makes the Mac experience a breeze. Some DNS tweaks are required sometimes, however, whereas the Windows client is super-simple. After I installed OpenVPN, I through my old Netscreen/Juniper POS out the window. It’s never failed me. Its definitely an open source project to support.

There was a time when using too much javascript was considered bad programming practice.

Using Javascript for form validation, for example, could turn it into a disaster as it would be very easy for the user to turn off javascript on his browser, enter junk data (like 911 for email) and crash bang boom, there goes your backend. Of course middle-end(PHP) was the better answer (and it still is). In those days the much admired javascript was losing its essence. No one found it fun to add unnecessary browser shakes to their site and annoy users. Its purpose would have shrunk to sending occasional alerts, keeping time etc. But with AJAX gaining popularity, Javascript is reviving. AJAX is after all a form of Javascript. Online games, chatting, IM. It has managed to replace Flash in many areas (like IM, some simple games). Not only does AJAX save bandwidth for both the service provider and end user, it also saves the ever-valuable resource called ‘time’.

Swish is a low cost flash design solution for webmaster who want Flash animation on their sites can be deterred by the high cost of the premier Flash authoring programs.

On the other hand, some of the low-cost software solutions really don’t do very much. A program I’ve used for years, Swish, available for download at http://www.swishzone.com for about $50, is a real bargain. It offers a library of customizable special effects, including Transform, Squeeze, Alternate, Snake, Explode, 3D spin, Vortex, Wave, Typewriter, Fade In and Out, Slide and Blur. Whether you are aiming at complex animations or simple text banners, Swish is worth a try. Your animations can be exported as web-standard swf files. In spite of its low cost, this is a robust, well-designed authoring environment which will not aggravate you with crashes or inconsistent behavior. One benefit I’ve found to Swish versus other inexpensive Flash authoring programs is file size. You do not want your web-site visitors stalled, waiting for the bloated Flash files produced by some other low cost programs to load. I don’t have the most up-to-date version of Swish, SwishStudio, nor the higher-priced option, SwishMax, they are now offering. By my Swish 2.01 has been a trusty friend for years.

Wings 3D is a Free 3D Software with SL(TM) Support.

There are a few 3D modelers for free, but a small fast and easy to pick up Wings3D is a good choice for many to learn with and has a good plug-in available for Second Life(r) creators to take advantage of to make sculpt maps for uploading models to SL(TM) grid. The software is fast, works on many platforms and is free. It has less features than Blender but is a little faster to pick up and can cause less error for a beginning 3D modeler with it’s menu to start and mouse move plus click to stop the change. It is a simple tool set with cool features, such as magnets, and selection tools like loop select etc. as you would expect. It does render using Pov ray, so it is not just a basic modeler. Not the best at any task, but with it’s reduced set of tools and easier to understand and avoid errors make it good for Second Life builders. The free plug-in for SL(TM) can be found on the SecondLife.com’s forums. This will allow you to export a sculpt map that can be uploaded for amost unlimited and interesting shapes that reduce prim limits and look more real. Video’s on the net are available to help out as well as tutorials. Be sure to read the manual (as with most 3D programs) and remember there is a menu when you right click! Look down at the bottom left of the window for extra options to the present operation. The UI is different than blender (another popular software with sculpt map rendering support) but for me is a good choice for roughing out shapes and then I use the sculpt tool in Blender for get a more smoother or organic shape.