Maya Personal Learning Edition is a cut down version of Autodesk’s Maya. For anyone who doesn’t know, Maya is a very well respected (and very expensive!) high end 3D graphics and animation program.

Chances are that whenever you see any of the latest 3D blockbuster cartoon (or special effects intensive) movies for example, Maya is probably one of the programs involved along the way, as it can do some very impressive stuff.

The problem is it takes a long time to master, if thats ever even possible! Also it’s very costly to purchase. So thats why they offer Maya Personal learning edition, which is basically free for non-commercial use!

For detailed info check it out here.

Since you are reading this site, chances are you might be someone who downloads and tries out various software from time to time, right?

A downside to the Windows operating system is that when you uninstall programs, it doesn’t always remove everything, it can leave traces in the registry and also leftover files or folders here and there. These can clutter up and slow your system over time. There’s also the chance you might install something that just doesn’t agree with your system and messes it up.

Returnil virtual system is a program that lets you create a ‘virtual system’. This way, you can try out programs without really installing them, which means nothing can get messed up! Basically, what this means is that when it’s set to ON, any changes or installations you make will immediately be undone when you restart your computer. The home edition is free for personal use!

Check it out here for more details and the download.

TimeSnapper is an Automatic Screenshot Journal. This basically means it takes screenshots of your computer screen at specified intervals. While at first this idea doesn’t sound all that interesting or useful, it actually does have its uses.

For example, people who charge by the hour can show what they were doing. It also has a productivity calculator that grades you on how your time was spent. You do this by telling it which programs count as you being productive, so if you spend too much time browsing online, this will hopefully make you feel guilty enough to spend more time using more productive programs! Or you could just use it to make sure no ones using your computer when you’re not around!

Check it out here.

Video conferencing has come a long way since a few years back, partly due to better access to highspeed Internet and partly because of better programs. Sightspeed is one such program.

SightSpeed is available in two versions, a free edition and a Pro version. The voicechat quality is about as good as skype and the text-chat feature has its own window. It also lets you record short video clips that can be sent as messages or even embedded in blogs etc.

The free version lets you record video clips up to 30 seconds long, while the Pro version allows 3 minutes.The Pro version also lets you record live calls for later reference.

For more information check out the website where you can download the free version.

Wouldn’t it be great if you could just log-on to one site and it would list any new messages from all your email accounts and social networks? Well thats the idea behind Fuser.

It aims to be an all-in-one, one-stop site for checking and managing them all. This would obviously normally take several log-in sessions to several different sites.

So far its compatible with the following:

• IMAP/IMAPS
• POP3/POP3S
• Gmail
• Hotmail/MSN Hotmail/Windows Live Hotmail
• Netscape.net/AIM email
• Outlook Web Access
• Exchange 2000/Exchange 2003/Exchange 2007
• Yahoo! Mail
• SquirrelMail

Social Networks

• Facebook
• MySpace

Its worth checking out as it could prove to be a great timesaver! I’m thinking of trying it out for a while. You wanna too?

Click here!

You know when you’re installing or uninstalling a program and windows tells you that you need to reboot? Well sometimes this isn’t even necessary, causing you to waste valuable minutes of your life waiting for your computer to get back into action again!

WhyReboot is a small application that tells you which files will change or be deleted,etc.upon reboot,if any, so that you can decide if a reboot is needed or not.

Its a small utility (100k) and thats all it does. But if you hate waiting around because your computer is a slow starter,then it might be of some time saving use to you!
It’s also free!

You can get it over here.

Musicip Mixer is a program that allows you to create music playlists based on the sonic qualities of each song. This means the program analyses your song collection and finds songs that sound similar based on various characteristics of the songs. It then is able to generate a playlist based on that information.

After it analyzes your collection (the first time you run it), it will analyze each new song you add to your collection automatically. When you’re listening to a song you simply tell the program to make a playlist of similar “sounding” songs. Basically it acts as a virtual DJ, as opposed to just picking songs totally at random!

I’ve used the winamp plug-in and I like it. So if you listen to a lot of music on your computer, its well worth checking out!
It’s also available as a stand alone program and in free and premium versions.

You can get more information and download it at the homepage.

SpokenText is a free online tool which lets you convert text into speech. I found this while i was searching for a way to convert pdf files into speech. It does that and a whole lot more though. It works with web pages, rss feeds, text files, word files, emails, even powerpoint files too.

This is useful for when you’re on the go and a real time saver as you can be studying while commuting for example, as it enables you to save the speech file as an mp3 for playback in your mobile player. You can also just listen to it at the website. It’s also of obvious benefit to the visually impaired too of course.

The voice is of pretty good quality and according to the site, they plan to add more at a later stage when enough donations are received. Here’s the site!

The Opera web browser may not get as much of the spotlight as its more famous cousins Internet Explorer and Firefox do, but it’s definitely a force to be reckoned with in the world of Internet Browsers. It aims to be and claims to be the fastest and most secure web browser on earth!

Which is a big thing to claim. As far as speed goes, it certainly lives up to its claim as pages seem to load fast and smoothly.

It has some unique features, such as widgets you can add, as well as a large selection of skins and customization options. The latest version comes with anti-fraud protection to keep you safer online.

I recommend checking out Opera if you want a fast, safe, feature filled, regularly updated browser and are looking for a change from the big two (IE and Firefox)

You can download opera for free at the homepage here.

Stunt playground is a free 3D game in which you can select from several vehicles and props in a virtual “stunt playground”. It comes with several tracks included, or you can make your own from scratch and save them. You get several props to do this with, such as ramps,traffic cones, junk cars,wood,barrels,etc.

You can also record short “instant replays” which can also be forwarded,reversed,slow motioned,paused,zoomed in 3D and saved. The graphics are pretty impressive for a small freeware game, as they include realtime shadows and reflections and the physics aren’t bad either.

You get several vehicles to choose from including a race car, bus, monster truck, and more.
All in all a cool little game if you’re into this kind of thing and have some time to kill.

Race on over to the fansite for some screenshots, a video, more tracks and the game download.