New Media Picks Of The Week: Sharewood Picnic 55

Photo-montage created with: Dummies Book Cover Maker

1. Connect two phones via a web-based interface and call people around the world for very competitive fees
2. Search engine for images enables you to find similar photos within Flickr database
3. Share your photos, edit them and create online slideshows with music
4. Web-based images editor enables you to edit pictures online and upload them to popular photo sharing sites
5. Take screen captures and upload them directly to your Flickr account
6. Online collaboration tool enables you to create your personal web-based desktop and share information within a group
7. Upload and store your images online to embed them in other web pages on the Internet
8. Weblogging and social networking platform enables you to create online communities and provide e-learning sessions
9. Small business management platform allows you and your team to share information and collaborate online
10. Speech-to-text service takes your voicemail and automatically converts whatever was said into an SMS or an email
11. Calculate the amount of money you can earn by placing Text Link Ads onto your website
12. Create photo slideshows and greeting cards and personalize them by adding text, designs and music
13. Independent games portal enables developers to submit their games and users to rate and purchase them

Sharewood Picnic is my weekly collection of new media resources and tools. Here you can find the best new media tools and picks I run into every week during my daily research and explorations into the future of independent media publishing.

This week also, I have collected for you a great list of new media services and tools that can further enable, augment, enhance your ability to communicate, share and inform yourself in new and more effective ways.

1. 
   
   Talkety
   
   
   
   Talkety is an online service that allows you to make phone to phone calls for a good price by connecting two phones via a web-based interface. You only need to type your phone number and the number of the person you want to call and Talkety will also show you how much the call will cost you. It doesn't matter whether you are calling a national cable network or an international mobile phone. In order to call, you simply need to transfer credit to your Talkety account. As soon as you have registered, you automatically get a credit of 30 free minutes. You don't need to install anything on your computer and there are no system requirements. Free registration.
   
   http://www.talkety.com





2. Tiltomo
   
   Tiltomo is a content-based visual image search system that enables you to search for similar images within Flickr's database. To get started you can search for a specific tag or click random. When you find an image you like, simply click one of the "Find Similar" links under the image and decide whether you want to search for similiar images by theme or by color/texture. Tiltomo will automatically find all those images that resemble to the one you selected according to your criteria. Free to use.
   http://www.tiltomo.com





3. Allyoucanupload
   
   Allyoucanupload is an online space where you can host images to embed in pages elsewhere on the Internet. Through Allyoucanupload, you can add images to other online personal spaces, such as online auctions (eBay), blogs (Blogger, TypePad), message boards, online classifieds, and social networking sites (Xanga, MySpace). You don't need to register to this service to use it and it is totally free.
   http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com





4. FotoFlix
   
   FotoFlix is a service that provides photo sharing features and allows you to edit your images and create online slideshows with music. FotoFlix provides a free account with 10 MB storage; paid plans start with $2.39/month (with an one time charge of $28.68), offering 200 MB storage. Each referral that signs up through you gives you an extra 10 MB storage. No system requirements.
   http://www.fotoflix.com





5. Phixr
   
   Phixr is a web-based images editor that you can access from any computer. You simply need to upload your pictures and make all the changes you want. After editing your images, Phixr enables you to directly upload them to Flickr, Fotopic, Livejournal, Photobucket, Fotolog.com, Buzznet and Dropshots. Phixr requires registration and is completely free to use.
   http://www.phixr.com





6. Flickr & Webimager
   
   Flickr & Webimager is a service that enables you to take screen captures and upload them directly to your Flickr account. You can capture a section of your screen, rotate and resize and insert a cursor on the image with Flickr & WebImager. Once you are done editing, click on the upload arrow and the image will be sent to your Flickr account. Flickr & WebImager requires download and works with Windows 95 or later. Free to use.
   http://phpspot.net/php/flickr

   
   
   

7. MyWebDesktop
   
   MyWebDesktop is a web-based service that provides an integrated set of tools that allow you to collaborate with a person or a group. Through MyWebDesktop, you can share files, bookmarks and notes and it is also possible to communicate via instant messaging and a messageboard. Free to use.
   http://mywebdesktop.net/





8. Elgg
   
   Elgg is a community building platform that provides tools to create online learning communities. Elgg features weblogging, podcasting, social networking, file storage, tag searching, customised user themes, multi-language support, and more. You can control exactly who has access to your profile, each blog post, file, etc.. It is also possible to search using tags to find other resources and people related to the same topic you are interested in. You can sign up for a free hosted account at Elgg.net or you can download the free source code and install Elgg on your own server. Free to use.
   http://www.elgg.org





9. Veetro
   
   Veetro is an online team and small business management platform. Veetro provides tools such as electronic timesheets, projects, billing, sales pipeline, helpdesk and document management. A single user license is free and is ad supported, while a five to 100 users plan is available at $69.95 per month.
   http://www.veetro.com/





10. SpinVox
    
    SpinVox is a speech-to-text service that converts your voicemail messages into text messages and sends them to your mobile phone or email. The message arrives just as if the caller had texted you, displaying his number so you can call him back. SpinVox provides several paid packages starting with a 10 conversations one at £3.00. SpinVox is currently available only to customers of UK mobile phone networks.
    http://www.spinvox.com





11. Text Link Ads Calculator
    
    Text Link Ads Calculator is an utility provided by online advertising company Text Link Ads and you can use it to check how much money you can earn with your blog. You need to fill out the form on the left and then choose, from the box on the right side, the area on your site where you will place the text link ads. The link value will be output automatically. Text Link Ads Calculator is an estimate of market prices and does not always reflect the prices of Text Link Ads inventory.
    http://www.text-link-ads.com/link_calculator.php





12. Smilebox
    
    Smilebox is a service that enables you to create photo slideshows, scrapbooks, photobooks, postcards and greeting cards. You can choose from hundreds of multimedia designs and easily customize them with your photos, music, words, and style and then share them via email or print. Free to use.
    http://www.smilebox.com





13. GameTrove
    
    GameTrove is an independent games portal. Games are directly submitted by the developers who made them and users rate them. The most rated games appear in the homepage and you can download and try each game for free before deciding to purchase it. Free signup and free games submission.
    http://www.gametrove.net