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MPEG Streamclip is a powerful free video converter, player, editor for Mac and Windows. It can play many movie files, not only MPEGs; it can convert MPEG files between muxed/demuxed formats for authoring; it can encode movies to many formats, including iPod; it can cut, trim and join movies. MPEG Streamclip can also download videos from YouTube and Google by entering the page URL. You can use MPEG Streamclip to open and play most movie formats including MPEG files or transport streams; edit them with Cut, Copy, Paste, and Trim; set In/Out points and convert them into muxed or demuxed files, or export them to QuickTime, AVI, DV and MPEG-4 files with more than professional quality, so you can easily import them in a DVD authoring tool, and use them with many other applications or devices. Supported input formats: MPEG, VOB, PS, M2P, MOD, VRO, DAT, MOV, DV, AVI, MP4, TS, M2T, MMV, REC, VID, AVR, M2V, M1V, MPV, AIFF, M1A, MP2, MPA, AC3, ...

Why we like Make Beliefs Comix: It is free No login is required It is web based and can be used on Mac/PC You can upload screenshots of your comic to your blog or website Students can be creative with this tool It is very easy to use It can be used by students of all ages and in all subject areas Comics can be written in languages other than English, including Spanish, French, German, Italian, Latin and Portuguese.

It is an advanced Open Source typing tutor and a free download. The 8MB archive is also portable and runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux. Amphetype is described as being layout agnostic that means it does not come with a virtual keyboard, but gives you lessons you can use to practice any keyboard layout with it. The software supports the learner with speed and performance measuring features and detailed statistics. One of the important metrics is that Amphetype also measures viscosity i.e. it measures the "pauses' one takes in between words. More pauses means higher viscosity. A lower rate of viscosity translates into better typing performance. Features of Note:  You can generate text fragments to type from Project Gutenberg or any other plain text source to practice your typing. Review mistyped words and even generate custom lessons to practice difficult words or problem words. A performance tab gives a snapshot of WPM, accuracy, measures performance by session, and plots a graph to show progress. Another alternative Open Source keyboard and language independent typing tutor you can try out is Klavaro. It has ready to use keyboard layouts like Dvorak, QWERTZ, Colemak, AlphaGrip5, and more. There are many options to practice your touch typing. I have usually found that using software tools like the two mentioned above, and my personal favorite - TIPP10, and supplementing them with typing games to be the best way. You can always come back to these tools and bump up your WPM (Words per Minute) to an acceptable figure. Want more practice? Look into the following sites too 

Shape Collage is a nifty free utility available for PCs, Macs, and Linux. There are limitations to the free version - most notably, you can't save save & reopen projects (click here for the list of features available in the $25 Pro flavor) - but it's super easy to use and the results are fantastic. Highly intuitive, the menus are simple to navigate, featuring clear options incorporated into a well laid-out workspace. It just feels natural, encouraging you to try different settings to see the result. This YouTube video does a terrific job explaining the program and its features. It's absolutely worth the download to explore for yourself.

an open source program that gives users the freedom to create their own online classroom. With Claroline teachers can produce assessment activities, post and collect assignments, build a wiki, monitor student activities, and create chat rooms or discussion forums. Claroline is available as a free download for Mac, Windows, and Linux systems. Claroline is not a hosted service so you do need to have someone host your installation of Claroline.

Also sent a collection of projects being done by different schools; some use Google Earth; others use Google Maps. The site has had over 15,000 visitors. You might want to use it. Schools are from several different states and different countries. Some of the topics include explorers, history of students' local communities (very popular), heroes and courageous people. Some of the GCT's have submitted projects to this site.