Free features include rotate, crop, flip, re-size, exposure options (including exposure, contrast, highlight, shadow and brightness adjustments), colour options (including saturation and temperature adjustments), sharpening options (including sharpness, radius and strength options) and red-eye adjustments for humans and animals.  All you need to do is register with the site and then you’re ready to start editing!

If you want to use more features you can sign up to their premium package from just $2.08 (£1.30 at time of writing).

A feature explained…

Rotate

1. Select rotate from the features panel (click image to enlarge)
   
2. You can then press left or right to rotate the image anti-clockwise or clockwise respectively (click image to enlarge)
   
3. The image can also be angled by moving the ‘Straighten’ slider adjustment (click image to enlarge)
   
4. Finally, the image can be ‘flipped’ by clicking either of the two buttons to the right of ‘flip’ (click image to enlarge)
   

Want to find out more? Check out picnik.com

• Buzzword
• Share
• ConnectNow
• Create PDF
• My Files

To use the website’s services you need to Create an Acrobat Account which is completely free!  To do this just go to the Acrobat Website then select the services you would like to use then click ‘Begin’ and then select ‘Sign Up’.

Buzzword:

Buzzword is in my opinion brilliant!  It is a web based word processor.  You may now be thinking “but I bet it has like none of the features that Word etc has”, but you are wrong!  All the features you could possibly want are there!  E.G. Spell Checker, Table, Picture, Fonts, Colours, Paragraph Align, Spacing, Indent, Check List, Images etc.  You can even upload documents from programs such as Microsoft Word.

Buzzword saves your work whilst you are working so your work is always kept safe and secure.  Another cool thing about it is that all the documents are saved to Acrobat servers so it can almost be used as a back up tool.  This will help your files stay safe from any viruses.  Also you can log on to the site from anywhere and view your documents so there is no need to use a USB Stick etc.  You also have the option to share your Buzzword files with the Share application.  Click to find out more about Buzzword!

Share:

Share allows you to share files with friends on the Acrobat Network.  You can either upload your own files or use your files from the Buzzword and PDF Applications.  To ensure that the receiver knows that you are sharing a file with them you can also send them a notification on the Application.  It’s a great easy way to share files with people all around the world.  Click to find out more about Share!

ConnectNow:

ConnectNow is an application which allows you to Connect with any member and talk to them whether it be through Acrobat.com using either video conferencing, a microphone, a telephone, instant messaging or the white board white board.  ConnectNow could be used for having meetings with colleagues around the world with the ability to use the features previously mentioned as well as being able to host your own meetings, be invited to meetings, share notes, share files, share your computer screen and access the application anywhere assuming you are registered and have an Internet connection.

We tried ConnectNow out in the office and it is a little confusing at first but still a great feature which has loads of potential to become big!  One thing that we did notice was that you occasionally had to download small files which allowed you to use each feature.

ConnectNow is well worth a look, click to find out more about ConnectNow!

Create PDF:

Create PDF is simply a PDF converter.  To use it all you do is upload the file you wish to convert to PDF then click ‘Create PDF’.  Easy Peasy.  You can also convert files which you have created on Buzzword etc just by selecting the file.  However, there are some file formats which you cannot convert, for example; files from Microsoft Office 2007 unless you save the file as a 1997-2003 file.  Click for a list of all the file formats and more on Create PDF.

One thing that is important to remember about Create PDF is that you can only create 5 PDF’s before you must buy the physical software, Acrobat 9, which isn’t cheap.  There are several PDF Software packages which are free to use/download and work perfectly fine.  Two that we can recommend are Primo PDF and Cute PDF.

My Files:

My Files is basically where all your files which you have either uploaded to or created on Acrobat.com are stored.  Its an easy way to store and manage your files and you can ass files from your computer too.  By storing the files online you aren’t taking up as much space on your hard drive.  Click for more info on My Files.

Like the idea of Acrobat.com?  Want to find out more?  If so the Adobe information on Acrobat.com is worth a read!  Also there is a useful video on the site which shows you Acrobat.com in action.

Pro’s

• Can be accessed from anywhere
• Easy to use
• Free

Con’s

• You have to register for full use
• Emails you send are not saved in sent items.  The way to get round this problem is to send a copy of the email to yourself in the CC or BCC

Do you use Mail2Web?

I am talking about 123-Drive here, part of the Pipex network and named much like 123-Reg. 123-Drive allows you to upload 25GB of multimedia data like photos, music and videos and another 5GB for documents like letters and spreadsheets. That is the free allowance anyway, need more then you can if you pay for it

This is a quick tip, so I am stopping there, take a look at 123-Drive for yourself and sign up for free. A nice alternative to traditional backing up methods.

Store, Access, Share and Publish — All with 123-Drive