The point is, Twitter can be quite the tool to get your proverbial head around. When things are tough, it’s nice to have a little help.  It’s for that reason that a blog like Twitip.com comes in handy. Twitip.com shares tips about how to Twitter. In fact, that’s what the name means: Twit-tip.

There are 7 topics of Twitter tips Twitip.com covers.

(1) Twitter for beginners

Twitip.com has help for the beginner Twitter user just learning how to Twitter. First of all, if you check out the bottom of the page, you’ll find a list of posts written specifically to help someone starting out.

There’s also a whole category of posts directed towards the beginner. Some good posts from this category are the:

- Concise Guide to Understanding Replies, Mentions and Direct Messages on Twitter – Part 1 and Part 2
- Tame The Beast: How To Use Twitter So It Doesn’t Suck Up Your Time And Attention
- How to Get Noticed on Twitter.

(2) How to get Twitter followers

One of the difficult parts of getting going with Twitter is building a following. It would be nice if we had more than our parents and best friend following us. One of the reasons for using Twitter is to be heard, right?  With posts like

- How to Grow an Interested Following on Twitter using RSS,
- 6 “REAL” Reasons Why Followers Follow,
- Get More Followers by Spending Less Time on Twitter

we can get a little bit of help.

(3) Twitter tools

As you know from reading MakeUseOf, there are many tools being developed to make Twitter a better, more productive tool:

• Three More Great Twitter Tools Worth A Look
• Twitter Tweaks: 5 Tools To Make You An Elite Tweep
• Hoot! An In-Depth Look At Online Twitter Client – HootSuite
• Learn How to Schedule Future Tweets With Taweet

Well, there just so happens to be a category on Twitip.com covering Twitter tools too. Sometimes it’s interesting to hear different voices, ideas and opinions on the same subject. Check out Tweepi – Twitter Follow Management With Stats and How To Use CoTweet To Join The Conversation.

(4) General Twitter tips

It’s great to get tips from people who have experience! If we can find anything good to learn about how to use Twitter, it could be found in the Tips category. Check these tips out: When NOT to Tweet, Twitter – The Art of Influence, and Get More Mileage Out of Your Blog Archives with Twitter Teasers

(5) Twitter for business

Businesses are getting into Twitter BIG time! There are several businesses I follow just so I can keep up with new developments. Businesses use Twitter in several ways, one of which is to build a brand. Apparently you can also use Twitter to find a job!  Who knew?

(6) Twitter Users

Twitip.com also has a whole category about how to find out WHO to follow. Are you new to Twitter and you don’t know who to follow? Find out who’s who and how to find the people YOU would want to listen to. Try these posts: The Top 12 Unique Causes to Follow on Twitter, Moms: The Spiders on the Social Media Web, and Twitter: The Real-Time Answer Engine.

(7) Twitter news

This category is all about news about Twitter. For instance, since Twitter released its “List” feature, there’s been some buzz about it. Check out these 2 articles talking about it: Twitter Lists In Detail or, “Yo Dawg, I Heard U Like Lists!” and 8 Things to Consider Before Using Twitter Lists.

If you like to read blogs (and hopefully you do because MakeUseOf is an awesome one!) and you want some help with Twitter, you really need to check out Twitip.com.  It’s a blog that is offering help!

Closer to home, don’t forget to check out our very own Twitter Guide: Best Practices and Tips [PDF Guide] to help you get started with Twitter.

Image credits: MorgueFile.com

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The other option is actually purchasing web-space (don’t care what some people say, paying for webspace is the way to go), installing Wordpress in the purchased web space, and setting up your “self-hosted” Wordpress blog.

Either way you choose to go, if you are new to blogging AND Wordpress, you have some things to learn before getting too far.  For instance, what are widgets?  Sidebars?  Headers and footers?  For veteran bloggers, these terms are second nature but for a newbie (please don’t be offended at the term), they have to learn.

Enter video WordPress tutorials!  I love being able to help people get started with new technology.  I just recently helped out a few friends with Wordpress sites and it was a blast.  I did a video tutorial or two but what I found out was that much of my work wasn’t really needed!  When I ran into Wordpress.tv, a site with some of the best WordPress tutorials out there, I almost fell over!

Wordpress.tv is a very well-done site full of tutorials showing you how to do everything from managing widgets to adding Twitter updates to your sidebar to adding a Paypal button to you blog!  Now if I want to show someone how to do something, I can either record a screencast for them and figure out how to share it with them OR I can head over to Wordpress.tv and see if it’s something that’s already covered, saving me much time and effort!

Here are a few of the best Wordpress tutorials that may someday help you help someone else getting started with Wordpress:

How to sign up at Wordpress.com…

An introduction to the dashboard…

How to create a static page…

How to write and publish a post…

As you can see, Wordpress.tv has a wealth of well-done video WordPress tutorials to surf through. What I like about the video tutorials is how professional they are, the high video quality, and the very smooth voice integrated into each tutorial.  Also notice that it is easy to turn subtitles on and off (good for those who are hearing impaired).  ALSO, it’s very easy to embed and share the videos (very cool for reviewing and sharing them on sites like MakeUseOf.com!).

What I didn’t mention before is that Wordpess.tv also has a whole section dedicated to presentations done on various Wordpress-related topics from tips to the future of the Internet and the part Wordpress is playing.  Here’s a small selection of the presentations you’ll find:

Chris Molitor on Finding the Perfect Theme for You or Your Business…

Martin Buckley on Self-Hosting Multiple WordPress Blogs (technologically sophisticated)…

Mark Jaquith on BuddyPress and the Future of WordPress Plugins…

The site is fairly simple to navigate.  If you look across the top you’ll see links to the two basic categories of videos (Wordcamp TV and How-To).  Notice that you can also search Wordpress.tv for a specific topic you may be looking for.

Once you’ve arrived at either location, the easiest thing to do browse the category column off to the left (once you scroll past the intro spot at the top with some featured videos).

Once you’ve arrived at a specific category, you are then offered a listing of videos to choose from.

It’s really that easy.  As you’ll be able to tell when you browse the site, they have tutorials for novices and the more experienced.  I think you’ll be pleased by what you find at Wordpress.tv.

Tell us, what other sources do you know of that offer good Wordpress tutorials? Please share them in the comments!

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Free – you ask? Yes, free. Welcome to the world of Linux where things are free both as in free speech and also as in free beer (mostly)!

If you are starting out on your journey towards Linux awesomeness, here are a few free downloadable ebooks to teach yourself Linux that should help you along nicely:

Newbie’s Getting Started Guide to Linux

(Download)

MakeUseOf’s very own Newbie’s Guide to Linux, tells you how to choose a distribution and then teaches you how to perform a basic Linux install. You can then use the guide to familiarize yourself with the Linux desktop and some basic commands.

Stefan did a great job in keeping it simple and to the point, the way beginners want it. Also don’t forget to check out our other MakeUseOf Manuals.

Introduction to Linux – A Hands on Guide

(Download)

Takes you from the absolute basics to basics. This hands on guide tells you everything right from logging in, basic file management, backup techniques up to basics of networking. It is what you need if you are having difficulty figuring out how to get to that resume file you saved just now. The guide explains Linux file structure and introduces to basic commands and text editors as well.

GNU/Linux Command line tools Summary

(Download)

One important aspect of working in Linux is that you have to familiar with the command line. This book shows you how to use the command line in Linux to your advantage. Apart from the ins and outs of the shell, this book also introduces various commands and the situations where you would use them. There are chapters that deal with specific tasks and list various commands you can use to achieve the task. If you can study online, there is another excellent manual you can refer to.

Ubuntu Pocket Guide and Reference

(Download)

Ubuntu is one of the most popular distributions, new users look up to when trying out Linux. If it is Ubuntu specific information that you are after then you should definitely check out Ubuntu Pocket Guide and Reference. The guide takes you from installing and configuring Ubuntu to adding and managing software and securing your system. A must read book if you use Ubuntu.

Rute User’s Tutorial and Exposition

(Download)

This one is not for the faint hearted! There is enough Linux juice in this book to keep even the intermediate to advanced users interested. The book begins humbly by presenting the basic commands and tools, however before you know it, you are learning everything from regular expressions to shell scripting to C programming to networking.

There is plenty of great material out there if you are trying to learn Linux, similar to these downloadable ebooks to teach yourself everything you ever wanted to know about Linux. If you have read a book or a tutorial that you found particularly useful, feel free to tell us about it in the comments below.

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Now, there are geostationary satellites. That’s a fancy word for saying the satellite stays still in relation to your position on Earth. You have to set the dish up just once and, barring windstorms or worse, the dish stays in constant communication with the satellite.

The latest way to communicate with satellites for Internet service is over something called the Ka band (pronounced kay-eh). The Ka band is a set of frequencies that are between 18.3 GHz and 31 GHz. More specifically, the uplink (that part of the call that is going from your home to the satellite) is in the range of 27.5 GHz and 31 GHz. The downlink (that part of the call that is coming from the satellite to your home) is in the range of 18.3 Ghz and 20.2 Ghz.

What the heck is a GHz? Giga Hertz. Giga for a 1,000,000,000, and Hertz for a cycle per second. Picture a wave on the ocean. It has two parts, the crest of the wave that comes high out of the water. Then there is the trough of the wave, which goes below the normal waterline. Now picture a cot and some Bud Light Lime….mmmmm. Okay back to school.

When the crest AND the trough are done passing over the same point in the water, that can be thought of as one cycle. Now imagine that happening in just one second. That’s a Hertz.  Now imagine that happening a thousand times in one second! That’s a megahertz. Now imagine that happening 1,000,000,000 times in a second! That’s a gigahertz. My brain hertz.

See the similarities?

Why do you need to know this? Well, those numbers relate to transmitting power and what the signal can carry for information. Just like in my first Technology Explained article, the lower frequencies transmit longer distances with less power, but aren’t capable of carrying a lot of information. That’s why the old 900Mhz phones don’t have the voice quality of the 2.6Ghz phones. Yet you could take those old phones down the block with you.

So, using the higher frequency ranges for satellite Internet allows for more data to be sent, giving us something close to high-speed Internet even if we’re an Alaskan recluse.

Because of the high frequency rates, that signal has to be stepped down and lose a bit of power before it hits the delicate electronics of the modem. This is done using a device that is on the dish itself as well as having a minimum of 150 feet of high-quality RG6 coax cable connecting the dish to the modem. So if you wonder why the installer used such a long cable just to wrap it up and drop half of it on the floor, well, this is why.

Something else you should know about is that Ka band satellite uses spot beams. A spot beam covers a specific area that really isn’t that big – about a third the size of Alberta. Each spot beam can support only so many users. If you hear that your buddy in Montana can get service, but you can’t because your spot beam is full, there isn’t much you can do about it. Also, you can’t move your service from spot beam to spot beam unless you are a certified installer. You will also need a clear line of sight to the satellite.

Here’s what the spot beams look like. As you can see, service is NOT available anywhere, like they sometimes advertise.

What’s the downside? Latency. What’s latency?  Gamers call it lag. It’s that time when your signal is going between your house and the satellite. Typically, it’s about 230 milliseconds or more. That doesn’t seem like much considering the signal is covering about 45,000 miles in that time. However, when it comes to things like VoIP or online gaming, it makes it nearly impossible to do.

Another downside is something called the Fair Access Policy or FAP. What this means is that your Satellite Internet Service Provider will put limits on how much you can download over a period of time – usually 24 hours. If you exceed that, they will automatically slow your speed down to something close to dial-up, to give other users fair access to the satellite. When this happens, you have been FAP’ed. So, if you are a chronic downloader, you’ll have to change your ways for satellite Internet.

Is it picture time yet? Of course it is.

All this for about $800 for the hardware and $50 a month for ongoing service. Not bad, when you consider bringing in a phone line down a logging road will cost about $10,000 a pole. However, if you want to put a self-pointing dish on your RV, you’re going to need to dig a little deeper as the hardware will run you about $10,000. You could try to take a stationary dish with you, but pointing the new dishes can take up to eight-hours to aim, and you must be a certified installer.

Photo Credits: cogdogblog, stewart, benchun

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There are 2 major, accepted color scales out there for consumption by human eyes – additive color and subtractive color. Subtractive color is accomplished via some sort of dyeing, screening or printing method. This is achieved by mixing either custom ink colors, or adopting a color scale , which in the subtractive realm of color, is called CMYK.

This refers to the 4 base colors used to physically, in paint or dye form, mix together to allow the formation of any color in the Cyan Magenta Yellow Black scale. This is what’s knows as CMYK – but i’m not sure why K stands for black though.

Additive color is the realm of discussion in this article. Additive color refers to the scale of color produced by adding different colors of light (rather than ink) to produce an image or color shade. In additive color, when you add the 3 primary colors together, Red Green and Blue (RGB), you get pure white, as illustrated in the additive color wheel above. Whereas if you mix together Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black inks, you get a dull brown.

Since RGB is the primary color scale for all monitors, phones, screens, laptops, anything that produces light; we will be discussing this today, as a way to empower you to be able to have brilliant images on your websites, and to get the most out of the pictures you snap in with your camera in any condition. We begin with a picture of a clearing on the ocean.

The following picture looks dull, discolored and too red. But you’d be surprised how much color information is contained in the picture, that simply needs to be brought out.

Open the image in Photoshop and you can follow along as you read the article. The tool we will be using can be found in the Image menu under Adjustments, and it’s called Levels. Otherwise it can be Hotkeyed at Ctrl-L.

The levels panel is one of the most used panels in Photoshop. You will also find Auto Levels. It is not recommended to use Auto Levels because it simply cannot replace the eye, and most importantly the taste of the viewer.

Once you have the levels panel open, there is a simple way to tell if all of the available color information is being used. The following is the levels output from the original image of the clearing on the water, showing a red discrepancy where all of the available color frequencies aren’t being utilized to their potential:

In order to correct this, and the inherent lack of color and brightness in the image, we need to give each respective primary color its own attention.

Using the Channel picker at the top we first choose the Red channel.  Next, pull the right, white slider over to the left where the dots begin to appear on the graph, indicating the channels are being used. Next pull the left, black slider over to the right to the point where the channel begins to show usage. Do this for red, green, and blue respectively.

As you make these changes, make sure the Preview checkbox is ticked so you can see your changes in action. Here’s what the process looks like, after gradually fixing red, green and blue:

Notice that even when we only fix the red channel, the picture already gets slightly brighter and richer. By bringing these sliders in, we are essentially telling Photoshop to spread the available color information over a wider range of color frequencies, and thus fill out the full spectrum more richly. Next we move on to the green channel.

At this juncture shown above, the picture starts to become richer and more saturated with color.

After finally adjusting the blue channel below, we can see the picture is at a very rich stage. Details that weren’t previously visible shine out now. What used to be shadows in the bushes are now more bushes, more leaves, more detail. And you would have never known the image contains all this information if you didn’t open the Levels panel.

Using these steps, you can take any RGB image and really pull the most out of the information that’s there.

Not all the detail in a picture is immediately visible to the naked eye. But with the Photoshop Levels tool you can maximize on detail and quality for each image.

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What you will need:

• The address of the FTP server you wish to communicate with. This can be an IP address or a domain name.
• The login credentials for a FTP account on the server (you don’t need this for anonymous or public FTP).
• An FTP client.

Assuming you know the address and the login credentials, let’s straight away hop over to the FTP client. As I mentioned before you can either use your browser as a client or use dedicated FTP software. If you want to download the occasional file or two from FTP sites you are good to do so with a browser, just type in the address of the file and make sure you use ftp:// instead of the usual http://.

If on the other hand you are managing a site or required to constantly upload/download files and manage accounts on the server you should use a FTP client designed for the task. Here are your choices:

• Most operating systems have a built in command line FTP client with which you would have to get familiar with the commands.
• You can also use one of the GUI FTP clients: Firefox users can try FireFTP, or you can use FileZilla, built specially with FTP in mind.

It is easier to find your way around the GUI tools. A typical GUI client would have two panes, one showing the remote FTP directory and the other showing directories on your computer. There are buttons representing transfer between the two panes. Browse to the directories you want to transfer to/from like you would do inside Windows Explorer, click on the appropriate transfer button and the client takes care of the rest.

All the commands are issued transparently by the client without requiring you to issue them explicitly. While this may seem easier, it is always handy to know what is going on behind the scenes, which you can by trying out the commands yourself.

Let’s touch up the basic FTP commands, shall we?

First and foremost you need to connect to the host. Use ftp to connect to the host. The server would respond with some information including if anonymous access is allowed.  If it isn’t, you will be required to enter a username and password for the FTP account on the server.

Go ahead and enter those details. If you don’t know your username or password, you would have contact the administrator of the site or create a new FTP user (if you are the administrator).

After a successful login you can perform any desired operations on the files. You can always use the help to get a list of available commands or get help on any command as well.

Let us now see how you can perform the basic file operations over FTP:

1. Moving around

• To get a directory listing both ls and dir work.
• You can change directories using the ubiquitous cd command. e.g. cd www changes to the www directory, To change to a local directory (i.e. a directory on your computer) instead use the lcd command.
• To know which directory you are currently working in use the pwd (present working directory) command.
• You can create directories using the mkdir <dir-name> command, remove directory using rmdir <dir-name> .
• To delete a file use the delete <filename> command, rename files using rename <old-name> <new-name> .

2. Set File Transfer type

• If you are going to transfer text files (includes txt, html, shell scripts, css files etc) you need to set the file transfer mode to ascii using ascii command.
• On the other hand if you are going to transfer binary files (like images, pdf, MS office files, compiled code or executables etc) you need to set the file transfer mode to binary using binary command.

3. Transferring files

• To upload files to the server use the put command. e.g. put style.css would upload style.css from your local directory to the remote directory. Not that put doesn’t allow you to use wildcards, use mput instead, if you want to use wildcards.
• Similarly to download a file you can use the get <filename> or the mget <filenames/wildcards> commands.

4. Creating your own FTP server

If you pay a hosting company for server space, they generally have things configured beforehand and some even create accounts for you. You can always use the management panel to create and edit FTP accounts and some settings. You would have to poke around the management panel your hosting company is providing you with.

If you want to create an FTP server on your home network some configuration is needed. Windows user can try the Filezilla server. Its great and simple to use. Linux users have plenty of options out of which vsftpd is pretty straighforward and feature rich.

Once you have configured the server you can access your files from any computer on your home network, using the IP address of the FTP server. If you want to be able to access your server from across the Internet you would require a static IP or perhaps you could look into something like dyndns (which we discussed briefly while configuring remote access to your torrents).

That’s it, you have enough knowledge to get you started and help you along whenever working with FTP. Let us know if you use some other tools for similar purposes.

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I’m trying to get through my Instrumentation Technician apprenticeship as fast as I can, but between my day job and my night gig, I don’t have a lot of study time. But what I do have is a fair amount of time in my truck, traveling from site to site. Hmmm, light bulb, convert my text books into MP3’s that I can play on my iPod. Hmmm, bigger lightbulb! Write an article on that.

Step 1: Get a Good Free Text to Speech (TTS) Program

Of the three Text to Speech software apps I tested with my text file of tongue twisters, the one I liked best was Spesoft’s Free Text To MP3 Speaker. I also tried Speakonia and Ultra Hal Text to Speech Reader. Unfortunately, those two do not convert the text directly to Mp3 format – just .wav. Other than that, they didn’t have as many choices on recording quality as Spesoft’s.

Step 2: Get a Good Book

There is a veritable cornucopia of copyright expired books out on the web. Project Gutenberg is probably the best known. Go on over, search for a topic and find the book you would like to read. Now download it. Please consider making a donation to Project Gutenberg if you can. It really is a great resource that has been going for about 30 years now.

I suppose you could do this with an eBook you own, as long as it wasn’t for public performance and you didn’t upload it on the web somewhere, and you had the express written consent of Major League Baseball, its broadcasters and affiliates. That’s just an opinion – do so at your own risk.

Step 3: Edit the Text as Necessary

You could skip this step if you don’t have the time. Keep in mind that older books often have different spellings or curious characters that might not be read properly by your TTS program.

Step 4: Open the Book in Your TTS

Well, this means that you open the book in your Text to Speech software application.

Okay, here’s more details. Click on the Load Text from File button.

From there, navigate to the text file you want converted. Select that text file, and click on Open.

Now, your text should appear in the main part of the program, just like this!

I take credit for creating the grumbling gremlin tongue twister. It came to me as I was thinking about a gremlin that was, um, grumbling. The car, not the monster.

Step 5: Let the TTS Do It’s Thing

This is the time saver part. Just hit Record and Create Audio File, save it with the file name you want and walk the dog. Don’t have a dog? Walk the neighbour’s dog – just tell them first or it gets ugly, and the neighbour thinks you’re taking the dog for that ritual you had planned for later. Or something like that.

Spesoft Test to Speech software also allows you to choose different voices, adjust the speed, pitch and volume of the voice as well as tweak the recording quality. Everybody seems to have different preferences, so you might just want to play around with that for a bit. Personally, I set the Output Quality and Sample Rate as high as possible. My iPod doesn’t have much on it. Not much of a music guy.

Now you have an Mp3 of the book that you finally wanted to read. Pop it on the iPod, crank up the Shakespeare and get ready to cruise the strip. That’s kind of lame isn’t it? Well, hot librarians might dig it.

Image Credit : yum9me

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If you browse through sites such as YouTube, Vimeo and Blip.tv, you will see that there are lots of video tutorials but with very few of them clear to view and understand.

There are many things that are needed to create a great video tutorial and in this article, I will try my best to teach you some techniques I have learned along the way.

The Right Apps

To start creating a screencast, the you will need to first of all download an application that will allow you to record your screen. For Mac OS X, there are a few applications such as iShowU, ScreenFlow and Screenium. You can try out these apps by downloading them from their website. However, to be able to use the full functionality, you will have to purchase a license. If you are a Windows user then I recommend using Camtasia Studio because it has a lot of great features. Camtasia Studio for Windows is very similar to ScreenFlow for Mac OS X.

A free alternative for both Windows and Mac OS X is Jing. Jing is a screen capture tool from the creators of Camtasia Studio but has been created specifically for screencasts. Although the application can be used without any real limits, the only downside is that the limit on a single recording is five minutes.

For Linux users, there is an open source project on Sourceforge called Xvidcap.

Set The Right Resolution

The first thing to do when creating a screencast for the online audience is to set your screen resolution to the lowest possible setting.

The reason why we do this is so that we can record as much of the screen without losing too much quality when we compress the screencast after we have finished recording. Also, when viewers on video sharing websites view it at full screen mode then the screencast dimensions will most likely be smaller than their resolution. This means that they will be able to see everything clearly including the text.

The Right Gear

When creating a screencast, it is very important that viewers can understand what you are saying so that they can easily follow what you are trying to teach or show. For this reason, it is not recommended that you use the microphone that is built into your laptop because there is a chance that they will hear the fan and you may sound distant and unclear.

If you are going to create a screencast then invest in a standalone microphone or a headset. The headset that I use is the Logitech ClearChat Pro headset and it works great.

The Right Words

If you are doing a screencast for a video tutorial on how to create a script in PHP, for example; it is a good idea to perform a test run, create the script and think about what you would say at certain steps and making notes so that you can best describe what you are trying to get across. If you are creating a long screencast,it is better to pause the recording a take a break for a few minutes because if you make a mistake that you can’t resolve when recording the screencast, you can start again from the recording before you paused. If you are showing off a new tool to perform a certain task, then take some time to introduce the tool and the link to download it so that you do not cause confusion. Most probably, your viewers are those who are new to computers and don’t really know the means to search for the tool you are showcasing.

When you feel that there is no more that you can explain to the user, end the recording by letting them know the ways that they can contact you if they need help. List your Twitter username or email address.

The Right Format

Because the screen resolution was a very low setting, when it comes to exporting our screencast, keep the dimensions to 100%. The image below shows the settings I use for exporting my screencasts. For a short screencast I did recently, the size of the exported MOV file was 32MB and the duration of the screencast was 7 minutes 30 seconds. That works out to 4.3MB per minute which is relatively low to other compression techniques I have used in the past.

Compressing a file can take some time, depending on how long the screencast is and its dimensions. So go and grab a cup of coffee while you wait for it to finish.

The Finishing Touches

When the file has been successfully encoded and compressed, I will then open it with QuickTime Player and add a logo at the beginning of the screencast as well as a link to my website so people who stumble upon my videos on video sharing websites know where they can find more of my stuff.

Now that you have finished all the recording, editing and exporting, it is now time to upload your screencast to as many video sharing websites as you know. I upload to many video sharing websites because different people use different services so the more video sharing websites you upload your content to, the wider the audience you will reach.

If you have a website, then you should also embed it there. When displaying screencasts on my website, the service that I use is Blip.tv because the compression of your screencast when it has been uploaded is very good and hardly any quality is lost. They also have ads within the videos so you can make a little bit of money.

It is time to promote your newly created screencast on your website, so tweet about it and ask people to retweet. Add it to StumbleUpon and del.icio.us, use Facebook to promote it and here are 5 more tips on promotion, hope they come in helpful. Don’t forget to add it to tutorial websites if it is relevant to them also.

If there is anything else that you would like to know about creating a screencast then please feel free to post a comment below and I shall reply the best I can.

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However, algebra concepts insert “unknowns” into equations and formulas that can really throw many students for a loop. Solving an equation for a factor that appears to be on the “wrong side” of the equal sign can feel like a very strange and impossible premise for those students.

As usual, help is available on the Internet, and the following list are some of the best free algebra homework help websites that can make the process of learning algebra a whole lot easier.

MyAlgebra – A Free Algebra Problem Solver

A very simple and useful resource is the MyAlgebra online problem solver application.  While this isn’t the first place a student should go for help, because it simply provides the answer to the equation, it is an excellent website for students to check their work.

Students can work through their algebra problems, and when they’ve come up with a solution that they feel is correct, they can simply enter in the equation and click “Answer.” Of course, solving for equations isn’t the only thing the application can do – there is a long list of funcions in the drop-down list to choose from.

Obviously, the most common choice will be to “solve the equation,” and the nice thing about this online application is that it converts both the problem and the solution into the same sort of format that it would appear in the textbook.

Unfortunately, “show steps” isn’t really a legitimate option, as it takes you to a website for Bagatrix, where you can purchase Algebra solving software that provides step-by-step solutions. Regardless, as an answer-checker the free online app proves very useful.

Illuminations – Cool Algebra Activities and Lessons

Nothing is quite as frustrating for many students as trying to understand abstract concepts, and learning to do so by reading drab and boring textbooks that make you want to go to sleep. Luckily, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics in the U.S. understands this problem and created a website called Illuminations that brings the subject (including algebra) to life for students.

The site includes high quality activities and lessons that cover all aspects of both math and algebra. Of all available free algebra homework help websites, this is definitely the one that’s the most fun and interesting. For lessons, you select grade levels and topics (one area is devoted to just algebra), and you get access to dozens of valuable lessons that teach important algebra concepts. However, my favorite part of the site is the “activities” area that offers some really high quality and valuable online applications that graphically show algebraic principles, such as this “pan balance” app that graphically displays what happens when you change different elements of equations.

Tutorvista – Free Lessons

While Tutorvista isn’t technically a free site, because the primary aim is to get parents to sign up their children for an online tutor, the website does offer an entire algebra help section with well formatted lessons that teach students about the many elements of algebra, from foundation principles all the way to the more advanced topics.

Of course, if you do need tutoring for your child, you can actually submit an assignment and for an average fee of $5, a tutor will actually send back the answer in a fully worked-out step-by-step solution. However, before you start dishing out your cash for any paid tutoring, make sure to check out the next free Algebra homework help website that actually does offer many tutoring services for free.

Algebra.com – Math Tutors Who Just Can’t Get Enough

Of course, the best place to get some free algebra tutoring is Algebra.com, an online community of mathematicians who are obsessed with the topic. You can turn their obsession into your child’s advantage by posting problems for the tutor community to answer. The website itself offers more lessons and information than probably any other algebra help website out there.

Just the algebra section includes pre-algebra, algebra I and algebra II – and of course there’s a quick and easy “Universal Simplifier and Solver” at the top that will either simplify or solve your algebra equations. At the top of the site, there’s a “Free Tutors” menu option that’ll take you to a section where you can either sign up to be a free tutor (a public service which gives you exposure for your tutoring business), or you can submit your own algebra questions to the tutors. There are almost a thousand active tutors – and the question/answer area is a huge community of fantastic tutors who are eager to help kids with their algebra problems.

Math.com – Interactive Algebra Help

Another valuable site filled with step-by-step instructions and lessons for students to learn the most important algebra concepts is Math.com. This site covers both the basics as well as advanced concepts under categories like “The Language of Algebra”, “Equations and Inequalities” and “Graphing Equations and Inequalities.”

The lessons at Math.com take students through an easy step-by-step “wizard,” and on each step there’s often a “show me” option students can click where the application offers examples or additional information that better explains a specific topic. It’s just like having a teacher available with instant answers to the typical questions that students often ask.

Drexel University  – The Math Forum

The Math Forum is a valuable public service offered by Drexel University that offers both students and teachers dozens of resources. Many of the resources are buried within internal links, but the Algebra Section alone offers classroom materials for teachers, Internet projects, public forums and even links to algebra software throughout the net.

The Math Forum is one of the largest math & algebra resources on the net, and if you can afford to donate it would be a valuable and worthy cause to contribute. Mathematics, and algebra in particular are critical skills for students to learn early on that can tremendously simplify their lives later on. Any free algebra homework help websites that exist on the Internet are very positive resources that should be promoted and applauded by everyone.

Do you know of any additional algebra resources for teachers, parents or students on the Internet? Share them in the comments section below.

Image credit: aussiegall

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