creator

After concerns were raised about where donors' money goes if Kickstarter projects are never finished, the crowd-source funding platform addressed its accountability today.

"The number of creative projects that have been funded and produced on Kickstarter in the past three years is enormous," the company's co-founders, Perry Chen, Yancey Strickler, and Charles Adler, wrote in a blog post today. "But of course not every project goes perfectly. Delays do occur, especially with more complicated projects. Some creators get in over their heads dealing with processes that are new to them."

Ultimately, Kickstarter concluded that the … Read more

Nitro PDF's PrimoPDF is a free tool that converts all kinds of files into PDFs that you can open, edit, and manage with your usual PDF application (Nitro has a free reader, too, if you don't already have one). Some free PDF converters are more like print drivers and only create documents from the Print command. But PrimoPDF also has a handy desktop icon you can drag and drop files into for rapid automatic conversion. Whichever method you prefer, PrimoPDF gives you the choice.

Clicking PrimoPDF's Drop Files icon opens the main interface, which is where you … Read more

Making it easier than ever to make your own simple Web page to spread the memes of your dreams, Mozilla has introduced Thimble, touted as "ridiculously simple" for making Web sites.

Taking on the likes of Wordpress, Thimble is targeted at basically anyone interested in creating and sharing their own Web pages and other projects in as fast as a few minutes.

The difference here is that Thimble isn't really a blog-type page creator, but rather maybe more like the AOL-owned About.Me splash page maker for those Internet users with a little HTML and CSS knowledge. … Read more

If it's time to organize those years of photographs, or just the dozens from your last vacation, you can get a professional-looking slideshow with Bolide Slideshow Creator, a free tool designed to made it easy to create your own quality slideshow presentations.

The tool has a very straightforward interface. Putting together a slideshow presentation is a simple matter of drag and drop; just pick the photos and background music from among your collection. We liked the option to add comments to the photos and the number of transition effects you can choose from to make the presentation more visually … Read more

Links from Monday's episode of Loaded:

If you're a local fan of digital art, there's a good chance you spent at least part of your weekend at the Creators Project, a celebration of the art form that drew thousands to see a diverse collection of interactive installations here in San Francisco.

From 40-foot-tall latticework cubes filled with LEDs (see video below) to huge triptychs that converted people's body images into flights of fancy, the project showcased some of the best--and worst--digital art around. It also gave visitors access to a collection of films on the topic, and the chance to listen to a number of musicians, including the hit group, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. … Read more

Soda 3D Reader is Lulu Software's answer to Adobe Reader. While it may not be the most powerful Adobe alternative out there, it does have some nice features and unique 3D functionality that make it worth a look.

The program's interface is clean and inviting, with ribbon-style navigation that should be familiar to Microsoft Office 2010 users. The tabs at the top act as your main menu, with submenus that open up beneath them as you click. And along the left, there's a page preview pane, if you choose to enable it. The program's controls are … Read more

YouTube users can now tap into a new analytics feature that lets them see just how popular their videos really are.

Detailed in a blog post today, the new YouTube Analytics feature will replace the site's current Insight page in providing reports and stats on uploaded videos.

As a step up from Insight, YouTube Analytics is designed to offer data in a more user-friendly format and make it easier to find and view specific information. Borrowing a trick or two from Google Analytics, the YouTube Analytics page begins with a quick overview of the basic stats on your videos … Read more

If you haven't updated your latest fliers, certificates, or brochures templates for your business, events or products you may own, it's about time you upgrade and check out this app.

Within the last year, you may have noticed a surge of QR Codes in product informational pages, fliers and others, which allows customers to easily access the information they are seeking with their smartphones. All they have to do is scan and voila--they are on your informational page. If you've ever wondered how others do it, check out this app that will save you both time and … Read more