Free Download A Day

If you have a question about a Mac, you’re going to find the answer in MacTracker. Processor speed, original operating system version, expansion slots–it’s all here.

MacTracker is the ultimate resource for all things Macintosh. Starting with the Lisa (Macintosh XL), you can see every computer and Apple-branded Mac-compatible device, such as printers, displays, scanners, operating systems, and extras (remember the iPod, kids?) that came out of Cupertino: pictures, specs, and even room for your own notes, with links to relevant Web sites and documents. There’s even a section for Mac clones. You can create your own “Smart Categories” to search and group information based on your own criteria, including your notes.

Along with the nitty-gritty specs, there are some cool images included with MacTracker. The info page for each system has a picture of the system, and for the computers, you can play the “Startup Chime”, and for some of the older systems, there is also a recording of the “Death Chime”–not a happy sound, that. Interesting historical tidbits are included also.

MacTracker is available in versions for MacOS 8.5+, OS X, Win2k+, and even iPod.

Download MacTracker

One of the great things about using computers in education is that with carefully crafted software, children can think they’re merely having fun, when in fact they are actually learning. Making any subject matter fun and interesting can go a long way toward engaging children in the education process, and help to reinforce the lessons they learn through teacher instruction and working through textbooks.

Math Games Level 1 for Windows, presented by the folks at Quiz-Tree.com, is a way for students to work with addition and multiplication with numbers from 1 to 12. Rather than just a rote memorization of facts, Math Games has learners interact with the computer in learning how to put numbers together. With a couple of clicks, users can select two numbers and an operation–addition or multiplication–and see what the resulting answer is. Images and controls on the screen are big and bold, so this application is especially suitable for younger students.

Math Games Level 1 for Windows is free for personal use.

Download Math Games Level 1 for Windows

Expression is a scientific graphing calculator, similar in many ways to the Texas Instruments graphing calculators, like the TI-82, used in many schools. With Expression, you can evaluate numeric expressions, plot functions, convert between decimal, hex, octal, and binary, and more. You can enter values by clicking on the calculator itself, or by using the keyboard. Expression keeps track of previously evaluated expressions, allowing you to recycle them back into the main window, saving you time in data entry. The function catalog lets you pick functions and operations from a list.

Expression can be customized to fit the way you work. You can minimize it to the System Tray to keep it out of the way, or you can set it to “stay on top”, where it is always available to you. Licensed under the GNU GPL, the Visual Basic source code is available, just in case you always wondered how apps like this work.

Expression is a Windows app, and will run on Win95 or later.

Download Expression

Did you sleep through all the astronomy lectures in college? Do you still have problems finding the Big Dipper? Stellarium may be the answer.

Stellarium is an open source planetarium application available for Linux, Mac, and Windows. Set your observing position and see the sky as it appears. Did you ever wonder what it all would look like from the moon? You can choose any moon or planet from which to observe, as well as any terrestrial location. How about a different time? Set the time and date, and you can travel back, or ahead, in time.

Now about that Big Dipper: turn on labels to show you what you’re seeing. Fire up the constellation overlays and see if that really looks like a goat up there (Capricornus), or just a bunch of stars. You can dig deeper and look at deep sky objects among the constellations.

Stellarium features over 120,000 stars, as well as all the planets and their moons. There is a scripting feature that allows you to record and play back your own shows, and you can even use Stellarium to drive a telescope.

It’s too late to improve your grade, but you still have time to find Orion’s belt.

Download Stellarium

Calendar Magic is a fascinating program which brings together all the world's most popular calendars. There's the standard Gregorian calendar, of course, but you'll also be able to explore the Julian calendar, Islamic, Coptic, and about two dozen other international calendar options. Just start with today's date, and do a one-click conversion to another calendar style. The calendar recognizes common holidays and events ("observed days") from over 230 countries, and displays special occurrences like Olympic years.

As well as being an educational aid, Calendar Magic is practical, and can store important personal dates (like birthdays), then issue reminders with an alarm. Most people will be fascinated by the "This is your life" information, including day-of-the-week on which you were born, number of days you have lived, your Zodiac sign, some biorhythm data, and the day-of-the-week on which your next birthday falls. Your "Chinese age" and your date of birth in many other calendar systems are also displayed.

Calendar Magic is designed to be easily printable, so you can customize your calendar and then print it out for home use.

Download Calendar Magic

Here's your chance to be a hero. Save a loud and obnoxious kangaroo from the gallows in this amusing variation of the game, "Hangman". The premise is simple if you've ever played Hangman, or have ever watched Wheel of Fortune — try to figure out a phrase by choosing different letters of the alphabet to fill in the blanks.

Hangaroo tries to be educational, and offers over 8500 terms and phrases in 120 different categories. There are even phrases which are in the form of "Did you know…?" facts. If all those possibilities aren't enough for you, you can create your own customized phrases and store them in external datafiles. The software developer will even upload your phrase database to the site so it can be shared with other users.

Get Hangaroo

To get right to the point, Language Identifier is able to accurately identify the language in which a document is written. It currently supports 260 documents and encoding modules, and new languages are being added all the time. The software publisher, LexTex, claims it's the most comprehensive language identifier program available.

If you find a webpage or document whose language is a mystery to you, simply copy and paste a section of it into Language Identifier, and click the "Identify" button. The program will tell you the likely identify of the language you've found, as well as name three similar languages for comparision purposes.

A program like this wouldn't have a lot of use for the average person, but if you need to identify a language, it's really the only way to go. If you're doing an important school or work project and find a document which seems crucial, and needs to be translaterd, you can use Language Identifier as the first step toward getting your document to the correct language translator. It's also a fun way to figure out the origin of all those annoying spam emails which are written in fancy languages.

Download Language Identifier

In the mood for a vacation? Don't forget the Schmap! Just install Schmap on your Windows PC and you'll have access to an ever-growing collection of interactive travel guides for cities and countries all over the world. Every Schmap Guide comes with dynamic maps, useful links, playable tours, top picks, plus photos and reviews for 100s of sights and attractions in the city of your choice. Whether you've wondered about travel to Perth, Australia, or wanted to take a virtual stroll down the streets of Lake Tahoe, Schmap will help you do it.

Schmap Guides can be downloaded individually, if you already know your destination. If you're still undecided, you can download special packs geared towards people with special interests. There's a Schmap Guide about the best golfing destinations, about the best destinations for those who love food, and even one listing unsung tourist treasures right here in the United States. More and more Schmap Guides are being added every day. The company actively solicits user feedback and wants to improve their product, so you're welcome to speak out about your Schmap experience.

Get Schmap

Weather Watcher is a fun and useful program which allows you to have a full-featured weather station on your Windows desktop. Customize the program for your location, and it will pull information from the Internet to keep you updated on the current temperature, weather conditions, and forecast. Information for 77000 cities worldwide is available.

The current temperature and conditions are displayed in a tray icon when the program is minimized. When maximized, you'll have access to more detailed information, including hourly forecasts, international weather, and satellite maps. The program can be customized with skins, and the developer maintains a support forum if you need assistance.

Download WeatherWatcher

You don't even need an Internet connection to use Mobysaurus, an English-language thesaurus of over 30,000 root words, and two and a half million synonyms. Well, you'll need the Internet to download the program, but once completed, it runs offline and can be accessed from within most other software programs by using a designated hotkey. Wildcard searching is permitted, and Mobysaurus will "suggest-as-you-type" and auto-complete. The entire database is cross-referenced, so click one word within a displayed list and you'll be taken to new results. Mobysaurus can also find words that are related through synonymous roots.

If you do have an Internet connection, Mobysaurus can access sites like Dictionary.com and Wikipedia.com to look up definitions and synonyms. Clipboard and print support are included, so you can quickly print your results, even the results of an entire session of searching.

Download Mobysaurus