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VideoSpin: Free video editor gives Windows Movie Maker a run for its money

VideoSpin
Windows Movie Maker is probably the most widely used free video editor for Windows. And there's a good reason for that. It comes free with Windows XP and Vista. But Windows Movie Maker might not always be the best tool for the job. VideoSpin is a free video editing application that has all the features of Windows Movie Maker and a few more for good measure.

Overall, the two applications have a similar look and feel. Both are designed for use by people who don't have a degree in video editing. You simply locate your video and audio files, arrange them on a timeline, and start snipping or rearranging. You can add a variety of transitions or sound effects to your movie. And unlike Windows Movie Maker, VideoSpin sports a pretty decent title editor. There's also an option to upload your finished videos directly to YouTube or Yahoo! Video.
The program is almost too user friendly in some places. For example, VideoSpin assumes your files are in your My Videos folder, which is fair. But while you can easily change directories, there's no simple way to navigate to a separate hard drive or partition. Fortunately, you can drag and drop audio and video files into VideoSpin from Windows Explorer, no matter what drive their on.

VideoSpin is basically a slimmed down version of the commercial Pinnacle Studio, which normally sells for $50. As such, there's no official support for VideoSpin, and you have to put up with some in-program advertising. And while you can save files in a variety of formats, you'll receive a notice the first time you run VideoSpin letting you know that your MPEG-2/4 codecs will expire if you don't purchase a $15 codec pack within 15 days. But you can try to use other codecs installed on your computer with VideoSpin.

[via Digital Inspiration]

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Civiballs is a beautiful, soothing physics puzzle Time Waster

CiviballsI have an absolute weakness for physics games, and while Civiballs isn't the strongest physics-based game, what it lacks in the physics department it makes up for a few times over in style and fun.

In Civiballs, you are presented with a few colored balls, and your goal is to get those balls into the same-colored urn on the level. The "civi" part of Civiballs is that there are 3 sets of levels to play, each representing a different civilization. While the civilization doesn't affect gameplay, the artwork for each level is beautifully themed to it's appropriate era.

To play the game, you are given only one tool - a sword with which to cut the chains that are holding the balls. The puzzle part of the game is in figuring out what order, and with what timing to cut each chain. Do it right, and all the right balls end up in the right urns, with no stray balls entering an urn (a no-no). Do it wrong, and you get to start over again.

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