Tech & Tools

This is a quite random selection of tools and technology to inspire, invoke and maybe innovate (or other words that start with the letter "i") Web journalism. Please send me a note if you want to add or subtract tools.

🔑 = highly recommend

LAST UPDATED: June 8, 2019



1Password

Utility Best, easy way to keep your passwords on lock.
Site

1001 Free Downloads

Utility Thousands of royalty free graphics, fonts, more.
Site

360 Panorama

Photo 🔑 App to easily create powerful 360 panoramas.
Site | 360Verse | Example

960 Grid System

Design An effort to streamline web development - 960 pixels.
Site

About.me

Misc. Quickly build your personal page.
Site

After the Deadline

Utility Polish your writing.
Site

amara

Misc. An easy way to caption and translate any video.
Site

Animoto

Video An automated MTV-style video creator.
Site | Example

Audacity

Audio 🔑Cross-platform, audio-editing software.
Site | Screenshots

AudioBoom

Audio Audio clips posted online.
Site

Balsamiq

Utility Rapid wireframing tool .
Site

Banjo App

Utility 🔑Mobile app to explore across social media.
Site | Browser

BatchGeo

Interactive Copy, paste to create maps.
Site

Bento

Education 🔑Everything you need to know about web dev.
Site

Biteable

Video 🔑Make animation completely online in minutes.
Site

Botometer

Utility Check if the Twitter account is a bot.
Site

Bottlenose

Utility track news and trends across social networks
Site

Buffer

Utility Schedule, publish and analyze all your posts.
Site

BuiltWith

Utility Find out the technology behind websites.
Site

Canva

Design Browser-based graphic design for non-designers.
Site

Clips

Video Videos with text, effects, graphics, and more.
Site

Codecademy

Education Learn to code for free. (Makers of Code Year)
Site | Example

Contxts

Utility A tech alternative to business cards.
Site | Example

Crowdmap

Interactive Get crowdsourced data -- mapped.
Site | Example

CuePrompter

Utility Converts your browser into a teleprompter.
Site

Dropbox

Utility 🔑Store your photos, docs, videos and share them.
Site

easel.ly

Design Create custom infographics via browser.
Site | Video

EtherPad

Utility 🔑Awesome, simple collaboration tool. Mozilla-hosted site | Example

Evernote

Utility Find your notes on any computer, phone or whatever.
Site

Expensify

Utility 🔑Expense reports that don't suck!
Site

Exposure

Photo Photo stories for computers, tablets, and phones.
Site | Example

Frame.io

Video Video, photo & audio collaboration.
Site

FotoForensics

Utility See how/if an image has been Photoshopped.
Site

Fyuse

Photo GIF/Video + 3D style image.
Site

GifCam

Utility Easy and fun animated gif making app. (PC only)
Site

GIPHY

Utility 🔑The source for GIFs.
Site | App

github

Utility Sharing code (and more) socially.
Site | Example

Facebook Search

Utility Facebook Graph Search Generator.
Site

Fusion Tables

Interactive 🔑Visualize and publish data tables online.
Site | Example

GoogleVoice

Utility 🔑Own your phone number - for free.
Site

Hackstory Tools

Utility Collection of diverse digital stories.
Site

HandBrake

Utility 🔑Open source video transcoder.
Site

Headliner

Video Make social videos.
Site

HootSuite

Utility Social Media dashboard for teams.
Site

How much to make an app

Misc. Estimate the cost.
Site

HP Reveal

Misc. View, create and share augmented-reality.
Site (Formerly Aurasma)

IFTTT

Utility "Put the internet to work for you" with recipes.
Site

import.io

Utility "Instantly Turn Web Pages into Data."
Site

infogr.am

Design 🔑Create interactive infographics.
Site | Example

IntelTechniques

Utility Online Internet search tools.
Site

InterviewJS

Interactive Convert interviews into interactive texts.
Site | Example

iRig Recorder

Audio Make quality recordings on your iPhone, iPod, iPad.
Site

Justinmind

Design Free prototype / wireframe app for all screens.
Site

JuxtaposeJS

Interactive 🔑Compare before/after images.
Site | Example

Kahoot!

Interactive Create, play and share learning game.
Site

Kaywa

Misc. Generate QR codes.
Site | QArt | Apps

Kuler

Design Color schemes via color wheel or from the community.
Site | Example

LinkTally

Utility How many times a URL was shared on social networks.
Site

Livestream

Video Broadcast from your desktop.
Site

Let me Google that for you

Misc. Smart-ass tool.
Site | Example

Mapbox

Utility Location data platform for mobile and web apps.
Site | Example

MeetWays

Utility Easily find a halfway point between two locations.
Site

NaturalReader

Utility Good quality text to speech solutions.
Site

NameChk

Utility Check your username on social networks and sites.
Site

netbootcamp

Utility Search tools and training.
Site

nuzzel

Utility Personalized news discovery via social.
Site

oTranscribe

Utility 🔑Free web app to make transcribing easier.
Site

Periscope

Video Live streaming from mobile to Twitter.
Site

Piktochart

Design 🔑Create custom infographics via browser.
Site

Pixlr

Photo Browser-based photo editing.
Site | Example

PodOmatic

Audio "Podcasting made simple."
Site

Poll Everywhere

Interactive SMS, Web and other polling tools.
Site | Example

Pressfolios

Utility Better online portfolios, without code for free.
Site | Example

Prezi

Interactive An alternative to boring PowerPoints.
Site | Example

Project Naptha

Utility Highlight, copy, and translate text from any image.
Site

Prototool

Design Useful tools to create, test & share VR designs
Site

Quik

Video Quickly create videos via mobile or desktop.
Site

Quora

Misc. Crowdsourcing questions and answers.
Site | Example

Recordit

Utility Screencasts with GIFs and Twitter.
Site

Responsive G.S.

Design Quick, easy & flexible way to create a responsive site.
Site

RINGR

Audio Record anyone, anywhere, on any device & have quality audio.
Site

Rush

Video Edit video on iOS, Mac, Android, and Windows.
Site

SceneVR

Utility Easy-to-make VR stories.
Site

ScreencastOMatic

Utility One-click screen capture recording, with no install.
Site

Screenie

Utility Screen shot image manager.
Site

Slack

Utility 🔑THE best way to communicate with a team.
Site

SoundCite

Audio Contextually embed audio into text.
Site

SoundCloud

Audio Easily create, edit, chare, mix audio.
Site

SoundSlides

Photo "Ridiculously easy" audio slideshows.
Site | Example

Adobe Spark

Interactive Graphics, web pages, and video stories.
Site

FB's spatial workstation

Audio 360 audio.
Site

Storyform

Interactive Create beautiful, responsive stories.
Site | Example

StoryMap

Interactive Tell stories that highlight locations.
Site | Example

Story Spheres

Interactive Enhance 360 images with audio.
Site | Example

Surveillance Self-Defense

Education Tips, tools & more.
Site

Survey Monkey

Interactive Easy, simple surveys - for cheap.
Site | Example

Tableau Public

Design Create and publish interactive data visualizations.
Site | Example

TalkShoe

Audio Browser-based studio for calling-in podcasts.
Site | Example

ThingLink

Interactive Make your images more interactive.
Site | Example

Timeglider

Interactive Web-based timeline software for creating.
Site | Example

Timeline JS

Interactive Beautifuly designed timeline presentation.
Site | Example

TinEye

Utility Reverse image search, verify and more.
Site

Tinychat

Misc. Chatrooms with A/V.
Site | Example

TripIt

Utility Trip planner keeps all of your travel plans in one spot.
Site

Tweeten

Utility TweetDeck, but better.
Site

TweetDeck

Utility Favorite desktop Twitter client.
Site | Air

Twitter Advanced Search

Utility Best way to find tweets.
Site

twXplorer

Utility Journalism focused, advanced Twitter search.
Site

Unity

Utility Gaming engine to produce VR and AR.
Site | Personal

VeeR Editor

Video Edit VR videos & photos on your phone.
Site

visual.ly

Design Community to create, share infographics and dataviz.
Site

Vyond

Video Make your own animated videos.
Site

W3Schools

Education Free tutorials on Web development (not the best).
Site

Wayback Machine

Utility The history of the Internet, via archive.org.
Site | Example

WebPlatform

Education Community building resources for a better Web.
Site | Tutorials

Weebly

Misc. Websites made easy.
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WeVideo

Video Collaborative, mobile/online video editing.
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Widgetic

Utility Apps as a service for DIY platforms.
Site

Wordle

Design Generate "word clouds" from text that you provide.
Site | Example

Writer

Utility Stay focused with the "Internet typewriter."
Site

Zamzar

Utility Change audio, video, images and doc formats.
Site

ZeeMaps

Interactive Create and share interactive maps.
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Associate Professor of Professional Practice
Robert Hernandez
email: r.hernandez [at] usc.edu
twitter: @webjournalist
213.280.5187 c | 323.761.9054 gv