Adobe air application "Klock" is a very nice little time tracking program, perfect for the freelancer trying to keep record of their work flow. I found it incredibly useful, as I'm just getting started in my new career field of web design and don't always have the best idea of how long a project might take. You can think of this application as a fancy punch clock. It keeps detailed track of how you spent your time, on multiple projects.

You start by entering client/ job info, and a time frame estimate. Then you simply clock in to a particular project you may be working on, and when you're done you clock out. You can add details in like, working on design mockup, or emailing client, or whatever you choose. Klock then takes this info and creates timelines, graphs, and pie charts. I can now see exactly how long I spent creating the print style sheet for a site, or compare over all I spent 10 hours on john doe's site to 12 hours on jane smiths site. Very useful stuff for OCD people like me that like to tack everything.

The best part is it's FREE!! I think this application could be useful to many people, not just a web designer like me. A graphic artist could use it to track their time spent on a magazine ad, or photography could track time retouching photos, a developer writing code, etc. If you take a few seconds to set up things like this at the start of a project, you be glad you did down the road.

KLOCK homepage

So, I just downloaded one of the newest programs in the adobe library, Flash Catalyst. I have to say I like it. It's a program to help designers and developers stream line flash application development.

As a designer I can create a mock up of my application in illustrator or photoshop and transfer it over with all the layers to Catalyst. Then from within Catalyst, I can add interactivity, motion effects, transitions, etc. A designer can create an almost fully functioning app. On the developer side, this catalyst creation can be brought into Flash Builder 4 and add additional code and functionality.

I enjoy making interactive apps in Flash but I'm not amazing with actually coding them, that's where using this with a developer works awsome. It's also nice just for simple things, little animations, adds, etc. Overall I say, cool stuff.

Here's a link to Adobe's page on Flash Catalyst. Adobe's Flash Catalyst