There is a "getting stronger" opinion and movement on web users having their own self-controlled, free and open source clouds where data belongs to the users, can be transferred easily and privacy is not an issue.

ownCloud is supporting this movement with a cool app which works as a:

• file manager/explorer with share option, WebDAV support, the ability to play music files
• calendar
• contacts manager
• and has planned features like image gallery, online text editor, online task manager, encryption, bookmarks, desktop sync client, Android&webOS apps and server-server sync.

It is built with PHP-MySQL (or SQLite) and is definitely a good option for users willing to move their data to the web + manage easily.

For MySQL users, phpMyAdmin -the popular MySQL admin tool-, is probably one of the most-used apps unless you are fan of a desktop MySQL admin tool.

MyWebSQL is an exciting open source alternative to both as it is a web-based MySQL (and SQLite) manager with a desktop-like functionality.

It is built with PHP and, with the help of a completely Ajaxed interface, tasks can be accomplished pretty quickly.

Creating, editing and deleting tables or records are easily done in a grid mode which also makes working with multiple items at the same time possible. Also, shortcuts for any actions exist inside context menus to make browsing faster.

There are other must-have features like import-export, SQL editor (with syntax highlighting), repair tables, search, process manager, etc.

MyWebSQL is a multilanguage app with lots of ready-to-use languages and has a themable interface.

Imho, what is missing the most is the ability to manage multiple server connections with a single login and scheduled tasks (which I hope would exist in the future versions).

CometChat, a powerful chat application for websites (which was previously shared at WRD), has recently released the 4th version with new features and giving away 4 licences (3 Basic and 1 Pro) to WRD readers to celebrate the event.

In order to join the giveaway, please make sure you check the details at the bottom of this post.

What is CometChat?

It is a PHP-MySQL (or MSSQL) powered application that enables users of a website to easily communicate with each other and interact with the website.

CometChat sits in the footer of a website and supports both text (including group chat) + video/voice chat. It also allows file transfers, screensharing and, with the most recent version, the ability to chat with Gtalk and Facebook friends.

This is an exciting feature as it helps "the activity of users to grow" by keeping them on the website more.

The application also offers more than chat:

• it has 100+ built-in games -including multiplayer ones-
• users can write or draw together on whiteboards or writeboards
• it is possible to publish announcements
• integrates Facebook fan page and displays Twitter activities
• works as a social share widget

There are integrations with many other popular softwares (like JomSocial, vBulletin, SocialEngine, Invision Power Board, phpFox, Boonex Dolphin, BuddyPress, phpBB, WordPress, SkaDate, Elgg and more) exist.

With the new version, there is now a mobile web interface which works in all major devices/platforms.

CometChat can be completely customized to better with the style of any website and it can be controlled very easily with the help of a powerful admin panel with settings for everything.

The discount

CometChat is offering a 10% discount to all Professional Edition or higher purchases until 1st of November with the coupon code: "WRD10OFF" (without quotes).

How to join the giveaway?

CometChat is giving away 1 Pro and 3 Basic licenses to WRD readers. In order to join the giveaway, just comment to this post and the random query below will be choosing the winners:

SELECT * FROM wp_comments WHERE comment_post_id=2537 AND comment_approved=1 AND comment_type='' GROUP BY comment_author_email ORDER BY RAND() LIMIT 4

Winners will be announced 1 week later (1 November 2011) as an update to this post. Good luck.

The winners

Here are the winners of CometChat licenses:

• Derek (comment #422062) – Pro license
• NiK Makovka (comment #417901) – Basic License
• MasterChowl (comment #418049) – Basic License
• Dennis (comment #418259) – Basic License

Congratulations and thanks very much for joining.

Imagine is an object-oriented PHP library for working with images and manipulating them.

The library can handle frequently-used operations like resize, crop or applying filters.

A color class helps generating the RGB values of any given color and methods exist for drawing shapes like arc, ellipse, line, pieSlice and more.

Also, it is possible to load any font file and insert text into images with a flexible font class.

Imagine is a frequently-updated library with an exciting to-do-list like charting, reflection and rounded corner filters.

Zebra_Image is an open source and lightweight image manipulation library built with PHP.

The library is object-oriented, requires only the PHP GD2 extension and supports resize, crop, rotate and flip operations.

It works with .JPG, .GIF + .PNG formats and can convert one format to another after each action (transparency is preserved as well).

For the most-used function, image resizing, there are various methods offered for a smart resize like "keeping the aspect ratio", "resizing with prioritizing width or height" and "resizing by cropping".

It is also possible to define the quality of .JPG outputs.

Restler is a multi-protocol and open source framework for exposing PHP classes and methods as a REST API.

The framework is lightweight (works only with few files) and can be used by any developer experienced in object oriented PHP with no learning curve.

It works with multiple formats: XML, JSON, Plist and AMF. Also, it is very modular which means creating new formats or features is possible.

Restler can convert formats in both ways (requests and responses) and has support for the GET, POST, PUT and DELETE HTTP requests.

P.S. There is a short and informative slideshow about the framework to get you started easily.

MobileESP is an open source project for easily detecting users browsing the web pages with a mobile browser.

It has server-side versions for PHP, ASP.NET, Java, Ruby and a client-side JavaScript version with light features.

There are methods provided for detecting a specific device (iPhone, Android, WebOS, etc.) or a wider selection if it is a smartphone, tablet, game console, etc.

The project has support for most of the well-known devices and can even identify their capabilities.

Many internet users are storing their images on photo sharing/hosting services like Flickr, SmugMug or Picasa to make sure they are easily reachable and backed up regularly.

OpenPhoto is an open source PHP application that encourages users to host their images in the cloud (Amazon S3, Rackspace CloudFiles, Google Storage, etc.) on their own and functions as a front-end to manage + present them.

This way, images stay totally under control of users, switching providers become much easier and users won't be limited with the capabilities offered by photo sharing/hosting services.

The front-end has a simplistic interface where photos are displayed as a grid, categorized with tags and searched easily. It is also mobile-friendly and has theming support.

OpenPhoto itself is built on top of the powerful API which makes it possible to improve it or integrate photos with any other apps.

Fork is an open source content management system that offers a user-friendly environment for building and managing a website.

It is built with PHP (uses Spoon)-MySQL and there are various mature extensions offered like a form builder, blogging, location, analytics (integrates with Google Analytics) or newsletter.

A few number of high-quality themes are offered for free to easily get started and also learn how it integrates with HTML.

Fork is definitely not as feature-rich as WordPress or other popular alternatives but it is lightweight, promising and improved regularly.

letoDMS is an easy to use and setup document management system that is built with PHP-MySQL.

It is a simple-yet-powerful application that can store any type of files under folders/categories with an unlimited hierarchy by keeping the versions of them.

Everything is completely web-based including uploads and, optionally, display of documents (if not downloaded). It can even auto-convert MS-Word documents to HTML.

Multiple users can work with the system with no conflicts as there is a lock/unlock mechanism on documents. And, access control lists (ACL) exist for making sure that each user can work with the documents theat they are permitted to.

letoDMS has various other features that simplify its usage like advanced search, themable + multilanguage interface and much more.