Free Web Conferencing with Twiddla

Gas prices might have stabilized for now, but soon they'll skyrocket again, leading to a chaotic world of post-apocalyptic road warriors who fight for every drop of petroleum. To save on gas, they'll also telecommute as much as possible using Twiddla, a free Web-based conferencing program that includes document sharing, text chat, and whiteboarding.

You can be up and running with Twiddla in minutes, since there's no requirement even to register; just log on and send your co-workers a URL to connect. The program has extensive whiteboarding tools â€" it has more drawing options than some simple photo editing programs â€" plus awesome goodies like the ability to build Mathematica-style mathematical formulas and equations and insert them in your whiteboard. You can also display Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents.

Twiddla won't give you desktop sharing, synchronized Web browsing, or the ability to interact with shared documents. For those kinds of tools, you'll want to try something like DimDim, another free Web-based meeting site.