Free Online College Courses

I'm pretty sure I've heard this before, but I'd forgotten. Did you know that MIT offers virtually ALL of their course materials online for FREE?

I'm not sure exactly how it works, but I started with this list of courses and started browsing.  There are some very interesting things there.  I'm posting this here primarily for me, so I'll remember this time.  I know there's something I'll enjoy learning.

If you're interested in learning something new, or taking a refresher on something you've already learned, be sure to check it out.

Another source for free online courses - Edex.org .
I'm checking them all out!

Free Legal Music Downloads

Have you discovered Noisetrade yet?  It's a great site for discovering new artists and new music.  There are thousands of albums available from artists who would love to meet you, and love for you to give them a listen.  And all of the content is FREE.

When you find something that sounds interesting - you can listen to the music on the page and get some information about the artist - just enter your email address, country, and postal code, and they'll email you a link to download the music.  That's all you have to do.  Then simply unzip the file you download and enjoy your new music.  If you enjoy it, consider leaving a tip to support the artist and spreading the word through twitter and/or facebook.

 You can even embed some music on your website or blog to share with your friends.


I've downloaded several albums, but I don't really listen to music that much, so I haven't even listened all the way through some of them.  Unfortunately the option to listen to or sample the music before downloading has stopped working in my browser, probably some plug-in that needs updated.  So, I've downloaded some based on the embedded video on the page.  Thankfully that still works, and if I like the sound of the song in the video, I'll download the whole thing just so I can hear the rest.  And then I don't always do it, but  I know there are people who listen to music all the time, so this is a great site for getting some new music - and then being able to support the artists as you choose.  You'll also get emails from them once in a while, so you can keep up with the artists you discover, know when they're releasing new music, performing in your area, etc. 

Also available on Noisetrade - free ebooks.

Related articles

• Noisetrade: download music and support artists at the same time
• NoiseTrade goes literary: Get free eBooks and audiobooks

SYNC returns May 30th!

Two FREE audiobook downloads each week.

Teens and other readers of Young Adult Literature will again have the opportunity to listen to bestselling titles and required reading classics this summer. Each week from May 30 - August 15, 2013, SYNC will offer two free audiobook downloads. The audiobook pairings will include a popular young adult (YA) title and a classic that connects with the YA title's theme and is likely to show up on a student's summer reading list.

For example, Maggie Stiefvater's The Raven Boys (Scholastic Audiobooks), the first book in a bestselling series about a group of teenagers searching for the supernatural ley lines, will be paired with the Latino classic of magical realism, Rudolfo Anaya's Bless Me, Ultima (Recorded Books).

I love this!  We were just talking about how many of the 'classics' are either hard to read or not interesting to high school students.   Or, they're just plain not cool.  For the kids who already love to read, it's not such a big deal, but for those who don't think they like reading - this kind of required reading does not inspire in them a love of reading.  If anything, it reinforces the idea that reading is boring and no fun.  Audiobooks are a good way to get non-readers 'reading' by introducing them to the treasures to be found within books.  This pairing of a current popular book with a classic is brilliant.  Listen to the current book, and then 'if you like this, then you'll like that' - it opens them up to trying the classic with an open mind.

At least I think that's how it's supposed to work.  And did I mention the audiobooks are free?

SYNC Titles Summer 2013 

• May 30 - June 5, 2013
  Of Poseidon by Anna Banks, read by Rebecca Gibel (AudioGO)
  The Tempest by William Shakespeare, read by a Full Cast (AudioGO) 
• June 6 - June 12, 2013
  The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place, Book 1: The Mysterious Howling by Maryrose Wood, read by Katherine Kellgren (HarperAudio)
  Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë, read by Wanda McCaddon (Tantor Audio) 
• June 13 - June 19, 2013
  The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater, read by Will Patton (Scholastic Audiobooks)
  Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya, read by Robert Ramirez (Recorded Books) 
• June 20 - June 26, 2013
  Once by Morris Gleitzman, read by Morris Gleitzman (Bolinda Audio)
  Letter From Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King, Jr., read by Dion Graham (christianaudio)
• June 27 - July 3, 2013
  Rotters by Daniel Kraus, read by Kirby Heyborne (Listening Library)
  Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, read by Jim Weiss (Listening Library) 
• July 4 - July 10, 2013
  Carter Finally Gets It by Brent Crawford, read by Nick Podehl (Brilliance Audio)
  She Stoops to Conquer by Oliver Goldsmith, read by a Full Cast (L.A. Theatre Works) 
•  July 11 - July 17, 2013
  The Peculiar by Stefan Bachmann, read by Peter Altschuler (HarperAudio)
  Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens, read by Simon Vance (Tantor Audio) 
• July 18 - July 24, 2013
  Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers, read by Erin Moon (Recorded Books)
  Hamlet by William Shakespeare, read by a Full Cast (L.A. Theatre Works) 
• July 25 - July 31, 2013
  The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen, read by Charlie McWade (Scholastic Audiobooks)
  The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain, read by Steve West (Blackstone Audio) 
• Aug 1 - Aug 7, 2013
  Death Cloud by Andrew Lane, read by Dan Weyman (Macmillan Audio)
  The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle, read by Ralph Cosham (Blackstone Audio) 
• Aug 8 - Aug 14, 2013
  Enchanted by Alethea Kontis, read by Katherine Kellgren (Brilliance Audio)
  Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll, read by Miriam Margolyes (Bolinda Audio) 
• Aug 15 - Aug 21, 2013
  Sold by Patricia McCormick, read by Justine Eyre (Tantor Audio)
  Let Me Stand Alone by Rachel Corrie, read by Tavia Gilbert (Blackstone Audio) 

TEXT syncya to 25827 for alerts on the SYNC title releases or visit Sync to sign up for email alerts so you won't miss any of these great books.

Related articles

• Free Audiobooks! SYNC 2013 Titles Revealed
• SYNC Schedule for Summer 2013

Get Free Access to Over 700 Marvel Comics

Marvel Comics #1 (Oct. 1939), the first comic from Marvel precursor Timely Comics. Cover art by Frank R. Paul. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Like comics?  Sign up today to get access to the Marvel #1 promotion and more!

• Over 700 Marvel comics that you can read anywhere—on your computer or compatible mobile device—available for free for a limited time
• Exclusive comic book offers, special sales, and new release emails
• Access to over 30,000 digital comics powered by Guided View™ technology

Sign up by 11:59pm ET tonight to receive your promo invite then watch your inbox for your invite.  The invites will begin rolling out April 11, and then you will have 48 hours to choose your FREE Marvel #1 issues! You'll be able to read over 700 Marvel comics for Free from Comixology Digital Comics.

Related articles

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• Access Over 700 FREE Marvel Digital Comics #1 Issues (Must Sign Up by April 9th!)

Free Music from Google Play

Woman listening to Music (Photo credit: RelaxingMusic)

Did you know that Google Play features a free song every day?  Just visit Google Play Music and look for the Free Song of the Day.  It's a great way to check out new music.  If you've got a Google account, it's really easy to add songs to your Google Play music library with just a couple clicks and then enjoy them wherever you are - from your web browser or mobile device - and share with friends, too.

My only problem is that I forget to check every day, so I'm sure I've missed some good songs.  I do have quite a few songs in my music library, though, so it's not like I don't have anything to listen to.  I have the Google Music Manager set up on my computer so that any time I download a song or album (usually from Amazon) or rip a CD, it automatically gets added to my Google Play library.  The only problem is when I rip an audio book so I can listen to it on my MP3 player - and those tracks get added too.  Then I just have to remember to go online and delete them later, because I don't really need books stored there, and I don't want them counting against the 20,000 songs I can store on Google Play for free.  Even if that is a lot of songs!  (I have a little over 5000 songs right now)

Besides the Free Song of the Day, Google Play usually has several other free songs to choose from.  I just wish there was a way to 'buy' them all at once instead of having to individually click each one.  But they are free...

Related articles

• Google to launch free streaming service
• Google reportedly to launch free unlimited music streaming service
• Google preparing a music streaming service, Pandora and Spotify should be worried

Free Word Widget for Your Blog or Website

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of anagrammer for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

You know I love word games.  I don't even know how many Scrabble, Lexulous, and Words with Friends games I have going right now.  I'm sure I'm not alone.  Lots of people are playing these word games.
Now the word game gurus at Anagrammer™ have created this easy to install and easy to use Word Widget.  It's great for finding and learning new words.  Enter some letters - yes, they could be the actual letters you have in one of those word games, but that would be cheating, wouldn't it?  I think the fun would be in entering my letters and then searching after I've made my move, just to see what else I could have played, because cheating just doesn't seem right.

Anyway, the purpose of this widget is to add a bit of interactivity to your blog or website.  There are so many people playing these word games and giving them a tool to, hopefully not cheat, but to improve their game skills will give people an incentive to visit your site and to spend some time there, too.  According to research done by Anagrammer™ blog visitors spend, on average, an extra 8 minutes on the page when one of these widgets is intalled.  I'm inclined to believe them, because I've been playing with the demo widget for a while now.

Powered By Words With Friends cheat

Did I mention that the widget is free?  And easy to install and customize?  Simply choose Anagrammer for Scrabble or Anagrammer for Words With Friends and then choose either the Simple Design or Colorful Design (above).  Then copy and paste the code to your site.  Get the Widget Code & Live Demo to see how much this widget can add to your site.  Warning: It may be addictive to you and your site visitors.

Free Online Courses

Udacity offers higher education for free.

A friend of mine just posted a link to this on facebook, so of course I had to check it out.  You know me - anything free, right?

But it's not just that.  I love the idea of being able to learn new things - being able to do it from home and for free is just a bonus.

They have some beginner courses - Intro to Computer Science, Intro to Physics, and Intro to Statistics - which would be a good place to start for someone like me. There are also some Intermediate and Advanced courses to choose from. Definitely worth checking out!

Who knows - I might figure out what I want to be when I grow up.

Counting Words

Sometimes I need to know how many words I've typed into one of my posts.  There's a site that I usually use - Word Count Tool - but occasionally it won't load, like tonight.  So this is a list of alternatives.

• Words Counter
• Javascript Kit Cut & Paste Word Count
  This one even gives you the code to embed your own word count box on your website:
  
  
  

  This free script provided by JavaScript Kit

• Word Counter
• WordCounterTool - this one can also be used to test your typing speed

They all work in the same way - simply type into the box or copy and paste your post, or whatever else you need to count, and it counts your words for you.  All of them are free to use.

And, of course, you're free to use the word count box I've put into this post.  I just tested it, and it works perfectly!

Save Money with DealDash

I've been seeing posts about DealDash on Facebook recently. People are getting some really good deals on things like cameras, computers, and sewing machines - just to name a few of the deals I've seen. 

The way it works is you sign up for a free account and purchase what they call Bid Packs.  These are sold in packs of 60, 100, or more and usually cost 60¢ per bid, but there are often Bid Sales where you can get them for as little as 15¢ per bid.  Currently they're going for 17¢.

Once you have your free DealDash account and have purchased some bids, you can start looking for deals and start bidding.  All auctions start at $0, and each bid raises the price by one penny.  Highest bidder wins the auction, and that is the price they pay.  I've been watching the front page, and there are lots of items available.  The final prices are pretty good.  Of course, I can't really tell how many times people are bidding on these items, and the cost of the bids would have to be factored into the cost.  Even with that, I think people are getting items for significantly less than they could buy them elsewhere. 

It's risk free to try Deal Dash.  Here's why:

• If you’re a first time bidder on DealDash and use all your bids without winning a single auction, DealDash will return all the bids from your first bid pack purchase, for free, to give you a second chance!
• Bidding on DealDash is also risk free thanks to the Buy it Now option. If you don’t win the auction, you can buy the item you were bidding on for its regular price and get back all the bids you used in that auction for free. This way you not only get the desired item, you don't lose the bids and can use them again to try and win another auction.
• DealDash offers a no questions asked 100% money back guarantee. If you are not satisfied for any reason, DealDash will refund your entire first purchase – no questions asked!

If you're looking for some good deals, be sure to check out DealDash.  If you've already tried it, let me know what you think. 

Try Nopalea for Free

Right now you can try Nopalea for free. Just pay $9.95 for shipping.

Do you (or someone you know) suffer from inflammation and related health problems such as:

• Muscles, joint and body inflammation – causing joint, muscle and body pain 
• Respiratory inflammation – causing allergies and breathing difficulties 
• Arterial inflammation – causing heart health problems 
• Digestive tract inflammation – causing bloating, cramps and burning 
• Widespread body cell inflammation – causing overall fatigue 

Judging from that list, inflammation is a huge cause of all kinds of health issues.

Nopalea (No-pah lay’uh) is a tasty wellness drink made from the fruit of the Nopal cactus (Opuntia Ficus Indica).   The healing properties of this cactus have been relied on for centuries by native peoples, and now they’re available to the rest of us in Nopalea.  Each 32–ounce bottle brims with the health benefits of the Nopal fruit.

Nopalea contains rare and potent antioxidants called bioflavonoids. These bioflavonoids are scientifically proven to help the body reduce inflammation, which is a leading cause of pain.  Drinking Nopalea daily helps the body to reduce inflammation and cleanse itself of daily toxins and thereby promotes optimal health.

If this sounds like something you'd like to try, be sure to take the Nopalea Wellness Challenge.  Simply call 1-800-203-7063 to request your free 32-oz. bottle.  You pay just the $9.95 shipping.  Then drink 3-6 ounces daily until the bottle is empty while tracking your progress with the included Nopalea Challenge Form.  They'll also include a short and informative booklet about the dangers of inflammation and how Nopalea can help.

It's definitely a good way to try it and see how it works for you.

Be Fit - Free Workouts on YouTube

I am really enjoying these work-out videos on YouTube.  I've been doing several of the videos from the BeFit in 90 workout system.  I walk 2 miles every day, so I'm just using them as additional exercise and toning - picking different muscle groups to concentrate on each day - not following the whole 90-day system.

I do this one quite often:



and I did this one today:


I think I need to do this one more often, because I was having a hard time jumping by the end there! 

If you're looking for a good workout challenge, be sure to check out the 90-day Workout System from BeFit in 90.  It's available exclusively on YouTube for FREE and includes strength, cardio, flexibility, yoga and high intensity drills.  There are playlists for each day, and all you have to do is start with the playlist for Day 1 and continue through the workout playlists for 90 days.  And then?  Then you'll probably be addicted to exercise, and you'll keep doing it!

Besides the BeFit in 90 system, Lionsgate BeFit has many other exercise videos available - again, for FREE on YouTube.  There are some Dirty Dancing workouts and some Dancing with the Stars workouts that really look like fun.  I think I'll try some of those next.

Fill Your MP3 Player with Free Audio Books this Summer

SYNC is offering 2 Free Audiobook Downloads Each Week  June 14 - August 22, 2012 

Each week from June 14 - August 22, 2012, SYNC will offer two free audiobook downloads. The audiobook pairings will include a popular YA title and a classic that connects with the YA title's theme and is likely to show up on a student's summer reading lists. For example, Laini Taylor's Daughter of Smoke and Bone, the first book in a new series about a girl who opens a door to two otherworldly cities at war, will be paired with Charles Dicken's A Tale of Two Cities.

To find out when you can download titles to listen to on the run this summer, visit www.AudiobookSync.com or text syncya to 25827. 

This week's books are The Eleventh Plague by Jeff Hirsch and The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck.  Be sure to grab them by Wednesday June 20, because they'll only be available for one week.  Once you've downloaded them, you can listen to them any time - they do not expire.

Here's a list of the upcoming titles:

• 06/21/12-06/27/12
  Irises by Francisco X. Stork, Read by Carrington MacDuffie (Listening Library)
  Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen, Read by Wanda McCaddon (Tantor Media) 
•  06/28/12-07/04/12
  The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud, Read by Simon Jones (Listening Library)
  Tales from the Arabian Nights by Andrew Lang, Read by Toby Stephens (Naxos AudioBooks) 
• 07/05/12-07/11/12
  Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake, Read by August Ross (AudioGO)
  The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins, Read by Ian Holm (AudioGO) 
•  07/12/12-07/18/12
  Guys Read: Funny Business by Jon Scieszka [Ed.] et al., Read by Michael Boatman, Kate DiCamillo, John Keating, Jon Scieszka, Bronson Pinchot (Harper Audio)
  The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County and Other Stories by Mark Twain, Read by Norman Dietz (Recorded Books) 
• 07/19/12-07/25/12
  Cleopatra's Moon by Vicky Alvear Shecter, Read by Kirsten Potter (Oasis Audio)
  Antony and Cleopatra by William Shakespeare, Read by a Full Cast (AudioGO) 
• 07/26/12-08/01/12
  Pinned by Alfred C. Martino, Read by Mark Shanahan (Listen & Live Audio)
  Locomotion by Jacqueline Woodson (Brilliance Audio) 
• 08/02/12-08/08/12
  Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor, Read by Khristine Hvam (Hachette Audio)
  A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, Read by Simon Prebble (Blackstone Audio) 
• 08/09/12-08/15/12
  Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy, Read by Rupert Degas (Harper Audio)
  Dead Men Kill by L. Ron Hubbard, Read by Jennifer Aspen and a Full Cast (Galaxy Press) 
• 08/16/12-08/22/12
  The Whale Rider by Witi Ihimaera, Read by Jay Laga'aia (Bolinda Audio)
  The Call of the Wild by Jack London, Read by William Roberts (Naxos AudioBooks) 

What a great way to keep young people 'reading' over the summer!

I may be all grown up, but I enjoy reading/listening to YA literature, too.  I'm actually looking forward to listening to several of the classics on this list, because I've never read them.  They were not on my school reading lists, and I never read them on my own.  I guess it's about time....  Which ones are you looking forward to?

I would strongly suggest you sign up to get the alerts, via text message or email, so you don't miss any of these downloads.  I did, because I just know I'll forget if somebody doesn't remind me.  All downloads are in MP3 format and you'll need the FREE Overdrive Media Console to download them.  They'll only be available for that one week, but once you've downloaded them, you can listen any time.

If none of these titles spark your interest, be sure to visit your local library to find out if they offer the Overdrive service where you can browse and downloads hundreds (thousands?  probably thousands) of audio books and ebooks from the comfort of your own home.  Those are free, too.  However, they do come with an expiration date, just like all library checkouts.

Related articles

• Free Audiobooks From Sync

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• Free YA Audiobooks from SYNC - Summer listening schedule

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• YA Audiobook Giveaway

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• Audiobooks That'll Make The Family Road Trip Fly By

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More Free Kindle Books

I'm never going to find the time to read them all, but I certainly do love collecting free kindle books!  There are a couple sites I visit - and Like on facebook so I know what they're posting - to find them.  Today I got an email about a site I hadn't visited before, and I'm really liking it.  It's a nice, visual site with just the covers and titles of the books.  I know they say you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but I do tend to pick books with interesting covers, so this page is kind of like browsing the shelves in the library or bookstore - and being able to grab the ones that look good.  All you have to do is click on the ones that look interesting, and the site takes you directly to Amazon to 'purchase' them. 

Of course, since I haven't read any of them yet, I don't know if the insides of the books are as interesting as their covers.  The ones I grabbed all had pretty good reviews, though.  And since they're free kindle books, they'll be worth at least as much as I paid for them - and they won't take up any room on my shelves.  I'm not sure how often the site is updated with free books, but I'll be checking back to see what's listed.

As always, be sure to double-check the price before you buy - because prices can change.  Don't have a Kindle?  You can get your Kindle here.

What Were You Doing Last Year?

Timehop (Photo credit: dklimke)

If you're like me, you don't know.  Hey, sometimes I can't even remember what I did last week.  Or yesterday.  Or earlier this morning...

OK, maybe it's not that bad, but sometimes I do have to stop and really think about it, and I definitely do not remember what I was doing last year.  So, I just signed up for Timehop.  It's a FREE service that searches your Facebook status, Twitter updates, and other online services and sends a daily email letting you know what you were talking about and doing a year ago. 

Timehop turns your web services into a time capsule. Everything you post today becomes a note for the future!

Sounds like fun, doesn't it?  

Related articles

• Timehop social media aggregator adds Pinterest-style boards for saving your favorite memories (theverge.com)
• Timehop Revives Old Memories from Facebook, Foursquare, and Twitter (xconomy.com)
• Want to know what were you doing a year ago, exactly this date? (improvesocialnetworking.wordpress.com)

Free Francis Chan eBooks - 48 Hours Only

Cover via Amazon

I just got this email:

Crazy Love eBook: FREE.
Forgotten God eBook: FREE.
Erasing Hell eBook: FREE.
Every once in a while, we hear about an offer so incredible that we just have to tell you about it, even if it doesn't happen to be for audiobooks. This is definitely one of those offers!
Thanks to the generosity of the ministry of David C. Cook, these three Francis Chan eBooks are absolutely FREE on our partner site eChristian, for 48 hours only: Crazy Love, Forgotten God, and Erasing Hell.

To get your free eBooks, visit the eChristian special offer page, login (your christianaudio username and password work at eChristian!) and download your free eBooks.

HURRY! This offer WILL end tomorrow (Saturday, April 7, 2012) at 11:59pm PT.
Blessings,
christianaudio.com

I've read Crazy Love but not the other two, so I grabbed them.  If you don't already have a christianaudio or eChristian account, you can sign up for FREE.  Christianaudio gives away a free audio book every month, so it's a good account to have.

Related articles

• A Free Audiobook Every Month (alwaysbcmom.com)

What Men Like

I was just noticing the other day that my new favorite addiction, Pinterest, is mostly for the ladies.  Sure, there are guys on there, but the overwhelming majority of my followers and the ones I'm following are ladies.  Not surprising, really, because it seems like Pinterest is full of things like recipes, craft ideas, home decorating ideas, fashion and style choices, ideas for raising children, and so many more 'girly' things.  No wonder the men are hiding!  (it would be interesting if there was a way to find out the male/female ratio of Pinterest members, but I haven't figured out how to do it)

I'm not the only one who noticed that Pinterest isn't exactly man-friendly.  I heard on the news this morning that there's a new site just for the guys - MANteresting!  A quick glance at the site shows it's definitely full of manly likes - meat, fire, cars, tools, electronics, motorcycles, eye candy.  Manteresting calls itself:

A site where you:

1. Get inspired by awesome content
2. Share manly things with the community
3. View what other members are posting

What do you think?  Is it important for the guys to have their own site for saving and sharing the things they find 'manteresting'?  Sure the men could post things to Pinterest, and we'd have a nice mix of the girly and the manly stuff - and we always have a choice about which people and/or boards we follow, so they wouldn't have to see the girly stuff unless they wanted to and the ladies could see and follow only the manly things they're interested in.  Then again, Pinterest seems like the fancy living room or the kitchen, and the big burly manly men aren't going to feel comfortable there - not when they have the Man Cave of MANteresting  to join.

Like Pinterest, MANteresting is free to join - and there are no invites to wait for.

Related articles

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• Haven't Heard Of Pinterest Yet? Just Wait (denver.cbslocal.com)
• Pinning on Pinterest (kyliejonesme.wordpress.com)
• MANteresting, A Social Bookmarking Website Geared to Men (laughingsquid.com)

Read Your Personal Documents on Kindle

This is such a great idea - send your personal documents to your registered Kindle device (or supported Kindle app) and read them on the Kindle.  If you're like me and really hate printing things (unless absolutely necessary) and don't really like to read documents on the computer, this is a great alternative.  Save paper, save ink, and still take your documents with you!

Kindle Personal Documents Service supports multiple file types, including:

• Microsoft Word (.DOC, .DOCX)
• HTML (.HTML, .HTM)
• RTF (.RTF)
• JPEG (.JPEG, .JPG)
• Kindle Format (.MOBI, .AZW)
• GIF (.GIF)
• PNG (.PNG)
• BMP (.BMP)
• PDF (.PDF) 

There are a couple ways to add documents to your Kindle.  The Send to Kindle application for PC lets you right-click on files in Windows Explorer and select Send to Kindle or, from any Windows application that can print, select Print and choose Send to Kindle (documents are delivered in PDF format). You can also email personal documents to your Send-to-Kindle e-mail address. If you want other people to be able to send you files, add them to your approved contacts and give them your Send-to-Kindle email address.

The Kindle Personal Documents Service is available for Kindle Keyboard (with the latest software update, version 3.3), Kindle, Kindle Touch, and Kindle for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch (running Kindle app version 2.9 or greater). Kindle Personal Documents Service is currently not supported on other free Kindle reading applications - which makes me very sad, because I'm using Kindle for Android.  I downloaded the Send to Kindle PC app and tried sending a Word file to my Kindle Library in the Amazon Cloud, but that wouldn't work either.  I guess I'm just going to have to be patient... or buy a Kindle!  *grin*

See It, Save It, with Clipix

I spend a lot of time online, and I'm always finding interesting stuff.  The main reason I started this blog is to keep track of and share all the cool stuff I find.  Unfortunately, that hasn't happened quite the way I imagined.  Oh, I still find plenty of interesting things, but I don't always get around to actually sharing those things, and lots of times I find interesting things one day, but I forget to save them or mention them - and then I either forget or can't find them again.  Anybody else have that problem?
 
Well, I just found this new site called clipix, and I think it's going to be a big help.  Basically, clipix makes it really simple to save anything you see so you can find it and go back to it later.  Start by signing up for a free account - I used my facebook account, so it was just a matter of connecting and authorizing the app.  Then add the Clip button to your Bookmarks bar, and you're good to go.  Start clipping all the fabulous content you find every day.  They start you off with some basic boards - Books I'd Like to Read, Vacation Ideas, Gifts for the Family, Interesting Articles - just to get you started.  You can rename those if you want and create your own as you find things to save.  You can have as many clipboards as you like and organize them any way you like.I know I'm going to be using that Interesting Articles board a lot!  I'm always finding things I want to read but just don't have time to read right then.  I've added a few already, but I'm sure there will be many more added:
 

I like that clipix lets you choose from the images on whatever page you're saving, so it's a bit easier to remember why you clipped it in the first place, but if there are no images, simply type your own words in and give the clip a relevant title.  The web page and title are added automatically to the description, so you don't even have to type that in.  Of course, you can change it or add to it as you want.
 
Clipix also makes it really easy to share all the fun stuff you're finding - send an email, share on facebook or twitter.  Or, if you want to keep something to yourself, you can keep all your clipboards (or just some of them) completely private.  Working on a project with someone else?  You can set up what they call a Syncboard and everybody can add to it together and see everyone else's updates in real time.
 
I can see how this can be really handy and really addictive.  I wonder who's going to clip and organize the whole Internet first!  OK, maybe not, but at least we can all clip and keep track of the stuff we're interested in.  Visit clipix, sign up for your free account and start clipping!  And let me know how you're going to use clipix.  I think the possibilities are endless.
 
Just in case I've forgotten something important, check out this video explaining it all:
 

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Free Word Counter

My usual word count tool didn't want to load for me tonight, so I went searching for another one.  I found this super-simple word counter.  Just paste your text into the box, and it automatically counts words and characters.  It's really handy when you're writing a blog post and need to know how many words you've used.  And, it's free.