Can't afford to pay tuition?
Don't have time to be a FT student?
NO problem!
The following are some of the best free university courses for people who want to enhance personal knowledge or advance in their current field.
If you are looking for a wide range of free courses online, MIT is your best option. There are more than 1,800 free courses offered through the school's OpenCourseWare project. Courses are in audio, video and text format and can be translated into a number of different languages. People from all over the world use OpenCourseWare and 96 percent of visitors say they would recommend the site to someone else.
The Open University is the UK's largest academic institution. The school's OpenLearn website gives everyone free access to undergraduate and graduate level course materials from The Open University. Courses cover a broad range of topics, such as arts and history, business, education, IT and computing, mathematics and statistics, science, health and technology.
Carnegie Mellon University offers a huge collection of free online courses and course materials through a program known as the Open Learning Initiative. OLI courses are set up to allow anyone at the introductory college level to learn about a particular subject without the help of a formal instructor. Course options include, but are not limited to, statistics, biology, chemistry, economics, French and physics.
Like MIT, Tufts University has OpenCourseWare that is free to everyone. Courses are sorted by school (School of Medicine, School of Arts and Sciences, etc.) and include lecture notes, assignments and other supplementary materials.
Stanford University, one of the world's leading academic institutions, has joined forces with iTunes U to provide access to Stanford courses, lectures, interviews and more. Courses can be downloaded and played on your iPod, PC, or Mac and can also be burned to a CD. If you don't have iTunes, you can download it here for free.
UC Berkley has been offering live and on-demand webcasts of select courses since 2001. There are now hundreds of current and archived UC Berkley courses available as podcasts and webcasts. Courses cover a wide range of subjects, including biology, astronomy, chemistry, computer programming, engineering, psychology, legal studies and philosophy.
Utah State University also provides access to an oleo of free online courses. Study options include everything from Latin and anthropology to physics and theatre arts. The text based courses are comprehensive and can be downloaded as a zip file or viewed directly on the site.
Kutztown University's Small Business Development Center offers the largest collection of free business and entrepreneurial courses available on the web. Course topics include accounting, finance, government, business law, marketing and sales. Interactive case studies, comprehensive text, slides, graphics and streaming audio all help to demonstrate the concepts presented in each course.
The University of Southern Queensland in Australia provides free access to a number of different courses through their OpenCourseWare initiative. Courses from each of the five faculties are available and cover a broad range of topics, including communication, technology, science, career planning, teaching and multimedia creation.
UC Irvine recently joined the OCW Consortium to begin providing free university level courses online. Right now, there are only a handful of options to choose from, but the list is growing. Current courses cover topics like capital markets, financial planning, human resources and e-marketing. Course materials typically include syllabi, lecture notes, assignments and exams.
[via Wyome Blog's del.icio.us]
We all have many old phones, digital cameras, and MP3 players just sitting in a drawer.
A new site called SecondRotation will pay you for your old stuff.
SecondRotation will take practically every brand of cell phone, digital camera, gaming console, GPS device, and MP3 player (including iPods and iPhones, but not any that are bricked, unfortunately for Mike).
What do they do with your stuff? you ask... they sell it on eBay.
The process is much simpler than selling items yourself on eBay, but of course it's based on the premise that Second Rotation will be able to sell your stuff for more than it's paying you. That's the price of convenience.
How it works:
Concerned with all the dangers that kids face online (see previous post) -- parents are looking for ways to protect their kids online.
Now there's an easy and simple solution -- > PikLuk is your child's safe internet.
The PikLuk Service is FREE and it provides a safe Internet experience for your children.
How it works
PikLuk is a safe browser: As a parent, you login from anywhere into the Parent Dashboard on pikluk.com to configure websites suitable for your children. The Pikluk Browser will only allow access to these websites.
Pikluk is a safe email system: Log into the Parent Dashboard and decide with whom your children can correspond. No one else can send them email, including spammers.
PikLuk is a service you control via the Parent Dashboard: Log into the Parent Dashboard on pikluk.com from anywhere, even from work! The Pikluk Browser is configured by you remotely over the Internet.
The Pikluk Browser takes over your entire screen. Your computer and what's on it is completely hidden and safely locked away. The Pikluk Browser is like a full screen computer game. Your child will see only the Pikluk Browser, and, Pikluk will show only websites and emails that you allowed on the Parent Dashboard.
Get started in 3 easy steps:
The other day, a friend of mine made me realize that the blog, which is supposed to be about tools for business and PERSONAL use; was focused more on the business side.
So I'm going to try and rectify the situation, starting with BookTagger - a type of social network for book lovers.
BookTagger started , with a woman, Rebecca, an avid reader and internet addict, who could not find a free and appealing service on the internet where she could store memories of books and share them easily with family and friends.
Inspired by her, her friend went on to create BookTagger.
Each BookTagger profile is a graphical representation of your physical bookshelf on the internet.
The bookshelf can then be shared with friends, family and others searching for the next good read.
It can also be used to catalogue all your books and track to whom they've been lent.
With BookTagger you can:
We all get tons of junk mail in our mailbox, only to be thrown thrown into the trash can.
And it only gets worse -- our personal information is being collected, bought, and sold by thousands of businesses every day. Without our consent.
ProQuo is a new start-up with a different plan in mind - help you to remove your name and personal information from thousands of marketing lists, data brokers and other organizations that send you unsolicited mail.
ProQuo puts you, the consumer in charge of what advertising you get in your mailbox.
How it works
After creating your account, you will have your own electronic “dashboard.” Here you can request removal of your personal information from thousands of lists and organizations that have your information on file. Depending on the lists you choose, ProQuo will either electronically transmit your requests on your behalf or guide you through the removal process.
You should begin seeing a reduction in your junk mail in less than 4 weeks, and the full impact in about 3 months.
Getting Started — It's Fast, Easy & Free!
Previously, I have posted about getting a professional e-mail as one of the basic, must-haves for people starting a new business.
Today we'll cover the second item I mentioned -- how to get FREE business cards.
There are several offers on the web for free or semi-free business cards. Usually though, at the end of a lengthy sign up and selection process, you find out that there's some catch.
So here's what I learned the "hard" way.
The biggest and most reliable player online today is VistaPrint.
VistaPrint is a publicly traded company (NASDAQ: VPRT), with annual sales of over $375 million (Jun 08 analysts est) and a market cap of $1.78 Billion. In other words - they are here to stay.
They have a standing "Free Business Cards" offering, that will get you 250 free business cards. You do have to pay $5.25 for standard shipping that takes about 2 weeks to arrive (there are faster shipping options for extra charge).
That comes down to $5.25 for 250 business cards ==> which is still a BARGAIN.
The Catch
The free cards have a "Business Cards are FREE at www.vistaprint.com!" logo on the back.
Even with the logo it's a great deal for amateur endeavors, small businesses and personal consulting firms, or if you just need a personal card (highly recommended).
For $3.99 more they'll do away with the logo.
How it works
Basically you will go to a design screen and fill in the blanks with your own information - use only the lines you want or need.
If you use one of their free designs and the text size and font (i.e. do not customize any type, size, or design) then the cards are free. If you customize, then you pay a little more.
Here's what the screen looks like:
Yugma is a free web collaboration service that enables people to instantly connect over the internet to communicate and share content and ideas using any application or software.
Save time and money with the easy-to-use online meeting solution.
You can present, demonstrate and meet all you want for one low flat fee -- ZERO.
Whether you are using Windows, Mac or Linux computer, you can connect anytime, anywhere with co-workers, clients, friends and family -- regardless of whether they are across the city, nation or even the globe (it's even used by people in the same office -- being easier and faster than going to the conference room).
Yugma allows you to share your computer screen in real-time so that everyone sees what you see - this way you can get things done as though you were meeting with someone (or a group of people) in person.
Get started in 3 easy steps:
Fact: Airlines always change their prices!
Why? Because they try to maximize the revenue they make on each flight, so they use sophisticated "yield management" tools to optimize for the number of seats sold and the price per seat.
In fact, the average ticket price fluctuates by as much as 400% (four hundred).
So knowing when to buy could save you a LOT of money (much more if the whole family is traveling).
Luckily Yapta, a new and FREE service, now helps you buy tickets when prices drop.
Using Yapta is easy. Simply choose flights you're interested in, and Yapta will begin tracking prices for you.
Yapta will notify you via email whenever the price drops or when it drops below a specific price point that you can set.
Already purchased a ticket? You may qualify for vouchers or refunds!
Guaranteed Airfare Rules entitle you to rebook if a lower fare is available - you get the difference as a credit for future travel. Simply add your ticket information.
Yapta will email you if the price drops below what you paid, making you eligible for a voucher or refund from the airline.
Yapta has been saving money for people on air travel since May 2006 and claims to have sent $8 Million in potential savings.
I guess this is why the press and its users love it.
Give it a try and let me know what you thought.
Chances are you have a lot of important stuff on your computer like financial documents, email, digital photos, music and more.
Unfortunately, computers are vulnerable to hard drive crashes, virus attacks, theft and natural disasters, which can erase everything in an instant.
Just like flossing and exercising, we KNOW we need to do it; but we it's just hard to keep doing it EVERY day.
So...an ideal backup solution should:
Not require you to think about backup.
Backup should be set up once, and then work automatically.
Keep your files encrypted.
Your backup files should be encrypted and stored in a secure, remote location that's only accessible to you — from anywhere.
Be smart.
Your backup system should be smart enough to only back up data that's not already been backed up, only back up parts of a file that have changed, and be able to back up open and locked files.
MozyHome works on both PC and Mac computers and includes some very smart and powerful features:Even in this digital age, many of us still have favorite radio programs we love. Some of them may even be available, or "streamed", through the internet.
For TV shows there are many ways for watching at a time and place of your convenience: from dvd releases, through TIVO and DVR, to internet video sites such as hulu.com.
But what about radio shows? How can we have our favorite music or talk shows available when and where we want??
Fortunately, now there is a FREE solution --> RaimaRadio.
RaimaRadio allows you to create a schedule for automatic recording so that you can listen to the shows on your mp3 player.
With RaimaRadio you can to listen to and record radio stations from around the world and:
I love Jott!!!
Jott is a revolutionary service, that let's you send emails, create to do lists and reminders (and much more) using your voice.
The quickest way to understand how you use the service is to watch the following video:
After you hang up, Jott transcribes the message into text and sends it (plus a link to the original voice recording) to you, to someone else or even to a group of people.
The basic capabilities of Jott can be used in MANY ways to help you:
Teleconferencing used to be an expensive activity, and as such reserved for business use.
With the introduction of FREE, conferencing can now be enjoyed by small business, families, clubs, schools or just just friends.
Today we'll cover Basement Ventures.
Background:
Basement Ventures used to provide and support the highly praised, free conference calling services for LiveOffice Conferencing (not to be confused with Microsoft’s Office Live).
It seems that the relationship has gone sour (I will try to get more information from the company), and that the parties have parted way.
LiveOffice now provides paid, toll-free services, while Basement Ventures retained the FREE service that we'll cover here.
The Service:
on-demand, FREE conference calling is available anytime—no advance notice or conference call details are required. You can use it from anywhere with a 250-person capacity and up to six hours of conference time for each call.
Use your name and email to create a free conference call account in seconds. After that, whenever you choose, everybody calls in, punches in the code, and that's it -- a free conference call!
The sound is great and there are a ton of cool features.
Conference Recording:
Recording is EASY: at any time, you can press 5* to begin recording the conference.
The recordings are available online within 90 minutes of your conference call concluding (and will remain available for a minimum of 30 days).
Once your free conference call is recorded, you can download the mp3 file, post it to a website or email, setup podcasts and provide public access from our website with almost no technical skills needed.
There are many cool uses for that feature:
There are lots of stores out there that offer price protection policies -- when the price drops on an item you've purchased, they'll refund you the difference.
But there's a catch... it's up to you to watch prices.
Price Protectr makes it simple to keep track of your purchases and get your money back.
How does it work?
Trying to keep up with technology and the web is hard.
There's so much going on. Everywhere. All the time.
But if you're starting to feel a strong sense of deja vu -- watch this video.
We all know that a well-maintained car is a happy car.
It is safer, more dependable and will actually be worth more when it is time for you to sell it or trade it in.
But a car needs more than just the occasional oil change. Tire rotations, brake service, new timing belts, and tune-ups are just some of the many services necessary to keep it running smoothly and safely.
Do you know when these services need to be performed? If your answer is "no" then you're like me. So keep on reading.
ServiceBeacon, a new and FREE website, promises to solve all this:
This guide will show you how to copy your DVDs in 3 easy steps.
Before we start -- is it legal?
Since the issue is still being litigated, it is unclear whether it's legal or illegal. Though there is a small theoretical risk of criminal prosecution under the DMCA, the movie and recording industries typically pursue commercial users rather than consumers.
So, if you're game let's begin.
Like the title says, copying DVDs involves 3 steps: Decrypt, Shrink and Burn.
The easiest way to decrypt a DVD is by using DVD43. It is a program that runs in the background and decrypts copy-protected DVD’s on the fly. It has the effect of making a DVD unrestricted and region free, allowing other programs to access and process it. It will also remove audio CD protection.
We will use DVD Shrink to make our DVD "fit" into a standard 4.7-gig DVD.
Although DVD Shrink can burn the resulting DVD image by integrating with Nero (if you have it installed), I prefer to use Imgburn.One of the main reasons I host this blog is to "exercise" my writing skills. Much like working out, if you don't use it, you loose it. So you have to keep working it.
But some people just seem to "have it".
One of the blogs I follow for Linux related stuff is - distrogue.blogspot.com
There's a lot of interesting and useful information, packaged in an easy-to-read, conversational style.
The host, DJ Gentoo, has definitely "found his voice".
His last post, an op-ed on content stealing in the blogosphere - was a pleasure to read and made me wish I could write like that one day.
Not bad for a high-school student.
If you enjoy reading well written pieces (and Linux, of course) you should add distrogue.blogspot.com to your list.
When you're starting a business, one of the first things you need is professional email (like john.smith@your-company.com).
It is the must-make first step towards projecting a serious, professional image (next you'll need business cards and a website, but will cover those in future posts).
It is ABSOLUTELY NOT acceptable to use a personal email address like john.smith@cablecompany.com or john.smith@hotmail.com.
Fortunately, Google now offers a robust and flexible Business Suite for FREE -- Google Apps.
With Google Apps you, and anyone you want, can have that professional email. Accessing and managing your email, is done exactly the same way as in Gmail. In fact, it's like having a private Gmail for your company.
Google Apps includes more than just an email (such as shared calendar, shared and hosted docs and spreadsheets and more), but I'll focus this post on the email.
Features:
Ever find yourself out of the office, needing to send a fax?
ScanR is a service that effectively turns your camera phone (or digital camera) into an outgoing fax machine (and scanner and copier), letting you send faxes on the go. For FREE.
How do I send a fax?
To send a fax, just send photos of your document to doc@scanR.com and include the fax number in the subject or body of the message.
Where can I send a fax?
ScanR currently sends fax to most phone numbers in East Asia, North America and Western Europe.
In addition to sending faxes, you can use ScanR to capture information contained in documents, whiteboards and business cards in 3 easy steps:
If you're looking for an On-Demand, customizable, secure, complete, end-to-end CRM software -- you should definitely check out ZohoCRM.
We have been using it at our company and are VERY happy.
It is a hosted application which means that you don't have to worry about installation, maintenance, upgrades, backups etc. AND you can access it from ANY web browser.
There's multi-language support for English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Vietnamese, Japanese and Chinese.
It is also VERY cost effective!!! the first 3 users are FREE (from 4th user onwards it's $12/user/month)
Key features and benefits:
* Sales & Marketing - ZohoCRM brings together your Sales and Marketing teams by integrating sales force automation with campaign management, lead generation, pipeline analysis, and a sales forecasts whole lot more.
* Inventory Management - ZohoCRM empowers you complete the sales cycle by providing an integrated inventory management system. Once a sale is completed, manage your customer's orders while providing your sales team with a hassle-free order tracking system.
*** Customer Support & Service - ZohoCRM employs Cases and Solutions to streamline your customer support management process while integrating the collected knowledge base with your sales team's information.
* Reports & Dashboards - Track and visualize your sales pipeline; analyze sales and marketing trends and dynamically view key CRM matrices using ZohoCRM's powerful reporting and dashboard capabilities.
* Outlook Plug-in: ZohoCRM enhance your productivity by synchronizing Contacts, Tasks, Calendar, and emails between ZohoCRM and Outlook mail client.
They also have a robust Sales Quotes module:
* Sales QuotesTrack outstanding quotes from the quotes list view
* Add line items to the quotes and update subtotal, taxes, adjustments, and grand total amounts
* Select different prices for the same product as per customer segment
* Create printer-friendly Sales Quotes and deliver to the prospect customers through inbuilt E-mail service
* Create Sales Order or Invoice with a single click from the Sales Quote
* Avoid duplicate work by dynamically displaying the Billing and Shipping addresses of the prospect
* Display quotes related to accounts under the related list
* Customize Sales Quote fields as per your organization's requirements
For more information try the Online Demo (no registration required) or take the Screenshots Tour.
If you only need to send out a fax every now and again -- consider free outgoing internet fax service FaxZero
It's free and lets you send a PDF or Word document to any fax number in the USA.
FaxZero prints an ad on the coversheet, but leaves the main pages uncorrupted (Ad-free faxes are about two bucks).
You're limited to 2 free 3-page faxes a day, and your file attachment size limit is 10MB. The ad, while not something you'd like on professional business faxes, isn't too bad - oh, and the cover sheet with the ad doesn't count toward your 3 page limit.
eFax is an online fax service that eliminates the need for a fax machine, an extra fax line and all the associated expenses (paper, ink cartridges etc.).
Their paid service allows you to send and receive faxes as email attachments. You also get to pick the area code for your fax number .
They also have a not-so-much-advertised free service -- eFax Free.
With your eFax Free account, you will get a non-local eFax number to receive faxes in your email.
Do I get a real fax number?
Yes. To the person faxing you, it looks and acts like any other fax number. When someone faxes to your number, the fax is converted to a file that is emailed to you as an attachment.
How do I receive faxes?
When you sign up you'll get a fax number. When someone faxes you, you receive the fax in your email inbox as a file attachment. Just double click the file to read it. You'll be able to check your faxes anywhere you can check your email.
Can I save my faxes?
Of course. Save a fax just like you would any email attachment and they'll only be a click away. You can also access your faxes online by logging in at http://www.efax.com for up to 30 days (US Only) with eFax Free.
How reliable is eFax?
According to eFax, their network sports a 99.5% up-time, meaning no one will ever get a busy signal and you'll never worry about running out of paper or toner.
What about sending faxes?
if your needs require you to send faxes regularly, or I you want a local fax number -- you might want to consider upgrading to one of the paid services. For an overview click here.
If you're just looking for a "one-off" solution -- consider free outgoing internet fax service FaxZero.
Earth Class Mail is a service that let's you 'manage your postal mail as easily as your email'.
With Earth Class Mail™ online postal mail, you can stay connected to your postal mail just as you do your voice mail and email today: you can check postal mail from anywhere, manage it, and respond to it.
This service can be useful to:
*************Update *********************************************
GrandCentral (owned by Google) just announced the availability of new GrandCentral accounts to Blogger (also owned by Google) users. Now, you can sign up for a free GrandCentral account.
You can also sign up for a FREE Blogger account.
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Although GrandCentral doesn't replace your phones (at least not yet) -- it can replace all the different phone numbers in your life. Both professional and personal.
GrandCentral links all the different numbers together and helps them do more.
The result -- One Number...for LifeTM - a number that's not tied to a phone or a location - but tied to you.
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