the best free stuff on the web
The web is the best place to find terrific stuff for free, and I mean 100% free, no strings attached and no scams. It is my pleasure to provide this list of links to some of the best free stuff on the web.
- Software
- Open Source
- Free Trials (Try Before You Buy)
- Social Networking
- Business Networking
- Photos (Royalty-free and Copyright-free)
- Fonts
- Movies, Trailers & Documentaries
- Television Shows
- Education
Software
Open Source Software
A recent IDC study reveals that worldwide revenue from open source software (OSS) will grow at a 22.4 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) to reach $8.1 billion (US) by 2013. Source: eChannelLineUSA
- OpenOffice-OSS answer to the Microsoft Office Suite
- Firefox-Best web browser in my opinion and with a lot less problems than Internet Explorer.
- Miro-Video player and podcast client
- Thunderbird-Is almost identical to Outlook's email features, but it is 100% free.
- Avast-free anti-virus software for PCs.
- Blender 3-D-3-D modeling, design\illustration, animation, game development.
- Inkscape-Illustration (vector) application, similar to Illustrator.
- Paint.net-Photoshop like application.
- Gimp-Photoshop like application.
- Kompozer- a complete web authoring system that combines web file management and easy-to-use WYSIWYG web page editing. Similar to Dreamweaver.
- CutePDF-Free PDF creator
- Mambo-website content editor
- Joomla-website content editor
Learn More
Free 30-day Trials (Try Before You Buy)
Buying professional software (especially for graphic design, web design and video editing) can leave a large whole in your wallet. Before you spend your money go to the software maker's website and download their free trials. Most are 15-30 days long and some work only a number of times, but at least you'll know whether or not the software works for you before you dish out a large amount of money.
- Adobe Free Trials (click on product you are interested in, then click on the "try" link)
- Corel Free Trials
- Microsoft Office Free Trials
Social Networking
Social networking can be different things to different people. If you are a business you can use it to connect and interact with your clients or prospects. Individuals can reconnect with childhood pals or high school chums. And everyone can connect with new people that may have the same interests that you have. Here are the Top 4 Social Networking Sites.
- MySpace - Free fully customized page (including ability to customize code), free space to write whatever you want, your own blog, security options, chatrooms and much, much more. Best choice if you or your friends and/or clients are under 30.
- Facebook - Free space to write whatever you want, free pages for photos, videos, notes, events, security options, and more. Best choice if you or your friends and/or clients are over 30.
- Bebo - Way more popular in the UK and Ireland than in the US, Bebo needs just a little more tweaking to surpass MySpace in the amount of features available. Interface is not as user-friendly and security features sometimes go overboard, but it is definitely one network to keep your eye on. Best choice if you or your friends and/or clients are in the UK or Ireland.
- Friendster - Hugely popular in Asia, it is starting to make an impact in the US. You must be at least 16 to join. Apps include the ability to sync to your iTunes library (something I wish Facebook had.) You will get a lot less "bogus" friend requests here than in the other 3 sites listed. Best choice if you are big on privacy or if you live or work with the Asian community.
Learn More
- 2009 Social Network Analysis Reports (with demographics and traffic)
- 2009 Social Networking Sites Review
- 50 Social Sites That Every Business Needs a Presence On
Business Networking
- LinkedIn - LinkedIn is a popular networking site where alumni, business associates, recent graduates and other professionals connect online.
- Xing - An account with networking site Xing can "open doors to thousands of companies." Use the professional contact manager to organize your new friends and colleagues, and take advantage of the Business Accelerator application to "find experts at the click of a button, market yourself in a professional context [and] open up new sales channels."
- Plaxo - organize your contacts and stay updated with feeds from Digg, Amazon.com, del.icio.us and more.
Photos (Royalty-free and Copyright-free)
- Flickr-The Commons - public photo collections from all over the world including archive photos and historical photos.
- Flickr-Creative Commons-Free public photographs from Flickr users. Some of these are outstanding. Excellent variety of photographs. They are all free, but sometimes require that you give credit to the photographer.
- Stock XChange - Free photographs from amateur photographers. Quality varies, but most of these photos are available in high resolution and are good for print and the web.
Fonts
Movies
Hulu- Large catalog of entire movies, clips of movies, documentaries, full TV episodes (from major networks, cable and overseas channels), clips of episodes and movie trailers all free. Nothing to install.- YouTube- Not sure how they get away with it, but sometimes you can find entire movies (sectioned into parts) or tv shows on YouTube.
Television Shows
- Hulu - Large catalog of entire movies, clips of movies, documentaries, full TV episodes (from major networks, cable and overseas channels), clips of episodes and movie trailers all free. Nothing to install.
- PBS
Major networks may ask you install their proprietary video player first (free) and force you to watch a commercial before you can watch full episodes that run on that particular network.
- NBC
- ABC
- FOX
- CBS
- USA
- TNT
- Bravo
- AMC
- A&E
- Sy-Fy (Formerly Sci-Fi)
- Comedy Central-video clips from their shows including The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. Full episodes are chopped into smaller segments.
Education
College-Level Courses
You can't count any of these courses as credits, but the education is the same as if you had attended the class at these prestigious schools. Some courses are available as video, audio, and some as lecture notes. Many include syllabus, recommended reading, assignments and downloadable course materials. It's part of a free education movement I'm very excited about.
- Open Yale Courses (Yes, Yale offers free online video lectures on a variety of subjects)
- Berkeley Webcasts (Another well-respected university that offers free webcasts from their lectures in an mp3 format)
- Stanford University Download courses, faculty lectures, interviews, music and sports.
- MIT Open CourseWare Free lecture notes, exams, and videos from MIT.
No registration required. - The Best Free Cultural & Educational Media on the Web (a list of assorted free university courses online)
- YouTube EDU - Videos and channels from various colleges and universities.
Encyclopedias
- Wikipedia (never use this as your only resource)
- Citeseer
- Google Scholar
- Infomine
- Questia
- Berkeley Engineers
Tutorials
Graphic/Web Design
Software
- YouTube has many wonderful video tutorials both professional and amateur. Type in the software program you need help with and then the word "tutorial" and you'll be sure to find what you're looking for.
- Adobe TV - video tutorials on all Adobe products from Adobe
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