Cool Free Websites and Apps

Bookboon Overview Description: Bookboon is one of a few different websites that provide free eBooks and textbooks. I have previously used  Bookboon  for travel guides (though I did not see any on the website today) and textbooks. It is a very nice site if you are looking for a simple book on something. Many choices are available, especially for those who are interested in business. Whether you want to learn how to write better, learn how to work with Excel or Access, brush up on your Statistics skills or become more entrepreneurial,  Bookboon  has something for you. The free version of each book contains some limited advertisements, however you have the option to download a book without the advertisement, however this is no longer free. They currently have books published in English, German, Swedish and Danish. If you would like to become an author, they seem to be very open to this as well. Check out  Bookboon , I am confident you will find a book that wi...

Remember The Milk Description: Remember The Milk is an online to-do list and task manager. It can be synced with various other programs such as Microsoft Outlook, Google Calendar, and Evernote. You can sign up for an account or simply log-in with your Facebook or Google account (I tried to log in with my google account and was not successful so I actually chose to sign up). Once you log in, you will see a screen that looks something like this: Remember The Milk - Screen with Tasks I would say that one of the benefits of  Remember The Milk  is the fact that you have different sections for personal, study and work tasks. You can create tasks, assign due dates, whether the task repeats etc. as you can with many other services. After just recently playing with Trello however, I have to admit that I was a little disappointed with  Remember The Milk . I think it is functional and a great free task manager, however I would have to admit that when it comes to the desig...

Description: Trello can be used to organize anything from simple to-do lists to research projects or event planning. You can work on your own or collaborate with others. Additionally you can access these lists from all of your devices so waiting in line for your Starbucks coffee just became very productive. It is incredibly flexible, it allows you to create text or picture based "cards" that are behind the organization. Below you can see a sample board that someone has created. Trello - Example of a Board The  Trello  cards can then be organized, labeled, color coded... The front of the card provides a summary of the event. Trello - Card Front Side The back of the card provides all of the details and notes necessary for you to learn more about what is happening or needs to happen. Trello - Card Back Side Once you sign up, this is what the welcome board looks like. This board will explain to you how to use  Trello  and you can then set up your own boar...

Poll Everywhere - How does Poll Everywhere Work? Description:   Poll Everywhere allows you to poll your audience LIVE through texts, tweets, or the web. One of the strengths of this service is that you can actually create open-ended questions as well. This short video shows you an overview of  Poll Everywhere . The audience's responses can be embedded right into your PowerPoint or Keynote presentation. There are various different plans available depending on your needs. There is a free option where you can create an unlimited number of polls but you can only poll up to 40 people per question. Also what you can do with the data is a little limited, however it is a great free option if you want to just do a few simple things. Additionally there are various different plans offered for corporate and educational settings that come with increased functionality such as moderating the answers so that inappropriate or redundant answers are not shown for your open ended que...

Description: Padlet (formerly known as Wallwisher) is a web-based tool that allows you to build a wall of thoughts. It is a simple, yet powerful website with unlimited possibilities. You can build a private wall to organize your own thoughts or maybe create a visual list of goals or you can create a public one and share it with the world or even embed it on your website.  Padlet  allows you to create walls using different templates and you can add various multimedia. You can even use  Padlet  for real time collaboration with others. There are so many possibilities, I am sure you will love it. Padlet - Travel Bucket List Example Padlet  is very easy to use and very intuitive. One of its strengths is also in the various ways you can share what you create. The following is the screen shot of the sharing options, which all come with the free account: Padlet Sharing Options Others have used  Padlet  to plan events, to organize their Christmas s...

Description: Dropbox is an online file management tool that is revolutionizing how we store, organize, access and share information. You can upload your files, photos, music (any digital file) to  Dropbox  and you can then access these files from any of your devices (it automatically syncs the information) or you can even access it securely from any other (public) computer by logging into the website. What this means is that you can forget about having to carry around a USB stick,  Dropbox  is a web-based tool that will make it possible for you to access your files anytime from anywhere. To learn more about  Dropbox , take this  tour .  Personal Experience: I personally use the free version of  Dropbox  and love it. At first I started using it because I was constantly transferring files between my work computer and my personal computer. Then I got so used to being able to access my files anytime from anywhere, that now I use it for ...

Description: Delicious is a free web-based tool that allows you to organize and search your bookmarks so that you never again lose a link to something you find interesting or important. Whether you need to come back to the link a few times to write a research paper or you wish to visit it a lot, you can track it using Delicious and categorize it accordingly and if you no longer need it, you can simply delete it. You can bookmark anything you encounter using various different devices thanks to an app in combination with the browser tool. The site also lets you connect with other people and gives you suggestions for links you might find interesting that you can bookmark. At first you need to create your free account or you can choose to sign in with your existing Facebook or Twitter account. After you create a profile on Delicious , there are various sections of the website you can interact with. If you are using Delicious mostly to organize your links (its main purpose), then yo...

Description: Need help finding time that works for everyone to schedule a meeting? Doodle is the  free scheduling tool you have been looking for.  Doodle can actually be looked at as multiple tools in one. It makes it easy to schedule appointments (single or group) and it can also be also used as a polling tool. When you create a free account, you can use both of these features and you can also sync your calendar with Doodle so that you do not need to switch from one to the other when you schedule a meeting (Doodle supports: Outlook, Google Calendar, iCal and Yahoo Calendar). Once you sign up for this service, you have two main options: To schedule and Event or to start a Poll. The following steps outline the process of scheduling an event (which is essentially a specific type of a poll). In the first step (of either type) you fill out basic information about your event/poll.  In the next step you select the possible dates you would like to hold your event...

Description: Many of us take images on our cell phones or even nice digital cameras. Later, when we look at them, we wish we had done something just a little different, or maybe we wish we had better light when we took the image, or even wish to have the ability to frame the image to give it just a little extra. Of course, we all know the powers of Instagram  that allows us to doctor up images directly from a smartphone. Today, I would like to introduce Ribbet - a FREE photo editing tool, you can use on your computer. The best part - you do not need to download anything, you do not need to sign up for anything (not even provide your email address) and you can edit your images using your browser. Below are some of my images I was able to edit in just a few seconds.  Red Canyon in Dixie National Forest This picture of the Red Canyon in Dixie National Forest was taken with an iPhone 5. The only effect applied to this image is called the Morocco Effect (my personal favo...

Mint Do you need to take better care of your finances?  Would you like to see all of your accounts in one place? Would you like to receive advice on how to reach your financial goals?   Credit Karma Then you should read further to see whether Mint or CreditKarma (or both tools) will help you on your journey... Description:   First of all, let me answer this question. Do you need either of these services? I believe so and here is why. Most of us - even those of us with college degrees - never really learn how to take care of our money and because of that, we struggle coming to terms with unfulfilled dreams that all go to the way side because we did not have the means to take control. So here are two tools that are available FREE of charge that will help you take control over your finances and they both have their own benefits and drawbacks that I will try to elaborate on based on my own experience.  Evaluation of Pros and Cons: ...

Cozi - Award Winning Application For Family Life Description:  Whether you are a family of five with everyone running in a different direction, or a house full of friends who want to share schedules, to-do list and much more to make life easier, you will find Cozi worth the try. This web-based solution allows a family to synchronize their schedules, write a family journal, share to-do lists and so much more. There is also an application one can download to make access to the services easier from a smartphone. Click here to view a video tour that shows all the great things Cozi has to offer. Cozi - Example of Calendar View for upcoming days My favorite feature is the ability to color code the different members of the family so that you can easily see who needs to do what on a shared calendar as you can see in the example provided above. You can add or remove people from the view, so that you can see only your own commitments and even print them or overlay yours with ever...