Words and Links

We have all sat and wasted away hours at our PCs with little to come out of it other than looking at the clock and finding out we’re late for something.  Why not find some productive things to do while you are entertaining yourself on the computer?  Here is a list of ten ways to gain a little personal improvement while giving your computer a little workout.

1. Start a blog.  There is no better way to learn about yourself or a topic that might interest you than by writing about it.  There are many places to start, but two good free ones are Google’s Blogger, and WordPress.com.  You can get started in minutes and go on from there.
2. Learn how to program.  Visual Basic by Microsoft is an easy to learn high level language that will let you develop programs that can range from simple to the most complex.  Freetutes.com is just one online provider that has tutorials for VB.  The Visual Basic Express Edition program itself can be downloaded for free here.
3. Create art of your own.  Pick up a copy of a graphics creation program and go crazy with it.  A good one to work with is Gimp.  Then just search for Gimp tutorials to get started.  Some good ones can be found here.
4. Make a little money online.  Be careful of the scams (do some research, and don’t pay for any programs or services) but see what’s out there that can let you do a little computer work for a little cash.  You can try Short Task for example.
5. Become active in an online social community.  You can start with your MySpace account and then go on to other sites such as Orkut and Windows Live Spaces.
6. Learn something that you didn’t even think you were interested in.  Go over to How Stuff  Works and hit the Random Article button on top of the page and this will bring you to something you can learn very quickly.
   
7. Do some maintenance on your computer.  It is probably not running as fast as it used to so clean up your hard drive and see if there are any tricks for your operating system, either Vista or XP.
8. Play some games.  Ok, not terribly productive, but you can stretch it and claim improvement in the whole hand eye thing!   You can try some nice flash games at Addicting Games.
9. Volunteer for something.  There are many possibilities for this one, but one might be doing some work for an open source software project.  Or maybe becoming an editor for the Open Directory Project (dmoz.org).
10. Read a book online.  Haven’t got your Kindle yet?  No problem.  You can find many worthwhile reads for free online.  Start here at EduChoices for some good virtual libraries.

We all know that Google is the best and most useful tool for finding information on the internet.  What you might not know is how much the company has to offer that is at least as useful as the search engine itself. 

1. Google Alerts.  Google can send you updates and pointers to information that you request, as it happens.  For example, if you are interested in keeping informed about your local representatives actions in Congress, just enter their name and when they are referenced on the internet Google will send you an Email telling you where to find the information.
2. Blogger.  Did you ever want to talk to the world about what you find fun and interesting?  A blog is the perfect platform, and Google will set you up with one for free.  They also have all the support and help a beginner could need to start blogging in a professional way.
3. Knol.  Share your knowledge by writing articles that can be shared with the world.  You keep your authorship rights, and quality writing will be propagated through the internet.
4. Calendar.  A great online calendar with typical Google quality features.  Import events easily from your Gmail account.  Share your events with friends and family.  Get important reminders via Email or text to your phone.  Never forget an important event again. 
5. Talk.  Chat with your friends using text, voice, or video conferencing.  Another free fun service from Google that will keep you connected to family or friends or even your business contacts.  You can also leave voicemails and transfer files with no size restrictions.
6. orkut.  An online social network where you can manage your existing relationships or form new ones.  Orkut allows you to search out and interact with new people based on common interests and your search of profiles. 
7. Google Blog Search.  A convenient and fast way to search the blogosphere for content that will interest you.
8. Google Groups.  A Google Group is a user owned group that allows you to manage your mailing list and provides a forum for communication and collaboration with your fellow group members.  You also have online storage and customizable pages to share.
9. Picasa and Picasa Web Albums.  Picasa is a photo organization, indexing, manipulation, and sharing tool that can be downloaded from Google.  Picasa Web Albums allow you to share your photos arranged in beautiful interactive web albums with your friends and family.  As usual this is a free Google service with generous amounts of online storage.
10. Google Pack.  An easy and convenient download of Google’s more popular and fun applications for your use.  Most of the above listed products along with Google’s web browser, Google Earth, Google Desktop, and more can be downloaded and installed with Google Pack.  You can also pick and choose which apps you want to install.

Have fun with this list, and explore Google’s site to find more useful tools and applications.