Mrs. Mecomber's Scrapbook

Talking technology, computers, and the Internet… for the average computer user

Archive for category free stuff

Looking for an Apartment? Try the Web!

Apr 1

Posted by Mrs. Mecomber in Internet, computers, deals, free stuff | Comments off

Here’s some excellent news for you apartment hunters out there: check out the web for your new pad! I wish that this was available for me during all those apartment-hunting years when I was younger. It would have saved me a lot of inconvenience and time. Back then, we relied on classified ads or word of mouth to try to find a place. And if a landlord didn’t place an ad or didn’t get “mouths,” he had a difficult time finding tenants. Yes, it was SUCH a rough, cruel world back then, people! lol

Anyway, thanks to the web, you can find Luxury Apartments anywhere, all over the country, at the Luxury Apartment Shop. The website is excellent– I’ve been there a few times, checking out places for friends (plus, I like to keep tabs on the local real estate and apartment market in my state). Everything is at your fingertips and is very well organized. Search by city, state, or zip code, and get pages of results. Most listings have photos, detailed descriptions, a list of amenities, geographic location and address, contact information, and even floor plans (which I found fascinating). It’s excellent! And it’s totally free to search! There are listings for major cities and even small towns. I think it’s a very convenient way to find and compare listings in the country; they even have comprehensive Las Vegas Luxury Apartments listings, and a fancy New Lux Score®. Landlords, this is a great way to get your luxury rental unit listed, too. See the website for listings and more details.

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Speek Your Mind- Free Teleconference Calling

Feb 24

Posted by Mrs. Mecomber in Internet, business services, chatty, free stuff | Comments off

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Speek. All opinions are 100% mine.

Wow, social networking and teleconferencing is really growing! I’ve been on a mission for finding various (free) web-based telecommunications programs. On is network chat (still searching), another is VoIP (getting there), and another is something that kind of mixes the two. I dislike Google. Talk very mush; Skype is so-so (too many doodads and buttons), but here’s a new thing I found: Speek.com! This looks terrific!

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It’s a program comparable to Skype and GoogleTalk. Speek handles cell phone calls, landline calls, and VoIP calls! Speek prides itself on speed and reliability, too, saying that your call will start on time, every time. That’s cool!

If you are interested, you can click here to register for private beta. I’m checking it out already. I have registered (easy to do). I already tried dialing out a conference call (it worked!). I think this is perfect for the small business– you can’t beat the price (free) and Speek is really convenient. You can even schedule calls. Nice.

Speek will import your contacts from Gmail, AOL, Yahoo, or even a CSV file. Speek so far is pretty simple and NICE and easy to navigate. It’s still in beta, so some things are still in the works, and feedback is extremely important. Check it out, give it abuzz, and leave feedback. I think Speek will be better than Skype. It’s definitely friendlier, easier to navigate, and they seem really willing to listen to consumer feedback. They’ve got a new app, too– be sure to give Speek a try! I think Speek looks neat!

Visit my sponsor: Talk up our private beta

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Free Audio Uploading Site

Feb 24

Posted by Mrs. Mecomber in Internet, free stuff, networking | Comments off

I was recently on a hunt for a p;ace where I could store my audio tracks– preferably for free. The video-sharing sites abound, it’s crazy there are so many! But I have had a difficult time finding a site where I can upload my audio.

Then, Kim Komando comes out and announces one! Cool. 8-)

It’s called Zoopy. It’s free. I haven’t tried it out yet because I am still sifting through all my audio; but it looks very good! It has an embeddable video/audio player which you can use for blog posts (perfect for me! I do a lot of tutorials and it’s helpful to have audio and visual aids). Check out the terms of service. Looks good. I’ll have a full-fledged review on it after I’ve tried it for a while.

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File Taxes Online for Free

Feb 15

Posted by Mrs. Mecomber in Internet, desktop utilities, free stuff | 1 Comment

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of eSmart Tax. All opinions are 100% mine.

Every year, more and more people take advantage of the convenience, speed, and ease of online filing for taxes. Fling the taxes is painful and stressful. Doing ALL that paperwork makes the task absolutely onerous. I know, I am self-employed and am slammed with tons of paperwork (not to mention, tons of taxes)! There’s a website that will make filing your taxes a little easier– it’s eSmartTax.com, and you can file for free at their website! Moreover, they have a very neat deluxe version geared specifically for people who have the surname Johnson: Johnsons file free! Actually, the new spokesman for eSmartTax.com, Daryl Johnson, may find it helpful! Did you know that there are over 2 million people in the United States named Johnson?! That Johnson is the second-most common name in this country?! (I assume the most common is Smith). eSmartTax.com wants to make filing taxes as painless and quick as possible, for people named Johnson and those with other names. :D eSmartTax.com also offers a more extensive deluxe version that you can purchase, as well. It’s very affordable– under $10! See the website for more information on filing taxes with eSmartTax.com.

Doing your income taxes is painful enough. Alleviate some of the discomfort with the convenient eSmartTax.com.

Visit my sponsor: eSmartTax.com

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Finding Literature Online

Dec 22

Posted by Mrs. Mecomber in Google, PDF reader, blogs, educational programs, free stuff, websites | 1 Comment

It’s winter for us in the United States– that means more inside activities. For us, it means more reading. I have a stack of books that I’ve ordered from the library, but there are several books that I desire to read that my library does not carry (I like history books, especially ancient civilizations and British history; these seems to be in short order at my library, which carries a ton of fiction stuff).

I considered getting one of those e-reader gadgets (like the Kindle or Sony e-Reader) but the price tag gave me sticker shock. But I found that one doesn’t really need one of those gadgets to read books, not really. There are a ton of e-books to be found online. And if you have a netbook, it’s as easy as starting up a browser or opening a pdf file. Here’s a quick list of e-books to be found online. All of these sites have free books and other forms of literature to read.

Google Books
By far, Google has the largest selection of books and magazines, new and old. I like their library because they have many books that have been out of print for decades , which are very useful to me for my research.

Project Gutenberg is a huge site, with thousands of books you can download or read online.

The Christian Classic Ethereal Library has many old books and documents online for reading.

American Rhetoric has a large database of speeches, documents, videos, and more.

The Classic Bookshelf The website is a little hokey (old), but they have a searchable database and some great classics online.

The Open Library is good.

The Online Books Page is run by the University of Pennsylvania and has a searchable database.

Diploma Guide.com has a listing of free books and textbooks you can read online, as well as a listing of universities in the U.S. (public and private) where you can search for more.

The Internet Archive Text Archive
This website has a large selection of older books.

The Cornell University Library has some very old journals from early America. And The Making of America has a selection of older books, too.

Children’s Storybooks Online has children’s books.

And this list just scratches the surface! If you still haven’t found a particular book, try searching for “read books online” and/or the title or genre of the literature you want.

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