Every Friday, I’m compiling a list of five things that meet one criterion. “What is that criterion”, you ask? Well, it’s going to change every week and you’re just going to have to try and keep up.
This week…
Five Awesome Free Online Services
When it comes to stuff without price tags online, we’re all up to speed on Gmail, Hulu, Facebook, and Twitter. But did you know that there are many cost-free, useful corners of the Internet out there, just waiting to be discovered by the world at large? Well, there are. And with the five awesome free online services listed below, you can listen to any song on Earth while keeping track of your finances, crafting custom artwork for your home, making sure you do everything you need to do, and at the end of it all, you can fall asleep peacefully to the sounds of the falling rain.
Let’s go to work (without spending a penny).
5. RainyMood
Though it is more of a one-trick pony than a true service or application, RainyMood is one hell of a pony. Rather than spending any money on ambient thunderstorm sounds on CD or MP3s, here’s what you can do:
- go to RainyMood
- click the giant Play button
- enjoy the 15 minutes that follow
4. TeuxDeux
While Post-Its and hastily scrawled shorthand on a dry erase board can get the job done around your house, there’s a pretty good chance your to-do list will be more quickly conquered if you post it on your personal TeuxDeux page. In addition to being able to access your daily list of objectives from anywhere, you get the satisfaction of emphatically clicking a completed task to brandish it with a shameful red line right through its heart.
What if I told you that, with just your printer and a free online service, you can make any digital image into a photographic mural “up to 20 meters in size”? Does that sound good? Of course it does. Custom art for free. Enter: The Rasterbator. Your bedroom walls can thank me later.
2. Mint and Bundle (tie)
I found that these two free sites really serve each other despite not being affiliated.
Mint is a miraculously free service which will, once you register, break down all your financial information into assets, debts, spending (by category), and trends. Additionally, it will provide you with payment alerts (hello, credit cards), budget recommendations, and good ideas that will lead to you saving money. Oh, and if you’re worried about the security of the site… stop – it’s totally legitimate and reliable.
Bundle is a new statistics hub (still in Beta mode) that clearly breaks down how individuals spend their money, around the country. Allowing you to search by age, location, and income, Bundle will let you know just how normal your spending habits really are and whether or not you’re living in an area that’s right for your budget. On top of that, they provide a blog where hip young so-and-sos wax logical about financial news stories.
1. Grooveshark
Ever wanted to legally preview a band’s catalog in something greater than 30 second clips? Ever wanted to introduce your friend to an awesome song, only to find that there is no crystal clear version of it on YouTube or MySpace? Ever wanted to construct a web-based streaming playlist that you could send to and access from anywhere?
The answer to all of these problems is Grooveshark, which allows you to stream any song in their extensive library as many times as you want (you can pause and skip around in the song to your heart’s content), make multiple playlists, create embeddable widgets of those playlists and improve your internet life in every way imaginable.
Rocking.