Spinwave Image Crunchers

I've been using the free online demo versions for a long time and they work just great for some types of images. You choose how many colors in the pallette and Spinwave will crunch that little sucker on down to web-manageable size. Photoshop does the same thing when you use their "save for the web" option. But, this place is worth a try and if you like what you see, you might want to actually buy this stuff.

VISIT THE WEBSITE.

5 Column Layout for Blogs

If you would like to change the layout of your Blogspot (Blogger) Blog, check out this blog that offers templates for a five-column layout. Aside from the free templates, details are given for how to install templates and how to back up the blog layout you are currently using.

FlamingText.com

If the fancy-schmancy Flash logo above doesn't show up for you or it doesn't open Flaming Text in a new window, CLICK HERE.

Wow, this place sure has grown from when I first started using it to make fancy title banners. They do a whole lot more than that now. Now they have buttons and fonts and clip art and new forums and more. It's just fun to play with this website so here are a few examples (click on the text link to see an image because squishing them down to fit inside this post would kind of wreck most of them).

Starscape
Gradient Shadow
Cool Metal
Carved
Blended
Alien Glow

VISIT THE FLAMING TEXT WEBSITE

Instant Business Card

From the website: "Instant Business Card Has been designed to help you instantly build an effective and well designed business card quickly and easily. Business Card's are traditionally used as a means to quickly exchange contact information. However, Business cards can be used not only for business but also at reunions, passed among friends, and used to make a more effective impression at job interviews."

Design and create your own business card online now by visiting the website.

Go Retro - Play Text-based DOS Games on Your PC

WinFrotz v5.3 -- Walk down memory lane by playing old-fashioned, text-based DOS games on your Windows machine.

Do you sometimes get nostalgic for the old text-based adventure games of yesteryear? WinFrotz is an emulator that lets you play old Infocom games. Imagine the thrill of making your Windows machine look like DOS. Hundreds of old games are available to take you on a walk down memory lane.

License Type: Free
Price: Free
Operating Systems: Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows 9.x, Windows Me, Windows XP
File Size: 173KB
Author: Rich Lawrence

One-Click Online Charities (FREE to you!)

It doesn't cost you a thing and actually, zero effort beyond clicking on a link. No, your email and personal info is not snatched out of cyberspace to be collected for that giant spam database in the universe. You are safe.

Because you go there, it is assumed you will see the content on the page where the click button is located and that content may include advertisements for other charities or businesses that support the charity. And, that's enough for the corporate sponsors to donate money to said charity - based only on the number of clicks per day that charity's webpage can generate.

That's where they need your help. You can help feed a hungry person, fund mammograms, protect the rainforest, support literacy, and all sorts of good causes by simply clicking on a button at no cost to you.

Please. Give a shit. Click.

Here are some of those charities (clicking the buttons here on my blog will take you to the webpage where your click will actually matter):

SEE ALSO:

"One Click at a Time" is a sort of all-purpose all-categories online warehouse of all sorts of one-click-free-to-you charities.

The Care2.com website also supports several one-click-free-to-you charities:

Podiobooks: Free Audio Books!

"Free serialized audio books, delivered on your schedule."

That's their tagline. Their front page features:

• 3779 episodes available for download in 173 titles
• Over 5,208 Active Members
• What books are hot? Check out the charts!
• Find Podiobooks.com fans near you!

The audio book currently being featured on their front page is titled, "Billibub Baddings and the Case of the Singing Sword." Genre: Fantasy. Synopsis: "Chicago, 1929. There are a thousand stories in the naked city; and when you're a dwarf at four-foot-one, they all look that much taller."

It is The Era of Prohibition, where crime runs rampant in the streets and a city divided into territories serves as the ultimate prize.

Somewhere in this Underworld of Chicago, an enchanted weapon holds the key to ending The Gangland Wars. In the wake of The St. Valentine's Day Massacre, only one is man enough to stand up against Al Capone...

...a four-foot-one dwarf named Billibub Baddings.

Get ready for The Lord of the Rings written by Mickey Spillane! Poking fun at the hard-boiled detective novel, Fantasy mainstays, and even the legend of Chicago's 1920 underworld, MOREVI's Tee Morris returns to the podiobook arena...and this time, he's bringing a few friends along for the ride!

They have more titles featured on that homepage. They also have a wide selection of categories from which to choose (Fantasy bring only one of them).

VISIT THE PODIOBOOKS WEBSITE

FREE Games for Your Cell Phone

GameJump.com has a ton of games and handy little applications you can download for your cell phone and it seems they are free. Membership in the GameJump website is definitely free but you are still liable to your cell phone company for minutes used (if that's how your cell phone works, some don't) or extra text charges if you select an application that uses text messaging, etc. I'm pretty sure GameJump gives away their games for free.

Ahh... from their FAQ (LOL, why is that always the LAST place I look?):

Are these games really free?
Yes, these games really are free. We will never charge you a dime. And we won't ask you to sign up for a subscription or a token system or a premium SMS service. The games are paid for by advertisements shown before and after the games.

Will my phone company charge me anything?
We never charge you anything, directly or indirectly, now or ever. We do not have any relationship with your phone company, so we don't get any money from them either.

However, your phone company may charge you for using your phone. If you request that we SMS you a download link, your phone company may charge you for a standard text message based on your phone plan. When you download our games, you use airtime (or data), and your phone company may charge you for that, depending on your plan. Lastly, these games will periodically connect to our servers, and that will use airtime as well.

We recommend that you sign up for a data plan with your phone company. In particular, we recommend an unlimited data plan if available, since they're generally pretty economical.

How much data do you use?
Our games connect back to our servers to report the ads shown so that we can bill advertisers and pay publishers. They also have to fetch new ads. Typically this is 20-25Kb per connection. You do not typically have to connect every time you play.

Are you tracking me?
We do have to track the ads to bill advertisers, just like ad networks on the web track ads, but we do not map that back to your personal information. No personally identifiable information is sent unless you explicitly send it in a survey question. You do not even have to give us this information to download. For the legal details, please read our privacy policy.

And so on. It would be wise to read all their FAQ.