Send Free Photo Messages

If you can't say your message in words, then say it in picture, Polariod style!

Using a Polaroid-style background, Photo Notes lets you send cool photo messages to your friends and loved ones for free. It is so easy to use. Even children can "play" with Photo Notes.

To start, choose a photo that you want to send and upload it. Then, choose a polariod-style frame that you want to use for that photo. Next, click on a style font and color you want. Type your message on the box provided. Be concise as possible, as you only have a maximum of 50 letters for your message. Click preview.

If you're satisfied with your photo and message, enter the e-mail address of your recipient(s). You may also import e-mail addresses from your address book. Lastly, to make sure that it's a human who is using the Photo Notes services, enter the code shown and press e-mail. Your recipient(s) will get your photo message within minutes.

I had fun using Photo Notes, and I admit it was quite addicting. Here are some photos I made from the website. These are photos of some of the lovable dogs available for adoption at the Peninsula SPCA:





Sinatra is a brindle male German Shepherd Dog and Boxer mix; Peaches is a purebred Staffordshire Bull Terrier; Muttley is a sociable black and white Labrador Retriever mix.

Send BIG files up to 2GB free!

When my husband and I needed to quickly send our 1.35GB video message for my sister's wedding last month, I had a hard time looking for a website that could let me send a file that big for free. It was quite frustrating searching for a website that could do it, because most of the free file sharing applications only allow you to upload a file for a maximum of 100 MB. But alas, discovering Filemail was an answered prayer!

Filemail is a file sharing website that allows you to send documents, photos, videos and other files for up to 2GB. But what's even better is, you do not need to create an account, log in or verify an e-mail to do this. Upload your file directly on to the website (uploading can take a while depending on how big your file is), enter your recipient's e-mail address and your e-mail address. You can also include a message to your recipient.

Filemail sends your recipient an e-mail containing the link where the file(s) can be downloaded. It also mentions the number of times the file can be downloaded and the number of days it will be available on their server.

Even if it took me two hours to upload our video message. But still, using Filemail was totally worth it.

Free Birthdays & Events Reminder

If you're the type of person who has difficulty remembering dates such as birthdays and anniversaries, then you need the help of Remime. It's an easy-to-use website that sends you free reminders of those special dates and appointments you don't ever want to miss. Now you can greet grandma exactly on her birthday or send a congratulatory present to a friend on time.

Remime categorizes the dates into birthdays and events. You can put as much or as little information you want about these dates. For birthdays, you can add your friend's e-mail address, mobile phone and homepage. And if you don't know their birthdays, the website allows you to send an e-mail to your friends and ask them about it. For events, you can set up the alarm type (if event is one-time or repeating) and include tags to better organize them.

Remime allows unlimited number of dates on your account, so put in as many dates and events you possibly can think of. To save the birthdays and reminders, you need to create a free account and verify it through the e-mail address you've provided them.

Because you've been reminded by Remime, you will never have to miss your child's ball game, a wedding anniversary or even a cousin's birthday.

Create a photo mosaic for free

Now you can create your own photo mosaic, without the hassle of compiling thousands of photos on your favorite photo editing tool.

PicArtia lets you create free online photo mosaics in a breeze. This cool mosaic creator is fun, simple and totally easy to use. First, select a photo that you want to transform into a beautiful mosaic. You can upload a picture from your computer or from the Internet. Then, click on the gallery and select a category, which includes paintings, flowers and birds, among others. You can also view the photos of each category before deciding on choosing one. The photos from the category will compose your mosaic. After you've decided on a category, you can now finalize the setting of your mosaic.

Finally, provide a name and an e-mail address where you want the mosaic to be sent. PicArtia will send you an e-mail with a code that you will use for downloading it, which will be in high resolution. You can also share your mosaic to your friends by e-mail or by embedding it on your social networking site.

PicArtia is a fun and addictive tool. You can also use it to make unique event invitation, gifts or greeting cards to your friends and family. I only hope that in the future they will add more categories in their gallery, or include a feature where you can use your own photos as the composition for creating a mosaic.

Above mosaic is a photo of Toby, a fun-loving hound and beagle mix, that is available for adoption at the Peninsula SPCA.

Free Rhyming Tool

A song, a story,
Or a poem to say sorry.
Here's a website to find a rhyme,
Even when you are pressed for time.

Whether you are a poet, a lyricist or someone simply looking for a rhyme for a word, Write Rhymes is the website you can bank on. Simple, direct and easy to use, Write Rhymes is a cool rhyming machine that does not require any registration, password or e-mail verification. It directly provides the user the rhymes for words.

To start, type in the text, press alt and click on the word that needs rhyming. The website then shows you all the words that rhyme with it, from one to three-syllable words. When you're finished, you can copy, print or save your work as text document.

So whatever piece you are working on, perhaps a song, a rap or a poem, you can rely on Write Rhymes for the "right rhymes."

By the way, does anybody know a word that rhymes with orange?

Free High Quality Wallpapers

Jazz up your computer's wallpaper with free high quality wallpaper designs from the website, Your #1 Wallpapers Resource. If you're tired of seeing the same wallpaper selection from your PC, the Wallpapers Resource offers unique and interesting pictures of various wallpaper categories, such as architecture, nature, places, and my favorite, animals. It also has wallpaper of abstract, movies, cartoons and Vista-themed designs. For car enthusiasts, there're a lot of stylish car wallpapers to choose from.

Downloading the wallpaper is easy. Just right click on the wallpaper you want to download, and click "Save as..." You don't even need to register or set a password!

Designed as a blog, the site is a free wallpaper service from Share2life.com. I look forward to more wallpaper designs from this site. :)

Free Budgeting Tool

While at the supermarket, my husband, who noticed that a gallon of milk cost higher than a gallon of gas, asked, “Is there a shortage of cows?” Well, there might not be, but the rising cost of gas does seem to affect the price of everything. The key to living within the means of your income and keep your spending under control is to budget. A budget helps you prioritize your spending, keep track of your savings and may keep you from having debts.

Most of the time, it is difficult to stick to a budget, and this is where Spendji comes in. As a budget-planning tool for your finances, Spendji helps you make budgeting simple and manageable. It lets you create spending plans for any activity, be it a long-term project like house renovation or an occasional event such as a birthday party.

I like the "cleanliness" of the website's layout. There are no annoying banners or pop up ads, and everything is just simple, direct and easy to navigate. If you're not sure how to begin a budget, you can click an activity listed on a cloud tag of popular things Spendji users are doing, and see suggested budget items. For example, click on vacation and the suggested budget items include airfare, airport parking, camera, entertainment, etc.

Also, if you do not want to budget alone, you can share your spendji budget plan with friends, family, or even an entire organization. Import addresses from your e-mail account (Yahoo, G-mail, Hotmail, Outlook or Plaxo) and invite your friends to collaborate with you on spending plans. You can even control their level of participation either as administrator, contributor or viewer.

Since Spendji is concerned about how to help you get the best out of your hard-earned money, the budget-website also features "Research Prices." Here, you can compare prices for travel or shopping expenses, such as airfare, car rentals, hotels, and cruises.

More than just a budgeting tool, Spendji also includes a calendar, a to-do-list and a discussion section to keep everybody in your project in sync with everything planned. It even has a money transaction feature, where you can request or receive payments which is powered by Amazon.

There is this saying that "A budget is just a method of worrying before you spend money, as well as afterward." However, with Spendji, it is not about worrying, but creating a clear guideline to spending your money wisely.

Free Classroom Management Tools for Teachers

Whatever subject you're teaching, whether it is chemistry, algebra or grammar, you know that classroom management is no easy task. There are assignments to check, attendance to record and scores to compute. Instead of spending more time to prepare for the next day's lesson, the "administrative" part of being a teacher takes up a lot of your time. Surely, you deserve a reliable tool that would make managing classes more efficient. A good friend has inspired me to look for a free Internet tool that would help her, along with everyone who are into the "noblest profession of all" that is, teaching.

Engrade is a website dedicated to helping teachers with classroom management online. Its features include free online posting of the grades and attendance of your students, the assignments, and upcoming projects for your class. It is easy to use so teachers who are technically-challenged will be able to set up their own account and use the website's features with ease. As mentioned in its video demo, the website can be used by any teacher from any country and language.

To start with the class creation page, enter your class information such as the class name, school year and grading period. Set up the grading scale you want. The site has a pre-grading option which allows Engrade to automatically calculate the grades. Or, you can customize it depending on your needs.

Next, you can create assignment categories like tests, quizzes and homeworks. You may choose to include if the assignments weigh in the total grades of your students. For quizzes, for example, you can choose to say that they constitute 30% of the total grade. After that, you may start typing in the name of your students where you assign a unique number for them, which they will use as code to log in and view their grades on the website. You may use their student ID number as their code. You can always edit your classroom settings even after you've created the class page.

As mentioned, aside from the gradebook, Engrade also features an online calendar where you can display upcoming activities, projects and deadlines. You can also upload files for up to 50 MB. Now, your students do not have anymore excuse for not knowing when an assignment is due since the online calendar is accessible 24/7.

One of the great things about the website is it aids in improving communication between you and the parents of your students. Oftentimes, parents are busy with their work and do not have time to drop by the school to talk to you. With the website, you can allow parents to send you messages and let them view the grades of their children, see their progress and be up-to-date with what's going on.

Since we know that students always refer to the Internet for their research, it helps to let them know that their teacher also reaches to them online and gives them access to view their grades. If you haven't done so, it's time to bring your classroom on cyberspace through Engrade.