Build your own online library for free

I love reading books, and I've always dreamed of having my own library. But because limited, I've decided to build my library online for free at Shelfari.

Shelfari is a website where you can build lists of books that you've read, and rate them as well. I like the visuals on Shelfari. They provide the cover page of the books, and are literally displayed on a shelf. You can also add more information about a book, write a review, or include the date that you read it. You can put as many books as you want for free. And you don't have to own the book to add it to your shelf, but if you do, whether you read it or not, you can add it. My husband added every book he owns to his Shelfari book shelf.

Since Shelfari is also a social network, you can make friends with other book lovers worldwide and exchange notes on books that you like or dislike. Let others know if you're reading the book now or if you already have read it, or if you would like to read a certain book. There are also book interest groups that you may join, as well as receive updates from your favorite artists who have Shelfari book shelves (and many do!).

On a not-so-good side of Shelfari though, I’ve read some articles about the site using all your contacts to invite them to sign up without your knowledge, so please be careful.

Free Online Highlighter

My husband and I love highlighters. We have almost every color of it - pink, blue, orange, purple, green, and the very common yellow. They're very useful, especially when reading a very interesting book. My husband even uses highlighters to color code sentences that he likes. So imagine our joy when we learned about Awesome Highlighter, a tool to highlight things you think are important on the web. Finally, we can highlight text not just on paper, but also those on the web (and without having to own one of those fancy tablets)!

Awesome Highlighter is a free tool that you can use when you want to highlight a text on a webpage. It helps you show others the important messages you want them to see on a particular webpage. Like the other web applications I've featured on this blog, Awesome Highlighter is easy to use.

Type in the address of the website where you want to highlight some text, and Awesome Highligher will then take you to that website. Using your mouse, start highlighting the text that you want to emphasize. Click "Done" when you're finished. Awesome Highlighter then shows you a summary of the text you've highlighted and the highlighted address. If you're not yet sure about the text you've highlighted, you can also go back by clicking "edit highlights" for any changes you want to make. When you're done highlighting, you have the option of either sending the page by e-mail or copying the highlighted address onto your blog or website.

I like how the website provides a summary of the highlighted text. It makes it easy for the recipient to understand why you're sending them a particular website. You could also make a note on the highlighted webpage for your personal message.

As my husband and I were trying the highlighter application, he couldn't help but say, "awesome!"

From the website:
"The Awesome Highlighter makes it easy to show your friends, co-workers, or the annoying person on the message board the important parts of any web page. By highlighting text, you help the reader focus on what you want them to see."