Although you can certainly go out and purchase a book at your local bookstore that promises to teach you exactly how to get around the computer, it seems more logical and efficient to cut out the middle man and use your computer as your teacher and guide to the 21st Century way of communicating. If this sounds appealing, there are plenty of websites that offer fun and interactive lessons that will put you on course to figuring out how to do essential tasks on the computer. Here are some of the best of these websites.

Depending on how new you are to computers, you may be frustrated to discover that many computer lessons that can be found online and offline start at a point that requires you to have some background knowledge that you may or may not already know. For this reason, a great place to start for novices can be at Internet for Classrooms. While this site will most likely be of little use to veteran computer users, those who have just started to get around their computer will find the lessons very helpful and informative. From learning how to use a mouse and a keyboard to figuring out what exactly one can do while browsing the internet, this basic skill review is free and easy to access for a person that has hardly worked with computers.

Another excellent place to look for free computer tutorials can be found at Home and Learn. Everything you need to brush up on you can most likely find on the homepage of the website, simply a click away and for no cost. Tutorials for beginners, for Microsoft Word and Excel, Visual Basic .Net, PowerPoint, Beginners PHP, Web Design, and Visual C# .Net can all be found for free on this website, making it the perfect place to go to determine what you need out of an online course and what your interests are. You can also register for free in order to take exams, which allow you to check your mastery in the area you are studying, and you can also research how to pursue a certificate of mastery in your chosen area that will allow you to prove your mastery to potential employers.

If you feel that you have mastered the basic skills of computing and would like a more comprehensive review of specific tasks, there are better websites to peruse. Computer Coach promises to do just what the name of the website suggests: coach you in various computer-related skills that will help you succeed both in business and at home. The website offers training in five different areas: the Microsoft Online Training Packages allows you to familiarize yourself with and master the various essential programs included in Microsoft Office; MCSE Training trains you in what you need to know in order to pursue Microsoft certification for whatever aim you desire; CompTIA Training will help you to understand technical computing and programming; Web Design Training contains 32 courses on everything you need to know in order to get your website up and running; and PMP Training prepares you for the Project Management Professional certification exam. Some of the benefits of learning through Computer Coach include no downloads, as the course is taught completely online, no books needed, hands-on training both online and offline, no additional software needed, and the ability to print the entire course and take it with you wherever you go. Each of the five different areas allows you to make one simple purchase, a 12 month subscription to the website, before you can access the lessons, making the purchase easy and the learning quick. For an additional fee, you can have access to a live mentor that will help to answer any questions that you may need at the moment that you need help, rather than having to wait forever for an email response. All in all, Computer Coach in an excellent website offering several lessons that will help you to acquire whatever online skills you need to have.

Another website that offers excellent computer skills training is Teknimedia. From basic computer training to specialized lessons that are geared toward more experienced computer users, Teknimedia is the place to go to find the online skills training you seek. While the Computer Literacy Series learning track is perfect for those who want to become familiar with the computer starting at a basic level, the PCIC3—Getting Ready for IC3 track allows one to train for the Internet and Computing Core Certification Exam, a certification that helps open up opportunities for employment as well as higher education. You can also browse the courses that are available to help you learn Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, as well as courses that help you with basic Internet and E-Mail needs. Teknimedia offers several samples of their courses all throughout the website so that you can see if their products are the ones that you are looking for. If they are, Teknimedia offers a variety of different purchase methods, one of them allowing you to take the courses directly from your computer.

You may have seen the infomercials, but Video Professor also maintains a strong presence on the internet as well. Video Professor offers easy-to-use computer tutorials that allow you to learn how to use your computer right from your computer, and all you need to know how to do is to put a CD into your disk drive. Over 60 lesson titles can be found, teaching everything from Microsoft Word and Excel to eBay. You can pause, rewind, and fast forward each of the lessons as you see fit, allowing you to do everything at your own pace rather than at what the creator of the program thinks you should be able to do. You can also select from beginner, intermediate, and advanced difficulty levels in order to ensure that you are doing what you need to do to learn. As the home page of the website boldly advertises, Video Professor offers that you try their products for free, not including shipping, allowing you to see for yourself what all the fuss is about. All in all, Video Professor is an excellent resource for all of your computer instructional needs.

Finding the online skills training that you need is not a problem as long as you know where to look. While there are plenty of free resources available, paid methods of online instruction often include better features. It is worth it to shop around and take advantage of free samples in order to recognize what it is you need out of a course and what you stand to learn before spending any money, but the benefits of mastering the computer are plenty.

photo credit: rocknroll_guitar

Although many reformation movements throughout history have involved violence and forced change, King championed the idea of nonviolent protest, propelling the civil rights movement to the forefront of the nation’s consciousness. King is widely known for organizing the March on Washington in 1963 and delivering the groundbreaking “I Have a Dream” speech, considered to be the greatest speech in American history and one that has cemented Martin Luther King, Jr. as one of the greatest orators in American history. For all of these reasons and more, the United States observes Martin Luther King, Jr. Day on the third Monday of each January in order to roughly coincide with King’s birthday, January 15. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is a time to honor King’s contributions to the civil rights movement and for bringing equality to African Americans.

Martin Luther King, Jr. was born in Atlanta, Georgia on January 15, 1929, the son of Reverend Martin Luther King, Sr. and Alberta Williams King. Attending Booker T. Washington High School, King skipped the ninth and the twelfth grade and began studying at Morehouse College at the age of fifteen without actually formally graduation from college. In 1948, King graduated from Morehouse College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology and enrolled in Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania. King would graduate from Crozer in 1951 with a Bachelor of Divinity degree and would then go on to procure a Doctor of Philosophy from Boston College for his studies in systematic theology. In 1953, King married Coretta Scott on the lawn of her parents’ house in Alabama and the two would go on to have four children: Yolanda King, Martin Luther King III, Dexter Scott King, and Bernice King.

Although Martin Luther King, Jr. certainly was an extraordinary man in his own right, historians have attributed many influences to King that would have shaped his thinking and allowed him to contribute to the civil rights movement in the way that he did. One of these influences is Howard Thurman, an educator and civil rights leader that was also a classmate of King’s father. Thurman is said to have enlightened King in the ideas of Gandhian protest, the nonviolent method of achieving change for which Gandhi was known during that time period. In part due to Thurman’s guidance, King eventually went to visit Gandhi in India in 1959 in order to seek counsel from the man who was able to do so much without the use of violence. Because of the trip, King resolved to go about his desired state of equality without succumbing to the use of violence, but instead using peace in order to bring about change. King directly attributed his awakening, of sorts, to Gandhi.

One of King’s first large-scale protests was the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955. When fifteen-year-old Claudette Colvin, a schoolgirl, refused to give up her bus seat to a white man in compliance with the Jim Crow laws of the South, she was arrested. King was on the committee from the Birmingham African-American community that looked into the case, but other members of the community decided to wait for a better case to pursue before taking action. Then, about nine months later on December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a bus. Edgar Nixon, a committee member, urged and planned a boycott of the Montgomery Bus System, one that was lead by King to great success. For 385, a full-scale bus boycott took place, and the situation was so tense that King’s house was bombed. Eventually, King himself was arrested for his part in the campaign, but the situation eventually ended with a United States District Court ruling that ended racial segregation on Montgomery buses.

The most iconic moment in King’s life and the one that stands out most to today’s generation is the 1963 March on Washington. Although he was not the main logistical organizer of the event, King has become intimately associated with the landmark protest. King, who was representing the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, delivered the “I Have a Dream” speech in front of the Lincoln Memorial, one that has gone down as history as one of the greatest American speeches ever. The theme of the March on Washington was to show that racial harmony was possible, but there also was a list of demands that the protestors had in order to ensure a fairer and more equal society. These demands included an end to racial discrimination in public schools, a set of meaningful civil rights laws, including a law that would prohibit racial discrimination in employment, protection of civil rights workers from police brutality, $2 minimum wage for all workers, and self-government for Washington D.C. Although there was plenty of tension surrounding the March on Washington and many prominent civil rights proponents thought the march would not be successful, the March on Washington led to many changes that the African American community desired.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was founded as a holiday by labor unions making contract negotiations. After King’s 1968 assassination, a bill in Congress was created that would make King’s birthday, January 15, a national holiday. When the bill came to a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1979, it failed to pass by a margin of five votes. Part of the reason that so many representatives voted against the passage of the bill was that King never held a public office, making the proposed holiday an event in honor of a private citizen. This would have gone against a long-standing tradition in the creation of federal holidays. Also, opponents argued that a paid holiday for federal employees would be too expensive. Regardless, a tremendous surge of public support for the passage of the bill led President Ronald Reagan to sign a bill making Martin Luther King, Jr. Day a federal holiday. The first instance of the holiday was observed on January 20, 1986. Unfortunately, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was met with reluctance and resistance in several states, but in 2006, all 50 states observed the holiday for the first time since its creation.

Martin Luther King, Jr. is certainly one of the most influential and iconic figures in American history. Few other men have contributed so much to social equality in the United States, let alone the entire world, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is a time to honor an extraordinary man for all of his contributions to the civil right movement. While Gandhi introduced nonviolent protest as a means to achieve social change to the world, Martin Luther King, Jr. is credited with bringing the concept of peaceful revolution to the United States and applying for the benefit of the entire country.

photo credit: William Hook

Although the name itself is rather silly, Chumby is a fascinating piece of equipment that should be looked into by anybody who fancies himself to be an Internet connoisseur. Chumby provides a fascinating way to surf the Internet, in the form of an embedded computer that provides Internet and LAN access through a wifi connection. Various software widgets are run through this connection, making the Chumby a sort of media hub for a variety of esoteric applications. The nature of Chumby makes it rather hard to explain: the Chumby website itself seems to be straining for the right words to describe why Chumby is important and necessary and what it actually accomplishes that a traditional computer cannot. It is such a departure from other forms of Internet devices that it needs some clarification.

The first sighting of Chumby was at Foo Camp, an annual hacker event hosted by O’Reilly Media, on August 25, 2006. There, it was released to about 100 alpha testers, those who are meant to see and test the product far before it reaches the hands of the consumers. Further alpha testing was undertaken, but with a different spin: prospective alpha testers had to go through an application process in which they described ideas for software applications or hardware modifications that would be useful and interesting for Chumby to inherit. Another goal for the free offer was to get Chumby into the hands of software developers who would hopefully be sufficiently intrigued by the new device to start creating exclusive software, and with it, an express reason to purchase a Chumby. July 2007 saw 50 random applicants receive the next generation of Chumbys, an event called “the first 50”. In September of the same year, in a similar vein to the aforementioned application process, O’Reilly Media, the “Insiders Release” event was initiated, which allowed interested parties to email O’Reilly Media to get advance information on the release of the Chumby.

In February of the following year, it was announced that Chumby would finally be available for commercial release. By May 2008, the price was set at $179.95 for any of three colors of Chumby. So far, only domestic distribution of the Chumby has been undertaken due to the fact that international distribution requires much more testing due to the sheer amount of different regulatory regimes throughout the world. So far, reviews have been somewhat positive of the product, although its uniqueness certainly shows. Many reviewers have gone so far as to say that the Chumby is simply “cute”, although some have noticed much more potential in the seemingly-innocuous device. Citing its ease of use and touch screen, some reviewers have stated that the Chumby is paving the way for the Internet to be introduced into areas and cultural groups that would not normally be able to use the Internet because of the difficulty that is generally associated with setting up a computer for Internet access.

At its core, Chumby is a Linux-based computer, Linux being an operating system, like Windows or Mac. The computer happens to be very small and it is contained within a case made of a material that resembles leather. Using wifi to connect to the Internet, the Chumby is then able to download widgets that allow its touch screen to accomplish a variety of purposes. Although many of the widgets for the Chumby are silly and fun, others are actually very practical and go a long way toward making the Chumby something viable for mass usage. Much of the praise for Chumby is based on the fact that it is very accessible, from the way that the user interacts with the computer to its looks: there is nothing harsh about the Chumby, and you can tell by its name that it is not an electronics device that should be taken completely seriously. Another source of praise is the fact that Chumby is an example of open source hardware, which means that the inner mechanics of the device are available to be perused by the user and tweaked if necessary.

Although this seems to be a trivial fact, open source hardware is something that a lot of computer users, usually the more advanced ones, desire most in a machine. The majority of available computers are not examples of open source hardware, so the Chumby is a step in the right direction for these computer users, allowing for a level of customizability that cannot often be found in other electronic devices. This is also important to the average user because it allows the Chumby to be exactly what the user makes of it. One person’s Chumby could be a music playing device that downloads music from the internet and then stores it for the user, while another person’s Chumby could be their news source. Because the Chumby is always connected to the Internet, it is always acquiring information. This is great in conjunction with things like news, weather, podcasts, and celebrity gossip because it allows the user to have up-to-the-minute information, rather than having to get on the computer and search for it. New widgets for the Chumby are being made all the time to join the over 800 widgets in 30 different categories that exist at the time that this sentence is written.

The Chumby operates closely with the Chumby Network, which allows you to get all of the aforementioned widgets and information for free with the purchase of the Chumby itself. You do not have to pay for any subscriptions or sign up for anything because of the fact that the Chumby Network is paid for by Chumby Industries and sponsor companies who make up the difference by sending you context-sensitive advertising. So if your Chumby is set up to stream sports information to you, the advertising will most likely contain ads that will pertain to sports in some way. Another cool feature of the Chumby is the personalized alarm clock that lets you wake up exactly when you want to and to whatever you want to wake you up, from a weather report to your favorite song. Any type of Chumby event can be selected to play at any time, so you can use the feature to remind you of something that you should not forget at whatever time you want it to.

All in all, the Chumby is a rather fascinating piece of equipment that is slowly making its way into the hearts of technology lovers anyway. Perhaps the most important thing to know about the Chumby is that it is whatever you make of it: constant Internet access allows it to be your convenient hub for information concerning news, sports, and weather, but you can just as easily make it your one-stop music station. You can also play games, enjoy social networking sites like Facebook, and browse auctions and classifieds at your leisure. Chumby is very easy to use because it is a small, touch screen device as opposed to a daunting computer that relies on so much more to get the same information. If you are interested in the Chumby, you can learn more at www.chumby.com. At the same website, you can also purchase a Chumby if you are convinced that the Chumby is right for you.

Whether they are holding a virtual capture the flag competition or staging a hectic coffee war, participants at DEFCON all share an interest in the controversial art of computer hacking. A hacker is someone who is knowledgeable about computer security and skilled in either preventing security breaches or exploiting computer security to gain unauthorized access. Therefore, a convention of said hackers may be seen as controversial and certain planned events at the 2008 DEFCON Conference are already stirring people up.

Hacking has existed since the creation of the very first electronic computers in the early 1970s, and since then the practice has evolved into something that affects millions every day. Such security breaches in the 1970s involved “phreakers”, a portmanteau of “phone” and “freak”, people who were able to break into telephone lines and steal information from the telephone company and from strangers by listening in on their phone calls. In the 1980s, computer hacking became more prevalent, with groups ranging from professional hackers to teenagers managing to break into computer systems, several cases reaching national attention. In 1986, after several years of increased awareness on the security risks that nefarious hackers pose, Congress passed the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, which made it illegal to break into computer systems. Regardless of this, criminal hacking continued to increase exponentially, with many security breaches across the world creating panic throughout companies, organizations, and even entire countries. The turn of the millennium saw viruses and worms, such as the ILOVEYOU worm, spread throughout the entire world, inflicting billions of dollars worth of damage.

In light of all the damage that hackers have caused, it is not difficult to see why people would be wary of a convention such as DEFCON. The fact is, though, that DEFCON is not a group of malicious hackers getting together to plot the destruction of the global infrastructure. Rather, it is a group of people from all different backgrounds getting together to enjoy each other’s company and their shared interest in computer code, computer architecture, and computer security. Needless to say, computers are an important part of the proceedings at DEFCON, but there are also tons of other events planned as well. In keeping with the spirit of the city in which it is held, Las Vegas, Nevada, DEFCON encourages you to kick back and have fun. If you feel like you would fit in with a group of people that, whether they admit to it or not, are much attuned to their computers, then DEFCON is worth a visit. Registration for DEFCON begins on August 7 at Pre-Con. There, you can visit the Official DEFCON store and register early in order to beat the lines. The cost is $120 dollars in cash only. You can also enjoy the Unofficial DEFCON 16 Toxic BBQ.

Although Pre-Con has its perks, the real event begins on August 8. You can register from 8:00AM to 10:00PM, so if you were not able to register during Pre-Con, there is still hope. From 10:00AM to midnight, there are tons of things to do, split into five tracks. You can take part in any of the events, so it is only a matter of trying to fit everything that you wish to do into one day. You could participate in a presentation on Time-Based Blind SQL Injections Using Heavy Queries given by Chema Alonso and Jose Parada from 10:00AM to 10:50AM and then make your way to the Warballooning Demo at 11:00AM. Although it might not make much sense to you what either of those events are, part of the fun is participating in things that may be out of your realm of thought in order to try something new. Regardless of what you choose, there is probably something for everybody throughout Day 1 of DEFCON. Day 2 is another action-packed day, and you are still able to register if you were unable to get to Las Vegas for Pre-Con or Day 1. You can show off your Guitar Hero 3 skills by taking part in the competition or you can flex your noggin by participating in Hacker Jeopardy. Navigate to www.defcon.org and click on the “Schedule” link in order to plan out a tentative route that will hit all the things that you want to see. At the end of Day 3, there is an award ceremony, so you may just walk away from DEFCON a more accomplished person.

DEFCON is a place to hone your competitive spirit, and you can do so in any of a variety of ways. For example, you could take part in the DEFCON Badge Hacking competition and create a convention badge that defies the laws of paper and plastic badges that other conventions may sport. You could also create a device that will dominate the Beverage Cooling Contraption contest, in which you attempt to quickly cool a beverage in the Nevada heat, competing against people whose designs may or may have not been honed in the previous years of the contest. One of the more controversial contests in the event is the Race to Zero, where hackers will attempt to create a piece of malware that will evade detection by all of the antivirus programs in each round of competition. Because of the nature of the competition, which could potentially produce an undetectable virus, and because of the fact that it promotes the creations of computer viruses in general, it has attracted plenty of controversy. Whether or not you choose to be a part of the Race to Zero at DEFCON, you can certainly enjoy any of the dozens of other events that will be held there.

DEFCON is held at the Riviera Hotel and Casino, located in Las Vegas, Nevada. It will run from the 7th of August to the 10th and people are encouraged to join the thousands of other people that plan to attend the event. Although interest in hacking and computer security is not exactly a cornerstone of traditional American culture, the appreciation of such endeavors should be cultivated well in advance before one plans to attend the event. Although it seems that laptop computers would be a requisite part of the whole affair, casual participants in DEFCON are encouraged to either leave them at home or locked up in the room because of the fact that the wireless network at the hotel will be filled with experts on breaching security. It is not a hospitable atmosphere for a computer with low security standards.

Regardless of whether you plan to compete or just enjoy the ambiance of DEFCON, you are encouraged to attend and see what all the fuss is about. It may be a chance for you to meet face to face with a hacker or it may be a life-changing event where you meet your future best friends, but whatever the case, it will always be DEFCON.

credit: DeclanTM

By utilizing the new fad of cloud computing, you can create online backups of all the information on your computer. There are a number of services available that will allow you to backup your files and the amount of money it costs to do so is usually quite reasonable.

Why would you want to create online backups for the files on your computer? It’s really quite simple. Virtually all of us have vital information on our computer. If you were to lose the information, it’d be difficult or impossible to get that information back. The loss of information costs individuals and businesses millions upon millions of dollars each year. No matter what steps you take to safeguard your computer, there is always a chance you will lose your information. By creating an online backup, you will have an extra layer of protection that can survive any catastrophe.

A lot of people simply plan for minor problems such as a computer crash or a software glitch. In that case, a computer expert can usually salvage the information needed from your computer. However, what if something much worse happens? For example, if your computer were to be stolen, what recourse do you currently have?

Currently, outside of creating online backups of your files, the only other real backup method is to physical copy your hard drive. That said, there are many drawbacks to this approach. First of all, the process generally takes a lot of time. If you want to backup your data on a daily basis, you are talking about up to seven hours a week spent on simple data backup. If you run a big computer with many computers, you may have to hire someone whose job responsibility is just data safety and management.

credit: Craig Rodway

Physical copies of your hard drive are not as safe as online backups for many other reasons. For example, if both your computers and your backups are stolen, you won’t have anything. Or if a natural disaster were to take place in your city, such as a hurricane or earthquake, you could potentially lose both your computers and your physical copies of the hard drive.

Using cloud computing technology and one of the many online file backup services, you can make your information on your computer extremely safe. Even if a natural disaster were to strike, your data would be safe because it’d be in another part of the world. Additionally, online backups occur rather quickly, so you don’t have to spend the time or the money making physical copies of your hard drive.

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What online file backup service should you use? The answer depends on what you need. How much information do you need to store? How big is your budget? How often do you want to backup your files? You should know the answer to all of these questions prior to looking for the right service for you.

Here are some of the best services available on the internet. All of these services come highly rated. Read over the reviews, visit the websites and then decide which service best fits both your needs and wants.

Carbonite.com
Many experts in the field of online data backup are raving about Carbonite.com. This service is extremely easy to use, very reasonably priced and does practically everything you could imagine. For less than $50 a year, Carbonite.com will backup all the files on your computer – no matter how much data that entails.

After subscribing to the Carbonite.com service, you simply download a piece of software to your computer. When your computer is idle, that piece of software looks at your files and sends any new or updated files over the internet into an online storage. For example, if you work all day and you compose ten emails, write a dozen of word documents and edit two spreadsheets, the Carbonite.com software will make automatic backups of all those files once you have finished for the day.

Arguably the two best parts about Carbonite.com are its simplicity and its dedication to securing your information. After you download the software, you virtually have to do nothing else. The software will run in the background and will find the files that need to be backed up. During the backing up process, your information is kept incredibly safe. Using technology that banks and other secure institutions use, Carbonite.com sends your information over the internet to its secure data centers for storage. You don’t have to worry about compromised information because your data will be encrypted throughout its journey.

If you are unsure whether Carbonite.com is right for you, the company offers a risk-free trial that will allow you to look at all the available features. Once you decide to purchase the full version, it’s rather simple to upgrade. And for less than five dollars a month, it’s an extremely good deal.

credit: Nano Taboada

Mozy.com
No matter if you are looking for solutions for a business or an individual, Mozy.com has very good options for online data backup. For individuals, the price is about five dollars per month, which is similar to what Carbonite.com charges.

However, there is a free version that could be the perfect solution for a lot of users. Mozy.com offers two GB of free online data backup. If your computer has less than two GB of data, you can use Mozy.com for free! Just sign up for the free account and then backup your files. As long as you stay under that two GB limit, you don’t have to pay a penny.

Like Carbonite.com, you download software that checks for new or edited files on your computer. It then encrypts those files and then sends the files to their servers for backup.

If anything goes wrong with your computer, whether it be a computer crash, the theft of your computer or your computer just dies, you will then be able to restore the information using the data backup.

The pricing for the business solutions on Mozy.com are determined on how much information you need to be backed up. In true cloud computing style, you only pay for exactly how much data backup you require.

While Carbonite.com and Mozy.com are commonly thought of as the two best options when it comes to online data backups, there are a number of other websites in this same field. Those websites include Box.net, eSnips.com, OmniDrive.com and Xdrive.com.

When you are looking over these websites, you should consider a number of variables. First of all, you should consider price. If you have a set budget, you shouldn’t waste time on solutions that are far too costly. Second of all, you should ensure that your information will be safe. Also make sure your information is encrypted while it’s being backed up. Third of all, make sure the company you choose is reputable. If you lose your computer and then the company you backup your files with goes out of business, you won’t be able to retrieve your files.

Once you pick the right service provider, you should make sure that you routinely backup your files. If the company you picked offers daily backups, that’s always the best option. Planning for the unexpected can save you a lot of time, money and hassle – especially when you are talking about irretrievable files on your computer.

The Internet has made our lives a whole lot easier in our lives. Everything from ordering food to checking stock prices can be accomplished with a couple clicks of the mouse. Almost every aspect of life has been affected by the Internet – with the main outcome being an easier and less time consuming alternative.

Although the Internet has been quick to tackle the easier obstacles in life, new websites are now tackling larger issues. Purchasing a house is one of the biggest and most important decisions a person will make in their life. It’s truly a life changing decision that will reverberate for years to come. When you buy a house, it will likely be the largest investment you ever make.

credit: VisitMyLuxuryHome.com

Due to the enormity of the decision and all the information that is involved, most people throughout the years have depended on professionals to help ensure a quality decision is made. Real estate agents have commonly been in charge of finding homes, giving details about the homes, giving details about the surrounding neighborhood, giving details about the schools and countless other details. With little information available for yourself, you had to trust real estate agents to come up with quality information.

With new websites such as Zillow.com and Trulia.com, the average Joe now has an endless amount of real estate information available at their fingertips. In fact, the information on these relatively new websites is typically even better than the information traditionally available to professional real estate agents. Everything you could possibly want or need to know is now available online on the Internet. This is yet another example of the Internet making our daily lives easier while also saving us time!

Zillow is a website brought to you by the same people who brought the highly successful Expedia.com to fruition. Launched in February of 2006, Zillow is already one of the biggest names in the real estate industry. Virtually every real estate agent is well aware of its existence.The most commonly used feature on Zillow.com is their free “Zestimate” feature. This feature is easy to use and will give you results in seconds. All you need to do is go to the front page of Zillow.com and enter the information about a house and then Zillow does the rest. The only information you need is the address and a zip code (or city and state) and Zillow will give you an estimate for how much the house is worth!Zillow utilizes a huge amount of information when calculating the “Zestimate” of the home you inputted. While they don’t give you the exact formula that they use, many customer reviews have graded the “Zestimate” as extremely close to the actual value of the home. If you are looking for a quick and painless way to get a home price estimate, Zillow is perhaps the best place on the Internet to do so. However, Zillow is not only a place to get house estimates. In fact, Zillow.com is a top of the line web 2.0 real estate website.Web 2.0 refers to how new age websites allow user interaction, communication and idea sharing. Many of the top websites nowadays have switched their business model to become more web 2.0 friendly. However, since Zillow is relatively new, they have been a web 2.0 website since the beginning.

At Zillow, the users have an active role in the website. Users can share information with other users on the site. Users can ask questions on Zillow. Basically, users can talk to each other to help towards the goal of the website being able to offer the best real estate information on the Internet.

While Zillow takes some of the traditional power away from real estate agents, the site does keep real estate agents in the loop. Zillow.com has four main types of people using their website – home owners, home buyers, home sellers and real estate professionals. Real estate professionals can put their information on the site and they still do play a vital role in the community. From simply answering questions that users have to closing on deals, real estate professionals can get just as much out of Zillow as any of the other three main types of people using the site.

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Trulia.com is another web 2.0 real estate website that is comparable in size to Zillow. Actually, many people prefer Trulia to Zillow. Trulia.com is renowned for having the most up to date information of any real estate website. Reviews have also graded Trulia’s user experience as friendlier and more informative. For example, a question asked on Trulia.com is said to get better and more accurate responses than a question asked on Zillow.

While Trulia shares most of its features with Zillow, it does offer a “Make Me Move” option that is extremely popular. How “Make Me Move” works is if you own a home, you can enter a price you are willing to sell for – even if your home isn’t officially up for sale. Let’s say that you are happily living in your home but if someone will pay a certain price for your home, you would gladly pack up and find another home to live in. All you have to do is go to Trulia.com and enter your “Make Me Move” price. After you do that, all you will be notified if a buyer is willing to purchase your home at your “Make Me Move” price!

If you are into stats and trends, Trulia is the place to look when buying homes. It has an impressive array of numbers that can tell you a lot about homes, neighborhood, cities and states. Their information is easy to read, and just like Zillow, most of their information is free to use – including their home price estimates.

While Zillow and Trulia are currently viewed as the two leaders in the web 2.0 real estate website industry, there are a number of other real estate websites that are used by millions of people everyday. Yahoo Real Estate has the billions of dollars of Yahoo behind it and is one of the most popular real estate websites on the Internet. You can find a huge amount of information on Yahoo Real Estate, and the website also offers some web 2.0 type options.

Homes.com, Homescape.com, Oodle.com, Point2.com, RealEstate.com, Vast.com and vFlyer.com are all websites that have real estate listings and some web 2.0 features. While none of these sites are quite in the league of Zillow and Trulia, it is worth looking over these websites whether you are a homeowner, a home seller, a home buyer or a real estate professional. You can find useful information and sometimes even information not found on any other website on the Internet.

Thanks to web 2.0 technology and newly born real estate websites catering to individuals, you no longer have to depend on a professional to do the analytical work for you. Now you can get your own numbers and make your own decision. With the Internet making our lives easier in almost every reach of life, real estate was eventually going to be made easier by the Internet – and now it has!

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Millions of people around the world use Microsoft Office everyday. Whether they want to type up a letter, make a chart on a spreadsheet or make a power point presentation, Microsoft Office has been the go-to software for more than a decade. However, in recent years we are starting to see more alternatives to Microsoft Office.

Microsoft Office’s word processor is known as Microsoft Word. This is the most popular program within the Microsoft Office suite. If you want to write a letter using a Microsoft Office program, you use Microsoft Word. Microsoft Excel is the spreadsheet program in Microsoft Office. If you want to make a graph, add numbers or do anything else on a spreadsheet, Microsoft Excel is what you want to use. Microsoft Outlook is the personal information program. Whether you want to send an email, keep track of events on a calendar or keep an address book, you’d want to use Microsoft Outlook. If you want to make a power point presentation, you’d want to use Microsoft PowerPoint.

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One of the leading competitors for Microsoft Office is Open Office. Open Office’s main selling point is the fact that it is free. Since Microsoft Office can be expensive, sometimes thousands and thousands of dollars for companies using a multitude of computers, Open Office being a free alternative has made it popular in a relatively short amount of time. While customer reviews still usually tend to rate Microsoft Office as the superior product, Open Office has started to gain in recent years. Add in the fact that it is free and many consumers are willing to make the switch!

Open Office Writer is the word processing program for Open Office and is the Microsoft Word alternative. Open Office Spreadsheet is the spreadsheet program for Open Office and is the Microsoft Excel alternative. Open Office Impress is the presentation program and is the Microsoft PowerPoint alternative.

A great aspect of Open Office is the fact that most Microsoft Office files are editable in Open Office. For example, you can open a spreadsheet file you made in Microsoft Excel in Open Office Spreadsheet. Open Office is also compatible with various operating systems and is being updated on a continuous basis. If you want to try it out, it’s easy and of course free to do. Simply go to OpenOffice.org and you can download your own copy and compare it to Microsoft Office to see which one you prefer.

IBM Lotus Symphony is another free option for those looking for a Microsoft Office alternative. It was first released in 2007, so it’s a relatively new alternative. Although it isn’t as popular as Open Office, more and more people are giving it a try on a daily basis. Like Microsoft Office, IBM Lotus Symphony has a word processing program (IBM Lotus Symphony Documents), a spreadsheet program (IBM Lotus Symphony Spreadsheets) and a presentation software (IBM Lotus Symphony Presentations).

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Another alternative to Microsoft Office is WordPerfect Office. While WordPerfect Office isn’t free, it does usually cost less than Microsoft Office. The reviews for WordPerfect Office are usually positive and it’s considered the option with the best built in security features. The Microsoft Word alternative is called WordPerfect X3, the Microsoft Excel alternative is called Quattro Pro X3, the Microsoft Outlook alternative is called WordPerfect MAIL and the Microsoft PowerPoint alternative is called Presentations X3.

For those who are on the go, online office and word processing sites are becoming a practical alternative to the typical software package. With online office and word processing sites, you can create, edit and share your work from any computer around the world. All you need is an internet connection and you will be connected to your work!

Perhaps the most well-known online office and word processing site is Google Docs. Google, which has become the most powerful brand name on the internet (not to mention the internet’s most successful search engine), has produced a high-powered alternative for those who want a way to use Microsoft Office-like programs via the internet.

To use Google Docs, all you have to have is a free Google account. Once you have your Google account, you can go to Docs.Google.com and get started creating your documents. Google Docs features a word processor program, a spreadsheet program and a presentation program. After you have created your document, you save the document and the information is stored on the Google servers. That means that wherever you can access Google, you can access your work.

With Google Docs, you can also collaborate on documents with your friend or co-workers. For example, if you are working on a project involving a spreadsheet at your place of employment, you and your co-workers can all work on the same document at the same time! This is true for not only the spreadsheet program, but also for the word processing program and the presentation program.

Another good thing about Google Docs is its files are very compatible to Open Office. You can save a Google Docs file onto your own hard drive and then open it in Open Office. Some of the files are even compatible with Microsoft Office.

The most common complaint about Google Docs is the lack of security. Since you login to Google Docs with just your Google username and password, all your files could be stolen if your username and password are stolen. Additionally, if you keep yourself logged into Google, anyone with access to your computer can quickly gain complete access to your Google Docs files.

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Zoho is another alternative to Microsoft Office that is becoming increasingly popular. Like Google Docs, Zoho is an online office and word processing site. Zoho, which is free for individuals and some businesses, offers a word processing program, a spreadsheet program, a presentation program and many other programs. In fact, Zoho offers over a dozen different programs including everything from email to web conferencing.

Zoho is extremely easy to use. All you have to do is signup a free account and then you can start creating documents within minutes. Like Google Docs, you can also use Zoho to collaborate with others on documents. Since the data is saved on the Zoho servers, you can access the information wherever you have the internet. Zoho is usually able to open both Open Office files and Microsoft Office files. As far as security goes, Zoho typically grades out as safer than Google Docs.

With all the alternatives to Microsoft Office, you don’t need to automatically purchase Microsoft Office when you are looking for word processing, spreadsheet and presentation solutions. If you are on a budget, there are plenty of free options that you can find and download online. If you want to make your work mobile and be able to create, edit and share your work anywhere you have an internet connection, there are now options to do just that.

If you run a company, this news should be especially important for you. Businesses spend millions upon millions of dollars each year purchasing Microsoft Office licenses. You can save a lot of money by going with one of the free (or cheaper) alternatives. Additionally, the collaboration features can save your business time and even more money!

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For both individuals and business, online video conferencing is definitely the wave of the future. In the next decade, expect the number of everyday online video conferences to skyrocket. While it’s already quite prevalent today, the trend will just grow and grow.

In the business world, online video conferencing will be able to save businesses around the globe billions of dollars. Whereas currently, a lot of businesses have to fly representatives around the globe to interact with clients, online video conferencing will make that much easier. All a business has to do is setup an online video conference and then it will be virtually the same as meeting face to face. No paying for airline tickets. No paying for hotel rooms. No paying for expenditures out on the road. The only thing that will have to paid for is the online video conferencing software.

When it comes to businesses holding meetings that don’t include clients, video conferencing makes even more sense. Currently, if branches from different parts of the world want to get together, they have to pick a specified location in the world and all fly there to hold their meetings. With online video conferencing, employees from around the world can hold an online video conference easily, quickly and for a lot less money.

Businesses have already started mastering the online video conferencing software options. However, there is still a lot of room for growth as a vast majority of businesses still rely on older methodologies. While obviously there will be times and places where business travel is still the better way to go, a lot of business traveling done today can be eliminated. For everyone involved, from the company to the employee, this will make life a lot easier.

Individuals will also begin to tap into the online video conferencing market. If you have a family that is always on the go or a family that is separated for any reason, getting together to speak and see each other will be as simple as a few clicks of the mouse. Want to hold a family reunion, online video conferencing will also be able to do just that. No matter how far away a family member lives, this technology will make it feel like the family member lives next door.

Another exciting possibility including online video conferencing is education. Nowadays, college students have to drive to school, sit in a classroom and then go back. One day, it’s quite likely that a lot of educational classes will be taught via online video conferencing. Thanks to online video conferencing, students will be able to see and hear their teacher just like they would if they attended a class. The teachers will also be able to see and hear the students. All boundaries will be eliminated and classes will be much more convenient for everyone involved.

Want to interact with new people? One day soon, you won’t be limited to going to a nightclub or other sort of social gathering establishment. You can turn on your computer, open your online video conferencing software and connect with people from around the world. Socializing will have never been easier – not to mention safer!

When it comes to online video conferencing software, you have a variety of options to choose from. Depending on many factors including your budget, desired picture quality and the required number of simultaneous connections, you can pick between the following choices.

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Skype
Skype has revolutionized communication between people all over the world. By using Skype, two people can communicate on their computer free of charge. This service has been used by millions of people all over the world. Want to call your grandmother in Germany? All you have to do is download Skype, have your grandmother download Skype and then place a call. You’ll be able to talk to your grandmother over the internet without having to foot the bill for a large international call. In fact, it’ll be absolutely free.

In addition to free internet based phone calls, Skype also allows free online video conferencing. However, the online video conferencing that comes with the Skype software only allows one-to-one conferencing. The good news is that third party vendors have come up with products that allow you to use Skype to video conference with a number of people on the same time. The third party vendors charge a fee – but usually the fee is small.

In summation, if you just want one-to-one online video conferencing, Skype is your best bet. If you want to use Skype to hold a multi-person online video conference, you will need to download software from a third party vendor to complement Skype’s built in service.

SightSpeed
If you want to use a Skype alternative, SightSpeed is the way to go. With free one-to-one online video conferencing, SightSpeed offers a similar service to Skype. However, the picture quality on SightSpeed is rated higher than Skype’s picture quality. The drawback is less people use SightSpeed than Skype, so it could require an extra download for a lot of people who don’t already have it installed.

SightSpeed offers up to four people on the same online video conference. For small to medium sized businesses, this could be enough for you. And since SightSpeed is relatively inexpensive, you don’t have to break your budget to use this online video conferencing software.

If you are looking for a basic service to handle all your needs, SightSpeed and Skype are the two best options. Skype might be more popular but SightSpeed also has its advantages. Check out both before deciding on which one to go with.

Microsoft Live Meeting
If you love Microsoft products, you will really enjoy Microsoft Live Meeting. This piece of software is Microsoft’s answer to online video conferencing. If your company uses a lot of Microsoft products, Microsoft Live Meeting will fit seamlessly into the mix.

While this software has a very professional feel, it isn’t overly expensive. You are billed on a monthly basis per connection. Compared to other options, Microsoft Live Meeting is extremely affordable. While its settings and options are fairly basic, this is a good option for those looking for cheap yet professional software.

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Adobe Acrobat Connect Professional
This is a very slick piece of software. For large meetings, Adobe Acrobat Connect Professional is extremely powerful. With great options and settings, you can control every aspect of the conference easily and quickly by pushing a few buttons. Adobe is famous for featuring smooth interfaces on their products, and this one is no different.

The main drawback is price. Be prepared to pay a lot of money for this service. Also, Adobe Acrobat Connect Professional relies on other Adobe products, so you may have to purchase additional software to make it functional.

LifeSize Room
If video quality is your main concern, LifeSize Room may be the option you want to look into. When you buy the LifeSize Room bundle, you get all the equipment to have high definition online video conferencing. The resulting picture is stunning clarity – even if you don’t have the world’s fastest internet connection.

However, if you want to go with LifeSize Room, be prepared to spend more than $1,000 for the software bundle. Additionally, you can only connect with up to four people at the same time.

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For about a decade now, people have been sharing photos on the internet. Since that time, more and more photo sharing websites have sprouted up all over the internet. Currently, there are a number of popular photo sharing websites.

The need for photo sharing websites was brought about when people looked toward the internet for easy ways to upload, view, organize and share photos. Before photo sharing websites, the simple task of putting a photo online was difficult. You would have to own web space somewhere on the internet and then upload your photo to the web space.

Even then, once the photo was online, there were many limitations. For example, you had to be aware of the bandwidth you were using. If too many people viewed the photo, you could end up paying more for your web space. If you wanted an easy photo gallery, you were out of luck. You had to code your own photo gallery, including all the thumbnails! Thankfully, photo sharing websites appeared on the scene and made all of this a lot easier.

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There are a number of different photo sharing websites. The two major types are free services and subscription services. Deciding which kind you need is rather easy. Free services are supported by advertisements. Those advertisements could come on the website or even the photos themselves. Free services are also usually packed with limitations such as bandwidth limits, storage limits and sometimes even photo size limits. However, if you are just looking for a basic service, free photo sharing websites likely will offer you more than enough options.

Subscription services typically are ad-free and there are fewer limitations on the use. If you are planning something on a large scale, subscriptions photo sharing websites are the way to go. You don’t have to be bothered with advertisements and your photos will be easier to manage. Additionally, subscription websites usually have guarantees involving the safety of your photos, whereas free services generally do not make any such guarantees.

If you are looking for a photo sharing website, here are some of the most popular photo sharing websites on the internet. Test out and research as many of the sites as possible until you find the one that meets all your needs and wants. The perfect photo sharing website is out there – you just have to find it!

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Flickr
Flickr makes it easy to share photos with the world. Using Web 2.0 technology, Flickr has become a wildly successful website. Now owned by Yahoo, Flickr is used by millions of people around the world. Reportedly, Flickr is home to more than two billion photos. The reason it has become so popular is how easy it is to share photos. Once you create an account, you can swiftly upload your photos. When you upload, you can indicate whether the photo is for public use or not for public use. People who are in need of photos for public use often come to Flickr to find a photo that will match their needs.

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PhotoBucket
Do you want to host your photos so that you can publish them somewhere else on the internet? If so, PhotoBucket is a great service. For example, if you have a blog and want to post a picture on it, you can upload the picture on PhotoBucket and then hotlink the photo onto your blog. PhotoBucket has both free and subscription services. The subscription service is similar to the free service, except the limitations on storage and bandwidth aren’t as strict. Founded in 2003, PhotoBucket has quickly become an amazingly popular tool for people who wish to share photos on the internet.

Picasa
Owned by Google, Picasa is a multi-functional photo sharing website. With Picasa, you can easily find and upload all the images on your computer. Just click a few buttons and Picasa will search your computer for images and will upload them for free. Once your photos are uploaded, you can edit your photos easily. You can also create beautiful photo galleries that you can easily share with family and friends. Since it’s powered by Google, Picasa is a name you can trust in the photo sharing website industry.

Kodak EasyShare Gallery
If you want to easily order prints of your photos, consider using the Kodak EasyShare Gallery website. With Kodak EasyShare Gallery, you upload your photos and then have an option to have your photos professionally printed. It’s basically like your own photo studio on your computer! You can also share photos and edit photos. However, be aware that Kodak EasyShare Gallery has a lot of options that require payment. For example, if you want to see a high definition version of your photos, you will have to buy a subscription.

Shutterfly
Since 1999, Shutterfly has gotten rave reviews from customers who swear by their service. With Shutterfly, you can upload an unlimited number of photos. You can share these photos easily – you’ll never need a password to do so. Shutterfly also has powerful tools that allow you to edit and manipulate photos however you see fit. You can then order prints of photos easily from the website. And not just basic prints, you can have photos into greeting cards or even books!

SnapFish
SnapFish is another option that is similar to Kodak EasyShare Gallery and Shutterfly. While SnapFish doesn’t offer as powerful of editing tools, SnapFish does offer great prices for prints. In fact, you can get prints from SnapFish for under ten cents per photo! Like Shutterfly, you can get the photos printed on a number of things including greeting cards, books and even mugs. SnapFish is owned by Hewlett-Packard and has gotten extremely popular in the last few years. Housing more than a billion photos, you can rest assured that SnapFish will take good care of your photos that you store on their website.

Atpic
You can share both photos and video at Atpic. You can upload your photos online through their web interface or you can do it via FTP if you are more comfortable using that technology. After you upload a photo, you can choose to have the photo available for the public or only available in private. If you choose the public option, the photo is open for the world to see. If you select the private option, a user will need to know a password to view the photo. The image formats that are acceptable on Atpic are GIF, JPEG and PNG. In addition to uploading your photos, you can also do minor customization such as rotating the photo and turning the photo into a thumbnail.

MyAlbum
MyAlbum is a very easy to use service for those who just want to share a small number of photos with friends and family. For the first 500MB of space, MyAlbum is totally free. If you want to go above that number, you will need to subscribe to a premium account. MyAlbum does have a few drawbacks which makes it not the right answer for everybody. If you don’t login to your account often enough, your photos may become subject to deletion. Obviously, if you need to store photos safely, this isn’t the service for you to use.

If you are trying to create your own website on the Internet, one problem you will likely run into is finding images to use. A lot of people make the mistake of thinking that every photo on the web is fair game – when actually that is far from the truth.

Photos you find on the web could be copyrighted and if you use those photos on your website without proper permission, you could find yourself in legal trouble. With that in mind, it’s extremely important to find photos you can legally use.

Luckily for those people in search of photos, there are a lot of popular stock photography sites on the web. These sites offer a wide variety of stock photography for your personal use. Some of these sites are free, some charge you for the photos and others offer both options.

It’s important to read the small print when you are finding the images on these sites. The small print may indicate that you are obliged to give attribution. Some small print will tell you that you can use the photos for any purpose. Each site is unique in the way it handles attribution in addition to payment.

Here are some popular stock photography sites you should consider:

Using Flickr to find photos that are free to use is quite easy. All you have to do is do an advanced search and look for photos that have a Creative Commons license. This license means that the owner of the picture allows others to use the picture. However, be sure to check what restrictions are placed on the Creative Commons license. Some photos still require attribution, while other photos are not to be displayed on commercial websites.

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Wikimedia Commons

If you know how to use Wikipedia, you’ll know how to us Wikimedia Commons. All you have to do is search their database for the piece of media you are looking for and then read the restriction for that particular piece of media. That’s all there is to it! A lot of the photographs are free to use.

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Google Images

Google Images isn’t a true stock photography site, however its unmatched database of pictures makes it a useful resource. Basically, Google Images searching the entire internet to find photos that correspond to the term you search. For example, if you search for “doorknobs” you will be given hundreds and hundreds of search results for images on the internet that are doorknobs. The tricky part is figuring out the copyright status of the images you find. If it doesn’t specifically say the copyright status on the website, your best bet is to email the website to find out. Don’t simply use whatever you find because you may end up using a photograph that is copyrighted.

PD Photos

If you are looking for royalty free photographs, PD Photos might be the easiest place to find just that. The website is geared specifically toward royalty free photos, which makes finding a photo on PD Photos quick and painless! You can either search for a keyword to find the photo you are looking for or you can navigate the available categories. The photos on this site tend to be big, clear and free – a good combination for photo seekers.

Buzznet

If you have a blog that needs images, Buzznet is a good option for you. It’s a place where a lot of bloggers share photos. You can search through the database of photos to find the one you need. Be sure to read for any restrictions that may apply if you are going to use a photograph you find off of Buzznet. The database of photographs on this website isn’t huge but it’s usually large enough to find what you are look for when searching.

FreeStockPhotos

FreeStockPhotos is just that, free stock photos! You can use the photos found on this site for both profit and non-profit means. However, there are a few drawbacks regarding this website. First of all, the selection is quite small. There are mostly animal, scenery and religious photos available on FreeStockPhotos. Additionally, each photo has a FreeStockPhotos logo located on the pictures. As part of the restrictions, you must keep the logo on the picture.

FreeFoto

FreeFoto is extremely similar to FreeStockPhotos. You can search their database of photographs, which is actually quite a bit larger than FreeStockPhotos’ database. However, in addition to a FreeFoto logo on the picture, their restrictions state that you have to give a link back to the FreeFoto website. If linking back works for you, using FreeFoto to find quality pictures is a good idea.

ImageAfter

ImageAfter is a very lenient stock photography website. They don’t watermark their images and they don’t require a link back to their website. Their only restriction is that you don’t download all their photos and then open up a similar website – which isn’t much of a restriction. In addition to pictures, you can find textures that you can download and use or alter. This is a very good site if you just want to find no-hassle photos on the internet.

Fotolia Stock Photos

With over three million images, Fotolia Stock Photos has one of the internet’s largest collections of photos. The way Fotolia Stock Photos works is that photographers use this website to sell their photos. You can search their database for photos and then purchase the one you like best. There are two different options when you buy a photo from Fotolia Stock Photos. You can simply buy the right to use the photograph or you can purchase exclusive rights to the photograph.

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iStockPhoto

While the photos cost a bit more at iStockPhoto than at Fotolia Stock Photos, iStockPhoto has a reputation of being arguably the best stock photography website on the internet. The prices are still very reasonable and you can find an almost unlimited amount of quality pictures. They have six different sizes of pictures and video clips. “Extra Small” photos (300 x 400 pixels) are as little as $1 each and great for use in blogs. The “XXLarge” photos are as little as $20 each and 3300×4900. Video clips range from $10 to $50 a piece.

Even if you don’t think anyone is watching your website or blog for copyright infringements, you’d be surprised how often people get in trouble for breaking copyright law. And the fines can really add up. For example, if you have 1,000 copyrighted photos on your website, you could be fined something like $250 per photo – which would cost you $250,000! Obviously, you want to avoid that and going through the above websites and following their regulations is the best way to do that.

You shouldn’t simply avoid using photographs on the Internet because photographs are a great way to spice up a webpage. Readers are more likely to come back if the presentation of your website or blog is enjoyable, and photographs help do just that! With the number of stock photography sites on the web, you can no doubt find exactly it is you are looking for without wasting too much time. After a while, finding the right photo will become easier and easier once you know where to look and how to search.

Photo credit: Flickr