unsolicited opinions on random things
I just read about BookSwim, an online book-sharing program. New books, free shipping, no wait times. A few hitches though – it’s not super cheap. Pricing starts at $24 a month for 3 books at a time. I see the appeal of the “no waiting” thing, especially if you like to read bestsellers. But I think I’ll stick with the library – I put books I’m interested in on my hold list, and they come in eventually. And the best part – it’s free. Oh, and who even knows if BookSwim ships to Canada.
Regardless of how you feel about eBooks, I’m afraid/excited that they’re here to stay. A statement from Amazon on Monday confirmed that they sold more eBooks in the last 3 months than actual old-school hold-’em-in-your-hands real books.
I have two eBook readers on my iPhone, and I’ve browsed through them a few times. But I haven’t really given ePublishing a good testdrive. That’s why I was excited to read about ManyBooks – a website featuring 28,000 free eBooks. Yeah, they’re mostly old or obscure, and you’re not going to find any brand new top sellers. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t good stuff! I’ve been meaning to read Great Expectations for years, and there it is, in a variety of formats for different eReaders. Also available are PDF versions and an audiobook. Sweet.
Oh, and for you Toronto readers, you can download audio and eBooks on the Toronto Public Library’s website here.
Flickr’s new look is in beta, but you can try it out now. Take a look at my picture here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/avehouse/4704434567/
Click “take me to the future” above the image. See the change? There are a bunch of new features, but my favourite is the easy access to “view in lightbox”. Press the letter F on your keyboard (and then press F again to exit lightbox mode). Gorgeous!
I’m working on a website redesign for Kawartha Ecological Growers (KEG), a collective of about 20 independent farms east of Toronto, and they’re paying me in food! They offer Community Shared Agriculture (CSA) shares, and they’re giving me a share in exchange for my web design work. What’s a CSA share? From KEG’s current website:
“Community-supported agriculture (CSA) is a socio-economic model of agriculture and food distribution; a system that connects people craving farm fresh local produce directly to the farmers growing their food. A CSA consists of a community of folks who commit to supporting a farm before the growing season begins, in return for a regular dose of seasonal produce throughout. In this way, the farm becomes the community’s farm and the consumers become co-producers of the food, with the growers and eaters supporting one another while sharing in all the risks and benefits of food production. It’s the ultimate model in local eating!”
Great idea, huh?
I just picked up this week’s share, which included fresh lettuce, rhubarb, onions, potatoes, radishes, asparagus, and eggs. I am really looking forward to getting a weekly bounty for the next 25 weeks! Oh, and I’ll post info on the blog when the new KEG website is up and running.
I love getting stuff for free. Even swag. When I heard about the ChickAdvisor Product Review Club a couple years ago, I signed up right away. Since then I’ve received free full-size samples of mascara, body wash, moisturizer, house cleaning products, and a whole bunch of ice cream.
The premise is simple – sign up for the Product Review Club and they email you when they have a new product for you to try. Fill out a survey, and if you’re selected, the product is mailed to your house. You then have 14 days (or so) to try it, and then go online and review it. You don’t have to write a positive review. Just an honest one. I figure that’s a fair exchange for getting stuff for free.
I think it’s only for girls though. Seeing as in the site is called ChickAdvisor and all. Sorry guys.
[Note: if you subscribe to my monthly email newsletter, you would have received this tip last week. No pressure. Just saying.]
As you probably already know, I’m heading out of town tomorrow for a 3-day weekend. We’re going to hit up some serious shopping and also see Frank Lloyd Wright’s masterpiece, Fallingwater.
When I booked my hotels, I thought I’d try out a service I’d heard good things about – TripIt. Here’s how it works: go to the TripIt Website, and sign up for a free account. Then, whenever you get a confirmation email for an upcoming trip (plane tickets, hotel bookings, dining reservations, etc), forward that email to TripIt. Then, voila, TripIt takes all the important info from the emails, and makes a very comprehensive and easy–to–read itinerary for you.
Really, this couldn’t be any easier. I just forwarded my email confirmations from the hotels*, and there it all was, in my TripIt account. And then I downloaded the TripIt app for my iPhone, so I have all my trip plans on there as well.
*Oh yeah, and speaking of those hotels I booked – we got amazing rates through Hotwire. Nice digs for 50 bucks a night. This really is going to be the weekend of deals.
Every Wednesday, I get three special emails in my inbox, listing the best travel deals that week: TravelAlerts (specific to Toronto), TravelZoo Top 20 Deals (the Canadian edition), and TravelZoo Top 20 Deals (the US edition). Sometimes the deals from the US TravelZoo are so good, it’s worth the drive to Buffalo.
I’ve never actually booked a trip from one of these emails, but it’s nice to know what’s on sale. And it’s a lovely 5-minute break to read the deals, and dream about traveling…
You can sign up for the emails by clicking on the links below: