we love free stuff

We love finding great free stuff and we know you do too! Whether it's a great new software or blogging goodie, or maybe even free samples or giveaways.. we're going to share our secrets with you!

Skype Mini Cards are Colorful & Free!

There’s a cool new kid on the block! He has shiny toys and an air of sophistication about him. I think we like him most because he’s full of nifty ideas and gives us presents.

You thought I was talking about a real guy, didn’t you? Sorry. I’m talking about a cool new site called Moo.com. Okay, so you might think it would have something to do with cows, or even that they’d offer cow designs… well, I must say that I can’t find anything to do with moo-ing animals on their website—but they sure haves some shiny, colorful cards that I’m sure you’ll love.

Did I mention they’re giving away freebies?  Yea, I know you’re a swag kind of girl!

Here’s the 411 on Moo:

“There are now more than a billion people online, and most of us use the internet to engage in some kind of social activity. In doing so we help generate over 4 petabytes of unique virtual content a month.

We have virtual communication like email, instant message or video. We belong to virtual communities like social networks, image sharing or interest groups. And in these communities we have created virtual identities like homepages, avatars and blogs. But sometimes life can be a little too virtual.

MOO dreams up new tools that help people turn their virtual content into beautiful print products. ”

You’ll also need to visit the Skype Blog to get the “freebie” code.

In addition to the Skype cards, they also offer Flickr cards and other great items. Visit Moo now.

What Sites Are Your Kids Visiting?

This isn’t a new website and maybe you’ve seen it before, but more of a reminder to parents that in this day and age you can’t be too careful when it comes to your children being online. K9 Web Protection is a free program that parents can use to monitor their children’s online activity.

FYI: It’s NOT spying. Have you seen Dateline’s “To Catch a Predator” or heard of the many horror stories about children on the Internet? Wise up folks!

The Internet is a fascinating place, full of rich and interesting information. But as a gigantic virtual community, it has “good neighborhoods”, “questionable neighborhoods”, and “downright bad neighborhoods”.

With K9, you can decide which neighborhoods are OK to visit, and which ones aren’t. That ability makes a big difference when you’re trying to provide a safe environment for children. K9 makes it easier to let your children explore and learn on the Internet, while you do what you can to keep them safe.

Want even more options? How about ‘real-time’ monitoring? Then you’ll need to try Web Watcher. It’s not free, but it’s a top notch software with lots of features.

Yahoo! Voice, the New Skype?

Phone In.. Phone Out.. Sound familiar? Make free worldwide PC-to-PC calls and enjoy great sound quality and voice mail with Yahoo Voice. They’re going to give Skype a run for the money. They’re prices are lower and the quality is good. Sue and I tested the 3 top P2P networks today and Yahoo is good. We tried Yahoo Voice, Skype and MSN Messenger Voice. The verdict? They’re all good. I think MSN may have won though. If you want to try it out, Skype me and we can chat.

Okay, here’s the 411 on Yahoo Voice:

Yahoo! Messenger with Voice takes instant messaging to a new level. Use it to connect in real-time and communicate how you want, when you want, with whom you want. In addition to sending text-based instant messages, you also get:

- Free worldwide PC-to-PC calling
- Drag-and-drop photo sharing with real-time discussions
- Stealth settings to control your time online
- Self expression through Avatars, Emoticons and Audibles

That’s not all! You can also get your own Yahoo Voice Phone In number (USA, UK and France available) for as little as $2.49 a month, which is cheaper than Skype.  The only downside to their Phone In service is that there are a lot of area codes missing. I can’t get a local number with Yahoo, but I have one with Skype. I’m sure they’ll be adding more, as they just launched, but in the meantime it’s not as convenient for me.

The Phone Out is 2 cents a minute for USA and 1 cent per minute for UK.

Bottom line: There’s a new player in town and they’re good.

Why should I use Windows Live?

Can someone please tell me why I should use Windows Live? I mean from what I can see it offers a search, news feeds and weather. There seems to be some other options as well, but nothing that makes me want to get excited and proclaim my profound love for it.  Maybe I’m missing something, maybe? I’m not? It was good for looking up a few RSS feeds that I couldn’t find for sites I’ve been looking for. So the search function is kind of good. Also their image search offers you a chance to view content within frames - which is convenient but isn’t that a big no-no? Framing other people’s content has been a big taboo on the ‘net as far as I remember.

I know it’s all about Web 2.0 and I know everyone’s excited about it. Well, most people. I guess I don’t enjoy having to be connected to do everything, and with as many errors I had while surfing the site it was just frustrating.  Yea yea, I know it’s Beta - but still.

Here’s a link to all the goodies they’re offering: Windows Live Ideas

Anyway, if you have something exciting to add to my lovely Windows Live (beta) experience I would LOVE to hear about it. Send me an email or comment. In the meantime, I guess I’ll stick with my good old standby.. MyYahoo. It’s been good to me and it offers nearly everything that I found available on Live.com.

Text Me! Hot Celebrity News…

Are you a gossip hound? Love a good rumor? Can’t get enough of who’s doing who? Celebrity couples.. weddings, hookups and breakups. Hollywood and Celebrity Babies.. yea, I knew it!  Well, thanks to the folks at People Magazine you can be the first to get the latest celebrity news on your phone. People will text you instant alerts when the biggest stories break. Here’s how:  Text keyword ENTER to 72667 (SCOOP) to join. For more details check out this link.

Free Wi-fi Hotspots.. Thanks T-mobile!

Visit any of T-Mobile’s 6,500 HotSpot locations on the weekend and launch your Web browser. Visit http://freeweekends.hotspot.t-mobile.com and enter your T-Mobile phone number.  Within moments you’ll receive a free text message on your T-Mobile Phone with a pass code. Enter the pass code and you’ll be surfing for free! It’s called “T-Mobile Free Wi-Fi Weekends.”

Just a little somethin’ somethin’ for my friends

I just love these Coach® wallpapers. I set mine to the diamonds and gold studs. Go ahead, get some bling bling for your desktop.

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Did you know that Coach® also has screensavers and horoscopes on their site? Me either!

Savvy Chick’s Gone Google

It’s only been a couple days since I posted the announcement about Windows Live—and now Google’s in the game with their new Google Pages.  It’s a WYSIWYG environment, but it also allows you to edit the source code.  I built my own quickie site and you can see it here:  http://digitalgirl.googlepages.com. I built it in less than 3 minutes.

They’ve got a handful of templates (wish they had more *hint hint Google guy*). I chose the only one that was available in pink. You know I love pink.  The user interface is clean, easy to use and I liked it.  Also, unlike Windows Live, their free service is advertisement free from what I could see. Not even a link was placed on my page.  To find a free webhosting service without advertising is almost unfathomable - but hey that gives me one more reason to love Google.  Yes, I shall shout if from the rooftops at the top of my lungs.  Savvy Chick LOVES Google.

You have to have a Google Gmail account to access this service. If you don’t have one, just email me and I’ll send you an invite.

02/23/06 - Looks like due to an overwhelming response they’ve throttled sign-ups for Google Pages. So you’ll need to add your name to the waiting list, like what they did at Google Analytics. Sorry ladies.. but keep trying.

*OPEN AGAIN* I just checked once again and as of 02/25/06 you are able to access Google Pages and create your accounts. Yeaaah! Go try it out.

Microsoft Front Page is dead? Office Live

Have you heard about the new Microsoft Office Live website design service/program/builder. Well, what can I say? You know how your mother told you that if you can’t say something nice that you shouldn’t say anything at all?

Okay, I’m going to try.