Even though there’s a lot of badness and awfulness on the Internet, sometimes it’s worth remembering that the Web is also full of a lot of incredible things. Not only that, but many of its best offerings are actually free (for now, at least) — so just to give you a fun and potentially useful little pick-me-up the day before Thanksgiving, here: Have a list of 10 free things on the Internet everyone should take advantage of. From computer programs and utilities to ways to learn new things, they’ll give at least a little bit of mileage to just about everyone out there.
The items on this list were culled from an AskReddit thread posted early this morning by PalkiaLP titled, “What free stuff on the Internet should everyone be taking advantage of?” These kinds of threads pop up on the content sharing site fairly frequently; as such, a few of the more industrious Redditors browsing this one actually went out and compiled master lists of some of the more useful suggestions put forth in similar, previous threads. Here, I’ve pulled out 10 things that struck me as particularly useful, linking through both to the resource itself and the Reddit comment that entered it into the discussion. I highly suggest heading over to the original thread to check out everything on display, though — there are loads of other picks to peruse, and they all look phenenomenal.
Ready? Here we go!
1. Duolingo
Suggested by: PM_ME_YOUR_WORRIES
Rosetta Stone is awesome… but it’s also expensive. Duolingo, on the other hand, is totally free. Now you’ve got no excuse for not following through on your New Year’s Resolution to learn another language.
2. Documentary Heaven
Suggested by: drake_diablo via Storm_Lord
Like documentaries? Head to Documentary Heaven. They’re all streaming, they’re all free, and they’re all fascinating.
3. Project Gutenberg
Suggested by: osculator via Ayvias
I’m pretty sure everyone has used Project Gutenberg at least once during school, but just in case you’ve never encountered it before, here. Have at thee. It’s full of e-books, and it is wonderful. It mostly features works that are in the public domain, so you usually won’t find the newest releases there — but who cares? Free books! You might also give Open Library a shot.
4. Calibre
Suggested by: Mockapapella
I resisted getting Calibre for a stupidly long time, but now I can’t imagine managing my e-reader without it. I would argue that its most valuable feature is being able to convert e-books from one format to another — so if you’ve got a PDF of an article you need to read for one of your classes, but are having issues with how it displays on your e-reader, you can fix the problem with just a few clicks.
Speaking of classes…
5. Coursera
Suggested by: wkh
Who says you can’t keep learning stuff just because you’re not in school anymore? Coursera partners with top universities to offer free online courses in just about any subject you can imagine. You might also try the Khan Academy for more knowledge-is-power needs.
6. Codeacademy
Suggested by: Fletch71011- via Storm_Lord
Want to learn how to code? Check out Codeacademy to learn everything python to HTML.
7. LibreOffice
Suggested by: Mockapapella
Open-source Office utilities like LibreOffice will never not be useful.
8. RetailMeNot
Suggested by: BigBad_BigBad and etak1980 via Storm Lord
This one is especially relevant, given the shopping madness Black Friday is about to wreak on us all: Before you buy anything online, check RetailMeNot for coupons and discounts. Ebates will also save you a few bucks. Shop smart!
9. AnnualCreditReport.com
Suggested by: Valdrax
Unlike a lot of “free” credit report sites out there, AnnualCreditReport.com A) is operated by three legit U.S. credit reporting agencies, B) lets you get up to three actually free credit reports a year. It’s also the only federally mandated and authorized source for getting free credit reports. Worth knowing, no?
10. GIMP
Suggested by: Mockapapella
I love Photoshop as much as the next gal, but if you need a less costly alternative, GIMP is one of the better ones out there. You might also try Paint.net or Pixlr.
Images: Giphy (10)
