Windows only: Instead of dropping cash on a new stick of RAM for that old computer, go grab a free licence for the normally $20 memory manager TweakRAM—today only. TweakRAM speeds up your machine by optimising Windows memory management, and when your computer slows to a crawl, you can use TweakRAM to manually free up memory. The developers say:

read more »

Philipp Lenssen, author of the oft-linked Google Blogoscoped blog, has put together an entire book of Google Apps Hacks, covering Gmail, Calendar, Docs, and beyond, and his publisher is offering a sample chapter as a free PDF download. The sample delves into Google Presentations and how the PowerPoint-like app can be extended pretty far with style sheet tweaks, theme changes, and a little creative use of photos. Hit the link below to grab the free 19-page excerpt.

read more »

Tomorrow is Free Comic Book Day!

Comic stores around the world will be participating - check out the Global Store Locator to find one near you. Each store gets to decide the guidelines for receiving comics, so it's a lucky dip what you'll get, but you may well discover a cool author you didn't know about.

For people in Sydney, Kinokuniya will be giving out free comics as long as you come inside and ask.

If you're thinking of turning off your computer for Shutdown Day tomorrow, this could be a nice way to pass the time. :)

Thanks for the tip, Paul!

Need a phone line to receive a one-time fax or voicemails on a particular project, auction, or job search? Free service K7 hands out 10-digit Seattle-area phone numbers that can answer calls with customised voicemail greetings or accept faxes. You can access both the audio files and fax documents through your sign-up account, and the only restrictions are a 20-message/fax limit (the site starts deleting the oldest after that) and an account wipe out after 30 days of inactivity. Other than that, you've got a free bin to keep your personal numbers private and still get at your messages.

read more »

You already love the one-stop convenience of shopping online at Amazon.com, but chances are you're not getting everything you can out of this feature-packed shopping engine. Did you know Amazon can email you suggestions from Mom's wish list two weeks before her birthday? Automatically ship you a new case of toilet paper every two months? Refund the difference on the price of an item you purchased that went on sale? Several advanced Amazon features and third party apps and add-ons can help you get the best deals and the stuff you want delivered to your door right on time. After the jump, add our favourite 10 Amazon power-shopper tools to your cart.

read more »

Windows only: The Giveaway of the Day web site is offering the normally $90 Data Recovery Wizard Professional software as a free download today only. If you've accidentally deleted important files or documents, chances are the Data Recovery Wizard Professional edition can recover them (if another process didn't overwrite the disk space with new data). The trick with software like this is to install it before file loss panic, so you don't write the software installation files over your deleted documents. The Data Recovery Wizard Pro download is free for the next nine hours or so only at Giveaway of the Day, so grab it while you can—and it's for Windows XP/NT/Vista only.

read more »

Want a free ebook copy of a Kurt Vonnegut novel? Free ebook site Wowio has five of them, along with lots of other copyrighted fiction, literature, comics, and other works. The site offers the wares through sponsorships, and only limits your downloads to three books per day, 30 per month. The two caveats are a somewhat limited selection (as you might expect) and that the site's U.S.-only due to licensing restrictions. Otherwise, it's not a bad place to check for fresh content for your PDA, cell phone or computer screen. For more free page-turners, try the top ten sites for free books and the 100 best free Project Gutenberg books.

read more »

US-centric: Few people willingly sign up to get more ad pitches in their inbox, but doing so at a few restaurant websites can net you some decent free food. If you're willing to delete, file, or click an "unsubscribe" read more »

David Allen, author of Getting Things Done and inspiration for a lot of posts 'round these parts, gives away a free four-page PDF at his website that covers his basic principals for keeping email organised. Getting specific without going too in-depth, he explains the "two minute rule," why action-able emails should be kept separate from others, and why creating your own system—such as Gina's modified "Trusted Trio". Great reading for GTD neophytes, and a good brush-up for the rest of us.

read more »