Back-to-school gift guide

Who wants to spend a bunch of money on office software when you're using it just for e-mail and word processing? Google Apps combines Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs and Spreadsheets, and three other Google services for free. You can even get your own custom domain. Some schools are already using the educational version, so students might already have an account. If not, they can still access the regular versions of all these apps with a free Google account.

Netvibes is a great way to mash up a bunch of information, all on one page. You can set up weather, TV programming, news feeds, and more via RSS. Users can customize nearly every aspect of their Netvibes pages, using a number of widgetlike modules designed by third-party developers. To rearrange things on Netvibes pages, users simply drag a content module to where they want it. You can also adjust the width of each column of modules.

Wikipedia made last year's list too, and for a good reason--Wikipedia continues to grow and improve. Because Wikipedia is a free, online encyclopedia that's edited by users, there's a good chance it's more up to date than most books or printed encyclopedias you'll find in bookstores or libraries. What makes Wikipedia student-friendly is its citation policy, which encourages people to source any facts or statistics, meaning bibliographies don't end up with a page full of dot-coms.

The study guide service SparkNotes has a variety of test prep tools and book summaries. While we don't condone skipping core reading, when you're reading something that's over your head, often a summary can help you understand it better. SparkNotes has a variety of classic and newly popular texts, including a feature called "No Fear Shakespeare" that displays the original text of a Shakespeare play next to a modernized interpretation.

Sometimes you need to chat or use an instant messenger on a school computer when in the library or a study lab. Until recently there weren't many options, but Meebo has become one of the most popular and full-featured services around. Meebo is a multinetwork IM service that runs in your browser window, requiring no download or installation. It emulates the look and feel of similar software IM platforms, and it can "pop out" chat windows and buddy lists, just in case you want to escape the confines of a browser.

Got a bill that needs splitting? Or maybe a group of friends needs to pool together some money? Check out Buxfer, which will split up any bill, and it integrates with contact lists, providing an easy way to get in touch with those who owe. Of course, you could always figure these things out on your own, but Buxfer has some handy reminder services to remind both you and other debtors when it's time to pay up, saving you from having to play repo man.

2006 marked the genesis of content providers serving up TV shows online. A year later, the players and the quality have gotten better, and nearly every network has its own player. Most require a browser plug-in to play correctly, but the result is being able to watch your favorite shows in full screen right on your computer, as long as you have a speedy Internet connection. Check out ABC Go Player, CBS Innertube, NBC Rewind, and Adult Swim.

Music discovery and listening service Last.fm has a wide range of tracks to listen to and share with others. It also has a handy recommendation engine that gives a list of artists it thinks you'll like, based your personal favorites. Users can make their own playlists and share them with friends using the service's widget-making tool or Facebook application. One of its more helpful services for music junkies is Scrobbling, which tracks the music you're listening to on your computer and sends the information to Last.fm. From there, everyone can look at what you've been listening to and how often you've listened to it, then give it a go themselves.

Zooomr is a free photo-sharing and hosting service. It offers support for multiple languages as well as for geotagging, the process that lets users place their photos on a map, and includes several modern Web technologies to sort through photos, such as tags and camera EXIF data. Zooomr is a great solution for people who want nearly all the features of the popular photo-sharing site Flickr without having to pay the yearly fee to store all their shots.

GameznFlix is a monthly subscription service that lets you rent both video games and movies. It's a lot like Netflix, with a similar system of sending discs to you in an envelope that has the return postage ready to go. In addition to video games, GameznFlix lets you rent high-definition discs in both Blu-Ray and HD DVD formats. There's also a direct-download movie service, GNF Digital, that lets you buy and watch movies immediately through your Internet connection and Windows Media Player.