Freebies

You know what my iPad doesn't have? A DVD player. So how am I supposed to watch all the great movies in my DVD collection? I'm talking "The Rock," "The Shawshank Redemption," "The Incredibles," "The Matrix," and so on. (It's true: I have awesome taste in movies.)

No doubt Apple, Amazon, and Google would love for me to buy their digital versions of all my platter-based movies, but I already bought them once. Do I really have to spend $10 to $15 to buy them again?

Not today. Movie-discovery … Read more

Recently I splurged on a Samsung Series 9 Ultrabook, which I absolutely love. It's a svelte, speedy marvel of modern computing, and almost certainly my favorite laptop of all time.

Which is why I'm especially fearful of losing it. Laptop thieves are everywhere. If they're not breaking into your car or home, they're snatching and grabbing from offices, coffee shops, airport security lines, and so on.

Arguably the only thing worse than your laptop getting stolen is knowing there's no way to get it back. After all, it's not like it can "phone … Read more

For over a year now I've championed Kingsoft Office Free 2012 as one of the top Microsoft Office alternatives for Windows, and with good reason: It's one of the best-looking clones out there, with superb file-compatibility to boot.

Yesterday, Kingsoft unveiled Office Free 2013 (Windows). (Please see below before you install it.) I'll go out on a limb and say it's now the single best free replacement for Microsoft Office, for a couple of very good reasons.

In case you're unfamiliar with it, Kingsoft Office includes three modules: Writer, Spreadsheets, and Presentations. Needless to say, … Read more

The days of physical media are slowly but surely drawing to a close. Of the last 10 movies I rented, eight came from Amazon Instant Video and one from iTunes. There wasn't a shiny silver platter in sight.

That said, lots of folks have giant DVD libraries, and with good reason. DVDs are cheap. They work great in minivans that have DVD players. And, um, oh, what was that third one again? I can't...sorry. Oops.

I kid, I kid. I'm just jokingly making the case for why you might want BDlot DVD ISO Master, a free … Read more

Just last week I told you about Zinio's new Z-Pass, a $5 subscription option that gives you a choice of three digitally delivered magazines per month.

You can try that free for a month, but here's an even better deal: a $50 Zinio credit absolutely free.

That credit is good for 18 single "subscriptions" (i.e. individual issues) or six mini-subscriptions (of three issues each). And you don't have to redeem it all right away; you've got until mid-August to use up your credit.

Let me mention right now that this offer comes courtesy … Read more

Remember CinemaNow? The company has been slinging digital movies since 1999. But although it got picked up by Blockbuster in 2009, it has never achieved what I'd call critical mass. Indeed, I kinda thought it had gone the way of so many Blockbuster stores.

Nope! In fact, CinemaNow (currently owned by Best Buy) appears to be working on a comeback, as evidenced by this new promotion: 10 free CinemaNow movies when you link to an UltraViolet account.

Don't have a CinemaNow account? No problem, it's free to sign up for one, though you can also use an … Read more

Greetings from 34,000 feet! Sometimes I still marvel at being able to get Internet access all the way up here.

So, funny story, yesterday I received a press release indicating that today, and only today, Laplink is giving away its Laplink Sync utility. It normally costs $39.99.

Update: Looks like Laplink's servers are on fire (figuratively), as many people are reporting problems claiming the offer -- not uncommon with a heavily promoted giveaway such as this. Hopefully the company will do the right thing and extend it so everyone can have a chance at it.

Or will … Read more

Savvy cloud-storage seekers know they can get 2GB free from Dropbox, 5GB from Google and SugarSync, 7GB from Microsoft, and so on.

Of course, there's no way to pool all that free storage into a single, unified cloud drive. That's precisely the idea behind Backup That, a new service that leverages the space available in your various e-mail accounts to give you potentially unlimited storage.

After registering for the beta, you choose one or more mail accounts to link to your Backup That account. The latter currently works with AOL, Gmail, GMX, Mobile Me, Yahoo, and other mail … Read more

It was barely two weeks ago that Lego Batman: DC Super Heroes made a wonderful iOS debut, and suddenly there's another Lego-themed game in the App Store: Lego Star Wars: The Yoda Chronicles. Woot!

The bad news: This isn't a port of any of the classic Lego Star Wars games that have appeared on consoles over the years. Instead, it's something new and original, a real-time strategy/action blend set in the "Clone Wars" universe and aimed at younger players. (Arguably, all the Lego games have a similar audience, but most of them are fun … Read more