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The Amazon store now has more than 360,000 books that you can download and read on your Kindle e-book reader.

Read Kindle Books without the Kindle Reader

If you don’t have the Kindle device, you can still enjoy any of these Kindle books on your Windows computer using the free Kindle for PC application. Amazon is also working on a Mac version of Kindle Desktop but until that happens, you can download the free Kindle app from iTunes store and read books on the move using your iPhone or iPod Touch.

Find and Download Free Books for Kindle

While most eBooks available on the Amazon Kindle store are paid, here are some simple ways by which you can find and download free books for reading on your Kindle Reader or your Kindle Desktop application.

# 1. Google Books on your Kindle

Project Gutenberg, Google Books and FeedBooks are some popular sites that offer a large collection of public domain books in the standard ePUB format.

The Kindle for PC application cannot read ePUB files directly but you can use the excellent Stanza program (from Amazon itself) to convert these public domain books from .epub into .mobi format that you can then import into Kindle Desktop for reading*. That means you now have millions of out-of-copyright books for your Kindle for free.

You can also use Stanza to convert PDFs, HTML web pages and other Office documents into .mobi format for reading inside the Kindle App but I see little reason why would anyone want to do so since the reading experience is not all that great.

# 2. Find Free Kindle Books on Amazon.com

Before your proceed, please log-in to your Amazon account, choose “Manage your Kindle” and change the country associated with your Kindle account to “United States”. This is important because most “free” content on the Kindle Bookstore is currently restricted to North America.

OK, now let’s explore ways to find free Kindle books:

#  2.1 Big Deals – This is more of an official listing of Kindle books that are currently available as a free download on Amazon.com to Kindle users. You should also check the Bestsellers category on Kindle Store as it again lists quite a good number of free titles.

#  2.2 Sort by Price – When you search for a Kindle book (or any other item) on Amazon.com, it displays search results by relevance.

If you change this default sort order from “Relevance” to “Price: Low to High”, you’ll get a list of all Kindle books that match your search keywords and are available as a free download. For instance, here’s a list of Kindle books that are related to “India” but cost exactly $0.00.

# 2.3 Listmania - This is another resource where you can discover Kindle books that are available for free.
Listmania Lists are basically a list of products compiled by Amazon users. You can use search phrases like “free kindle books”, “kindle freebie”, “penny kindle book”, etc. to discover lists that may free books you are looking for. For instance, here’s one Listmania List of 27 classic books for Kindle that are absolutely free and here’s another one that also includes copyrighted books.

# 2.4 Use Google – Here’s an unofficial method to help you find Kindle books that are available for free on Amazon.com.

You can use the following search query in Google to search the Amazon store for free Kindle books – just replace the search-phrase in green with the name of the book, author, book category, etc.

intitle:kindle site:amazon.com "you save * (100%)" search-phrase

For instance, here’s a list of free Kindle books related to Abraham Lincoln while here’s a list of Kindle books on Shakespeare that are again free.

Note: Kindle Pricing for International users 

If the cost of a Kindle book is mentioned as $0.00 on the Amazon Store, it will still show up as $2.00 for you if the country associated with your Kindle is something other than United States. This is because Amazon charges a $2 roaming fee for “international downloads”.

You can either temporarily change your Kindle country to US or use the “Transfer via Computer” option when buying a book and you won’t be charged that extra $2 fees. Thanks Dhamini Ratnam.

Puru Pratap Singh, a class IV student from Gurgaon in India, has won the Doodle 4 Google contest and you can see his artwork live on the Google India homepage.
The theme of this year’s Google Doodle contest was "My India".

Dennis Hwang, who is the creative genius behind every holiday logo that you see on the Google homepage across countries, was also in Delhi for the award function.

Puru, who is just nine years old, gets a laptop computer for winning the Doodle 4 Google Competition and his school (Amity) will receive a technology grant of around $2000 from Google India.

Some 4,000 logos were submitted by school students from across India for the contest and, though you won’t see any of them on the Google homepage, some of them very extremely creative. Here are my favorite picks:

And here’s a time-lapse video that shows how Dennis Hwang draws a Google Doodle from start to finish.

There was a time when long-distance and international phone calls were a luxury but, thanks to VoIP or Internet based telephone services, this is no longer the case.
You can now call your friends and family members anywhere in the world at extremely low rates (sometimes even free) and some of these VoIP services don’t even require you to have an Internet connection at home.

VoIP Services for Making Phone Calls

Most people have heard of Skype, and it still is one of the best VoIP services around, but there are quite a few other good options as well that let you make phone calls over the Internet using your regular landline, mobile phone or your computer.

There are three kinds of Voice over IP (VoIP) solutions that let you enjoy crystal-clear* phone calls at a fraction of the price that your phone company charges:

1. Hardware based – You get a dedicated hardware router that sits between your Internet modem and your corded /cordless phone so you can make and receive phone calls just like before. The only difference is that calls are now routed through the Internet and not your phone company so you usually end up saving money.

2. Software based – You install a VoIP software on your computer or your web-enabled mobile phone and make phone calls via the Internet connection bypassing your phone company. It doesn’t matter if you mobile phone is connected to the Internet over Wi-Fi, GPRS, EDGE, 3G or WiMAX.
3. Web based – Web based VoIP services neither require any hardware nor software. You open the VoIP service provider’s site, type the phone numbers and you’re instantly connected. Some services also offer special hotlines (or direct access numbers) that let you make Internet phone calls using your traditional phone even if you don’t have an internet connection.

Let’s look at popular VoIP services that fall in each of these categories:

1. Dedicated VoIP Hardware

This is usually the best option for people who want to make regular phone calls over the internet but while they are relaxing on the couch and not having to sit in front of the computer screen.

To use dedicated hardware-based VoIP solutions, you need a router, sign up for the appropriate service (listed below), and connect the box to your internet and the standard telephone. Here are some of the best hardware based VoIP products that also provide you a traditional phone number so you can both place and receive calls through VoIP. And none except magicJack would require a computer.

VoIP Service:	Costs Involved and Features:	Pros and Cons:
	Vonage – Vonage makes your VoIP experience very similar to a traditional telephone service. Simply plug the Vonage box into your internet connection, then connect your regular phone to the Vonage box and start making calls.	The hardware costs $79.99 and you pay $24.99/month for unlimited calling to US and 60 other countries. Vonage is available in the U.S., U.K. and Canada but you can ship the device to your family members in other countries (like India) and they’ll be able to call you at local rates.	Pros: Worldwide calling, flat rate, simple setup, works like a traditional phone service. You can carry the device while travelling and save on calling cards /hotel bills.Cons: Monthly service cost is high, long contract.
Ooma – You simply plug the Internet line into your Ooma device and then connect any corded / cordless phone into Ooma. That’s it – you can make unlimited phone calls inside the US for free.	The hardware costs $249.99. There are no monthly charges except $12/year for taxes and other fees. A $9.99/month premier plan is available that adds number porting, an additional line, and advance telephone services.	Pros: Unlimited free calls to any phone number in the US, low rates for dialing international numbers, no long-term commitment.Cons: Entry-cost is a bit high.
Skype Phones – Skype is best known for offering voice and video calls through the computer, but they also provide hardware to help you make calls over the internet without a computer. This gives you the convenience of a traditional phone with the value of Skype calls.	Standalone Skype phones start at $79.99 though you can go for USB phones that cost a little less but require a computer. With a Skype phone, you can make phone calls to all other Skype users for free or refer to this price chart for calling international numbers.	Pros: Powered by one of the most popular internet telephone services and no long-term commitment. Skype is available worldwide. Cons: The unlimited calling plans aren’t available in all countries.
magicJack – A cross between a software and a hardware offering, magicJack is a small USB device that connects to a Mac or PC. You then connect a traditional phone to the magicJack device and make free phone calls to any number in the US.	It costs $39.95 for the first year (device cost + yearly charges) and then all you pay is $19.95 per year. Calls from your magicJack from any country to the U.S. and Canada are free while calls to international phone numbers are charged based on their rate table.	Pros: Cheap hardware and low-yearly fees. Cons: Requires a computer.
PhoneGnome – It’s a simple box that you plug-in between your Internet modem and the landline phone and start talking. PhoneGnome is the oldest player in this segment.	The hardware costs $99.99 and there are no monthly bills. For $5/month, you can pick any 10 phone numbers in US, Canada and other countries and you’ll be able to make unlimited calls to those numbers for free.	Pros: With PhoneGnome, you can also make calls to GoogleTalk, Windows Live, and Yahoo Messenger using your regular phone. They also ship to international locations. Cons: Requires invitation.

 

2. VoIP Software for Desktop and Mobile Phones

Your first introduction to internet based telephone services was probably through services like Skype that allowed you to make voice and video calls through your computer. In order to make VoIP phone calls through your computer, all you need is a headset cum microphone and one of the following programs.

Service:	Price:
Skype – Available on Windows, Mac, Linux, Windows Mobile and iPhone. Nokia, Sony and Samsung users can use Skype Lite for making calls from their mobile phones.	Free calls to another Skype user, rates per minute to any number worldwide start at $0.02/minute. Unlimited minutes to any one country cost $5.95/month, while unlimited minutes to over 40 countries worldwide cost $12.95/month.You may buy a personal phone number of any country for $60/year and your friends /family members in that country can call you from their regular phones by paying only local call rates.
Windows Live Call – Requires Windows Live Messenger which is available only on Windows.	Free calls to any Windows Live Messenger user, rates per minute to any number worldwide start at $0.015/minute. You can also send text messages to mobile phones for free but a limitation with Windows Live Call is that it is only available in select countries.
Yahoo! Voice – Requires Yahoo! Messenger which is available for Mac and Windows.	Free calls to any Yahoo! messenger user, rates per minute to any number worldwide start at $0.01/minute. For $2.49/month, you can get a dedicated phone number (of US, UK or France) for your computer so that friends can call you directly from their landline or mobile phones. All calls to 800 numbers are free with Yahoo! Voice.
wengoPhone – Available on Windows, Mac, Linux, and Windows Mobile, or via a Firefox extension.	Free calls to wengoPhone users, rates per minute start at 0.006€/minute (wengoPhone is a European-orientated service).
pfingo – Available for Windows PC, Nokia, Sony and Motorola mobile phones.	Free calls to other pfingo users, rates per minute to any phone number worldwide start at $0.04/minute. You can get an international phone number for Singapore, Australia, US, UK or China and your contacts in these countries can call you at their local rates.
Vopium – Available for all popular mobile phones including BlackBerry, HTC (Android), iPhone, etc.	With Vopium installed, you can use your mobile phone call to anywhere in the world with rates starting at 7¢/minute. If you are in a Wi-Fi zone, you don’t even have to pay the local charges to your phone company but a downside is that Vopium is not available in all countries.
Truphone – Another popular mobile VoIP application that is available for Nokia, iPhone, Android and BlackBerry phones.	You can call other Truphone anywhere in the world from your mobile phone for free while international calls to other landline and mobile numbers start at 5¢/minute.

3. Make VoIP Calls with (or without) Internet

Yes, you can make cheap international phone calls over VoIP without even having an internet connection as long as you a landline or mobile phone.

There are VoIP services that offer a local phone number which you can call using your normal phone, then dial the number of the person you wish to call, and your call will be routed over the internet by the VoIP service. Then there are services that let you enter your phone number and the number you are calling on a website; your phone will ring, and when you answer it, it will automatically dial the number you wish to call.

Service Name and Features	Costs involved
Jaxtr – Jaxtr offers local numbers for most countries – simply call that number and then input your friend’s number. Jaxtr will send an SMS message to your friend containing a local number. She can call that number and you’ll be connected. If you are located in a country with non-local Jaxtr numbers or if you want to skip that call-back option, you can make direct phone calls using the web dialer at jaxtr.com – enter your number and the number you wish to call, and the phones will simultaneously ring.	You can make unlimited free calls to landlines and mobile phones in countries where Jaxtr has a direct access number and when the other person is willing to call-back on the number that he receives by text. For direct dialing, the rates start at 13¢/minute.
Jajah – Like Jaxtr, Jajah also provides direct access numbers for many countries around the world. You call a local number from your phone followed by the number of your friend (it could be long-distance or an international call) and Jajah will connect the two parties. It will also assign a unique number for your friend so you call him or her directly without having to dial that local access number. Alternatively, you can type your own phone number and that of your friend on the jajah site and you’ll be connected. You may use this desktop browser or any internet enabled mobile phone to call friends via Jajah.	All calls between Jajah users are free while calls to any number worldwide start at around 5¢ per minute. If the friend you are trying to reach is on Twitter, you can use the @call service of Jajah to make a free phone call and talk upto 2 minutes without revealing your personal phone number.
Rebtel – You get a local phone number that will connect you directly with your friends and family abroad.It works like this. You type in your friend’s international number and Rebtel will provide you with a unique local number corresponding to that international number. You can then use your regular landline or mobile phone to call your friend’s international number through a simple local call. With Rebtel, you can call anywhere in the world but the person initiating the call (i.e., you) should be located in a country that is supported by Rebtel.	In case you calling the other person directly using the local number provided by Rebtel, the rates start at $0.01/minute. However, there’s a way by which you can make free international phone calls with Rebtel. Once your friend is assigned a unique local number, give him call on that number. When he picks up, ask him to hang up and call you back on the number displayed on his phone while you wait on the line. You’ll be instantly connected and will only have to pay local charges for an international phone call.

VoIP calls are generally cheaper than regular phone calls but make sure you have a decent broadband connection for better voice quality. Also, they are no replacements for your traditional phone as none of them offers access to emergency services like 911 in US.

The first public beta of Microsoft Office 2010 (v. 14.0.4536.1000) is now available for download on both MSDN and Technet.

If you are not a subscriber, don’t hit the torrents yet because Microsoft may announce the general availability of Office 2010 beta sometime today itself. Update: You can download Office 2010 now.

Microsoft Office 2010 – What’s New

Here’s a quick visual guide to some of the new features of Microsoft Office 2010 that you’re likely to find useful once you get access to the software.

# 1. Save Office Documents to the Cloud

With Microsoft Office 2010, you can directly upload documents to your Windows Live SkyDrive account and access them from any other computer.

SkyDrive provides 25 GB of free online storage and, since the service is integrated with Office Web Apps, you can view and edit these documents anywhere in the web browser without requiring Microsoft Office (even on a Mac).

 

#  2. Embed Web Videos in your Presentations

With Office 2010, you can easily embed video clips from the Internet into your PowerPoint presentations just the way you embed Flash videos in regular web pages. Just copy the embed code from YouTube (or any other video sharing site) and paste it anywhere on the slide.

 

# 3. Quick Steps in Outlook

Gmail includes a useful feature called Send and Archive that performs multiple tasks. When you click this button, it will first send the reply and then archives the thread with one click.

With the new Quick Steps feature in Outlook, you can create a sequence of commands (Send & Archive is just one example) and apply them to any Outlook item with a click. For instance, here’s a quick step for “Send and Delete” which would delete the email from your inbox after you’ve replied.

 

#  4. Built-in PDF Writer

All Office 2010 programs include a built-in PDF writer to help you save documents into the PDF format with a click. Earlier, you had to download an add-on separately but now PDF support is native.

 

# 5. Document printing made simple!

With Office 2010, Microsoft has completely revamped the print dialog and it’s a tremendous improvement. For instance, you can tweak printer settings (like page margins, etc.) and preview the changes side-by-side.

 

# 6. Broadcast Slideshows within PowerPoint

This is probably my favorite new feature of PowerPoint 2010. You can deliver live presentations over the web from within PowerPoint and anyone in the world can view your presentation using a web browser. It just works.

 

# 7. Video Editing meets PowerPoint

Do you want to trim some parts of a video clip before using it in your presentation? Or do you want to apply professional styles to a video (like reflection coupled with 3D rotation) so that your audience stay glued longer? Well, that’s easy because PowerPoint 2010 now includes some very powerful video editing features.

 

# 8. Distribute your slides as video

PowerPoint 2010 can convert your presentation into a video file that you may upload on to YouTube or distribute on a portable media player like the iPod. The video conversion happens in the background so you can continue using PowerPoint while the video is being created.

 

# 9. Built-in Screen Capture

All Office 2010 programs now include a screen clipping utility to help you quickly capture any area of the desktop screen. The tool will automatically take screenshots of all open applications on your desktop (that are not in minimized state) and you can insert them directly into your document or presentation.

 

# 10. Outlook gets social

When you open an email message inside Outlook 2010, it will show you related information such as email attachments, pictures, meeting requests and all previous email messages that you may have exchanged with that person (something like Xobni).

There’s a green add button that lets you “add that person to your online social networks from Outlook” but the service isn’t live yet. Until then, you can use these add-ons to make your Outlook more social.

Important: Before installing Office 2010
1. If you are installing Office 2010 beta for the first time, the default settings will upgrade your existing copy of Microsoft Office. You can however customize this setting and install Office 2010 alongside an older version of Office.

2. If you already have Office 2010 Technical Preview on your computer, make sure you completely uninstall this edition before attempting to installing Office 14 beta. In case you still have trouble installing Office, use the cleanup utility to remove all traces of the previous version of Office from your system.

Microsoft paid close attention to personalization in Windows 7, and shipped it with a gorgeous collection of desktop backgrounds and themes. Windows 7 also makes it easy for users to create their own personalized themes and then share it with other Windows 7 users.
If you are still using an older version of Windows (like Windows XP or Vista), you don’t have to feel left behind because, with some simple tricks, you can enjoy all or part of what these Windows 7 themes have to offer.

Use Windows 7 Themes with XP and Vista

First, launch the official Windows 7 themes directory and download some of the themes you like to your Windows XP or Vista desktop.

These files have a unique .themepack extension which is just another zip format containing all of the elements of a theme including the background images, Aero glass colors, sounds, cursors, icons, screen savers, etc.

To use these files on an older version of Windows, you first need to extract them as only Windows 7 can natively understand the themepack format. You can either change the file extension of the Windows 7 theme file from .themepack to .cab and then extract the files with a right-click, or install the free 7-Zip utility as 7-Zip can automatically hand the themepack file format.


Once extracted, your theme files will now be in a new folder that has the same name as your original themepack.

Aero Glass Border and Desktop Backgrounds

Now that you have all the required files, its time to activate the Windows 7 theme on your non-Windows 7 computer.

If your computer is running Windows Vista that supports Aero, simply double-click the .theme file that is present in the them folder you just extracted.  This will set your windows border glass to the color of the Windows 7 theme and your wallpaper to the default background of the theme. However, this background picture will disappear when you reboot your computer, so you need to set that as a permanent background.



Windows XP does not support Aero glass, but you can still use the background images from downloaded Windows 7 theme on your XP desktop. You can find the backgrounds inside the themepack folder itself or in a sub-folder named DesktopBackground. Pick any image, right click on it, and select “Set as Desktop Background.”

Windows 7 like Desktop Slideshows for XP and Vista

Most Windows 7 themes consist of multiple background images and Windows 7 will automatically change your desktop background at periodic intervals using one of the images from the themepack. Windows Vista and XP do not support desktop slideshows, but you can easily bring that feature use the excellent and free John’s Background Switcher program.

To create a desktop slideshow, click the add button and choose “A folder on your computer.” Now select the Windows 7 theme folder that contains all the background images. The program allows lot of tweaking but you can skip that because the default settings are very similar to what you need for simulating Windows 7 behavior on your XP or Vista computer.

However, John’s Background Switcher by default shows the name of the image in the top right hand corner of the picture.  To remove this, click the “More…” button that has a gear icon on it.  Uncheck the box beside the 3rd entry which says “Show picture info on the top-right corner of the screen.”  Now click Ok, and then click Ok in the main window, and your desktop slideshow is all ready.
For RSS-enabled Windows 7 Themes
Some Windows 7 themes download images from the internet (via RSS feeds) when switching desktop backgrounds.
To know if the theme you are looking to port on your Vista or XP computer uses RSS or not, open the .theme file in a text editor like Notepad. Then search for the string “RssFeed” without the quotes. If you find that string, copy the link address of the RSS feed and, you can then use the “RSS photo feed” option in John’s Background Switcher program to create an RSS powered desktop slideshow on your XP or Vista machines.

 

Windows 7 Sounds, Cursor, Screensavers, etc.

Most Windows 7 themes only contain a glass color and desktop backgrounds.  However, some may contain screensavers, sounds, cursors, and icons as well. The good part is that you can use the elements on your Vista / XP theme as well.

Sounds - You can copy the sound files (.wav) to the default media folder (C:\Windows\Media), and if you have set the Windows 7 theme in Windows Vista as described above, it will automatically these sounds.  Else, you will have to manually change your sounds from the Control Panel.

Icons - If the Windows 7 theme that you plan to use with XP or Vista contains a different set of desktop and system icons (.ico files), you may follow the directions below to apply them on your version of Windows:

• For Windows Vista – Right-click on the desktop, select Personalize and choose “Change Desktop Icons.”  Select the items you which to change, click “Change Icons,” and browse to the location of new icons that are part of the Windows 7 theme.
• For Windows XP – Right-click on the desktop, select Properties and choose "Customize Desktop" under the Desktop tab. Select the items you wish to change, click “Change Icon,” and browse to the location of the icons from your theme. 
  

To change icons of individual programs, simply right-click on the program shortcut on your desktop, select Properties, and click the button that says "Change Icon" in the Shortcut tab. Browse to the location of the icon extract from the Windows 7 theme and select the one you want to apply.

Screensavers – For using a Windows 7 screensaver inside XP or Vista, just copy the relevant screensaver files (.scr) into your Windows system folder usually located at C:\Windows\System32.  Now, change your system screensaver using the usual method. Please remember that not all Windows 7 screensavers will work correctly on previous versions of Windows.

Cursors – You can copy the Windows 7 cursor files (.cur or .ani) to C:\Windows\Cursors on XP or Vista, and then apply the new set using the mouse settings under Control Panel. Use the [Control Panel\Cursors] of the .theme file (see example) to understand the default cursor mappings.