Best Sources for Free Quality eBooks

There are many sources of free books on the web. As an advocate of free knowledge (but mostly as a thrifty reader), I love to share this with everyone. Many people don't seem to realize that copyrights expire and books become free to read, to distribute, and to inspire (as many should). There is always something available to read and to learn from as long as you are willing. Below are some of my recommended websites to visit when in search of a good read:

Girlebooks is no doubt my favorite eBook source. I'm a sucker for the Brontë sisters, Jane Austen, Victorian romance novels and the likes. Girlebooks offers classic and contemporary eBooks by female writers. Girlebooks eBooks are formatted into multiple eBook formats to accommodate most readers. I've had difficulties reading pdf on my Barnes and Noble Nook, but one of the formats offered by Girlebooks is perfect for my Nook! The founders and volunteers here produce great quality formatted works I truly admire and profit from daily.

Emily Bronte courtesy of Girlebooks

When speaking of free quality eBooks, who could omit Project Gutenberg? Probably the largest of its kind, Project Gutenberg offers over 38,000 free ebooks: epub books, kindle books, pdf, html, etc. Completely free of charge, Project Gutenberg books are formatted and edited by thousands of volunteers. Their mission is, as it always has been, to encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks.

Lastly, if you choose to read books on your phone (I do not), BooksInMyPhone provides thousands of free books you can read from the convenience of your cell phone. I prefer not to spend hours peering over small LCD screens, but I love the initiative to bring great reads and knowledge to any platform available.

Wordpress Tutorial: Remove BuddyPress BuddyBar and Whitespace

I love to incorporate BuddyPress into my Wordpress blog themes whenever convenient. And why not? It is an amazing tool that turns any normal blog into an independent social network. But of course it comes with some creative issues.

FAQ: How do I remove the BuddyPress navigation bar (nicknamed: BuddyBar) from my Wordpress theme?

I've spent countless hours searching for a method to remove the navigation bar in addition to the white space it leaves behind. Most tutorials I encounter very crudely shows how to hide the BuddyBar from visibility, but leaves a gaping white space where the navigation bar once was. To remove everything in its entirety, follow the simple tutorial below.

Blogger Tutorial: Remove Showing Posts With Label

FAQ: How to remove the "Showing posts with label" tag from the Blogger layout?

The default message that appears for label pages.

For any default Blogger layout, the "Showing posts with label [tag]" message shows up above the posts whenever you click on a label link. As it's a pretty useless and tactless message, many people like to have it removed. If that is your wish, just follow the tutorial below:

Before editing any templates, make sure you backup your original layout in the case that something goes terribly wrong. (Something always goes terribly wrong. Take the hint.) To download your current template, go to Template and hit Backup / Restore.

To remove Showing posts with labels:

G-Whizz! Google Apps Browser Review

G-Whizz Google Apps is one of the best free apps to organize all of your Google products. It's one convenient tool that puts together your email, calendar, tasks, etc. It even includes Facebook, Twitter and some other fun products. The ads are somewhat annoying so if you are an avid Google user, throw in the $2.99 for the ad-free version.

I originally looked into this app because I couldn't get my iPhone's Calendar to sync all my Google calendars and to-do lists. I was hoping that this app would do the trick, but it doesn't sync with any of the other apps. It's pretty much a standalone product. My quest for the ultimate Google-iPhone syncing app continues.

Temple Run blows Angry Birds out of the air - A Favorite App Review

I know I may stand alone here, but I never really got into Angry Birds. It's just tossing birds at things, isn't it?

Anyway, I've been addicted to Temple Run for quite some time now. I didn't want to write about it while I was in my obsessive phase. Now that I've stopped playing so often, I thought I could throw in my two cents. There isn't much to the game: You are continuously running away from ape monsters in what I assume is a never-ending ancient temple. You can only turn, jump and slide to avoid obstacles and sometimes you get little power-ups like a boost or temporary invincibility. You can buy a few avatars like an explorer or footballer once you collect enough coins. There are also some objectives that you can complete in order to gain multipliers, which increase your score. I lost interest after passing 4 million points - but that took me longer than it should have.

Now that I'm actually sitting down to write this, I realize I've lost nearly all interest in this game. I'm really selling this app, aren't I? Oops. Temple Run would have captivated me longer than two weeks had Imangi Studios added more items to the shop or more objectives and goals. I don't know. Maybe they just need a less fickle audience.

Why I Chose Blogger Over Wordpress

Let me start off by saying that if you are a serious blogger or someone with true blogging ambition, you should use Wordpress. It is the better blogging platform, hands down. (I'm speaking of the Wordpress you host on your own plan, not the free version of Wordpress.) Most articles you find online will tell you that Wordpress is the better choice over Blogger, Typepad, and newer "blogging platforms" such as Tumblr. It's true. Wordpress allows for customization of almost any sort. With all of its plugins, open source extentions and themes, Wordpress is nearly limitless (which is a good thing, unlike that Bradley Cooper movie).

A snapshot of the Wordpress admin panel courtesy of wordpress.org.

That said, I like Blogger. Sometimes it goes through minor crises, but it's stable and reliable 99.9% of the time - which is a lot better than I can say about the usual hosts. I personally have had some Wordpress blogs hosted on DreamHost, Hostgator, Godaddy, etc. I've had troubles with each of those hosts. (And I frugally paid for them.)

I'm not going to go through a spiel about Blogger vs. Wordpress right now (that will be a future post). To sum up my reasons for picking Blogger for this specific blog: Blogger is convenient. As this blog is set up to be nothing more than a giant internal dialogue, I thrive on that convenience. I am a big Google/Gmail user so I am logged into my Google account 24/7. Blogger is a click away. It is completely free, provides unlimited bandwidth, and requires zero setting up or maintenance. I don't have to pay any monthly dues or worry about renewal. If I decide to ditch this blog a few months down the road, I won't have to worry about canceling any hosting plans. There is no guilt knowing that I've purchased something just to waste it. There is no real responsibility here other than the responsibilities of a writer and a decent person.