Send free text messages

Send free text messages: Most carriers charge 20 cents per text message. And most teenagers exchange a gazillion text messages per month—on their parents’ dime. Gat’s some ugly math. You
could lower the rates by adding a messaging package to your service plan, to the tune of $5 to $20 per month. But we want your bill to go down, not up. If you are the sender and you’re near a PC, you can bypass your phone altogether and send messages gratis via GizmoSMS.com. Enter the recipient’s
phone number and your message, and click Send. For a two-way alternative, go to Cherple.com, hose free prore corded TV across the Net by plugging a Slingbox into your cable box or DVR, but the device is expensive. Amazingly, a free, sobware-only alternative exists: Orb.com’s Orb. Simply install the application on your system,and then connect from afar using any device that has a streaming media player (laptop, PDA, smart phone, or whatever). If your PC has a TV tuner, Orb can
even stream live and recorded shows. Estimated savings: $180 to $300. 24. Create diagrams online: You could shell out $559 for Microsob Visio 2007 Professional, $259 for Visio 2007 Standard—
or zero for GliMy (www.gliffy.com). Gis Web-based diagramming tool lets you build eow charts, eoor plans, and many other kinds of drawings. You can add colors, drop shadows, and gradient
flls to your shapes, and collaborate on drawings with other users. You may want to spring for an ad-free Premium account ($5/month), which provides e-mail support and security features.
Estimated savings: $259 to $559. 25. Read e-books without a Kindle: Much as I love e-books, I’m not a fan of Amazon’s $359 Kindle. Your PDA or smart phone can carry mainstream fction and
nonfction titles from services like Fictionwise. com, eReader.com, and Mobi- Netbook GOOD DEAL
Looking for a budget netbook for quick and easy mobility? The Acer Aspire One (find.pcworld.com/61821) could fit the bill. It’s not perfect— you might consider splurging for the
six-cell battery, since the three-cell battery it comes with won’t last much beyond 2 hours on a charge, and the 8.9-inch screen is small. But it has a great, adult-handsfriendly keyboard and a reasonably roomy 120GB hard disk. Finally, its irresistible $350 base price makes the Aspire One a solid candidate to tide you over until a future crop of this fast-evolving class of portables comes along later this year. gram for Mac and Windows lets you receive as well as send text messages. Gmail users can do likewise by enabling Text Messaging (SMS) in Chat (find.pcworld.com/62414), a new
Google Labs feature that adds texting capabilities to Gmail. If you’re an iPhone user, you should snap up SMS Touch, a $3 application that enables you to send unlimited messages (find.pcworld.com/62415). Replies land in your e-mail inbox. Estimated savings: $5 to $50 per month.