I feel like I’ve been in a hole for a month — under the groundhog. Looking out and seeing my shadow would mean I’ve seen some daylight.

Trying to find an appropriate word for being underground, under the groundhog, I reached out to my browser.

“My browser”?

Yes, I love the dictionary.com search engine. If you’re using Firefox I hope you have the dictionary.com search engine, if you’re not and want to here’s how to get it:
left drop-down arrow
Manage Search Engines
Get more search engines takes me to: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/browse/type:4/cat:all?sort=name
Click here or just cut and paste: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/9227
Add to Firefox

We had dropped calls in my neighborhood with AT&T, my first carrier. I had great service in rural Wisconsin, but I had to walk out of my house to use Verizon.

Frustrated, I asked many people who visited my home what cell service they used and then I examined their phone and their “signal bars”. Wisely, we chose T-Mobile. We have had no problems with the our cell service nor with their customer service.
Everyone I talked to loves their iPhone. On the other hand Mashable readers seemed fond of the Google Android phones.

Web 2.0 is cutting edge. Google’s new Chrome OS will use web apps exclusively. This post concludes the list of my favorite FREE web apps.

reQall

I’ve used reQall to leave myself voice mails.  reQall converts my voice mails into text.  reQall Standard is the free service. “It lets you organize tasks, ideas and important notes in one place and have reminders delivered at the right time.”

Shape Collage Online

I’ve used Shape Collage on my Mac for a while.  It’s a cute and clever web app that takes my photos and creates a, yes, collage out of them.

Google’s new Chrome OS will use web apps exclusively. Here is a continuation of my favorite FREE web apps.

Grammar Checker

I could have learned grammar when I was younger, but I was lazy. I may not have learned grammar, but I did find Whitesmoke’s Free Online Grammar Checker to identify and correct my grammatical blunders.

Jotti’s Malware Scan

I have used Jotti’s online scan for years. There are times when I have wanted to test a file I downloaded from the internet. Jotti scans have helped me to avoid opening tainted Windows files.

Google’s new Chrome OS will use web apps exclusively. Whether you ever use Chrome OS or not you will want to know about some great convenient user-friendly web apps.

Over the next couple of days I will introduce you to some of my favorite web apps.

Aviary

I love creating on Aviary. Mostly I’ve edited photos, but you can also create “logos, web templates, filters, color palettes, screen capture & more.”

Bubble.Us

Sometimes I mind-map when I am being creative. Bubbl.US offers online mind-mapping. Check it out next time you want your imagination visualized.

Things PowerBook & Leopard I Love:

It does work, and work very well. There is a learning curve, but it’s not hard.

A good Leopard book will decrease the learning curve like Keith Underdahl’s MacOSX Leopard Just the Steps For Dummies, Hoboken, NJ, Wiley Publishing, 2007.

I feared that the 13” display would be too small, it’s not for my eyes; it’s bright and the colors are vivid. I still prefer a 15″ display though.

Mac Mysteries

Needing to learn how to use the PowerBook included reading a couple of books. I didn’t have to, it’s not that hard, but I wanted to immerse myself in the new world of Leopard.

If I was going to use the PowerBook I needed software. While Leopard comes with quite a nice collection of software, I knew what I liked and how I wanted my computer to serve me.

Do I Dare?

I know several of you have already joined the Mac Caravan but many of you still use Windows. Having spent the last several months with a PowerBook I thought I would share my observations with you.

I envision three possible reasons you might benefit from reading this:
Windows User – You might want to know what it would be like to make the transition from XP to OSX.
New Mac User – Perhaps I have learned something you were wondering about.
Experienced Mac User – I’m cheap and need to live on a budget, maybe I found a free tool you would like to know about.