What is Dropbox?

Dropbox is a service that lets you sync and store files online and across your computers. So you upload something to Dropbox (as simple as dragging the file to your Dropbox folder) and you can access it on another computer. Or just use it to back up your important files (I use it to keep backups of some of the websites I’m running).

You can also use it to share files. Got a 1GB file that you need to get to someone? Easy. Just upload it to your Dropbox and send them the handy download link they give you.

Also, if you’ve got a smartphone (I don’t) you can download the Dropbox app and do all sorts of fun stuff, like automatically sync photos, access and move files, and share them from your phone. Pretty handy huh?

Want to sign up and get an extra 250 MB of storage space?

Click here to get Dropbox! We’ll both get an extra 250 MB of space in addition to the 2GB they already give you!

I’ve been a fan of The Ember Days for a few months now, ever since I discovered their free EP over at NoiseTrade.

Anyhow, their new EP “Finger Painting” is out and you can download it for free at http://comeandlive.com/downloads. It’s got a wonderfully atmospheric feel to it. Most of the songs actually don’t have any lyrics, but the music itself is fantastic enough to make it worthwhile. The last song of the EP, “Simple Song”, is fantastic musically and thematically while still having, as the title suggests, simple (but powerful) lyrics.

Anyhow, check them out!

Ok, then here’s the deal: Head on over to DesiringGod.org and check out the tons of free stuff that they give away all day, every day.

One of the greatest things that they give away are eBooks. John Piper has written a TON of books, and he’s got over 50 of em for free online. You can get them at http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/OnlineBooks/ByTitle/.

These aren’t just any books either…these are some of his best works, including Desiring God, Don’t Waste Your Life, and What Jesus Demands from the World.

I’m not a huge fan of reading books on my computer screen, so I use my Sony eReader to import the pdfs and then read them on the eReader, which, if a book is a 10 out of 10, the eReader is probably an 8. It’s really easy to read with. Anyhow, I think most eReader devices out there (Sony, Nook, etc) support pdfs, although the Kindle doesn’t (haters). So if you have one of those, these books are even more amazing.

Anyhow, check it out, and check out the 30 years or so of sermons he has on there! If you want, you can always purchase the dead-tree version of the books too.

If you haven’t heard of The Civil Wars, it’s the duo of Joy Williams and John Paul White, who together make absolutely fabulous music. I am currently in love with their song “Poison and Wine”…

Check out their free live album, “Live From Eddie’s Attic” at their MySpace page: www.myspace.com/thecivilwars

You’ll thank me later!

Artist: Freelance Whales
Where to get it: www.freelancewhales.com and click “Get it Now” on the front page.
Notes: The quintessential upbeat hipster sound, Freelance Whales (what a FANTASTIC band name) is a fun mix of different instruments with an almost “organic-electric” sound…I know that’s a contradiction, but it somehow fits. Anyhow, the song they have for download is pretty good…it’s called “Generator 2nd Floor”.

Artist: Bon Iver
Where to get it: www.boniver.org and click “Downloads”
Notes: A very chill sound. I definitely recommend “Skinny Love”.

Artist: Josh Garrels
Where to get it: www.joshgarrels.com and click on the Harmonica (listen).
Notes: Very unique and cool sound, with a very good beat. Lots of hip-hop influence, but I wouldn’t necessarily call it hip-hop.

Anyhow, hope you enjoy the music.

WordPress is at it’s core a blog engine, but it can be so much more! I’ve seen and used it before to create entire websites, and it’s more than up to the task.

And the best part about it is because it’s Open Source GPL, WordPress is FREE! With thousands of themes available, it’s easy for newcomers to set up a blog or site, and if you are willing to learn a bit, it’s easy for you to create your own themes.

What It Is: WordPress is open source “web software you can use to create a beautiful website or blog.” You can install it for free on your hosting platform and customize, extend, and design it to your heart’s content.

Where You Can Get It: Download the latest version over at WordPress.org or if your web hosting provider has a “One-click install” get it there.

What I Use it For: Pretty much any and everything I design on the interwebs. This blog is powered by WordPress, and most of the stuff I’ve done in my portfolio is built on WordPress. It’s the most flexible and easy to use software out there.

Awesomeness Scale: 9.5 out of 10. The only reason this doesn’t get a 10 out of 10 is because you technically still have to pay for the hosting. But other than that this is probably the coolest thing out there. I <3 WP!

What makes them relevant to today’s Free Friday Post is that every day they give away 100 cupcakes for free to their followers on Twitter. Each morning they tweet out the Secret Flavor of the day, which is not on the menu, and the first 100 people who order it get it for free.

What It Is: The Georgetown Cupcake Secret Free Flavor of the Day. These are GOOD flavors too. Not just boring chocolate or vanilla.

Where You Can Get It: You can get them at either the original Georgetown location, or at their new Bethesda location (I know…Georgetown Cupcakes in Bethesda…weird). You also need to be watching their Twitter account to see what the day’s secret flavor is. Follow them at http://twitter.com/GTownCupcake.

Awesomeness Scale: 7 out of 10. Free Cupcakes. Every Day. The only downside is you need to get there early enough to get one.

I can’t say I’m a huge fan of audiobooks, but I do enjoy listening to them on my commute. Anyhow, I discovered this wonderful way of getting a free audiobook every month.

What It Is: ChristianAudio.com offers a different free audiobook each month on their site. I’ve downloaded such awesome titles as Desiring God by John Piper, Stuff Christians Like by Jon Acuff, Crazy Love and Forgotten God by Francis Chan and The Hole in Our Gospel by Richard Stearns in the past few months. Really, there are some GREAT Christian books available each month.

Where You Can Get It: You can get it by going to http://christianaudio.com/free_download.php. Don’t forget to enter the code they give you during checkout.

This month’s book is The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer. (See, I told you there’s good stuff!)

What I Use It For: Mostly listening in my car. I’m lucky enough to have an aux jack in my car that I can plug my iPod into, but you could always burn them to a CD as well. Now, I would always prefer to have the dead-tree version of the book, but hey, the audio is free and I can listen to them in my car.

Awesomeness Scale: 5 out of 10. When you get a good one, it’s a 10 out of 10, but sometimes you have to wait a few months for a book you want. Anyhow, there’s lots of good stuff here, and it’s free!

For this week’s Friday Free Post, I’m going to show you one of the better places to look for it: The Relevant Podcast.

Produced by Relevant Magazine, the Relevant Podcast is one of my absolute favorite podcasts. They have great interviews, features, and often music performances. All of the music performances are archived and available for download on their website.

The Relevant Podcast Music Performances

What It Is: Free music from the Relevant Podcast. They’ve got a lot of great bands and songs on there. Most of the music is pretty indy/non-mainstream, so if you’re into that, it’s awesome. Lots of great Christian bands there too (like Charlie Hall, Tenth Avenue North, etc).

Where You Can Get It: You can get it at the Relevant podcast page, or just go to http://www.relevantmagazine.com/media/relevant-podcast/music-download to browse the songs.

What I Use It For: This is a great way to discover new music and to add some cool live performances that don’t quite have the overproduced feel of a studio.

Awesomeness Scale: 6 out of 10. It’s free music online. That’s pretty awesome in and of itself, but the fact that it’s GOOD music takes it up another notch. Some people may not appreciate the more indy/hipster vibe of some of the music, so it looses a few points, but it’s definitely worth checking out, even if you only find a few bands you like.

Fun story about the effectiveness of free as a marketing tool: I was not a Relevant magazine subscriber when I first started listening to the podcast. After listening for a couple of months, and after using Relevant.FM (their free music streaming service), I subscribed.

So the moral of the story is, give stuff away for free and they’ll be much more likely to purchase the stuff you’re selling!

Anyhow, good job Relevant.

(Note: I’m not talking about piracy or theft here…digital piracy is just as bad as real piracy, and you don’t even get to wear the cool eyepatch.)

Anyhow, in the interest of giving back I’ve decided to start a series of posts on Fridays about free stuff I’ve found. Most of the stuff will be related to communications or the church, since that’s what I’m most involved with.

They probably won’t be every Friday, but often enough that it will still be pretty regular.

Today I’ve decided to save you all $1000 dollars and introduce you to GIMP.

GIMP: The GNU Image Manipulation Program

What It Is: GIMP is an open-source alternative to Photoshop. While it is not as powerful or feature-laden as Photoshop, if you know what you are doing you can use to achieve many of the same things as you would with your $1000 copy of Photoshop.

Where You Can Get It: You can get GIMP for PC at http://www.gimp.org/ and for Mac at http://gimp.lisanet.de/Website/News/News.html.

What I Use It For: Pretty much 95% of all the graphic design work I do on GIMP. Every once in a while I have to use Photoshop, but generally I can get by with GIMP on the stuff I’m doing. All the graphics for this site were created on GIMP.

Awesomeness Scale: 9 out of 10. This is pretty amazing. Like I said before a copy of Photoshop CS5 costs about $1000, so you’re saving a TON of money here, and it’s a great tool for anyone who’s not a graphic designer by trade but still finds the need to do graphic design every once in a while.

Hope you all enjoyed the first installment of my Free Friday Posts!