Another bonus with these games is that they go on forever and are easy on the budget, unlike many of the blockbuster PC game titles.

I just love playing these games, particularly when I’m working on something complex that requires a lot of concentration, as they provide a nice, undemanding break, while giving your brain a bit of a workout. Almost as valuable as a Nana nap for revitalising you!

In honour of my fondness for casual games, I’m going to be featuring one or two of them each week (depending, of course, on whether I can stop playing long enough to write a review and post it to the site!). But be warned: they can be addictive.

Stay tuned!

However, while we are freer than ever to use the Internet anywhere, any time, we are restricted by our ability to access it on the go by our ability to find a wireless connection to hook up with.

That’s where the laptopfriendlycafes.com site can help. It lists cafes in Australia, the UK, the US, South Africa and Canada where you can access a WiFi connection for free.

You can search for a WiFi cafe by city, zip or postcode. Each listing gives details of  availability to power, whether or not it has 3G reception, directions via Google Maps, and links to the cafe’s Web site where applicable.  The site currently lists 300 tried and tested cafes with WiFi and if you know of one that is not on the site, you can submit its details for inclusion.

iPhone owners can also download an app from the site to find cafes on the go.

laptopfriendlycafes.com

WinX DVD Ripper Platinum lets you copy your DVDs to a wide range of audio and video formats and allows you to transfer them to popular devices such as the iPhone, iPod, Apple-TV, PSP, Zune, mobile phone and smore. For a full rundown on the programs features, head here.

The program is only available for around another 20 hours.

WinX DVD Ripper Platinum on Giveaway of the Day.

You’ll find all kinds of interesting facts, including lists of the world’s most odd and weird things, unusual words, the names for all kinds of phobias, and loads more scintillating snippets to regale your friends and family with.

Did You Know?

Well, if you want to get a quick snapshot of what was hot in your birth year, you should check out the What Happened in My Birth Year site, which has to have the most bare-bones interface of any site I’ve seen — check out the screenshot at left to see what I mean.

Just enter your birth year and click on the button with the question mark and you’ll be presented with a rundown of the big current events of that year and lots of pop culture insights such as top music and movies, plus some of the other highlights as you grew up.

The information is mostly text and just about as visually interesting as the home page, but it’s fun anyway to take a bit of a trip down memory lane.

Obviously, this site is a one-visit-only affair, but a bit of fun anyway. Unless, of course, you’re a bit sensitive about your age — the site reminds you often that you’re getting a bit long in the tooth with comments like “Oh, that’s many years ago”!

The information is US-centric, but still relevant, and their are links to more information on many of the books and movies mentioned.

What happened in my birth year?

OK, I’ll come clean: I hate housework and would rather have teeth pulled than do some chores. Indeed, cleaning the bathroom can only be accomplished with the assistance of Bon Jovi turned up to the max on the stereo for motivation.

What I really love about this site is that it doesn’t advocate that you turn into Martha Stewart overnight, but realises that you’ve been a slob for so long that you’re not going to magically transform yourself into a domestic goddess. The site is chock-full of great practical advice that’s achievable, setting you up for success rather than failure.

Membership of FlyLady is free and you can hook up with other recalcitrant ‘housework-phobes’ in the site’s forums.

Having almost completed a total bathroom rebuild, my house looks like a bomb site at the moment, and I will be turning to the good FlyLady (on the advice of my daughter-in-law, who is a big fan) for divine intervention in my dilemma. You should give her a try, too, if you also find yourself out of the running for the Housewife of the Year award.

Flylady

If you want to find out some neat tips and tricks on how to get the most out of all the Office components and discover features you may not even know exist, you need to check out The Microsoft Office Blog.

The Microsoft Office actually comprises several individual blogs on various aspects of the suite and you can sign up to keep up to date with what’s new on the site via RSS.

The Microsoft Office Blog

You may already be familiar with the Australasian Camcorder print magazine. Well, publisher David Hague has now taken it online, allowing readers to enjoy the excellent articles, reviews and more that appeared in the print version with the added functionality that can only be served up online.

If you’re looking for a way to hook up with other video enthusiasts online, the AusCam Online forums are the place to head.  They’re a great way to get help with any aspect of the video process from other video fans or share your expertise with others. The forums have just gone live today, so there’s nothing there as I write this post. Why not get them rolling with a question or comment.

On the AusCam Online site, you can read feature articles, tutorials and reviews of video software and hardware and the site’s shop has lots of useful DVDs and books for sale to help you improve your video skills.

And the really good news is that much of the AusCam Omline content is free. However, their is a premium subscription available ($36 a year) that gives you access to additional content.

You can sign up for a free weekly newsletter via email or get alerts of new additions to the site via RSS.

The February 2010 issue is out now.

AusCam Online

It’s a one-product-a-day site with a difference. Each day it offers a new deal — recent deals include $70 off a balloon flight and super restaurant deals — where you buy a voucher that entitles you to get services for a far higher value (sometimes over 50% more).

Each day’s offering has a limited number available and all must be sold for all purchasers to get the deal. Your credit card is not charged until the day’s quota has been reached. Some vouchers have an expiry date, so be aware of this, and you need to use the voucher in one go. You can also buy a voucher and give it to someone else to use if you wish.

You’ll need to register on the site to make a purchase — it’s free and allows you to rate products and leave comments. You can also sign up for email notification of new deals.

Spreets.com

If you need to recover data that has become corrupted or accidentally deleted, it can be a bit of a hit-and-miss affair. Of course, there are professional data retrieval services, but they’ll cost you an arm and a leg.

There’s also a raft of software available that can do a pretty good job of retrieving your lost files, but they don’t come cheap either, although they’re much more affordable than professional intervention.

Fortunately, today (until 7pm AEST) you can download a copy of Easeus Data Recovery Wizard for free from the Giveaway of the Day site. It’s a 4.37M download.

Data Recovery Wizard will recover lost data from formatted drives including your hard drive (even if you have deleted it and emptied the Recycle Bin), USB drives, SD and other memory cards, and normally sells for $US69.95. To read more about its features, head here.

Even if you think you’ll never need the services of this software, download it anyway. It’s far better to be sure than sorry.

Easeus Data Recovery Wizard from Giveaway of the Day.