Free stuff

It's always amazed me how much out there is open-source, however it's only in the last few months that I've really come to realise the sheer depth and variety of what people, companies and organisations put on the internet for free.  Lets start with RSS, since that's my latest conversion.  Instead of going to every single website that you like and checking it for updates, you can subscribe to a RSS feed which then brings every update straight to your reader.  You'd expect this service to cost a pretty penny, given the time that it saves you, but in actual fact there are plenty of free readers out there.  The one I've started using is Google Reader, and I'm really enjoying it so far.  The added advantage is of course that, like all Google services, all you need is a way in to the internet and your username and password.  For somebody like me, who changes computers many times in one day, this is invaluable!  It's working great with things like blogs so far, but I'm not sure if it will have the same effect on academic journals and the like, which you require a username to access.  Only one way to find out!