Top 10 Free Email Service Providers

Free email services remain the center of web activity, driving communication for work and personal use. From social networking update alerts to the sending and receiving of documents, email has truly become a necessity for modern correspondence.
Most of us have been using the same email service for the past decade when multiple companies like Yahoo, Google, and Hotmail first launched such services. But recent developments for email providers indicate an upcoming push towards innovative updates, making this a great time to compare free email services.
In the list below we’ve reviewed over ten of the best free email services ranging from the four major providers to smaller niche/business email services. These are not in any specific order of rankings other than the most popular four are listed at the top and all the others are randomly positioned beneath. We will continue to update this article as new email services become available. Thus, if you believe we’ve left any important free email services out, please leave a comment and we’ll add it to the review.

Gmail – Arguably the best free email services available to date. Gmail is heavily integrated with its Google applications and the Gmail Labs team is constantly adding new features that enhance its service. While newer than most other free email services, Google was an established tech company prior to launching its email service and already had other applications with which it could be integrated. This resolve to provide access to cloud computing through cross-app cooperation gives Gmail a bit of an edge over Hotmail, as Microsoft began its cloud computing initiatives much later than Google.
The easy integration for add-ons and the powerful Google search right in your inbox gives Gmail an advantage over most other free email services. Google is clearly looking to make Gmail a hub for the bulk of users’ web activity, indicating that there will always be something new to check out on Gmail. Security is outstanding on Gmail as the spam filters get rid of most emails we don’t want to see. Import and export options as well as multiple account options means Gmail can be pretty well integrated across the board.
Gmail’s free email service plan currently offers over 7 GB of storage space, an attachment size limit of 20 MB, text messaging, voice chat and video chat, filters, labels, email forwarding, auto responders, POP3/IMAP access, offline access and mobile access, and many more new email features. The Google Labs team ensures that new technologies like Google Android and exciting new features are added frequently to seamlessly integrate with the email service. If you have your own website and you’re dissatisfied with the default email service provided by your domain registrar, you can easily add Google Gmail to your own domain via Google Apps.

Yahoo Mail – Yahoo Mail search is one of the most useful features when it comes to tracking down messages. Automatic filters help you sift through search results, giving one-click access to documents, senders, and more. Yahoo is also looking to make its email service more socially aware to allow you to better connect with other Yahoo users via your email inbox. Connected with many of Yahoo’s other applications, your email persona can be tied with much of your other Yahoo activity which could ultimately spread across the social web. Other tools for speedy organization and inbox skimming have been introduced with recent Yahoo Mail updates giving users more professional ways in which to use Yahoo for their emailing needs.
Yahoo Mail’s free email service accommodates an unlimited amount of storage space, a maximum attachment size of 25 MB, calendar reminders, chat, SMS, birthday reminders, drag and drop functionality, slideshows, mobile phone access, virus protection, SpamGuard, phishing protection, and integration with various apps. If you upgrade to Yahoo Mail Plus ($19.99/year), you’ll gain more filters, get POP access, live customer care, email forwarding, no account expiration, no graphical ads, and AddressGuard. If you want to run Yahoo! Mail on your own domain or business email, Yahoo! Zimbra is available for a fee.

Hotmail – Acquired by Microsoft, it has undergone several updates since it first emerged on the scene. As such, it features integration with other landmark Microsoft products such as Outlook. Security and anti-spam measures ensure that messages are only accepted from known senders. This leaves a good amount of manual management from the user however, as they need to confirm messages from new senders.
Integration with Microsoft products also means that Hotmail is limiting in some senses. Certain features only work with Internet Explorer, or on Windows operating systems. Other limitations include a lack of support for POP and IMAP, though there are workarounds for this if you are dedicated to using Hotmail.
Hotmail’s free email service offers 5 GB of storage space, a 10 MB limit on attachments, chat, calendars, instant messaging via Live Messenger, and much more. Hotmail seemlessly integrates with all of the Windows Live services to add even more functionality. For example, SkyDrive gives you 25 GB of free storage to accommodate your photos and files and share them with your friends. Windows Live Hotmail Plus paid email service ($19.99/year) adds the following: an upgrade to 10 GB of storage, 20 MB file attachments, more custom filters, larger group lists, no risk of account expiration, 250 more safe addresses, mail forwarding, and removal of advertisements.

AOL – This wasn’t always free, but it is now. As a long-standing company in the email business, AOL has a lot of familiarity and experience in dealing with email. Its ability to keep up however, still falls short. On the organization side, AOL could use a little innovation to improve features like folders and labels.
Preventative measures to stop viruses and spammers are adequate. If you’d would rather not give up your long-standing AOL name, support for IMAP and POP means that you can still interact with AOL email content from another email client. This reflects AOL’s larger strategy to merely integrate better with other products and services, as we’ve seen this become a company-wide tactic in dealing with the changing trends.
AOL’s free email service includes unlimited storage, 16 MB file attachment size limit, the ability to create folders and lists, filters, address book, search, auto reply, drag-n-drop functionality, spell checker, IMAP access, calendars, notes, mobile access, multiple language support, games, RSS reader, online support, chat via AIM, customized addresses, plugins, text messaging, and much more. AOL Mail is supported through advertisements but unlike most email services a non-ad supported upgrade isn’t currently available.

Inbox – This is a solid free email service that comes with a lot of features and 5GB of storage space. Security is good but it lacks a phishing filter and access via IMAP is not available. Other features include typical standards such as calendar, notes, and notifications but the service also comes with games and ecards. Unlike most free email services Inbox.com doesn’t display advertisements while viewing your email.

Fastmail – Their free email service is ad-supported, comes with 10MB of storage, a maximum file size of 10MB, and a mail storage quota of 10MB. Their free account doesn’t include email forwarding, POP3 access, and the address book storage is limited to 100 contacts. Upgraded email plans include more storage space, greater access, and no advertisements.

Mail – A free email service that includes unlimited storage space, great security and spam protection, and the ability to access your email messages from your mobile phone. You can choose from over 250 different personal email address domains, customize the look of your inbox with various skins as well add email apps. The free email plan also comes with a calendar, address book, and online chat interface but does not offer IMAP or POP3 access. Paid email plans offer more features and access minus the hassle of annoying advertisements. If you noticed in the image at the top of this article Dora Mail was to be reviewed but DoraMail.com now redirects to Mail.com.

Lycos Mail – Used to be a free email service provider but now charges $19.95 per year to give users 5GB of storage, POP3 and IMAP access, spam filtering, and anti-virus support. Other notable features include domain and address blocking abilities and no ads.

Care2 – An environmentally conscious business that provides free email service as well as other things. Care2 donates 5% of its earnings to various nonprofit organizations. Their free email plan comes with 5GB of storage space, 10MB maximum file size for attachments, anti-spam and anti-virus filters, POP3 access, auto-replies, spell-check, address book for contacts, and personalized webmail names.

Zenbe – A next generation email service that integrates the social web and collaboration tools to take plain old email to the next level. They offer a 30-day free trial for all email service plans and access to their ShareFlow collaboration service that allows you to connect and share files and comments with your team. Zenbe Mail comes with calendars, Postini spam and virus protection, and it allows you to use your own domain.

GMX – Another free email service pushing the envelope of innovation to improve stale email. GMX Mail features include drag & drop functionality, a modern design, the ability to manage all your email accounts (Yahoo, Gmail, etc.) in one place, track personal appointments, and create reminders. You can access your GMX email account via POP3/IMAP access, your web browser, or mobile phone. Security and spam protection is exceptional and GMX prides itself on not scanning your emails for advertising purposes unlike others do. The GMX free email service comes with 5GB of email storage and a maximum attachment size of 50MB.

Gawab – Provides free email services that include POP and IMAP access, 10GB of storage, virus protection, email forwarding, filters and folders, drag and drop functionality, contact manager, and a max email attachment size of 50MB. The main disadvantages of their free plan includes account expiration and advertisements. If you upgrade to one of their paid email plans you can avoid the advertisements, prevent your account from expiring, and get SMS notifications.


Read more: http://tomuse.com/free-email-services-review/#ixzz1CfzKWgxC

40 Ways to Make Money on the Internet

I did a little bookmark scrub this morning and thought I would share the remaining content of my "Online Money" folder. To warn you, there are certain things that I don't like and never bookmark so:

What's NOT included: Taking Paid Surveys, Getting Paid to Surf the Internet, MLM, Contest Sites, "Buy my DVD, CD, Audiobook", etc.

What IS included: Things you can use to legitimately make money online - Everything from Getting Paid to review software to good ole' Adsense.

• Infolinks - Infolinks is probably the highest paying option for your in-text advertising. On DLM, you will see underlined links scattered throughout articles. Those are a function of Infolinks and without disclosing too much, it's been a great source of income. Best is that they accept all sizes of websites and blogs. Just sign up and begin.
• Build a Niche Store - This is a simple store development platform which enables you to create content based sites that generate income through the eBay affiliate programs. Pretty darn simple and increasingly popular.
• Adbrite - Sell space on your site for text ads. This would work like the DLM Marketplace you see on the right of my pages although I chose to manage it myself.
• Amazon Affiliate Program - Easily create a store or shopping section on your site instead of sending your visitors to Amazon. Amazon handles the shopping cart and fulfillment.
• Amazon Seller - Sell your stuff on Amazon
• Associated Content - If you write a story, how-to, rant, how-to cut grass, etc., you can submit it to them and they will pay you $3-$20 per article if they like it.
• Yahoo! Merchant Solutions - This is a pretty simple and cheap way to create an online store.
• Azoogleads - Another ad program. They do have some decent companies lined up as advertisers. You provide space, they'll provide an ad.
• BidVertiser - PPC (pay per click) program with a low $10 payout amount.
• Blog - Start a blog and consistently write excellent content. With good ad placement, you may make some money. I detail my process here: Simply Said, How to Blog.
• Cafepress - You provide a design, they'll toss it on a T-Shirt, Hat, etc. No upfront costs. Get a free online shop and promote your products on your website.
• Chitika - Their eMiniMalls service has shown great results for many Bloggers and site owners. You choose a keyword and they show relevant products on your site using a pretty unique interface.
• Clickbank - Quickly becoming my favorite affiliate program. They have thousands of things for you to advertise on your site.
• ClicknWork - Get paid $5-$150 per hour for basically doing freelance work on a per-assignment basis. You have to pass a pretty tough test to get in.
• Clicksor - These are the guys that generate contextual ads on sites that show up when you hover over a double-underlined word.
• Commission Junction - If you have a site, you can join Commission Junction. Once enrolled for free, you can choose companies whose ads are pertinent to your site. Companies have the ultimate say on working with you. There are easily over 1,000 companies to choose from here.
• CreamAid - For blogs only, advertisers provide you with a topic and you write about it on your site. To do this, you have to install a flash widget into your blog post. The more people you bring into the conversation through the widget, the more you get paid. It's difficult to explain.
• eefoof - Think of it as YouTube + Flickr + Music. You add original content and they pay you based on the visitors you attract.
• Ether - If you are an expert on something, Ether provides a way for people to pay you to talk about it in a one-on-one setting. If you want to charge $250/hr, that's fine. You have to do all the advertising so you should have a blog or site already established.
• eBay- Come on, you know what this is. Gather your junk and sell it!
• eBay Stores - If you have a real store and want to sell your stuff online, this is a decent option to get you started.
• ELance - Name gives it away. Programmers, Codes, Web Designers, Writers, Editors, can look for freelance opportunities.
• Feedvertising - This is an arm of Text Link Ads and is currently only good for Wordpress users. This does me no good currently, but as you can guess, they place ads in your feed(s).
• Feedburner / Google - Not only are they the best place to house your feeds, they will also add ads to your feed and website. You get paid per impression and if you implement Google Adsense to your feed, you are paid per click.
• Google Adsense - Come on, you don't need an explanation; these ads are all over the place. Google displays relevant ads based on your site's content
• Google Adwords - Create simple text ads and choose keywords that determine when they are displayed. This is where the Adsense Content comes from. You do not need a site for this.
• H3.com - Get paid to fill jobs. Commissions range from $50-$5,000. It all depends on how tough the job is to fill and how desperate the hiring company is. This is another one that's tough to explain.
• Indeed.com - Add their job board to your site. They then post jobs based on the geographic location of visitors and the position types you pre-select. I tried it and I they continually report that I sent 0 visitors and I know that's not right. Nevertheless, I may have an isolated problem so they make the list.
• InnerSell - If you have a customer that wants to buy something you cannot sell, you can sell the lead here.
• Jigsaw - It's a pretty flaky model but if you have a Rolodex full of good contacts, you can sell them here. I can't make sense of it but it looks like you get $0.10 per profile.
• LinkShare.com - If you have a site, you can join Linkshare. Once enrolled for free, you can choose companies whose ads are pertinent to your site. Companies have the ultimate say on working with you. Like Commission Junction, there are a ton of companies waiting to evaluate your site.
• Microsoft Adcenter - Bid on keywords and Microsoft places your created ads then they are searched for. This is similar to Google Adwords. You do not need a site for this.
• Overstock.com - Sell your stuff on Overstock.com
• Pay Per Post - I don't agree with this model entirely but they have advertisers that will pay you to write about their products on your blog.
• Pheedo - If you have an RSS feed, run it through Pheedo. Like Feedburner, they can include ads into your feed and if you really become large, advertisers will pay a premium for you to show their ads.
• Shareasale.com - I've used them for a couple years for some banner advertising. They are similar to Commission Junction and Linkshare however they seem to have lower tiered companies with advertising offers.
• Shoemoney - This is a blog that can teach you a ton on making money online. I've spent hours reading his old stuff.
• Software Judge - They will pay you up to $50 to review software.
• Text Link Ads - I have never made a dime here but I know people that have. You can earn by sending advertisers to them or by selling spots on your site. You must have a real site or blog to do this - nothing on a shared domain (i.e. /blogspot).
• Vibrant Media - Don't bother unless your site has 500,000 page views of text based content a month. If you have that readership, these are the guys that display bubble box ads to underlined words on your site.
• West Work At Home Agent - Not entirely online but this is worth a mention because it's won awards and is very legitimate. If you are an at-home Mom or free-lancer without work, you should check this out.

5 Best Blog Sites Other Than WordPress and Blogger

The two major players in the personal blogging space are WordPress and Blogger (Google). Although these two well established names have been around the longest and have the largest user base, there are plenty of alternatives if their style is not for you, each with their own differences and reasons why you may or may not wish to use them.

The blog of today is quite different from the blog of just a few years ago. Many are into ‘casual blogging’ where a blog post is not just (long) text written out but perhaps just an image or sound clip.

Interested in which of the best blog sites offer alternatives to the big players? Let’s go over some WordPress and Blogger alternatives that you might want to check out.

Tumblr

Tumblr (also known as a Tumble log) is a widely known blogging service which we have coveredhere on MakeUseOf before. Tumblr really excels in two areas: so-called “photo blogging” and its sense of community.

Tumblr’s community is centered around the follow, like and the reblog. If you ‘like’ a post – similar to Facebook – it will show at the bottom of the post. Reblogging is much the same but in addition it will post the item back to your Tumblr as well.

You can import blog posts from a number of other services including Twitter, RSS feeds, or even AOL Instant Messenger.

Posterous

Posterous is another “microblogging” service like Tumblr. You are able to post images, text, video and audio. Like Tumblr, you can change your theme easily but unlike Tumblr there is no “reblog.”

Posts can be imported from any number of sources and will also be “sent out” to Facebook and Twitter. One of the simplest ways to submit a post – and in fact to start your Posterous account, is to send an email to post@posterous.com. After doing so you will automatically be set up for an account and your blog created.

Twitter

Not usually considered a “blogging” service, Twitter is actually a microblog by definition. If you are able to write your thoughts in 140 characters or less Twitter is actually a great way to communicate with others.

One of the reasons Twitter has been so successful is that you do not have a lot of time investment to get started and to keep updated. If you leave your profile on public anyone can read your posts just like a regular blog.

Xanga

Another popular blogging service is Xanga. One of the older blogging sites, it is definitely more for personal use.

Although Xanga used to be very popular it has waned somewhat recently with the rise of other sites, but is still popular especially with the younger crowd.

Weebly

Weebly is a hosted website and blogging service. Your account is free and ad-free, and if you want to upgrade to a domain and for certain other features there is a professional account available for a fee.

The one thing that I like about Weebly is how customizable the pages are. However, I think that is the same exact reason that more people do not use it. It is more complicated (than sending an email, as with Posterous) so for casual blogging it is more of a time commitment.

10 Financial Websites That Help You Stay On Top Of The Market

These days, bulls and bears are spoken of more in urban neighborhoods than the wild. Our generation is probably more money-wise when it comes to investment and financial forethought. And the market is more than willing to take the dollars we spend or invest.

For every dime, you have tens of options to invest in. So where do you go for sound investment advice? The web is chock-a-bloc with financial websites and personal finance blogs. To wade through them you will need the most precious resource of all – time.

And if it is something you don’t have then you can thank these websites who have built-in mass communication tools like RSS feeds, newsletters, Twitter, and Facebook updates.

But it still pays to visit these ten websites because of the sheer depth of financial guidance.

CNNMoney

Three well known names are behind all the financial information on this site: CNN, Fortune, and Money. The business and financial news gets updated throughout the day and so you can expect to pick up fresh tips and market hints thanks to the range of newsletters and the alerts. It is also one of the neatest newsletter sign-up pages you can ever get to see.

Kiplinger

The well known name in financial circles brings business forecasts and personal finance advice across the entire media spectrum. The Kiplinger Letter (a weekly business and economic forecasting periodical) requires a paid subscription, but the email updates from the site does not. The site has a section for the first time investor who needs to know the basics.

This Is Money

The UK-centric financial website is a part of Daily Mail, the second largest selling British newspaper. The financial website covers personal finance with investment tips, news, predictions, advice, and guides. Check out the site map at the foot of the homepage for all the wealth you can find on the site. With all the tools on the site, it’s better that you be there, but if you can’t then make do with the weekly roundup newsletter packed with investment advice or the one which covers breakings news and special deals.

The Street

The Wall Street based financial website has a mix of free and premium services for financial updates. The website gives you a choice of seven free e-mail newsletters — The Daily Booyah!, Before the Bell, Midday Bell, After the Bell, Winners & Losers, TheStreet Top 10 Stories, and TheStreet ETF Weekly that help you be on top of market trends with timely investment advice from guys like financial journalist (and bestselling author) Jim Cramer.

Smart Money

Smartmoney.com is a part of the Wall Street Journal media network. The financial website caters to the high brow professionals who go deep into day-to-day markets with stocks and mutual fund investments. The site gives the individual investor a range of tools like watchlists, stock screeners, market maps, and the SmartMoney LifePlan as a step-by-step guide to investments. With a free registration, you can access these tools and the bundle of free investment information. You can stay on the WSJ network and keep tabs on the market with the sites in their portfolio.

Seeking Alpha

Seeking Alpha more like a financial news aggregator packaged as a blog. It sifts through the top market blogs, money managers, financial experts and investment newsletters to bring nearly 250 articles dally. The site says that it’s the only free, online source for over 1,500 public companies’ quarterly earnings call transcripts, including the S&P 500. The site has an interesting section called Long & Short Ideas where you get tips on long term stocks and those that are falling.

Bloomberg

One of the best financial websites out there, Bloomberg is all about up-to-date business analysis and financial data. The site has a good personal finance section with news supported by videos and four calculator tools. The news coverage is international and if you are onYouTube, you can catch their channel there too. Bloomberg also owns BusinessWeek and all-in-all it has a one-third share of the financial data market.

Forbes

If you are in the least bit interested in money, then you would know the lists which Forbes brings out annually. But the site is more than that as it packs in news on business, technology, stock markets, personal finance, and lifestyle with bytes of advice, tools, and investing tips.

Investor Words

This financial website is not one for investment news, but it hands out words which can help to make you a better investor. You can get the Term of the Day delivered to your inbox with a free sign-up. The term of the day email newsletter provides one definition and one investing aphorism per day to subscribers. The financial glossary has database of 8000 terms which is constantly updated. In between, you can also catch up with other finance related articles.

My Money

MyMoney.gov is the official U.S government website setup to impart financial literacy to the American public. The site is well designed with three clear cut sections that help with financial knowhow for each stage of life, supported by other resources and tools.

These ten websites can serve the newbie investor best with the 5 Websites Where You Can Learn To Invest Money because learning how to invest and when to with informed investment decisions go together. Do you have a favorite financial website that’s in your bookmarks?

5 Websites Where You Can Learn To Invest Money

                             With the new economy, many people have found themselves looking for more information to learn to invest money. Be it because they have lost money that was badly invested and decided to take the matters into their own hands, or because they want to fully understand what others are doing to their money.

Some have also become more interested because they see the moment as an opportunity to make some money on stocks that are down now but which can grow in value rapidly if the economy continues to recover. But how can you learn to invest money if you have no intention of going to school now and have no real information on how to go about it?

Well, the magnitude of the World Wide Web has once again come to the rescue. There are some sites that can help you learn the ins and outs of the stock market and some that can be a fun place to practice your newly acquired skills to find out if you have what it takes to start investing with real money.

Investopedia

With a nice collection of free tutorials that can take you from the most basic skills to advanced information, this site can be considered one of the best beginner’s resource online to learn to invest money. There are even real exercises and mock tests to help you if you are taking CFA professional exams.

To help even more, it also has a stock market emulator, so you can deal in real stocks without having to cash some money to test the waters. The one aggravating thing is that because you are dealing with real stock names, when you do really well, there is that sense of loss that feels like: “ I should have played those winning lottery numbers last week”

The Motley Fool

One of the biggest and oldest investment sites around, The Motley Fool is a great source of information that has been giving out stock recommendations to millions since 1994. It is especially useful after you’ve learned the basics. It is also a great resource of expert opinions and a very large community to exchange ideas with, but because it is used by a lot of professionals, there is a slight intolerance to very newbie questions, so brush up on some basics from tutorials before you start engaging in conversations in the forums.

Investing For Dummies

Another great resource of tutorials, investment terms and articles to answer most of your questions. Written in the typical style of the “For Dummies” books, the material is simple and instructive. Not as comprehensive as some of the other sites, but a solid source of information divided into very clear topics and written in a very approachable manner and  friendly manner, so it’s certainly worth checking it out.

HSX.com (Hollywood Stock Exchange)

So you think you understand the entertainment business? How about testing those skills while practicing your investment instincts at the same time? HSX is a pretend stock market where the stocks sold are the artists and their movies. You can buy stock on most celebrities and invest on movies. Grow your portfolio and sell when the time seems propitious. It’s a great way to see if all those hours spent in front of a movie screen could finally pay off and if you can trust your instincts. Even if the money is fake…

Virtual Stock Exchange (VSE)

Created by Market Watch, VSE is a simulator, much like the ones above, to help you learn to invest money by measuring how well you would do in a real market. What differentiates it from the other simulators is that they are set up as games. You can join existing games, where you will compete against other players to see who makes the most money.  You can even create your own game, open to anyone or you can choose to  play only against your friends and family. Some of the most popular public games include: StockMarket4Dummies, Obamanomic, MakeEndsMeet or even FlounderingFools.

So if you think you have what it takes to start investing, or would at least like to understand what everyone else is talking about, check out some of the sites above and let me know what you’ve learned.

Do you have any other sites worth checking out?

5 Sites To Boost Your Brain Fitness With Fun Games & Puzzles

Do we tune up our brain as frequently as we do our cars? The most wonderful organ ever patented by God is left on its own in the skull as we go on with the chores of life. The jury is still out on whether brain games and brain exercises can really make you ‘smarter’. The weight of opinion does point to the fact that constantly working our brain does make it sharper.

Intelligence goes deep, so rather than go into the grammar of it, let’s say that smarter or sharper, brain games are fun. And playing them all day through won’t make smoke come out of our ears. Fun brain games though can improve our skills when it comes to logic and cognition. For the elderly, brain games are as vital as physical activity.

So here are five resources for brain workouts that help to wake up those grey cells.

Lumosity

Lumosity trains your brain with 30 targeted brain games and exercises. The specialized brain training web application comes in both free and paid subscription versions. The library of games relate to speed, memory, attention, flexibility, and problem solving. The full suite of games is open to subscribers only, though those with a free account can play quite a few games across the board.

The games are well designed: the Birdwatching game works on your visual processing skills and concentration. Lumosity also has multiple courses designed by experts that bolster weak areas like weak memory, problem solving, math skills, and also brain related medical conditions like ADHD and TBI.  Don’t forget to take their free Brain Grade test.

Sharp Brains

Sharp Brains is actually a blog that keeps tabs on the brain fitness and cognitive health industry. So expect to find a lot of articles on brain health and the use of digital tools to enhance our mental muscles. The site also tries to raise social awareness on the importance of regularly exercising our mental faculties. One way is through the site’s newsletter. But if you are itching to put your brain through the paces head straight to the Teasers section. The large lineup of links to brain games, puzzles, and illusions could keep you occupied for some time.

Braingle

Braingle is a community driven website that says it has the largest collection of brain teasers, riddles, logic problems, quizzes and mind puzzles on the web. 20,000 of them is a large number. Being a part of the community helps as enthusiastic members constantly keep the site updated with the freshest picks of games. As a free member, you can also subscribe to the daily teaser.  Check out the Mentalrobics section for some cool brain workouts and articles on topics like stress management and memory.

Smart-Kit

At Smart-Kit, you get to cross train your brain on a variety of puzzles and games. All games are meant to be kid safe and designed to stimulate free thinking and problem solving. Some games like the Memory Match Game are easy while you might have to scratch your head when it comes to playing Take Something Literally. The Lateral Thinking games (which comes under the category marked – More) deserve a special mention here.

Brain Training 101

The founder of this brain training site (Erin Matlock) is a Mensa candidate. But what’s more interesting about the site is that it’s part of a larger bouquet of web services that includes acommunity website and a TV channel. But if you want to stay on in this site, then the range of interactive brain games should keep you engrossed. For instance, noticing a drop in my concentration powers, I took the Stroop Test Flash game. It’s a simple game where you have to match the text color with the color of the ball. But this simple game also tells you if your focus starts to flag.

Games by their very nature call for a lot of co-ordination and mental skills. Take a game like Tetris or the classic Simon Says and you can ‘reverse engineer’ it as a game for brain exercise. Search among our games apps and you are sure to find many more that can be used to jog thebrain. Apart from games there are many more ways to enhance brain fitness online. Tell us about your favorite fun brain games.