Take Advantage of the Internet

If you have Internet access you should take advantage of what it has to offer. Let the Internet help you gain more control over your life and educate you. At the same time the things that I mention are also free except for the cost for your Internet Service Provider. These are real things that I use almost everyday that give me more control of my life and make me smarter.

Learning

Google Reader is your one stop and read about all your favorites websites. Stay up to date on all your favorite sites, news and blogs.

I definitely use it to stay up to date on my interest in this fast paced world. I get my local news, blogs, financial news, tech news, keep up on my favorite sports teams and much more through my Google Reader. It makes things simple by consolidating all the sites I visit into one and it’s very simple for anyone to use.

I also use it to learn new words. I have a subscription to Dictionary.com where it sends me a word everyday. So if it’s a new word, I’ll try to learn it.

Google Reader has made me smarter, helping me stay current on news, what’s new in my industry and increasing my vocabulary.

Email isn’t just for communication with people, you can also use it similar to Google Reader to stay up to date what’s going on in the world and learn something. There are sites out there that give you the option to subscribe to RSS feeds through email now, for those who don’t want to use a feed reader and newsletters are still very common.

I use email to get stock market updates from a plethora of sites including Market Watch, TheStreet.com, Forbes.com and Investor Guide Daily. I have a great interest in the financial markets, so I really try to keep up what’s happening in the markets.

I have a thirst for knowledge and another way I learn with the Internet is by getting emails from InvestorWords.com for their “Term of the Day”, which expands my vocabulary and investor knowledge.

Yahoo Finance is my source for news on specific stocks. I make it an effort to keep up on the news of the stocks that I’m invested in or have interest in for future investment. Enter the ticker symbol and you can see all the current news for that company.

Browse the Internet! Take advantage of the Internet if you have access to it. Assuming you can read, you can learn just about anything you desire. There is infinite content out there from text, audio and visual. If there’s something I want to learn, the first thing I check is the Internet. A thing to remember when using the Internet to learn something, make sure it’s a reliable source.

Taking Control

Hulu recently launched and it’s changing the way I watch TV. The launch of Hulu has taken me one step closer to freedom from my television. Hulu in conjunction with some major studios has brought premium video content to it’s users.

Many of the shows that I watch are on Hulu, so I love it. If I miss something I know I can watch it on Hulu in the next few days. There are no worries about missing my favorite shows or recording any more. Now I control when I watch my TV shows.

I’ve been part of the beta version of Hulu and since it’s launched it’s been jacked up with more shows. It also has movies, so it’s also changing where I watch movies.

All the videos are high quality that Hulu offers and it’s making it’s way towards HD as well. Hulu you are the future of television watching. (Adam has given his praise to Hulu already)

iTunes Podcast is another thing that is changing my TV viewing habits. Similar to Hulu I’m able to subscribe to Podcast of shows that I watch regularly and have it available just in case I miss them like CNBC’s Fast Money and Mad Money with Jim Cramer.

It’s all for free, to take a little more control of your life and expand your knowledge with the all the things I mentioned above. Make yourself smarter with Google Reader, email and browsing the Internet. Take more control of your life by watching shows on demand with Hulu and Podcasts. The Internet has so much to offer and I strongly recommend taking advantage of it if you can, I am and will continue to.