Greetings,

The online marketing community, in an attempt to gain control of your browsing eyes, has begun offering an unusual array of free (well, not quite) gifts, services and applications. Some of the more interesting ones announced recently are,

THE STEAL - Free Internet Connectivity – Netzero - "You mean your still paying for it?" DUH

THE DEAL - When you sign on, a small, unobtrusive window will appear on your screen. You can move it anywhere on the screen, and while you're connected, ads for the things you're "most" interested in, will be displayed there.

THE STEAL – A free PC – Compaq Presario, 333MHz, 32MB RAM, 4GB hard drive, etc.

THE DEAL - Free-PCs are made available free of charge for two years to qualified applicants. This revolutionary idea is made possible by a network of sponsors who will be able to use a portion of the Free-PC frame for advertisements.

THE STEAL – Application launch accelerator – This program will increase the speed at which your apps launch up to 500% (It worked on my old Pentium, at home.)

THE DEAL - Rather than charge money for the software, the program is advertiser supported. The only change you will notice to your system is that your browser will open at their homepage.

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Whether you are trying to promote a new product or send a cool interactive message, you will enjoy these clever applications. Check out the Chinese New Year’s greeting.

EMAIL FUN - MessageMates

Messagemates are free animated message bearers for birthdays, holidays and more! Download one for yourself, or personalize one and send it to a friend!

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COOL UTILITIES:

TrayWeather (freeware)

This utility sits in your system tray and periodically gets weather information such as temperature, dew point, humidity, etc, in the location you choose. A convenient way to find out how to dress without seeing an entire forecast.

Punch Clock (free 30 day trial, $20 to purchase)

Punch Clock is a project time tracking system, which runs in the Windows system tray. Time can be punched in and out for each project. A running total displays the total time billed to each project for the day. A history file records all time transactions. A report summarizes all billed project time by weekday for the given week.

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COMEDY BREAK – A little nostalgia for those of us who never forgot the 70’s.

Baby Boomers: Then and Now

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You knew that it was just a matter of time until, an enterprising psychiatrist would be telling us why therapy could be better online than on a couch. Throw away the tranquilizers.

ONLINE SHRINK - The CyberAnalysis Clinic

Dr. Russell Razzaque, is a doctor practicing psychiatry in Birmingham, England. He has created a variant of Cognitive Analytical Therapy, (C.A.T.) he claims can produce quicker results than the traditional psychoanalytical psychotherapy without losing any of its fundamental principles.

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Visit the "archive page" for a complete listing of previous cool tricks and trinkets. http://www.tricksandtrinkets.com/archive.htm

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VERY COOL SITE – A Science Odyssey

A Science Odyssey takes you on a journey through the most spectacular 100 years in the history of science and technology. Here's an overview of how our understanding has grown from 1900 to today.

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Did you know that actor Andy Garcia was a siamese twin or that Sigmund Freud had a morbid fear of ferns, or that having sex for one hour will burn off 11 Hershey Kisses or 360 calories. If you’re a fan of trivia, check out

FUN SITE - FunTrivia.com

The site contains the web's greatest collection of fun facts and trivia. Since 1994 this site has been built by contributions from thousands of visitors, so if you know something that others may find interesting, please submit it!