While admittedly Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop are great for those that can afford it. However, if you are like us and cannot justify the price tag of Adobe but the freebie software in Windows just won't do, Open Source's GIMP could well be the answer.

It is a freely distributed piece of software for such tasks as photo retouching, image composition and image authoring. It works on many operating systems, in many languages. 

If you are as addicted to social networking like we are or if you leverage a lot of these sites to communicate, you might find it difficult to keep track of or visit all of them. Here is a web site I use to update my social network sites simultaneously.

Ping.fm is a simple service that makes updating your social networks a snap. Its free and its easy.