Online

Truth is, there are an amazing number of ways you can get a quality educational experience online, without ever having to fork over any cash. The cost of a college education is pretty remarkable these days, and not everyone can afford to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on a degree from an Ivy League school (especially in this economy). But nearly everyone can afford the cost of an Internet connection, or even a library card.

Named one of Time Magazine's top 50 websites of 2011, Yale's open courses allow anyone to browse through lectures and course materials that range from engineering and chemistry, to astronomy, sociology, Spanish, history, and more. But that's just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to free online classes. Here, a list of places to point your web browser for free classes online, so you can soak up all the knowledge your brain can handle.

• MIT OpenCourseWare — With over 2,000 courses available at your fingertips, MIT OpenCourseWare should be your first (and maybe your only) stop in online learning.
• Online Education Database — This website offers up a list of 200 free classes you can take online. Take some physics classes and learn about the phenomenon of superconductivity, or retake that algebra class you struggled with in high school.
• OpenCulture — This website offers up a list of free classes from top universities like Stanford and UC Berkeley, and even some video lectures you can find on YouTube.
• Harvard Open Learning — Watch videos of lectures on computer science and abstract algebra among others
• Princeton Web Media — Browse through and take in archived lectures from Princeton's math, science, and engineering departments, and lots, lots more.

See the rest of the list after the break.

While some people are slaves to the number on their follower count, or spend their time racking up friends on Facebook, others use their social networks to accrue a network of friends, friends of friends, and colleagues that can become quite handy in business.

You may not know how influential you are online — what, with your blog, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook accounts all running like a well-oiled machine — but you can find out with these tools that help you determine how popular and visible you are to others on the Internet.

• PeekScore — Find out how important you are on the Internet with this site that calculates your score from one to 10, taking into account your presence and activity on the Internet, blogs, social networks, and the amount of buzz you create on the web.
• Klout — Your Internet influence score, or "klout," is based off of factors like the size of your social networks, engagement with your friends and followers, the "quality" of your audience, and how likely they are to spread your messages along. The higher the Klout score (ranged from one-100), the more influence you're packing.

See a few more Twitter-focused options after the jump.

We do it every year — make New Year's Resolutions — so instead of just writing them down on your notebook at home, post them to the Carnival New Year's Eve wishing wall, where they'll be used in the over-the-top NYC Times Square celebration tonight.

You don't even have to be in New York to get your resolutions, wishes, and dreams in on the fun; you can post them online, and they'll be printed out on a piece of confetti to be released at the stroke of midnight.

Black Friday is only four days away, but the web deals have already begun! For those of you who are too lazy to make it to the shops and want to avoid the crowds, you can snag your discounts online from the comfort of your own home with these cyber deals. Click away to check out these great offers that are going on right now:

• Amazon: Amazon's Black Friday store launched this morning, GeekSugar reports. Find great deals on electronics, books, clothing, and more. This store runs through Monday.
• JetBlue: Check out JetBlue's one-day sale with fares starting from $29 that starts today. Travel is between Nov. 29 to Dec. 18.
• Best Buy: See what deals are being featured now, but you can also take a sneak peek at what you'll see in store (laptops, TVs, and the list goes on!) at Best Buy on Black Friday. Check back on their Cyber Monday page come Sunday Nov. 28 to see what specials they have on their two-day sale.
• Crate and Barrel: Shoppers get 25 percent off dinnerware and place settings until Nov. 29
• edressme: Take 70 percent off a great selection of holiday dresses.

For more savvy discounts, read on!

Kids today, as the lament goes. The age of the mean girl is getting younger, an article in The New York Times reports. The dreaded middle school cliques are extending down to the kindergarten crew. The article examines the nasty things bullied girls have dealt with in elementary school, from the creation of exclusive clubs to being forced to go down a slide filled with mud.

The supposed increase of mean little girls could be the result of various factors from parents being more aware of their child's emotions to early-onset puberty, but many experts agree that outside media influence is a major factor. So what makes a mean girl? Find out when you read more

A college education will get you far in business, but according to Bill Gates (a college dropout himself), a place-based college education system that is so prominent today will soon be shadowed by what you can teach yourself online. During a recent interview at the Techonomy conference in Lake Tahoe, CA, the former Microsoft CEO predicted that in the next five years, you'll be able to find the best educational lectures for free online, which will make the Internet "better than any single university."

I'd have to agree with him on one point — there are an amazing number of ways you can get a quality educational experience online, without ever having to fork over any cash. The cost of a college education is pretty remarkable these days, and not everyone can afford to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on a degree from an Ivy League school. But nearly everyone can afford the cost of an Internet connection, or even a library card. Here, I'll show you 11 places to point your web browser for free classes online, so you can soak up all the knowledge your brain can handle!

To see the list, just keep reading!

As the kiddos return to school, proud parents will snap shots of their children heading into class. Tweens post their class assignments and schedules on Facebook to compare with friends. Young athletes tweet the location of their sports practice and games. And looking to hang out with others, kids Twitter their whereabouts and contact information. While technology allows families the benefit of being constantly connected, take precaution. Too much seemingly harmless information on public sites allows strangers access to your personal lives. Here are some good tips to follow on public forums:

• Do not post pictures of your children with uniforms or signs that identify where they go to school.
• Do not post your child's class or sports schedule.
• Educate your tweens so they do not tweet their whereabouts.
• Do not publish personal contact information including phone numbers and addresses.
• Do not publish the means of transportation your child uses — pictures of a car with license plate, bus line, or the route they walk.

Dedicated sports geeks, listen up — you don't have to sit in front of your TV all day to catch live coverage of the Tour de France! Just like the World Cup, there are a few ways to get your cycling fix while at the office, over WiFi, or even while on the go. The first place you should head for updates is the official Tour de France website. Bringing you real-time updates on route locations, standings, and photos from the road, this is a great place to start when you can steal a moment away and sneak a peek when the boss isn't looking.

But that's not all — find out how you can watch the Tour de France live online (and on your iPhone!) after the break.