COVID resources for the professional Georgetown TXSo, COVID-19 is here and it doesn’t appear that it will be going away anytime soon. Millions of us now find ourselves (willingly or not) spending way more time at home and indoors than we are likely used to. In addition to world news, many of us are likely facing myriad personal crises as well:

    • How do I work from home effectively?
    • Kids are remote learning? Now how do I do that and work from home?
    • Has the dog always been this crazy?
    • Who on the city council do I have to bribe to get some eggs and toilet paper?

And so on it goes… With everything that has been going around the world in recent weeks, we all need an outlet. Thankfully, there are dozens of free resources that can help us maintain productivity and, when the time is right, provide a distraction from all the chaos. Here are a few resources that I’ve leaned on recently to help me weather the storm:

Tools for the Professional:

Learning:

  • As always, MIT has a ton of courses and classes available online.
  • The very popular self-improvement course  The Science of Well-Being from Yale is available for free online.
  • If you or your child are interested in learning a foreign language, Duolingo offers free online learning tools in 36 languages.
  • Mystery Science is offering free memberships for up to one year, with engaging lessons in a variety of science-related areas, including timely topics such as, “How do germs get inside your body?” Video lessons are complemented by hands-on experiments and downloadable activities for the kiddos.
  • Learn in-demand skills like coding in different programming languages, web development, design, and data science. Codecademy offers free access to basic lessons, with the option to pay for more advanced courses if you or your kids get really into it.

Reading:

  • The International Children’s Library is always available, but with most kids being home it might be a good time for us all to check out this resource. The library’s catalog can be sorted by the reader’s age, making appropriate resources easy to find
  • If you love comics, or have always been curious what the craze is all about, have I got some good news for you. ComiXology is free for 90-days offering “25,000 digital comics, graphic novels, and manga from DC, Marvel, Image, Dark Horse, and more!”
  • More of a fan of traditional/classic literature? Project Gutenberg has you covered offering 60,000 some odd titles in various digital forms for your consumption.
  • Scribd - bills itself as the largest digital library and is also currently running a 30 day free trial for any who are curious about their offerings.

Movies and Television:

  • SlingTV is offering its Blue service up at no cost for 14 days. This package allows you to view on up to three screens simultaneously and grants access to over 45 channels of live TV
  • For fans of horror and thriller movies, head on over to Shudder. They generally offer a 7-day free trial but are currently (as of writing this article) offering up a 30-day free period if you sign up using their SHUTIN code.
  • Sports fans! NFL Game Pass and NBA League Pass are currently free! Offered services include replays of current season games and access to archive footage. It isn’t the same as having real actual sports to watch, but it certainly helps scratch the itch!

It can be challenging and costly to maintain your business’ technology systems in the midst of all the uncertainty and confusion, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be. This is where CTTS comes in, our expertise in networking and cybersecurity can help your business achieve all of its technology-related goals, including working from home, network structure, and future strategies. Give us a call today for a free IT assessment: (512) 388-5559.

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By Brandon Kaylor
Desktop Support Technician
Central Texas Technology Solutions