Experimentation is free

I take lots of digital pictures. Mostly of my kids. In the past I would have been more conservative because of the cost of film and processing. But today it's virtually free.

The same can be said for experimenting online. You can easily set up a Flickr site, a blog, or an email account. Build a wiki. Get a Second Life. Set up a store or start your own radio station.

In most cases, you can build these sites, try these new technologies, and learn for free.

Thomas Edison once said "To invent you need a good imagination and a pile of junk." In that sense, the Internet is an incredible pile of free "junk" to power your imagination.