Try "baby picture fun" ... Super simple, free, no ads. Will entertain for a couple minutes.

The next time your are fixing some relative's or co-worker's machine .. think about if maybe everyone would be better off if they had a chromebook. The point of these things is that, if you just limit things to the web, you can make a very secure, reliable, no-brainer type machine. It can't do everything, but jeez, it sure can do a lot of what most regular people use their computers for, and that's just going to become more with HTML5 et al. Or a business could hand them out for employees who need some web app to do their jobs. You just have your login to the app (google hosted, or somebody else .. it all works), and if they break the machine, you just hand them another one. Data is cached on the device, but the real data is the cloud. The software on the device is designed deeply to be very secure (easier since it does so much less) so it should be much less vulnerable to "infection" the way a more general computers are. Android and iOS are trying to not be vulnerable to malware, but it's so much harder when stuff can get installed. The chromebook does not have a native software "install" .. it's just the web, so it's a lot easier to nail down right.

The free Stanford CS101 intro-to-computers class is going to start April 23rd, so that's worth a shot: http://cs101-class.org/ It introduces programming with code and everything, but it's easier than a full programming course. It's a way to get started, warming up to a full programming course later on. Some people can read a book and poke around themselves. However for many having videos/lecture notes/assignments all geared together is an easier way to get started. Disclaimer: I'm teaching this class!

For little live code practice problems in python and java there's http://codingbat.com/

There's Google's complete free python class at http://code.google.com/edu/languages/google-python-class/

For a huge library of cs assignments, try the nifty assignments archive at http://nifty.stanford.edu/

For live practice problems check out http://codingbat.com/ There's book-learning of programming, but then you also really need practice, and that's what codingbat is about. Disclaimer: my site, but hey, it's free.

Great coding resources on the web...

http://codingbat.com/ -- free little online coding puzzles, just click and go (python and java)

http://code.google.com/edu/languages/google-python-class/ -- a complete basic python class, complete with pretty neat coding problems ready to go

http://nifty.stanford.edu/ -- tons of fun, medium sized coding projects

Disclaimer -- I had a part in creating all of these.

As I a little project I've built out the site http://javabat.com/ ... it's about having lots of little online problems for code practice. arc Big architectural ideas are important, but javabat just helps you build the basic but critical loop/logic/array/string skills. There's also a big section on recursion.

Hey OpenOffiice.org -- good job! What's weird is .. why is there so much bile and complaining about this complex piece of software that largely solves a whole class of important problems and is free. Point out deficiencies sure, but the comments here dwell a lot more on these oddball more-than-256-columns cases for a tool which works fine for a million common little cases. Here's my theory -- the teenager wants to be bitchy to their parents to appear independent. But the parents provide the food and roof over the head .. so how to live there and still feel independent? Be even more bitchy! Open office is just the same -- the linux kernel and many other initiatives to promote an open and competitive software environment would be far behind where they are without the unglamorous work of OO.o helping solve common document problems in an open way. OpenOffice.org has flaws, but it is extremely valuable.

Oops -- wishful typo, as the linked article above says, the penalty is about 60%, not 30%. That was as of theora1.1a, and now 1.1.1 is out, so I should re-test with that.

I did my best attempt at an unbiased comparison which shows Theora to have about a 30% disadvantage, although it uses a slightly older version of Theora: http://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~nick/theora-soccer/

Check out http://javabat.com/ for coding practice (the *teaching* of the material is still a problem, but JavaBat is great for practicing)

Check out the free online coding practice code at http://javabat.com/ such as this cute problem: http://www.javabat.com/prob/p183562 (shameless self promotion)

Wow, Slashdot has a bit of a focus problem when DRM comes up .. EPub -- you know, the standard discussed in the article -- has DRM! Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EPUB The amount that DRM sucks is dwarfed by the tremendous, earth-killing suck that is proprietary/closed formats. That's what the article says and that's why you should should avoid all things Kindle.