JobKite.com   is a new resume service that creates colorful online resumes. Online is not only the way to go with resumes these days, but also the way it's going. The CEO at a tech company told us that only about 1 percent of job applicants submit resumes on paper.

   You can have a resume posted for free at JobKite if you use one of its templates. This includes text topped by a decorative banner selected from a library of choices. When you go to a job site like Monster.com, you can apply for something that interests you, or simply list yourself and provide a link to your resume at JobKite. This prevents scammers from easily acquiring your name and e-mail address.

   If you want a more striking resume, you can pay $25, choose a template and let the folks at JobKite design it for you. We did that and you can see how it turned out by going to www.jobkite.com/erez/oncomputers.html  We were both amused and impressed by what they did.

  The $25 fee covers posting for one year, with five free updates as your information changes. Your resume can include work samples, music, video clips and sound bites. We didn't add all of these fancies, but there's no reason why you shouldn't if you feel it helps your presentation. More info at www.jobkite.com/erez/erez_home.htm  

A Secret Phone Number

   PrivatePhone.com  provides free phone numbers you can give out in situations where you don't want to give out your real number.

   Anyone calling that number can leave messages. You can listen to those messages by calling your private phone number and entering the star key plus your PIN (private identification number). You can also be notified by e-mail or cell phone whenever a new message has come in at the private number.

   The secret phone numbers are provided by NetZero, the popular free Internet service company. It makes its money by delivering an ad at the end of each message. (It's unobtrusive.)

It’s Pretty Much a Snap

  Corel has a new $40 photo-editing program called "SnapFire Plus." We tried it out, and it did a nice job of organizing our photos into one long scrolling view or into albums. In fact, it is the easiest photo organizer of any we've seen.

   You can edit your photos to soften wrinkles in faces, whiten their teeth, add a suntan and sprinkle butterflies around the picture. You can e-mail the pictures in a compressed form that won't take up tons of room and drive the recipient nuts trying to open them. You can also use the photos to create greeting cards, fake magazine covers, collages and photo albums.

   You can do this with several other photo programs as well, so what we really liked is you can get the basic SnapFire program for free. Near as we can tell, the differences between the Plus and the basic were trivial. You can't do magazine covers or smooth wrinkles, but just about everything else is the same, so you might as well go for free. Info at www.snapfire.com. 

A Font of Unusual Fonts

   There are several Web sites that have type fonts you can download. A couple of them are Fonts.com , which we've written about before, and TypeNow.net, which we went to just recently.

   TypeNow has lots of fonts specially created for movies and TV shows, like the slashed font used for "Blade Runner" and the cheerfully scary one used for "The Addams Family." Others include the special fonts used for "Jurassic Park," "The Godfather", "Looney Tunes" cartoons, "Finding Nemo" and "The Matrix."

   Downloading a font, however, is only the first step in being able to use it. If you're using Windows XP, save the font to the "My Documents" folder and unzip it. Then go to the "Control Panel" and open the "Fonts Folder." Select "Install" and "Browse" to where you've put the font. If you have a different operating system, you can find instructions for Windows and Mac at Fonts.com.  

Books

  "Sandy Berger's GreatAge Guide: Online Health and Wellness;" $14 from Que (www.quepublishing.com ).

   The author has a series of help guides, so the publisher put her name out front. Though the books are primarily aimed at seniors, we think they're useful for anyone. This one has lots of information about health sites on the Internet. One criticism: There is no appendix with a list of sites and their Web addresses; you have to find them by going through the text.

   One site you want to go to for sure is QuackWatch.org , which covers fake cures and treatment pitches, not doctors. A similar site is DentalWatch.org.

Games

   Short games are best for us; the big adventure games can take months and even years to play. No time. We used to play "Connect Four" with our nephews, a game where you try to connect four checkers in a row before your opponent can block them. You can play a "Cities" version of the game and many others for one hour for free at PlayFirst.com. If you want to go longer, you have to download the game to your own computer and pay $20.