I am on vacation until the end of the month, but this post was done… and I’ll still be churning out reviews for phones over on PhoneNews.com…

For those of you who have been looking for a way to get your big files fast (and no, not in the Sprint failed-ad-campaign sense), here’s an option for you. Best of all, it’s free, and makes you feel warm and fuzzy inside. That, and Comcast’s BitTorrent debacle had me thinking of other options that involved tearning their bandwidth a proverbial new one.

EasyNews is a great service that I’ve used for years (though I was using BitTorrent as of late). It offers OC-3 access to the global Usenet network. So, you can download files from the world’s NNTP boards at, basically, as fast as your connection provides. The rate? 24 GB for $9.99/month.

(Note, EasyNews has no relations with PhoneNews.com… okay, maybe I’m the only one that thought of that…)

But, EasyNews has a quietly-promoted program called Hardware Donation. Essentially, they have partnered with a few non-profits, and will give you a credit for the fair-market value of your computer donations. This is great because, you’re basically getting average eBay value for your old wares, plus no hassle, and your equipment goes to a good cause. It’s a win-win for everyone.

Granted, the requirements are a bit tight, Mac users can only donate G3 and G4 laptops. PC users need to donate Pentium III or higher systems, and of course you should read the full requirements (like, yes, you do need to send in a keyboard, mouse, and power cord… cheapskate).

Now, Easynews has participated in philanthropic offerings for awhile. For example, they offer a full-time SourceForge mirror, which I’m sure can no longer measure it’s bandwidth donated in mere petabytes.