I'm surprised to see no mention of Kindles / ebook readers. I tried reading novels to improve my German, but the physical effort of switching to a dictionary (either physical or web-based) was enough to make reading a chore. With my Kindle, I've downloaded an English-German dictionary and some novels, and now when I don't know a word I just tap it (well, kinda hold my finger down in a ZX81 fashion) and a translation appears. Makes the reading process that much more fluent and therefore enjoyable. If the ease of looking up words makes them a tad less "sticky" in my memory, the quantity of text I'm consuming makes the language-learning experience, on balance, more efficient (for me).